| When To “Break the Rules” of Religious Practices |
For Sunday’s Living Jesus Chat, we will again read an article from a book by St. Francis de Sales called Of Devotion, and of the Principal Exercises of Piety. It explores the importance of generosity in devotion.___________________________________________To prepare for our chat, please read the article, which is reproduced below, and review the questions at the end.Click for Living Jesus Chatroom  St. John the Baptist. Photo by Phil Botha on Unsplash(Statue: by Donatello, 1438)It remains for me to give you two or three examples of liberty, which will make you understand better what I cannot adequately express.I wish you to consider Cardinal Borromeo: his was the most exact, the most rigid, and the most austere spirit that can be imagined. His only food was bread, his only drink water. So exact was he, that after he was archbishop, in the course of twenty-four years he only twice entered the house of his brothers, they being sick, and only twice walked in his garden; and nevertheless, that man, rigorous as he was (having occasion frequently to eat in company with the Swiss, his neighbors, to gain them over and induce them to act better), made no difficulty about drinking with them and proposing their healths at each meal, be sides what he drank to satisfy thirst. This was a trait of holy liberty in the most austere man of this age. A spirit without control would have done too much of it; a spirit under constraint would have thought it was committing mortal sin; a spirit of liberty acted as I have described, from charity. Spiridion, an ancient bishop, having received a pilgrim almost dying of hunger in the season of Lent, and in a place where there was nothing to be had but salted meat, caused this meat to be cooked, and presented it to the pilgrim, who refused to eat of it, not withstanding his necessity. Spiridion, who was under no necessity, ate of it the first, in order, by his example, to take away the scruples of the pilgrim. St. Ignatius Loyola, on Holy Thursday, ate meat on the simple order of the physician, who judged it expedient for a slight sickness he had. A spirit of constraint would have made him pray for three days. But I wish, after all this, to invite you to look upon a very sun, upon a true spirit, frank and free from all entanglement, and which held only to God’s will. I have often thought, what was the greatest mortification of all the saints whose lives I am acquainted with? and, after many considerations, I think the greatest was this.St. John the Baptist went into the desert at the age of five years and knew that our Saviour and his was born quite near to him. God knows how the heart of St. John, touched with the love of his Saviour from his mother’s womb, must have desired to enjoy His holy presence. He, nevertheless, passed twenty-five years in the desert without once coming to see our Lord; and he waited for Himself to come to him. After that, having baptized Him, he does not follow Him, but remains to fulfil his duty.God, what mortification of spirit! To be so near his Saviour, and not to see Him! To have Him so close at hand, and not to enjoy Him! And what was this but to have his spirit disengaged of everything, and even of God, in order to do the will of God and to serve Him? To leave God for God, and to deprive himself of God in order to love Him so much the better and the more purely? This example overwhelms my mind with its greatness. I forgot to observe, that not only is the will of God made known by necessity and charity, but furthermore by obedience; in such a way, that he who receives a command ought to believe that it is the will of God. Reflections: Why is it important to not be too rigid about our devotions and practices?Would it have been wrong (or sinful) for any of the men in these examples to not have acted as they did?How do our actions serve as an example to influence others and for others to follow? And why even more importantly should those actions be positive?How can we be more pliable and willing to bend to act in these virtuous ways?Discuss the last point about John the Baptist mortifying himself with a lack of being in Jesus’ presence. Often in our age we might say something like “what it would have been like to be alive during the time of Christ’s earthly ministry.” And here we have St. John the Baptist enjoying that chronology, and yet he did not cling to it. He embraced his mission.Have you ever felt a strong need to tell a family member or friend to trust in God, and yet you know that your advice would be met with hostility? Maybe they were not yet ready to hear this. Isn’t this a mortification? What else can be done in this situation? Sign up for our Living Jesus Chat Room:Come to our Living Jesus Chat Room, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM Eastern Time U.S. |