XIV: Young Men and the Higher Life

SOME men have a strong inclination to do noble things. They are not satisfied with being ordinary. They are not content with limiting themselves to what they are obliged to do.

We see this frequently in the father of a family who makes unusual sacrifices for the welfare and happiness of his wife and children. Such a man often denies himself things which he likes and is entitled to, but which he is glad to do without, for the benefit of those whom he loves. We observe it again in the young man who, out of devotion to father and mother, foregoes many pleasures he might reasonably enjoy. Especially do we notice it in time of war, when men volunteer for disagreeable and dangerous service for love of country.

If a man desires to do something out of the ordinary, something notable, for love of friends, family or country, should he not desire to do something notable for God? Most men can do this in their own families, or among their friends, or in business, by being what God counsels them to be. The father of a family, the husband, the son, the friend can do much for God by being the right kind of father, husband, son, or friend.

For most men, that is all God asks. If they succeed in living their social and business life in a manner pleasing to God, they will be saints in heaven. But although this is enough, and all that is possible for many men, there are others to whom God gives the opportunity of being distinguished in His service. As a government has posts of distinction in its army and its courts, so has God.

In the Great War, our government called for picked men to volunteer for arduous service. Many responded heroically. The Church of God is always at war with the world. It needs volunteers for special service. The great body of Christian men form the army of the Lord. They are doing good work for God and country by keeping the commandments. But the army of the Lord calls also for special workers to be officers and to aid the army in doing its work.

A body of soldiers is of little use unless it has a good officer in command. The man back of a gun cannot do much without ammunition and food. Great importance is attached to the commissariat department in the army. If food and officers fail, the army goes to pieces.

The army of the Lord needs officers, commissioned and non-commissioned. It wants priests and brothers. Are you so situated that you can hearken to the call? And have you the desire to do something special in the service of God Almighty? Do you want to be distinguished in God's service? Let us begin with the priesthood.

The question is put to the youth attending school, and to the man who has finished his education and is unmarried—have you a strong inclination to serve God as a priest? It means a clean heart, a good head and a real desire to show one’s love for God by a life of service and sacrifice. The married man, who cannot consider this matter for himself, may have a boy who is good and clean and intelligent, whom he would like to see a priest some day.

The first step is to pray; then comes a talk with the parish priest, or with some priest in whom the young man can confide. God will bless the family that gives Him one of its own flesh and blood for the Sanctuary. But the matter must depend primarily upon the boy himself. A father must not persuade his son to join the priesthood. The call must come from God. But father and mother can help a vocation by their own good life, by the respect they show for the priesthood, and by directing the boy’s thoughts to the sublimity of a priestly career. It is often the good example of a father or mother that develops a vocation to the priesthood.

For those who are called to it, the priesthood is the highest honor a human being can receive. A priest is a companion of Christ, as were the Apostles. Christ still lives, and will always live, in His Church. He is doing now for the world by the priesthood precisely what He did for the people of Palestine when He was on earth.

Furthermore, a priest is the personal representative of Jesus Christ among men. When he baptizes, it is in the name of Christ. When he forgives sin in the confessional, it is as the ambassador of Christ. When he celebrates Holy Mass, he does so as Christ. At the consecration the priest does not say: “This is the body of Christ,” but he speaks as Christ Himself, and says: “This is My Body.” When the priest preaches, he does not preach his own doctrine, but the teachings of Christ.

In all his ministrations, therefore, the priest is another Christ, as it were. What a sublime dignity! What an honor is conferred on a young man who is called to be a priest! It is an honor not only for himself, but for his parents and family and friends.

But if it is an honor, it is also a sacrifice. Christ left His home in heaven and came into this world to suffer and die for us. The priest leaves home and offers his life to suffering and service for the salvation of the souls redeemed by his Master, Jesus Christ. Hence it is only young men of generous heart and noble purpose who respond to the call of Christ to come and follow Him as a priest.

Any young man who desires to distinguish himself by doing something special for God may become a priest if he has the intelligence and virtue required. And what is the degree of intelligence that is requisite? About the same as that necessary for the practice of law or medicine or any of the learned professions.

One must be prepared for a long course of studies. A priest must be so well educated that he can meet men of the learned professions on their own ground and always uphold the Faith. He requires a knowledge of literature, science, history, philosophy and theology. As a rule, the priest is one of the best informed men in the place where he lives.

In addition to knowledge, a priest must also have virtue. Indeed, of the two, virtue is the more necessary. A virtuous priest with moderate learning is preferable to a learned priest with scant virtue. But, thank God, it is characteristic of the priesthood that virtue and learning are combined.

A young man, therefore, who wishes to use this short and uncertain life to do something splendid for God, can carry out his purpose by dedicating himself to the priesthood. In that way, he will not only secure his own salvation, but will help others to attain the blessedness which our Lord came on earth to bestow on mankind.

We shall now consider the vocation of a brother. A brother may be considered a non-commissioned officer in the army of the Lord. An army would be dreadfully handicapped without its non-commissioned officers. And so would the Church be at a dreadful loss without her brotherhoods.

There are some brotherhoods which constitute an order in themselves, like the Christian Brothers, devoting their lives to teaching and to training boys and young men to a career of virtue and usefulness.

There are other brotherhoods which are attached to religious orders of priests to help them in their work. There are Franciscan Brothers,

Benedictine Brothers, Dominican Brothers and Jesuit Brothers, not to mention others. These Brothers take the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience just the same as the priests of the order. They share all the privileges of the order, and are as truly religious as the priests themselves.

Many of the great missionaries were accompanied by brothers in their journeys to convert people to the true Faith. The brother thus shares in all the merit of the missioner, and enables him to attend exclusively to priestly duties.

In the monastery or rectory, the brother attends to all the domestic affairs. As women are excluded from the houses of religious orders of men, all the work ordinarily done by women in the home is done by the brothers. But, besides the help they afford the priests, they have also all the means of sanctifying themselves which the priests enjoy—prayer, daily Mass and Communion, meditation, pious reading, frequent instructions, and the good example of the cloister generally.

Any man who is unmarried and who has no one depending on him for support may aspire to be a brother.* An education is not necessary. If a man has a good education or trade, so much the better. But some of the best brothers have little or no education. If a man has a generous heart, a cheerful disposition and willing hands, he may become a brother, provided he feels the call to a higher life and desires to prove his love for God by service and sacrifice. It is not what one

*For fuller information see the recently published book, CONVENT LIFE, the Meaning of a Religious Vocation, by Martin J. Scott, S. J. does for the Lord that counts, but the good will which one has in doing it.

A brother who attends to the door of a religious house, or who acts as sacristan of the church, may be more pleasing to God than a great preacher who wins the praise of the congregation by a grand discourse. It all depends. If you work for the Lord and not for yourself, the smallest thing becomes big. And if you work. for yourself and not for the Lord, the biggest thing may count for nothing.

In the Great War some of our soldiers served in the kitchen, others were engaged in digging, some did domestic duty in the barracks. Many of these men were refined and wealthy. Did they consider that they were lowering themselves in acting as servants? Not at all. They realized that they were doing it, not for the men whom they served, but for their country, and that motive dignified their labor and made it honorable.

A brother does the domestic work of a religious house for the love of God! How wonderfully that elevates the most common actions! What difference does it make whether you use a broom or a pen if you are doing it for God, to advance His cause? The priest would have no time for study, preaching, hearing confessions, etc., if he had to attend to his own table and room. The brother who does that for him actually shares in all the good work done by the priest in the pulpit and in the confessional.

Besides, the brother is offering to God the sacrifice of his life, and by this sacrifice he is helping the Church to continue the work of Jesus Christ among mankind. That constitutes him a fellow worker of our Lord. It makes him an officer in the company captained by Jesus Christ.

For the brother is not working for this man or that, but for Jesus Christ. When a soldier obeys an officer, he is not obeying the man, but the government whom the officer represents. And so with the brother. He consecrates himself to God. He lives for God, works for God, suffers for God, and, if need be, dies for God. And God will be his reward. The brother who has dedicated his life to the service of God on earth will reign with God forever in heaven.

The life of a brother is humble, it is hidden from the eyes of man, it has no reward here, except peace and the satisfaction of a life nobly spent. But God will not be outdone in generosity. We can never regret anything we have done for God. And if the eyes of the world do not see the brother, God sees even the littlest things he does for Him, and He who sees in secret will sh reward openly. After all, is it not enough to have God see us and be pleased with us?

I speak to the man who reads this. Are you free to volunteer for the brotherhood, and do you feel called to the higher life of service and sacrifice? If so, talk the matter over with your pastor or confessor—a priest who knows you well. The Church needs you. The call for brothers is loud and insistent. The religious orders can double their work if they have good brothers.

But do not consider this vocation unless you are prepared to make big sacrifices. You will have to give up life-long associations, change your manner of living entirely. However, you will do that and other things gladly if you have a real vocation. The sign of it is the desire to lead a higher life and to be of service to your fellow men for the love of God and the salvation of souls. If you feel that vocation, pray, consult your confessor, and go ahead in God’s name. What a joy it will be to you for all eternity to realize that you enrolled yourself as a helper under the standard of Jesus Christ!

But do not act inconsiderately. A true vocation does not require haste. The fervor of the moment should not decide a step of such importance. If, however, you experience a steady attraction to the higher and holier service of God, do not harden your heart to it. Cultivate the seeds of vocation, and when you feel convinced that God wants you, be generous enough to respond. And when you have made up your mind, let nothing interfere with God’s call. Be prepared for obstacles and difficulties. These will only serve to show your loyalty to your captain, Jesus Christ.

The day will come for us all when we shall have to say farewell to the world and its allurements. What a comfort it will be for the brother in that hour to know that for love of God he renounced the world of his own accord, and gave himself in life and in death to his commander, Christ. That death will be a great victory for all eternity.

“He that shall lose his life for my sake, shall find it” (Matt. 16:25). “To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne . . .” (Apoc. 3:21). What a glorious aim in life is that! Such a destiny makes life worth living, no matter what our trials and hardships may be. The life of a brother may be humble and hidden from the eyes of the world, but it leads to a “never fading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 5: 4). Every good Christian may attain to that crown. But the good brother does so more securely, more peacefully and more gloriously. “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me” (Matt. 19: 21). That is the invitation which the Son of God Himself gives to generous souls. It is a call to serve Christ with personal devotion, to give up everything for His sake. “Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, O Lord: . . .” (Ps. 83: 5). “Blessed are thy men, and blessed are thy servants, who stand before thee always .. .” (3 Kings 10:8). “For better is one day in thy courts above thousands. I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners” (Ps. 83: 11).

The good brother may be a servant in the House of the Lord in this life, but the servants of God “shall reign forever and ever” (Apoc. 22: 5) in the life to come.

“What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Those who follow Christ as religious are taking the surest means to save their souls, for they are His companions to whom He said: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14: 2). And their place shall be near the very throne of God. On earth they were close to Christ by their consecrated lives; in heaven they shall be close to Him in glory. On earth they left all to follow Him. In heaven all He has will be theirs. It is service and sacrifice here; hereafter it will be joy with the Eternal King forever. Such is the career of the man who leaves all to follow Christ. The world has for its votaries nothing comparable to this glorious destiny. “Better is one day in thy courts above thousands” (Ps. 83: 11),