Catholic during the Great Apostasy

I. Although we all know exactly to what end we are created and where we are to go, yet there are so many obstacles blocking our way and diverting us from this goal, that it is difficult to find a man who would make a sincere effort to go where his own knowledge directs him through holiness of life. We all, as sheep, have gone astray, each to his own way (Isa., LIII, 6.).

Let us look into our souls and we will find there a great many sins directly contrary to our final goal. But also in the state of grace, how great our misery and infirmity? Let us picture a man with ailing hands, limping on his feet, suffering from vertigo.This unfortunate man was instructed to bring in a very fragile vessel some costly liquid across a steep path, leading over a precipice, overgrown and exposed, to constant and raging storms. This is our image, who in these frail vessels of the flesh carry the inestimable treasure of God’s grace so that we may rightly cry out with the Apostle: Unhappy am I man, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom.,VII, 24.).

We are beset by innumerable internal and external enemies and, as if conspiring against our souls, they seek to lead it away from the true path. Inner enemies are evil desires, inclinations, habits, addictions, perverse principles, external senses, an unstable mind and a vivid and unbridled imagination.And the external enemies are: Satan, who seeks our destruction; people who draw us by their example and persuasions to sin; all creatures who either seduce us with their allurements or afflict us in various ways; and finally, God Himself sometimes denies us inward joy and allows us, in His righteous will, scruples, dryness and temptations.
II. It is necessary, therefore, to arm the soul for battle and to remove the above obstacles: namely, to use creatures wisely, to resist the devils firmly and courageously, and to either disregard people altogether or to patiently overcome them with good. What is necessary and cannot be completely destroyed, this must be persistently weakened, taking away as far as possible sensual pleasure.

One should willingly submit one’s own will to God’s will, in the deep conviction that one has a matter with the best Father and Physician, who will also make a way out of temptation so that you may be able to bear it (I. Cor,(I Cor. X, 13). If we are inclined to some sins and find them more difficult to bear, it would be good to make a list of them, so that by a detailed examination of conscience we can slowly overcome one after another. But everything that smacks of excess we should completely abandon, and practice simplicity, temperance and poverty: and even that which is necessary for life should be used with caution and not attach to it with the heart, so that it does not hinder us from attaining our goal. Nor can we lay the blame on creatures, nor accuse the devil of diverting us from our goal by his temptations and snares, for all loss is of our own making. Before man is life and death, good and evil; what pleases him shall be given him (Eccl., XV., 18.).

III. In order to exhaust this subject completely, it is necessary to consider the more detailed and more individual obstacles to the pursuit of the ultimate goal. These are the following: inattention to our ultimate goal, performing an activity blindly and without any intention, unnecessary attachment to creatures and seeking one’s own advantage; finding too much pleasure in food, drink, rest, conversations, epigrams and jokes without any spiritual anointing: being guided by worldly and human opinion, which is why we listen to people more than to God and we consider this to be honest or no, what is considered such by people, but perhaps is not so in itself and in the eyes of God: inconstancy in the practice of virtues and throwing oneself at all ‎pages; unnecessary outpouring of external ‎practices, ‎and neglect of internal ‎exercises; performing actions rather from habit than from the impulse of the heart; attention to the number of actions rather than their goodness; inattention to interior movements, inspirations, and the presence of God.

These and similar obstacles must necessarily be removed by acts and deeds opposed to them, imitating in this respect the farmer who, when clearing a field, is not content to cut the weeds, but pulls them up by the roots ” lest they grow back again.Finally, the acts of humility, shame, contrition and fear should also be aroused: and since all our power comes from God, we should humbly. ask Him to teach our hands to fight (Ps. XVII, 35.) and to give us grace to follow the straight path to Him, who is our ultimate goal and our very great reward (Rev. Gen,XV, 1.)

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The ascetic writings of Cardinal John Bona. I, Feniks odrodzony czyli Ćwiczenia duchowne. Tarnów, 1891