200 RULES FOR THINKING WITH THE CHURCH should be ready always to yield to the authority of the Church, when duly and clearly expressed. XIV. The fourteenth: Although it is very true that no one can be saved unless he is predestined, and has faith and grace, we must be very careful in our manner of speaking and treating of these subjects. XV. The fifteenth: We ought not habitually to speak much of predestination; but if sometimes mention should be made of it in any way, we must so speak that the common people may not fall into any error, and say, as sometimes they do, If I am predestined to be saved or lost, the question is already determined, and whether I do good or ill there cannot be any other result'; and therewith becoming paralysed they neglect good works conducive to their salvation, and to the spiritual profit of their souls. XVI. The sixteenth : In the same way we must take heed lest by speaking much and with great earnestness on faith, without any distinction and explanation, occasion be given to become slothful and negligent in good works, whether before faith is formed by charity or after. XVII. The seventeenth: In like manner we ought not to speak of grace at such length and so vehemently as to give rise to that poisonous teaching which takes away free-will. Accordingly, we may speak of faith and grace, so far as we can with the help of God, for the greater praise of His divine Majesty, but not in such a way, especially in these dangerous times of ours, that works and free-will shall receive any detriment, or come to be accounted for nothing. XVIII. The eighteenth: Although it is above all things praiseworthy to serve God our Lord diligently out of pure love, yet we ought greatly to praise the fear of His divine Majesty; because not only is filial fear a pious and most holy thing, but even servile fear, when a man does not attain to anything better and more useful, is of great help towards rising out of mortal sin, and, after he has risen out of it, he easily attains to filial fear, which is wholly acceptable and pleasing to God our Lord, because it is inseparable from divine love. ADDITIONAL NOTES NOTE A ON THE ADAPTATION OF THE EXERCISES TO VARIOUS The Exercises are designed primarily for persons who are considering a possible vocation to the Religious life, or who have already entered upon it, and desire to reach greater perfection in it. To these alone, as a general rule, they are to be given in all their completeness. The qualifications which such persons ought to have are stated in Annotation xx and in the Directory i. 7. A modified method of giving the whole course to persons who are duly qualified, but are hindered from making a regular retreat, is described in Annotation xix. In all other cases the Exercises must be given only in part, and adapted to the needs and capacities of those who are to receive them. See Annotation xviii. The chief principles which the director must bear in mind are the following: I. He must not give to his retreatants that which is beyond their mental or spiritual capacity, and by which, therefore, they cannot profit. II. He must endeavour to give to each and all as much as they are capable of receiving with profit, and as time permits. III. How much he should give, and with what modifications in detail, will depend upon (a) the age, physical strength, and other circumstances of his retreatants, (b) the degree of their mental capacity and education, (c) the moral and spiritual dispositions, e.g. the good will and earnest desires they bring with them, (d) the special purpose for which they wish to make a retreat. Conformably with these principles three classes of retreatants may be distinguished. 1 1. Those who are making a retreat for the first time, and can only give two or three days to it. Those also who have little education, or lack the dispositions which would fit them to desire and seek after higher things, and who merely want to set their consciences at rest by a good confession, and to order their lives for the future so as to preserve what they have gained in the retreat. To this category will belong a large number of our lay retreatants, especially among the working classes; and the Exercises suitable to them will be the Foundation, especially the first part of it concerning the end of man and of creatures, and all the Exercises of the First Week treated in a simple, clear, and telling manner, so that they can easily remember the points and meditate upon them afterwards by themselves. The director should also explain to them the methods of examination of conscience both particular and general, of making a general confession where that is necessary or advisable, and of Communion, and also the first of the three methods of prayer. To this he may add one or two easy meditations on the Passion and on Holy Communion, both which subjects are suggested,2 though not expressly mentioned, in the course of the Exercises belonging to the First Week. S. Ignatius gives only outlines and hints, but he wishes the director to develop them, entering fully into details. Thus he must explain minutely and at length the methods of examination of conscience, and see that they are put into practice. He must give full instruction on the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, and secure the best preparation for them that he can. In teaching the first of the three methods of prayer, which will furnish abundant matter and an easy method of meditation for simple and uneducated people, he must enter fully into detail, explaining carefully each of the commandments of God and of the Church, the seven capital sins, the three powers of the soul, the five senses of the body, the spiritual and corporal 1 These are not precisely the same as those distinguished by S. Ignatius, but they seem to fit more exactly the classes of persons we have to deal with in our own day. 2 The one in the colloquy of the first meditation on sin, the other in the instructions for General Confession and Communion. works of mercy, etc.,1 or such of these topics as he may select. By these means his retreatants will learn to enter into themselves, to know their temptations, their sins, and their duties, and will gain strength by prayer for carrying out the resolutions they are inspired to make. The director, however, is not to go beyond the Exercises of the First Week, unless he has reason to hope that some at least of his retreatants will respond to the invitation and call to a more generous devotion to the service of our Lord and His Church. In this case he may add one or two further meditations based upon the Kingdom of Christ, the Two Standards, and some of the Mysteries of our Lord's Life and Passion selected as being most suitable to the occasion. Thus it is that S. Ignatius would have the director aim always at that which is solid and practical, although it may not go very far. The great principle to bear constantly in mind is not to go beyond the capacity and disposition of the retreatants, nor to weaken and use up the real power of the Exercises by giving them what they cannot profit by at present. Another time they may perhaps return with better dispositions, and then the director may give them something more. See Directory xviii. 5, 6. 2 2. The second class will consist of devout persons, whether lay people or clergy, who are in the habit of making an annual retreat, and have a true desire to advance in spiritual life as far as they can, but at the same time do not feel themselves called to those higher ways of spiritual perfection which involve the acceptance of the evangelical counsels, either in the actual practice of them in the Religious state, or in their spirit while still living in the world, or who are anyhow debarred by circumstances from entering upon such ways. With such persons as these, after they have been thoroughly 1 For some instructions as to the manner in which this may be done, see Directory xxxvii. 2 Annotation xviii must not be understood to forbid this. What is there said about not going beyond the Exercises of the First Week with this class of retreatants does not refer so much to the subject-matter of the meditations and contemplations of the Second and following Weeks (much of which, if treated in a simple way, is certainly not beyond the capacity of such persons, cf. Directory xix. 3), but rather to those higher thoughts and affections which have their roots in 'The Kingdom of Christ,' the Two Standards,' etc., and are intended to prepare the way for making an Election in some great and important matter. See Note 24, p. 18, grounded in the Exercises of the First Week,1 the director may go on to those of the Second and following Weeks. Only, since these retreatants are not going to deliberate about the choice of a state of life, all that has to do with the Election, whether in the rules for Election themselves, or in the meditations outlined by S. Ignatius, will have to be modified accordingly. Thus in the Kingdom of Christ, the third point of the second part will need to be omitted, or treated in a different way. And the same thing is true also with regard to the Two Standards, the Three Classes, and the Three Modes or Degrees of Humility. Moreover the choice which the director makes of the Mysteries of our Lord's Life, and the manner of treating them, must equally be determined by the needs and circumstances of the retreatants. Some will be more suitable for lay people, others for priests; and all will need a different treatment from that which they would receive if addressed to Religious, for whom they are primarily designed. 3. Those who are considering a possible vocation to the Religious life, or who have already entered upon it. To these the whole of the Exercises may be given, but still in some cases with certain modifications. If the retreatants have not yet made their profession in Religion and are also priests, or such as may become priests, nothing will need to be changed. These are the very persons for whom the Exercises are primarily designed. If on the other hand they have already made their profession, then only the matter of the Election will have to be modified. Instead of deliberating about the choice of a state of life, their Election will be concerned with some point of further perfection in the state in which they are already fixed; or they may need to make use of the method for amending and reforming their life and state, which S. Ignatius also provides. The same method of procedure should be observed with Religious women; only in their case all in the Exercises that relates to the sacred ministry will have to be omitted. Instead of this may be substituted, for active Orders, some exhortations to diligence and zeal in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, according to their several Institutes and Rules; and for 1 If this has been done in previous retreats, the exercises of the First Week will not need to be dwelt upon so fully again, but they should never be entirely passed over, even with the most advanced retreatants. See Directory xi. 4. |