Comments on The Religious State by Saint Alphonsus
October 13: St. John Chrysostom, as quoted by the same St. Thomas, says that God, when He gives such vocations, wills that we should not defer even a moment to follow them. The Religious State by Saint Alphonsus, page 8. He continues: On the contrary, tardiness in obeying Him displeases Him, and then Hs shuts His hand and withdraws His lights, so that in consequence a soul will follow its vocation with difficulty and abandon it again easily. When God calls us, we should answer His call at once. And this goes not only for following a vocation, but any task He calls us to.
October 14: Saint Alphonsus quotes Saint Augustine: “God struck them that they might serve as an example, and thus to warn off him who would dare to assume a sacred charge. Indeed, this is the chastisement reserved for those who would thrust themselves into the office of bishop, priest or deacon.” (Page 94) I am quoting this, because Saint Augustine, following Sacred Scripture talks about the office of bishop,… The priesthood and episcopate an office, to which holy orders is attached. Look in the Bible and you will only hear of the office of priesthood or the office of bishop. Orders without the authority of the Office cannot function legitimately, unless delegated by someone who holds the Office of Bishop in the Church, and then within the limits of the officeholders territory and those he imposes.
October 15: Saint Alphonsus certainly understands us! In a word, they would wish the honor and the reward of poverty, but not the inconveniences of poverty. (Page 16) Let us consider this well. We want eternal happiness without doing anything in order to obtain it, as if the whole world will be saved. Does this work in the world? Can we live comfortably without making any effort? True, we may not be called to poverty, but we are called to make some sacrifices for Almighty God. And if we refuse? Think about it!
October 16: Saint Alphonsus quotes Saint Thomas Aquinas: Frequently our friends according to the flesh are opposed to our spiritual good. (page 10) We are reminded of what Aristotle says of friendship. One of the things a true friend wants for us is what is good for us. And the best thing for us is what will bring us to true happiness. Unfortunately, the worldly are not really our friends, for they will keep us away from eternal happiness and tell us to chase earthly happiness. What foolishness. As the saying goes: You can’t take it with you.
October 19: The peace of the soul is a good which is of greater value than all the kingdoms of the world. (Page 36) On the next page we read: St. Teresa said that one heavenly consolation is of greater value than all the pleasures of the world. A lot to think about. When I was growing up the mile north developed into expensive houses. In the late 1970’s they were worth more than $100,000. Today they are worth a quarter of a million dollars, although two years ago I imagine they would have been worth more. We knew the local pharmacist, who reported that over a third of his prescriptions were for tranquilizers. Do happy people need tranquilizers? By worldly standards these people appeared to be happy, but they did not have Divine Love.
October 20: The Lord sometimes permits that even between saints there should exist, though without their fault, certain natural antipathies, or at least certain diversity of character between subjects of the greatest piety, which will cause them to suffer many contradictions. (Pages 19-20) Saint Paul tells us to bear one another’s burdens. Let’s face it, sometimes we can be hard to get along with. Our characters may clash with another, although both of us are truly seeking the glory of God. This is a trial God allows for our perfection. Remember this is a vale of tears, and it is by enduring these trials and overcoming ourselves that we save our souls.
Saint Bernard remarks: “Self-will is a great evil, for it is the cause that what is good in itself may be for you no good at all.” (Page 21) I could write volumes on the evil of self-will. Saint Bernard who said: Let there be an end to your own will, and there will be no such thing as hell. Thy will be done, we pray in the Our Father. Do we truly mean what we say? As Saint John the Baptist says: He must increase, I must decrease. (John 3:30)
Sent to Phil He should know that in the house of God those charges are the highest and the most honorable which are imposed by obedience. (Page 19) We live in a world, which proclaims freedom. We should be freed from all the shackles of obedience. And yet, this is ridiculous. What if we all decided to ignore the stop signs along the road. What would be the fruit of our disobedience? God founded an hierarchical Church, which He intends to last until the end of time. And any organization, secular or religious, depends upon obedience of the lower to the higher. We have been reading some things on obedience, which We hope to post. Later on Saint Alphonsus quotes Mary Magdalene de Pazzi: All the things which are done through obedience are but so many prayers. (Page 22)
