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November 23, 2004 |
By Fr. Hathaway FSSP Mater Dei Latin Mass Community |
Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
On Love Deals Not Perversely
St. Paul writes, “Love deals not perversely” (I Cor. 13:4) which St. Alphonsus Liguori explains, “Those who love Jesus Christ avoid lukewarmness and love perfection.” (The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ)
With St. Gregory the Great, St Alphonsus says loves deals not perversely because as love desires only to service Almighty God so love necessarily rejects whatever is offensive to Almighty God.
As lukewarmness in our spiritual life hinders our progress towards perfection in love so St. Alphonsus finds it perverse.
But there are two types of lukewarmness. St. Alphonsus identifies a lukewarmness which is avoidable and a lukewarmness which is not avoidable. The unavoidable kinds of lukewarmness even saints commit. He says unavoidable kinds of lukewarmness are comprised of those indeliberate faults - thoughts, words, deeds - which we commit without full consent of the will and out of human frailty i.e., “distractions at prayer, inner disturbances, useless words, vain curiosity, the wish to show off, tastes in eating and drinking, the stirrings of concupiscence not instantly repressed.”
We are obliged to shun these as much as we can but, as St. Alphonsus says, due to human weakness, which springs from our wounded nature, it is impossible to avoid them altogether.
In training ourselves against involuntary lukewarmness we must simultaneously not become anxious about them. This is especially true of disturbing thoughts. “All thoughts that disturb us are not from God,” says St Francis de Sales, “who is the prince of peace; they always proceed from the devil, from self love, or from the high estimation we have of ourselves.”
St. Alphonsus warns us that disturbing thoughts must be rejected or ignored; he also says that these bad thoughts, because they were committed involuntarily, can be remitted involuntarily by an act of love.
One day the Benedictine nun, Ven. Sr. Crocifissa, beheld the vision of a burning globe upon which was cast a heap of straw which immediately became smoke and ashes. By this singular event, she learned how one fervent act of love removes all defects from the soul... even ones she did not know were there. (Like Spywear removal)
St. Alphonsus reminds us that the Council of Trent taught that a fervent reception of Holy Communion removes hidden defects in the soul; the council called the Holy Eucharist “an antidote by which we are freed from daily faults.”
Lukewarmness which is unavoidable does not prohibit our progress towards perfection because, as St. Alphonsus mentions, in this life no one gets to perfection until they reach heaven.
The type of lukewarmness which does hinder our perfection is the avoidable kind... as when a person commits a deliberate venial sin.
St. Teresa says, “May God deliver you from deliberate sin however small it may be.”
St. Alphonsus says avoidable kinds of lukewarmness include willful lies, verbal attacks, cursing, bearing a grudge, mocking a neighbor, using cutting words, praising oneself, nursing rancor in one’s heart, and inordinate attachments to persons of the opposite sex. St. Teresa calls these, “worms which are not detected until they have gnawed their way into the virtues.”
We must avoid all voluntary faults. If we do not, they will weigh us down so that we begin to abandon prayer, Holy Communion, Confession, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading, the daily Rosary, examinations of conscience, and novenas.
The avoidable lukewarmness our Blessed Savior finds severely reprehensible, “You are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were either hot or cold. But because you are lukewarm I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.” (Ap 3:15-16) St. Alphonsus says it is better to be cold than lukewarm because it is easier for the cold to change and become hot (an extreme to an extreme) than for the tepid to become either hot or cold because the tepid are adverse to extremes.
Tepidity is the stalemate of fervor; the lukewarm have no relish to really hate something (to be cold to sin) or to really love something (to be hot for God) and so the tepid fixes himself in the middle position where he tries to make peace with both sides.
The Ven. Father L. da Ponte said he had committed many faults in his life but he never made peace with them. Some people make a truce with their faults. This is their ruin. Especially, says St Alphonsus, when the fault is accompanied by some passion - self esteem, desire to show off, to acquire money, resentment towards a neighbor, an inordinate affection for a person of the opposite sex. St Francis of Assisi says these bonds - albeit slight as hairs - soon turn into unbreakable chains which drag souls into hell. In any event, they will not rise to heaven.
Although a bird be tied to the thinnest strand, as long as it is tied, it cannot soar the heavens. St. Alphonsus laments, “how many spiritual persons fail to become saints because they will not force themselves to break away from certain little attachments.”
St. Alphonsus says that all this harm comes from the lack of love they have for Jesus Christ. He says these are puffed up with self-esteem; these are they who often become heartbroken when things don’t go their way, who are vain about their health, who open their hearts to many external events, who are keen to know so many things that have nothing to do with the service of God but only their own personal desires, who resent little imaginary slights from others which cause them to discontinue prayer and recollection. One moment they are happy, the next sad,... all depending on whether or not things are going their way.
Finally, to rid ourselves of avoidable types of lukewarmness, St. Alphonsus prescribes a remedy of five ingredients: the desire for perfection; the resolution to attain perfection; meditation on eternal truths; the frequent reception of Holy Communion; and prayer.
Love deals not perversely. Those who love Jesus Christ avoid lukewarmness and love perfection. Over the coming Sundays, we will present St. Alphonsus’ prescription to combat - and overcome - perverse tepidity in our lives and thereby come closer to that perfection and that true love for our Blessed Savior which is our only necessary purpose and goal in this short life.