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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231025
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DTSTAMP:20260427T103426
CREATED:20231021T153705Z
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UID:11122-1698192000-1698278399@laycisterciansofgethsemani.org
SUMMARY:Office of Vocations
DESCRIPTION:THE EXERCISE OF VIRTUES\nFrom “Introduction to the Devout Life” by St Francis de Sales4\n◊◊◊\nCharity never enters the heart without lodging there all the other virtues in its\ntrain\, exercising and disciplining them as a captain does his soldiers. It neither\nemploys them all at the same time\, nor in the same manner… for charity waters the\nsoul and produces a variety of good works\, each one in its proper time… \nAmong the virtues unconnected with our particular duty we must prefer the\nmore excellent to the more showy. Comets usually appear greater than stars and seem\nto our eyes to occupy a greater space. In reality\, neither in magnitude nor equality can\nthey be compared to the stars. They only seem great because they are nearer… There\nare certain virtues which are greatly esteemed and always preferred by the general\nrun of men because they are near at hand\, apparent to our senses\, and\, so to speak\,\nmaterial. Hence it is that so many prefer corporal alms before spiritual; the hair shirt\,\nfasting\, going barefoot\, using the discipline\, and other such corporal mortifications\,\nbefore meekness\, mildness\, modesty\, and other mortifications of the heart\, which are\,\nnevertheless\, more exalted. Choose then… the best virtues\, not the most esteemed;\nthe most noble\, not the most apparent; those that are actually the best\, not those that\nmake the most show. \nIt is profitable for everyone to exercise some particular virtue\, not so far as to\nabandon the rest but more properly to keep his spirit ordered and occupied…\nEulogius of Alexandria desired to render God some particular service\, but did not\nhave strength enough to embrace a solitary life\, nor to subject himself to the\nobedience of another. Hence he took a poor wretch quite eaten up with the leprosy\ninto his house\, that he might exercise toward him the virtues of charity and\nmortification. To perform them the more worthily\, he made a vow to honor and serve\nhim as his lord and master. Both Eulogius and the leper having a temptation to quit\neach other\, they addressed themselves to the great St. Anthony\, who said\, “Take care\,\nmy children\, not to separate from each other. Both of you are near your end. If the\nangel should not find you together\, you run a great risk of losing your crown… \nWhen assaulted by any vice we must embrace the practice of the contrary\nvirtue as much as we can\, and refer all the others to it. By this means we shall\novercome our enemy and at the same time advance in all the virtues. Thus\, if assaulted\nby pride or by anger\, I must in all my actions yield and turn toward humility and\nmeekness and adapt all my other exercises of prayer and the sacraments\, of prudence\,\nconstancy\, and sobriety to this end. In order to sharpen his tusks\, the wild boar wets\nand polishes them with his other teeth and by this means sharpens all of them. So also\na virtuous man who has undertaken to perfect himself in the virtue that he most needs\nfor his own defense\, files and polishes it by the exercise of the other virtues. Even\nwhile they help to refine that one\, they make all the others become more excellent\nand better polished. \nSo it happened to Job. He exercised himself particularly in patience against the\nmany temptations wherewith he was assaulted and became perfectly holy and\nconfirmed in all kinds of virtues… As St. Gregory Nazianzen says\, that by the perfect\nexercise of only one virtue a person may attain to the height of all the rest. For this he\nalleges the example of Rahab\, who\, having exactly practiced the virtue of hospitality\,\narrived at a great degree of glory. This is to be understood of a virtue that is practiced\nwith great fervor and charity… In this\, if we conduct ourselves with humility and\nfidelity\, God will infallibly elevate us to heights that are truly great. \n4 St Francis de Sales. Introduction to the Devout Life. Trans. John K. Ryan. New York: Harper & Brothers\, Publishers\,\n1950. 76-79\, 82.
URL:https://laycisterciansofgethsemani.org/event/office-of-vocations/
CATEGORIES:Vigils Readings
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