A Sunday Call to Arms For the Sake Of Our Eternal Souls

This Sunday brings a call to arms. If, when reading it, this call disturbs the calm and peace of your soul, you're taking it the wrong way. So don't let it.

On the other hand, it's quite powerful and direct this call to arms: lots of what we should be thinking, saying, doing, by a master spiritual writer. Any disturbance we feel may be a sign that the questions cause discomfort. As you read through this direct instruction, you'll likely understand why some - perhaps all - elicit some level of discomfort. If so, try to notice without upsetting the calm and peace of your soul. 

We need calm and peace to reign in our souls no matter what the world throws at us during our tenure on this earth. Our Interior Life needs to be held apart from the world. Calm and peace will be the bulwark that keeps our Interior Life pristine, even as the world spins out of control.

Still, that calm and peace doesn't preclude serious examination of conscience each day. It doesn't prevent us from noting injustice and taking action - when possible - to right wrongs. Even as it insulates us from the world, it doesn't numb our minds and bodies from the lures of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We remain fallen creatures buffeted by concupiscence. We take up our arms and engage in the struggle for the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. (A few Sundays back, we posted something from our friend Father Willie Doyle, calling us to take up those arms and engage in the struggle.)

The calm and peace in our souls, in our Interior Life, gives us a secure home base from which we venture out into the world to face the enemy, whether that enemy is the devil or our very selves.

So from that secure base, in a calm and peaceful spirit, let's consider today's call to arms from Father John Grou, a Jesuit priest and writer of the 18th century.  This passage comes from Meditations on the Love of God.

"Thou shalt love. What kind of love? With the love of preference to all other objects whatever, and to thine own self; thy love for God shall surpass, if it can, all other affection, in that same degree that the Object of it surpasses all else; thou shalt be ready, if occasion requires, to sacrifice all to Him, even thine own life, rather than to offend Him; thou shalt fear to displease Him beyond and before all else; and thou shalt consider the smallest sin as an evil infinitely greater than all other evils of any other kind; thou shalt put the advantage of pleasing Him before any other advantage of what value soever; and shalt be more jealous of His friendship than that of the greatest and dearest on earth. Not His will merely, but His good pleasure shall be thy law, rule and standard; thou shalt trample underfoot all human respect, thou shalt despise all promises, all threats and overcome all obstacles to follow it…Thou shalt wish and desire that every creature may render to Him all the glory that is due to Him and which He expects from them; thou shalt be zealous for His honour, and procure and further it by every means in thy power, at the least by thy wishes and thy prayers desiring ardently that all men may know, adore, love and obey Him; thou shalt be grieved in the depths of thy heart at the sight of the crimes which deluge the world; and thy zeal shall equal that of David who said “Fainting hath laid hold of me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law.” (Psalm 119: 53)

There is simply too much here to extensively comment on. We'll simply leave it as a powerful call to arms. And, with that, recommend a serious review and thoughtful consideration of each of Father's points. Indeed, thoughtful should also include courageous. For example, we'll need a stiff shot of courage to seriously take this up: "thou shalt be ready, if occasion requires, to sacrifice all to Him, even thine own life, rather than to offend Him."

For those of us who suffer disturbance when we see the goings-on in our Holy Church, we might also note that Father, writing three centuries ago, saw a world in turmoil. He advised then, as he could advise now: "...thou shalt be grieved in the depths of they heart at the sight of the crimes which deluge the world...".

The times call for bold and courageous Catholics. Spend some time with Father Grou today and make your Sunday a time to volunteer to be the soldier in Christ's army we were all born to be.

Happy Sunday!