Suchergebnisse

Issue 9.3 of the Review for Religious, 1950. ; Review for Religious MAY 15, 1950 E~es Right? ~ ~ichard Leo Heppler~ C:onformity wffh Christ C;.A. Herbst the Holy Ghost ° '" Leo A. Coressel Psychometrics and R.~ligious I~i~e ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ Sister M. Digne Lay Religious and Laws of Bishops Jose ph F. Gallen ~ue~s÷ions and Answers. Book Reviews Summer Sessions Report to Rome RI::¥11:::W FOR Ri::LI IOUS VOLUME IX MAY, 1950 NUMBER CONTENTS EYES RIGHT?--Richard Leo Heppler, O.F.M .1.1.3 SUMMER SESSIONS . 118 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST IN HIS SUFFERING-- C. A. Herbst, S.2 . 119 ATOMIC BROTHERHOOD CAMPAIGN . ~ . 124 OF THE HOLY GHOST, WHO PROCEEDS AS LOVE-- Leo A. Coressel, S.J . 125 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PSYCHOMETRICS TO RELIGIOUS LIFE--~Sister M. Digna, O.S.B . 131 LAY RELIGIOUS AND THE LAWS OF BISHOPS ON CONFESSION-- 2oseph F. Gallen, S.J . 140 OUR CONTRIBUTORS . 152 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 13. About the Little Office . 153 14. "Happy Death" Crucifixes . . . 1"54 15. Lay Superiors find Excuses from Fasting .154 16. Blessing by Mother Superior . 157 17. "'Sacrament of the Present Moment" . . 157 BOOK NOTICES . 158 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS . . ' . 163 THE EYMARD LIBRARY . 165 . REPORT TO ROME '. . 166 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, 1950. Vol. IX, No. 3. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November at the College Press, 606 Harrison Streef, Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Copyright, 1950, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Before writing to us, please consult notice on inside back cover. 'Eyes Right:? Richard Leo Heppler, O.F.M.' ALL IN ALL. over the years, Noah Webster's work has been givin~ satisfactory service. Timeand again many of us have turned-to it in our difficu!ties and.have.come away not only with knowledge but also with] a: more 13rofound appreciation of the man's ability to be neat, exacL and brief. Now, it would be mani-festly unfair to accuse Mr. Webster of 1~eing unromantic in his defini-tions. He has no more title to be chivalrous with his words than Dr. Einstein has to be amateurish with his theories. Consequently, a love-smitten collegian might throw his dictionary away in disgust when he reads that the eye is "the organ of sight: esp., the nearly spherical mass, the eyeball, . in the bony cavity of the skull, or the orbit including eyelids, eyelashes, eyebrow." The yo,uth would avow that the great Noah Webster had never seen the eyes of his Hazel. And he might even be tempted to dare the venerable Mr. Webster--or anyone else--to try to describe the elusive laughter lurking in his Hazel's eyes. Naturally, we religious do not expect Mr. Webster to go'beyond his definitions; we do not expect him to try to describe the eyes we would most desire to have looked into. What words could ever describe the human eyes of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? For that.matter, who could ever describe the maternal eyes of Our Blessed Lady, the adoring eyes of St. Jose'ph, thd discerning eyes of the Magi, the patient eyes of Simeon, the priestly eyes 0t: St. Jdhn, the sympa-thetic eyes of VeronicL the contrite eyes of Mary Magdalene, the tdar-dimmed eyes of St. Peter, the purified eyes of St. Paul? And what about the eyes we would-not like to have seen? Isn't it just as well that Noah Webster did not attempt to describe the treacherous eyes of Judas, the murderous eyes of Barabbas, the stony eyes of Annas, the crafty eyes of Caiphas,the sneering eyes oi: the Pharisees, the wavering eyes of Pilate, the carnal eyes of Herod, the cold eyes of the Roman soldiers? That God gave us two ey.es to be used for His glory, religious readily admit. That it is possible for us to misuse them for our own greed, glory, and indulgence, no one will deny. To use our eyes th~ way God would have us use them and not the way our lower nature would incline us must be our constant effort. To aid us in this 113 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER Reoieu) [or Religious undertaking are countless 'angels and saints, and not the least among the latter is one who put his eyes to excellent advantage as long as he bad sight and then made proper use of blindness when God sent that. Some of the great artists and poets at times permitted themselves long, full, intoxicating gazes upon the teasing loveliness of nature so as to feed their minds with matter for masterpieces. And, in direct opposition, some of the severest saintly ascetics refused to allow their eyes to regard the beauties of creation lest their souls be disturbed in the contemplation of Beauty Uncreated. But St. Francis of Assisi, the poet, artist, and ascetic, was granted the gift of seeing the true beauty of this universe with unclouded vision while recognizing the unmistakable reflections of God's beauty everywhere he looked. He was poet and artist enough to appreciate all the moods and mani-festations of nature; he was saint enough to trace instinctively all loveliness back to its source. He could gaze for prayerful hours at sunlight and shadow and storm, at castle and cave and cathedral, at tomb and tent and tabernacle. He never tired thanking God for the moon and the stars and the rivers and the fields. He readily saw brothers' and sisters in birds and beasts and rain and fire and wind. It was part of his vocation to be an eye-opener for the rest of us. But it was his spiritual vision that saved him from being some-thing of a masculine, thirteenth-century Alice in Wonderland. All his life he saw very. repulsive beggars, but, as G. K. Chesterton says, he alway.s managed to see through the beggars and recognize Christ. There is no way of measuring the number of lepers he saw, but it is safe to say that he never looked upon one "of them without l~eing instantly reminded of the suffering Son of Man. That he never saw a lamb without thinking of the Lamb of God, and that children could walk away with his heart because Christ had favored them, and that a wounded bird could move him to tears, reveal a very deli-cate sensitiveness, But there was also a definitely virile spirituality in his view of things: he saw at close range rough bandits and tr'eated them like princely envoys; he looked upon Christian and Moslem soldiers ("murderers" might be more exact) and respected them as if they were martyrs of old; each condemned criminal was another Good Thief. Was he. unrealistic? Well, one day Brother Juniper told him that God had granted him a vision of h~ll and that he had seen no Friars there. To this St. Francis replied, "Brother Juniper, you did not look deep enough." A religious vocation is a calling to be a supernatural detective. 114 May, 1950 EYES RIGHT? God has generously scattered clues about Himself all arohnd us and He wants us to put them together and find out more about him. We have to try to see the hand of God and the love of God in every per-son we meet, in every place me go, in everyevent that happens to us. If we really try to be spiritual sleuths we shall be delighted with all the p6ssibilities around us. The bill-collector may be another St. Matthew, the doctor another St. Cosmas, the salesman another St. Peter of SienL the beggar another St. Benedict Joseph, the lawyer another St. Fidelis, the police captain another St. Sebastian, the sailor another St. Brendan, the altar, boy another St. John Berchmans, the taxi driver another St. Christopher, the farmer another St. Paschal Baylon. The same thing very easily could be continued in the fem-inine gender by one who knows the patronesses of girls who sell jewelry in the Five and Ten, girls who run elevators in Gimbel's, girls who serve aspirins in soaring airplanes, girls who daily pound their way towards heaven on typewriters, girls who slave at prosaic switch-boards, girls who teach nominative absolutes to bored high school seniors, girls who ease patients into dentists' chairs and money out of their pockets, and so on even to the girls who ride on motor-cycles, and the girls who engage in roller derbies. Everybody in the world is either an actual or a potential saint and should be viewed ¯ as such. If we are sharp detectives we shail discern the true dignity of the children who sit in front of us, the patients who lie upon our hospital beds, the employees who trim our lawns, run our errands, and mimeograph our notes. It is true that at meal time you may be tempted to say, "Young Jackson has big ears just like his father, and he is just as dumb." But you will know that God dearly loves both young Jackson and his father, even though He may have been lavish when he fashioned their ears and not when He doled out their brains. But it would be fatal to conclude that one can become an expert supernatural detective without practicing mortification of the eyes. Pretending that custody of the eyes is stupid is as absurd as pre-tending that Central Park is the Garden of Eden. If we really want "to trace I~he manifestations of God around us we must be willing to impose restraint upon gazing at anything and everything. If we sincerely desire to gaze forever upon the Beatific Vision we hav~ to restrict our gazing here below. The need of custody of the eyes as a bulwark for chastity is amply demonstrated by Sacred Scripture. Joseph was unjustly 115 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER Reoieu~ [or Religious thrown into prison because the wife of.Putiphar did not controi her eyes. King David, the boas~ of the chosen people, fell into a terrible sin because he permitted his eyes too much license. Here is what the Bible says of Holofernes when his soldidrs brought Judith to his tent: "And when she came into his presence forthwith Holofernes . was caught by his eyes." The sad story of the two evil ancients is but another proof that the eyes of young and old must be guarded. These two men were hel_,d in honor because of their age and their office. But they gazed immodestly upon' the chaste Susanna, and they were inflamed with lust for her. God saved Susanna arid con-founded the ancients and gave us the story as a concrete example of the meaning of the words of His Prophet Jeremias, "Death is come ,up through our Windows." But it is not into temptations against chastity alone that unre-strained liberty of the eyes can lead religious. If a Sister gazes with possessive eye, s at a statue or a book she sees in a store and determines to procure it without permission she can violate the vow of poverty. If a Brother gazes with undue complacency upon the saws, hatchets, or tractor permitted for his use, assured that he must have the latest and the best he may be guilty of faiIing in the virtue of poverty. If a priest, with satisfied superiority gazes upon his diplomas, citations, or signs of office he may be guilty of pride. That a religious might gaze upon the money in the community safe with avaricious eyes is not as likely as that he might gaze with eyes that are bigger than his stomach upon the steaks or lobsters in a choice restaurant. A Sister who with green eyes gazes upon .the new habit of another reveals tendencies towards envy. If to the detriment of his work and of his spiritual life a religious spends long periods of time looking over all the vacation-plan literature he can amass he may be guilty of sloth. One who watches the conduct of others with a view to censure them has not yet arrived at the perfection of charity. All religious can gaze upon holy water without any temptations whatsoever, but the same cannot be said of gazing upon fire-water. This could be continued in a figurative vein. To fail to see the hand of God in all the happenings of the day is to fail in the fullness of faith. To fail to see a friend of Christ in each member of the community is to bd weak in charity. To fail to see thewill of God in the commands of the superior is to be lacking in th~ complete spirit of obedience. To look only at the "dismal side of things is to reveal the absence of full trust and confidence in God. To look down 116 Ma~/, 1950 EYES RIGHT? upon others is a sign of pride, and to look up to others for recogni-tion and praise is an indication of human respect. St. Teresa tells us that she lost twelve years of spiritual growth because of her attachment to needless conversations. Who can measure the detriment to the interior life that is caused by unmorti- . fied eyes? The spirit of prayer may. be weakened, recollection destroyed, silence dissipated, andthe desire for perfection blighted by overindulgence in the reading of secular newspapers, magazines, and novels. Too much looking at television may not only drive a reli-gious to'an oculist; it may blind him to the importance of daily spir-itual reading. Too many movies, shows, and spectacles may per-manently stunt the growth of souls. But to walk around all day with our eyes closed or constantly cast down is to become something of a public menace. We might upset community life (if not a member of the community) if we were to fail to look where we were going. We might land in a hos-pital or a morgue if we refused to keep our eyes open while we were crossing city streets. Custody of the eyes does not mean that a reli-gious does not see the children in the classroom, the drugs in the pharmacy, the cows in the shed, or the fire in the boiler; it means that we do not allow dangerous images to remain in focus and that we do not lose sight of God no matter where we are. We can certainly better our spiritual vitality by using our eyes pr?perly. In every classroom, ward, shop, and corridor are cruci-fixes, statues, or holy pictures. What is the purpose of placing these pious objects in such obvious places?. Who but a novice "could ask that question? For who btit a novice could suspect that these objects have been placed where they can accumulate invisible dust and thus furnish the master or the mistress with ammunition for a daily cor-rection? On the other hand, some religious might be embarrassed if they were suddenly asked what picture hangs in the classroom they daily use or upon which wall in the tailor' shop does the crucifix hang. It should be easy for us to look long and lovingly at the crucifix, to see every detail of Christ's death, to read every line of the story of our redemption. St. Thomas Aquinas once asked St. Bona-venture whence he derived all his knowledge. Pointing to his cruci-fix, the Seraphic Doctor replied that from "this well-spring.of light and love"he drew whatever could be found in his lectures or writings. Armies of saints have learned the lessons of poverty, chastity, obedi-ence, humility, charity, patience, fortitude, self-denial, contrition, 117 RICHARD LEO HEPPLER zeal, gratitude, and confidence by spending long hours in the prayer-ful study of the crucifix. And it is comforting to know that we shall spend all eternity as the friends and companions of the saints upon whose pictures or statues we now look each day. Some people have strange vocations, and Mary Ann O'Donnell had one of the strangest. She was a blind girl who attended a Cath-olic college in the East. Each day, led by her seeing-eye dog, she came to class and took her notes in Braille and waited to be called on. The other students (they could see) resented the fact that the priest called on Mary Ann; they thought it was'unfair. But Mary Ann wanted to recite; she wanted to learn, and she did not want pity. MaryAnn stayed in college only two years; then she went away to recite the eternal praises of the Triune God and to gaze in rapture upon the Father of Lights. Probably she did not know that she was an apostle, but she did teach many of the collegians and the professors to thank God for the gift of sight. She could even have taught reli-gious who daily gaze upon the Eucharistic Lord as He is elevated at Mass or raised on high during Benediction to consecrate their eyes to God so that they may be sure to see Him face to face. SUMMER SESSIONS The Institute for Re.ligious at College Misericordia, Dallas, Penn-sylvania (a three-year summer course of twelve days in Canon Law and Ascetical Theology for Sisters), will be held this year August 19-30. This is the first year in the triennial course. The coubse in Canon Law is given by the Reverend 3oseph F. Gallen, S.3. that in Ascetical Theology by the Reverend Daniel ~1. M. Callahan, SJ., both of Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. The registra-tion is restricted to higher superiors, their councilors, mistresses of novices, and those in similar positions. Applications are to be addressed to Rev. ~loseph F. Gallen, SJ., Woodstock College, Wood-stock, Md. The seventh annual Psychological Institute will be conducted at the St. Coletta School for Exceptional Children, ~lefferson, Wiscon-sin, from ,luly 19 to August 27. The Cardinal Stritch College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sponsors this workship course for teachers who are interested in special education of handicapped children, and who wish to understand and help slow-learning children in the nor-mal classroom situation. Bulletin available upon request from the (Continued on P. 130) 118 Conl:ormi!:y wi!:h Christ: in His Suffering C. A. Herbst, S.J. 44~ND I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things myself" (John 12:32). All things, especially lov.e, the greatest of all things, and the hearts of men. Love longs to be united with its object, to be assimilated to it, to be identified with it as much as possible. A worthy return love to Christ should be measured by the lengths to which His love has gone in loving me. "He loved me and delivered himself 'for me" (Gal. 2:20). One deeply in love with Our Lord has written: "Imagining Christ our Lord present and placed on the Cross, let me make a colloquy with Him: how from Creator He is come to making Himself man, and from eternal life is come to temporal death, and so to die for my sins. Likewise, looking at myself, what have I done for Christ, what I am doing for Christ, what I ought to do for Christ. And so, seeing Him such, and so nailed to the Cross, to go over that which will present itself to me." (Spiritual Exercises, Colloquy to the First Exercise.) What, according to the norm of worthy return love, will pyesent itself to me? St. Paul, a model for all who love Christ crucified, answered for all Christians for all time: "With Christ I am nailed to the cross" (Gal. 2:19). Christ was eager to suffer for me "hnto death, even to the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). He longed for that. "I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?" (Luke 12:50). He was so eager to get to His pas-sion that the disciples could scarcely keep up with Him. "And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem: and they were astonished, and following were afraid" (Mark 10:32). And why not? Was He not born for this? .The angel told the shepherds the night He was born: "This day is born to you a Saviour" (Luke 2:11), and in the infinitely loving designs of God salvation would come through His passion and death. In contemplating the persons present at the beginning of His suffering life we are urged "to look and consider what they are doing, as making a journey and laboring, that the Lord may be born in the greatest poverty; and as a termination of so many labors--of hunger, of thirst, of heat and of cold, of injuries and 1i9 C. A. HERBST Review for Religious affronts--that He may die on the Cross; and all this for me." (Spiritual Exercises: The Nativity.) The shadow of the cross was already falling on the Child in the manger. In fact, it is hard to explain Bethlehem without Calvary. Christmas points to Good Friday. When Mary "brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and /aid him in a manger" (Luke 2:7), she presented the victim for the cross. Christ came "to give his life a redemption for many" (Mr. 20:28), and although, as His agony drew near, He naturally recoiled from it, He knew it must be so. "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause I came unto this hour." (John 12:27.) "Jesus' began to do and to teach" (Acts 1 : 1). He taught first by example, then by word. "I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also" (John 13:15). This is true also of His sufferings. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow his steps" (I Pet. 2:21). No one of experience has to be told that life is full of suffering. We pray to Mary after Mass every morning: "To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping, in this vale of tears." We must unite our sufferings with Christ's sufferings and offer them with Him to God togethe~ with His own if they are to be precious in His sight. We realize this and do it every morning when we pray: "O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day." Even from the point of view of a good selfishness this is the wise thing to do. An old retreat master of wide experience told the priests making the thirty-day retreat: "Offer your miseries to God and they cease at once to hurt." Our Lord Himself then becomes our consolation. "For as the suf-ferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound" (II Cor. 1:5). Blessed shall we be if we are allowed to suffer something for Christ. The eighth and last and perhaps, judging from His own life, the greatest of the benedictions He spoke over His beloved fol-lowers was: "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake: Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven." (Matt. 5:I0-12.) The apostles understood this well, and after they had been scourged "went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer 120 Ma~ , 1950 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST reproach for the name'of Jesus" (Acts 5:41). It is most logical and correct that the members of the true Church of Christ from then till now should take the cross as their emblem and rally around it as the battle flag of their religion. From Constantine to the High Middle Ages Christ crucified was the victorious king: "'Regna~it a. li~lr~o Deus'" ("God hath reigned from the Cross"). Then came the spir-itual giants and moulders of affective prayer like Bernard and Francis and Bonaventure, with their ecstatic love for the Crucified. The mystics who followed them and the men and women in modern times who were in love with Christ crucified are almost count-less. The prophecy is fulfilled: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." All things, especially lobe, the greatest of all things, and the hearts of men. Conformity with Christ in His suffering, a longing to suffer with Him, to suffer because He suffered, to be identified as far as possible with Christ in His suffering life, to be crucified with Him--this is the aim of those who love Christ perfectly. Union with Christ in His suffering is the finest expression of love for God here on this earth. This is the perfect way to tear ourselves away from sin. "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer" (Rom. 6:6). What with all his knowledge and ability Paul said: "I judged not myself to know anything among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). Nor was this a theoretical knowledge only nor a pious boast. It was St. Paul's glory to put into practice this knowl-edge. "God forbid that I should glory, save in .the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal. 6: 14). Crucified and dead and risen to a new life: "And I live, now not I: but Christ liveth in me. And that I live in' the flesh: I live in the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and deliv~red himself for me." (Gal. 2:20.) This is to be a fool for Christ and with Christ. But "the fool-ishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men . But the foolish things of the world hath God chosen, that he may confound the wise, and the weak 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 nought things that are." (I Cor. 1:25, 27, 28). The author of the Spiritual Exercises caught this spirit perfectly and put it into his Third Degree of Humility. "In order to imitate and be more actually 121 C. A. HERBST like Christ our Lord, I want and choose poverty with Christ poor rather than riches, opprobrium with Cbrlst replete with it rather than honors: and to desire to be rated as worthless and a fool for Christ, Who first was held as such, rather than wise or prudent in this world." He explains a little more at Iength in another place, "For as worldly men who follow the things of the world, love and with great diligence seek honors, reputation and the credit of a great name upon earth, as the world teaches them, so those who are advancing in spirit and seriously follow Christ our Lord, love and earnestly desire things which are altogether the contrary; that is, to be clothed with the same garment and with the livery of their Lord for His love and reverence; insomuch that if it could be without offense of the divine Majesty and without sin on the part of their' neighbor, they would wish td suffer [eproaches, slanders and injuries, and to be treated and accounted as fools (without at the same time giving any occasion for it), because they desire to imitate and resemble in some sort their Creator and Lord Jesus Christ, and to be clothed with His garments and livery, since He clothed HimseIf with the same for our greater spiritual good, and gave us an example that, in all things, as far as by the assistance of God's grace we can, we may seek to imitate and follow Him, seeing He is the true way that leads men to life." (Examen Generale, IV, 4.) A woman saint, too, of modern times, St. Margaret Mary, caught, lived, and expressed in her own simple but powerful and almost rapturous way the necessity of being conformed to Christ in His suffering life if one is to love Him perfectly. "Ah! I assure you," she writes, "that without the Blessed Sacrament and the cross I could not live, nor could I bear the length of my exile in this valley of tears, where I have never wished to see my sufferings diminish. The more overwhelmed my body was, the more my spirit rejoiced and was at liberty to be occupied with and united to my suffering Jesus, for I had no greater desire than to make of myself a true and perfect copy and representation of my Jesus Crucified." (.Autobiography, No. 86.) "He also inspired me with so ardent a desire to conform myself to His suffering life, that all I endured seemed to me as nothing. This made me redouble my penances, and, prostrating myself at times at the foot of my crucifix, I said: 'How happy should I be, O. my dear Saviour, if Thou wouldst imprint on me the likeness of Thy suf-ferings!' " (Ibid., No. 29.) He did notdo this, but "He asked me for my heart, which I begged Him to take. He did so and placed it in His own Adorable Heart where He showed it to me as a little atom 122 1950 CONFORMITY WITH CHRIST which was being consumed in this great furnace, and withdrawing it thence as a burning flame in the form of a heart, He restored it to the place whence He had taken it, saying to me: 'See, My well-beloved, I give thee a precious token of My love, having enclosed within thy side a little spark of its glowing flames, that it may serve thee for a heart and consume thee to the last moment of thy life . Although I have dosed the wound in thy side, the pain will always remain'." (Ibid., No. 53.) His very next words crowned this Cal-vary with glory: "If hithertO; thou hast taken only the name of My slave, I now give thee that of the beloved disciple of My Sacred Heart." Calvary must be crowned with glory. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (II Tim. 2:12) ; "If we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him" (Rom. 8: 17). "If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding great joy" (I Pet. 4: 13), "knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation" (II Cot. 1:7). Therefore I ought to count all things to be but loss "that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death" (Phil. 3:10). "For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8 : 18). For "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor bath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him" (I Cor. 2:9) by carrying the Cross and being fixed to it with Him. We should wish to be conformed with Christ in His suffering life out of worthy return love, because "He loved me and delivered Himself for me." Seeing Christ our Lord present and placed on the cross I ask myself: "What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I do for Christ?" Th~ least I ought to do is offer lovingly to Him "my sufferings of this day" that they may console Him in His and be made precious' by union with His. We can make no mistake in accepting and offering patiently, lovingly, joyfully even to God whatever He permits to come or sends into our life. To want to have the sufferings and hard things that coffee our way because we then have what Christ had is to practice the third degree of humility and high virtue. We give clearer expression to tl~e "I want what You had" by inflicting physical pain on our body for love of Christ, by practicing corporal penances. This is a posi-tive, courageous, and "energetic ,approach towards conformity with 123 C. A. HERBST my suffering Savior, who first chose to suffer physical pain for love of me. "He loved me, and delivered Himself for me." To be wretched and miserable when we are not suffering with our blessed Lord, to pray with St. Theresa of Avila "to suffer or to die," is to have reached the heights. Conformity with Christ in His suffering has been the great aim and end of the Saints because His passion and death were the great aim and end of Christ. From Paul nineteen hundred years ago, who exclaimed, "With Christ I am nailed to the cross," to our own day when Th~r~se of Lisieux offered her life a sacrifice of love and repara-tion to God, this has been true. It must be true for. me, too, now, today, in a little way, finally in the full measure of the saints when we have grown to their stature. Yes, this is for me, too. After twenty, or thirty, or forty years, perhaps, but still for me. Mean-while I can pray: "I beseech Thee, most sweet Lord Jesus Christ, grant that Thy passion may be to me a power by which I may be strengthened, protected, and defended. May Thy wounds be to me food and drink, by which I may be nourished, inebriated, and over-joyed. May the sprinkling of Thy Blood be to me an ablution for all my sins. May Thy death prove to me life everlasting, and Thy cross be to me an eternal glory. In these be my refreshment, my joy, my preservation, and sweetness of heart. Who livest and reignest world without end. Amen." (Roman Missal.) ATOMIC BROTHERHOOD CAMPAIGN The purpose ot: the Atomic Brotherhood Campaign, organized by the Franciscan Teaching Brothers of the Diocese of Brooklyn, is to secure the prayers of youth for the increase of vocations to the teaching Brotherhoods. Schools receive posters and pledge cards on which the boy or girl checks off a spiritual contribution. Prayers and devotions already common to Catholics are used. In return for this offering, each member is enrolled in the club membership and receives a card signed by the director of the movement and a card containing a prayer for one's choice of a state of life. Already some ~/0,000 children in elementary and high schools, as well as some college students, have made a spiritual contribution. Full particulars and supplies necessary to take part in the Atomic Brotherhood Cam-paign may be secured from: Brother Linus, O.S.F., St. Francis Mon-astery, 41 Butler St., Brooklyn 2, N.Y. 124 0t: :he I-loly Ghost: Who Proceeds As love Leo. A. Coressel, S.J. IN THE MASS of Pentecost Sunday we pray: "Come, 0 Holy Spirit, fill the hearts oi~ Thy faithful and kindle in them the fires of Tby love." In the sequence of the same Mass we salute the Holy Ghost under various titles: as Father of the poor, as Comforter, as the soul's delightful Guest, as Relief of us pilgrims, as Light of life. Tbis song o~ praise ends with the petition: Grant us in life The grace that In peace rnag die and ether be in jog before The face AlT2en.1 These truths recall to mind matters that we all too easily forget. We forget who the HoIy Ghost is and what we owe to Him, that He is God, that He is our sanctifier, our strength and joy in life and our reward after death. If once these realities were deeply embedded in our consciousness and appreciated they would give timely stimulation to spiritual progress and to zeal for souls. One way to quicken such a realization is to broaden the horizons of our knowledge of the Holy Ghost. This can be done by consid-ering the names by which He is known, Their meaning will unfold to us something of His nature and point to reasons for His activity as proposed to us in the Mass of Pentecost Sunday. The names by which the Third Person of the' Blessed Trinity is designated are many. Chief among them are the following: Holy, Spirit or Ghost, Love, Gift, Paraclete, Spirit of Truth. Less com-mon are: Bond or Union of the Father and Son, Living Fountain, Power of God, Seal, Ointment, Fire. We want to concern ourselves here with the names by which the Third Person is chiefly known. These names tell us of His nature and office. In this way they differ greatly from ordinary human names. For example, names like John, Elizabeth, and Mary have an entirely proper meaning, but as desig-nating definite, individual men and women, they tell us nothing of their personality traits and human qualities. It is far otherwise with the names of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. They not 1The Saint Andrew Daily Missal. 125 LEO A. CORESSEL Review/:or Religious only identify Him but also tell us much about Him. We have, perhaps, taken for granted the names by which the Third Person is known. As part of our Catholic inheritance they have been familiar to us since childhood. But we may quite frankly ask ourselves just why the Holy Ghost is so called, why He is called Love, Gift, and so on. Reverently done such a questioning attitude of mind will prove exceedingly fruitful. The First and Second Persons are called Father and Son because of their mutual relationship. The First Person is really and truly Father and the Second Person just. as really and truly is Son. The First Person begets the Second. The Father begets the Son in an eternal generation. This divine generation is more than a figure of speech. The Father truly begets. The Son is truly begotten. We should not regard earthly fatherhood as the real thing and the divine fatherhood as but the shadow of the great reality. The fullness of generation is predicated of God and only secondarily of creatures. As St. Paul says: "For this cause, then, I bend my knees to the Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named." (Eph. 3:14-15, Westminster Version. This version is also used in other Scripture quotations in this article.) We see now the reason why the Father and Son are so called. But why is the Third Person called Holy, Spirit, Love, Gift? We already recognize fatherhood and sonship from our own observa-tions. We know of human persons who are fathers and sons. But when we consider the Third Person we have no such guide to lead the way. We have, indeed, experienced love. We know the meaning of holiness and of spirit. The giving and the receiving of gifts are sources of joy. But we are not prepared beforehand for a person who is himself love, holiness, spirit, and gift. Such a person is out-side the range of our widest observhtions. He is beyond the realm of our natural knowledge. For these reasons the person of the Holy Ghost is more deeply obscure in the mysteries of faith than are the Father and the Son. The name by which the Third Person is most generally known is Holy Ghost. We may, then, begin with aft inquiry into the appropriateness of these two words as applied to the Third Person. The Father, as also the Son, is a spirit and is holy. Why, then, are these two words united and applied to the Third Person? St. Augus-tine tells us a reason: "Since the Holy Ghost is common to both, He Himself is called that properly which both are called in. common. For the Father is a spirit and the Son is a spirit: and the Father is 126 Ma~, 1950 OF THE HOLY GHOST holy .and the Son is holy." In other words, the Third Person is called Holy Spirit from the fact that proceeding from both Father and Son, He is called that which both have in common, namely, that they are holy and spirit. Another and a deeper reason why the Third Person is called Holy Spirit is found in the fact that He proceds from the Father and Son as Love. As this love, He is, first of all, rightly called Spirit, since the property of love is to move and impel; for example, love moves and impels the lover towards the beloved. But the word spirit also implies a certain impulse and movement. Hence He who proceeds as Love is rightly called Spirit. This is the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas. He says: "The name spirit in things cor-poreal seems to signify impulse and motion: for we call the breath and the wind by the term spirit. Now it is a property of love to move and impel the will of the lover toward the object loved.''2 The procession of the Third Person may be further illustrated from our own everyday experience. We.are conscious of breathing as a movement of air into and out of the lungs. We know, too, that the word breathing is used of vehement acts of the will. We say that a man breathes out' love or hatred. Think of expressions like lovers sighing like a furnace, Saul breathing out threats. If we apply this to God, we can readily see why the Third person is called Spirit. Proceeding as Love from the Father and Son the Third Per-son is breathed forth by them. The Father and Son breathe forth a Breath, a Spirit, a Divine Person, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. Thus as Spirit, as Breath of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit proceeds from them. This last illustration may be stated in another way. The love which one feels inwardly for a person or object is oftentimes extern-alized by a deep breathing or sigh, which is expressed in Latin by the word spiritus. The Father and Son express their infinite, eternal love for each other in a profound sigh' or breath, as it were. This breath is Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Third Person, God, coequal with the Father and Son. As is true of spirit so als0 holiness has a relation to love. The Third Person proceeds as Love. But love makes one holy; it orders one rightly to God. Hence the Third Person is called Holy. This reasoning will appear "weightier if we recall that holiness in God is 2Surnma Theologica 1,, q.36, a.1. Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. 127 LEO A. CORESSEL Review for Religious love of His own infinite being. The Third Person, then, who is possessed of infinite being, as are the Father and Son, and who is the expression of the infinite love of the Father and Son, is peculiarly called the Holy. The names by which the Third Person is most familiar to us are Holy and Spirit. But He is also called Gift. In the Acts of the Apostles (2:.38) we read: "Repent ye, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." The Third Person is not just a gift. He is the Gift, just as He is the Holy and the Spirit. When a gift is given, love is the impelling force. In fact, love itself is the greatest gift one can give another. Now the Third Person proceeds as Love from the Father and 'Son and has an apti-tude to be given to men. He is, then, rightly and properly called the Gift. In this sense He is spoken of in the Veni Creator Spiritus: Thou who art called the Paraclete Best gift of God above The living spring, the living fire Sweet unction and true love.z It will be noted that the three names of the Third Person examined so far, Holy, Spirit, Gift, all have a relation to love. It is by this title, Love, that He is especially distinguished from the Second Person. The Son proceeds by generation from the intellect of the Father.' The Holy Ghost proceeds in a mysterious way as Love from Father and Son. The word love is somewhat abstract, although its action and personification are very concrete to us. St. Paul personifies love when he says: "charity is patient, is kind; charity envieth not" (-I 'Cor. 13:4). But we are not now speaking of such a love. The Third Person is not love personified. He is Love personalized, a Divine Person. " All this is very strange to us. But we have an aid in our own mental processes to help us along the way. When one loves another, He has within himself love, an act of the will, frequently called an affection of the will. This affection may endure over a long period of time. But it also may be lost because of neglect. It may even be replaced by hatred. But when the Father and Son love each other there results a substantial love, one who is Love, a Person, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. We know this because each of the 3Translation from Roman Breviary, Benziger Brothers. 128 Ma~, 1950 OF THE HOLY GHOST Three Persons is God, because the Holy Ghost proceeds as a Person from the will of the Father and Son, and because the Fathers of the Church call the Third Person Love inasmuch as works of love are attributed to Him in Sacred Scripture. "And hope does not prove false, for the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5). Another important name of the Third Person is Spirit ot: Truth. He is so called in the Gospel of St. John: "And I will ask the Father and he shall give you another Advocate . the Spirit of Truth" (I4:16-17). The Holy Ghost is called Spirit of Truth for several reasons; because He proceeds from Truth, that is to say, the Word, the Second Person; because He is sent to announce the truth; and lastly because He is the substantial love of truth and leads men to love the truth. This title should make us more aware of the neces-sity of daily invoking the Holy Spirit. We stand in danger of falling victims to the deceits of the world. We are in need of having divine truths brought home to us. Our heaven-given guide can and will enlighten us. He will also inspire us with a love of the truth that we may be able clearly to discern the wisdom of God in the midst of all modern deceits. , Finally the Holy Ghost is called Paraclete or Advocate. An advocate is one who defends his client, who pleads for him. He is an intercessor, a helper, a counselor. The Holy Ghost is our Para-clete, our Advocate. He aids us in our weakness, He pleads for us, He intercedes for us. St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans (8:26- 27) says: "And in like manner the Spirit also beareth up our weak-ness. For we know not how we are to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself pleadeth in our behalf with unutterable groanings. And he. who searcheth hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, how he pleadeth before God in behalf of the saints." The Holy Ghost is also our helper: "And no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' save in the Holy Spirit" (I Cor. 12:3). The Holy Ghost is our counselor. He calls us to good and aids us in our endeavors. He gives joy in accomplishment. We have seen how the Third Person is revealed to us as Love, Holy, Spirit, Gift, Spirit of Truth, and Paraclete. These names give us a glimpse of His sublime personality. They disclose reasons for the various offices attributed to Him. Proceeding as Love, He is the Holy Ghost, intent on our sanctification, a work of very great love. As Love he is comforter, Father of the poor. As Love He is Gift, the soul's most delightful Guest. He is Spirit of Truth and Para- 129 LEO A. CORESSEL clete, guiding us along the paths ot: truth and holiness. For all these reasons we should love the Holy Ghost. We should try to bring Him more and more into our everyday conscious-nest, since we owe Him so much in life, in death, and in eternity. Since He is Holy, should we not strive to be holy? Since He is Spirit, should we not daily seekthe things of the spirit? Since He is Love, should we not ask Him to inflame our hearts with the purest love? He gives Himself to us as a Gift; then we should in return give our-selves entirely to him. He guides us in the ways of truth and grace; we should, therefore, be most grateful to him. We may w~ll try to have continually in our minds and hearts one of the thoughts of the sequence of the Mass of Pentecost Sunday: To Tb~ sweet ~toke our stiff necks bow, Warm with Tbq loue our hearts of snow, Our wandering feet recall.4 Summer Sessions (Continued from P. 118) Sisters of St. Francis, St.o Coletta School, Jefferson, Wisconsin. The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine will offer a special training course at the Catholic University of America from June 26 to August 5. The aim of the course is to prepare Sisters, Brothers, and seminarians for the various fields of the Confraternity program. ¯ The courses of study will be conducted by the Very Reverend Fran-cis 3. Connell, C.SS.R. ; Sister M. Rosalia, M.H.S.H. : and Miss Mir-iam Marks. The first course concerns doctrine; the second, methods of teaching; the third, the apostolate. Students must register for all three courses. For further information write to: The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Wash-ington 5, D.C. The Department of Education of Marquette University offers courses in moral and ascetical guidance. The ascetical course will be conducted by G. Augustine Ellard, S.J.; the moral course, by Gerald Kelly, S.J. These are graduate courses; enrollment is limited to Sis-ters. June 26 to August 4. For further information write to: The Registrar, Marquette University, 615 N. 1 l th St., Milwaukee 3, Wisconsin. The Religion Department of The Creight0n University offers: (Continued on P. 139) 4The Saint Andrew Daily Missal 130 Prac!:ical Applical:ion ot: Psychome!:rics Religious Lit:e Sister M. Digna, O.S.B. THE principles underlying the use of psychometrics in appraising applicants to religious life were discussed in a recent article.1 Although many communities do not hesitate to use the findings of the physician in determining the physical fitness of applicants to their congregations or orders, some religious are startled at the thought of utilizing the findings of psychological research in reference to religious vocations. Two recent studies2,3 indicate a new trend in the direction of establishing testing programs as one of the prelim-inary procedures for admission into the seminary and religious life. As communities employ testing techniques for diagnosing and asses-sing such factors as the intelligence, the personality, the interests, and the aptitudes of their candidates, they will discover that methods of therapy, amelioration, or control will bring about greater spiritual progress in their young religious. If the candidate enters religion from. purely supernatural motives, an objective ~self-analysis will eliminate much of the time often spent on self-scrutiny in trying to eradicate an overt fault that is rooted in a personality defect. With a better understanding of her own weaknesses and strengths, a young religious may approach the entire problem of self-improvement more intelligently. She will devote less time to self and more to God. Test results may be helpful in hastening the development of the super-natural life of the candidate, if admitted, and in screening out those who may be unfit for religious life. This report attempts to illus-trate in a concrete manner some of the predictive aspects of tests for ascertaining the possible adjustment or non-adjustment of applicants to religious life. Ordinarily the adjusted person is one who can adapt reasonably 1Sister M. Digna. "That God's Will Be Known." REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, VIII, (,July 15, 1949), 201-207. -°Thomas J. McCarthy, "Personality Traits of Seminarians." Studies in Psycholoog and Psgchiatrg from the Catholic Unioersitg of America, V, (June, 1942), 1-46. 3Sister Richarda Peters, O.S.B., "A Study of the Intercorrelations of Personality Traits among a Group of Novices in Religious Communities," Studies in Psgchol-ogg and Psgchiatrg from the Catholic Uniuersitg of America, V, (December, 1942) 1-38. 131 SISTER M. Review t'or Religlous well to any reasonably adequate situation. Father Curran,4 who supports or at least bases his interpretation of adjustment on St. Thomas, says, in part, that adjustment does not mean merely compromising or coming to terms with problems but delving into the nature of reality. In other words, adjustment implies self-knowledge. To support the proposition that psychometrics can be used in detecting factors that will predict the future adjustment to life in religion, a group of high school and college records of individuals who later entered religion were examined. The results of intelli-gence tests and personality ratings were used to classify these young women into three groups: those who could be predicted to adjust well to religious life; those who could be predicted to adjust but with some difficulty: and those who would very likely not adjust. Later, the major superiors who were well acquainted with the subjects sub-stantiated the classification in all but one instance. The American Council on Education Psychological Examina-tion (ACE) had been administered to all these high school seniors and college freshmen. The American Council on Education Psycho-logical Examination is designed to measure the type of ability required for most college curricula. Although not all prospective subjects for religious life must necessarily be mentally equipped to do college work, the scores do show roughly more about the mental alertness of the individual than could be ascertained in a personal interview; and a low ranking percentile score would indicate that the mental ability of the individual should be appraised more specifically by administrating some general mental ability test. However, since the American Council Examination is considered by most authorities as a reliable index of intelligence, these scores were used to study the correlation between in.telligence and adjustment to religious life. While the correlation was reasonably high, it was not perfect, for several young women who were evidently very intelligent had failed later to make satisfactory adjustments. In these cases personality factors entered the picture. Sister Richarda Peters, O.S.B.,5 came to the same conclusion in her analysis of a group of novices in religious communities. She writes that cognitive ability (intelligence) showed no consistent relationship with the absence of undesirable traits. Evidently, high intelligence is no guarantee that the individual has no 4Charles A. Curran. Personality Factors in Counseling. (New York: Grune and Stratton, 1945), pp. 260-264. 50p. cir., p. 28. 132 May, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS undesirable personality traits. Whether high, average, or low intelligence plays an important or a not too important part in the adjustment of individuals to life in religion, personality factors do explain many of the maladjustments in that state. Frequently, several factors contribute in precipitating a certain disorder of personality or behavior, any one of which can be credited as the last straw that broke the cameI's back. After all, it is the combination of several elements--familial, physical, psychological, and social--that relates to behavior disturbances' and influences adjustment to life and particularly to religious life. The four methods of evaluating or measuring personality charac-teristics generally employed are rating scales, intensive inter'iiewing,. anecdotal records, and paper and pencil tests. The paper and pencil tests will yield surprisingly good results, for many of the questions: on the test could have been asked in a long oral interview. Common' sense should operate in determining the purpose of the ratings, for no single test can be diagnostic of the total personality. Certain. inconsistencies of scores should be checked by retesting, preferably with a comparable form or another valid personality test. That personality tests are useful for discovering maladjustments in religious life has been noted in a research conducted by Thomas J. McCarthy~ on "Personality Traits of Seminarians." His study was not inter-preted in a predictive sense for screening or counseling, but was carried on with the hope "that such an investigation would be of help later on in developing an effective personality testing program.''r In the present report, the results of the Minnesota Personality Scale were used in studying the personalities of those Who later entered religious life. The Minnesota Personality Scale, while not so well-known nor so highly recommended as the Minnesota Multi-phasic Personality Inventory, the Bernreuter Personality Inventory, or the Bell Adjustment Inventory, is easily administered and is not too difficult to interpret. The scale is subdivided into five categories: morale, social adjustment, home and family relations, emotionality, and economic conservatism. Typical cases will be used here to indi-cate some of the possibilities of personality scales as a means of better understanding the individuals who desire to enter religious life. Where results of Strong's "Vocational Interests Blank" were avail-able, these findings were also included. The data on Student I who became Sister I was appraised. Every- 6Op. cit. rlbid., p. 1. 133 SISTER M. DIGNA thing pointed to an excellent adjustment in community life. The student ranked in the upper one-third of all college students who took the American Council on Education Psychological Test (ACE) throughout the countr)L The information from a questionnaire that Student I filled out as a freshman showed that. she was one of a large family in a good Catholic home. The other children in the.family had attended colleges and universities. Her schooling had been entirely Catholic. Her percentile score for morale on the Minnesota Personality Scale" indicated a wholesome attitude toward the Church, school, and government. Her social adjustment .percentile showed her to be reasonably gregarious and socially mature. The percentile score in the area of family relations was just on the borderline between good and bad: hence it needed interpretation. Here the data on the freshman questionnaire supplemented the results of the tests. From this data it was obvious that Student I had been wisely helped by her parents and older brothers and sisters to achieve a rather early emancipation from overdependence on her home and family. The student has no feelings of .rejection or insecurity, for her autobiogra-phy showed that her family life was contented, co-operative, and very happy. Her emotionality score indicated that she was emo-tionally stable and self-possessed. Her economic attitude was con-servative. Since this' student had taken the Strong's "Vocational Interest Blank," the data on her vocational interests were in the files. The basic interest types for Strong's Blank for women are five: (1) tech-nical, including interests paralleling those of dentist, physician, teacher of mathematics, and teacher of the physical sciences; (2) verbal or linguistic, embracing author, librarian, and artist: (3) business contacts, with interests in fields patterning those of life insurance saleswomen; (4) welfare, including the interests of those successful in teaching social sciences, lawydr, personnel worker, social worker; and (5) non-professional interests, as general office worker, nurse, stenographer-secretary, and housewife. The interests are further divided into primary pattern where the interest type shows a pre-ponderance of A- and B-plus scores on the specific occupat.ional keys: the secondary pattern is the interest type within which there are more B-plus and B-minus scores. Student I's primary interest pattern was in the area of authorship and teaching of English and social work. She possessed a high score in femininity, indicating that her interests were largely feminine in nature. It may be argued that much of this information about a well- 134 May, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS adjusted girl would be self-evident and that tests, personality scales, questionnaires, and interest blanl~s were simply a waste of time. This example is used to illustrate that tests do have predictive value whether for reinforcing evidence at hand, or for detecting qualities. not so obvious. Student II, now Sister 2, was characterized also by her major superiors as "well-adjusted." Her intelligence score placed her in the lower third of the college freshmen group. Her profile on the Min-nesota Personality Scale showed her morale to be exceptionally high. One may predict, however, that an individual with a score as high as 'hers would likely take a naive and unquestioning attitude toward life; consequently, for her, obedience rarely will be ditScult. Her problem and that of her superiors will be to raise to a supernatural level her purely natural inclination to do what others command. Her social adjustment indicated a fair degree of socialization. This score, too, needs further interpretation. As an only child she was largely dependent upon her father for companionship, her social contacts with those of her own age were limited. Her high score in the area of family relations suggests overdependence on her family; in this case, on her father. In the area of emotionality, a score placing her in the "upper third of the group reveals that she. is emotionally stable a.nd self-poss~ssed. The results of the Strong's Interest Blank were available. A summary of the ratings demonstrates that Student II had primary patterns in three fields; namely, welfare work including social work, social science teaching, personnel, and law; the technical field as den-tistry, teaching of mathematics, and physician; and a third area, business. She had ~/ very low femininity score, signifying that her interests approximated those generally ascribed to men. Here the influence of close association with her father is observed. One of her expressed interests was that of music, but music fell into a ter-tiary pattern. In vocational guidance work, the counselor would encourage her to use music as a hobby and enter some other field more closely related to her primary interests. With her natural tendency to acquiesce to the wishes of her superiors, she may be able to adjust without resulting tensions to any work for. which she has aptitude. For Sister 2, if one were interested in test findings as a means of assisting young religious to adjust to the active part of their life, it might be advisable to retest her to ascertain whether or not any change of interests has occurred because of her close association with women. 135 SISTER M. DIGNA Review for Religious Sister 3, who was formerly Student III, is an example of how high intelligence and wise direction has resulted in a well-adjusted religious who definitely was faced with a serious fam!ly problem. With an ACE score that ranked her very high among college fresh-men, Sister 3 had both the spiritual outlook and the necessary in-sight tO give her a clear understanding of her problem. The Min-nesota Personality Scale indicated that her total score in the area of home and family relations placed her in the lower fourth percentile. This was very low. However, her other scores showed that she was socially apt and rather emotionally stable. She had developed spir-itual insights rather rare in students because she had spent her high school years under the guidance of a good spiritual director. With her natural qualifications and her confidence in God, Sister 3 is a good example of an individual who overcomes obstacles to the serenity and peace so essential to religious life. To illustrate further th'e possibilities of test results as one means for insuring a better adjustment, the records of Student IV, now Sister 4, were evaluated. This student had an unusually high score on the American Council Psychological Examination. She belonged. to a good Catholic family of five or six children. Her profile per-centiles on the personality test were: morale, very high; social rela-tions, low; family and home relations, high; and emotionality, very low. Her emotionality score in this profile may indicate that Sister 4 will need wise guidance and warm understanding. Her low average in social relations coupled with a low score in emotionality demon-strates inner tensions which may be due to a sense of inferiority or to an inclination to scrupulosity. An adequate analysis of the problem, the conflict, or the complex (be it a sense of inferiority, scrupulosity, or work dissatisfaction) will often ~eveal satisfactory courses of action for dealing with it. In young religious, it is important that faulty emotional s'tates do not become fixed. Usually such fac-tors are not rectified easily in middle life, but ordinarily these prob-lems can be corrected in young people. Hence in the case of this Sister some definite follow-up testing may be required, unless supe-riors have considerable time to devote to Sister 4 in order to help her overcome some rather dangerous natural tendencies and to supplant them with the supernatural motives of humility, confidence in God, and obedience" to spiritual directors. How do test results aid in such instances? They point out emotional states that .perhaps a gay exterior hides very successfully, and this very attempt to inhibit worries and anxieties should be avoided. 136 Mag, 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS Student V, or Sister 5, ranked in the lower one-third of the psy-chological examination. The personality profile would lead one to predict that this young woman would have considerable difficulty in adjusting as her score in the area of social relations was very low, implying that she is socially inept and is undersocialized with feelings of inferiority. In religion, she may be characterized as "unworldly" whereas she is definitely anti-social. Undoubtedly, religious life will be a decided asset in helping this Sister to overcome her sense of inferiority and social ineptness if she is helped to under-stand that her attitude toward externs is not necessarily a virtue but a personality defect. By working with this young woman, a supe-rior or another Sister may help her to see the introverted tendencies, not as commendable virtues, but as personality defects. Unworldli-hess should be based upon the supernatural life and not upon per-sonality disorders. The next four sets of records concern young women who entered religious life, but either withdrew or were asked to withdraw. The test results, if these had been used in a predictive manner, might have been means of guarding communities against accepting applicants who were very likely unable to adjust. Two of these young women might have been directed into other communities where their adjust-ment might have been more easily made. The profiles of Students VI and VII might have been interpreted to predict a poor adjustment or none at all. The score on the psychological examination of Student VI placed her in the lower five per cent of the high-school graduates who were going to college. This student would have had a difficult task in getting admitted into any college. Her scores on the Minnesota Personality Scale were as follows: morale, zero; social relations, low; home and family relations, very low; emotionality, very low; and economic conservatism, exceptionally low. Her low morale pre-dicted that superiors would have a difficult time to help her achieve a spiritual outlook on obedience. The fact that her intelligence was low would explain an additional difficulty--she would be incapable of any deep insight into her own personal limitations. The score in the area of family relations suggests that her home life had been unhappy. Superiors will need to scrutinize and to watch the motives of any candidate whose home life has been entirely unhappy, as the applicant, though totally unconscious of it herself, may be using religious life as an escape mechanism. The emotionality score would predict that this young woman will need the help of a psychiatrist in 137 SISTER M. DIGNA Reoieu~ ~or Religious adapting herself to normal living in the world let alone within con-ventual wails. Her low score in the area of economic conservatism indicates that she has pronounced tendencies toward a radical way of life. One may say that since this student was not very intelligent, she was unable to understand the test questions and, consequently, the results may be spurious. Even were that true, then the objection could be raised that that in itself would be sufficient reason for rejecting her since she would be unable to comprehend the duties and responsibilities of religious life. Her test score, however, indicated that sloe would fall among the low average of the total population, which is not an indication that she was a moron. Low average intelligence is no barrier to getting along in the world, and it may not be so for the convent; but supplemented by her personality traits, it would be a poor hazard for religious communities to accept an applicant whose intelligenc.e and personality traits were similar to that of Student VI's. Student VII entered the candidature of a community, but she remained there only a short time. From her personality test, one might have predicted a difficult adjustment because of her person-ality traits. Although her intelligence score ranked her in the upper fifty per cent of college students, or average, her personality profile showed that she would have difficulty. Both the scores attained in morale and social adjustment were very low: her family relations were average; her emotionality was also very low, and her economic conservatism was low. The prediction based on these results would be that the probability of Student VII adjusting to any community life is very slight. Two students who entered religious life without persevering might be representative of applicants seeking admission into the wrong type of community. Both young women had intelligence scores which ranked them in the upper third of the college freshmen in the country. The personality profile of one followed this pattern: morale, very high; social adjustment, average; family relations, very low; and emotionality, very high. This applicant may have had potentialities for developing into a good religious if her motives for entrance were 'supernatural, but the low score in family relations stresses the fact that unhappy home conditions may have exerted ~ressure in sending this girl into the convent. Apparently, she never revealed the home conflict to any one, but instead compensated by creating a fantastic family life for herself. Her overdrawn picture of her home led superiors and companions to question the honesty of 138 Mar , 1950 PSYCHOMETRICS the girl. She was asked to withdraw. The other student also ranked in the upper third of those tested throughout the country on ¯ the ACE. Her personality profile pointed to very high scores in all are'as; morale, social adjustment, family relations, emotionality, and economic conservatism. One may conclude that her high social score suggests that she does not like to be alone, or, more serious in its implications for religious life, that she may be flighty and unstable. ¯ If she is one who is definitely the extrovert type and wishes to con-secrate herself to God, she might be directed to an active order rather than to a community that emphasizes the contemplative life. This student, who withdrew from religious life of her own accord, still feels she has a vocation. This attempt to illustrate the predictive possibilities of psy-chometrics in a program for the recruitment and training of subjects for religious life is necessarily only exploratory in nature. If com-munities would develop even. a very simple testing program and exchange their findings, it might be possible at some future date to devise a definite type of measuring instrument to assess personalities, attitudes, and interests in terms of fitness for religious life. First, however, a certain antagonism which exists against the use of tests needs to be broken down. " Then communities may need to train one or more of their personnel in the construction and use of tests. The barrier is not insurmountable, for'a simple in-service program for those who are now responsible for the admission, retention, and training of young religious can be established. In a short time com-munities may discover further possibilities in the use of psycho-metrics, not as an only means, but as one aid for screening and devel-oping religious. A thorough understanding of the factors that make for better adjustment in religious life may pay off spiritual dividends that will insure better adjusted religious seeking God through self-purification and through work and prayer. "Summer Sessions (Continued from P. 130) Divine Revelation, by Leo A. Coressel, S.3.; and The Church of Christ, by Ph'ilip T. Derrig, S.3. Session will also include institutes on: Remedial Reading, Guidance Program, and Communication Skills. ,June 9 to August 3. For further information write to: Director of Summer Session, The Creighton University, Omaha 2, Nebraska. 139 Lay Religious and !:he Laws ot: Bishops on Cont:ession Joseph F. Gallen, S.J. ALL RELIGIOUS realize that they are subject to the universal laws of the Church enacted for religious. These laws are found in the Code of Canon Law and also in the instructions, decrees, and replies that have emanated from the Holy See since the promulgation of the Code.1 Religious are also subject to the local Ordinaries to the extent determined by canon law (canon 500, § 1). The local Ordinaries may exercise their authority over religious not only by particular directions or precepts but also by law. Subjection to a law creates also an obligation of acquiring a knowledge of the law, and this obligation is especially incumbent on religious superiors. The laws of the local Ordinaries are called particular laws, since their obligation is usually restricted to a partic.ular territory. The universal laws of the Code are of obligation everywhere for the Latin Church. These particular laws may be enacted by the individual Ordinary for his diocese or by many Ordinaries united in a council. In the United States the laws of the Second and Third Plenary Councils of Baltimore are of obligation in the entire country.2 The bishops of a particular ecclesiastical province may also unite in a provincial council and legislate for all the dioceses of the province. In a diocese the sole legislator is the bishop, who may make his laws in a synod or outside the time of a synod. About eighty dioceses of the United States have modern and printed diocesan legis-lation, published in book form and "obtainable from the respective chanceries. These diocesan statutes are almost universally in Latin, but an English translation, at least of the principal articles, is some-times appended. The purpose of this article is. to give Brothers, nuns, and Sisters an idea of the types of laws concerning confession of 1The practical way of studying such documents published to the end of 1948 is from T. L. Bouscaren, S.J., The Canon Law Digest, 2 vols. and 1948 Supplement (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company). Later documents can be found in ecclesiastical periodicals. 2Acta et Decreta Concilii Plenarii Baltimorensis II. (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1868). Acta et Decreta Concilii Plenarii Baltimorensis III. (Baltimore: John Murphy, 1886). 140 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF I~ISHOP£ the various dioceses and councils of this country that have been estab-lished for them or are of practical interest to them. I. General Norms Bishops promulgate their laws in the diocesan synod, the diocesan newspaper, at the conferences or retreats of priests, in pastoral letters, in the diocesan ordo, and in circular letters. From the very nature of law, the bishop wills that religious obtain a knowledge of any law that he has enacted for them. This is the reason for the common precept of diocesan statutes that the faithful are to be instructed in all diocesan laws that affect the laity. Some diocesan statutes explic-itly command all religious of both sexes to acquire a satisfactory knowledge of both the universal and the particular law concerning religious.3 It has also been established in a few dioceses that supe-riors are to have the laws and letters of the Ordinary that affect religious read publicly4 or explaineds in the religious houses. Reli-gious houses should thus possess either the complete diocesan statutes: or a list of at least the statutes that affect religious. Every religious house should also have a file under the beading of the diocese or the. local Ordinary. In this file all letters of the Ordinary that are in any way legislative in character should be preserved. Precepts or instruc-tions of a permanent nature given orally by the Ordinary should be reduced to writing and enclosed in the same file. This will help to. prevent the misunderstanding that is always a danger in. a mere oral expression of law, precept, or instruction, and it will also place this necessary knowledge at the disposal of future superiors. One or two. dioceses have commanded that all public documents concerning the relations between the diocese and the religious should be shown to the local Ordinary at the quinquennial visitation.6 II. Ordinar~t Confessors (canon 520, § I) Canon 520, § 1 commands that an ordinary confessor be appointed for.every house of religious women. Relying on a reply of the Holy See given before the Code of Canon Law, some authors have held that there is no obligation of appointing an ordinary con-fessor for small houses that number less than six Sisters. This is 3Fargo 158; Acta et Decreta Concilii Provincialis Portlandensis in Oregon Quarti 171. The councils and dioceses cited in this and the following footnotes are in-tended as examples, not as a complete enumeration. Unless otherwise indicated the numbers with regard to councils and dioceses always refer to paragraph numbers. 4Fargo 155; Port. Ore. Prov. 169; Trenton 108. SPort. Ore. Prov. 7: Richmond 69. 6port. Ore. Prov. 170: Trenton 109. 141 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reuiew [or Religious contrary to the better interpretation of the canon, since it is not in accord with the general wording of the canon nor with private inter-pretations given by the Holy See. The consequences of such a doctrine are also not desirable. Such small convents constitute a sizable fraction of the communities of a diocese. These convents are at least very frequently located in small and isolated towns, wh~re the only priest is the pastor. The pastor, since he exercises authority over the parish school and is well known to the Sisters, is not a desirable priest as confessor. The isolated location of so many of these communities would make the approach to another confessor most difficult. The evident intent of the Code is to give Sisters as much liberty and facility for confession as possible, but the opinion stated above would give many communities of Sisters almost no liberty or facility for confession. The Bishop of Belleville explic-itly states in his law that ordinary confessors must also be appointed for small houses.7 III. Obligations of Ordinary and Extraordinary Confessors (canons 520, § 1 and 521, § I) Diocesan law universally and insistently inculcates the obliga-tions of ordinary and extraordinary confessors of Brothers, nuns, and Sisters. The bishops demand that all ordinary confessors hear the confessions of tbelr communities once a week, on a suitable day and hour, agreed upon with the superior. One diocese has enacted that the ordinary confessor must never allow a second week to pass with-out hearing the confessions of the community to which be has been assigned,s The laws of another diocese oblige the ordinary confessor of religious women to report to the Ordinary if, for any cause, he has not fulfilled his duties for one month.9 At least two bishops state that wilful neglect of this duty can constitute serious matter.1° The following law is especially practical and opportune: "The ordinaries [i. e. ordinary confessors] of the Sisters are exhorted to be most zealous and self-sacrificing in giving ample opportunity to the Sis-ters, especially to those in isolated localities, of going to confes-sion.' ul The failure of the ordinary confessor to appear in convents in isolated localities causes an almost insoluble difficulty. The canonical solution is that the superioress should summon one of the supplementary confessors, but very few dioceses either in their statutes 7Belleville 34. 8Des Moines 81. 9Toledo 79. 10Davenport 32; Nashville 92. 11Davenport 32: Nashville 92: Owensboro 47. The italics in this and subsequent citations are mine. 142 Ma~t, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS or diocesan faculties have appointed supplementary confessors. The extraordinary confessor may reside at a great distance, and the reli-gious are rightfully hesitant to call on him constantly. The next effort at a solution is for the superioress to make the use of occa-sional confessors as easy as possible, but the very nature of an iso-lated community reduces this solution to legal theory. The pastor is at least very frequently the only priest in the place,.and the work of the Sisters and the isolation of the town may make travel to another town a practical impossibility. It is also true that places at no great distance from large cities can be practically isolated. Equal fidelity is imposed by diocesan law on the extraordinary confessors, who are to perform their duties four times a year, prefer-ably during the Ember weeks. The bishops emphasize that confessors of religious are to fulfill their duties with a conscientious regard for the direction of souls towards the higher life of christian perfection. As means to this end diocesan law quite generally commands the ordinary and extraordi-nary confessors of religious to devote themselves intensively to the study of moral, ascetical, and mystical theology, of the common law of the Code concerning religious, and of the constitutions of the par-ticular institute.12 A careful reading of the canons on religious will show that very few of them directly affect the daily lives of religious. The obligation of these laws is usually incumbent on stiperiors. Modern constitutions also do not give many norms of the spiritual life. In the present practice of the Holy See constitutions are com-posed in great part of canons and other legal articles that the Sacred Congregation of Religious demands. It will, therefore, be oftentimes much more practical for the confessor to study the spiritual directory, ~scetical summary, or custom book of the institute rather than its constitutions. An exaggerated idea of secrecy must not prevent the superior from giving these books to the confessor. IV. Special Ordinary Confessors (canons 520, § 2; 528) The Bishop of Wheeiing states very clearly the sane norm of 12Confessors will find the following books helpful for a study of the laws that gov-ern lay institutes: IDom Pierre Bastien, O.S.B., Directoire Canoniqt~e a l'usage des Congregations ~ Voeux Simples (Bruges: Ch. Beyaert, 4th edition, 1933): Creu-sen- Ellis, Religious Men and Women in the Code (Milwaukee: The Bruce Pub-lishing Company, 3rd English edition, 1940); Rev. Fintan Geser, O.S.B., The Canon Law Governim3 Communities of Sisters (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1938) : Rev. Bernard Acken, S.3., A Handbook for Sisters (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1931). Bastien is especially helpful, since he also treats the legal articles that originate from the practice of the Sacred Congregation of Religious. 143 ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN Reoiew ~Cor Religious conduct in this respect: "All Religious are admonished to use this privilege of requesting a special confessor only for their spiritual good and greater progress in religious virtues, apart from all human con-siderations. Should a special confessor perceive that there is no need of him, let him dismiss the Religious prudently."'13 The special con-fessor himself 'is in the best position to judge whether his work is necessary or proportionately useful. He should observe the prudent norm of the law quoted above also at the time that the religious asks him to be a special confessor. It is frequently possible for a priest to realize at the time of the petition that the particular religious will not profit by having a special confessor. It is even possible to encounter a religious who asks for a special confessor and yet has no idea of the purpose of such a confessor. It is not unknown for a reli-gious to be under the impression that all religious should have a spe-cial director. Even priests can be imbued with the same principle. Spiritual books and maxims can be misunderstood in this matter. V. Supplementarg Confessors (canon 521, § 2) Canon 521, § 2 commands the local Ordinaries to appoint at least two supplementary confessors available for each convent of reli-gious v~omen in their dioceses. These confessors may be summoned in particular cases for one or more Sisters or even for the entire com-munity, for example, in the absence of the ordinary confessor. The extraordinary confessor of the commuhity is always to be considered also a supplementary confessor. As has been stated above, very few dioceses mention the supplementary confessors either in their statutes or diocesan faculties, but their appointment can be and oftentimes is made by other means.In some dioceses all the pastors as well as all ordinary and extraordinary confessors of religious women are the supplementaries for all convents of the diocese.14 Harrisburg assigns this office to all pastors of the episcopal city and of each deanery for the religious women of that particular district.~s Other dioceses men-tion that the supplementaries will be announced in opportune time by the 10ca1 Ordinary.~6 VI. Occasional Confessors of Religious Women (canon 522) Sisters are well aware that, for peace of conscience, they may go to confession in any legitimately designated place to any confessor ~3Wheeling p. 52. ~4Buffalo, Dubuque, Peoria, Pueblo. The diocese of Des Moines has the same but excludes the pastor. 15Harrisburg 27. 16port. Ore. Prov. 188: Trenton 112. 144 ' Ma~ , 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS approved for women. Diocesan law usually merely reaffirms the canon in this matter. However, there is a reminder that the right given by canon 522 does not free anyone from the observance of. religious discipline.17 VII. Place for the Confessions of Religious Women (canons 522, 909-910) The Code of Canon Law prescribes that the confessional for Sisters should ordinarily be placed in their chapel and that their con-fessions are not to be heard outside the confessional, except in case of sickness or real necessity, and with the observance of the precimtions prescribed by the local Ordinary. It is admitted that there can more readily be a justifying cause for placing the confessional of Sisters outside the chapel, for example, in the sacristy, a room adjoining the chapel, or some other convenient room. It is forbidden to hear the confessions of women and also of religious women outside of the con-fessional except for reason of sickness, weakness of old age, deafness, the probable danger of a sacrilegious confession or of seriou~ infamy, and for other reasons of like import. When a place is to be destined habitually for the confessions of Sisters, it should be designated by the authority of the local Ordinary or according to the norms that he has established. Diocesan law may command that it be designated by the local Ordinary.18 At such times as retreats it is frequently necessary to erect additional movable confessionals in the convents of Sisters, and practically always these confessionals are outside the chapel. " The designation of such temporary places of confession may be made by the superioress or the confessor. The Second Plenar~ Council of Baltimore~9 and diocesan law in general in the United States rigidly enforce the canonical prescriptions on the place for the confessions of women. One diocese has enacted a reserved suspension against confessors who violate these norms,2° and in some other dio-ceses a confessor is liable to a suspension for the same violation3~ For hearing confessions within the papal cloister of nuns of sol-emn vows the Holy See has prescribed the following precautions: "Two nuns shall accompany the confessor to the cell of the sick nun and shall wait there before the open door of the cell while the priest hears the confession, and accompany him again when he returns to IZ'Port. Ore. Prov. 183. ISSavannah-Atlanta 51. WConc. Plen. Bait. II, 295-296. 20Cheyenne I, 109, 115. 21Philadelphia 31: Pittsburgh 119, 1: Scranton 52, 2. 22Sacred Congregation of Religious, February 6, 1924. Cf. Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, I, p. 318. 145 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review/or Religious the monastery gate.''22 Some diocesan statutes also prescribe that the door is to be left op.en while the .confession of any sick woman is being heard,va It is evident that the door is to be closed if there is any danger whatever of the confession being overheard. This excep-tion is also stated in diocesan law. The emphasis on place with regard to the occasional confessor of religious women has caused at times the error that the legitimate place is required for the oaliditg of any confession of women or at least of religious women. Place as such is required only for the liceity of the confession. Therefore, the legitimate place is not required for valid-ity in the case of the ordinary, special ordinary, extraordinary, or supplementary confessors of religious women. The same is true of any confessor wbb already possesses special jurisdiction over the reli-gious woman whose confession be is to bear, for example, a retreat master. It is certain from a reply of the Code Commission that the legitimate place is required for the validity of confession to an occa-sional confessor of religious women, not by reason of ~itself, but simply because the Code has made it one of the two essential condi-tions for gi~;ing him jurisdiction over the religious woman whose confession be is to hear and which be otherwise lacks. Even in this case there will be little fear in practice of an invalid confession. If the confessor has even probably and according to his prudent judg-ment any of the reasons listed above that justify the hearing of the confessions of women outside of the place of the confessional, the confession will be certainly valid. VIII. Opportunitg [or Confession (canon 892) Diocesan law in general reaffirms canon 892, which obliges pas-tors and all priests who have the care of souls to hear the confessions of the faithful in their charge whenever they reasonably ask to be beard. The bishops state that there are to be fixed days for confes-sion, which are not necessarily to be confined to Saturday but are to include as many days as are necessary for the particular church.24 Other fixed days are the vigils of feasts and the day before First Fri-day. Several dioceses command that confessions be heard before Mass on Sundays, holydays, and First Fridays, but these confessions must not be permitted to delay the beginning of Mass. Confessions are also to be beard at the reasonable petition of the faithful outside of tbes~ fixed times. 23Buffalo 73; Pueblo 148. 24Cf. Conc. Plen. Balt. II, 291. 146 May, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS A second and sufficiently large class of diocesan statutes prescribes that confessions are to be heard before and even after daily Mass in the parish churches.2s It seems strange that diocesan law, which has granted the daily opportunity of confession t6 the very pious faithful who attend daily Mass, has not extended a similar facility to reli-gious. One diocese has given the daily opportunity of confession to religious.2~ This singularity is intensified by the fact that the basic reason for the greater opportunity of confession could ~not have been unknown to diocesan legislators. Cardinal Glennon stated in his statutes of 1929: "It is clearer than the noonday sun that our Holy Mother Church, in favoring the frequent reception of Holy Com-munion, by that very fact demands that the faithful be given a fre-quent opportunity of confession even on weekdays.''27 It will be of interest to study the documents of the Holy See con-cerning the greater opportunity to be giv.en to religious for confes-sion. The first pertinent document is the Code of Canon Law itself, which in canon 595, § 1, 3° does not say that religious are to be given the opportunity of confession once a week but at least once a weeh. Th~ second document is the Reserved Instruction on Daily Communion and Precautions to be taken against Abuses.2s The instruction opens with a general section, which applies also to reli-gious. In this section the Sacred Congregation first reaffirms the principle of Cardinal Glennon: "Together with frequent Commun-ion, frequent confession also must be promoted.''29 The Sacred Con-gregation then speaks of the daily opportunity of confession before Mass: " . . but that the faithful who live in communities should not only go to confession on stated days but should be free to go, without any remarks from their Superior, to a confessor of their own choice, and, what is especially important, that they should have the opportunity to mahe a confession also shortly before the time of Communion.''~° The text of these words shows evidently that they apply also to religious. In the very next paragraph the Holy See reaffirms the same principles: "Accordingly Pastors of souls must make every effort to provide in each community, according to the 25Belleville 111; Boston 75; Brooklyn 175: Charleston 95; Evansville 71; Gal-veston p. 34; Indianapolis 69: Lincoln p. 35; Natchez 128: Paterson 155: Trenton 173. 26Raleigh 54. 27St. Louis 75. 28Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, December 8, 1938. The complete English translation can be found in Bouscaren, Canon Law Digest, II, pp. 208-215. 29Instruction II~ 2: Bouscaren II, p. 210. 30Instruction, ibid.: Bouscaren, ibid. 147 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious number of members, one or two confessors to whom each one may freely go. They must keep in mind the rule that, where frequent and dail~l Communion is in vogue, frequent and dail~l opportunitg for sacramental confession as far as that is possible, must also be afforded."zl The last pertinent document is the new list of questions for the quinquennial report to the Holy See, where we find the question: "'Do Superiors diligentlq see to it that confessors be easil~l available before Communion . . . ?32 This question refers to all classes of reli-giotis institutes approved by the Holy See. The Sacred Congregation of Religious could not reasonably ask religious superiors whether they were providing confessors before Communion unless, in some sense at least, it was incumbent upon superiors to make such provision. The do.ctrine of more frequent opportunity for confession, con, sequent upon the instruction quoted above, is not unknown in can-onical commentaries. Thus one author states universally: "Wherever frequent or daily Communion is practiced, adequate opportunity for sacramental confession must be provided frequently, i. e. at least two or three times a week.''3~ This opinion was written before the pub-lication of the new questions of the quinquennial report added greater weight to the doctrine on frequent opportunity for confes-sion, at least with regard to religious. The following conclusions appear to be evident: 1) It is at least the desire of the Holy See that local Ordinaries and religious supe-riors provide, as far as they can conveniently do so, an opportunity for confession before daily Mass to religious, and especially to Brothers, nuns, and Sisters. The greater necessity with regard to lay institutes arises from the fact that confessors reside in the houses of clerical institutes. 2) As a general norm, the priest who says the daily Mass in houses of Brothers, nuns, and Sisters is the one to give this opportunity. It would be incredible that the Holy See did not realize that this priest is ordinarily the only confessor who can be in the religious house, with any convenience, at the time of daily Mass. 3) The instruction quoted above warrants a wide interpretation of canon 522, which treats of the occasional confessor of religious women. Such a confessor may not only enter the confessional before 31Instruction II, 2, a); Bouscaren, ibid. 32The List of Questions for Religious Institutes and Societies of Pontifical Right (Rome: Polyglot Printing Press, 1949), q. 85. 33J. N. Stadler, Frequent Holg Communion (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, Inc., 1947), p. 134. 148 May, 1950 by the confessor. 4) should provide at least tunity of confession. able. 5) The time of confessions. LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS daily Mass when he is requested to do so by the superior or one or more of the religious but he may himself spontaneously enter the confessional at this time.34 The daily opportunity of confession is at least a directive of the Holy See and may thus be licitly introduced The designation of the place for confession one place that is suitable for the daily oppor- The chapel will very frequently not be suit-the daily Mass should not be delayed by such The practice of the daily opportunity of confession must also be commended because of its intrinsic merit. Many religious will occa-sionally take advantage of the opportunity and there will be no rea-son whatever to notice the religious who believes that he must go to confession before Communion. Some very highly esteemed authors have advised eliminationof precedence in receiving Communion, that the abstention from Communion by a particular religious might not be noticedP5 If the daily opportunity of confession is given, there will be no need of abstention from Communion. Furthermore, the efficacy of the elimination of precedence for this purpose, at least in the United States, can be very seriousl3) doubted. A glance at the Catholic Directory reveals at once that by far the greatest number of " religious houses is composed of convents of Sisters. I believe it also safe to assert that about two-thirds of these convents contain fifteen or less Sisters. A study of the number in the convents of four large Eastern dioceses grouped together reveals that 68 per cent of the con-vents contain 15 or less Sisters, 50 per cent have less than 12, and 41 per cent have less than 10. Convent chapels are also usually small. The consequence is that no matter what place the Sister takes in chapel or what order is followed in receiving Communion, her abstention will be very noticeable in the greater number of convents. IX. Mone~ Offerings in the Confessional All confessors in the United States are forbidden by the Second Plenary Council of Baltimore to receive even voluntary money offerings of any nature and for any purpose, including Mass stipends, in the confessional.36 This law is quite generally reaffirmed in dio- 34Cf. Regatillo, lnstitutiones luris Canonici. I, n. 670 to the contrary with re~ard to liceity. ssCf. Bergh, Review for Religious, III (1944) 262-263: Creusen, ibid., VIII (1949) 89-90. ~r'Conc. Plen. Balt. II, 289. 149 JOSEPH F. GALLEN Review for Religious cesan statutes, which in some dioceses extend the prohibition to offerings made on the occasion of confession. The severity with which the Baltimbre law is urged is manifested by the fact that the" confessor who violates it is punished with a suspension in several dioceses.37 Religious, therefore, should not offer Mass stipends to a priest in the confessional. X. Interference in the Internal and External Government of an Institute of Religious Women (canon 524, §. 3) The prohibition of this interference by canon 524, § 3 directly affects only the ordinary and extraordinary confessors of nuns and Sisters. However, no one, unless properly delegated to do so, may assume or obstruct authority that is legitimately possessed by another. Therefore, from the very nature of the matter, this interference is forbidden to all, clergy or laity. Greater vigilance will be required from those whose office or duties render the transgressions of this pre-cept more possible, such as pastors, chaplains, the special ordinary and supplementary confessors, and retreat masters. The internal government is the authority proper to the superiors of a religious institute.Its object is the order of the day, community and spiritual exercises, the transfer and employments of subjects, permissions, dispensations in disciplinary matters, penances given by superiors, the observance of religious discipline, the admission to the postulancy, novitiate, professions, etc. By external government is meant the relation of the community to external superiors, that is, the Holy See, the local Ordinaries, and regular superiors in the case of nuns subject to regulars. This authority includes such matters as the erection and suppression of religious houses and tbe external activity of the institute. No priest or confessor should intrude his ;:lirections, counsels, and much less his commands in such matters. When asked he may give for the particular case the sense of the obligations of divine or ecclesi-astical law and he may also state what he thinks is the better, the more practical and prudent policy in a particular matter. He may not, however, authoritatively impose his will in these matters. For example, he may not command that the employment of a Sister be changed but he may advise her to ask the superior for such a chfinge. He may recommend a candidate for admission into an institute but he may not command that she be admitted. 37Altoona 41; Harrisburg 40, 1"; Philadelphia 32; Pittsburgh 118, 1"; Wheeling p. 32. 150 May, 1950 LAY RELIGIOUS AND LAWS OF BISHOPS The laws of the bishops of the United States manifest great interest in the protection of the internal government of religious institutes. The bishops adopt primarily a positive attitude by pre-scribing that all priests and especially pastors are, as far as possible, to aid religious in spiritual and temporal necessities and so to arrange matters that the religious may be able to live according to their rule.38 The bishops extend the' prohibition of the Code to all con-lessors, 39 priests?° and especially to chaplains41 and pastors.42 In some dioceses chaplains are-explicitly commanded to abstain scrupu-lously from all public judgment or criticism of the religious or of their actions.43 The avoidance of the appearance of interfering in internal, gov-ernment will oftentimes demand a very delicate and sensitive pru-dence from the confessor and especially from the chaplain. Sisters should aid and not obstruct priests in the fulfillment, of their obli-gation. It would be profitable for some religious to recall that they are obliged to fulfill not merely the directions of superiors of which they approve, that the directions of which they do not approve do not by that very fact constitute matter for appeal to the confessor or chaplain, that in the presentation of any grievance to a priest they use care to give not only the facts and arguments for themselves but also those against themselves, and, finally, if they repeat to others the advice of a priest, they are to use scrupulous care to repeat his advice accurately and completely. The priest in these matters is in a defenceless position. It is possible for a confessor or a priest to have some false prin-ciples in this matter. He should never verify the plaint of one mother general: "You would think that all confessors believed that all superioresses were always wrong." The presumption of the con-fessor should be that the superior is right; the contrary is to be proven. Otherwise he brings to the confessional a principle that is at least obstructive of authority. Sympathy for penitents is a most laudable and Christlike virtue in a confessor but it should not blind ¯ 38Fargo 160, 1; Lincoln p. 23; Natchez 275; New Orleans 275, 310; St. 30- seph 33. 39Fargo 160, 1; Indianapolis 46, 2: Los Angeles 64: Salt. Lake 47: San Fran-cisco 115; Savannah-Atlanta 50; Wheeling p. 53. 40Fort Wayne 158: Harrisburg 26: Los Angeles 64: Port. Ore. Prov. 179. 41Dubuque 68; Evansville 45: Fargo 137; Indianapolis 44: Nashville 68 (b); Omaha 104, 1"; Pueblo 68; San Francisco 108: Toledo 71. 42Fargo 160, 1: Nashville 68 (a) ; Salt Lake 47: San Francisco 115. 43Fargo 137; Omaha 104, 1". 151 ~OSEPH F. GALLEN him to the truth that a great many people are not good witnesses in a matter of self-interest. A very brief experience in the priesthood, if thoughtful, will reveal that personal difficulties have at least the tendency to focus the light on favorable facts and arguments and to leave in shadow and darkness the contrary facts and arguments. It is also to be presumed in matters of external conduct that superiors have a much more complete and accurate knowledge of the subject than the confessor. It is likewise to be realized that the discontented, insubordinate, and factious religious very frequently and eagerly seeks to ally priests to her cause. She does not always fail, and the accurate measure of her success is all too often and lamentably the consequent loss in religious discipline, unity, and obedience. Finally, the confessor must never forget that his primary norm is to direct a religious penitent to Christian perfection. If we take the example 6f a difficulty with a superior and suppose the confessor is certain that the superior is in error or even bad faith, the advice of the confessor should not always be to stand up for one's rights or to appeal the matter to a higher superior. The norm of perfection will very fre- quently be to submit to such an action of a superior at least with resignation; the higher degrees of perfection are to submit with glad-ness and joy, and even with desire. XI. Chaplains as Confessors (canon 522) Four or five dioceses forbid a chaplain to hear the confessions of the Sisters of the convent, unless he has the special jurisdiction requi-site for religious women. The sense of this prohibition must be that the chaplain is not to obt.rude on the duties and rights of the ordinary confessor, siiace canon law gives to any priest approved for the con-fessions of women the right of being validly and licitly the occa-sional confessor of any religious woman. Such a prohibition will also in practice not be in conformity with the daily opportunity for confession explained above. our CONTRIBUTORS RICHARD LEO HEPPLER is chaplain at the Novitiate of the Franciscan Broth-ers of Brooklyn. C. A. HERBST and LEO A. CORESSEL are members of the faculty of St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas. SISTER M. DIGNA is professor of psy-chology at the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, Minnesota. ,JOSEPH F. GALLEN is professor of canon law at Woodstock College, Woodstock, Maryland. 152 .uesUons and Answers .~13~ Our constitutions prescribe that the Little Office of the Blessed Virgln be recited in common every day. (I) Must the common recitation be in Latin7 (2) If one is absent from the common recitation, is one obliged to recite that part of the office privately? (3) May one who is obliged to recite the Little Office privately do so in English? (4) Must the external rubrics (lowering of the sleeves, prostrations, and the like) be observed when one says the Office by oneself? (1) Unless the constitutions prescribe otherwise, religious who are bound to the recitation 0f the Little Office by reason" of their con-stitutions only, may recite or chant the Little Office in common in the vernacular, provided an approved translation be used. (2) The obligation of reciting or chanting the Little Office imposed by the Constitutions per se rests on the community, not on the individual. Hence if a religious is absent from the common reci-tation of the Little Office he is not obliged to recite it privately unless the constitutions or custom require him to do so. (3) When the constitutions prescribe that the Little Office must be recited in common in Latin, those who are excused from the com-mon recitation but still obliged by the constitutions to recite it pri-vately may recite it in the vernacular unless the constitutions pre-scribe otherwise. (4) In the private recitation of the Little Office the rubrics (kneeling, st'anding, and the like) need not be observed--much less such customs as are mentioned by way of example in this question. We may add a word here about the requirements for gaining the indulgences attached to the recitation of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. (a) When the Little Office is recited publicly it must be recited in Latin in order to gain the indulgences. But when it is recited privately the indulgence may be gained for the recitation in th~ vernacular (S. Cong., Indulg., 28 aug., 1903). (b) The recitation of the Little 'Office of the Blessed Virgin is considered private (as far as indulgences are concerned) even though it is recited in common by a religious community, provided that it is recited within the walls of the religious house, or even in the church or public oratory with the doors closed (S. Cong. Indulg. 18 dec., 1906). Additional informa-tion regarding the Little Office may be found in an article entitled "The Little Office of Our Lady" in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, Jallu-ary 1947, p. 18. 153 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Review for Religiohs 14 In order to obtain the plenary indulcjence at the moment of death attached to the so-called "happy death" crucifixes, is it necessary that the dylncj person hold the crucifix in his hand, or is it sufficient that it be attached to his person in some other way? The answer to this question is contained in a declaration of the Sacred Penitentiary given June 23, 1929, in the following words: "Anyone of the faithful being at the point of death, who shall kiss such a blessed crucifix, even if it does not belong to him, or who shall touch it in any way, provided that having gone to confession and received Holy Communion, or if unable to do so, being at least con-trite, he shall have invoked the Most Holy Name of Jesus by pro-nouncing it if he could, or if not, by devoutly invoking it in his heart, and who shall patienffy accept death from the hand of God as the wages of sin, shall be able to gain a plenary indulgence." [Acta Apostolicae Sedis, 21 (1929), 510]. It may be helpful to our readers to recall that this indulgence for the dying is one of the few that may be gained ?or oneseff outside of Rome during the Holy Year of 1950. IS What is to be said of the policy of lay rellcjious superiors (Brothers and Sisters) who forbid their subjects to fast durincj Lent and at other times when the law of the Church prescribes fastincj? Several points need to be recalled before this question can be clearly and satisfactorily answered. 1. Theologians and canonists speak of tWoodifferent standards of fasting, absolute and relative. Both standards allow only one full meal a day (dinner), which may be taken about noon or in the eve-ning. This is the only meal at which meat is allowed. The differences between the two standards concern the other two meals, breakfast and lunch (supper). These differences are described as follows in Theological Studies, March, 1949, pp. 93-94: "According to the absolute norm, there is a fixed limit for these repasts, which limit applies to everyone. This limit has been tradi-tionally phrased in terms of two and eight ounces, but these are merely moral estimates, and it is certainly safe to describe the abso-lute norm as allowing 'two or three' ounces for breakfast and 'eight or ten' ounces for lunch. "The essence of the relative norm is that it allows to some.ektent for varying individual needs." Each one is allowed what he needs at 154 Mag, 1950 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS breakfast and lunch in order to preserve his health and do his work. However, even the most ardent proponents of this norm agree that it has some limit. They agree that the combined quantity of the two minor repasts must not equal a second full meal; and they usually agree that it should fall notably short of this quantity, for example, sixteen to twenty ounces. But it should be noted that they allow this quantity to be divided, according to individual needs, between the breakfast and supper; they do not set a hard and fast rule that allows only a meager breakfast. "Quantity is the primary difference between the absolute and relative norms, but not the only difference, particularly as regards breakfast. Though some explanations of the absolute norm are ~ather vague as to quality, it is rather commonly said that the break-fast is limited to 'bread and coffee or some other drink.' According to the relative standard, the only universal qualitative limit is that meat may not be taken at breakfast or lunch." 2. The law of fasting applies to all the faithful who have com-pleted their twenty-first year and who have not yet begun their six-tieth year. However, the law is not intended to impose an extra-ordinary hardship or to defeat a greater good; hence those who can-not fast without extraordinary hardship for themselves or others or without interfering with the duties of their state of life are excused from fasting. The very first number of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS (I, 42-46) contained a full explanation of these excusing causes, especially as they might apply to religious. .The canon law gives the power of dispensing from fasting to local ordinaries, pastors, and superiors of exempt clerical orders. Many other priests obtain the same power by delegation from one of these or from the Holy See. A dispensation may be given for any of the reasons usually assigned as excusing causes, and even for a less serious reason. But it may not be given without some good reason. Other priests besides those mentioned in the preceding paragraph cannot give a dispensation from fasting. But when they see that a person is really excused from fasting they may certainly tell him he is not obliged to fast. This may be done also by a prudent layman who knows both the law and the excusing causes. Hence lay reli-gious superiors (Brothers and Sisters) may certainly tell their sub-jects they are not bound to fast when they know that the subjects are excused. This is not an exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction; it is simply an unofficial declaration of an existing fact: namely, that an excusing cause is present. 155 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Retffeto for Religious Strictly speaking, there is no obligation to ask for a dispensation when one has a reasonable assurance, based on one's own judgment or on the decision of a competent adviser, that one is excused from fasting. It seems that some religious institutes have a rule or custom to the effect that subjects must always consult their confessors about fasting; but, apart from such special provisions, there seems to be no reason why the confessor must be consulted when one. has a clear excusing cause. 3. It should be obvious from what has been said that the abso-lute standard more readily admits of excuse than does the relative standard. For instance, it seems that comparatively few religious engaged in the active apostolate could fast regularly during Lent according to the absolute standard without hurting their health or their work; whereas a much larger number could safely fast according to the relative standard. Until a few years ago the dioceses of our country consistently enjoined the absolute standard; lately there has been a noticeably growing tendency to establish the relative standard. We presume that the question we have been asked to answer refers to conditions existing under the absolute standard of fasting; and our answer is based on that supposition. Now, to answer the question: A lay superior may make a pru-dent judgment that a subject is excused from fasting; and, granted this prudent judgment, he may counsel the subject not to fast. Moreover, the superior may even order the subject n~t to fast if an order is necessary. In this case the superior does not command the subject to.disobey the law of the Church; for in the supposition that an excusing cause exists the subject is not bound by the law. The superior may exercise this power of discretion and authority with regard to any subject who is excused from the law of fasting. Ordinarily, however, he should be content with counseling the sub-ject not to fast; the use of a command would seldom be advisable. Moreover, the superior should not act arbit[arily. It may be true that under the absolute standard of fasting the greater part of a com-munity would be excused from fasting, but this would not justify a policy of telling the whole community they are excused from fasting. Some religious can fast without harm to themselves or their work, and the superior has no right to tell them not to do so. The fact that the rigor of the absolute standard made it impos-sible for large numbers of religious to fast seems to have brought about a very undesirable condition in.some pla'ces. There is a ten-dency to look upon religious who do fast as "singular." This is a 156 May, 1950 sorry state of affairs in a religious house. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 16 I have read somewhere that laymen are forbidden to bless. Yet we d6 meet religious groups of nuns where the mother superior imparts a blessing fo her religious, e.cj. after an instruction or after giving a permission to cjo out. Would you kindly explain the nature and value of such a blessing? A distinction must be made between a public blessing, that is, ~ne given in the name of the Church by a duly authorized minister, and a prit, ate blessing, given in the name of the person who does the blessing. -Obviously only one who is a cleric is empowered to bless in the name of the Church. On the other hand there is nothing to forbid a parent to call down God's blessing on his child. That is what a lay religious, superior does when he blesses his subjects according to the directions of the constitutions or by custom. --17-- I have often come across a reference to Caussade, "Sacrament of the Present Moment." Could you tell me where I can find this treatise or book? Perhaps your readers would be interested in the substance of the idea, if it can be put in a few words. Caussade's idea of the "Sacrament of the Present Moment" is thus briefly explained by him in his Abandonment to Divine Provi-dence in Book I, Chapter I, Section II, p. 3: "There are remarkably few extraordinary characteristics in the outward events of the life,of the most holy Virgin, at least there are none recorded in holy Scripture. Her exterior life is represented as very ordinary and simple. She did and suffered the same things that anyone in a similar state of life might do or suffer. She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth as her other relatives did. She took shelter in a stable in consequence of her poverty. She returned to Nazareth from whence she had been driven by the persecution of Herod, and lived there with Jesus and Joseph, supporting themselves by the work of their hands. It was in this way that the holy family gained their daily bread. But what a divine nourishment Mary and Joseph received from this daily bread for the strengthening of their faith! It is like a sacrament to sanctify all their moments. What treasures of grace lie concealed in these moments filled, apparently, by the most ordinary events. That which is visible might happen to anyone, but the invisible, discerned by faith is no less than God operating very great things. O bread of angels! heavenly manna! pearl of the 157 BOOK NOTICES Review [or Religious Gospel! Sacrament of the present moment! thou givest God under a~ lowly a form as the manger, the hay, or the straw. And to whom dost thou give him? 'esurientes implevit bonis' (Luke 1, 53). God reveals himself to the humble under the most lowly forms, but the proud, attaching themselves entirely to that which is extrinsic, do not discover Him hidden beneath, and are sen.t empty away.'.' (English translation from tenth French Edition, by E. J. Strickland, The Catholic Records Press, Exeter, England, 1921). BOOK NOTICES LIFE AND MIRACLES OF ST. BENEDICT, by St. Gregory the Great, is now published in a new translation by Odo J. Zimmer-mann, O.S.B., and Benedict R. Avery, O.S.B. This excellent trans-lation of a little spiritual classic is the first to appear in twenty-five years. It is the second of the four books of Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church; and, apart from the famous Rule of St. Benedict, it is the only source we have for the life and character of the founder of Western monasticism. Tile trans-lators have succeeded in preserving the charming simplicity of St. Gregory's account, and the dialogue form gives the author an opportunity of making moral and doctrinal reflections on the miracu-lous events of Benedict's life. Gregory puts into the mouth of Peter, his deacon, questions we all would like to ask: "What an astounding miracle! . , . How is it possible for anyone to see the whole universe at a single glan.ce?" Then Gregory explains the wonderful vision of St. Benedict. This little treasure of spirituality, written primarily to encourage the Italian people in a time of war and devastation, contains an excellent and timely mess~ige for the world today. (Col-legeville, Minn.: St. John's Abbey Press, 1949. Pp, xv q- 87. $2.00 [cloth]; $.90 [paper].) I1qIGO DE LOYOLA, by Pedro Leturia, S.J., portrays the early life of Ifiigo, before he was wounded and converted and set on the jour-ney that led to his using the name of Ignatius and founding th~ Society of Jesus. The work is scholarly and scientific, not popular. The translator is A. J. Owen, S.J. (Syracuse, N. Y.: LeMoyn~ College Press, 1949. Pp, xiii ÷ 209. $4.50.) THE SPII~ITUAL LIFE OF THE PRIEST, by Father M. Eugene Boylan, O.C.R., is a collection of articles which originally appeared 158 May, 1950 BOOK NOTICES in The Priest. Purposely dir.ecting his essays to the American clergy, with American conditions in mind, and with his usual pru-dent and fearless approach, Father Boylan discusses several aspects of a priest's spiritual life in an unmistakably practical way. His pur-pose is to help the priest form an attitude of mind rather than to map out a program. "If that attitude is correct and sincere, and has its roots in a man's heart and in his convictions, he should not have over-much difficulty in planning his own spiritual life with the help of a competent adviser, and adapting his plan, without destroying it, to each set of circumstances." Worthy of special mention is the chapter on clerical celibacy. (Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1949. Pp. 161. $2.50.) SCALE THE HEIGHTS, by Canon Paul Marc (translated by Rev. Joseph A. Fredette), is a collection of brief, meditative essays written to inspire lay persons to seek for perfection. The subjects treated include the Mass, prayer, the use of time, the Blessed Virgin, the value of life. The simplicity and fervor with which the book is written cannot fail to impress the reader; at times, however, an over-charge of emotion mars the effectiveness of some of the chapters. Though written originally for the laity, religious will find the book helpful in appreciating the motives thatshould direct their lives. (New York: Frederick Pustet Co., 1949. Pp. xii + 236. $3.00.) The Church wants Catholics everywhere, even in mission areas, to study the history of the Church in their own locality. Up to now, the lack of a suitable textbook has been a hindrance to such study in the seminaries of the United States. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES, by Theodore Roemer, O.F.M.Cap., fills this need. At first sight, one would think the organization of the book most artificial, as each chapter covers a ten-year period. But the story r'eads with a sweep and without ever losing sight of the fact that Catholic history in the United States is just a tiny part of the larger story of the Church universal. (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Com-pany, 1950. Pp. viii + 444. $5.00.) FAIR AS THE MOON, by Father M. Oliver, O.Cist.R., is intended to portray "the sweet humanity of our mother." The author makes Our Lady imitable in every respect: as child, as young maiden, as a real mother. He reveals the too often neglected human side of Mary in such a way that it inspires a truly warm, personal love, and com-plements reverential love. (Dublin: M. H. Gill U Son, 1949. Pp. xi q- 235. 12s. 6d.) 159 BOOK NOTICES Reoieto /:or Religious Another book on Our Lady is MARY THE BLESSED THE BE-LOVED, by Father Timothy Harris. It presents in a succinct and readily understandable way the Church's teaching on the Blessed Virgin. A thorough reading of this book will help the ordinary person to grasp the dogmatic foundations of devotion to Our Lady and to disl~inguish what is of faith from what is mere opinion. Each chapter refers to some definite feast or liturgical season. For this reason the book should be useful for special readings about Mary, as well as for sermons and conferences on the occasion of Mary's feasts. (Dublin: Clonmore ~ Reynolds, Ltd., 1949. Pp. 119. 7s. 6d.) Among the latest competent and well-documented volumes that describe the development of individual religious congregations of women are Sister Mary Borromeo Brown's HISTORY OF THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE OF ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS, Volume I (New York: Benziger Brothers, 1949. Pp. xiii + 826. $6.00), and two volumes on the history of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan, by Sister M. Rosalita: No GREATER SERVICE and ACHIEVEMENT OF A CENTURY (Detroit: Evans-Winter-Hebb, Inc., 1948. Pp. xx ÷ 863, and xiii + 299. $15.00 per set). Both congregations are responsible for part of the magnificent development of the Church around the Great Lakes region. All three volumes are decidedly readable and valuable addi-tions to the history of the Church in North America. Those interested in theology for the layman will welcome the publication of GOD AND THE WORLD OF MAN (Pp. viii ÷ 318), by Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., and THE CHRISTIAN VIRTUES (Pp. xi -k 361), by Charles E. Sheedy, C.S.C. They are the first two volumes of the University of Notre Dame Press religion series. The first volume includes a chapter defining theology and explaining its sources and another chapter on the nature, obligation, rule, and subject matter of faith; and the remainder of the book is given to these tracts of theolbgy: The One God, The Holy Trinity, Creation, The Elevation and Fall, The End of the World'and of Man. The second volume contains the course on Christian morals that has been given to students at the University of Notre Dame during the past several years. It includes the moral theology treatises on Principles and Precepts. In general, both volumes seem excellent for their pur-pose and should make good texts for college and university classes, as well as for summer sessions in theology for Sisters. For the most part, both texts avoid disputed questions, and the treatise on moral 160 May, 1950 BOOK NOTICES " theology contains no "problems for discussion." There is much to be said for these methods, but they have disadvantages, too. Avoidance of disputed questions helps to avoid confusion, but it also tends to undermine confidence when the students later find out that there are different opinions. And the avoidance of the discussion prob-lems, besides keeping the book from becoming too large, also prevents an unwholesome "casuistic" attitude. However, without working problems the students will hardly learn moral theology; hence teachers will have to supply them. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University

Issue 1.3 of the Review for Religious, 1942. ; Review for Religious MAY 15, 1942 The General Chapter of Elections . Adam C. Ellis Retreat Resolutions . Clarence McAuliffe Reparation to the Sacred Heart . Malachi J. Donnelly The, Pivotal Point of Good Will . G. Augustln~ Ellard Scruples Versus the Human Way . ~ Gerald Kelly Hints for Sacristans . Gerald Ellard The Presumed Permission . ¯ . James E. Risk Book Reviews )uestions Answered E)ecisions of the Holy See VOLUME NUMBER 3 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS VOLUME I MAY 15. 1942 NUMBER CONTENTS. THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS IN A RELIGIOUS CONGREGATION Adam C. Ellis, S.3 . 146 FOR CHURCH MUSICIANS . " . 156 RETREAT RESOLUTIONS---Clarence McAuliffe, S.J . 157 BOOKS RECEIVED . , . 166" ¯ SOME PAMPHLETS . 166 REPARATION IN THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART Malachi J. Donnelly, S.J. . ." . . . 167 THE PIVOTAL POINT OF EFFECTIVE GOOD WILL G. Augustine Ellard, S.J . 170 SCRUPLES VERSUS THE HUMAN WAY---Gerald Kelly. S.J. 187 HINTS FOR SACRISTANS~erald Ellard, S.J . 194 THE PRESUMED PERMISSION--Jame$.,E~. Risk. S.J . 196 BOOK REVIEWS PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN AND RELIGIOUS PERFECTION . 206 BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER By the Reverend Richard Graef, C.S.Sp. 206 THE MASS OF BROTHER MICHEL. By Michael Kent . 207 FAST BY THE ROAD. By John Moody . ; 208 THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN ENGLAND. By John ,J. O'Connor 209 MEDIEVAL HUMANISM. By the Reverend Gerald G. Walsh, S.J. 209 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE OF INTEREST TO RELIGIOUS 210 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Extension of Temporary Vows; Use df Parish School Funds; Is Reli-gious Habit a Sacramental; Days of Abstinence during Lent; Languages during Canonical Year; Inspection of Letters: Administration of Anes-thetics: Aspirant of East Syrian Rite: Converts from Greek Orthodox Church; Indulgence for Kissing Habit: Extending Period of Probation: Chanting of Little Office; Working during Evening Recreation 211 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, May, 1942. Vol. I, No. 3. Published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November, at The College Press, 606 Harrison Street; Topeka, Kansas, by St. Mary's College, St. Marys, Kansas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as second class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office, Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis, S.J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.d. Copyright, 1942, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. PHnted in U. S. A. The General Chap!:er ot: I::lect:ions in a Religious Congregat:ion Adam C. Ellis, S.3. BY CHAPTER in a reli.gious institute is meant the lawful assembly of those members to whom the con-stitutions give the right to vote when matters of im-portance are to be discussed and decided. Chapters may be general, provincial, or local, according as they represent an entire institute (order or congregation), or a province, or a local community. Provincial and local chapters meet, as a rule, only for the election of delegates to the general or provincial chapter respectively. In this article we are concerned only with the g.eneral chapter, though many of its provisions will apply equally well to a provincial or local chapter. An ordinarg general chapter is convoked at the times prescribed by the constitu-tions-~ every three or six years, or at other regular inter.- vals. An extraordinar~ general chapter is ofie convoked outside the time of the ordinary chapter~ Constitutions approved by the Holy See usually prescribe that an ex-traordinary chapter may not be convoked without the per-missioh of the Holy See, except in the case of the death or resignation of the superior general. The purpose of the general chapter is two-fold: to elect superiors, and to transact other important business. The first kind of chapter is usually called the chapter of elections; the second, the business chapter, or the chapter of affairs. We are dealing here with the chapter of elections only, which is governed by the regulations of the Code of Canon Law as well as by the provisions of the constitu-tions which are not contrary to the Code (cf. canon 507. §1). 146 CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS Time, Place, and Cor~oocation of Chapter. The common law of the Church does not prescribe any particular place for the meeting of the general chapter of elections. The constitutions usually allow the superior general to determi.ne the date and place of the chapter, with the deliberative vote of his council. Sometimes, however, they prescribe that the chapter be held in the motherhouse, and set the day for it as well. In the absence of any definite regulations of the constitutions, the superior general with his council is free to determine the day on which the chap-ter is to be held, as well as its meeting-place. This is true even in the case of a diocesan congregation of religious women which has houses in more than one diocese, as was declared by the S. Congregation of Religious on June 17, 1921, when it explicitly stated that the choice of the meet-ing- place of the chapter rested with the superior general, and not with the local Ordinary in whose diocese the moth-erhouse is located. At the same time the S. Congregation declared that the right to preside over the election in the case mentioned belonged to the local Ordinary in whose diocese the election took place, hence not to the Ordinary of the motherhouse, unless the election is held in his dio-cese. Pope Benedict XV confirmed these decisions and ordered them to be published. The day and place of the general chapter having been determined upon, the superior general will then convoke the chapter, usually by means of a circular letter to be sent to all those who have a right to assist at the chapter. The constitutions usually pr.escribe that such letters are to be sent at least three, if not six, months before the day on which the chapter is to meet. An error in convoking the chapter does not make the election invalid unless one third of those who have a right to attend have not been sum-moned and, by reason of this irregularity, have not taken 147 ADAM C. ELLIS part in the voting (cf. canon 162, § 3). Electors or Members of the Chapter The constitutions will determine who have a right to take part in a chapter of elections. The following are com-monly members of such a chapter: 1. The superior general; 2. The members of his council; 3. All ex-superiors general; 4. The secretary general; 5. The treasurer general; 6. Provincials and two or more delegates from each province, if there are provinces; 7. Local superiors, and delegates of the various houses chosen according to the constitutions. The common law of tl~e Church prescribes that reli-gious with temporary vows have neither active nor pas-sive voice1 unless the constitutions explicitly grant it to them. The constitutions sometimes grant active voice to religious with temporary vows, seldom if ever passive voice. The number of years required by the constitutions for the enjoyment~ of active and passive voice is tO be counted from the" first profession of temporary vows, un-less the constitutions provide otherwise (cf. canon 578, 30). It is customary to elect substitutes for all delegates who are elected to take part in a chapter of elections. These substitutes take the place of such delegates as are impeded or who do not wish to attend the chapter. Unless the con-stitutions declare otherwise, the religious who have been elected delegates may give up their right to attend the chap-ter. XActive voice is the tight to vote: passive voice is the right to be voted for or to be elected to an ot~ce, 148 CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS Prelirainar~.t Session of Chapter In a preliminary session of the .chapter it is customary to examine the credentials of all the delegates to the chap-ter. This having been done, the assembly proceeds by se-cret vote to the election of at least two "scrutineers".0r tellers (cf. canon 171, § 1), unless these are already desig-nated by the constitutions. They must be elected from among the members of the chapter. After being elected they take an oath to fulfill their of Iice faithfully, and to observe secrecy regarding everything done in the chapter of elections. A secretary is usually elected in a similar man-ner, unless one of the tellers acts in this capacity. General Regulations Regarding Voting On!y those religious who are actually present in the chapter have a right to vote. Votes sent in by mail or cast by proxy are forbidden and invalid, unless the constitu-tions or a special privilege granted by the Holy See author-ize the employment of those methods (cf. canon 163). An exception., however, is made in favor of members of the chapter who are in the house but unable to attend the meetings because of illness. Such a person's vote given in writing shall be collected by the tellers and placed with the other votes, unless particular laws or a legitimate custom determine otherwise (cf. canon 168). All must abstain from seeking votes either directly or indirectly for themselves or for others, and no one may validly vote for himself (cf. canons 507, § 2, 170). This does not forbid the members-of the chapter from seeking information from one another regarding the qualities of this or that religious. The constitutions frequently pro-vide for such an opportunity before the day of the election. All votes must be freely given. A vote directly or indirectly extorted by grave fear or fraud in favor of a 149 ADAM C. ELLIS determined person, or of one of a group of persons, is an invalid vote (cf. canon 169, §.1). In order to be valid, a vote freely cast for an eligible candidate must have four qualities: it must be secret, cer-tain, absolute, and determined (cf. canon 169, § 2). Each one of these qualities demands a brief explanation. A secret vote. This means that no member of the chapter may make known to another, the pers6n for whom he voted. A vote which is made public is by that very fact invalid. However, for special reasons, a member of the chapter may declare before the president and the tellers which person he wishes to vote for. The vote is secret, since all the persons to whom it is made. known are bound under oath. not to reveal it. Though not strictly speaking required by law, a written ballot is the most common and most convenient form of carrying on the election and safe-guards the secrecy req.uired. It would seem to be the only form contemplated by the Code. A certain vote. In order to be certain the vote must glare the full name of the person v6ted for so as to distin-guish him from all other persons having a similar name. A vote cast for "the person who will receive the majority of the votes," is an uncertain vote. A vote which cannot be read, or understood, is likewise uncertain; as is also a blank vote. An absolute vote. Each vote must be free from all con-ditions. A vote cast for Peter "provided he is fifty years old," would be an invalid vote. If the condition, however, merely expresses a requirement of the law for the valid election of the person voted for, the. vote would not be invalid: But such conditions should not be put in the vote when given since they are presupposed. A determined vote. An alternative vote is invalid. 150 CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS Such would be, for example, a vote cast for "either Peter or Paul." In conclusion it may be well to note that an invalid vote does not make the balldt in which it is cast invalid. Such an invalid vote is simply not.counted. By accident it may keep the person for whom it was given from getting the required majority of votes. The Election of the Superior General -Before the voting begins for the election of higher superiors in institutes of religious men, all and each of the members of the chapter shall promise under oath to elect those whom they deem before God should be elected (cf. canon 506, § 1). This oath is not required of reli-gious women. In institutes of religious men the superior general pre-sides over the election unless the constitutions provide otherwise. In congregations of religious women the elec-tion of the mother general is presided over by the Ordinary of the place in which the election is held. He may preside personally or through a delegate (cf. canon 506, § 4). For the election of superiors the common law requires an absolute2 majority of votes on either the first or second ballot, while a relative majority suffices on the third ballot, If, on the third ballot, the highest number of votes is given equally to two or more persons, the presiding officer may determine the election by casting his vote, but never in his own favor. Should he decline to do so, then the senior by reason of ordination, or of first profession, or of age, shall be regarded as elected (cf. canon 101, § 1, 1°). Theconsti- 2An absolute majority is constituted by any number exceeding half the number of valid votes cast, for instance, 9 out of 16, 10 out of' 19, and so forth. The person receiving the greatest number of votes cast is said. to have a plurality or relative majority of the votes cast when that number does not constitute an absolute majority of all the'votes cast. Thus, in a chapter in which 25 votes are cast,-,John may receive 11, Peter 8, and Paul 6. ,John has a relative majority. 151 ADAM C. ELLIS tutions may require a greater number of votes, for instance, a two-thirds majority for the election of the superior gen-eral. Constitutions approved by the Holy See usually require that :a fourth ballot be taken in case the third ballot does not result in an absolute majority. ¯ In this fourth bal-lot only the two religious who have received the greater number of votes on the third ballot are eligible for election, though they themselves are excluded from voting on the fourth ballot. In case this fourth ballot results in a tie, the election is determined by priority of ordination, or of first profession, or of age, respectively as mentioned above. The Voting Process When all are prepared the voting begins. It is the duty of the tellers to see to it that the votes be cast by each elector secretly, diligently, separately, and according to the order of precedence (cf. canon 171, § 2). No particular form of collecting the votes is prescribed by the common law, though the constitutions usually determine some detailed method, for instance, the tellers carry a locked box into which each member casts his sealed vote, or the members proceed slowly, one by one, to-the table or desk of the presiding officer, and there deposit their votes in an urn or box, under the watchful eyes of the tellers. When all the votes have been thus.collected, the tellers shall examine in the presence of the presiding officer, according to the manner prescribed by the particular con-stitutions or legitimate customs, whether the number of votes corresponds to the number of electors. Should the number of votes exceed the number of electors, the ballot is invalid (cf. canon 171, §§ 2 and 3), the ballots are destroyed, and a new vote taken. If the number of ballots does not exceed that of the number of electors, they are opened one by one so as to be seen by both tellers, and by 152 " CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS the presiding officer, and noted down by the secretary. After the votes have been counted the presiding officer or one of the tellers announces to the chapter how many votes each candidate has received. This may be done in either of two ways. After each vote is opened and inspected by the tellers and the presiding officer, the name of the person voted for is read aloud.-Or after the votes have been counted, the final results may be read to the chapter by the presiding officer or by one of the tellers. The constitutions or custom will determine the method to be followed. The votes are to be burned immediately after each bal-lot, or at the end of the session if several ballots were taken during it (cf. canon 171., § 4). When the election of the superior general has been com-pleted according to the prescribed formalities, the presiding officer will declare it lawful, proclaim it, and receive the oath of the newly elected superior general. Thereupon the religious both of the chapter and of the community will make their obedience according to custom. All the acts of the election shall be diligently written down by the secretary and, after being signed at least by him, by the presiding officer, and by the tellers, they shall be carefully preserved in the archives of the congregation (cf. canon 171, § 5). Acceptance and Confirmation of the Election The announcement of the result of the election made to the chapter is sufficient notification if the person elected is present; if he is not present the result should be officially communicated to him, and he is to be summoned to the chapter, all further business of which is suspended until his arrival. Unless the constitutions state the contrary, the reli-gious elected is not obliged to accept the office. Should he 153 ADAM C. ELLIS renounce it; he loses all the rights connected with the same, and a new election is held. In the case of diocesan congregations of religious women, the election of the mother general must be con-firmed by the Ordinary who presides over it. For grave reasons, according to his conscience, he may refuse to con-firm the election (cf. canon 506, § 4). In that case, how-ever, he may not appoint the superior general, but a new election must be held. Postutaiion It may fiappen that the members of a chapter wish to have for their superior a religious who is able and worthy to fill that office, but who is excluded from it by some impediment of church law from which the-competent ecclesiastical ~uperior can and is accustomed to dispense. Such a person cannot be validly] elected, but the members of the chapter may postulate him, provided that he receives two-thirds of. the votes of the chapter (cf. canons 179, § 1; 180, § 1)which means that they ask the Holy See to grant the necessary dispensation. Postulation, however, may be admitted only in an extraordinary case and provided the constitutions do not forbid it. (cf. canon 507, § 3). In a letter addressed to the local Ordinaries of the world on March 9, 1920, the S. Congregation of Religious instructed them to be very strict in allowing postulation in the case of the superior general of a congregation of religious women who has just com-pleted two terms of office. In such a case the simple desire of the members of the chapter to re-eleCt the same superior, or the mere ability of the person to fill the office, is not a sufficient reason for postulation. If, however, other grave reasons seem to require the choice of the same person beyond the time allowed by the constitutions, the Ordinary must 154 CHAPTER OF ELECTIONS send a petion to the S. Congregation, in which it is clearly stated what the reasons are, how many ballots were taken, and how many votes were in favor of the person postu-lated. Finally the OMinary must state his own opinion in the matter. The S. Congregation will then give a decision. The fact that the constitutions expressly allow postulation does not excuse from the requirements of this instruction. In case of postulation the members of the chapter who wish to vote for an ineligible person, must write on their ballot: "I postulate N. N." Election of Other Officers The newly elected superior general presides over the election of the other officers to be chosen by the general chapter, unless the constitutions allow the Ordinary the right of presiding likewise at the election of the members of the general council. These elections are usually held in a separate session Of the chapter. The manner of voting is the same as that employed in the election of the superior general. An absolute majority of votes is required on the first and second ballot. If no one has received such a major2 ity, a third ballot is taken in which a relative majority is sufficient. ,If on this third ballot two or more candidates receive an equal number of votes, the presiding officer may cast a deciding vote, though he is not .obliged to do so. If he declines to use his right, the person who is senior by ordi-nation, or by first profession, or by age, is considered elected. The constitutions may provide for a fourth bal-lot in case the third re.sults in a tie. If the person elected is not a member of the chapter, he must be summoned at once, but the chapter does not await his arrival in order to continue its business. After the elections are over, the former superior gen-eral, the members of his council, the secretary general and 155 ADAM G. ELLIS the treasurer general, usually continue to sit in chapter with active voice as long as it r~mains in'session, even though they may have been replaced in their offces by other reli-gious. Should the superior general die during his term of offce, or resignbefore its completion, the assistant superior gen-eral will take his place in the government of the community and will ~onvoke an extraordinary chapter in which dec-tions will be held not only for a new superior general, but also for all the other offices which are usually filled by election in general chapter. The reason for this is that all ¯ the officers elected in a general chapter hold office from chapter to chapter, rather than for a "definite number of years. FOR CHURCH MUSICIANS Of unusual yalue to religious and seminarians working in the field c~f church music is 'the new Catholic Choirmasters' Correspon-derice Course. Four semesters of ~olle'giate° work, accredited by St. Albertus College Department of Music, are done under personal tutorship and will be coricluded with summer schools in 1943 and 1944. The lessons have been prepared by a~ faculty international in personnel and repute, including Dom Desrocquettes0 Dr. Becket Gibbs, Dom Ermin Vitry, Father Gerald Ellard, and others. Zest and .authority characterize their teaching, and phonograph recordings assist amply in problems that need the living voice. General' editor is Clifford Bennett, Gregorian Institute, 1515 Berger Building, Pittsburgh, Pa. Those interested may obtain an attractive pros-pectus by writing to the General Editor. 156 Retreat Resolutions Clarence McAuliffe, S.3. AS ~WEGO ON in the religious life, certain practices, n6t binding under pain of sir/, but nevertheless, of paramount importance in their bearing on the whole spiritual structure, become increasingly .difficult. Among these are the particular examination of conscience, certain rules governing religious discipline, such as the rule of silence, and the formulation of apt resolutions during re-treat. That the delicate web of religious virtues clings for partial support upon the particular examen is admitted by all ascetical writers. The same holds true for the rule of silence, since its utter neglect means the undermining of the spirit of prayer and recollection. But the resolutions we take in our annual retreat are even of greater moment since the continued practice of the particular examen and the preservation of a prayerful disposition depend in no small measure upon them. If we reflect on our happy novitiate days, we shall remember that we experienced no difficulty in making resolutions and recording them. We jotted them down carefully as tokens of our affection for our Divine Savior Who alone besides ourselves knew what they were. We may still have them. We may smile now at some of their characteristics. No doubt we took too many resolutions; we aimed too often at purely external practices; we may even have aspired to fanciful performances. But we can-not deny that they did us good. They kept us fervent: they kept our ideals high; they were concrete proof of our good will in God's service; they bolstered our flagging spir-itual forces. As long as we exercised care in formulating and inditing resolutions during our retreat, we were also 157 CLARENCE MCAULIFI~E faithful to our particular examen and observant of a cred-itable practice of silence. If we ever relaxed our diligence in making resolutions during retreat, our particular exa-men becamea half-hearted or neglected undertaking and our love for silence grew notably remiss. No Excuse t:or Neglect W.hy should the task, for task it is, of taking retreat resolutions ever be neglected by. us? What truly solid rea-son can we give for not writing them down and keeping them close at hand? Every man or woman engaged in a profession or business or in any other activity of moment pauses now and then to determine hn altered course of ac-tion. Small defects ard bound to seep in unnoticed, but they impede success and must b~ removed. Positive prog-ress also must be made; knowledge must be extended; greater zest must be engendered or the business will grow languid and die. Merchants do not hesitate to pay ample fees to public accountants and efficiency experts. These men detect pecuniary losses and open up new fields of ac-tivity for the merchant, and he makes definite plans accord-ing to their advice. Are we religious not engaged in a pro-fession, and a profession transcending all others? Can we deny that peccadilloes of one kind or another are, almost unobserved, weakening the fabric of our spiritual gar-ments? .that we are yet far distant from the glorious hori-zon of perfec~tion to which God beckons each one of us? Should we hesitate during our annual retreat to be our own public accountants and efficiency experts because of the unreasonable murmurings of our natural selves? A Faoorable Time for Resolutions Certainly no time is better suited for determining new spiritual policies than the annual retreat. During it we are segregated from our active duties; we engage in several days RETREAT RESOLUTIONS of silent communing with God; we see again what we al-ways know, but never reduce to perfect practice, that we are made only to serve Him; our spiritual ideals, dimmed by a whole year's mis~, are refurbished; God himself speaks to us and we hear His whisperings periodically, during each day of retreat pleading with us: "Why not give up this sin-less, but inordinate attachment for my sake? Why not de-vote more attention to developing this virtue?" Further-more, our subjective condition is fit for taking sage resolu-tions. We are calm, tranquil; excessive nervous tension, emotional ebullitions, the agitation engendered by custom-ary daily contact with other human personalities m all these vanish in the solitude of retreat. Those New Year resolutions so widely publicized by the newspapers can scarcely ever be successful if brought to bear upon spiritual matters, because the hectic round of daily duties and dis-tractions impedes clear vision and sound judgment. But the retreat is the New Year for religious and it is certainly to our shame if we pass up this one propitious occasion for taking efficacious resolves. Retreat resolutions are apt to be successful for another reason. Our profession is spiritual and its successful prac-tice does not depend on mere human endeavors. God called us to the religious life; He keeps us in it'; .He enables us every day to live it. Any resolution we take is doomed to failure if we count upon our own natural energies to fulfill it. Even the simplest, such as thedetermination to prepare Our meditation more carefully, to make an additional visit to the Blessed Sacrament, to relinquish some convenient, but unnecessary article, cannot be accomplished without the grace of God. Consider what vast stores of grace we must obtain in time of retreat. Not only do we perform our ordinary spiritual exercises, but the whole time is one continual prayer. A veritable mountain of sanctifying. 159~ CLARENCE MCAULIFFE grace is accumulated and with it the right to actual graces to be given us in the future as we need them. We shall need them particularly in order to be faithful to our reso- ¯Iutions, the fruit of our retreat, and they will be supplied generously and persistently by God, success depending solely upon our wholehearted cooperation. Negative Resolutions Why, then, we may ask have our resolutions so often been failures?' Why is it that we can hardly recall them after a few weeks perhaps? Have we been grossly negli-gent in corresponding with the grace of God? Not neces-sarily so. Perhaps our resolutions were not prudently made. God constructed the human being according to very definite laws. If we take resolutions contrary to these laws, especially our psychological laws, we can scarcely expect God to work a miracle to enable us to keep them. For in-stance, most' of us are probably too negative in drawing.up our resolutions. We will not do this; we will not do that; we will quit doing this, and so on. In other words, we pay entirely too much attention to our faults. If we are com-mitting deliberate sins, we must, of course, make them the first object of our determinations. But 'such is not usually the case. We fret over our imperfections or merely semi-deliberate faults, forgetting a sound teaching of theology which declares that it is impossible for any person without a special privilege, rarely granted, to keep from these even for a single day. The chances are that such defects spring from temperament, nervous disposition, unstable health or some other natural cause, partially, at least, beyond our control. Now it is a psychological law that negatives de-press the human soul. If our retreat resolutions comprise merely a lengthy list of "Don'ts" over inconsequential matters, we are .quite surely going to let them lapse. The 160 RETREAT RESOLUTIONS human soul is too lofty in its aspirations to be fettered' by a chorus of petty "I will not's"; it soars to the highest heavens in search of God Himself; unending vistai of per-fection lie stretched out before it and microscopic imper-fections are no obstacle to exalted sanctity even if they stay with us to our dying day. How much wiser it would be to 'resolve: "I will pay an additional visit to the Blessed Sac-rament each day this coming year for a few minutes out of love for my Savior," than to promise: "I will never sit down during meditation in the chapel", when, as a matter of fact, constant kneeling may so distract us that we cannot pray at all from bodily uneasiness. Besides, protracted kneeling may even do us positive corporal harm unless our backs and nerves are of rugged texture. How Man~/ Resolutions? Another mistake to which we may easily succumb is that of taking too many resolutions. It is true that a hun-dred resolutions would be none too many when we see in retreat the intricate labyrinth of perfection. Even so, it would certainly be unwise to take more than four. or, at most, five. Here again asimple law of. human psychology enters into play. We are so constructed that a multiplicity of resolves overbalances US~ dissipates our energies and re-sults in no accomplishment whatever. We cannot expect our Savior to rescind that law in our case by a miracle. It is well for us to recall that old axiom of spiritual au-thors that to advance in one virtue is to advance in them all. Progress, for instance, in the spirit and practice of obedi-ence necessarily reflects progress in the love of God. But love is the pith and core of all sanctity; loreis the all-em-bracing virtue; it means a closer alliance with God, more intimate union with Him; if it makes the tree of obedience more verdant, it must necessarily transmit its vigor to the 161 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE entire forest of virtues. Bearing this in mind, we should in retreat pay heed, firit of all to our vows. An outpost to one of them may have been weakened during the previous year. Then we should look to the virtues animating the vows and make a few positive resolutions that will stimu-late their growth. We must never forget that a religious observant of the vows is a good religious. Focusing our attention upon them, we keep our resolutions down to a minimum. Yet we will make more rapid spiritual s~rides .than we would if we squandered our resources by making decisions on the whole gamut of faults and virtues. The Search After Causes Our resolutions may result in failure for another rea-son also. They may be too vague, too imprecise, too gen-eral. For example, how often have we resolved in retreat to be more fervent in our spiritual exercises! No one could condemn a determination to better these exercises of piety. It is they especiall.y that keep our spiritual lives vigorous and bolster our flagging virtue. But what happened to that resolution to make them more devotedly? For a day or two, for a week or two perhaps, we were more attentive .to them and then, behold, we soon found ourselves in the same old rut of routine and mechanical performance. Why? Simply because our resolution violated a metaphysical law which states that to attain a purpose it is necessary to .~elect means, causes, that will conduce to its realization. If we resolve only upon the end to be achieved, we shall accomplish nothing. Every day we dream ofthings we should like to do, but we neglect the specific means to the end and our resolves are thus mere fancies relegated to the vast mound of inefficacious desires. If we really wish to improve our meditation, examinations of conscience and other spiritual exercises, let us investigate the reason 162 RETREAT RESOLUTIONS why they are performed so perfunctorily. Ii it because we indulge in considerable unnecessary talking? This will certainly dissipate the mind and react upon our spiritual exercises. If we make a determination to practise silence, we shall find that contact with God will become much eas.ier and our meditations will improve. Is it due to un-regu. lated affections of the heart? Then a resolution must be taken to watch carefully over such ungoverned move-ments by removing their occasions as far as possible. Is it due to stark physical fatigue? Then we can do nothing directly, but perhaps we can adopt some regime that will improve our health. Is it due to some other cause? Then let us examine for that cause and decide to overcome it if possible. Definite resolutions of these kinds will inject new life into our meditation whereas a mere hazy resolve to perform it better will soon vanish. This point is of the utmost consequence. Take another example. Most of us are guilty of positive faults against charity and all of us could practise this virtue much more perfectly. Shall we then determine during retreat: "I shall be more charitable"? Such a resolution is praiseworthy,, as a sign of our good will in God's service, but it is bound to lapse just as is the vague determination to do better in our spiritual exercises. If we wish to be more charitable, we must pry into the reasons why we are not more charitable. If we wish to obtain an effect, we must find a proportion-ate cause to produce it. Do we fail in charity because we associate only with those whose temperaments .are con-genial? because we areof a squeamish disposition and allow tiny impolitenesses to jar our nerves? because we indulge in idle ,gossip and small talk? because we have a biting or ridiculing tongue? Could we add blossoms to our charity by interesting ourselves in the activities of others? by de-veloping the spirit of a good listener? by watching for 163 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE opportunities to say a kindly word or express Our sym-pathy? Ways and means to add lustre to this virtue are truly endless. If one defect, in particular, makes us un-charitable, let us in retreat decide to banish it; if some precise means of burnishing our charity occurs to us, let us determine to adopt it. Then we shall find that Christ's own spirit of charity will take root and flourish in our souls. The Bizarre Resolution Fantastic and complex resolutions should also be avoided. Though we never relax our aim at the highest possible perfection, we always keep our feet anchored to earth by the bonds of prudence and common sense. The human mind can only think of one thing at a time; the will can be directed toward only one conscious goal at a time. Both faculties are bound to be smothered by kaleido-scopic resolutions. Suppose a religious were to emerge from retreat armed with this single resolve: From eight o'clock in the morning when her active day began until ten at night when she retired, exactly fourteen hours inter-vened, the same number of hours as there are stations of the cross. During the coming year she would divide the day according to the stations. From eight to nine in the morning she would live in the spirit of the first station, the condemnation of the Savior. From nine to ten her thoughts would Be engrossed with the second station, and so on throughout the day. It is not likely that this well-inten-tioned religious would keep that resolution. It is too bizarre and too involved .and would require constant at-tention from morning to night every single day. Human nature could not stand such a strain without well-nigh miraculous support. 164 RETREAT RESOLUTIONS Keeping the Resolution Once our resolutions are taken and written down, how can we perpetuate them for three hundred and sixty-five days? By adopting them as subjects for Our particular ex-amination of conscience. How often we puzzle over a suitable subject for this examen! The problem vanishes if we have our retreat resolutions on hand. Even though these be only three or four,, they will provide ample matter for the examen. Each resolution can be the subject for a few weeks or a month. Thereafter each resolution can be repeated again and, if this becomes wearisome, variety may be introduced without changing the subject matter. FOr instanc.e, if one of our retreat resolutions is to eliminate unnecessary talking, we can practise this for some days under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin and in imitation .of her silence in the home at Nazareth. Later on, we might exercise it in union with Christ in the desert and in His infancy and in His secluded hours of prayer upon the mountain. At another time we may practise it by repeated ejaculatory prayers to some favorite saint whose help we implore. In this way the subject will not grow tedious and it will never lose its value Since it is one of our rdreat resolutions. These may also be kept alive and vibrant by referring to them duriag the monthly recollection. Why devote this period to any other consideration when God has shown us in our previous retreat what actions of ours will most please Him? Despite our best efforts, however, we shall make un-successful resolutions. In framing them we may continue to violate the laws of human psychology. We may not observe them even for a week though we honestly wanted to do so. We should not be discouraged. God values our good will; and our retreat resolutions, if written down, are 165 CLARENCE MCAULIFFE palpable proof of this" good will. The resolutions of our novitiate days were often ill-formed and impossible of achievement, but they secured God's blessing for us. We kept the vows though we did not as yet have them; rarely did we commit even a deliberate venial sin; we strove by our clumsy retreat resolutions to improve our religious lives. These resolutions won from Christ the gift of fer-vor. He Will reanimate and increase that fervor if we per-severe in taking and recording resolutions during our re-treat. BOOKS RECEIVED (7"0 be reviewed later.) I PRAY THE MASS~. By Hugo H. Hoever, S. O: Cist. Catholic Book Publishing Company. New York. MARCH INTO TOMORROW. By, 3ohn ,J. Considine, M.M. Field Afar,Pres~. New York. ~, . WATCH AND PRAY. By ,John Moffatt, S.~J. The Bruce Publishing' Company. Milwaukee. IN THE SHADOW OF OUR LADY OF THE CiENACLE. By Helen M. Lynch; R.C. The Paulist Press. New York. SOME PAMPHLETS Cheer Up!; Be of Good Heart!; Have ConfidenCe!; Take Courage! These four pamphlets are by Father Bruno Hagspiel, S.V.D. They consist of a varied collection of Scripture texts, anecdotes, poems, and so forth, all designed to cheer the downhearted.~ Price, 10 cents a copy. May be obtained from The Mission Press, Techny, I11. Also, four pamphlets listed under the general title, GOSPEL MOVIES, that treat of Grace; Faith; Sin; Wed in Christ. They contain brief stories based on the Gospels and illustrating these various topics. All are written by Father Placldus Kempf, O.S.B. Price, 10 cents a copy. May be obtained from THE GRAIL, St. Meinrad~, Indiana. 166 Reparation in t:he Devotion t:o !:he Sacred I-leart: Malachi 3. Donnelly, S.J. THE "great apparition" of our Lo~d to St. Margaret Mary took place duiing the Octave of Corpus Christi, most probably in 1675. Showing her His Heart, our Lo~d said: "Behold this Heart which has so loved men, which has spared nothing, even to being exhausted and consumed, in order to testify to them its love. And the greater number of them make me no other return than ingratitude, by their coldness and their forgetfulness of me in this Sacrament of love. But what is still more painful to me is, that it is hearts who are consecrated to me who use me thus." And our Lord continued: "It is because of this that I ask you to have the first Friday after the Octave of Corpus Christi kept as a special feast in honor of my Heart. by receiving Communion on that day and making it a reparation of honor for all the insults offered to my Heart during the time that it has been exposed on the altars." The end of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, as revealed to St. Margaret Mary and as approved by the Church, is reparation to this same Heart for the coldness and indif-ference, for the sins and insults suffered by the Sacred Heart, especially in the Sacrament of His love. Reparation, in general, means the making up for an injury or offense committed against one to whom honor and love are due. In the case of reparation to the Sacred Heart, this presup-poses a real personal wound in that Heart caused by the sins of men, and a real ability on the part of those devoted to the Sacred Heart to repair this wound. This confronts us with two difficulties: 1) how can the Heart of Jesus now suffer? 2) how can we repair His sufferings? 167 MALACHI ,J. DONNI~LLY The soul of Jesus Christ.in heaven experiences no sor-row, nor does His glorified body know aught of pain. His perfect happiness can be dimmed by absolutely nothing: nay! not even by the most heinous sins of ungrateful men, How, then, could He complain of the coldness and indif-ference of m~n, and that in words which, seemingly indicate that each sin of the present day is a direct and piercing wound in His Sacred Heart? In a word, the solution lies in an Understanding of the knowledge that Christ, as Man, enjoyed during His, life on earth. Our Blessed Lord was both God and Man. As Man He enjoyed the beatific Vision throughout His whole life. Now, through this vision He received the complete perfection of His intellect. He knew all things that per-tained to His office, His dominion, His mission on earth, all that pertained to the plan of redemption. The knowledge that Christ had, as Man~ was like unto the eternal knowledge of God. During His whole lithe, .especially during the Passion, Christ',' as Man, had knowl-edge of future things; the good and bad 'actions of all men were directly1 present to His mind. Just as a giant search-light in one blazing stream of light covers at once a half-mile area and every inch of space therein, or just as the human eye gazing on a distant landscape sees the whole and each detail at the same time, so, too, did Christ see through the whole of time to come and all the actions of men con-tained therein. He saw all future events as actually present before His eyes and each event was the direct object of His vision. In order to understand better the relationship between the knowledge of Christ and reparation in the devo-tion to the Sacred Heart, let us go in imagination with Jesus to the garden of Gethsemani. As Jesus kneels in 168 REPARATION TO THE SACRED HEART meditation, He begins to grow sad. Why? This sadness can only be caused by the vision in His human mind. As He kneels there, the sins of all men Unfold before His eyes; all the ingratitude of men--especially, of those from whom He might well have expected better things--is directly present to His clear vision. Not a.single sin --- even an ever so secret sin of desire-~elu~les His all-seeing gaze. Also (and this is the consoling aspect of Gethsemani), every single act of reparation of those especially devoted to His Sacred Heart was present to Him. And, as Jesus looked upon these acts of reparation, His loving Heart felt real and deep consolation. When, therefore, at the present time we perform acts of reparation, it is perfectly true to say that there is direct contact between our act of reparation and the Heart of Christ in Gethsemani. Time and space are wiped out. His knowledge bridges nineteen hundred years as readily as we look across a river. We are present before His eyes: our acts of reparation console Him, our sins cause Him sorrow-ful agony. What should be the effect of this truth that all our actions were actuatl~t present to the suffering Christ in His Passion? A deep realization of this can only ground more firmly our love for the Sacred Heart and spur us to more ardent acts of loving reparation to the Sacred Heart. Just as the spokes of a wheel lead to the hub, with which they are in direct contact, so likewise do all the reparatory actions of men the world over lead back to Christ in the Garden; establish immediate contact with His Suffering heart. And the deep realization of this solidly established truth should arouse the deepest aspirations of our hearts and wills to do our utmost to console the great and loving Heart of Jesus. 169 The Pivol:al Point: ot: l=fl:ec!:ive ,ood Will G. Augustine.Ellard, S.J. ['Because of the importance of Father Ellard's theme, and because of the length of the article, we thought that the followihg summary might be appreciated by those who wish some handy way of visualiz!ng and recalling the points devdopedin the article. The Roman numerals refer to the same divisions of the text.--ED.] Summary I. The problem of bringing about moral good will is illustrated by three cases: a)" Good~ but weak, will in oneself; b) Generous, but inconstant, will in oneself; c) Irresponsive or bad will in others. II. What is meant by the expression: "the pivotal point of good will"? III. Things which do not constitute it. IV. It does consist in the realistic appreciation of values. These terms defined. V. Reasons for the assertion: a) Common sense; e) Philosophy; b) ExperienCe; f) Sacred Scripture; c) Observation; g) Theology. d) Experimental psychology: gI. The characteristics of the knowledge that is d~]namic, i.e. apt to move or strengthen the will: a) Presentation of the right aspect; e) Actuality: b) Sufficient" quantity ; f) Novelty ; c) Personal reference: g) Affinity and sympathy. d) Immediacy and imagery; VII. Practical conclusions-- 1. To move or strengthen the will for the present: Realize the values of motives: a) Learning what the pertinent values are; Means: b) Serious reflection and prayer, especially mental: c) Organization of the motives. 2. To steady the will in the future: Have the realization in the focus of consciousness at critical moments. a) Recollection; c) Habituation: Means: b) Association; d) Experience. 170 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD WILL SISTER Mary Frail is making her annual retreat. More clearly than she has been wont, she sees the magnifi-cence and beauty of the divine plan for herself, she is delighted with it, and she feels that it would the grand-est thing possible to carry it out in all its fulness. Also she notices that to do so would mean giving up certain rather dear little habitual imperfections. She is torn between two conflicting attracti6ns. Though she is free, and by all means would be pleased to embrace .the whole of the divine plan for her, especially since it is all for her own happiness, still she finds that her will does not respond as she would like. Making his retreat also is Father Inconstant. He finds no great difficulty in resolving upon the noblest courses, but in looking back over many retreats, many excellent resolutions, and many performances not so excellent, be feels rather distressed at the sight of his inconstancy. This time, if possible, he is going to make the new beginning that will stick. Just how--well, that is not too clear to him. Brother Zealous faces a different kind of difficulty. He is a teacher, and he is glad to do everything he can to make good Christians out of his charges. But often enough he finds that his pupils are irresponsive or wilful. Is there anything we can do for Sister Mary Frail, Father Inconstant, and Brother Zealous? Their problems concern wills, their own and those of their charges. Pos-sibly, some consideration of that upon which moral good will turns in a peculiar way, may be of service to them. II. By "the pivotal point of good will" let us under-stand a certain something that precedes good will itself and that, more than anything else, is a condition of its coming into being. Of course it does not determine the will; for man, being free, makes his own determinations, But even the free will is dependent upon previous conditions, and it 171 -G. A. ELLARD is the principal of these that we propose to consider. Ill. This pivotal point of good will cannot be simply knowledge. Hardly anyone would maintain nowadays the old doctrine attributed to Socrates that knowledge makes virtue. It is not freedom of the will; everybody knows by sad experience that he cannot make himself good by a mere fiat of his will, nor even by many of them. Imposition of good habits from without, though continued over a period ,of years, in the discipline, for example, of a boarding school,, may ultimately produce, not what is sought, but a reaction in the contrary direction. Good habits developed freely and from within cannot be the point we are inquir-ing after, primarily because they presuppose much good volition and action, .and the pivotal point is antecedent to these. Nor, to pass to the supernatural order, is grace as such the pivot. Grace could not help to explain natural good will:. Even in supernatural activity, it is not sanctify-ing grace, which of itself is not operative, but a habit in the order of b.elng, not of action. Nor can it be the infused virtues or the gifts-of the Holy Spirit; neither are these of themselves operative; to go into action, they need stimula-tion. In what sense actual grace may fulfill the function we are investigating, will be taken up later on. Prayer, that is, asking God for good will, cannot bethe pivotal point. If the request be granted, the question would remain by what means the good will is brought about. Realistic Appreciation of Values IV. The pivotal point does seem to be found in a realistic, sense or appreciation of values. Let us consider. Everything that is good has value, and therefore value here is understood to be any good. Good is, according to the classical division: the.pleasant, the useful, the proper. Val-ues may be high or low, and positive, like pleasure, or nega- 172 PIVOTAL POINT OF (~00D ~'ILL tive, like pain. Appreciation is the subjective or'personal response to the objective goods that we call values. To appi~eciate is, according to the dictionary, "to set a just value on; to esteem to the full worth of; to be fully sensi-ble of; to exercise a niceperception of worth." Good busi-ness people, like SisterMary Buyer, who has been chosen out.of many to make the purchases for the convent or hos-pital, presumably know how to discern values and prices, In art or literature a man is said to have appreciation if he recognizes or prizes what is beautiful. In general, a person has appreciation if he knows a good thing when he sees it. The wise man has been defined as he who knows true val-ues. Religious who properly evaluate the excellence of God and of His plan have appreciation. Realistic apprecia-tion equals .the reality, or at least approximates the reality, of the value. Appreciation, or evaluation, knowing good things as good, seems to be the vital link between the two spiritual facultieS. It involves knowledge of a certain kind, and thus it is intellectual; since complacency or some other indelib-erate movement of.will must follow the perception of. good or evil, it brings in the will also. In practise, the cultivation of appreciation of true or major values ri~quires the har-monious cooperation of both faculties. V. Among the reasons for placing the pivotal point of good will in a realistic sense or appraisal of values, we may notice the following. Common sense would seem to indicate that it is mo-tives that move the will. But what are motives, directly or indirectly, except values? If athing be of no value to one, why should one bother about it? Our own experience seems to teach the, same. If we consider carefully the best moments and the worst mo-ments in our past lives, and allow for all influences; internal- 173 G, A. ELLARD and external, can we give a better reason for our own inte-rior strength or weakness at such times than that just then our sense of values, our perception of what was really good, ~was most adequate and realistic or least so? A little observation of men shows how eagerly they react to what they value highly; to money, for example, or pleasure, or power, or honor. Salesmen and advertisers achieve their, purpose by inducing people to conceive, the highest possible idea of the worth of their merchandise. Everybody notices how much clerks will put up with from prospective buyers. Would the same persons be so com-plaisant if there were no immediate .gain in view? If it be necessary to, hold his job a man may rather easily bear with the caprices of his employer, ~though at home; with his wife and children, he acts like an 01d bear. Wars, in spite of all their evils, are fought for great economic or. political values. Suppose that, in the iight of experience and observa: tion of men, we. consider this hypothetical case. Let A be anybody who has great sums of money at his disposal. Let B be anybddy else. Let A ask B to do anything that is within the limits of reason. If A0 offer greater and greater amounts of money to B indefinitely, is it likely that B w~ill resist the attraction? Is it not to be expected thathe will yield~ and moreover like it? But money .is only the measure of .material values. That volition is a function Of appreciation or evalua-tion is also a finding of experimental psychology. This is the main practical contention in the works on the w.ill of the distinguished German ~lesuit psychologist, Lindwor-sky1. He specialized in0 the psychology~of~this faculty, and it is to him that I am mostly in~tebted for the ideas in this 1See especially The Training of the ~rill, translated by Steiner and Fitzpatrick (Brute. Mil~.'aukee) ; and The Ps~Icholog~t of Asceticism, translated by Heiring (Edwards: Eondotl). ~ " 174 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD WILL paper. According to Lindworsky, experiments show that volition depends chiefly upon insight into values, without of course being determined by them. The will can embrace whatever appears to it to be of value, and it can become very strong if one feels sufficiently that the value is great enough. To move the will, values must be subjectively. experienced. Keeping a resolution is dependent, not so much upon the energy with which it was made, nor upon an inner general strength of will developed by particular exercises, as upon sufficient initial evaluation and especially upon the presence of it in the focus of consciousness at critical moments. "That the secret of influencing the will lies principally in this, to present the ~right motives at the right time, is no new discovery; . it was always the doctrine of the tradi-tional Scholastic psy, chology": so writes Hertling2, a con-temporary authority in ascetical theology. From modern American psychologists: "Forcing oneself to an early rising, and compelling oneself to run six times around the barn before breakfast, or to do some other useless and diffi-cult thing daily, will not bring the result sought for . Will training implies bringing sufficient motivation into play.''8 Philosophy teaches that the object of the will is good that is known. There are two elements expressed in the object and a third is implied. The first is goodness, real or apparent. Hence no one can expect to influence the will except by proposing some good to it. To do anything else would be like trying to make one see what has no color or to hear something that is not sounding. Knowledge is the second requisite, and it is just as necessary. If one had an opportunity to pick up a million dollars, but did not ~Hertling: Lehrbuch der Aszetlschen Theologie (Rauch, Innsbruck), p. 177. 8Goult and Howard: Outline of General Ps~lcholog~l, pp. 338-339. 175 G. A. ELLARD notice it, nothing would come of it. Thirdly, the good whichis presented and known, must be apprehended not merely as true or in any other way, but as good. Where there is no good or no perception of it, there can be no voli-tion. If the good be sufficiently great and seen with suf-ficient clarity, there can be no resistance to its-attraction, as happens with the Infinite Goodness and Beauty in the beatific vision. Hence, in general, the greater the good and .the clearer one's knowledge of it, the more likely the will's acceptance of it, and the more energetic and constant that acceptance will be: Sacred Scripture seeks to move men mostly by prom-ising good things and threatening evil things. But these are values, positive or negative. Christ Himself appears to have indicated what the will follows in such texts as these: "For where thy treasure is, there shall thy heart be also" (Matthew 6: 21). "For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, and lose his soul? Or what shall a man give asaprice for his soul?" (Matthew 16: 26). "The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a treasure hid in the field, which a man findeth and covereth; and in his j6y he goeth and selleth.all that he hath and buyeth that field. Again, the .kingdom of the hea~'ens is like unto a merchant in search of. goodly pearls; and when he .hath found one pearl of great price, he goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth it" (Matthew 13: 44-46). A theological consideration: interior actual grace helps us to do good or avoid evil by enlightening the mind and inspiring the will. Psychologically Speaking, one would say that grace moves the will by enlightening the mind. The indeliberate inclination excited in the will corresponds to the ideas aroused in the intelligence. Light relative to a practical step can conceivably bear upon any or all of these three points: what is to be done, why it is to be done, and 176 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD '~rILL bow it is to be done. The firstalone would be quite insuf-ficient, and might well be deterrent, as when an unpleasant duty is indicated. To show why a thing is to be done: what is this but to manifest its motives or values, to reveal that it is becoming, profitable, necessary, and so on? In this way, by giving one a subjective appreciation, actual grace enters into the pivotal point of supernatural good will. It tends to correct that perversity which the prophet Isaias denounces: "Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for dark-ness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaias 5: 20). It gives one something of that gift of the Messias: "that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good" (Isaias 7:. 15). In modern terms, it enables one to share in Christ's sense of value. The Church has incorporated into the Breviary4 a famous passage of St. Augustine in which he comments on the text: "No one can come to me, except the Father . draw him" (John 6: 44), and uses a quotation from Ver-gil: "If the poet could say, 'Each one's pleasure draws him,'5 not necessity but pleasure, not obligation, but delight, how much more strongly ought we to say that the man is drawn to Christ who is delighted with truth, delighted With beatitude, delighted with justice, delighted with everlasting life, all of which Christ is? . You show a green branch to a sheep and you draw it. Sweets are shown to a child, and he is drawn. Because he runs, he is drawn; he is drawn byloving; without injury to body he is drawn; with bonds of the heart he is drawn. If. earthly delights and pleasures revealed to lovers draw them; does not Christ, revealed by the Father, draw us? For what does the soul desire more strongly than the truth?''° 4Ember Wednesday after Pentecost; Lessons 7-9. 5Eclogues, II, 65. OTractatus 26 in doannem. 177 G. A. ELLARD It may be objected that we know enough or too much already. What we need is not more knowledge, but more willing. Sometimes that is true. But at other times, it may be asked; have we the right kind of knowledge, and enough of that kind? In ~any case, if a man cannot directly make a decision that he would like to make, what do you advise him to try? Have you anything better than that he should reconsider his motivation? Dynamic Knowledge VI. Now let us see if we can discern what kind of knowledge of ~;alues it is that, as it were, magnetizes the will. It is a certain, dynamic knowledge, found to be char-acterized more or less by the following attributes. First, it will present things under the right aspect, that is, it will propose things, not as true--the usual function of knowledge--but as good or evil, lovely or odious, beau-tiful or hideous, and so on. Such are the phases of things that it will bring out into relief. A quotation from the psychologist James will illus-trate what is meant by the right aspect. Consider "the case of an habitual drunkard under temptation. He has made a resolve to reform, but he is now solicited again by the bottle. His moral triumph orfailure lil~erally consists in his finding the right name for the case. If he says that it is a case of not wasting good liquor already poured out, or a case of not being churlish and unsociable when in the midst of friends, or a case of learning something at last about a brand of whiskey he never met before, or a case of celebrating a public holiday, or a case .of stimulating him-self to a more energetic resolve in favor of abstinence than any he has ever yet made, then he is lost. His choice of the wrong name seals his doom. But if, in spite of all the plausible good names with which his thirsty fancy so copi- 178 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD WILL ously furnishes him, he unwaveringly clings to the truer bad name and apperceives the case as that of 'being a drunk-ard, being a drunkard, being a drunkard,' his feet are planted on the road to salvation. He saves himself by thinking rightly.''7 The right aspect is not enough. There must also be a certain quantitg in the knowledge. It must be sufficiently clear, evident, rich, and full. In fact, the closer it approaches equality to the reality, the better. This is a particularly important dement in the realism of dynamic appreciation. Hence, obscure, vague, or hazy conceptions of the most tremendous realities may remain inert and sterile. Moreover, personal rfference is vitally necessary. To see that a thing matters to another may leave me unaffected. I must see the vital importance of it for my own dear self. In the last analysis evaluations must be based on one's past experiences of pleasure, pain, or love. Through these gen-uine experiences present knowledge must be vitalized. A man, for example, who does not remember vividly how it feels to have his finger burned, is in no position to begin to imagine how it would feel to be consumed with raging fires in the infernal regions. If one should never have experi-enced the thrill of unselfish love, one could hardly under-stand God's absolute loveliness and make an act of divine charity. Nor could a man who ha~ never been aroused by created beauty react to the Uncreated Beauty. Personal reference is necessary in another sense also. Great things have many values or suggest many motives, some of them apt to appeal to one and others t6 another. Each one must discover those that evoke interest and response in himself and exploit them. One soul may love God as a father, another as a friend, and a third as a spouse. 7James: Talks to Teachers, pp. 187-188. 179 (3. A. ELLARD Two more marks of dynamic recognition of worth are iramediac~t and iraaqer~. Direct perception of an object is much more apt to stir one than knowledge that is only mediate, discursive, or abstract, because it is closer to the object and more like it. Hence .the weakness, from an affective and effective point of vie.w, of reasoning and argu-ments. Love at sight, even to infatuation, is said to occur at times; but nothing like it is possible when men and women know each other only through description or cor-respondence. A dreadful catastrophe may horrify one who sees it but leave.a reader little affected. To make up for lack of immediate knowledge when it cannot be had, the imagination must be used. The more vivid and realtand rich the imagery, the better. The human mind is depend-ent on the senses and the imagination. Hence, to get at the emotions and, through them, the will, fill the imagination. "Empathy," the ability "to feel-oneself into situations," for example, into the Gospel scenes, or into the conse-quences of one's choices, into the pleasures or pains that may follow them, can compensate to some extent for the deficiencies of indirect knowledge. Happily most of the moral and spiritual values may be contemplated in the concrete in persons who have real-ized them. The scale would range from Christ, the Blessed Virgin, and the Saints down to the humblest person who has Something to be admired and imitated. Actuatit~I of knowledge gives it power. It is of deci-sive importance that the motives be actually before con-sciousness at the critical moments when they are moit needed and least likely to be there. It is not enough that they be stored away in the recesses of the memory. Actual consciousness, for instance, of the ~ttractions of unchaste pleasure may win the battle against merely habitual aware-ness of the reasons for keeping chaste. The force of occa- 180 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD 'q~rlLL sions of sin illustrates well the characteristics of dynamic knowledge that we have been reviewing; the impression they produce is thoroughly realistic. Nooeln.I is also an aid, as it makes a greater appeal to the sensibilities. Hence, ~o keep a good idea from losing its motive power, consider it from new angles and find new beauties in it. Since choice is always comparative, a preference of one thing to another, superiority! of knowledge of one alterna-tive gives it an added chance of being taken. A slight value well known may be preferred to a much greater one less well known. In general, .other things being equal, that alternative will be chosen the values of which are better known or predominant in the focus of consciousness at the time. FinaliSt, a factor of knowledge that induces prefer-ential appreciation is found in the subject himself, namely. a certain s~tmpath~t, based on a natural or supernatural affinity: the "connaturality" discussed by St. Thomas in the Summas. The classical example, from Aristotle on, is the chaste man's knowledge of chastity as opposed to the theoretical ethician's. With respect to the Supreme or Absolute Value, that is, to God, this affinity is founded principally upon the essential relations of the creature to the Creator and of sonship to the Divine Father. Such seems to be the kind of knowledge that leads to willing and to action. It does not make one learned, and may be greater in the ignorant peasant than in a scholar or theologian. But if its object be divine values, it will help to make one wise and holy. If we could make our knowledge and estimation of eternal values equal to our appraisal of temporal things, our probation would be over. We cannot, to cite an 88umraa Tbeologic~, 2a, 2ae, q. 45, a. 2. 181 G. A. ELLARD instance, have an experimental knowledge of God in this life, though the mystics do lay claim to just that or some-thing like it, and in the light of it they conceive for God a love like that fierce, overwhelming, personal love which arises between man and woman. On the other hand, and to our misfortune, the false or minor values of material things do solicit us through precisely that form of knowl-edge which is thoroughly realistic and dynamic. There-fore it is all the more imperative for us to be mindfully aware of the advantages that sensible attractions have over spiritual, values, and in oposition to do whatever we can to compensate for the difference. Practical Corollaries VII. Suppose we consider separately the cases in which ¯ one wishes to influence a will at the moment and in the future, or what is about the same thing, making a resolu-tion now and endeavoring to secure its observance in the future. 1. To move the will now, and to charge it with power, get l~y all available means the maximum possible appreciation of the values or motives that are pertinent, and diminish as much as possible any antagonistic evalua-tion. ¯ First, it is important rightly to discern just what ought to be done, that is, in our case, what the law of God is or what He prefers. Missing this point, through impru-dence or scrupulosity or laxity, is not conducive to good will. But then focus attention, feeling, and effort on the advantages, gains, and reasons for so acting. Not u~bat ought to be done is to be stressed, but the u;h~/'s. Imitate the clever salesman who sells his wares by persuading the potential buyer that it is really to his own interest and profit to buy. Exhortation had better take this form than a tedious repetition of "Let us'es" or "Let us not's." Put 182 PIVOTAL" POINT OF GOOD WILL the accent, not on the rights of authority, but on the advantages to the subject in obeying; these include the values of obedience itself. Even if you urge that it is God's will, try to explain whg He wills it, what values He has in mind. With most persons, begin with a stron.g appeal to self-interest; then proceed to the nobler interests, such as God's; Christ's, souls'. Very especially in case something difficult or distressing be involved, for example, self-- abnegation, or love of the Cross, the greater the disagree-able feature, the greater must be the emphasis on the good aspects and results. This is a simple psychological neces-sity. Some who exhort to abnegation would seem to think the greater the evil, the more it will be welcomed. Mere negatives--"Dont's"--are never inspiring, and therefore negative resolutions should somehow be given a positive character and value, for instance,-by substitution or sub-limation. To acquire a dynamic sense of moral values two chief means are available; first, to learn what those means are; and secondly, by serioi~s reflection and prayer, to take their measure or realize their magnitude. What the values are is to be learned by study and reading or listening to sermons and conferences. We could not attempt to outline them here. But it may be sug-gested that the perfect man Would strive to know and will .the same values that. God Himself wills and to have a simi-lar appreciation of them. They are the Infinite Goodness Itself and the excellences of the divine cosmic plan, cul-minating in divine beatitude for an,gels and men, with immunity from all evil, for eternity. Included in that plan would be the sublime grandeurs of the Incarnation and of its effects in time and eternity. Next in order is to work up an adequate appreciation of these motives, justly to appraise them, to recognize their 183 G. A. ELLARD ' full worth, to feel their force and significance. This is ~o be done principally by serious reflection and prayer, or better, by both together, that is, by mental prayer. This is the great means and hence the supreme importance and efficacy of it in the spiritual life. St. Thomas has a whole article in the Summa to demonstrate that "contemplation or meditation is the cause of devotion.''9 In it he quotes these words from St. Augustine: "the act of the will arises from understanding." Without mental prayer, or something approaching it, one cannot expect much grasp of moral values: such is human nature. The senses and the world overwhelm one with their values, which are in possession. as it were, from the beginning. A counterbalancing per-ception of the worth of things divine does not come with faith nor without effort. The germ of it.is there, but it must be developed. The human spirit is immersed in mat-ter, and if it is to raise itself above material attractions and maintain itself upon that superior level, it-must exert its forces with an energy comparable to that of the powerful motors of the big clippers or flying-fortresses. This means in the beginning hard thinking and much of it, with ener-getic and sustained will-activity corresponding to the light won. In mental prayer.a vitalized and dynamic insight is gained into divine truths and values, the will reacts and responds at once, the appropriate affections are elicited, the consequences of possible courses of action are carefully weighed and felt in anticipation, the correct moral atti-tudes are assumed, practical resolutions are made and their execution rehearsed, many fervent petitions are made, and grace, coming in ever increasing measure, deepens and enhances the whole process. In a word, one is filled with that light, good will, and strength which are needed to ful-fil one's part in God's magnificent plan. 9Summa Theologica, 2a, 2ae, q. 83, a. 3. 184 PIVOTAL POINT OF GOOD WILL If one cultivati~ m~ntal prayer well and sufficiently, he will also use all the other means to spiritual advancement and thus he will become perfect. If one be faithful in the lower degrees of mental prayer, he may be led on even to mystical contemplation, wherethe labor will be less, and the infused light, appreciation, and love may be incom-parably greater. Mostly in the intimate commerce of con-templation do the spouses of God come to their peculiar experience and all-absorbing love of Him. The funda-mental difference between a mere believer, a person of medi~ ocre virtue, and a saint, seems to be that, whereas they all assent to the same truths, the believer hardly does more, the mediocre person feels to some extent what they mean, and the saint truly realizes their significance. All the motives, general and particular, having been considered, they are to be assembled and associated together, so that one may recall the others, and then they are to be thrown into the scales against their false contraries, and proposed for acceptance to the will, with an inexorable "either. or!" 2. To aid in securing future execution of a resolution, four means in particular are effective: recollection, associa-tion, habituation, and experience. Recollection will tend tO prevent the light and warmth of one's vivid appreciation from vanishing into the dark-n~ ss. God and divine things are in themselves interesting, and if one's insight into them has been sufficient, interest in them will spontaneously spring up. Then without too much difficulty interest will direct attention; attention to divine values will keep them in the field of consciousness; and naturally the affections and will should follow. One should foresee as far as possible the occasions in which one's constancy will be put to the test, and deter-mine in advance by .what precise means one is going to 185 G. A. ELLARD react. "The modern psychology of will teaches that mere volition accomplishes nothing, unless a definite "way of behaving has been planned and practised.''1° Then the occa-sion, the resolution with its means, ~nd the motives, already organized among themselves, are to be associated together in thought as firmly as possible, so that when the occasion comes, it may recall into the focus of consciousness the reso-lution with its means, and this in turn the whole constella-tion of motives. Thus their cumulative force will be available, and successful action may be expected. To illustrate by'an example from Lindworsky: John notices that whenever he meets Charles on the way to work, he falls into uncharitable conversation. He adds to his gen-eral resolve not tofail against charity this means, that when he meets Charles again, he will promptly open a discussion of such or such a topic. Thus he links together all four: -the occasion, the r.esolution, the precise means, and the ¯ motives. 1~ All the procedures indicated in the preceding pages can be cultivated more and more until they become solid l~abits of virtue. Thus greater sureness, facility, and perfection in good are acquired. With every success in accomplishing what one desires, one actually feels and experiences to a certain extent the fruition of one's ideals and values, and thus one's appreciation of them becomes ever more realistic, and more like the divine or Christiike sense of what is of value. If with sufficient realism you. see that your treasure is ~n the Infinite Goodness of the Blessed Trinity and in the advantages of the divine plan, you will find your will there also. lOLindworsky: The P~cbolog~/ of Asceticism, p. 38. ~lbid.o p. 37. 186 Scruples Versus !:he Human Gerald Kelly~ S.3. THIS sketch concerns two characters, both of whom .are "| purely fictitious. Any resemblance to any person in real life.is a mere coincidence. One character is called Humanus, because he represents the ordinary conscientious human being, one who is.cheerfully content to be .~'like the rest of men," The other character is Scrupulosus, so-called because he typifies the victims of that gnawing and unfounded fear of sin known as scruples. ' For Scrupulosus, a supreme difficulty is to appreciate what may be called "the human way of acting." It is hard to.define this human way. It expresses itself in a quiet resignation to the fact that human problems cannot be solved with the exactness of mathematical problems. ~.It is an essential requisite for peace among men and for interior peace with God and oneself. Humanus takes this human way in full, easy stride. A reliable man tells him something; he believes it without struggle. True, the .man might be wrong, might be lying, using a mental reservation, or even deceiving himself. But Humanus does not tr6uble himself about these things, unless there is some reM evidence.to make him suspect them. When a man gives him money, Humanus does not bite it or ring it on a counter. He knows the possibility of counter-feit money; but he knows .too that social life demands that we practise a certain amount of trust in the good will of others. (Incidentally, the author once lived in a place where there must have been a great deal of. counterfeiting. Every time one paid for something in coins, a cautious clerk rang the coin on~the counter. It was most distressing.) . ¯ . Humanus follows the.same human way in his dealings with Go&and himself.God made him huma'n; God.ought GERALD KELLY to be content if he simply acts humanly. And he has enough troubles in life without suspecting himself unduly. Scrupulosus can follow the human way in his dealings with other men; but in those things which concern God and himself he is decidedly inhuman. He seems to thinl~ that, in dealing with God, he must have God's own unerring and penetrating vision of the human heart; that in dealing with himself none of the canons of human peace are applicable. Perhaps a few examples will make this clear. The Sacrament of Penance, truly a Sacrament of peace according .to our Lord's designs, affords no real peace to Scrupulosus. Definitely, it is a torture; a torture to go. a torture to stay away. And the reason for the torment, to put it simply, is that the reception of this Sacrament involves four elements---examination of conscience, con-fession, contrition, satisfaction--each of which can be fulfilled only :in a human way. Suppose we follow Humanus and Scrupulosus through an examination of conscience. Humanus says a few pre-liminary prayers, then looks into-his soul. This is riot a very strenuous process for him;in fact, it verges on sheer routine. Humanus is conscious of the fact that he could improve his method, but he also knows that he fulfills all the essentials. Mortal sins first; and it does not take him long to find :them. Heis no laxist. He knows a mortal sin when he sees one; but he. knows too that they are big enough to be seen with the naked eye. On some Com-mandments he does not even examine himself. Idolatry, murder, robbing banks--all such things are off his list. He would waste his time searching his soul for them. If he does find that he has sinned seriously, he notes the number of times; and if he cannot recall the number, he is content to add the saving word "about." If he is doubtful about the serious sinfulness of~anything--well--he is doubtful: 188 SCRUPLES VERSUS THE HUMAN '~AY There is no use wrestling with the doubt now; if he could not solve it before, he is less likely to solve it now. Venial sins? Humanus knows there were many little things, but it is often hard to cat~ilogue them. He selects two or three, and phrases them as best he can. Sometimes he numbers venial sins, sometimes he doesn't; and he" knows tha~ the number need not be confessed. Finally, Humanus makesan act Of contrition. In this, too, there is a trace of dry routine. Humanus has often resolved to "polish it up" a bit. Contrition never causes him worry; though it has at times puzzled him. However, he has solved the puzzle in the following manner. When a friend offends him and afterwards comes to him, holds out his hand and says he is sorry, Humanus takes the hand and forgives. He never looks to see if there are tears in the man's eyes. He does not stop before forgiving to ask: "Now, John, are you sure you're sorry? Can you swear you're sorry? Do you t:eel sorry? Maybe you're deceiving me, or yourself?" No, Humanus does none of these things; so he solved his puzzle about contrition by deciding that God doesn, t act that way, either. God is content with our just being human. Scrupulostis also examines his conscience! After lengthy preparatory prayers, he finally musters the courage to plunge into the .abysmal depths of his black soul. He goes after mortal sins with searchlight and microscope; and at the end of the search he is amazed that he hasn't found any. That cannot be right. There must be some; at least, there might be some some grim deed that his lax conscience is covering up. Further examination still fails to reveal a clear-cut mortal sin, but by this time he has managed to work up a doubt. Now, is he doubtful? He'd better con-. less it as certain, because if he only thinks he is doubtful and really is not doubtful he will be deceiving the priest. 189 GERALD KELLY As for venial sins, he must have scores of them. Missed morning prayers--distractions in the prayers he did say! He has been told that missing morning prayers is really no .sin, that there is no law of either God or man that says: You must pray in the morning. But be ought to pray in the morning. As for distractions, he has also been told that when involuntary they are not sins, and that even when voluntary they are merely small irreverences. But be ought not to get distracted; it is base ingratitude for him to neglect God in that manner. He'd better give the number of the distractions: 15--no, perhaps it was only 14. He cannot make up his mind, so he decides to say 15; in fact, he finally decides to give the whole background of the ghastly affair. And so on. It is time for him to go to confession. He is not ready, but he will try. Humanus makes his confession, returns to his pew and says his penance and a few prayers of devotion. The time passes very quietly. He leaves the church, full of peace and ready, as he has often.expressed it, "to be hit by a truck." In a general way, he knows that his .confession is not mechanically perfect. Sometimes be does not say things just as he had planned them; he becomes confused, dis-tracted, or even a bit embarrassed. Also--and he has this on the authority of adevout priest--he knows that the confessor may get distracted, or even nod a bit. But this percentage of error does not greatly concern Humanus. God Himself arranged that this Sacrament should be received and administered by human beings. The essentials are quite easy to fulfill; the accidentals allow both the priest and the penitent the opportunity to strive for greater perfectio.~l and increase in humility. It should: be evident from the story of his preparation that no great peace floods the soul of Scrupulosus as he emerges from the confessional. Nevertheless, he grits his 190 SCRUPI~S VERSUS THE HUMAN ~rAY teeth and kneels dowh to say his penance. Three .Hail Marys! He literally "tackles" the first one. But in the middle something goes wrong; he must have missed a word. He starts again, and then again; but he cannot satisfy himself that that Hail Mary is properly said. As he pauses'in desperation, the whole blurred story of the confession begins to unfold before his mind. Nothing was said right. The priest must have misunderstood him com-pletely. The fact that he got only three Hail Marys con-firms him in this fear; if the priest had understood him cor-rectly, he would have given him at least a Rosary. At this moment, a new source of interior torment opens up. Even if the confession had been good, the absolution could not be valid because he did not make a real: act of con-trition. He just went through some words. God must know that he was not really sorry. And his confessions have been that way for a long time; he'simply must make a gen-eral confession. He has made general confessions before without any subs.equent peace of soul, but this one will be different. We might take Holy Communion as another example of the difference between Humanus and Scrupulosus. It should be one of the supreme consolations of the Cath-olic's life. The essentials for its reception are very small: the state of grace, acquired by Sacramental absolution, if need be; and the keeping of.the fast from midnight. Humanus finds the fulfillment of these conditions simple enough. He is satisfied with normal, .human assur-ance that he is in the state of grace. If he doubts about a serious sin, he generally prefers to go to confession, but he knows he has no strict obligation to do so, and he is con-- tent on occasions merely to make an act of contrition and go to Communion. The fast presents him with no prob-lem at all. The law is a safeguard to the reverence due the 191 GERALD KELLY Blessed Sacrament. It forbids eating and drinking after midnight. Humanus knows what ordinary people look upon as eating and drinking, and he does not have to con-sult a chemist~ to find out just what is food. or a physiologist to discover precisely what is meant by eating. All these things are so many thorns for S~'rupulosus. How does he know he is in the state of grace? He can't prove it. He is not sure he can make an act of contrition, so he must always go to confession when in doubt. It may be that his confessor has assured him again and again that, in his present trial, he mayalways~go to Communion, no matter what his doubts, no matter how many sins he thinks he has committed. Even after this and though he knows that the Providence ofGod guides souls through superiors and confess.ors, yet his case is different, and the confessor does not really understand it. As for the fast, here is but one of Scrupulosus'.many hard experiences with it. He is on his way to Mass. His lips tickle. .He rubs his coat-sleeve over his mouth. A moment later he feels something strange in his mouth-- some lint from his coat, he thinks! He gathers all his salivary forces to remove it, but he is too late. He swallows. Well, that's the end. He has broken his fast, he may not go to Communion. This is his first conviction, but in church a gleam of saving common sense is still able to pierce the fog of fear and he does go to Holy Communion. Later the fear returns with a vengeance. He made a sacrilegious Communion. After that, one thing leads to another. He begins to notice a strange taste in his mouth every morning--the lint from the bedclothes! He tries again and again to remove it; but the consciousness of the lint remains, and with it the conviction that he may not receive Communion. There are two ways of solving this lint problem. One 192 SCRUPLES VERSUS THE HUMAN WAY way is to consult a trained theologic/n, wh~ might show Scrupulo~us by keen argumentation that lint is not food, or who might indicate that, even if. it were food, it was not taken "in the manner of food." This is a perfectly legiti-mate method of solving the problem, but hardly a satis-factory one for Scrupul0sus. It allows for too much quibbling, and, even when it does convince, its appeal is only to the intellect. Scrupulosug needs something that will impress his imagination and thus remove the emo-tional pressure of his fears. The second method is therefore a much better one for -Scrupulosus. It is a method suggested by an old and experienced diagnostician of his problem. It is very simple. "You take awoolly blanket, the woollier the bet-ter. Seize firmly in both hands, raise to the mouth with-out flinching, and bite hard. When you have a good bite, then you chew thoroughly and trot to swallow.'" This is a guaranteed cure. After one such experiment Scrupulosus needs no metaphysical discussion to be °con: vinced that human beings do not eat coats or blankets. In this matter, at least, he will be content with ?he human toad. No one-should gather from this brief sketch of Huma-nus and Scrupulosus that the latter does not wish to act as others do. His difficulty .is more subtle. Briefly put, it amounts to thi~: he cannot relax. 'He is like a sick man who fights an anesthetic; or, perhaps more accurately, he is like a man who will take the anesthetic, even if it kills him. So it is with Scrupulosus; at times he fights his fears, at other times he clenches his fists and says he will be human. Neither method will help him. He must relax under the pressure of his fear. This is not easy to do; yet it can be done if only one retains the power of laughing at oneself. For Scrupulosus, a sense of humor is more precious than the gift of tears. 193 Nint:s t:or Sacris!:ans Gerald Ellard, S.J. SACRISTANS for whom its cost or other considerations make Self-Lite Charcoal undesirable may readily secure the advantage of a large glowing surface with ordinary charcoal in the following way. After the unlighted charcoal ~has been placed in the censer, a little wood-alcohol is allowed to, drip on it and soak into it. It is then ignited, and, when the alcohol has burned away, the charcoal will be alight through and through and thus able, when fed with incense, to send up what is actually something like a pillar of smoke, a symbol of prayer visible to the entire congre-gation. The matter of securing the most suitable incense within the means of all is no small concern, and prompts one to mention a variety now being used with eminent satisfac-tion. Its cost is very low' but it is not on sale, as far as we know, in the church-goods houses. Trees of Syria exude a balm that is known in trade as. olibanum. This fragrant and gummy substance is widely used in varnish-making. It is graded in trade circles by the size of the lumps: egg (large) and tears (small). Tears of olibanum make an ideal incense.:~ Stocks available in this country may not.~ last much longer, but up to the present time wholesale drug dealers have had no difficulty in supplying it. The tears should not be powdered, as much of the fragrance would be lost, but burned as they come. In sacristies serving a large number of priests the prob-lem of quickly providing each priest with an alb of just the right length often proves formidable. A Chicago church 194 HINTS TO SACRISTANS where many Masses are the daily rule has at the edge of its alb-cabinet, at shoulder height, an unobtrusive measure indicating the number of inches from the floor. A priest has just to hold up an alb to the measure to see if it is the proper length for his use. It may no longer be news .to sacristans that candle~ burners in pyrex glass are now available in all candle sizes. In style they follow-not the older lamp-chimney shape, which "black out" tOO much of the candle flame and cause difficulties in lighting the candles, but the snug, dose-fitting sleeve pattern. The pyrex burners have all the advantages of the better type of metal burners, with the big additional one of beirig practically invisible. Sacristans shudder to see priests, in adjusting the man-iple, disregard the little tab provided for pinning, .and run the pin.into the precious fabric of the maniple itself. This is riot perverseness, but a measure of necess!ty (or rather, convenience), inasmuch as many of these little .tabs are too narrow to aliow one to run a pin crossways. Many new vestments now provide a shield-shape, or even semicircular, tab which affords ample room for pinning without being conspicuous. In repairing vestments sacristans might well provide such "pin-space." A strict law of the Church prescribes that the priest mix a "very small quantity;', of water with the wine to be consecrated at Mass. Most priests wish to take only a few drops of ,water; and sacristans can help them in this regard by filling the .water cruet almost to the top. When the cruet is pract.ica!ly full, it is easy to shake out a few drops. This is not so easy to do when the neck of the cruet is empty. 195 The Presumed Permission James E. Risk, S.J. THE philosophers tells us that what happens by chance happens rarely and cannot be foreseen. The Church, in her legislation, makes provision for many unusual situations that have arisen in the course of her past history, and may arise again. Hence she grants to all priests emer-gency faculties such as to absolve from censures, to assist at marriages and to perform other priestly functions. Fac-ulties of this kind are not granted to all priests save in cases of spirituhl emergency. Now, the most conscientious reli-gious, too, will find himself at times in an unforeseen situ-ation where permissions required by his vow of poverty or obedience are needed; where the delay necessarily in-volved in obtaining such permissions cannot be admitted. Unusual circumstances arisirig from the uncertainties of travel or health may, for example, produce a situation calling for the legitimate application of the principles gov-erning the presumed permission. Since actions based on presumed permissions should be the exceptioh in the normal life ofa religious, the older theologians took great care to limit their number to the minimum, lest a too liberal application of the-norms of presumption tend to obviate the necessity of asl~ing for many of the ordina~ry permissions. Sincere reflection and a normal exercise of foresight will lead a religious to limit the number of presumed permissions, while a ready ad-mission by superiors that unforeseen situations are, from time to time, inevitable, will prompt them to make allow-ances for the reasonable presumptions of their subjects. Though the question of presumed permissions is by no means limited to the field of religious poverty, it is chiefly from this angle that we shall endeavor to examine it. 196 THE ~RESUMED ~ERMISSION Various Kif~ds or: Permissions Progress in the exercise of religious poverty demands an accurate knowledge of the various kinds of permis-sions granted by superiors. By obtaining permission to acquire, dispose of, and use material things possessing some economic value such as books, money- and the like, the religious is faithful to the obligations freely accepted when he vowed poverty. He does not act in his own name nor as an independent proprietor, but as a poor man who has nothing that he can .truly call his own. Acting w~th-out permission in these matters, he violates his vow by committing what many moralists choose to call a "sin of proprietorship." They say that such a religious acts like a man who is bound by no vow of poverty and is independ-ent of any superior in the acquisition, use, or disposal of property. The commentators on the religious life usually speak of superiors as granting permissions; though in most communities there is generally appointed an assistant su-perior who is empowered to grant many of the ordinary permissions demanded by the obligations of the vow of poverty. Our purpose in examining the nature of the pre-sumed permission leads us to comment briefly on the other forms of permission employed by a religious in the observ-ance of his vow. This will serve to clear the ground for a more accurate understanding of the presumed permission. We spea~k of an express permission as one given by word of mouth or in writing, indicating unmistakably the mind of the superior. A tacit permission, as the very name implies, is p[udently considered as granted from the silence of the superior, who is aware of certain actions that are governed by poverty or obedience. The axiom "silence gives consent" may be reasonably applied when circum-stances are such that, if the superior objected, he would voice his disapproval. An implied permission is one that 197 JAMES E. R~sK is contained in another permission. The permission of a superior, for example, authorizing a /eligious to make a trip, implies the permission to use the funds necessary for traveling. A general permission may embrace many acts of the same or different species. In some religious commu-nities there prevails the practice of renewing each month general permissions in virtue of which a religious may ac-quire or dispose of objects of a very small economic value, such as articles of devotion and the like. The extent of such permission depends on-the constitutions, rules and customs Of the institute. A particular permission .is granted for an individual case. Such a permission, how-ever, if the superior so desired, might be extended not only to a singie occasion but to several occasions calling for the same permission. Thus, permission granted to an ailing religious to consult a specialist might be limited to a single visit or extended to several, according to the nature of the indisposition requiring attention. The Presumed Permission Authors who have treated of the obligations of the religious life agree that a religious is justified in presuming permission when, owing to some inconvenience in obtain-ing permission without delay, he prudently decides that if the superior in the present circumstances, were .asked for the same permission, he would readily grant it. Now be-fore proceeding further, let it be noted that there is one very substantial difference between the presumed permis-sion and. every other kind. All permissions save the pre-sumed permission have this note in common, namely, that they are expressions of the will of the superior who knows the wish of the subject and freely grants it. In doing so, he says, equivalently at least, "I grant you permission for this or that object." Yet when we examine the presumed per- 198 THE I~RESUMED PERMISSION mission, we find that the superior cannot say this for the simple reason that he is unaware of the subject's wish. This leads us to conclude that the presumed permission is, not a permission in the strict sense of the word, but it is a legitimate substitution; and the act resulting from a sin-cere presumption, whether it lies in the sphere of poverty or obedience, is quite in accord with the obligations arising from the religious vows. The religious is acting, not in his own name, but with a clear dependence on the will of the superior. To come more properly to an examination of the pre-sumed permission, the following points of division are suggested by the definition of the presumed permission given above. We must consider: I) On the part of thereligious who presumed: a) the inabitit~/ tO obtain permission in one its ordinarg forms, b) the motioes sufficient to justifg a presump-tion; c) a prudent conclusion. Z) On the part of the superior: the different~mental attitudes towards a presumed permission. Our first condition requisite for the legitimate pre-suming of a permission is the inability to obtain permis-sion in one of its ordinary forms because of the absence of the superior. The most circumspect religious may encoun-ter such a situation when both superior and assistant are .abse, nt or indisposed or so occupied as to permit no inter-ruption. If the proposed action of the religious is so urgent as to exclude a delay until such time as the superior may be contacted, permission may be presumed, supposing the .other conditions are fulfilled. In the second place sufficient motives, reducible to ne- 199 JAMES E. RISK cessity or utility, are required to make a presumpt.ion law-ful. Let us suppose that, while traveling, two sisters are caught in a heavy rainstorm that gives little hope of imme-diate abatement. An umbrella would be a very welcome addition to their equipment in the present predicament. To purchase an umbrella without delay may be instru-mental in protecting their health as. well as their clothing. In such straits it would be quite unnecessary to look for a telephone so as to obtain express permission to make this necessary purchase. The same religious now proceed to browse through a book store while waiting for a train. To their pleasant surprise a rare and very valuable book, much sought after by their superior, meets their eye. It is available at an extremely reduced rate. A real service would be rendered the convent by the immediate purchase of such a book. A situation such as this might even justify the conclusion that the permission to buy the book ought to be presumed. The prudent in.terpretation of the superior's mind, the third requisite for a valid presumption, must never be wanting. On this point, the commentators supply us with expressions that furnish a key to the solution of many a problem that in practice may arise when we wish to justify a presumed permission. They say: "_ . it is prudently judged that permission would be given if asked"; "Per-mission reasonably presumed is sometimes sufficient"; "To presume permission is to act conformably to the will of the $a p er" t "o't ; and so forth. "Prudent"l y" , reasonabl"y, and "conformably to the will of the superior" indicate that a well-founded judgment enters into the very character of the presumed permission. Resting on the basis of whim or hallucination, instead of prudence and reflection, the act of the presuming religious is not to be dignified by the title of a permission; it is rather a gratuitous-presumption or 200 THE PRESUMED PERMISSION the sin of proprietorship. The reasons tha~ justify the prudent judgment will at least approximate those which in ordinary circumstances influence the conscientious superior in consenting to the requests of his subjects. Such reasons will be reduced ulti-mately to necessity or utility in harmony with the norms of the particular religious institute of which both superior and subject are members. For each religious order or con-gregation professes a more or less definite standard in these matters, admitting, for example,, in the matter of poverty, the use of some things as necessary or useful, while exclud-ing others as superfluous or even detrimental to the. spirit-ual interests 6f the religious. With this in mind, the reli-gious about to presume a permission knows that the habit-ual attitude of the superior is to abide by these norms in granting permissions, that the object desired in the present emergency has been granted on other occasions by the same superior, that there is no reason that leads him to suspect that in the present situatioi~ the superior would act differ-ently. Thus, a religi6us says to himself, equivalently at least, "If, here and now; I should ask the superior to grant me this request, I am reasonably certain that he would readily grant it." He comes to this conclusion after hav-ing deliberated on his particular rule of life and the habit-ual inclination of ~i conscientious superior. The "if" clause just expressed is always at least implied in the legitim~te presumption. This explains why the presumed permission is sometimes called the conditioned permission. The per-mission that would involve the acceptance of gifts of an incon.sequential value can be much more readily presumed than the more costly kind. Needless to say, in practise the reasoning process re-quired for a presumed permission is far more quickly con-cluded than described. While walking through town, a 201 religious priest meets a crippled beggar, whom he knows to be sincere. He gives the poor man a few small coins on the presumption that his superior would not object. His own particular institute encourages devotion .to the poor and he has seen his superior, a conscientious religious, act in the same generous fashion. His presumption is reason-able; he has "conformed" his action to the .reasonably in-terpreted mind of the superior. I.s. a religious who has legitimately presumed a permis-sion, say in a matter governed by his vow of poverty, later obliged to notify the superior of his act?. The rule may call for such a manifestation in every case of a presumed permission. Supposing such a prescription does not exist, one would not be obliged to notify the superior of articles now consumed which'had been received b~r way of a legiti-mately presumed permission. Objects Of a more enduring nature, received in virtue of a presumed permission, should be made knov~n to the superior. A kind friend, for exam-ple, meets a' religious and invites him to take dinner with him. The religious accepts his friend's gracious invitation. Before parting, the same kind friend presents the religious with a very excellent volume. To what is the religious obliged in the case? We suppose, first of all, that his pre-sumptions in both cases are justified. If the rule of this religious obliges him to manifest all presumed permissions to the superior, his duty is clear. Without such a provision made by his rule, he would not be obliged to acquaint his superior with the fact that he had prudently presumed to take dinner with his friend. If he wishes to keep the vol-ume which he had lawfully presumed to accept, he would be obliged to approach the superior for permission. For while it was inconvenient to make contact with the supe-rior at the moment when he received the book, there should be no special inconvenience involved in asking for permis- 202 THE PRESUMED PERMISSION' sion on his beturn home. In other words, he can lawfully ¯ presume only as long as conditions justify it. Attitudes of Superior Having examined the conditions that warrant a pre-s. umed permission, let us now look briefly at the different attitudes with which a superior may view such presump-tions on the part ~of the subject. We may reduce them to three classes. 1) The first type of superior may be so disposed that he is ready enough, if asked, to grant the ordinary permis-sions, and does not object to the reasonable presuming of the same permissions. It is possible that he has. expressed himself on this point.To ex.emplify: a religious of the community of this superior knows that permission to sub-scribe to useful periodicals is readily granted. He knows too from his close acquaintance with the superior that there is no objection to presumed permissions in ordinary mat-ters. Such a religious, provided there be no insincerity on 'the point, .may presume to subscribe under the ordinary conditions. For he knows, in the language of the theo-logians, that his superior is opposed neither to. the sub-stance of the act (the~ subscription) nor to the mode or manner (by way of a presumed permission). 2) Another superior, perhaps .with a view of check-ing abuse in the matter of poverty, may be decidedly op-posed to his subjects' presuming permissions. So strong may be his attitude that, outside of cases of real emergency, he is prepared to veto the presumed permissions of his sub-jects. A presumed permission then, outside of extraordi-nary circumstances, would be tantamount to a violation of poverty or obedience as the case might be. To resume the example of subscription for periodicals. The superior in question is not opposed to the subscriptions to useful :peri- 203 JAMES E. RISK odicals. So strongly, however, is he opposed to presumed permissions, that he refuses to allow a subject to subscribe without first obtaining express permission. In this case he would object to the substance of the act (the act of subscribing') not because he failed to appreciate the cul-tural value of useful periodicals, but because he would be opposed to the toad/ir~ which such a subscription were made (i.e. by way of the presumed permission). 3) S~ill a third attitude might be evidenced towards the matter of presuming. Admitting the use of presumed permissions as sometimes justifiable, a superior may reveal his general attitude towards presumed permissions as one of reluctance and displeasure. Such a disposition, however, would not necessarily in'dicate his refusal to ratify a pre-sumption once made. The subject of this superior sub-scribes to a periodical and on the arrival of the first issue is reminded that the superior would gladly have granted the permission if asked. Has this religious violated poverty? He may have sinned venially because of the toay in which he obtained the subscription, that is, by presu~ming instead of asking. The substance of the act, namely, the mere sub-scribing, would not necessarily be'sinful, because the supe-rior would have gladly permitted it. Obedience too could be violated, if the religious deliberately acted against the expliCit order of the superior. To complete our consideration of the various attitudes which mayinfluence a superior in .these matters, this ques-tion may be proposed. Suppose that after a sincere and prudent presumption is made, it is totally repudiated by the superior? If, for example, a book were purchased in such circumstances, what could be done? Strictly. speak-ing, the superior might order the return of the book and reimbursement on the part of the proprietor of the book-store, if this were feasible. That would be for the superior 204 THE ~RESUMED PERMISSION to decide. The religious, who in good' faith erroneously estimated his superior's attitude, would in no wise be guilty of a violation of poverty. For in the case he sincerely inter-preted the mind of his superior and concluded that the con-ditions justified his transaction. Conclusion In conclusion, let .us remember that the presumed or interpretative permission, as some authors call it, has a defi-nite place in the life of an observant religious, but that p!ace is reserved for occasions when the ordinary methods to obtain permission cannot be observed. The conscien-tious religious, as we have already stated, will rarely fail to obtain whatever permis.sions are ordinarily necessary by the more express method of asking the superior. A habitual use of presumption can easily lead to laxity in the observ-ance of poverty so essential to a life in religion that is to be led with any degree of sincerity. What must never be. for-gotten is that cooperation is always necessary in the observ-ance of the vow of poverty: the superior should show him-self ready to grant any request in keeping with the particu-lar grade of poverty professed in hisinstitute, since it is not unknown for subjects to violate poverty rather than ap-proach a superio/Who has shown himself less gracious in the question of permissions. Subjects have been known to deliberately violate poverty, I say, not to mention the gratuitous or unnecessary presumption which is another name for the sin of proprietorship. The religious should be habitually disposed to express that dependence on supe-riors for the use of temporal things, not out of a spirit of servitude but out of a desire to imitate Him Who was hungry and Who had nowhere to lay His head. 205 ook Reviews PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIAN AND RELIGIOUS FERFECTION for the use of the Merlst Brothers of the Schools. Trensleted from the slx~h French edition; revised end enlercjed. Pp. 567. To be procured from the Marlst Brothers, St. Ann's Hermltege, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. $1.~0. Though this book was written for the Marist Brothers, it could be of great service to other religious as well. In fact, it would make an excellent manual of introduction or a good brief guidebook to the spiritual iife in general and particularly to the religious life. It might be used as a sort of text-book for young religious; it was designed to serve that purpose for the Marist novices. It ~s small, but rich in content; its form is that of. question a~ad answer; in presentation of its material, it is systematic, clear, and definite. From it one could get a well ordered and fairly comprehensive knowledge of the practice of the spiritual and religious life. The Introduction supplies general notions on the end of man, holiness, the religious state, and religious institutes. Part I is entitled "General Means of Christian Perfection," and deals with the desire for perfection, prayei, mental prayer, exercises of piety, conscience, Confession, Communion, direction, spiritual reading, the exercise of the presence of God, and various devotions. In Part II, "General Means of Perfection in the Religious Life," are treated religious vocal tion, the noviceship and religious profession, the vows, and the corre-sponding virtues. It closes with a chapter on "Regularity." Part III is concerned with the obstacles to Christian and religious perfection, and the fourth part is devoted to the virtues. To many of the answers "to the questions are added brief further explanations in smaller type. On many points of major importance select quota-tions from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church are givefi; in these the' influence of St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus Liguori is noticeable. The m~iterial make-up, paper, print, and binding, are neat and attractive. A full table of contents, an analytical tab!e, and a good index make it easy to find what the book contains on any particular point.--G. A. ELLARD, S.,J. BLESSED ARETHEY THAT HUNGER. By the Reverend Richard Graef, C;.S.Sp. Trensleted by Sister Mary Hildegerd Windecker, M. A., Sister of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians end Colored People. 206 BOOK REVIEWS Pp. ~vli + 175. Frederick Pustet, Inc., New York, 1942. $2.00. Father Graef attempts in various ways to encourage the good Catholic in the practic.e of a strong and living faith. His main lines of argumentation are the following: A dynamic faith is necessary for personal sanctity; because sanctity demands self-renunciation, and this renunciation will not be made unless one sees clearly and power-fully the value of making it. Such evaluation is had only in the light of faith. Moreover, supernatural efficiency demands the work both of Christ and of the soul. The principal part of the soul's cooperation consists in genuine, earnest desire; and the source of such desire is faith. Finally, the apostolic influence that each soul is called upon to exert in the world, and thus the ultimate mastery of the world by apostolic souls, can be appreciated only when the world is viewed with the eyes of faith. The" author has made frequent and apt use of the Sacred Scrip-tures. Each of the main sections of the book is divided into numer-ous brief topics. The meditative reading of one or two of these topics might prove, helpful to those wlJo are accustomed to make their men-tal prayer in that way.--G. KELLY, S.,I. THE MASS OF BROTHER MICHEL. By Michael Ken÷. Pp. 307. The Bruce Publishing Company, Milwaukee, 1942. $2.S0. Here is a new Catholic novel with an entirely different theme. The setting of the story is sixteenth-century France, a turbulent his-torical period for that country, owing to the threatening Surge of heresy. The spreading falsehoods of Calvin and Luther provide' a dramatic background for the lives of the de Guillemont family, about which the story is told. The interest centers in Michel de Guillemont, the elder son and heir. It is his story from his sincere, impetuous love of Louise to his final unyielding love of God and his Faith in the self-oblation of martyrdom. We share in the tragedy before his contemplated mar-riage that was partly due to the jealousy of his brother Paul and that led to his becoming a saintly religious. We are carried along from the injustice and cruelty of his father to ~he providential meeting with the und.erstanding Father Andr4. We sympathize with him in his deep suffering when the priesthood is denied him. Brother Michel's courageous acceptance of God's will and his intense love of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass keep the interest keen up to the power- 207 BOOK REVIEWS ful climax of his death. The subordinate characters of the least-resisting Paul, the unscru-pulous Anne; the bitter Louise, the heretic Armand, the lovable Father Andre, and others are well portrayed. The story is told with excel-lent description and good use of suspense. The tragic atmosphere is relieved by romance and clever humor. The one striking weakness is the characteristic trait of the modern novel: it leaves untold the retribution due to some charaCters. The Mass of Brother Michel shows the triumph of grace over .personal pain and loss, sin, and human frailty. The passages that deal with the spiritual consolation of the Mass, the reason for pain and suffering in this life, God's love for the sinner, and the courage coming to the soul through prayer are worth reading again and again. Priests, in particular, will find here many inspiring thoughts for practical use and may grow in their appreciation of the privilege of offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.---A. J. DEEMAN, S.J. FAST BY THE ROAD. By John Moody. Pp. xiv + 308. The MacM~llan C~rnpany, New Yorl~, 1941. $2.50. The Wall Street expert on investments and kindred subjects who occasioned not a little surprise a decade ago by embracing the Catholic Faith and reporting the event in the popular The Long Road Home has a new treat for his expanding reading public. The present vol-ume, to quote from the author's foreword, is "an attempt to explain in simple language or by illustration, certain teachings and view. points to be found within the Church which are often misunder-stood by non-Catholics. All this is merely incidental to the general purpose, which is primarily to tell of some of the experiences of one convert .during his first decade as a Catholic." Mr. Moody writes simply, entertainingly, and with precision on a wide variety of subjects connected with his Faith. In his chapters the hard-headed, efficient business man, with the help of God's grace, approaches the Truth. He turns back his cuffs and proceeds to defend it and, campaign for it with gusto. The chapters are topical for the most part, ranging with consider-able agility back and forth over some focal point of Catholicity by means of observation, analysis, chance discussion, and illustrative anecdote. Their cumulative effect is to deepen one's gratitu.de for the gift of Faith and to jolt one anew with the realization that most of 208 BOOK REVIEWS one's non-Catholic friends and neighbors are totally ignorant of or gr6ssly misunderstand the Catholic concept of supernatural life, and are usually indifferent to it. And Mr. Moody, so thoroughly at home in the Church after his ten years as a Catholic, writes with more than ordinary authority and perception of .the money-mad, speed-benumbed, materialistic American mentality. The book is recommended especially to those in search of reading matter never heavy or tiring yet providing food for serious thought --and prayer. The chapters m~y be read in any order, and any or all of them would be suitable for refectory reading.--C. DEMUTH, THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN ENGLAND. Pp. ix -I- 102. The MacMillan Company, MEDIEVAL HUMANISM. By the Reverend Pp. ix -!- 103. The MacMillan Company, By John J. O'Connor. New York, 1942. $1.00. Gerald G. Walsh, S.J. New York, 1942. $1.00. These books are respectively the third and fourth volumes in The Christendom Series. According to the announcement of the publishers, "this is a series of popular books on important topics in the history of Christendom, prepared under the auspices of the Con-fraternity of Christian Doctrine . The books are intended to provide informative reading for both Catholic and non-Catholic readers; for study clubs in the parochial units of~the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine: for study groups in the Newman Clubs: as collateral texts in colleges, normal schools, and senior high ~and preparatory schools.'~ Both books appear to measure up very well to the purpose of the series. Professor O'Connor's book gives a fine sweeping picture of that very important period in English life known as "The Catholic Revival," the story of the gradual breaking away from the tyranny of th~ penal laws to the winning of freedom and influence for Cath-olics. Father Walsh's book puts within the reach of the ordinarily intelligent reader with good educational background an illuminating study of the meaning of "Humanism" and of the development of Christian Humanism through the middle ages till it reached its high point in Dante. Bibliographical notes are appended to each book. Father Walsh has also included an abstract for study and review which should prove very helpful.~. KELLY, S.d. 209 Decisions o[ !:he Holy MEANS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE HOLY SEE A communication from the Most Reverend Apostolic Delegate to the Most Reverend Ordinaries reads as follows:. "In order to remedy, the difficulties of correspondence with the Holy See, His Eminence the Cardinal Secretary of State has'directed me to inform the Diocesan and Religious Ordinaries and Superiors of this country'that in the present circumstances they may recur to the Holy See through this Apostolic Delegation, and so avail themselves of the facilities at our disposal. This office makes frequent use of radiograms, and also of the air-mails to Lisbon wblch, however, are not as regular as formerly. "Upon the receipt of the petitions of Religious for faculties and dispens,ations, this Delegation will communicate with the .Holy See by radiogram or by other channdls, according to the possibilities and the circumstances. When a response has been received from the Holy See, the relative rescript will be issued by this Delegation, in accord-ance with instructions already given or to be given in particular cases. "When requests are made for the renewal of a faculty, the orig-inal rescript should be presented with the petition for renewal. "The Holy. See hopes in this way to continue to correspond with the Religious !n this country and to furnish every assistance to them." 1942, March 21. At the request of many members of the Hier-archy, heads Of universities, and authorities in the world of science, among them members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, His Holiness Pope Pius XII proclaimed Saint Albert the Great to be the heavenly patron of natural sciences. The Most Reverend Martin Gillet, Master General of the Order of Preachers, read the Brief at a solemn meeting held in the Pontifical International Institute Ahgeli- CUmo 1941, November 18. The Sacred Congregation of Rites held a preparatory session in the cause of the Servant of God, Catherine Tekakwitha, Indian virgin, to discuss the heroicity of the virtues practised by her. 210 .uesffons and Answers !1. According +o our constitutions. +he members of our congregation pronoun~:e temporary vows for three years, +hen take. perpetual vows unless, for a very serious reason, a sister is obl;gecl by superior~ to renew her temporary vows for another period of three years. At the end of +ha+ time she must either pronounce perpetual vows or seek~ an inchlt from the S. Congregation of Religious for a fur+her ex+en-sion of temporary vows if she is not 1o return to the world. Recently this latter c~se occurred, but the rescript was delayed, "and the sister d~d not renew her temporary vows until twelve days after they had' expired. In this case, did +he sister cease +o be a member of +he congregation on the day on which her vows expired, and were her subsequent vows invalid? The sister would not cease to be a member of the congregation. by the mere fact that an interval of time elapsed between the expira-tion of the temporary vows and their renewal, unless the superior had positively ordered her to leave and to return to the world. As the case is presented, it is not clear whether or not the constitutions allow this appeal to the S. Congregation of Religious.

Issue 1.5 of the Review for Religious, 1942. ; RI::::VII:::W FOR RI::LIGIOUS ' VOLUME I ~SEPTEMBER 15, 1942 NUMBER 5 CONTENTS OUR FRIENDS. THE ANGEl~S---Clement Andlauer. S.J . 290 PAMPIa.~.~ET. NOTICES . " . 300 PATR~:-I~:~'~BEDIENCE IN TIME OF WAR John C. Ford, S.J. . 301 BOOKS . ; -,, AL . 305 THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE--G.Augustine Ellard. S.J . 306 SUPPLYIN.G DAYS OF ABSENCE FROM THE NOVITIATEm Adam C. Ellis. S.J . 322 IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS---The Editors . 326 THE "NEW COMMANDMENT" OF LOVEmMatthew Germing, S.J. 3~7 THE APOSTOLATE TOASSIST DYING NON-CATHOLICS-- Gerald Kelly, S.J . 338 COMMUNICATIONS (On Spiritual Direction) . 34 BOOK REVIEWS-- OUR MODELS IN RELIGION. By Brother Jean-Baptiste. F.M.S. 350 THE SOLUTION Is EASY. By the Reverend Mark Schmid. O.S.B. 350 THE DIALOG MASS. By the Reverend Gerald Ellard. S.J. 35 ! . THIS ROSARY. By the Reverend Anthony N. Fuerst . 353 BOOKS RECEIVED . . . 353 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS-- 28. Visting Relatives . 29. Non-acceptance of a dispensation from Vows . " . . . 354 30. Occupation of Novice during Canonical Year . 35.5 31. Scapular Medal worn by Religious . 356 32. Absence from the Postulancy . 356 33. Re-admission of an ex-Religious . 357 34. Local Superior's power to grant Permissions . 357 35. Dismissal of Postulant without giving Reason . " . . ~357 ,THE LETTERS OF SAINT BONIFACE . 358 DECISIONS OF THE HOLY SEE OF INTEREST TO RELIGIOUS 359 REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS, September, 1942. Vol. I, No. 5. Published bi-monthly: January, March. May, duly. September. and November, at The College Press. 606 Harrison Street, Topeka, KanSas. by St. Mary's College, St. Matys. Kan-sas, with ecclesiastical approbation. Entered as se~ond class matter January 15, 1942, at the Post Office. "Topeka. Kansas. under the act of March 3. 1879. Editorial Board: Adam C. Ellis. S. J., G. Augustine Ellard, S.J., Gerald Kelly, S.J. Copyright. 1942, by Adam C. Ellis. Permission is hereby granted for quotations of reasonable length, provided due credit be given this review and the author. Subscription price: 2 dollars a year. Printed in U. S. A. Our Friends, The Angels Clement Andlauer, S.3. A MATERIALISTIC age such as ours is embarrassed when confronted with the attitude of. St. Francis of Assisi toward nature. To hide their discomfort, moderns often accuse him of exaggerated sentimentality ~t0ward creatures. To St. Francis every creature; ~vhether animate or inanimate, was a brother o~ sister. No object was so low that it did not merit his love and p~otection, his reverence and praise. Tide world around him was one huge family of which he wa~s a member, and in that family circle he rejoiced to recognize his kin, no matter how infe-rior or even repulsive they might be in themselves. The thing that made St. Francis feel at home with the world around him was the consciousness of'a common Father in heaven. All things come from God, and in them all is reflected the perfection of~od. Why, then, should anyone be ashamed to acknowledge kinship Gith tbe wdrks of God's hands? How could. St. Francis help calling the' birds and beasts his brothers and sisters? This is not the exaggerated sentimentality which raises an animal to the status of a human being. It is an intensely human applica-tion of principles of cold logic; the principle that God is the first beginning and last end of all things, the principle that the Divine Essence is th~ model of every created thing. And whether or not we apply these principles in our own lives, the conclusion follows that together with the world around us we form one family. Among the members of our great created family are the angels. Despite the great difference beti~'een their nature and ours, they are our brothers in a higher and truer sense ~han the rest of creation. Even though .their splendor is so 290 - great that they havebeen mistaken by men for God Him-self, still they are creatures. St. John tills us in his Apoc-alypse that an angel spoki~ to him,, "And I fell down before his~ feet to adore him, And he said to me: 'See you do it no~. I am thy fellow-servant, i~nd of thy brethren, w.ho have the testimony of 3~sus. Adore God.'. " Here we have it on,~the word of one of the noblest spirits in heaven that he is our brother. Angels come from the same hand that made us: they are patterned after the same Divine Essence: alone of all other creatures they share with us an intellect and will. If this is not enough to/hake them our brothers, there remains the fact that angels and men are the adopted children of God. Supernatural union with God is our common end; God's grace raises us both to a state above our natures, and God is our mutual Father ifi a .very special and .sublime sense of the word. Our Elder Brothers The angels are our, elder brothers, the more illustrious members of our family. Save for the fact that the Son of God paid us the honor of taking to ,Himself a human; not an angelic, nature, these brothers of ours are far superior, to us. In man is reflected .the existence, the life, the activity of G~d; but all'of these perfections are intimately dependent on matter. Only in the angels do we find these attribufes of God mirrored independently of matter,'~, as they are in God, Because angels exist and act. without the slighest neces-sary connection with matter we call them pure spirits. Our souls are indeed spirits; that is, they are stibstances which have no component parts into which they can be ~separated. They can exist aside from matter, and in their highest operations they depend on matter only as a necessary con-dition. But our souls are brought ifto beihg brily on the 291 CLEMENT ,~NDLAUER condition that matter is rightly disposed. BY their vgry nature they are destined to be united to a material body without which they are incomplete. In their intellectual acts, our souls lean so heavily for support on our bodies that if our sense channels are blockaded by disease or acci-. dent, our mental life is nil or at the best extremely meager. Even a departed soul retains an aptitude for the body it once inhabited. It was~ destined for intimate .union with that body for all eternity, and only when the body rejoins the soul at the resurrection will the complete substance.man exist again. But with the angels it is otherwise. They were never intended to be joined tO matter, or to be depend-ent on it in any way for their life and activity: hence we call them pure spirits. Not only do th~ angels surpass us in the more perfect way in which they show forth God's existenc.e~and activity, but they participate in His power more completely than men. What a struggle'Our poor intellects have in acquiring truth. How faulty is our cognition of many things when we do acquir~ some knowledge of them. Unless an object can be reached by our senses we cannot know it directly but only by analogy. But for an angel it is no Struggle, no matter of syllogizing to attain truth. His cognition is not a mere scratching of the surface to find a similarity. His keen intellect goes to the very essence of things at once and sees ramifications that the wisest men miss after the study of a lifetime. For an angel an examination would not be the painful, ordeal it often-is for us, but just another pleas-ant occupation. These spirits also surpass us .in what we ordinarily call power. It would be a great mistake to imagine that because they have no bodies fhey. have no .powe'r over material objects. Man has become adept in imposing his will on the world .around him by the clever use of the laws of nature, 292 OUR FRIElqI~, THE ANGELS but he must always make use of material instrumentssuch as machines or chemicals. An angel do,es not need a crowbar to move a huge;rock. Indeed, he couldn't use one, since he has no hands. But by his deep insight into the physical laws and by the~ power inherent in his nature, an angel could move that rock more quickly, than we could for all our crowbars. A Valuable Relationship So we see that these brothers .of ours are very. wonder-ful creatures. They are relatives whom we need not be ashamed to acknowledge before the most distinguished meh of ~his earth. It is ratl~er flattering to us to have such hon-orable family connections, but most of us desire, something more substantial than the vicarious limelight of important relatives. If our brotherhood with the angels does nothing more than tickle our Vanity, then it is an interesting but not very.useful doctrine. Therefore~ it is natural for us to ask what, if any', i~ the value of such a relationship with the .angels. Things rarely have any value in themselves; their importance usually comes from their relation to other things. Diamonds would not be valuable if all the rocks in the world were diamonds. But when we look at the world as a whole and see the position that~tha~"pecul.i._ar rock, the diamond, has in the mineral world we under-stand why diamonds are worth money while a piece of sandstone of the same size is worthless. If, then, we look at the position of angels and men in tile plan that God has established in this universe', we begin to understand the very practical use of our brotherhood with the angels. We know that God did not create this world without any purpose in mind. 'On the contrary, reason and faith teach us that God engaged in the work 6f creation to share 293 CLEMENT ANDLAUER His own ,divine goodness with other beirigs as far .as that was possible. Intimately connected "with this end' is the happiness of man, a happindss which in the present order means union with God in the Beatific Vision. Now, while we cannot ~frustrate the first purpose of God, since, by our very existence we share in the perfections of God; unfor- ~tunately for us we can, by the wrong use of our free wills, very effectively prevent God's second and conditional inten-tion from being iealized. Indeed, without special, help from God, it would be extremely difficult-for us not to frustrate this end and thus lose our ~eternal happiness. However, it is hardly_ becoming God's dignity and man's liberty that God should constantly step in to keep us on the right path. A wise employer does not try to handle every department of his business himself. He uses foremen~ and intermediaries. He keeps a watchful eye on the work as. a. whole to see that things go as ithey should, but he leaves his men to work together 'to accomplish the task undertaken. This is what God has done. He designs the whole operation and then allows His creatures to work together, the lower helping the higher, and the higher directing, and watching' over the lower. As St. Thomas ~puts it, "G6d directs lower creatures by the higher;, not because of any defect in His power, but out of the abun-dance of His goodness, that He :might:also give tO creatures some of'the dignity He enjoys as the cause of all things~" Ndw we begin to see the value of our connection with ,the angels. Looking at God's providence 'in its complete-ness we should be surprised if He did not use the :angels to assist us in reaching our last end. If God has communi-cated so,~ much of His infinite perfection to our elder brothersl is it no~t'reasonable .that He should also allow them to assist Him as the cause of' all things? Is it not just what we should expec~ of God's goodness that He would 2§4 OUR FRI~IqD~, THE ANGELS arrange for the ,more perfect members of His family to guard and help the less perfect members? fit Consoling Doctrine -If we have any doubt about the matter, we need but examine Scripture and the teaching of the Church. In the Psalms we read, "For He hath given His angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways." And again, "The angel of the Lord shall encamp, round about them that fea.r Him; and shall deliver them." It was for this reason that Christ warned the Jews not to despise the little children, those seemingly unimportant mites. "See .that you despise not these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven .always see the face of my Father Who is in heaven." Fathers and theologians have so .insisted on the doctrine that every man has a guardian angel that we cannot doubt this fact without the greatest rashness. The Catechism of the Council of Trent also illustrates this truth in a homely way. It reads, "For as parents, if their children have occa-sion to travel a dangerous way, infested by robbers, appoint persons to guard and assist them in case of attack, so does our Heavenly Father place over each of us, in our journey toward our heavenly home, angels to protect us by their aid and v;ratchfulness, that we may escape the snares secretly laid for us by our enemies, repel their ,horrible attacks on us, and proceed on our journey along the road that leads directly to our end. By their guidance we are saved from the devious wanderings into which our treach-erous foe might betray us, to, lead us aside from the way that leads to,Heaven." Could anything be more consoling than this do(trin~ at thosetimes when we feel so keenly our own weakness? It teaches us not only to hope for but to expect help from creatures that are more like to God. than we are. Obviously, 295 (~LEMENT ANDLAUER r~ we should not look for. such visible and extraordinary ix~tervention in our problems as Tobias had. Our angels will not appear as young men in shining armor tol strike down our enemies as did the angel when Heliodorus attempted to rob the temple of Jerusalem of its-treasures. But we can expect the kind of protection that the valiant Judith received. Inspired by God she went with one maid-servant into the camp of the Assyrians who were besieging Bethulia. For four daysshe dwelt there in the midstlof the dangers of camp life until God delivered Holofernes, the leader of the Assyrians, into her hands and she cut ,off his head. On her return to ]3ethulia unharmed and undefiled she told her countrymen, "Bu~ as the Lord liveth, His angel hath been my keeper, both going hence, and abiding there, and returning from thence hither." No matter how dangerous or difficult our duty may be, the Lord's~ahgel is our keeper and we need have no fear. i ~ Every day our guardian angels protect us from physi-cal dangers, but more important still they ward° off spir-itual dangers. We go through life constantly assaiied by. the spirits of evil who lead us .into sin. ' Against the~se evil ¯ spirits, who have lost none of their great intelligence and power,' we poor Weak men have'to struggle. With~God's grace we can put them to flight; but what a relief i~ is to "have a spirit equally~ powerful or even more powerful fighting¯ on our side. What a consolation in. the hour of death, when our faculties are.weakened and the evil spirits redouble their' efforts fo~. a. last desPerate attack, to have one. who will carry- on. the battle for us.~ This.~isth~ time when our ,guardian angels are most needed, and iri .thi~ hour ~heir whole power is devoted to our protection, i Another officeof our angels is that of counselor. It was an angel that advised Joseph in a dream to take M~ary as ¯ his spouse, to take the Child and fly into Egypt, tol bring 296 OUR FRIENEE, THE ANGELS the Child back again. This is not the way the-angels usually speak to us, but they do speak to us just as truly as if we exchanged "words with them. Frequently they suggest good thoughts to us in such a way that we quite naturally take them for our own thoughts. They urge us to do good works, and we do not realize that we are being~ led by the inspiration of. our guardian angels. In our afflictions they are close .to us to teach us patience and resig-nation, to fill us with faith, to .whisper words ofohope in the good with which God wil~l crown our sufferings. In our joys they rejoice with us, they cause in us thoughts of gratitud~ to God and encourage us to serv~ Him more faith-fully~ There is hardly a Catholic who in some perplexing situation has not had recourse to his angel and received from him the advice he sought. It isa frequent experience with all of us, but because our minds are so easily capti-vated by material objects our counselors sometimes meet stiff opposition in their work. Scripture calls our attention to another duty of the angels: the offering .of our prayers to God--increasing the value of our cold petitions by uniting to them their own ardent supplications. The angel Raphael told the older Tobias, "When thou didst p.ray with tears I offered.thy prayers to the Igord.". And in the Apocalypse St. ~lohn tells us that he saw an angel who mingled much incense with the prayers of the saints and offered them to God. Prayer, decently offered, is always listened to b~ God, but praye~ fervently offered is more acceptable. Our angels a.re so closely united to us that our needs become.as it were their needs, and our petitions become their petitions; and who can say how often the ardent and undistracted prayer of our angels has obtained for us an.answer to our prayers? And so it g6es all through life. From our births to our deaths these untiring guardians stand ready to protect and 297 ,guide us. The task that began with our entrance into this ¯ life ends only when our souls depart from our bodies. As we prepare to enter the door of eternity the Church prays, "Come forth to meet him, ye angels of the Lord, receive his soul and preser.ve itin the sight of the Most High." As the body is carried to its last resting ,place it is accompanied the words, "May the angels escort thee to Paradise. At. thy c.oming may the martyrs welcome thee, and conduct thee, to the Holy City ~lerusalem. May a choir of angels receive thee, and with Lazarus, once poor, mayest thou have rest everlasting." After Death ". Strictly speaking, after the last great battle on our behalf against the powers of darkness the mini,~trations of our guardian angels cease. Now we are beyond the power to be helped by them or to be harmed by the evil spirits. Our course, is run, and all that remains is the decision of the ,ludge. But though their work as guardians is. completed. we can hardly imagine that those who have been so close to us for so many years and who have had such an interest in us will cease to .care for us. To the Throne of God they lead th~ souls of their charges. There they step ~side while the ,Iudge pronounces sentence. If the sentence be Purgatory, once more the angels take up the souls and bear them to that sad prison. Here the souls must remain until their debts .are paid; but it is not unlikely that from time to time they are consoled and encouraged by the visits of their angels. When at last the purified" souls come forth, it is to meet their angels who will lead them to .the company of the Queen of angels and her-Divine Son. What 10ve and hap-piness the soul and its angel will experience°in each Other's company is easy to imagine, for they are now doubIy dear to one another, and together through eternity they will look OUR FRIENDS, THE ANGELS upon the Face of God and marvel at His wisdom that ,united them so intimately. Such then is the way that our Father in heaven has ¯ ordained that our illustrious brothers the angels should assist us in our journey through life. Modern critics call it a pious remnant of pagan superstition, but to anyone who understands the teaching of the Church about the angels it is clear that the Catholic doctrine has no connection with¯ the pagan attempt to explain the mysteries of nature by the workings of capricious; invisible beings. Neither is this teaching a fairy story to delight¯children. As we grow older, life loses many of the pleasant aspects that enter-tained us as Children. We get knocked about and learn hard lessons. But no matter how old or how wise we may become, there always remains the beautiful doctrine of the guardian angels that. thrilled us at seven and consoles usat seventy. How about our side of the picture? How are we to. repay these guardians of ours? To speak of repaying our angels would be to insult them, f6r they act solely because of love, and we, don't repay an act of love with baser cur-rency. But we do have obligations of love, gratitude, and reverence that we cannot dismiss. St. Bernard dwelt upon these duties of ours in one of his sermons; and we can do no .better than to leavethis study of the angels.with his words" in our ears: "What respect this do~trine of the guardian angels should arouse in you, what devotion it should pro-duce, what confidence it should inspire. Respect for their presence, devotionto their unselfish love, confidence in their watchfulness. Wherever you may lodge, or in whatever retired place you may be, respect your angel. Will you dare to do in his presence what you would not dare do before me~ Do you doubt that he whom you do not see is present? Then let us be faithful, let us be grateful to such guardians. 299 CLEMENT ANDLAU'ER They never fail us, they are wise, they are powerful; what' shall we fear? And so, brethren, in God let us love His angels affectionately as our co-heirsin the future and as our protectors and teachers, placed over us by our Father, in this life." PAMPHLET NOTICES In Novena to Our L~dd~ of Victor~ , the Reverend Raymond A. Panda has ar-ranged a number of very appropriate prayers and hymns for congregational 'use. The pamphlet bears the Imprimatur of the Archbishop of Milwaukee: is published by Lawrence N. Daleiden and Co., 218 West Madison St., Chicago, I11. NO price given on our review copy. The Ser~,ant of God. Brother Meinrad Euester O.$.B. is the simple story of the lif~ of a Benedictine Lay Brother whose cause for beatification has been inaugu-rated. 32 pages. For further ir~formation, write tothe Grail, St. Meinrad. Indiana. The Militant~ Christian Vir',des by the very Reverend Ignatius Smith. O.P. is a reprint of an article that appeared in the s~:holarly Dominican Quarterly, The Thomist. Father Smith gives~a compact synthesis of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on the stern Christian virtues, particularly of.vindictive justice, just anger, righteous indignation, and virtuous contempt 0f crime. These things, contends the author, demand~study now and practic~ both now and in'the peace that is to follow this war. The pamphlet contains~,a brief discussion outlin.¢, and a large number of references tothe works of St. Thomas. 32 pages: sells for 5 cents a single copy, 50 copies for $2.25, 100 copies for $4,00, postage extra in each case. Write to the National Catholic Welfare Conference,, 1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W., Washington. D. C. 300 Pa :rio :ic Obedience, in Time o1: War John C. Ford, S.J. IN .THE Catholic scheme .of things all lawful authority comes ultimateiy frdm God. The civil rulers of peoples, whether they be kings or premiers of presidents, whether the~, believe in God or not, and whether they keep His law or'not, are nevertheless His ministers when they act within the bound~ of their a~uthority. St. Paul is not speaking of believers, but of the pagan rulers of his day when he exhorts Christians thus: "Let everyone be subject to the higher authority, for there exists no authority except from God, and those who exist have been appointed by God" (Romans 13, 1). And St. Peter likewise: "Be subject to every human creature for God's sake, whether to the king .as supreme, or to governors as sent through him for vengeance on evil-doers and for the praise of the good. For such is the will of God that by doing go6d you should 13ut to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as freemen, yet not using your freedom as a cloak of malice but as servants of God. Honor all men; love the brotherhood: fear God; h6nor the king" (I Peter 2, 13-17). And Our Lord Himself upheld the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees even while He rebuked them, saying: '~The Scribes and the Pharisees have sat on the chair of Moses. All things, therefore, that they .1Father Ford originally wrote this article at the request of the editors of the Boston. Traoeler. It first appeare~d in that publication under date of May 26, 1942. It was later reprinted in the Congressional Record, May 28, 1942, page A 2139. We . reprint it here with the permission, of the publishers. We asked permission to reprint it because, though not written specifically for religious, yet its clear statement of the Christian duties of Obedience and Patr,otism will undoubtedly be Of use to our readers whether for personal meditation or in their apostolic miaistriea.~ED. 301 JOHN C. FOP.D command you, 6bserve and do. But do not act according to their works. " (Matthew 23, 2-3). Citizens, especially in a-democracy, have th~ right and the duty to inquire into the government's policy, to criticize it, to make efforts under.the laws and the Constitution to change it if they disapprove ot~ it. But if they want to prac-tice the Christian virtue of civil Obedience they cannot do any of these things in.a rebellious spirit. They cannot be . so disposed that they intend to disobey when they disap-prove. The obedience of a reasonable man is not blind. No virtue can ignore truth. If I know that something is black I cannot say it is white. But obedience does not depend on speculative approval of commands or the poli-cies behind them. Mu~h less does it depend on approval of the tiersonal characters of those in authority. Obedience sees the authority of God in the ruler. It is the first prin-ciple of united action under lawful authority/. During war time united action is absolutely indispen-sable. And it can be h~d only at the price of sacrifices and h~ardships which will increase rather than decrease as the war goes on. The practice of obedience, then, becomes more difficult just when it becomes most imperative. And if dutiful submission to the cold claims of obedience were our only principle we might easily fail to live up to its ¯ requirements. But there ii another virtue which God has placed in our hearts, the virtue of patriotiim. ~A-new book has juit been published in Boston by the Stratford Company: National Patriotism in Papal Teaching, by Father John Wright. It is an intensely interesting and ,timely work. -The moral pronouncements of the modern Popes on the virtue of patriotism have steered a middle course. That. excessive patriotism which degenerates into nationalism or racism ,is condemned. But condemned likewise is~ the 302 PATRIOTIC OBEDIENCE IN TIME OF opposite error, that a preferential love of one's own country is incompatible ~ith international peace. True patriotism is a well-ordered love of one's fatherland. We are bound, says Benedict XV, to love with asp, ecial attachment thosd with whom we share a commonfatherland. Instinct itself tells us to turn to the fatherland as ~the source of those 'rich cuItural blessings which we have received precisdy because " we are Americans and not of any other nation. True patriotism is part of'the virtue of charity and like religion itself, says Leo XIII, is one Of the ~"two duties of the firit order from which no man in this life can exempt himself," --the love of God and the love of c6untry. Cardinal O'Connell echoed this Papal teaching in his~ Easter message this year when he said: "What America offers and gives and maintains for her citizens is a treasure so pr~ious that it is Sacred. The preservation of that heritage is to every American a sacred trust, and with the possession of that trust goes the sacred obligation to pre-serve, defend, and perpetuate it. That is the meaning, of true patriotism. The defense of our altars and our homes is an bblig'ation which rests upon "e3rery citizen." It is not hard°to obey when,we love what is com-manded. When the motive of sincere love of country.~s added to "the motive of obedience, burdens that otherwise would seem unsuppbr~able become easy to bear. Love con-quers all things. It is a duty theref0re~ to foster this true love of our own United States of America, so that the natural instinct that attaches us to her will become a delib-erate reasonable love of preference permeating all our civic obligations and changing cold obedience to deycoted service. Tru~ patriotism does not mean flag waving. It does not include hatred of other' nations, whether enemies or allies. Nor does it necessarily include love of the admin~s- ¯ 303 JOH~ C. FO~ tration. Administrations come and go. The fatherland endures. But patriotism does e~njoin respect for the execu-tives whom we have chosen to ~atch over our native land. Above all patriotism does not go about shouting: My country, right or wrong! Like obedience it is not a blind but a reasonable virtue. It faces whatever facts there are, and admits the unpleasant ones when they are really facts. But when the love of country ' and fellow countrymen is true and deep, it is. strong enough to stand the strain that. may be put upon it .by governmental policies, or what appear to us t.o be official mistakes. And so in time of war especially there should be a mini-mum of captious criticism of officialdom." We are now fighting for our life. The. heritage of America is at stake. Only united action will preserve it. For we are fighting enemies who are powerful and skilled and "who are also the enemies of all international law and .justice'"- (Cardinal O'Connell). I have often heard the objection made that some of our allies are also the enemies of all international law and jus-tice. Russia is meant. This is undoubtedly a fact and an. ¯ unpleasant one. Russia is not fighting in order to preserve the American way of life.She is fighting, naturally enough, to preserve her own, way of life, which at the moment is the way of totalitarian dictatorship. Com-munistic Russia. is anti-democratic, anti-Christian, and anti-God. " Her principles, therefore, are the very opposite of all that we.mean by American democracy. It would be dangerous folly to close our eyes to this truth. But true patriotism does not have to close its eyes. Those who love their country with true devotion will face the facts realisti-cally, and will not love her any the less because of the cruel n~cessity that has forded her to make such an ally. The American who really loves his country will recognize that 3O4 P&TRIOTIC OBEDIENCE IN TIME OF nedessit.y, will work with all his heart for our own Ameri-" can way of life, and guard it ceaselessly against the insidious infiltration of principles that would destroy it. It is obvious that in a nation as great and diversified as ours, and in a war like this one, absolute harmony of views cannot be expected. There are bound to be differences of opinion as to methods and aims. And so our hope of. united action must be based on something higher, stronger, and more universal than our'individual opinions. I find that higher principle in the obligatory character of the Christian virtues of obedience and patriotism: They teach us to recognize the authority of God Himself in our rulerS, and to respond to an.instinct that God has placed in our hearts by loving with a special 10re the land that gave us birth. When motivated by these virtues even war-like efforts. can be directed too.Almighty God. And indeed if we are to master the unhappy fact of war, rather than allow it to -master us; if we are to keep' it from dehumanizing and brutahzmg us,. as it easily could, we must find something spiritual and Christianizing~in it. The practice of patriotic obedience .out of supernatural motives is the Christian answer to the challenge of war. BOOKS ON TRIAL !~oohs or~ Trial is a review of book-reviews, published periodically by The Thomas More Book Shop. 22 West Monroe Street, Chicago, I11. It promises to be an immense; help to librarians who are desirous of getting "clean, wholesome, and meritorious books." Such is the object of the publishers. A genuine Catholic Action project, it deserves cooperation¯ For further information write to the publishers. 305 The SupernaEural Lit:e G. Augustine Ellard, S.3. THE supernatural life may be defined as a participation~ in the intimate life of God and 'eventually in that form of beatitude which is peculiar to the Blessed Trinity. Every Christian knows that. there are communications of life within God. The Father begets the Son intellec-tuallyo and gives Him the whole of the divine life. In turn the Father and the Son produce the Holy Spirit and give Him also the whole'of the divine life. There the communi-cations of the divine life might have ceased. But, most graciously and generously, the Divine Persons decided that they wouldgrant a sl~are in that life to angels and men After Adam and Eve had received it and lost it again for themselves and their posterity, the Incarnation of the Son was devised as the gland means of.restoring it to men. Thus to the Incarnation of God there corresponds a certain deifi-cation or divinization of men. It is this deification of men which we hope to explain somewhat in this article. Life in general may be described as the power of self-motion. The acts that characterize life begin from within. Where no such activity can be discerned, it is concluded that no life is present. Thus, if a man were noticed not to initiate any movement whatsoever, not even a l~eart-.bea~t or a respiration, he would be pronounced dead. Besides beginning from within, vital activity, at least if it be nor-mal, generally produces .an effect within the agent also, and indeed for the better. Every heart-beat or respiration leaves one a little better than one would be without it. Hence, life may also be said to consist in the power of self-perfection. Only living things can make. themselves more perfect. This d~finition is not quite suitable for God. He 306 THE SUPERNATUK~L does not change, nor can He become more perfect. Div.ine life is that excellence in God whereby, in accordance with His nature, He acts, and by this activity is perfect. In everything that lives, we can distinguish the sub-stance or nature, which is fundamental; thevital powers or faculties by which it acts or moves and perfects itself;-and lastly, vital activity itself. To illustrate: when a man is sound asleep the whole of his substance or nature--body plus soul--is there, resting; his power to see, for example, is suspended; when he awakens again, he will actually see. Degrees of Natural Life Of life that is natural, that is, proportionate to the nature of the being in which, it is found, we know of five grades or degrees; They are: vegetative, animal, human: 'angelic, and divine life. All members of the vegetative kingdom show their powers of Self-motion by nourishing themselves, by growing, and by reproducing their kind. 'Besides having these three functions, animals can also move about freely, and especially they have the life of knowledge that comes through the five senses, and the ~corre.~ponding life of the sense:appetites. In the light of that knowledge they. experi-erice various emotions and desires, and regulate their move.- merits. Men have all the vital functions of plants andanimals. and in addition they have the life of reason and of the will. This is their characteristic mark and that which raises them incomparably above mere animals. Thus far the ~radation is clear and neat. In the purely spiritual realm we find two natural forms of life, the angelic anal the divine. Purely spiritual life has only two great functions, intelligence and volition. In contrast to men, who are said to be. rational, because they come to most of G.AUGUSTINE ELLARD their knowledge by reasoning, that is, by proceedii~g from premises to conclusions, the angels have intuition, that is, a - simple, direct, view of things, even of spiritual realities and truths. Whereas,we can have only an indirect knowledge of spirits and spiritual things, the angels see them as easity and immediately as men perceive one another. Immeasurably above angelic life is the fifth and final grade of natural life, that of God Himself. Being purely spiritual, it also consists in understanding and Willing. But whereas that of angels is limited, the intelligence and will of God are irifinite. They must have corresponding and pro-portionate objects which they alone can reach. As a matter of fact, these too are infinite. Thus the divine intellect has an infinite :intuition or view of all truth, infinite and finite. This is followed immediately by a similar infinite love of all goodness, and by a like fruition of all. beaaty. These three great acts, vision; love, and fruition, of the Infinite, and of all that is finite, constitute the inner life and beati-tude of God. If God had chosen not to create a world, they would make we 'learn that the up'the whole life inner life of God Infinite vision of infinite truth in infinite word or mental expression the Son. Infinite love of the infinite of God. By revelation is not quite so simple. the Father begets an of that truth, that is, goodness in the Father and Son produce the Holy Spirit, the term of that love. Thus, in spite 6f the absolute simplicity of God, there is in the one divine nature a trinity of persons, and though God ~s. umque and w,thout equal,, there is a~certain companion-ship in the oneIDeity. What we may call the external life of God consisti in creating a.nd governing the world, and it culminates in sanctifying and beatifying angels and men. These are all the natural forms of life. We might 'sus-pect that none other is possible. But by faith we come to know of asixth form, which, however, is not nataral, but 308 THE SUVERI~ATURKL L11:~_ su15ernatural. It does not come, from within, .but is super- . added from above; it is s uperhuma, n ,an d even superangelic. Supernatural Life Men can, to some .extent and in~, an external way, "elevate" lower forms of life. By skilful cultivation.or by using special artificial means, they can enable plants to bring, forth more beautiful flowers or bettei fruits than those ,plants left to themselves could produce. In this con-nection the processes of grafting are particularly note-worthy; by them new and very excellent kinds of fruit can be obtained. In grafting there is a real composition of diverse forms of life.' Domestic animals are advanced in various ways by human aid. As things are now, milady's little poodle lives in a.warm dry apartment, without effort on his part receives at regular intervals just the right quality and quantity of scientifically manufactured dog-food, and sleeps,in a comfortable little bed of his own; and if he should be injured or fall sick, he would be taken off to the dog-hospital and enjoy the refinements of modern veteri-nary medicine and surgery. In a porely natural state he would have no protection from the elements, he would eat what he could catch, if he could catch it, and, when he could catch.it; and if anything serious happened to him, he w.ould have to linger in his pain until death released him, coming perhaps 'in the form of a stronger animal to devour him: Among men, a king may m~arry a commoner and raise her to royal rank and dignity. A wealthy man may adopt as his son and heir a penniless orphan. The learned can share their learning and intellectual satisfactions with the, unlearned. In all these cases there is a certain, elevation of one's plane of life, and a participation in the life of~those who have been living on a higher plane. What men cannot do to lower forms of life is to elevate them internally, that is, to give them a new. kind of intrinsic'vital power. 309 AUGUSTINE ~-LLARD If a mere.plant could be made, for example, to see, like. a dog, that vision would be supernatural in the plant, though it is natural in a dog. If a dog could be made to reason, like a man, that reasoning would .be supernatural in the dog, as it is natural in a ',man. If a man should be enabled to perceive spirits as angels do, that perception would be supernatural in the man, .as. it would be natural in an angel. Now then, if a man could by some special dispensation be given the power to do-something that is characteristic of the Divine Persons and peculiar to them-- for instance, to have an intuition of the divine essence--that again would be supernatural in the man, as it would. be natural ,in the Trinity. Such an intuition would be supernatural in an angel also. Participation in a vital perfecti~on belonging to a higher creatable nature, for example, for a man to hold converse with an angel, as was granted to St. Francis of Rome, is said to be supernatural in the relative sense. Participation in a perfection belonging only to the. uncreated and ~divine, nature, for example, immediate vision of the Divinity~ is called supernatural in the absolute sense, This is the meaning which we shall attach to '!supernatural" hereafter in this article, Now it should not' be difficult to see what ismeant by the supernatural life. It consists simply in this, that by a peculiar exercise of omnipotence and of divine munificence, God enables men and angels to share in those three great vital functions which are natural only in the~Divine Per-sons. Men are made to participate in that kin.d of life~ and eventually in that kind of beatitude, which are naturally characteristic only of God himself. They are empowered to have a direct view~ of Infinite Truth itself; a corresponding love of the Infinite Goodness, and a similar fruition of the Infinite Beauty,~ Thus they' have a share.in the life and beatitude of the Blessed Trinity. That they :do so, is very. 310 THE SUPEI~NATURAIL LIFE clear at least for the Blessed~iia heaven. They possess the supernatural life in its :full development, in its maturity. Only in the light of this s~age of it; can it be well under-stood. One could more easily judge, of trees from their seeds or animals from their embryos than understand the supernatural life by studying it merely in its first and lowes~ form. Beatitude If we compare the supernatural life in its beatific stage with .God's own life, we Shall note certain likenesses and certain differences. In general, the objects are the same. It is the same Infinite Truth which is seen and contemplated by God and the Blessed. The same Infinite Goodness is loved by God and the Blessed. It is the same.Infinite Beauty that enraptures both God and the Blessed. But in God the vision itself is infinite and comprehensive or exhaustive, whereas in the Blessed their act of vision is finite and not exhaustive. Similarly', in God love and fruition are unlimited, but in the Blessed these acts are limited and pro-portionate to their vision. In the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit there is the plenitude of the divine life and beatitude: in the beatified, a participation of that life ;,rid beatitude. They have the same thing, but not in its fulness. "Their participation may be compared to the share tha~ the First Lady of the Land has in the dignity of the President, or to the part that a son has in the wealth and station of his father, or to the sharing of pupils in their teacher's learning. In God there is the original, so to speak, of the divine life: in those in heaven with Him, a copy, li~teness, or assimila-tion to that original. In God, vision, enjoyment, and love are natural and all substantially identified with the divine essence; in men or angels these acts are graciously super-added to their natures, and they are not substantial. What 311 G, AUGUSTINE ELL/~D ~God has of Himself and by nature, the beatified have by favor and grace. Man becomes an adoptive son of God, but not a natural Son, like the Word. Deiform beatitude is incomparab!y superior to natural angelic beatitude. The angels who are in heaven now do, as a matter of fact, enjoy supernatural bliss. They have it because they were gratuitously raised to the supernatural order, like men, with the .gift of sanctifying grace. If they had not received it and if in their period of probation they had remained good, they would now be in a state of natural angelic beatitude. In that condition their knowledge, love, and enjoyment of the Supreme Tr~th, Goodness, and Beauty would be mediate, that is through a medium (their "own essences); and though it would be an inexpressibly happy state, there would be nothing in it of the imme-diate vision of God which they now have and which makes them immensely more blessed. Of course their love also would be of another kind, and so would their enjoyment of the divine beauty. The greatest angel that God in all His ¯ omnipotence could create, endowed with all possible gifts and privileges except grace, and .given the highest possible measure of the beatitude that would be natural to an angel, would indeed be inconceivably happy, but immeasurably below any creature enjoying the minimum of God's own special kind of bliss and glory. Likewise, if men had not. been elevated to the super-natural order and destiny, and if throughout their proba-tion they had remained morally good, after death they would be admitted to a state of natural human beatitude, that is,¯ happiness proportionate to the capacities and merits of human nature. They would be united to God. through knowledge, love, and fruition. But this knowledge, being in accordance with the nature of the human, spirit, would be rational, abstractive, discursive. They would 312 THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE know the Creator, not', directly and immediately or from Himself, but from His works and effe,cts. Given such~ and such artistry, the Artist who made it all must be as perfect and lovely and admirable, and even more so. And of course their love of God arid their enjoyment of His beauty could not go beyond the limits and character of their knowledge. The relations of man to God would be different from what they are now:~ he would not be a son, nor a~friend, nor a spouse of God. But natural bumanbeatitude would still be beatitude, and it is well to try tO suspect to'some incipient extent what that means. Even-naturally the human mind and soui have certain capacities and needs and longings for the Infinite; that is why no quantity and no quality of cre-ated goods, however great, can satisfy the human heart. any form of beatitude all aspirations and desires would have to be satiated, and completely so. O~ie would kn~w everything that one would like to know--think of how much that would be, and what an intense thrill it would bring! and one would have everything that his heart could desire. Any kind ofbeatitude would involve perfect satisfaction, and that forever. Since in this mad world we can never have anything even remotely like. a beatific experience, the onIy way in which we can attempt to gain some slight inkling of what it would feel like to be enjoying beatitude, is to gather together in thought all the pleasures and joyful experi-ences that we have ever had, to add to them all the possible delights that we can imagine, and then say, "After all, beatitude is something incomparably grehter and grander' and more glorious than all that!" To possess angelic beatitude would be something marvelously greater still! What then must it be to share in the inconceivable divine beatitude of the most Blessed Trin;ty! "What eye hath 313 G, AUGUSTINE ELLARD not ~seen, nor ear bath heard--what hath. not entered into the heart of man--all these things hath God prepared for them that love him" (I.Corinthians 2:9). Grace, the Seed o: Glor'~t The supernatural life, or the process of deification, exists in two stages of evolution. The fully developed or mature stage is found in the Blessed in heaven; the other, still imperfectly, developed and still immature, is found the Just, that is,. in those who are adorned with sanctifying grace in this world. Fundamentally it is the same life that animates both, even though the observable ~differences may lead one to think the contrary. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath given us, that we should be called children-of God; and. such we are . Beloved, now we are ~hildren of God, and it.hath not yet been manifested what we shall be. We know that if he be manifested, we shall be like him, because we shall see him even as he is" (I John 3:1, 2). "Grace is the seed of glory." That one and the same life can present very diverse appearances, is easily shown from biology. Compare, say, an orange seed germinating in the ground and the beautiful blossoming orange tree that it will be in due time; or the ugly caterpillar crawling in the dusl~ and the lovely butter-fly flitting, about later; or the tadpole and the frog; or, the .case that pleased St. Theresa .so much; the repulsive silk-worm and the delightful little white moth. Do little birds that are. just breaking out of their tiny eggs have that kind of life that is characterized by flight? There is sometl~ing analogous in every human life. Is there reason, in a little child or infant? Evidently in some sense there is. Other-wise, he would not be a little rational animal nor possess human dignity .nor have rights nor be the term of obliga-tions on the part of others. One may go further and point out that there is identity of life in a perfect man and in the microscopic little embryo in his mother's womb that once was he. When the child grows up, he will still be the same being, the same person: and, though his life will b~ different enough, it will not, be another life. Reason is there, but it is latent, undeveloped, not yet full-grown. Ttiough he cannot reason now, before long he will; and notice that every normal act by which his development° is p~omoted contributes to bringing about his full-fledged life of intelligence. So a man with sanctifying.grace in this life cannot see God now, but with every act that increases that grace, his power 'to behold and to enjoy God in eternity is enhanced. In the life Of the Blessed in heaven and ~he life of the ~lust on earth, the fundamental principle from which all activity issues is the same, namely, sanctifying grace. The infused virtues, thequasi-faculties by which that activity is exer-cised, are the same, except that ih the case of the Blessed,~ in place of faith and hope, there is the "light of glory." This is the highest and last grace to be received, and upon its rece~ion beatific life at once begins. The "light of glory" is a participation in tlie intellectuality of God, immediately ~enabling one to contemplate the Infinite. It is often com-pared to a telescope or microscope. The activities of the Bleised and of the 3ust are of course different, but inti-mately related. Even here, in faith there is a certain pa~r~ ticipation in the divine knowledge that no creature could attain by any natural effort; acquaintance with the mystery of the Trinity is an instance of it. Corresponding to actual possession of God in heaven there ~is here, in the virtue of hope, a right 'to that possession and a happy anticipatiofi of it: neither of these could be natural in any creature. The same.charity persists'throughout both stages of thd super-natural life. Between the beatific acts of those in heaven 315 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD and the supernatural acts of the 2ust there is a certain com-munityor propor~tion, an identity in being or, so to speak, in material, invirtue ofwhich every ~ supernatural act per-formed here is a preparation for beatific activity or, an increase of it. Every meritorious act nbw means more of the vision: of God ineternity. It is to establish this com-munity or proportion in super-nature between super, natural acts here and divinely beatific activity there; that supernatural grace is absolutely necessary for every salutary act. "Without me you can do nothing" (John-15:5). Difference between Natural and Supernatural Suppose that ~ man and a horse are looking at the same thing: the physiological processes of vision, in eyes,, nerves, ' and br~iin, will be about the same in both. In the horse there will not be more than the sensation of vision, but the man the vision will be immediately: and naturally fol- Idwed up by a spiritual idea, immensely different in being and'character from the horse's or even the man's phantasm. In some similar way, in the natural man, not elevated by grace, there will not be more than his natural acts, whereas in the supernaturalized man acts which appear to.be the same or nearly the same will be followed up eventually and, , as it were, naturally, by beatific acts like those which con-stitute no l~ss than the beatitude of God. Grace really gives men a new and fourth kind of life, and to the~ angels a sec-ond kind': a deified life. A fervent supernatural man may wonder why, if thus there be divinity in his acts,, why in fact, if he be, so to speak,, full of divinity, he.does not feel conscious of it. If he did, his life of faith would be quite different. He has to take it on faith, like the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, that his supernatural acts are immensely different from his natural acts. All human knowledge',comes through ~the 316 THE SUPERNATURAL! LIFE senses; we have no di'rectapprehension of spiritual realities. Even the spirituality of the human soul is not perceived, but proved by reasoning from thechara~t~r of its acts! It still more impossible to experience spiritual realities that are supernatural~ and just because they are supernatural. Cer-tain mystics, namely those who. are in the state termed technically~'"the mystical marriage," are said to experience habitually the fact that their, supernatural activity is a par-ticipation in the life and activity of God. Unconsciousness of a gift is no sign that'it does not exist or is not present. ~A baby boy born to the Queen of England wofild have royal dignit~r of the first magnitude ~ind immense imperial rights, and at the same time know nothing of them. Some years' ago the Dionne quintuplets possessed an absolutely unique distinction, to say nothing bf much money, and they were the cynosure of world-wide attention. but it all mhde slight, difference in their little consciousnesses. Wherever there is a distinct sort of life, there must also be a differencd of underlying structure. If the activities or functions, that is, the physiology, be different, there must also be an anatomical difference. Elephants and mice can-not have the .same joys and sorrows. Neither can rabbits and eagles, nor alligators and kangaroos. N0~ Can men with rational souls and animal~ without them. -Men with the experiences of the supernatural life and men without them cannot be just the same in structure. Elernents of Supernatural Organism Theologians generally consider that there are fifteen elements in the permanent organism or mechanism of the, supernatural life. Among these sanctifying grace is first and fundamental. Sanctifying grace is best conc~:,ved as a participation in the divine nature, that 'is, in what we dis- 317 G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD tinguisff as the fundamental principle of vital activity~ God. .It is to the supernatural life approximately human nature (body plus soul) is to our naturalhfiman life. It is the Substratum or basis or root, out of which everything in the supernatural life somehow "comes. It often compared to the soul: as the soul is the principle human life, so sanctifying grace is~ the primary internal principle of the supernatural life. One who has it will also have everything else. Every living nature must have vital power~ or facul-, ties also. For example, dogs have the power to see, hear, and so on, even when they are not exercising those powers ¯ because, say, they are asleep. Men have power to think and will, even when they are not using those faculties. The faculties of. the supernatural life are the infused virtues. They give one the permanent power to act supernaturally, in a way that is ¯somehow divine. They are not, like natural virtues, dispositions acquired by practice, to act with readiness and facility. They are really new powers do something quite different and superigr. Commonly seven infused virtues are enumerated, three theological and ~four moral. Activity of the theological virtues unites one directly with God. Faith is the intellectual theological virtue, ,faculty of. knowing supernaturally. It gives one ~ participa-tion in knowledge that is peculiar to God and naturally not accessible. In the light of it, the supernatural life is intel- ,ligently, consciously, and freely lived. Hope makes it pos-sible to desire and to seek the Supreme Good in a way that is supernatural. It gives one a sort of anticipated .possession of God and the beatific life. "Whoso hath this hope on him, halloweth himself, even as he is hallowed" (I John 3:3). Charity enables one to love the Infinite Goodness supern~aturally; and is a participation in God's own mode 318 THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE of loving. Without, it one could still love God, but naturally, not supernaturally. The infused moral vir-tues-- prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude--give one the power to use creatures rightly and in a way that is positively conducive to the beatific vision of God. The gifts of the Holy Spirit~wisdom, understanding, knowledge, counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear of the Lord --are so many more permanent super-faculties. They dis-pose one to follow the i~stinct and motion of the Holy Spirit, as the infused moral virtues dispose one to follow the dictates of reason enlightened and elevated by faith'. The gifts are more passive than.the virtues, and their opera-tion as contrasted with that of the virtues is often likened to that of wind upon the sails of a ship, whereas exercising the virtues would be like rowing. The effect of the gifts, at least when highly developed, may be compared to the incommunicable skill of a genius in music: he can teach the technique---corresponding to the.virtues---~but that super-ior, indefinable, something that comes with genius he can- -not impart tb another. In the more advanced degrees of sanctity and contemplat.ion the gifts are especially active and important. ¯ Actual grace, is the counterl~art to activity in the natural life. It puts a certain divinity into one's activity. Unlike the forms of grace hitherto considered, it is not a habit, not something permanent. Like any particular form of activity, it comes and goes. Hence it cannot be found in a sleeping person, for example, nor in a baptized-infant, nor in the mentally deranged. As sound stimulates one's ears to hear, prevenient actual grace comes, when the oc-casion i~ apt to stimulate one's natural and supernatural faculties into action. !t arouses, or consists in, such ideas in the mind and indeliberate impulses in the will as are conducive to one's spiritual advancement. In this sense G. AUGUSTINE ELLARD actual grace enters into consciousness, whereas none of the other kirids of grace do. Where there is no. thinking or willing that makes for salvation, there is no actual grace at work. If then one respbnd to the stimulation, consent of the will 'and execution of the decision are made with the help of c~oncomitant actual grace. Since consent is from the will, it is vital, free, and human; since it is also from grace, it is divinized. Grace makes one think and will, like God. An example may .help to illustrate the functioning of grace. Suppose that Doctors A and B, while driving in the coun.try, happen to come upon a man who has just been seriously wounded in an accident.and is lying in great dis-tress beside the highway. This is the apt occasion. Dr. A is an agnostic, but a kindly man, whereas Dr. B is a devout Catholic and in the state of grace. It is proper that the doctors should do what they can for the injured man, whether they will be paid for it or not. Such is the fact: so God judges and wills. In this simple case, naturally and without grace, any kind-hearted man could make the same judgment and-feel inclined to give his aid. Dr. A responds to the occasion generously; and his. act is one of natural nobility. It may even be said that he judges and wills as God does. But it is all in the natural order, there is no divine entity in it, and he cannot expect as a result an increase of the beatific vision. Dr. B joinsDr. A in helping the man. Presumably his acts, apparently similar to Dr. A's, will be supernaturalized by grace. If his motive be supernatural, they certainly will. Then grace will enter into the acts of mind and will by which he sees the need of giving aid and feels inclined to give° it, Thus far prevenient grace in some sense will be at work. ~ Then he would &lib-erately decide to help the injured man, and this decision would be made with concomitant grace. The appropriate infused virtues or gifts, in this case at least charity.and pru- 32O THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE dence, would be operative, andthe whole process would be sustained and dignified by sanctifying grace. Dr. B's acts of judgment and will would be like' God's, not only in their character as judgments or volitions, but also in the very entity which constitutes them and places them in the order of being of the beatific vision. The contrast between a super-natural actand a natural act may becompared,to the differ-ence between a consecrated host and one that is not conse-crated. Though there may be little or no observable dif- "ference, the real, interior difference is very great indeed and is known, not ~by experience, but by faith. Conclusion Thus far little or nothing has been said about what we might call the properties of the supernatural life: the dig-. nity that belongs to an adopted child of God, the plane of intimacy with God on which such a ~child is entitled,~to live, membership in the Mystica! Body of Christ, and so forth. Nor have we given a complete idea of the workings.of ac-tual grace. For the adequate portrayal of the supernatfiral life in all its pha~es, a treatment of these subjects v~ould be necessary: but this treatment Would take Us far bey.ond.the limits set for the present article. However, one practical and valuable conclusion may well be mentioned here. Granted that the supernatural life is a real participation in the life and activity proper to God, it is easy to see what its supreme law must be: to imitate G6d, as far as possible; to think and judge ~nd will as He thinks and,judges and wills; and to ~ooperate with Him,in carrying out, as far as depends on us, His most magnificent cosmic plan, for His eternal glory and for the deiform beati-tude of His rational creatures. 321 Supplying Days of Absence I:rorn t:he Novifiat:e Adam C. Ellis, S.2. THE CI-IURCH is very solicitous about the proper training of novices in the religious life. Hence she demands of all religious institutes that they devote at least'one entire year to the spiritual formation of candidates before the profession of vows, and this canonical ~tear of novitiate is a requisite for the validity of the first profession of temporary vows (cf. canons 555 and 572). An absence of more than thirty darts interrupts the canonical year, and the novitiate must ,be started over, even though the novice remained outside the novitiate house with the permission of superiors and for grave reasons (cf. canon 556, § 1). When the days of absence do not exceed thirty it is desirable, and in some cases necessary, that they be supplied before the profession of first, vows. Here is the text of the Code regardihg such da~s of absence: "If the novice, with the permission of superiors or constrained by force, has p~ssed more than fifteen days but not more than thirty days even interruptedly outside the precincts of the house under the obedience of the superior, it is necessary and sufficient for the vdidlty of the novitiate t~at he supp|y the number of days so passed outside; if for a period not exceedincj fifteen days, the supplementing for this period can be pr~escribed by superiors, but it is not necessary for validity."~ How are darts "of absen~ ~ountecl? Canon 32, n. 1 tells us that a day consists of 2"4 hours counting contin.uously from midnight, to .midnight. Hence parts of days are not counted as canonical days. If a novice goes toa hospital on Monday motrting, and returns to the novitiate on Saturday afternoon of the same week, he has been absent for four days'only. Monday and Saturday are not counted since 322 ^~SENC~ FRO~ Novm^~ ¯the absenceon those days did not amount to a period of 24 hours counting from midnight to midnight. When must the days of absence be supplied? When they.exceed fifteen, but are not over thirty. Hence if a novice has been absent 'exactly fifteen days, it is not required for the validity of the subsequent profession, that' these days be supplied. However, it is well to note h~re that. all days of absence, whether continuous or not, must be counted. Every period of absence ~from midriight to mid- ~ night counts as a day of absence, even though these periods of absence be separated by months. How many days of absence must be Supplied? If the novice has been absent more than fifteen days; all the days of absence must be supplied. Thus, if a novite had been absent twenty days, it would not suffice to make up five days. The total number of days of absenceS'must be sup~ plied before the novice can make a valid profession. Are there am.! exceptions? No, there are not. Even though the novice is absent with the permission of his superior or constrained by force, the days of absence must be counted. Thus,' if the novices have a villh in which they spend some days during the~ summei together with the master ot~ novices, these days are counted as days o.f absence, since a villa is not a novitiate house. On the other hand'a distinction must be made between the novitiate house" arid the novitiate proper, or that part of the house which is destined for the exclusive use of the novices. The canon says that days spent outside the novitate house, must be supplied; it does not say that days spent outside th~ pre-cincts of the novitiate must be supplied, if the novice. remains in the house in which the novitiate is located., For, example, if a novice who is seriously ill is transferred from the novitiate quarters to the community infirmary which is located in another part of the house, the days spent in the 323 ADAM C. ELLIS ° ¯ infirmary outside the novitiate quarters would not be counted as days of absence, since he remains in the house in which the novitiate is located. While it is truethat canon 556, § 4 states that the novi-tiate is not interrupted by the transfer of a novice from one novitiate house to another,of the same institute, it is equally true,~ that the days spent on the journey from one novitiate house to another must be counted as days of absence"(cf. Code Commission, July 13, 1930). There. is no contradiction here. It is or~e thing to say that a,novice who has begun his novitiate in one novitiate house of the institute may~ continue that novitiate in another novitiat~ house of the same institute, for instance, in that~ of another province. It is quite a distinct thing to say that.the days spentin traveling from one novitiate house to another mu~st be counted as days of absence from the novitiate. As a matter of fact the novice is,absent from the n6vitiate house while he is making the journey to the second novitiate house,-, hence these days. must be counted, as days of absence. The,, contrary opinion which was held by some authors is no 'longer tenable after the decision of the Code Commission mentioned above. Absence of fifteen days or less. If the numbe~ of days of absence does not exceed fifteen, it is not necessary for the validity of the .subsequent profession~that they be supplied. However, the Code permits the superior to~ prescribe that these days of absence be made up; but not under pain of invalidity of the subsequent profession. The superior not obliged to require the supplying of these days of absence. Thus hemay allow a"novice who has: been absent fourteen days because of illness or for some other just reasoffto take his, vows together with his class a't.the end 6f the canonical year. ¯ " ,' Absence during second ~lear of novitiate. The legisla-,' 324 A~ENCE FROM ~OVITIATJ~ tion of the Code.applies to the first or canbnical year only. It is left to the constitutions of each institute to regulate_' absences.during the second0y(ar of novitiate; The Instruc-tion on the Second Year of Novitiate, issued by the Sacred Congregation of Religious on November 3, ~921, permits the novice to leave the novitiate house-for, training in the wokks of the institute and for the.testing of his capabilities. This permiision is granted, however, only on condition that-the constitutions allow ~the novice to be thus trained and tested in another house of the institute. Furthermore, the Instruction prescribes tha~ the novice must be recalled to the novitiate house at least two months b~fore the day of profession in order that bemay prepare himself properly and strengthen himself in the spirit of his vocation. Conclusion: In this commentary on canon 556, n. 2, wehave stated the requirements of the law regarding the supplying of days of absence~ from the n6.vitiate~ We.,have seen ufider what conditions such~ days of absence must be made up in order that tl~e subsequent profession be valid. In other cases such?days ,,of absence need not be supplied unless superiors so prescribe. Only complete days of 24 bouts, counting from midnight to midnight, are counted as canonical days. V This does not mean that superiors should disregard the spirit of the law which demands that the novices spend the entire ,time of the canonical year in the " novitiate,~. . , ands. undergo the ,strict .tr~aining prescribed in other canons of the Code. To~ allow a novice to spend hours of the day or night outside the novitiate house in the perfbrmance of the works of the institute, or 'in attending classes, is contrary to the' spirit of this legislation, even though these 16eriods of .~absence "do not amount tofull canonical' days, and co~sequdntly are not to be counted i~s days of absence which must be supplied. Such conduct, would be detrimental not qnly to the spiritual wellbeing 325 ¯ ADAMC. ELLIS of the individual novice, but more so to the morale of the institute as a whole0 since the spirit of the institute will be no better than that Of-its individual members. Superiors can promote the welfare of their institute in no better way than by carrying out. the prescriptions' of the Church regarding the novitiate, keeping in mind the spirit of the law, "for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Corin-thians 3 : 6). IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS (Even if gou don't ordinaril~/ read "'Important Announcements, please read. these;) Subscription-Renewals Our~ next issue (November 15, 1942) will be the last number of Volume I Of the.REVIEW. For the majority of our readers, that will mean the expiration 6f their.subscriptions. If your subscriptign will expire with that number and you intend to renew it, you can do us an immense service bg renewing now. By renewing now,-instead of waiting, you will "help us to take care of the renewals more efficiently and to make 'more accurate cal-culations for the printing of Volume II. Just send your check or a morley order, together with your name and address. Thank gout¯ Back Numbers We can no longer supply a complete set.of back numbers of the REVIEW. The January. ~nd March numbers are entirely out, and .there are only. a few remaining copies of, the othei numbers. Many of our recent subscribers want the back numbers. Perhaps you can help them. If you do not intend to save or bind your, back numbers, you may be willin.g.to give them to these new ~ubscribers. If you wish to do this, you may send the back numbers to us, and we will transfer, them gratis to the new subscribers who have requested them. THE EDITORS. 326 The "New Commandment:" ot: Love Matthew, Germing, S,J. ~'~'HE gospel written by "the disciple whom Jesu~ loved" i| has been styled a spiritual gospel It was so desig-nated already in the time of Clement of Alexandria (i50-220 A.D.). Several reasons may be assigned for thee design.ation,.but the one that is pertinent to this drticle is the fact that St. dohn tells us so.much of the.loveof God,and t14i~ neighbor, and doits so in the very words of our Savior. "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: that as I have loved you, you also love one another. By. this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you havelove for one another" (,lohn 13: 34, 35). Out'Lord did not me~n that the precept of loving one another had not existed in th~ Old .Law, but that He was giving His disciples a new standard and a new motive in observing it. They were to love. one another as Hehad loved them, that is, with' the same kind of love, thotigh they would not be able to love in tl4d same degree.~ And 'this lo~e was to be a test of their ~a~herence.and loyalty to k Him. Again, "As the Father has loved md[ I also ha're loved you. Abide in my love. If ygu keep my command-ments you will abide in my love, as I also have kept my Father's commandment and abide in his love " This is my commandment that you love one another as. I have loved y6u. Greater love,than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my frieiadsif yoti do the things I command you" (J01~n 15:9, 10,,12-~15). And in his" Epistles the beloved disciple again and again recurs to the subject of 10re love of God and of the breth-ren. "This is the message you have h~ard from the begin-ning, that we sh6uld love one another. He who do~s not 327 MATTHEW GERMING love abides in death. M~r dear children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and in truth. And this is hi~ commandment, that we. should believe in the name of his Son 'jesus Christ, and love one another, even as 'he gave us commandment. And he who keeps his commandments abides in God, a'nd God in him" (! 'jOhn 3:11, 15, 18, 23, 24). "Beloved, let us love~ofie another, for love is from God . He Who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this is the lo~;e,~not that we have loved God, but that he has fi'rst lovedus and sent his Sdn a propitiation for bur sins. Beloved, if Godhas so ¯ loved us, we alsoought to love one another" (I ,John 4:7, 8,~10. 11). "Special Import t:or Relioibus There is no mistaking the import and force of these words. Love of one an~other is hot a counsel, of per~fe¢- tion: it is a c0mmandmentin the strict sense of she"word, a commandment which our Savior emphasized by frequent r~petition justas a teacher is wont to emphasize an impor-tant point in a lesson. There is, probably, no. gospel pre-. cept which He incul~ated With ~more frequent and loving insistence than the commandmen~ of love.- This alone"qs clear evidence of its j,.~upreme importance, in the Christian life. For persons, consecratedto God, devoted to H~°~pe-cial~ service and leading a common life,, the importanceof mutual love can hardly be exaggerated.~ It may be said without~ hesitation that th~ ~happiness of"a religi0us~'com-mui4ity depends largely on the practice" of.this-virtue. Brotherly_love in a hotis~means that its members think and speak well ~)f 6ne anothei?, are"kinci and cc~ns{derate and patient in tiae[r relations with or/e another, ever ready to Serve and acc6~fiamodate whenever there is ~eed or .occasion. Where-this ~piritreigns, there reigns the ~ace of Christ~ the peace which the angels announced at His birth ahd 328 which He Himself bequeathed ~to his Apostles when He said: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. When the members of a community live in charity, they possess this peace of Chiist and experience the. truth of the saying of Holy~ Scripture: "How good and pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. 132). Then they do their best work for the cause of Christ, for their own perfection, for one another and. for the common good. ~ :. I do not mean to say~ that peace and charity remove-all the0hard things'from their path in life. They do not. Hard-ships remain, and difficulties may remain. The religious life is not an easy life for the natural man. This we ought to realize from the start. Of its very." nature the life of the vows involves restrictions that are irksome :at times to flesh and blood, that try a person's good will and,. the strength of that will. Duties and observances, some of which are naturally distasteful, do not disappear ~from a community in which charity prevails, but they 'become easier to comply with. Duties are performed with good will and joy of heart; °difficulties are borne ~as part of the day's work for the love of God by re.~son of the charity of Christ that reigns within and all around the individual members of such a community. On the other hand, when there is not charity in a group~ of religious, large or small', then there is aloofness, suspicion, misunderstanding, carping and faultfinding, each looking out for self. Arid selfishness spells the death 0f brotherly love. Highly important and salutary as mutual love is for our home life in our relations with one another, it is equally so in our dealings with, people of the world. Worldly~ interests as such are a matter of indifference to us religious, but there is one big interest to which none of ~us can be indifferent__the interest~ or interests of Christ and His 329 "MATTHEW GERMING Church~ The expression'is comprehensive'and'apparently vague, but there is nothing vague about its real meaning. It means the spread of the knowled~ge and love of Our Lord 2esus Christ in the minds and hearts of all men. It means the endeavor to do men and women some spiritual good, to make them think and provide for their immortal souls. And ~s men are so constituted' that they are unable~to think of their souls v~hile their bodies are ill or starving, it is our duty sometimes to interest ourselves in their bo, dily wel-fare also. These are the things to which the religious of all active orders in the Church have once fo~ all dedicated their lives, their every effort of soul and body. When duty car-ries us into a vast variety of work, much of which of itself is purely secular in character, we must not become confused in our aims and lose our perspective. Our ultimate purpose in all .things is spiritual. ~'This spiritual purpose ought to ¯ be the~very soul of all our external activity. It need not and cannot alw~iys be present in our thoughts, but'it should never be far removed from them. Now charity, in the sense of kindness of speech and manner and whole conduct, is a powerful means of doing spiritual good to people of every class and condition. It is a means that lies within the reachof every religious, even of the infirm members of a community. They can do much by their gentleness and patience in the way of spreading the good odor of Christ. L~irger opportunities fall to those who are in positions of active duty, whether their work brings them in contact with outsiders or is limited to serv-ices within .the cl6ister, where they meet'only their fellow religious. All can be kind and gracious in speech and man-ner, first of all, to their own--and this is of great impor-tancemand then to everyone else. Externs who know little ofreligious but now and then have occasion to' observe their conduct are decidedly edified 330 THE "NEW COMMANDMENT~' and drawn closer to Christ when they find by actual experi-ence that these men and women in strange garb are invari-ably kind and considerate, speak well of-one another and of other peop.l~e, are patient and forbearing even in trying circumstances, never petty or selfish, peevish or irascible. It is well for religious to remember that persons of the world when coming to a convent or other religious house are all eyes and ears. Some of them are on, the alert co catch a glimpse of the manner in which religious treat one another. They make it a point to observe closely, and they comment freely among themselves and others on what they have observed. Favorable impressions received ¯ add to the esteem in which they hold the religious life and are not seldom the cause or occasion of spiritual good in a variety of,~ways which we,never thought of. They clear awayanti-Catholic prejudice, possibly d~evelop a latent voc~ation to the religious life or the priesthood, bring a heft- ~ tating soul into the true fold, or a negligent Catholic back to the sacraments. Good example in th.e matter of kind-ness rarely fails to produce some beneficial sp!ritual result though this result may never' become known. The foufiders of religious orders were not unmindful of this. Everyone Who has read the life of St. Francis knows that he regarded good example as a Silent sermon. St. Igna- , tius went fully as far as the Poverello of Assisi when in the constitutions of his order he reminded his followers that they ought to accomplish even more good by their example than by their preaching. And St. ,John Baptist de la Salle set dowi~ good example as one of the three principal means by which the religious educator was to exercise his zeal in dealing with his pupils. Don Quite extraordinary for the spiritual influence he exerted over others by his kind ways was St. John Bosco, 331 educator, and founder of two religious congregations in the nineteenth century. He often used kindness as a first ,approach ~to boys and young men whom he wanted to draw to better ways of life. One day. the Cardinal Archbishop of Turin, ' interested dn 3oh~ Bosco's educational ~work, asked him about his methodS. The saint's answer was to ~the effect that it-was necessary, first of all, to interest one-self in the boys and~ their doings. One must be good and kind to them, and thus gain their confidence. "'Gain their c~nfidence, °' muse~l the Cardinal. "How do you get near them?" he inquired. The two were riding in the~Cardi-hal's ~arriage through' the city of Turin. "Is there any place in this0neighborhood," asked 3ohn Bosco, "in'which there is a group of boys? . Plenty of them in the Piazza del. popolo," .replied the Cardinal. And with that he directed th~ driver to go to the square mentioned. Yes; there were the boys playing a game. As soon as the ~:ar-riage stopped,-Don° Bosco stepped out, the Cardinal remaining inside to watch proceedings~. o When" they saw Don Bosc~ appr~oaching, the lads scampered a~ay. Their visitor had foreseen tha~t they would do this, but he was able to hail a few loiteiers, spoke kindly to them, and ~heir favorable reaction soon brought back the whole group. Then he distributed little presents to the urchins, put in a few questions about their game, their fathers and mothers, and so forth, and said abrupt!y: "Com~, boys, cohtinue your game, and let me loin in." Tucking up his cassock he played with them some fifteen minutes. As a seminarian he had been at pains to become an expert playe~ at many ghmes for no other reason than to be ready for .just such occasions as the present one. The boys asked him to stay longer, but he must not keep the Cardinal waiting. Before leaving his Youthful compan-ions, cautiously and in his usual agreeable, manner he spoke 332 THE "NEW COMMANDMENT" to .them about going to church' and to confession, saying their prayers, and so forth. As the boys saw him turn to depart, they quickly formed a double line an~d escorted their guest back to the carriage, which soon drove away amid the cheers of these lusty young ItaliansI. Not all men can do what St: 3ohn Bosco did, but all can learn from him the lesson that in.order to benefit young "people in a spiritual way it is necessary to approach them with a sympathetic attitude, interest oneself in them and tfieir innocent pursuits, and in this way build up confi-dence. ~' Love is in the Will In considering our own charity, we should not think of love as a sentiment, in whatever sense wemay under2 stand this word. In reality true love resides essentially in the will. It may exist with-out any sensible emotion; it may also be highly emotional. This is true of both natural and supernatural love. And the emotion, whether super-natural or natural, may by present but not manifest itself in the sense faculties. Love, I said, resides essentially in the soul. It con-sists therefore in cherishing the person loved, appreciating and esteeming him, wishigg him well and consequently thinking and speaking well of him, .doing him good, .as far as lies in one's power. When we do this for a purely nat-ural reason, our love is of the natural type. If, for exampl.e, we love a fellow religious because ofhis or her gifts of mind or disposition--twit and humor, ability of entertaining and amusing others---our love and esteem of such a one is nat-ural. This means, in the first place, that ,it may merit, no heavenly reward. In order that an action may certainly deserve a reward in heaven, the motive itself of the act, even IAuffra~', Blessed John Bosco, c. 14. , 33'3 MATTHEW GERMING one that is naturally good, must be supernatural. The thought contained in our Blessed Lord's words, "As long as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," furnishes us such a motive. Secondly, in the case of religious living in community, purely natural 10ve may lead to uncharitableness: For if we associate with those only who are most congenial and entertaining, we shall instinctively avoid others who are less congenial and com-panionable, and this is selfish and may. easily be unchari-table. Brotherly love requires that everyone be agreeable to others to the best of his or her ability. Were Christ our Lord in our midst at recreation time, He would seek out the most lonesome soul in the room, and would comfort and encourage such a one. Our Savior regarded the natural motives one may have for loving others quite insu~cient for His followers. In the Sermon on the Mount we read: "I say to you, love your enemies . that you may be the children'of your Father 'in heaven, who makes l~is sun to rise on the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward shall-you have? Do not even the publicans do that?" (Matthew 5:44-46). All men are the children of God, adopted brothers and sisters of our Lord ,lesus Christ, destined for eternal happiness. As St. Paul writes in his first epistle to Timothy (2:4), God "wishes all rne"n to be. saved and tO come to the knowledge of the truth" not only Catholics, but non- Catholics too and non-Christians, pagans and infidels all o~¢er the~world. Not all are in actual possessio.n of sancti-fying grace, or faith, hope and charity, or the Other virtues, arid of the wonderful gifts of the Holy Ghost. But the souls of all of them bear the stamp--so to say---of an immortal and supernatural destiny. We may not exclude them from our love. Nor must we think that 'they are 334 THE"NEW COMMANDMENT" incapable of doing good works, or that the good works they do are worthless, do not bring .upon them grace and blessing from their beneficent Father in heaven. That would be against the teaching and example of our Divine Lord. The story of the good Samaritan illustrates this. admirably. All know the incident as told by Christ Him-self. Com'mentatorson the gospel are of the opinion that it is based on facts. This good Samaritan, who took pity On the man lying by the wayside, wounded and robbed,. was not a Jew, had not th~ Jewish religion. In our man-ner of speaking, he was a heretic and schismatic. But our Savior commended his conduct because of his compassion and charity. There are many good Samaritans at the present day, men and women who, in ,spite of their handicap in not having the true faith, devote time and effort and worldly means to, the relief of the poor and suffering children of men, who are also the children of our Father in heaven: We should not shrug ,our shoulders in depreciation of what they do. Anyone who does that may expect~to hear from Christ the words He spoke to the self-sufficient hwyer: "Go, and do thou also in like manner." We ought rather to praise charitable works no matter who does them, and glove the doers of them credit for a good ,motive. Who knows.that they have not a good in~ention, even a super-natural one? And even if they are acting from purely nat-ural principles, still natural virtue is better than no virtue at all. R~lieving distress is a virtue, at least a,natural one. It is a benefit done to others, and God will reward it in some way. The unselfishness of these charitable people may, dispose their souls for the reception of the. true faith. The Cornmunit~ is a Famitg Every community, of religious is rightly called a reli-gious family. Its members bear to each other a~ relation- 335 MATTHEW GERMING . ship analogous to that which obtains between, the indi-viduals of a family consisting of father, mother, and chil-dr. en. The bond of union between members of the same reli-gious family is a moral and supernatural one. Not 9nly are the.y united~as are all the faithful~by the bond Of divine charity through which they are incorpgrated.in the mysti-cal body of Christ, but they are closely bound together by their common consecration to God and by their~observance of one and the same rule of life. In such a family we expect kindness and charity to abound. And they will abound as,~long as its members are ~true to their-consecration, and are faithful in observing their rules and regulations and the orders of their superiors, all of which have been wisely ordained for their spiritual and temporalwell-being. This in. general. But I will add a point which is definite and particular. Religious must be unselfish, unselfish in their thoughts~ in their words, and in their dealings with one another. One founder of a religious order wants his fol-lowers to be so unselfish as "in all things to yield to others thee better part, esteeming all in their hearts superior to themselves, striving to see in everyone the' image of our Lord 3esus Christ." ¯ ¯ ,, As for the last recommendation, religious will be much helped in this striving if, in their every~'day lives, they make a Serious endeavor to fix their attention not on What "is faulty or less worthy in thdir fellow religious, but on what is commendable and worthy of imitation.:~ This practide of seeing in others what is good and praiseworthy is not only commendable in itself, but is at "the same time an effective means of counteracting the common tendency to think and judge ill' of others. In the Book of Exodus (32:22), Aaron speaking of the 3ews, says to Moses: "Thou know-est this people, that they are prone to evil." If we restrict the meaning of the statement to speaking and judging 336 THE'°~EW COMMANDMENT" adversely of other~, we may say that it is true of well-nigh all men. We find its parallel even in the intellectual order. "The ready belief in ,falsehood, and the slow acceptance of truth, is among the most observed traits of human nature.''z We muit beware of, the propensity,, to think and judge unfavorably of others. We must never ~unnecessaiily and deliberately entertain discreditable thoughts either of our fellow religious or of other persons; most of all, must we never express them in words. This:would be criticism and criticism is. out of place in .a religious community. We must not criticise our equals. Our Lord forbids it. "Do not juc~g, He says; "and you shall, not be judged; do not condemn, and you shall not be condemned" (Luke 6:37). We must not criticise superiors; the reason is the same: Cl~rist forbids it. This is the supernatural reason and is all-su~cient. But there are natural reasons also for.not criticising the decisions or actions and policies of superiors. They have knowledge and information concerning,things to be done which.we have not. Moreover, they take int6 consideration, as they are bound to do, every angle of an event or situation, and the welfare of the whole commun-ity, whereas weare often satisfied to view the case from the particular aspect that affects us. Superiors bear heavy bur-dens for our sakes; we owe them support and cooperation, which we can give them 'by our ready and willing obedi-ence. Let us ~heed.the words of St. Paul:. "I therefore exhort you that you walk worthy of the vocation in Which you are called, with all~ humility and meekness, with patience, 'supporting one another in charity" (Ephesians 4:2)" And these of St. Peter: "Before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves; for charity covers a multitude of sins" (I Peter 4:8). ~Frands-'Thompson, Saint 19natius Logola, c.° 12, p. 283. ~ 33~ to Assist Dying Non-Catholics Gerald Kelly, S.J. ACCORDING to the doctors, it was certain that the patient would not l~ave the hospital alive: Accord-ing to the hospital register, it was equally cert~iin that the man was not a Catholic. In fact, as Sister Mary later ~liscovered, he knew little about God, less about religion in general, and-nothing about the Catholic Church. But his disposition, was excellent. In the. subsequent weeks of his lingering illness he showed eagerness and a great capacity foi instruction. He expressed an earnest desire to enter the Catholic Church, was baptized, received Extreme.Unction and.the Holy Euchi~rist, and died a truly pious death. Thus goes the story of the ideal way of providing for dying non-Catholics: to bring them to open profession of the Catholic Faith and to confer upon them the Sacraments that they need and are capable of receiving. It is the ideal; at times it is realizable, often'enough it is impossible. Some people are outside the Church through ill-will; all that we can do for them is pray that they will cooperate with the grace of God. Others are outside the fold through an ignorance which will respond to "treatment"~as in the example alleged above. And many are non-Catholics by reason of an ignorance which cannot be removed: either they are convinced that their own religion is all right, or at least they are convinced that the Catholic Church is all wrong. / People can belong .to this third class witl~out having any real ill-will. They are non-Catholics "in good faith," as, we say. They belong "to the soul of the Church," as some explain it; or, as others say, they are "invisible mere- 338 APOS'~OLATE TO ASSIST DYING NON,CATHOLICS bers of the visible Church." Call it what you will, these people can save their souls, even without explicit profession of the Catholic Faith, lorouided theft fulfill certain mini-mum essentials for saloation. What are these minimum essentials of salvation? Prac-tically speaking,~ they may be summed up in four acts that involve the free cooperation of a human being with the grace of God, namely, acts of Faith, Hope, Charity, and .Contri-tion. They must be supernatural acts, that is, made. with the help of grace, and rooted in a free acceptance of Divine Revelation. Thus, the basic act in this~series is supernatural Faith, not a vague sentimental thing that many people call faith, not the mere Work of human reason, but the accept-ance by man of truths revealed by God and because they are revealed by God. It is not necessary to make an explicit act of faith in all the dogmas of the Catholic Faith, but to be sure of salvation one must believe at least in these four revealed truths: the existence of God, the fact that God re-wards the good and punishes the wicked, the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, the mystery~of the Incarnation. " Anyone with a truly .apostolic spirit will Want to help non-Cath01ics (o make these necessary acts. It cannot be left to chance, because God does not work by chance; He works thrpugh ordinary human instruments. The true apostle, therefore, will try to devise a means of providing the dying non-Catholic with this opportunity. But in this apostolic endeavor he will find himself con-fronted with two serious difficulties; the first being to ob-tain a brief, yet apt formulatidn of the necessary prayers', the second consisting in gaining an approach to the non- Catholic without provoking antagonism. Several years ago, Monsignor Raphael 3. Markham, of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, then professor of Pastoral Theology at Mount St. Mary Seminary, Norwood, Ohio, 339 GERALD KELLY worked ,out- a splendid solution to both.these,, problems. First he compiled a formula of the necessary prayers which is:admirable for its brevity, adequateness, and simple beauty~ Next he had these prayers printed on cards which, though attractive to the .eye, contain no reference to Catholicism that might je0paridze the.good cause in the case of a non- Catholic whom long years of misrepresentation had made suspicious of the Catholic Church. These cards can be p!aced near the bedside, sent through a friend--there are innumerable ways of getting them into the hands of non- Catholics without wakening suspicious prejudice~ ~. Monsignor .Markham's venture was first launched on a very smal! scale. He distributed the cards to his own class and explained the method of using .them. Later, someone drew the attention of Archbishop McNicholas to the novel apostolic plan, and he insisted that it get wider recognition. In the subsequent years, the mo:vement has grown 'im-mensely, and the results have been most gratifying. We presume that all religious, p~rticularly those w15o have o'.casion to minister to the sick and the dying, will.be deeply interested in this trdly apostolic, venture. Anyone who wishes more information can obtain an explanatory brochure an~l a few sample cards by writing to one of the addresses given be!ow. The cards themselves, whether plain or hand-tinted, sell at a very moderate price--merely ehough to cover expenses. At present Monsignor Markham and his associates are particularly interested in distributing a small, convenient card designed espe~cially for the use of men in our armed forces. For brochure and cards write to:., ,(a) Rt: Reu. R. d. Markham, S.T.D., Compton Road, Hartwell, Cincinnati, Ohio. (b) Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, St. Clare Convent, Harttoell, Cin-cinnati, Ohio. (c) Sister M. Carmelita, R.S.M., Convent of Mercy, 1409 Freeman Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio. 340 -. Commun ca!: ons [EDITOR'S NOTE: In our July number (p. 218) we outlined one practical di~culty concerning the spiritual direction of religious and asked for constructive comment and suggestions. We have received many communications on the subject. ,We cannot publish alldn this number, but we are printing as many as space permits. The remainder will be used in the next number. Further comments, either on the o~iginal editorial ~r ~on the communications printed in the~ present number, will be welcomed. Most of the letters concern the direction of Sisters. Considering their number and the fact that their spiritual direction must be limited almost exclusively to the confessional, this was to be expected. However.' the readers" attention is called to the excellent communication from a Brother Novice Master that appears in this number. More such letters would be ~helpful; we have a large number of Brothers among our subscribers. The editors assume no responsibility for the opinions expressed in these com-munications. ,Judge them on their own merits.] From Priesf~ - Rdverend Fathers: Du~ing ofir semifiary, days we used to" say that allconfessors (like all Gaiil) could be~divided into thre~ classes: confessors who simply " said "For your penance say--"; confessors ~ho said "Tomorrow's feast reminds us that ", and good confessors. Several years'°~experience in hearing confessions may have led us to r~vise that rattier hasty generahzatlon. As secular priests we seldom have the duty of hearing the confessions of religious women at the time Of theft retreat. But upon us as secular priests falls the obligation of being', in most. cases, the ordinary confessors of religious-women. That'0~e has never been assigned to me, but upon various bccasions and for various reason~s sisters have come to confession to me, and from this slight experience together with a great deaf'more thoughl~ I have come to conclusions which may answer, in part at l~st. the. questions ~aised by the editorial Spiritual Direction by the Ordiriar~/Con[essor in the 3uly 15 issue of REVIEW FOR RELIGIOUS. That some sort of spiritual direction should be given by the .ordinary confessor of religious women can, I think, be considered a pr, oved fact. By their vows°and their~eager desire to be faithful in all things to those vows religious are ~laced high in the ranks of the Church. Consequently, they are exposed to, greater satanic attacks and need greater assistance. Weekly spiritual di.rection of some sort is an essential form of tha~ assisfance. But what form shofild i.t take? My simple suggestion is that 34.1 it is not. wise for the ordinary confessor to make a general :rule Of commenting on the faults confessed. Unless there is something out-standing among them riley had' better be passed over in silence; as too much emphasis placed on them may result in scrupulosity. Rather, the ordinary-confessor should giye posit!re direction, centering his words and ideas, on Our Divine Saviour, "especially as His Divine and Human Natures' are manifested to us b~/ the liturgical year. Such direction counteracts the natural tendency of many reli-gious people, perhaps, more especially of religious women, to become self-centered in their spiritual life. The confessor can exemplify and elaborate this simple, advice, but it seems to me that it contains the germ of sound and fruitful dilection which can be given by the ordinary confessor of religious. Signed, etc . Reverend Fathers: I am a religious, ordained more than twenty-five years, during which time I have never been without the charge of one. sometimes two. religious communities, as ordinary and extraordinary confessor, Besides. I have given nearly a hundred retreats,~most of'which have been to religious women. The heart of your editorial is in the sentence, "The ~¢onfessor does not know how to make the approach: the community does not make it for him." o , ~ I think it is the duty of tl~ confessor to make the-approach. Personally I have not given thematter of direction so much attention, but very early in the exercise of the ministry, I realized how impor-tant it is to help religious to receive the Sacramefit of Penance as fruitfully as possible, as an effective means of spiritual progress. 1 ) For many years I made it a point to.give each penitent a few ¯ words of encouragemen~t or advice, based on the season of the y~car, or some pract~ic¢ connected with some approaching feast. (The same for all.) 2) T~ese little talks were later varied dnd aimed at helping the penitent ,correct some fault or no,quire some virtue. This I consider the first step in making the Sacrament of Penance a very fruitful means of advancing. 3) I frequently make it a point to emphasize that they should endeavor to correct themselves of one fault ev~erytime they go to con-fession. Sorrow and the purpose of amendment should be centered 342 COMMUNICATIONS on one f~ult. I frequently ask them what one fault they are going to try to overcome for next' week. 4) I ~fideavor to impress upon them the benefit of investigating the roots of sins and of confessing ~tendencies rather than individual acts, specially never to confess sins for which they are ~ot sorry. If a confessob proves hims~elf zealous, willing to listen, kind, and above all invariably patient and tactful, practically all religious will correspond and the results will be very gratifying. Most reli-gious fear to be, a burden to the confessor by what they may refer to as their petty troubles. If the confessor makes each one feel that he has all the time in the world for them, and that he is interested in each soul's advancement, confidence will be given and a great deal will be " accomplished in directing them. These three books have helped me in solving this problem in past years: The Confessional by Rt. Reverend Aloysius Roeggl, trans-lated from °the German and" adapted by the Reverend Augustine Wirth, O.S.B., published by the translator, at Elizabeth, ,N. 2. (1882.) Sacdrdotal Meditations, by Father Chaignon. Meditations 70 to 75 are'on the.duties and qualifications of a confessor. I make them' dvery year. at least during my retreat. Published by Benziger. Confession as a Means of Spiritual Progrdss, by Scharsch-Marks. Herder, 1935. Signed. etc . [NOTE:~ We mi~gh~ also recommend The Spiritual Direction of Sisters, by Ebl-Kirsch. : Benziger Bros., 1931.ED.] Reverend Fathers: Acting on th'~ assurance in the July REVIEW that you will wel-come constructive comment as to how Father A might be.of greater help to his penitents, may I proffer a suggestion or two? Let the perplexed confessor evince his willingness to give more than mire absolution by some such approach: "Is there any comment I can malie on any of these faults?" or "Can I behelpful to you in any of these problems?" or "Is there anything that is a source of anxiety to you?" etc. etc. Numbers of individuals have found such an invitation to share their burden with a willing counselor all that was needed to open the way to eventual peace of soul. If Father A "heard about twenty confessons in twenty-fi~,e min-utes" could it be that some of his penitents listened in vain for the Dorninus sit in cordo tuo. . . Misereatur . . . lndulgentiam . . . 343 COMMUNICATIONS Passio D. N. d. C . ? When a confessor habitually reduces his administration of the Sacrament of Penance tO the minimum in effort;. it isn't strange that those who kneel before, him follow .suit. I should like to amplify bpth these points and stress still another one or two, but you wisely~suggest brevity. Signed, etc . Reverend Fathers: " The confessor should be thoroughly and personally interested in his charges. If he be so interested, he should find no difficulty in~ formulating a question or two that will bring out their degree of religious'observance or fervor, upon which he can then build a helpful and constructive bit of spiritual guidance. Signed, etc . Reverend Fathers: The experience I am relating here concerns a retreat-director, not an ordinary confessor: but it may prove helpful to the general subject of spiritual direction by the confessor. The experience concerns a prominent priest who in his early retreats was s;iid to give "'marvelous instructions" but was scarcely mediocre as a confessor. He was told of this and set about to over-come his difficulty, which seems to have been about the same as that of Father A in your editorial. To overcome the hesitancy of the sisters, he asked some question such as this: How's the spiritual life? your meditation? your particular examen? .your obedience? In most cases he found that this was iufficient to open the floodgates: the nuns were bursting to say something, btlt they didn't know how. It was a case of 50-50, the penitent as backwardas the confessor. The opening ~lUeStibn was what.might be described as "breaking the ice." Next on the program was to have a brief, practical, attrac-tive remedy for the trouble that might be manifested, e. g. "Mddita-tion is terrible." The priest worked these points out: and he. has found the method very helpful and successful.~ Signed, etc . From Brothers Reverend Fathers: ' The problem raised in REVIEW FOR RELIGIOL~S, Volume I. No. 4, with regard to spiritual dii'ection by the ordinary confessoi, has been 344 COI~UNICATIONS ~our ;'own problem for quite a long time. The solution we have evolved in our house of formation is given as follows: First of all, we are indebted to the understanding heart of our chaplain for a perfect collaboration between him and the Brother Superior of the' community. This is a matter of prime importance. At the beginning each month the Brother Superior proposes to the community the practice of a particular virtue', ~hosen ordinarily ~from among those which are recommended to'us by our Rules, 'or of which a more urgent n~d is .f~lt." He explains this virtue, deriving his inspiration, as concerns practical 'applications, from the Constitu-tions, the Custom Book, and the letters of Major Superiors. Then eachvirtue'is divided so that in four successive weeks it may be prac-ticed with increasing perfecton. Here are three examples: " PO3il~RTY: First Weeh, to avoid superfluities; Second Weeh, avoid attaEhment to what is permitted: Third Weeh, to avoid the useful, the comfortable, the new: Fourth Weeh, t~ deprive oneself at times of necessities, without of course jeopardizing health. HUMILITY: First Weeh, to speak well of the absent:, Sec~ond Weeh, to cultivate an interior contempt of self; Third Weeh~ to take joy in contempt; Fourth Weeh, to attribute to God the credit for our CHARITY: First Weeh, to render services at the cost of one's own convenience; Second Weeh, ro"return good for good: Third Weeh, to return good for nothing; Fourth Weeh, to return good for evil. " The program thus prepared is given over to the chaplain, who, except in rare instances, draws therefrom material for the weekly ~xh6rtation he addresses v t0 l~is penitents. The latter thereupon ~nform the confessor of their fidelity to the ~dvice received at ~the time of the preceding confession. The habit of renderifi'g to the confessor a spontaneous account of one's fidelity in. following advice ~hould be thoroughly inculcated and de~,elope~l :from the.beginning of the novitiate. There is a corre- Sponding ~>l~ligation on the part of the confessor to ,khort'; to en~ourage, to direct ;. and it is for this purpose thak we supply him with matter each' month. It should be evident that our entire undertaking has but one aim: "to-afford the confessor and his charge an opportimit~l for mutual understanding, so as to place the confessor before an open door, so to 345 COMMUNICATIONS speak, or at least a door which is on the point of opening. The rest must be left to the good will of the director and of those who are to be directed, and to the grace of God. At this _stage discretion demands that the Superior withdraw to the background. A former colleague of mine, to whom goes the entire credit for the solution of our problem and its .application in practice, has this to say about it: "The labor of cooperation, based on an understanding between the chaplain and the superior, has been pursued for more than three years at one of our houses and for 24 months at another. It is the characteristic feature of the Eucharistic method (of Abb~ Poppe), ¯ of St. Ignatius and his entireschool. I can attest that it is effective and psychologically sound. The ~theological. and moral virtues, th~ practice of the Rules--all can be subjected to this progressivd and methodic labor. It has the advantage of compellii~g, in a certain manner, the confessor to make himself als0 a director. This solution haso proved satisfactory to our confessor and to those whom he directs: it is conformable, at any rate so. I believe, to the ~pirit of the Church. You can weigh it for yourself. If you find it too flimsy . whoosh! .to the wastebasket. A Novice Master From Sisters Reverend Fathers: Your editorial on Spiritual Direction in the July issue of the REVIEW is most timely and thought-provoking. We have discussed the article in question, and here are some of our The directors chosen are not always the best suited for religious. Some are timid, impatient, have a frigid air. A few hit on a happy phrase and use it week after week: for~ example,~ "Keep up the good work and say three Hail Marys." Many show no zeal for perfection. "We cannot give what we haven't got." The director as Teacher, Father, Judge should tak.e thee initiative. Any question regarding a fault confessed will serve as an opening; ~or "Sister, I am here to help you. Have you ,,any questions to ask?" We would tell Father A of your article: "The next time you have a chance to direct religious, go forth and bea spark among the reeds and set the world on fire with the love of Jesus Christ. The ashe~ of the reeds will beeternally grateful to you." 346 COMMUNICATIONS As to the religious themselves, ther~ is no end of excuses. Lack of courage--what will others say?shyness--fear of the conse-quences-- don't know how o~ where to'beginPnot encouraged to seek direction in confession. Some simply like the shady side of easy street. To both confessor and penitent could be" said, "Ask. seek . . . knock." It will mean more peace, more joy, more of God here and hereafter. A Religious Community Reverend Fathers: Enclosed are some thofights I've had for quite a few years on the subject of direction in the confessions of nuns. I am grateful that this matter has been brought° up and trust the responses you receive will be enlightening and helpful to all of us. SOME REASONS WHY DIRECTION OF NUNS IN CONFESSION FAILS: I. On the part of Communitg: The ever present pressure of work that straifis time. Fifty or sixty nuns, sometirdes more, waiting to go to confession and-- one confessor. If half the fiuns took all the time they wanted, the other half wo'uld of necessity be restless--maybe i~rital~le--waiting. The time dement in consideration of the waiting of others is to my mind a big factor. I saw this solved in one Of our larger communi-ties when the Rector" of a nearby monastery sent three confessors at the same time. It served a three-fold purpose: (a) the nuns had a choice of confessor; (b) none minded how long she stayed because she felt no one had to wait because of'her: (c) the confessors all fin-ished within an hour or so and not one felt overburdened. 2. On the part o~ the indit~idual nun:- (a) Because of long years without direction, she has long ago abandoned the idea of ever having that help, and so her.confessions become mere-recitals of weekly J imperfections-and~ venial sins. (b) Because she has been frightened at sometime or another, or disillusioned to some extent, she is too timid to ask the help she Craves. (c) Because sec~lar priests many times do not seem to under.- stand religious life and the serious obligation a religious has of striving constantly, for perfection, the nun after some futile attempts to get direction regarding her retreat election, her monthly examen. 347 COMMUNICATIONS etC., abandons the ~ttempt seeing the priest embarrasked, or indefinite in his guidance. . ,~ ° (d) Because she needs guidance ~so badly'and doesn't know where to begin, or how td ask, she is silent,~ hoping always the con-fessdr will make an opening. Or she has real problems, but fear, or a natural reticence, or tl~e thought," :'This is too simple to bother a confessor about," hinders her from seeking guidance. ¯ 3. On the part of the confe~or: (a) If~he is a religious ~priest, "he will Usually give a prepared instruction, or will sdlect some sin mentioned and give advice, but unless asked, he will not usually attempt guidance that is consecu-tively followed.~ Why? , (b) If he is .a secular priest, he sometimes belittles°confessions that include "breaking of silence," "time wasted." etc,, saying, as has been done too frequently: "That is silly,;~ tell your.sins,-" or "Sister. you don't have to mention imperfections." (Is a dun supposed to have venial sins all the time to confess?) (c) If the confessor is in a hurry andgiv.es evidence of this by closing the slide before the nuns finish their ac~ of contrition, or by asking, "Sister; are there many nuns to go?" the news soon gets around the community that Father X is al~ways in such a hurry that none wants to hinder his fligh!! (d) If unfortunately he has ever said to even one nun. " I don't like tohear nun£ confessions," it is sufficient to prevent many from seeking him as a director. (e) If the'confessor is indefinite, ciicling generalities, using too philosophical terms, most nuns are more confused and give up. thinking "What's the use?. I~ never do get any. real help when I ask." Solutions: I. In~ large communities two confeisors (or more) coming on the same or on consecutive days, will .solve the problemof time and the fear on the nun's part of keeping large groups waiting. II. The nuns on their part should ask simply for continued guidance stating frankly their desire of acquiring such and such a virtue; .their constant difficulty regarding particular examen; ~their lack of progress in the spiritual life and'the r~asons they thinl~ respon-sible for it: their difficulty with their superiors, or others, and;what in themselves causes it. These cases stated clearly, ,,frankly, humbly, 348 COMMUNICATIONS will at once help the confessor to analyze and guide the soul seeking help. III. The confessor .by evidencing his real interest, his wish to help regardless of the time taken, his "follow up" from a confession, would win confidence an'd would win,o souls starving for spiritual aid. Such questions as: "Sister, are youin the habit of speaking against authority? . Sister, do you ever think how much good you can do by giving the example of perfect silence?" or simply, "Sister, cain I help you in any way ?"--would be the seSami~ of opened and awakened souls. To give one instance: after a confession hurriedly made in. which evdr~rthing ~was generalized, a confessor asked, "Sister, are you accustomed to making confessions like this fre-quently?" This simple question broke down a nun's reserve and resulted in several years of fruitful guidan&. The nun felt the priest really cared. Is this the secret? A Mother S~perior Re~,erend Fathers: I ~m especially grateful for the challenge thrown out in the article on $1~iritual Direction b~/ the Ordinar~l Confessor. I sincerely .hope that the forthcoming communic.ations will do much to stimulate priests in their great responsiblity in guiding souls to a higher perfec-tions. Here are my suggestons: Give the admonition on the confession made. "Poor Pussy" types of admonitlon~are not appreciated: nor are "canned" admoni-tions. Oc~asi0nally ask WHY a certain fault was committed; als0 WHAT is being done to overcome a repeated accusation. Another question that creates¯ thought is, "What is your particular exarfien?" And the added remark, "Report on this each month," gives much material for guidance. Sometimes the question, "What do you mean when you accuse yourself of .thus and s0?" may cause a startling revelation to the confessor. ¯ A varying penanc.e also helps to draw attention to the individual confessio.n, A Mother Superior [Addr¢ss further communications on this subject directly to the' Editors, St. ,Mary's Co11¢g¢. St. Marys, Kansas.] Book Reviews OUR MODELS IN RELIGION. By Brother Jean-Bapfiste, F.M.S. Pp. 520. Marls÷ Brothers, St. Ann's Herm;tacje, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. $1.50. Thd subtitle of this book indicates its contents: "Biographies of some early Marist Brothers who were outstanding by their vir-tues and love for their vocatidn." Written originally in French by Brother 3ean-Baptiste, it was translated intoEnglish on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the foundation of, the Institute. "Fhe purpose of the work was evidently to inspire the Marist Brothers by the virtuous example of their predecessors. Merely as biography, Our Models in Religion wouldoprobably be of interest to Marist Brothers but would hardly merit the attention of others. However, "biography" may be said to be a secondary theme of the work. The biographical sketches are rather pegs on which to hang various bits of good advice and instructio~a. There is much good instruction, much good conference material, in the book. Spiritual directors,of religious can find in it many worthwhile points for conferences, as well as an abundance of material for ~developing the topics. The book was printed by Desclle. Paper, printing, and binding are all of high quality. G. KELLY, S.,J, ".THE SOLUTION IS EASY. By the Reverend Mark Schmid. O.S.B., Ph.D. Pp. xii ÷ 181. Frederick Pustet, Inc., New York, 1942. $2.00. ~This book forms a neat, popular introduction to the Scholastic answers to the fundamental questions of philosophy. It will prove useful especially to those who have not the opportunity of making thorough study of Sct~olasticism but who, nevertheless, would lit::to become acquainted with its broad outlines. The work bears the imprint of one who.has,had many years of experience in teaching science and philosophy: the subject matter is presented in a way that makes it easily grasped and the author is careful to avoid even the appearance of being dogmatic. He does not enter upon ground con-troverted by the scholastics themselves, but confines himself to those points wherein all are agreed. Especially prominent is the frequent 350 BOOK REVIEWS discussion of popular scientific problems that have a close connection with philosophical principles. The book begins With a Jthumb-nail sketch (twe.nty-three pages) of the history of Scholasticism from its earliest period to the twenti-eth century. The second, and chief, part of the book consists of brief chapters setting forth the. Neo-Scholastic view of the major problems of philosophy. The first four chapters pertain to cosmology and discuss the problems of the nature and origin of the physical world. Then come.~ ~sychology with such questions as the origin of life, knowledge, free will', immortality.~ Following this are such metaphysical questions as First Principles, the problem of evil, causality, design or purpose, and the Creator. The problem of social origins forms the concluding chapter of the book. After each chapter is appended a convenient bibliography of readings and references. The author has chosen for this purpose those books which are writ-ten- in English and which should be easily procurable from an ordi-nary Catholic library. Fr. Schmid omits dry discussions from his book, eliminates the formalism of scholastic text-books, and enlivens his work through-out with apt illustrations and homely analogies. The ideas are quite clear, the language is simple and, for the most part, concrete. Tech-nical words are defined and. described. Synonyms, parenthetical expressions, and quotation marks are employed quite frequently, for the benefit of the uninitiated. At the the end of the book there is a glossary making a handy dictionary of terms found in this and other books on.philosophy.--A. J. BENEDETTO, S.J. THE DIALOG MASS. By the Reverend Gerald Elhrd, S.J. Pp. xvl -~ 223. Loncjmans,'Green & Company, New YorE, 1942. $2.75. "It is well within the expectations of probability that another decade will have witnessed the gradual transition to Dialog Mass as the normal form of low Mass worship everywhere in the United States." It is Archbishop Michael J. Curley, speaking, in his preface to Father Ellard's book, Who from his vantage point, as Archbishop of Baltimore and Washington gives us this measured judgment of,the future of Dialog Mass in this country. For all of us this practically means that in the opinion of Archbishop Curley, when attending low Mass ten years from now we shall either have to form a part of 351 Boo~ R~vm~s deliSerately cut ourselves off from fellowship with our fellow, Chris-tians by remaining s~lent. This makes the Dialog Mass and our acceptance or rejection of it a burni.ng ques~tion right now. " The more so is this true, as the Dialog Mass is the resul~ of the efforts of many zealous prelates and priests throughout the world to bring into actuality the active participation of the laity in the most holy mysteries and in the public and solemn prayers of the Church/of which the authoritative voice of Plus X says, "It is the foremost and indispensable font for acquiring the true Christian sp, irit" (Motu P'roprio, On Sacred Music). It will be a surprise to many a one who has been apathetic to the Dialog Mass "because it is an innovation," to find that it is one 'of those innova~tions that are in absolute accord with the old theologi-cal adage, Nil ~'nno{petur nisi quod traditum est (Let there be no inno-vation except such as comes down to us by tradition). The Dialog Mass is not a bringing in of something new that never was. but bringing back of what has been. Father. Ellard, after studying the historical evidence, feels justified in making the statement: "In the sixteenth century the custom still survived at Rome and elsewhere that the congregatioh made the Mass responses with the serv~er. When the custom disappeardd is not known." Father Ellard's book is important because of its studied~y accu-rate presentation of facts regarding the spread of the Dialog Mass and his documented story of the attitude of the Holy See on the subject. At the end of Chapter Five, in which the author shows that the Did-log Mass is encircling the globe, he presents the following' results of a questionnaire-survey among Sodalists throughout the United_ States and of official surveys of the Diocese of LaCrosse and of the Arch-diocese of Chicago: Dioceses in which Dialog Mass is approved. 100: Dioceses in which Dialog Mass is not allowed. 4: Dioceses on which information is not available, 11. Thi~ l~ind of information is of supreme importance for ever~ one of us by reason of another theological adage, Securus judicat orbis terraru~, the sense of w, hich is that the Catholic world judges surely about the Catholicity or ,non-Catholiciy of any religious practice. Teachers will be especially grateful to Father Ellard for his helpful suggestions about Dialog Mass for children.'hnd hhw to corn-~ bine it with music, and thus buil