The Education of Catholic Girls Part 10

APPENDIX I.

EXTRACT FROM "THE BLESSED SACRAMENT"

BY FATHER FABER.

BOOK III. SEC. VII.

Let us put aside the curtain of vindicative fire, and see what this pain of loss is like; I say, what it is like, for it fortunately surpa.s.ses human imagination to conceive its dire reality. Suppose that we could see the huge planets and the ponderous stars whirling their terrific ma.s.ses with awful, and if it might be so, clamorous velocity, and thundering through the fields of unresisting s.p.a.ce with furious gigantic momentum, such as the mighty avalanche most feebly figures, and thus describing with chafing eccentricities and frightful deflections, their mighty centre-seeking and centre-flying circles, we should behold in the nakedness of its tremendous operations the Divine law of gravitation.

Thus in like manner should we see the true relations between G.o.d and ourselves, the true meaning and worth of His beneficent presence, if we could behold a lost soul at the moment of its final and judicial reprobation, a few moments after its separation from the body and in all the strength of its disembodied vigour and the fierceness of its penal immortality.

No beast of the jungle, no chimera of heathen imagination, could be so appalling. No sooner is the impa.s.sable bar placed between G.o.d and itself than what theologians call the creature's radical love of the Creator breaks out in a perfect tempest of undying efforts. It seeks its centre and it cannot reach it. It bounds up towards G.o.d, and is dashed down again. It thrusts and beats against the granite walls of its prison with such incredible force, that the planet must be strong indeed whose equilibrium is not disturbed by the weight of that spiritual violence.

Yet the great law of gravitation is stronger still, and the planet swings smoothly through its beautiful ether. Nothing can madden the reason of the disembodied soul, else the view of the desirableness of G.o.d and the inefficacious attractions of the glorious Divinity would do so.

Up and down its burning cage the many-facultied and mightily intelligenced spirit wastes its excruciating immortality in varying and ever varying still, always beginning and monotonously completing, like a caged beast upon its iron tether, a threefold movement, which is not three movements successively, but one triple movement all at once. In rage it would fain get at G.o.d to seize Him, dethrone Him, murder Him, and destroy Him; in agony it would fain suffocate its own interior thirst for G.o.d, which parches and burns it with all the frantic horrors of a perfectly self-possessed frenzy; and in fury it would fain break its tight fetters of gnawing fire which pin down its radical love of the beautiful Sovereign Good, and drag it ever back with cruel wrench from its desperate propension to its uncreated Centre. In the mingling of these three efforts it lives its life of endless horrors. Portentous as is the vehemence with which it shoots forth its imprecations against G.o.d, they fall faint and harmless, far short of His tranquil, song-surrounded throne.

Pour views of its own hideous state revolve around the lost soul, like the pictures of some ghastly show. One while it sees the million times ten million genera and species of pains of sense which meet and form a loathsome union with this vast central pain of loss. Another while all the mult.i.tude of graces, the countless kind providences, which it has wasted pa.s.s before it, and generate that undying worm of remorse of which Our Saviour speaks. Then comes a keen but joyless view, a calculation, but only a bankrupt's calculation, of the possibility of gains for ever forfeited, of all the grandeur and ocean-like vastness of the bliss which it has lost. Last of all comes before it the immensity of G.o.d, to it so unconsoling and so unprofitable; it is not a picture, it is only a formless shadow, yet it knows instinctively that it is G.o.d.

With a cry that should be heard creation through, it rushes upon Him, and it knocks itself, spirit as it is, against material terrors. It clasps the shadow of G.o.d, and, lo! it embraces keen flames. It runs up to Him but it has encountered only fearful demons. It leaps the length of its chain after Him, but it has only dashed into an affrighting crowd of lost and cursed souls. Thus is it ever writhing under the sense of being its own executioner. Thus there is not an hour of our summer sunshine, not a moment of our sweet starlight, not a vibration of our moonlit groves, not an undulation of odorous air from our flowerbeds, not a pulse of delicious sound from music or song to us, but that hapless unpitiable soul is ever falling sick afresh of the overwhelming sense that all around it is eternal.

EXTRACT FROM "THE CREATOR AND THE CREATURE."

BY FATHER FABER.

BOOK II. CH. V.

Yet the heavenly joys of the illuminated understanding far transcend the thrills of the glorified senses. The contemplation of heavenly beauty and of heavenly truth must indeed be beyond all our earthly standards of comparison. The clearness and instantaneousness of all the mental processes, the complete exclusion of error, the unbroken serenity of the vision, the facility of embracing whole worlds and systems in one calm, searching, exhausting glance, the Divine character and utter holiness of all the truths presented to the view--these are broken words which serve at least to show what we may even 'now indistinctly covet in that bright abode of everlasting bliss. Intelligent intercourse with the angelic choirs, and the incessant transmission of the Divine splendours through them to our minds, cannot be thought of without our perceiving that the keen pleasures and deep sensibilities of the intellectual world on earth are but poor, thin, unsubstantial shadows of the exulting immortal life of our glorified minds above.

The very expansion of the faculties of the soul, and the probable disclosure in it of many new faculties which have no object of exercise in this land of exile, are in themselves pleasures which we can hardly picture to ourselves. To be rescued from all narrowness, and for ever; to possess at all times a perfect consciousness of our whole undying selves, and to possess and retain that self-consciousness in the bright light of G.o.d; to feel the supernatural corroborations of the light of glory, securing to us powers of contemplation such as the highest mystical theology can only faintly and feebly imitate; to expatiate in G.o.d, delivered from the monotony of human things; to be securely poised in the highest flights of our immense capacities, without any sense of weariness, or any chance of a reaction; who can think out for himself the realities of a life like this?

Yet what is all this compared with one hour, one of earth's short hours, of the magnificences of celestial love? Oh to turn our whole souls upon G.o.d, and souls thus expanded and thus glorified; to have our affections multiplied and magnified a thousandfold, and then girded up and strengthened by immortality to bear the beauty of G.o.d to be unveiled before us; and even so strengthened, to be rapt by it into a sublime amazement which has no similitude on earth; to be carried away by the inebriating torrents of love, and yet be firm in the most steadfast adoration; to have pa.s.sionate desire, yet without tumult or disturbance; to have the most bewildering intensity along with an unearthly calmness; to lose ourselves in G.o.d, and then find ourselves there more our own than ever; to love rapturously and to be loved again still more rapturously, and then for our love to grow more rapturous still, and again the return of our love to be still outstripping what we gave, and then for us to love even yet more and more and more rapturously, and again, and again, and again to have it so returned, and still the great waters of G.o.d's love to flow over us and overwhelm us until the vehemence of our impa.s.sioned peace and the daring vigour of our yearning adoration reach beyond the sight of our most venturous imagining; what is all this but for our souls to live a life of the most intelligent entrancing ecstasy, and yet not be shivered by the fiery heat? There have been times on earth when we have caught our own hearts loving G.o.d, and there was a flash of light, and then a tear, and after that we lay down to rest. O happy that we were! Worlds could not purchase from us even the memory of those moments. And yet when we think of heaven, we may own that we know not yet what manner of thing it is to love the Lord Our G.o.d.

APPENDIX II

_From a Pastoral Letter of His Eminence Cardinal Bourne, Archbishop of Westminster, written when Bishop of Southwark. Quinquagesima Sunday,_ 1901.

...Every age has its own difficulties and dangers. At the present day we are exposed to temptations which at the beginning of the last century were of comparatively small account. It will be so always. Every new development of human activity, every invention of human ingenuity, is meant by G.o.d to serve to His honour, and to the good of His creatures.

We must accept them all gratefully as the results of the intelligence which He has been pleased to bestow upon us. At the same time the experience of every age teaches us that the weakness and perversity of many wrest to evil purposes these gifts, which in the Divine intention should serve only for good. It is against the perverted use of two of G.o.d's gifts that we would very earnestly warn you to-day.

During the last century the power that men have of conveying their thoughts to others has been multiplied incredibly by the facility of the printed word. Thoughts uttered in speech or sermon were given but to a few hundreds who came within the reach of the human voice. Even when they were communicated to ma.n.u.script they came to the knowledge of very few. What a complete change has now been wrought. In the shortest s.p.a.ce of time men's ideas are conveyed all over the world, and they may become at once a power for good or for evil in every place, and millions who have never seen or heard him whose thoughts they read, are brought to some extent under his influence.

Again, at the present day all men read, more or less. The number of those who are unable to do so is rapidly diminishing, and a man who cannot read will soon be practically unknown. As a matter of fact men read a great deal, and they are very largely influenced by what they read.

Thus the multiplicity of printed matter, and the widespread power of reading have created a situation fraught with immense possibilities for good, but no less exposed to distinct occasions of evil and of sin. It is to such occasions of sin, dear children in Jesus Christ, that we desire to direct your attention this Lent.

Every gift of G.o.d brings with it responsibility on our part in the use that we make of it. The supreme gift of intelligence and free-will are powers to enable us to love and serve G.o.d, but we are able to use them to dishonour and outrage Him. So with all the other faculties that flow from these two great gifts. Beading and books have brought many souls nearer to their Creator. Many souls, on the other hand, have been ruined eternally by the books which they have read. It is dearly, therefore, of importance to us to know how to use wisely these gifts that we possess.

The Holy Catholic Church, the Guardian of G.o.d's Truth, and the unflinching upholder of the moral law, has been always alive to her duty in this matter, and from the earliest times has claimed and exercised the right of pointing out to her children books that are dangerous to faith or virtue. This is one of the duties of bishops, and, in a most special manner, of the Sacred Congregation of the Index. And, though at the present day, owing to the decay of religious belief, this authority cannot be exercised in the same way as of old, it is on that very account all the more necessary for us to bear well in mind, and to carry out fully in practice, the great unchanging principles on which the legislation of the Church in this matter has been ever based.

You are bound, dear children in Jesus Christ, to guard yourselves against all those things which may be a source of danger to your faith or purity of heart. You have no right to tamper with the one or the other. Therefore, in the first place, it is the duty of Catholics to abstain from reading all such books as are written directly with the object of attacking the Christian Faith, or undermining the foundations of morality. If men of learning and position are called upon to read such works in order to refute them, they must do so with the fear of G.o.d before their eyes. They must fortify themselves by prayer and spiritual reading, even as men protect themselves from contagion, where they have to enter a poisonous atmosphere. Mere curiosity, still less the desire to pa.s.s as well informed in every newest theory, will not suffice to justify us in exposing ourselves to so grave a risk.

Again, there are many books, especially works of fiction, in which false principles are often indirectly conveyed, and by which the imagination may be dangerously excited. With regard to such reading, it is very hard to give one definite rule, for its effect on different characters varies so much. A book most dangerous to one may be almost without harm to another, on account of the latter's want of vivid imagination. Again, a book full of danger to the youth or girl may be absolutely without effect on one of maturer years. The one and only rule is to be absolutely loyal and true to our conscience, and if the voice of conscience is not sufficiently distinct, to seek guidance and advice from those upon whom we can rely, and above all, from the director of our souls. If we take up a book, and we find that, without foolish scruple, it is raising doubts in our mind or exciting our imagination in perilous directions, then we must be brave enough to close it, and not open it again. If our weakness is such that we cannot resist temptation, which unforeseen may come upon us, then it is our duty not to read any book the character of which is quite unknown to us. If any such book is a source of temptation to us, we must shun it, if we wish to do our duty to G.o.d. If our reading makes us discontented with the lot in life which Divine Providence has a.s.signed to us, if it leads us to neglect or do ill the duties of our position, if we find that our trust in G.o.d is lessening and our love of this world growing, in all these cases we must examine ourselves with the greatest care, and banish from ourselves any book which is having these evil effects upon us.

Lastly there is an immense amount of literature, mostly of an ephemeral character, which almost of necessity enters very largely into our lives at the present day. We cannot characterize it as wholly bad, though its influence is not entirely good, but it is hopeless to attempt to counteract what is harmful in it by any direct means. The newspapers and magazines of the hour are often without apparent harm, and yet very often their arguments are based on principles which are unsound, and their spirit is frankly worldly, and entirely opposed to the teaching of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel. Still more when the Catholic Church and the Holy See are in question, we know full well, and the most recent experience has proved it, that they are often consciously or unconsciously untruthful. Even when their misrepresentations have been exposed, in spite of the boasted fairness of our country, we know that we must not always expect a withdrawal of false news, still less adequate apology. Constant reading of this character cannot but weaken the Catholic sense and instinct, and engender in their place a worldly and critical spirit most harmful in every way, unless we take means to counteract it. What are these means? A place must be found in your lives, dear children in Jesus Christ, for reading of a distinctly Catholic character. You must endeavour to know the actual life and doings of the Catholic Church at home and abroad by the reading of Catholic periodical literature. You must have at hand books of instruction in the Catholic Faith, for at least occasional reading, so as to keep alive in your minds the full teaching of the Church. You must give due place to strictly spiritual reading, such as the "Holy Gospels," "The Following of Christ," "The Introduction to a Devout Life"

by St. Francis of Sales, and the lives of the Saints, which are now published in every form and at every price. It is not your duty to abstain from reading all the current literature of the day, but it is your duty to nourish your Catholic mental life by purely Catholic literature. The more you read of secular works, the more urgent is your duty to give a sufficient place to those also, which will directly serve you in doing your duty to G.o.d and in saving your soul. a.s.suredly one of the most pressing duties at the present day is to recognize fully our personal and individual responsibility in this matter of reading, and to examine our conscience closely to see how we are acquitting ourselves of it.

Before we leave this subject, we wish to ask all those among you dear children in Jesus Christ, who, whether as fathers and mothers, or as members of religious inst.i.tutes, or masters and mistresses in schools, are charged with the education of the young, to do all in your power to train those committed to you to a wise and full understanding of this matter of reading, and to a realization of its enormous power for good and harm, and, therefore, to a sense of the extreme responsibility attaching to it. Make them understand that, while all are able to read, all things are not to be read by all; that this power, like every power, may be abused, and that we have to learn how to use it with due restraint. While they are with you and gladly subject to your influence, train their judgment and their taste in reading, so that they may know what is good and true, and know how to turn from what is evil and false.

Such a trained and cultivated judgment is the best protection that you can bestow upon them. Some dangers must be overcome by flight, but there are far more, especially at the present day, which must be faced, and then overcome. It is part of your great vocation to prepare and equip these children to be brave and to conquer in this fight. Gradually, therefore, accustom them to the dangers they may meet in reading. Train their judgment, strengthen their wills, make them loyal to conscience, and then, trusting in G.o.d's grace, give them to their work in life.