Primary source material
Primary source material Robert Bellarmine: the necessity and benefit of prayer Holy Scripture emphasizes the necessity of prayer so often, nothing is more plainly commanded than this duty. Of course the all-powerful God knows what we need, as our Lord Himself says in Matthew's Gospel; yet He wants us to ask for what we need, and by prayer to grasp hold of it, just as though we used spiritual hands or suchlike. Listen to our Lord in Luke's Gospel:
"We ought always to pray, and not to faint"; and again, "Watch therefore, praying at all times" (ch. 18 and 21). Listen to the apostle: "Pray without ceasing," and the book of Ecclesiasticus, "Let nothing hinder you from praying always" (ch. 18).
These commands do not mean that we should do nothing else but pray.
Rather they mean that we should never neglect this healthy exercise, and should often engage in it. So our Lord and His apostles have taught us.
They did not "always" pray, in the sense of omitting to preach to people, confirming what they said by signs and miracles. Yet it could be said they were always praying, because of the frequency with which they prayed.
That is also how we should understand these words: "My eyes are always towards the Lord"; and again, "His praise shall always be in my mouth"; and the words about the apostles, "They were always in the temple, praising and blessing God"… In short, prayer can secure many gifts for us, as Saint John Chrysostom teaches us so beautifully in his two books on prayer. He compares prayer with our hands. When a human being is born, he is naked, helpless, and in need of everything. But he cannot protest against his Creator, because He has given him hands, and these are incomparable organs, which enable a person to get food, clothes, house, and so on, for himself. Likewise in a spiritual sense, we can do nothing without God's help; but we do have the ability to pray, the supreme spiritual organ, by which we can easily acquire everything for our souls… There are also many other blessings that flow from prayer. First, prayer brings light into the mind. The eye of the soul cannot be fastened directly on God, who is the light, without being illuminated by Him. "Come to Him and be enlightened", says David.
Second, prayer strengthens our trust and confidence; for the more often we speak to someone, the more confidently we draw close to him.
Third, prayer sets our hearts on fire with charity, and so makes our souls capable of receiving even greater gifts, as Saint Augustine says.
Fourth, prayer deepens humility and wholesome fear. This is because whoever prays confesses that he is a beggar in God's sight, and therefore humbles himself before God, and takes care not to grieve Him, since he needs God's help in every situation.
Fifth, prayer breeds up in our minds a disdain for all the good things of this world. All the objects of this fleeting life must appear cheap and contemptible in the eyes of one who continually meditates on things spiritual and eternal.
Sixth, prayer gives us an unspeakable joy, because in prayer we begin to taste the sweetness of the Lord. How great this sweetness is, we may gather from this fact alone, that I have known some people pass not just nights, but even entire days and nights in prayer, without any difficulty or trouble. In short, prayer is not only useful and delightful, it also bestows nobility and glory upon us. The very angels themselves venerate the soul whom they see is admitted so often and so intimately to converse with the divine Majesty.
Cardinal Robert Bellarmine The Art of Dying Well, Chapter 7 Francis de Sales: be gentle in your repentance
One of the best acts of gentleness we can carry out is toward ourselves, in never getting upset with ourselves and our own faults. Reason of course does demand that we should be sad and sorry for any sins when we commit them. Even so, we should not give way to a harsh, grim, vindictive passion against them. Many people go seriously wrong here. They are angry with themselves for being angry, vexed with themselves for yielding to vexation, and upset with themselves for getting upset. And so they keep their heart for ever churned in anger. It seems as though the second anger drives out the first, but its actual effect is to open a door for fresh anger the moment the opportunity arises.
Besides, these feelings of anger, vindictiveness, and frustration against ourselves encourage pride; they stem entirely from self-love, which is disturbed and disquieted to see itself so imperfect. We should be displeased by our defects in a peaceful, unruffled, and firm way. A judge punishes
wrongdoers much better when reason guides his sentences, and he proceeds in a calm spirit, rather than acting with fury and resentment. If he judges in a rage, he punishes the faults not according to their actual nature, but according to his own nature. Likewise we correct ourselves much more effectively by a serene and temperate repentance, rather than by a violent, hasty, and angry repentance. Repentance in rage does not proceed according to the nature of our faults, but according to our feelings.
For example, a person who aspires to chastity will be upset with an unbalanced bitterness at the smallest offence committed against that particular virtue, and yet will laugh off a terrible slander he or she has committed. On the other hand, a person who hates slander will be tortured over some little grumble against another, and yet make nothing of a flagrant offence committed against chastity. And so on and so forth. Now all this flows entirely from this cause, that such people are guided not by reason but by emotion in assessing their consciences.
Believe me, Philothea, the rebukes of a father given in a gentle and affectionate way have far greater power than fury and fierceness to set a child right. Likewise, when our heart has committed any sin, if we take it to task with gentle and calm rebukes, having compassion for it rather than passion against it, and encouraging it to change its ways, our repentance will last much longer, and penetrate much deeper, than a petulant, reproachful, and furious repentance.
Francis de Sales Introduction to the Devout Life, Part 3, Chapter 9 Bossuet: the death of the Prince of Condé
[Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Condé (1621–86), was one of France's greatest 17th century generals. His military brilliance in the Thirty Years'
War against the Habsburgs initiated France's dominance of Continental Europe; by the time he died, he had earned the nickname "the Great Condé" for his battlefield skills.] As I begin this oration, in which I propose to celebrate the deathless glory of Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Condé, I feel myself weighed down both by the lofty nature of my subject and, in all honesty, by the futility of my attempt. Is there any part of the inhabited globe that has not heard of the Prince of Condé's victories, and the amazing events of his life?
People speak of them everywhere. The Frenchman who extols them to
foreigners tells them nothing they do not already know. No matter how exalted the pitch in which I might sing his praises, I would still sense a conviction in your hearts that I deserved a reprimand for coming so far short of doing him justice… What was transpiring in that soul at that moment [when he died]? What new light was breaking upon him? What sudden radiance pierced the cloud, and immediately scattered all the darkness of sense, and even the very shadows of faith—shall I dare to say the holy obscurities of faith? In that moment, what became of the titles of earthly dignity that flatter our vanity?
On the very brink of glory, in the dawn of such beauteous light, O how quickly the phantoms of the world fade away! O how dim the splendour then seems of the most illustrious victory! How deeply then we despise the glory of this world; how deeply we deplore it that our eyes were ever beguiled by its glitter! Come now, people, come now—or rather, you princes, masters, and judges of the earth, and you priests who open the gates of heaven. Above all else, you princes and princesses nobly sprung from a long line of kings: the luminaries of France, but in shadows today, overcast with clouds of grief—come now, come and see what little is left of a birth so honourable, a majesty so elevated, a glory so ravishing! Look around you on every side. See everything that pomp and devotion can do to honour such a towering hero. See titles and inscriptions, empty tokens of what is no more. See shadows weeping around a coffin: frail images of a sorrow swept away by time, along with everything else. See columns looking as though they would lift to heaven the grandiose evidence of our nothingness. Indeed, nothing is lacking in all these honours: nothing save the very one to whom they are offered! Weep, then, over this insubstantial residue of human life; weep over the cheerless immortality we bestow on heroes.
But come close, all you who so ardently pursue a career of military glory —you brave and warlike spirits! Come especially close. Who was worthier than he to lead you? Did you ever find a leader so honourable? Weep for that great captain, and as you weep, say: "Here is the man who led us through all dangers, whose influence moulded so many other famous captains, inspired by his example to the highest honours of battle. His very shadow might yet win battles! In his silence, his mere name rouses our souls. And yet at the same time, it warns us: if we would find, when we die, some rest from our labours—if we would arrive prepared for our eternal
home—then we servants of an earthly king must also serve the King of Heaven."
Yes, serve that King immortal and always merciful. He regards a sigh or a cup of cold water given in His name, much more than the world regards the shedding of your blood. Begin to count the time of your profitable service from the day on which you surrendered yourselves to so loving a Lord.
And you, whom the prince honoured by making you his friends—will you not come too? In whatever degree you enjoyed his trust, come all of you, and surround this sepulchre. Let your tears be mingled with prayers.
And as you admire in this great prince a friendship so wonderful, and a fellowship so sweet, do not neglect the memory of a hero whose bravery in battle was matched by his personal goodness. Then he will continue to be your treasured teacher; you will reap dividends from his virtues; and his death, which you mourn, will minister to you both a comfort and an example.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet On the Death of the Great Condé Pascal's Pensées 172. God orders all things gently, and His way is to infuse Christianity into our minds with reasoned arguments, and into our hearts with grace. Trying to infuse it into our hearts and minds with force and with threats would merely infuse terror, not Christianity.
173. If we submit everything to reason, there will be nothing mysterious or supernatural left in Christianity. But if we violate the principles of reason, our Christianity will be silly and nonsensical.
190. The philosophical proofs for God's existence are so inaccessible to human reasoning, and so complicated, that they make little impression.
Even if they helped some people, it would be only for the brief duration of their attending to the proof. An hour later, they would be afraid they had made a mistake!
192. Knowing God without knowing our own poverty produces pride.
Knowing our poverty without knowing God produces despair.
Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the true balance, because in Him we know both God and our own poverty.
380. Do not be surprised when you see simple people believing without argument. God causes them to love Him and hate themselves. He inclines their hearts to faith. We will never believe with an effective assent and faith unless God inclines our hearts. But the moment He does this, we shall believe. David knew this perfectly well: "Incline my heart to Your testimonies" [Psalm 119:36].
417. Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ alone; we know ourselves through Jesus Christ alone. We know life and death through Jesus Christ alone. Apart from Jesus Christ, we cannot know the meaning of our life, our death, God, or ourselves. Therefore, without Scripture—whose sole theme is Christ—we know nothing and can see nothing in the nature of God, or in nature herself, nothing except shadows and confusion.
423. The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.
424. It is the heart, not the reason, that perceives God. This is faith: to perceive God by the heart, not by the reason.
688. What is the self?… What about a man who delights in a woman on account of her beauty? Does he delight in her? No, because smallpox will destroy her beauty without destroying her person, and will bring to an end to his delight in her. What if someone delights in me for my intelligence or memory: do they delight in me, myself? No, because I could lose these attributes without losing my self. Where is this "self", then, since it seems to be neither in the body nor in the soul? And how can we delight in body or soul except on account of their attributes, which can perish and therefore do not define the basic self? Are we to delight in the essence of a person's soul, in the abstract, regardless of the attributes it might have? That is both impossible and wrong.
Therefore we never delight in persons, only in attributes.
Blaise Pascal Pensées
Pascal's Memorial The year of grace 1654 Monday 23rd November, Saint Clement's Day, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology.
The eve of Saint Chrysogone's Day, martyr and others.
From about half past ten in the evening until about half past midnight, FIRE GOD of Abraham, GOD of Isaac, GOD of Jacob not that of the philosophers and scholars
Certainty. Certainty. Emotion. Joy. Peace GOD of Jesus Christ My God and your God15 Your GOD shall be my GOD16 Forgotten by the world and by all, apart from GOD
He can only be found by the ways taught in the Gospel Value of the human soul Righteous Father, the world didn't know You, but I knew You17
Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy I went away They abandoned Me, the fount of living water18
My God, will you leave me?
May I not be eternally separated from Him This is eternal life, that they might know You, the one true God, and the One whom You sent, Jesus
Christ19 Jesus Christ Jesus Christ I went away; I fled from Him, denied Him, crucified Him
May I never be separated from Him He only saves in the ways taught in the Gospel
Total and sweet renunciation Total submission to Jesus Christ and my director20 Eternally in joy in exchange for one day's exertion on earth
I will not forget your words. Amen Quesnel: select passages from his Reflections on the New Testament
The ceremonial law, which is no more than a type and shadow of Christ, destroys itself by revealing Jesus Christ to us, who is the truth and the substance of the ceremonies. The moral law, by leaving us to our own inability under sin and the curse, makes us perceive the necessity of having the law written on the heart, and of a Saviour to bestow this upon us. To the old self belongs the law, in its ministry of terrifying us and treating us as slaves; and together with the old self, that law was crucified and died with Christ upon the cross. The new self, and the new law, require a new sacrifice. What need has a person of other sacrifices, if he or she has Jesus
Christ? They in whom this Sacrifice lives, themselves live to God alone.
However, none can live to Him except by faith; and this life of faith consists
in dying with Christ to the things of the present world, and in expecting, as co-heirs with Him, the blessings of the eternal world. Who can work all this in us, but He alone who lives in us? That person has arrived to a high degree of mortification, who can say "Christ lives in me, and I am crucified to the world." Such a person must have renounced not only earthly things, but self too.
See here the perfect pattern of an evangelical preacher:
1. To go and seek out sinners on every side, that he may show them the way to heaven.
2. To preach the gospel of the kingdom, not with a servile spirit, but with a freedom worthy of the King whom he serves, and of the kingdom which he proclaims.
3. To make his reputation and the confidence of the people subservient, not to his own interest, but to the good of souls, and to the establishing of the kingdom of God.
4. To speak nothing but what may lead toward salvation.
5. To join to preaching the exercise of works of mercy, and assistance in the things of this world, as often as he can.
6. To visit all those who apply to him as penitents, however great their sinfulness, and whatever their condition in life.
7. To take care to make people conscious that diseases, and all kinds of worldly evils, are the effect of sin; that whether God is pleased to remove them or not, it is for the good of the soul and to promote our eternal salvation; and that the power which He makes to appear in healing them is a sure sign of the power of His grace to heal our souls.
Everything is contrary to salvation without Jesus Christ. He leaves us sometimes to ourselves, on purpose that we may know ourselves, and the need we have of Him; but He never loses sight of us. This is a picture of the church guided by its pastors. If people would but consider pastors as mariners, always tugging at the oar, always rowing against the wind, and always in danger, they would not envy their condition. Their comfort is, that Christ has His eye continually on the boat, that He sees their pains and difficulties, and will certainly come to their assistance. He frequently lets a great part of the night pass away, without succouring His church in a plain
and obvious manner. This is to give us occasion to exercise our trust and confidence toward Him, and to await His proper time.
Let the crown of thorns make those Christians blush who waste so much time, trouble, and money, in beautifying and adorning a sinful head. Let the world do what it will to render the royalty and mysteries of Christ contemptible, it is my glory to serve a King thus debased; my salvation, to adore that which the world despises; and my redemption, to go to God through the merits of Him who had thorns for His crown.
Since Jesus Christ only ever wrote once that we hear of in His whole life; since He did it only in the dust; since it was only to avoid condemning a sinner; and since He would not have what He wrote so much as known; let us learn from this never to write but when it is necessary or useful; to do it with humility and modesty; and to do it from a principle of charity.21
Pasquier Quesnel Moral Reflections on the New Testament 1 See Chapter 1, section 3 for a fuller account.
2 Perhaps unsurprisingly, a later Protestant—C.H.Spurgeon—thought highly of Bellarmine's devotional writings, saying of his commentary on the psalms, "Popish, but marvellously good for a Cardinal. He is frequently as evangelical as a Reformer."
3 See Volume Three: Renaissance and Reformation, Chapter 8, section 5.
4 See Chapter 2, section 1.
5 Francis originally intended the Visitandines to be socially active in works of service, but the archbishop of Lyons did not approve. Francis submitted and remodelled the order along contemplative lines.
6 That may be the distinction between Francis' treatise and Erasmus' handbook of lay piety,
Dagger of the Christian Soldier (published 1503). Erasmus hated monasticism; the piety he instils in the Dagger is more "secular" than the piety of Francis' Introduction to the Devout Life, which still breathes the air of the cloister.
7 Other sources date his birth in 1576 or 1580.
8 The Congregations are also known as Conferences or Confraternities.
9 Molina must not be confused with Molinos. For Molinos, see Chapter 7, section 2.1.
10 See Chapter 3, section 1 for Puritanism and problems of definition.
11 Some of them did, such as Jean de Labadie. See Chapter 1, section 4.1.
12 See Chapter 2, section 2, on the Arminian controversy.
13 Mixed, that is, women dancing with men: generally regarded as irredeemably lust-inducing by Catholic and Protestant moralists alike.
14 Some dispute that the carriage accident occasioned his conversion.
15 John 20:17.
16 Ruth 1:16.
17 John 17:25.
18 Jeremiah 2:13.
19 John 17:3.
20 Pascal's "spiritual director", the Jansenist Isaac de Maistre la Sacy, who exercised spiritual supervision over Port-Royal.
21 Useful thoughts when posting anything on the internet.