The Means of Perfection

552. (c) The general means by which the degrees of perfection are climbed step by step are spiritual exercises and frequent reception of the sacraments.

Among pious exercises, three are especially profitable, besides frequent assistance at Mass and visitation of the Most Holy Sacrament: meditation, frequent remembrance of the presence of God, and sincere examination of conscience. 1. According to St. Alphonsus,¹ the confessor ought before all else to dispose the devout to make mental prayer, because prayer and sin cannot dwell together; and moreover by meditation divine love is enkindled. Most persons, even the rude, can make some meditation if, after pious reading, they think seriously about the things which they have read and ask these three things of themselves: how can these things be brought into practice by me? - whether and how far I have done this before? - what can I do today concerning this matter? Then let them pray that they put into execution the things they have proposed to themselves.

¹ Praxis, n. 122; cf. n. 217 sq., where the practice of mental prayer is explained; St. François de Sales, Introd. à la Vie dévote, 2nd part, ch. 1-8; Faber, Growth in Holiness, ch. 15.

2. Let them frequently have the presence of God before their eyes, according to that saying:¹ "Walk before me, and be perfect"; and let them offer their acts to God not only in the morning, but several times in the day, and recite pious ejaculatory prayers; for thus they will not only flee sin, but also daily progress in the practice of virtues.

¹ Gen. XVII, 1.

3. In examining their conscience, let them recall not only in a general way their principal delicts, but let them seriously examine themselves concerning one vice or one virtue in species, so that they may see not only whether they have offended, but whether and how far they have progressed: for they will progress more promptly and safely if they apply all their strength to cultivating one virtue or extirpating one vice for some notable time.

As to frequency of Communion, read the rules which are handed down in Syn. Theol. Dogm., De Eucharist., n. 150-152, and the decree of Pius X.

553. (d) Particular means are diverse according to the diverse degrees which pious persons have attained, and their character, condition, and supernatural inclinations. For although the principal virtues ought to be cultivated by all, those especially are to be inculcated which are opposed to the predominant vice, or better correspond to the duties of one's state or to the motions of grace. Certain ones nevertheless seem more necessary: in the first degree, mortification of curiosity, vanity, and sensual love; in the second, the practice of prudence, justice, fortitude, humility, meekness, and sincerity; in the third, the spirit of faith, filial trust in God, and fervent love of God. Concerning these, see the Treatise on Virtues, in which all these things are described more fully.

III. The means of advancing in the pious and devout life are some general and common, others particular.

The particular means are diverse according to the different grade which the pious have reached, and according to the inclination of grace, their condition, and their disposition; so that especially those virtues are inculcated to them which are opposed to the predominant vice, or better correspond to the duties of state or the motions of grace.

The general means common to all are spiritual exercises, namely the practice of mental prayer, frequent remembrance of the divine presence, mortification, and discussion of conscience. To these external means can be added: the direction of the confessor together with reading of books which treat of the spiritual life, a definite rule or good ordering of life, reception of the sacraments, and sanctification of the social relations which we have with others.

IV. Mental prayer, although it is not necessary for salvation, is nevertheless the most apt means for sanctifying the soul by divine love; for, as St. Alphonsus testifies, Pr. conf., n. 122, "prayer and sin cannot dwell together; but the soul will either leave prayer or sin," cf. Eccli. VIII, 40; Jer. XII, 11. Hence let the confessor induce the pious into the habit of mental prayer, establish for them the time to be spent on this exercise, e.g., half an hour morning and evening, assign to them the truths to be meditated upon, teach them the method of meditating fruitfully, and sometimes, e.g., each month, require an account of this method. - And let him watch that they pass no day without some consideration of truths, that they frequently pour forth pious affections and fervent ejaculatory prayers, and, as far as they can, read attentively and piously in a spiritual book.

Now mental prayer consists of three parts: preparation, meditation, and conclusion.

1. Preparation is contained in three acts, to be elicited briefly: namely an act of faith concerning the presence of God, an act of humility on account of sins committed, and an act of supplication for divine light.

2. Meditation or reconsideration itself, which ordinarily, and always by beginners, is to be instituted from a spiritual book, and concerning matter which seems more profitable to each one, namely with a greater affection of devotion, fruit of virtue, and utility in avoiding defects, such as the last things, the goodness or benefits of God, the malice of sin, and before the rest the life and Passion of Christ. - Moreover the principal part and end of meditation is not the speculative consideration itself of truths by the intellect, but rather is in eliciting affections, making petitions, and strengthening purposes through the appetitive faculties: the meditation itself ought to tend to these fruits and ought to be left behind for their sake when a man perceives himself to be moved in soul. Hence:

a) Affections constitute the fitting response by which the soul addresses God after God has illuminated it and intimately addressed it. In view of various circumstances, acts of faith, confidence, gratitude, adoration, praise, humility, contrition, and especially charity are to be elicited, by which the soul offers itself wholly to God and conforms itself to His holy will, and which it cannot exercise repeatedly enough. Thus it should wish, affectively and effectively, to be led by God and to be submitted to Him.

b) It is helpful to repeat petitions in prayer: for God is not accustomed to grant helps except to those asking, and no time is more opportune for asking than the time of mental prayer. Therefore in this, with humility and confidence, let light, remission of sin, perseverance, etc., be asked for, first of all the gift of holy love; yet all through the merits and Passion of Christ.

c) Purpose is necessary so that the fruit of prayer may endure and the light granted by God may be applied to the directing of life. But purpose, that it may be efficacious, should not be general, e.g., of avoiding any defect whatever or giving oneself wholly to God, but concretely determined and particular, e.g., of avoiding such a defect in such a manner or on such an occasion, of better exercising some virtue by this special means, of tolerating such an annoyance, of obeying such a superior or such a rule, of mortifying oneself in such a thing and at this moment, etc.

3. The conclusion is completed by three acts: a) thanksgiving for the lights received in meditation; b) determination of standing firmly by the purposes formed, and of immediately executing them; and of remembering them rather often during the day, just as the sentence which more strongly moved the soul; c) urgent petition from God for help, to be obtained through Christ and Mary, for executing the purposes.⁴

⁴ Garrigou-Lagrange, L'Oraison commune, in the periodical La Vie spirituelle, t. VIII, can also be compared.

V. Frequent remembrance of the divine presence, from which we several times offer our acts to God, break forth into pious ejaculatory prayers, renew the supernatural intention rather often, and thus avoid sins because of fear and reverence toward God present, and from love of Him advance daily in the practice of virtue, according to that: Walk before me and be perfect, Gen. XVII, 1.

It is namely a frequent and habitual elevation of mind and heart into God present, a loving attention of the soul to God, whom it beholds in every thing, in every event, and especially in itself; a simple gaze, but full of love, directed toward God, by which the soul, without any force or more intense effort, but as if by a connatural tendency, is borne into God, whom it knows to be present. Thus the soul is vividly conscious of the presence of God; it feels itself under His eye, searching all things, and under His operative activity; and rather often it recollects itself within itself for finding God in an act of loving sweetness.

For God truly is: 1) in all things by essence, presence, and power, that He may have care for all, especially for those who invoke Him with confidence, for the Lord is near to all who invoke Him;

2. in all events, because all are ruled by His wise providence, and they are not judged rightly unless they are considered according to the intention of the first cause;

3. specifically in the soul of the just: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit come to them and remain with them, that they may have divine life and rejoice in the joy of the divine presence and love, John XIV, 23.

Remembrance of the divine presence contributes much:

a) to avoiding sin, from fear and reverence toward the supreme and infinite majesty present;

b) to advancing in virtue and spiritual life, from the fact that we sustain the struggle and effort while our God sees and, as it were, applauds;

c) to stimulating confidence and charity toward God, who from mere benevolence toward us, with His knowledge, wisdom, love, counsel, and omnipotence is in us for our good;

d) to supernatural consolation and spiritual joy of fruition concerning the presence of God and His highest goodness.

For this exercise in practice it helps:⁵ 1) to carry some special sign or have it within one's room; 2) often to elevate the mind and heart to God present everywhere, or even inhabiting the soul, and to repeat an act of love, yet without any force or desire of sensible consolation: for he who truly loves never forgets the person loved; 3) to love solitude and seek it as far as possible, for enjoying the presence of God and His love; 4) and to ask this love and the memory of His presence from God. "Every evil," says St. Teresa, "comes from this, that we do not consider God present... Let us not think that even a single lifting of the eyes in remembrance of Him is left unrewarded by God."

⁵ St. Alphonsus, o. c., n. 168.

VI. Mortification, in the present order, is altogether necessary for removing the impediments of perfection, specifically⁶ a) for the progressive healing of the wounds of original sin; b) for the destruction of personal sin and its consequences; c) for the perfect subordination of natural activity to the life of grace, Gal. V, 24. For it is necessary that we live not only as rational beings, under the guidance of reason, but also as sons of God, under the guidance of faith and the Holy Spirit; and therefore it is necessary to restrain merely natural activity and even to repress the first inordinate movements, lest this natural activity grow too much and distract us, to the detriment of the higher activity of grace. But the impediments of perfection to be removed are internal and external; the internal arise either from inordinate internal senses or from unmortified passions; the external are from riches, honor and glory, delightful things, or persons loved too much or pleasurably.

⁶ Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange in the journal Vie Spirituelle, t. XI and XII.

In this matter, however, the confessor must proceed moderately according to Christian prudence, by which he should beware of every excess and defect. For just as it is a harmful error to place perfection in fasts, vigils, hair-shirts, scourgings, etc., so it is the greatest error to contemn mortification as useless to spiritual progress, or absolutely to assert that external mortifications profit nothing or little.⁷ For although internal mortifications of the passions and appetites of the soul are rather to be exercised, such as: not responding to injuries, yielding in contentions, following the will of others, not seeking oneself, etc., nevertheless external and bodily mortifications help the internal ones and are necessary for restraining the senses; hence they were also frequent among all the Saints.

⁷ St. Alphonsus, o. c., n. 145.

Yet let the confessor take care 1) that he not be too facile in conceding them, especially in the first warmth of devotion; and let him enjoin on the penitent that he do none except according to the prescriptions handed down to him;

2. nor generally let him concede them unless asked; for they do not profit unless they are much desired; hence let him so instruct penitents that they spontaneously ask for them;

3. let him concede less than they ask;

4. let him concede by degrees, so that he tempers the excessive fervor of beginners, to whom he permits only a few things; let him be more liberal with those who are well rooted in virtue;

5. let him concede according to strength, capacities, conditions, and circumstances of health, duties, and the fervor of each one;

6. let him concede according to choice: a) especially let him persuade to mortification of gluttony, which is less usually attended to and is harder than others, and yet is most useful; b) let him be sparing in conceding mortification in necessary sleep, which weakens the body and renders it unfit for exercises of piety; c) let him watch that they be exercised constantly in negative mortifications, as being more useful, e.g., that they abstain from curious things to be looked at, heard, or read, speak sparingly, be content with foods unpleasant to them, take nothing outside the time of refreshment, not approach the fire in winter, rejoice over the lack of some necessary thing, not complain about inconveniences, infirmities, persecutions, and command their passions;

7. yet let him add, that he may remove every occasion of pride, that those mortifications are altogether nothing if they are compared with those which the Saints did, or with the pains which Christ suffered.

Therefore the following are to be mortified:

1. The external senses, by constant custody: touch by circumspection in use, or even by afflictive penances; - taste by means of temperance, abstinence, fasting; - speech by vigilance, by which words are weighed before they are uttered, and by silence, by which we do not speak unless it is fitting; - sight by custody and modesty of the eyes, especially toward persons of the different sex; - hearing by turning away from evil speech against modesty, the neighbor, superiors; - smell by abstaining from perfumes and by enduring foul odor, especially if charity toward the poor or the sick demands it.

2. Inordinate passions, which give origin to the capital vices and all arise from inordinate love of self;⁸ these are to be restrained and weakened, though they can never be fully extinguished. Here three things are to be noted:

⁸ Cf. St. Thomas, I-II, q. 77, a. 5.

a) first of all the predominant passion by which we more frequently fall into defects is to be investigated and fought;

b) the first motions of passion are to be repressed, lest they grow so much that they can scarcely be overcome;

c) not only a notable passion, but the least passion and every appetite for a licit but unnecessary thing is to be mortified.

3. The appetite for external causes which impede perfection: a) the appetite for riches by poverty of spirit and perfect indifference toward them; b) the appetite for honor and glory, which is sought even from good works, by weighing one's own nothingness and our absolute dependence on God, so that all things are gifts of God and from ourselves we have nothing except nothingness and sin; - by referring all works to the glory of God; - by concealing one's own gifts and not speaking about oneself; c) love of delightful things or of persons: by never acting for delight;⁹ by mortifying affection toward relatives and dealings with them and care concerning their affairs; by avoiding every merely natural friendship, especially one founded in tender and sensible love which draws its origin from gifts of body or disposition alone.

⁹ Let this be understood in the manner in which it is usually explained in the treatise on Human Acts.

VII. Discussion of conscience. - Necessary to mortification and progress is sincere daily discussion of conscience, both for watching over affections and operations, lest self-love overturn the right intention in them, and for experiencing whether in the way of virtue progress or regression is being made, and finally for detecting the causes and occasions of defect and inconstancy, that we may avoid them. It includes both general and particular examination: general, for recalling the principal offenses; particular, concerning one vice or one virtue in species, for seeing not only whether we have offended, but also whether and how far we have advanced. For progress will be more prompt and safer if all powers are applied to one thing, either a vice to be extirpated or a virtue to be cultivated, than if, with many things aimed at simultaneously, the powers are divided into different ways.

For instituting this examination usefully: a) for a determined time a virtue to be exercised or a vice or passion to be extirpated is undertaken, and indeed in a determined manner and in determined circumstances, e.g., the more useful virtue or the dominant passion; b) in the morning the purpose is made and occasions are foreseen; c) throughout the whole time of the day acts of virtue or mortification are exercised, so that day by day the good is progressively increased and the evil diminished; d) in the evening the discussion is instituted, progress is examined, sorrow is elicited concerning the fall or negligence, and inquiry is made concerning their causes or occasions; e) the purpose is renewed for the next day, and means are established for avoiding the causes and occasions.¹⁰

¹⁰ Concerning examination of conscience, cf. La Vie spirituelle, t. XIV, year 1926.