aeternus

I thought I would continue with some of the Retreat given to the French Carmelite nuns at their monastery in Paris by Fr. Ravignan in November, 1865. The retreat was given in the form of Saint Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises, but were converted to Carmelite thought and practice. It is very interesting. I have made bold some of the words which grabbed my attention…

EXERCISE III.
CONFERENCE ON TRUE DEVOTION TO OUR LORD.

From this moment, from this day forth, you
understand perfectly, beloved Sisters, that we must
endeavour to dwell in, and have constant inter
course with, our Lord. Our first thought when
awaking, when, so to speak, we resume life,
should be our Lord. In like manner, in all these
exercises it is His Adorable Person, His words,
His actions, that we should consider. And in this
the first moment in which we apply ourselves in a
special manner to the attachment of the Divine
Saviour, we ought to fortify ourselves by every means
in our resolutions, and be devoted to Him.

Let us consider one of the chief obstacles which
prevent a soul from becoming attached to our
Lord.

There is a kind of half-will, which is neither good
nor bad ; I am fully assured that it is not yours ;
but it may attack religious souls as well as others,
in order to prevent them from going to the Divine
Master. There is then a bad midway, which I
shall call hesitation, and which may be thus ex
plained, To will and not to will ; to know and
not to know. In this melancholy midway, people
hesitate and do nothing. There may be in this a
want of light, but there may also be weakness,
laxity, and I know not what inclination of the soul,
which we have called hesitation, and which is the
contrary to decision. Now, to answer our Lord s
call, it is evident there is needed decision, con
stant, true, assiduous decision, a decision conform
able to His intentions and your desires ; we must
be willing to, and must actually make war on
everything that is changeable and uncertain. Thus
to know or not to know, to do or not to do, is a
bad midway ; and you are more unfitted than
anyone to stop at this. This hesitation is so much
to be avoided that the author of the holy Exercises
does not speak of them, or even imagine them ; he
recognises only two things, to will, and not to will ;
but there is no question of indecision in so far as
the rules of the government of the spirit, or any
thing else is concerned, because S. Ignatius has no
advice to give for a disposition which ought not to
exist. Not to will is bad, very bad, but at least it
is something ; to will and not to will is not a state
or a vocation, is not a disposition of Providence,
it is nothing.

Sisters, give not the least entrance into your
heart to this will and will not. For you above all
others, and in your life, it is error, delusion, and
the most dangerous of all things. It is not, it
cannot be your life ; for you it is nameless. We
must then hate this shameful indecision. To hesi
tate, to balance, to waver, belongs not to a true
daughter of S. Theresa ; it is impossible to a child
of Carmel. Take care then, the enemy of salvation
is there ; the soul that is willing may be very im
perfect, but then she wills, and there is hope. On
the other hand, the soul that wavers pleases the
devil, who greatly loves hesitation ; she borders on
lukewarmness. and lukewarmness of the most
dangerous kind. Our Lord has said, Better crime.,
better death, for then at least there is sometimes a
chance of repentance. Far better those follies that
are so commonly known, provided only that one
gives them up, and preserves the disposition of going
to our Lord.

Sisters, sound your soul, descend into it torch in
hand, asking our Lord to descend with you into
her most hidden depths ; and there look and ask
yourselves if there is not uncertainty, hesitation, the
will and the will not there ; then throw into all your
actions a disposition of decisiveness, to will, and
to will even unto folly to cast yourselves on God.
O my Saviour, I protest that my deliberate decision
is to follow Thee. With that, perhaps, you will
say, we should also pray and fight, since this is life ;
but is not to will to pray and to fight ? Yes, and
our Lord is satisfied therewith, because this is what
He requires, what He expects ; and He makes to
Himself great peace in the soul. Our Lord wishes
for these souls, He seeks them, He asked them of
S. Theresa, He has numbered them among His
daughters ; and thus numbered fear not, you have
peace. If trouble comes, it will only come from
the devil, and this is a good sign, because then he
is displeased. Behold then laid the first foundation
of devotion to our Lord, to be decisive, to have no
hesitation, to be willing to follow this divine Master,
and to become firmly attached to Him.

But what is the meaning of becoming attached
to our Lord. It is this. Let us put aside spiritual
labour which is good, but which we leave for the
moment, and let us approach God from our heart.
In order to approach our Lord, and to become
attached to Him, we must ardently desire to know
Him familiarly in the different stages of His mortal
life. By this means I shall love Him the more, I
shall follow Him more closely, I shall know His
spirit, the business and the desire of His heart in
everything that He has done, in His words, actions,
sufferings, and in all that He now inspires me with
in the bottom of my heart. Oh ! let us ask for
this profound knowledge of His Sacred Humanity,
His life, and His works ; let us apply our hearts
and our minds thereto, and think not by this means,
Sisters, that you will withdraw from the path of
prayer and true and solid devotion. This thought
on occurring to you should be banished with indig-
nation and anger. Remember what S. John of the
Cross and your holy Mother say to you on this
point, A soul which is attached to our Lord, as we
have just said, hears His voice. Now our Divine
Saviour speaks to us, and calls us incessantly in
three ways, by His lessons, by His example, and
by the inspirations of His grace ; but, above all, by
the eminent grace of vocation.

But, again, what is the meaning of becoming
attached to our Lord ? It is to offer ourselves to
Him, and to become devoted to His service always
and entirely, with all the perfection indicated in
your vows and rule. Now, Sisters, to make this
offering of yourselves and to be devout is your life ;
for immolation is the essence of your soul, your
element. Suffer, oh ! suffer your soul to be pene-
trated with this desire; you must not lessen the
grace of your vocation ; that would not be humility,
but disdain and laxity. Desire, oh ! desire to dis
tinguish yourselves in the service of your God, to
please Him, to love Him before any other ; this
need not prevent you from rejoicing when others
do better than you ; you should rejoice, and any
other disposition would show that it was your own
glory, not God s, that you desired. Come, Sisters,
no hesitation, no fear, since it is your God that
calls you. Come and follow Me. To hesitate, I
say again, is a disease worse than death. You
must, therefore, give yourselves to our Lord. But
this is already done. We must at least believe so ;
but neither must we believe that there is to be no
fresh beginning; on the contrary, we must always
begin anew. Then you must have the universal
desire of devoting yourselves, not as you wish of
yourselves, but as it shall please the Lord to choose
for you. As for that, you have only to follow the
path which this good Master has chosen for you,
this life of Carmel to which you are called. To be
sure, you can perform, or not perform a journey,
follow, or not follow a path ; but when you do
perform a journey, when you do follow a path, be
sure that you perform it well, that you follow it well.
Come, Sisters, and perform this journey of the
religious life, follow this path of Carmel, but per
form it, follow it in the company of our Lord ;
remain at His side by your fidelity, by your zeal, by
your obedience ; make Him a truly general offering
of yourselves.

Behold then the meaning of becoming attached
to our Lord. Is there yet another thing? Yes,
here it is, a simple, but a most direct way, and that
is to love what He loved, to reject what He re
jected, to choose what He chose. And what did
this good Saviour, the King of heaven, the God of
our hearts, love ? What did He love ? The oppo
site of that which the world loves, the opposite of
nature, of flesh, of the senses. What did He
choose ? Warfare, suffering, contradiction, the
cross. What did He love with the love of predi
lection ? Poverty. He loved poverty in a special
manner ; it was His mother next to Mary His
Mother. And it is after His example that all the
founders of Orders say to us in their writings :
“You must love poverty as your mother”. For
the rest, I have only to regard Jesus Christ to say
to myself, “Poverty is my mother, she it is that
makes me a religious “. Then what did our good
Master love ? Humiliation and contempt, beneath
which He was always patient, always mild, always
good. What indulgence, what mercy in all His
Admirable Person. The virtue of our Divine
Master is no better virtue, and yet His heart was
oppressed with sorrow, but still compassionate as
ever. And should we not therefore, Sisters, love
humiliation and contempt ? Should we not desire
them ? Would to God that we were called to shun
with Jesus this better part of self-denial. Ah !
would to God !

We shall conclude this meditation by asking of
the Heart of Jesus the grace to love what He loved,
and to become attached to His service, by devoting
ourselves to the better part. When He took a
heart, everything is told ; it is done. Let us in
like manner pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
to obtain for us the fullness of grace and blessings.
    Ravignan’s last retreat : given to the Carmelite Nuns of the monastery rue de Messine, Paris, in November, 1857 (1859) Author: Ravignan, Gustave François Xavier de Lacroix de, 1795-1858 Publisher London : Burns and Oates ; New York : Catholic Publication Society co Copyright Status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT

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