Preparation for death/Preface
Preface
The object of the present Treatise is expressed by a passage which is to be met with in one of the Epistles of S. Fulgentius, on the subject of prayer: " Compunction of soul excites an affection for prayer; humble prayer obtains the Divine help. Compunction of soul, leads it to regard its wounds; but prayer, earnestly demands the medicine for its healing. And who is sufficient for these things? For who can pray as he ought, unless the Divine Physician Himself pours into the heart the beginning of spiritual desire."
It will be seen that the following Manual of Devotion consists of a series of chapters or instructions upon important points of Christian teaching, which are called "Considerations." These Considerations are written for the purpose of pricking or of wounding the conscience, it may be in many points, that so it may be thoroughly aroused and awakened; of exciting, that is, compunction of the soul, real remorse of conscience for past as well as for present coldness and dryness. It must be a very hard heart, indeed, which is not moved by these "Considerations," so touchingly simple are they, so plain, and so wholly true. They deal with such doctrines and facts as have an universal application, which admit of no dispute, and which are always confirmed by some passage from Holy Scripture. It must be allowed, on all hands, that it is necessary for the soul to be aroused to feel its own needs, to regard its own wounds, that so it may be directed to a source whence these needs can be supplied, and these wounds be healed. One great aim of this Treatise, is to arouse, as well as to direct the mind, to lead it to consider its own wants, and to seek by prayer to have those wants supplied. The book is essentially a guide to prayer. It represents, from its beginning to its end, the continual outpouring of heart before God; an outpouring that is ofttimes expressed in the very same words which imply, at the same time, a new phase of thought. These several repetitions are not to be regarded as tokens of intellectual inferiority, but as so many developments of a plan, which is both carefully laid down and accurately carried out under a seeming carelessness of expression.
Regarded as a Manual of Mental Prayer, each of these " Considerations " has a technical and special signification. They treat of life and death, of the value of time, of the mercy of God, of the habit of sin, of the general and particular judgments, of the love of God, of the Holy Communion, and of kindred subjects equally important. The "Consideration," as here used, implies far more than a mere inquiry. Its equivalents, the Italian Considerazione, and the Latin Consideration do~not fully express its particular meaning in this Treatise, where it stands for a reflectional meditation. It calls into play the exercise of the memory, which puts together all the circumstances of the subject under notice; it excites the imagination, which represents, as in a picture, all such circumstances, bringing ~ them vividly before the mind's eye; and, lastly, it urges the will so to. fix and detain these things in the soul, that, by its own effort, it may unite itself with the will of God, so that God's will and the will of man may become one.
S. Thomas Aquinas defines Consideration to be " an act of the intellect, and of the beholding the truth of a proposition," (Sum. 22 E. Q. liii. 4); to be,"moreover, principally related to the judgment. As one of the three divisions of prayer, properly so called, these Considerations must also be considered as reflections, as reasonings of the mind upon definite subjects, either for its perfect conviction of some vital truth, or for its persuasion to the formation of some holy resolution. The chief end of all such reflection, must be the bringing the soul into communion with God; but this cannot be effected by the intellect alone. Man is not united to God through the mind only, but chiefly through the heart; the " Consideration " must pass onwards into an "Affection? which forms another leading division of mental prayer; where the action of the former ends, that of the latter begins.
Let us apply these " Considerations " to one or two of the subjects which are treated of in the present Treatise.
At the first thought of Death, we are all naturally inclined to fear it, but the "Consideration" upon death (c. viii.) tends to remove this fear, since it brings death before us, Firstly, as " the end of our labours;" of that toil by which we are prepared for our eternal rest. Secondly, as the " consummation of our victory" over sin and weakness; the struggle has been a sore one; the battle has been hardly fought, but it has been won at last. Thirdly, as the "gate of life;" therefore the death of the Saints is called a birthday, a day in which they are born to that other and blessed life which can never end. These are the three " Points " in the " Consideration " upon Death which disarms it of its terrors. Again, are we sorely troubled by our struggles with self-will? We find a "Consideration" on conformity to the will of God (c. xxxiv.), the "First Point" of which indicates the connection between perfect resignation to God's will and perfect love towards His Person. The "Second Point" shows that nothing comes amiss of earthly sorrow and humiliation, not even martyrdom itself, if all things be submitted to His Divine will. The "Third Point" explains that peace of soul which fills a heart whose every desire is in conformity to God's will. Let come what may, I wish for it, " because God wills it."
Perhaps, with its cares and pleasures, the world is occupying too large a portion of our time and thoughts. The " Consideration " upon its vanity (c. xiii.) will teach us, in the first place, to care chiefly for those things which we can carry away with us after death, to endeavour to gain eternal possessions. In the second place, to weigh the things of time against those of eternity, and to mark their lightness. In the third place, to contrast time with eternity, and so to become " rich toward God." Each Consideration opens up three points for meditation, and to each of these is added an " Affection" and a " Prayer."
The "Considerations" employ the mind, the "Affections" excite the heart; they awake in us those emotions by which it seeks to unite itself with God. It is that affectus orationis of which S. Fulgentius makes mention. The affection is kindled by consideration, and the consideration is supplemented by the affection; neither can afford to be separated the one from the other. Whilst the " Consideration" sets forth death as the end of toil, the "Affection" urges the soul to anticipate it, to ask heaven of Jesus, not that it may enjoy itself the more, but that it may love Him the more. The former bids us look at the consummation of our victory, the latter expresses such love, that it longs quickly to die, if such be the will of Jesus. Better far to die, and so to be delivered from the danger of losing grace, and from the fear of love ever growing cold.
The "Affections" to the three points of the Consideration upon the will of God lament over the times when God's will was not followed. They desire from henceforth that His will shall reign perfectly in the heart. And lastly, they express an earnest cleaving to Him who laid down His will for our sakes. " I give thee my will, my liberty, my all." With Affections our author has joined " Prayers." It would have been more conformable to the ordinary divisions of prayer had he substituted " Resoluzioni" for the " Preghiere " for, indeed, as is but natural, the "affection" in the present book passes into a "resolution;" the prayer is more of a resolve than a petition. It is generally a firm resolve which is made in prayer either to renounce some things for God's glory, or to perform or suffer other things for the same end. The " spiritual desire," " spiritalis desiderium? of S. Fulgentius expresses itself in the form of spiritual resolution.
This brief explanation of the plan upon which this book has been written, naturally leads to some suggestions as to its use.
And, firstly, it may be remarked, that only one Consideration should be read at the same time. In many cases one point even, with its " Affections and Prayers," will afford sufficient employment both for the head and heart. It must be remembered that the book is intended to be suggestive merely, not final or ample. It presents a skeleton which the devout reader is to clothe with flesh and blood, and animate with the life of his own spirit. It is an outline, the details of the picture being left to the reader to complete.
Secondly, it will be found most profitable, after having fixed the " Consideration " upon which the meditation is to be made, to read, first of all, its title, and the initial text of Holy Scripture, and for the reader to try to form a meditation for himself; after which he can compare his own thoughts with those of the book, noting carefully in what they agree, in what they differ, and how far they mutually minister to each other.
Thirdly, it must be remembered, that the Treatise is but a means to an end, and that end is gained, when the attention is arrested, and the heart is moved. Let the book be then closed, and let a certain time of quiet be given to the mind, during which it may do its sufficient work in the soul.
It is, moreover, believed that this book may be made of no small value to many as a help for the preparation of sermons. Its fulness of application of Holy Scripture is very great, and many of its quotations from the Fathers are both striking and apposite; and many a parish Priest, with but small time for reading at his disposal, may often find in one point only of a Consideration the hint and outline of a whole sermon.
Take, for instance, the first point of Consideration xiv. It is reducible to the following heads: I. General considerations. i. The moral inequalities in the government of this world, and the need which these imply for another life. 2. This earth is not man's country; his earthly home is but an inn. 3. The folly of those who spend their substance in buying possessions in a land which is not theirs. II. The heavenly home for the faithful, i. Beauties of heaven. 2. In it is the fulness of desire. 3. It is an ocean of delight, and an existence of continual joy. 4. Its enduring nature. III. The dreadful home of the lost. i. It will be a place of straitness and confinement. 2. A place of destitution, forsaken by all, forsaken by God. 3. A home of your own choice. 4. A state of endless pain. But several of the points are richer in material than the one to which reference has been made.
With regard to the translation; it is sufficient to observe that the Italian is rendered into as literal English as the differences of idiom between the two languages would admit. In some cases it may be feared that the English has been made to give way somewhat too much an error on the safe side; so uncertain and unsatisfactory is a loose paraphrastic style of translation. A few omissions are made. Two Considerations are rejected as unsuitable for our present use. The repetition of the same anecdote is avoided. A few irrelevant miracles or stories do not appear. Occasionally a reading from the Apocryphal has been replaced by one from the Canonical Scriptures. And in all things, that spiritual edification which was the one object of the author in writing this book, has not been lost sight of in the preparation of this English edition. But while acknowledging gladly, how useful the present and kindred books are for this end, it is well ever to remember the statement of that same Saint whose words have formed the beginning and text of these remarks. "AEdificatio spiritualis, nunquam oportunius petitur, quam ab ipso Christi Corpore (quod est Ecclesia) in Sacramento Panis et Calicis Ipsum Christi Corpus et Sanguis oftertur." (S. Fulg. De Miss S. Spt., c. xi.)
ALL SAINTS, A.D. 1868.