Life of Father Hecker Part 29

CHAPTER XXVII

FATHER HECKER'S SPIRITUAL DOCTRINE

HAVING given in the preceding chapter Father Hecker's principles of the religious life in community, a more general view of his spiritual doctrine, as well as of his method of the direction of souls, naturally follows. And here we are embarra.s.sed by the amount of matter to choose from; for as he was always talking about spiritual doctrine to whomsoever he could get to listen, so in his published writings, in his letters to intimate friends, and in his notes and memoranda, we have found enough falling under the heading of this

CHAPTER to fill a volume. Let us hope for its publication some day.

It need hardly be said that Father Hecker did not claim to have any new doctrine; there can be none, and he knew it well. Every generation since Christ has had His entire revelation. Development is the word which touches the outer margin of all possible adaptation of Christian principles to the changing conditions of humanity. But in the transmission of these principles from master to disciple, in practically a.s.sisting in their use by public instruction, or by private advice, or by choice of devotional and ascetical exercises, there is as great a variety of method as of temperament among races, and even among individuals; and there are broadly marked differences which are conterminous with providential eras of history. This was a truth which Father Hecker, in common with all discerning minds, took carefully into account.

His fundamental principle of Christian perfection may be termed a view of the Catholic doctrine of divine grace suited to the aspirations of our times. By divine grace the love of G.o.d is diffused in our hearts; the Holy Spirit takes up his abode there and makes us children of the Heavenly Father, and brethren of Jesus Christ the Divine Son. The state of grace is thus an immediate union of the soul with the Holy Trinity, its Creator, Mediator, and Sanctifier. To secure this union and render it more and more conscious was Father Hecker's ceaseless endeavor through life, both for himself and for those who fell under his influence, whether in cleansing the soul of all hindrances of sin and imperfection, or advancing it deeper and deeper into the divine life by prayer and the sacraments.

His doctrine of Christian perfection might be formulated as a profession of faith: I believe in G.o.d the _Father_ Almighty; I believe in Jesus Christ the Only Begotten _Son_ of the Father; I believe in the Holy Ghost the _Life Giver,_ the spirit of adoption by whom I am enabled to say to the Father, _My Father,_ and to the Son, _My Brother._

He wished that men generally should be made aware of the immediate nature of this union of the soul with G.o.d, and that they should become more and more personally conscious of it. He would bring this about without the intervention of other persons or other methods than the divinely const.i.tuted ones accessible to all in the priesthood and sacraments. It was the development of the supernatural, heavenly, divine life of the regenerate man, born again of the Holy Ghost, that Father Hecker made the end of all he said and all he did in leading souls; and he maintained that to partake of this life which is "the light of men," many souls needed little interference on the part of others, and that in every case the utmost care should be taken lest the soul should mingle human influences, even the holiest, in undue proportion with those which were strictly divine.

"Go to G.o.d," he wrote to one asking advice, "go entirely to G.o.d, go integrally to G.o.d; behold, that is sincerity, complete, perfect sincerity. Do that, and make it a complete, continuous act, and you need no help from me or any creature. I wish to provoke you to do it.

That is my whole aim and desire. Just in proportion as we harbor pride, vanity, self-love--in a word, self-hood--just so far we fail in integrally resigning ourselves to G.o.d. Were we wholly resigned to G.o.d He would change all in us that is in discord with Him, and prepare our souls for union with Him, making us one with Himself. G.o.d longs for our souls greatly more than our souls can long for Him.

Such is G.o.d's thirst for love that He made all creatures to love Him, and to have no rest until they love Him supremely. If my words are not to your soul G.o.d's words and voice, pay no heed to them. If they are, hesitate not a moment to obey. If they humble you to the dust, what a blessing! He that is humbled shall be exalted."

"Peace is gained by a wise inaction, and strength by integral resignation to G.o.d, who will do all, and more than we, with the boldest imagination, can fancy or desire."

"May you see G.o.d in all, through all, and above all. May the Divine transcendence and the Divine immanence be the two poles of your life."

The natural faculties of the understanding and will, whose integrity Father Hecker so much valued, were to be established in a new life infinitely above their native reach, glorified with divine life, their activity directed to the knowledge of things not even dreamed of before, and endowed with a divine gift of loving. In this state the Holy Spirit communicates to the human faculties force to accomplish intellectual and moral feats which naturally can be accomplished by G.o.d alone. This is called by theologians supernatural infused virtue, and is rooted in Faith, Hope, and Love, is made efficacious by spiritual gifts of wisdom and understanding, and knowledge and counsel, and other gifts and forces, the conscious and daily possession of which the Christian is ent.i.tled to hope for and strive after, and finally to obtain and enjoy in this life.

That this union is a personal relation, and that it should be a distinctly conscious one on the soul's part, all will admit who think but a moment of the infinite, loving activity of the Spirit of G.o.d, and the natural and supernatural receptivity of the spirit of man.

Although not even the smallest germ of the supernatural life is found in nature, yet the soul of man ceaselessly, if blindly, yearns after its possession. Once possessed, the life of G.o.d blends into our own, mingles with it and is one with it, impregnating it as magnetism does the iron of the lodestone, till the divine qualities, without suppressing nature, entirely possess it, and a.s.sert for it and over it the Divine individuality. "Now I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." An author much admired by Father Hecker thus describes the effects produced in the soul by supernatural faith, and hope, and love:

"These virtues are called and in reality are _Divine_ virtues. They are called thus not because they are related to G.o.d in general, but because _they unite us in a divine manner with G.o.d,_ have Him for their immediate motive, and can be produced in us only by a communication of the Divine nature. . . . For the life that the children of G.o.d lead here upon earth must be of the same kind as the life that awaits them in heaven." (Scheeben's _Glories of Divine Grace,_ p. 222; Benziger Bros.)

To partake thus of the inner life of G.o.d was Father Hecker's one spiritual ambition, and to help others to it his one motive for dealing with men. He was ever insisting upon the closeness of the divine union, and that it is our life brought into actual touch with G.o.d, whose supreme and essential activity must, by a law of its own existence, make itself felt, dominate as far as permitted the entire activity of the soul, and win more and more upon its life till all is won. Then are fulfilled the Apostle's words: "But we all beholding the glory of the Lord _with open face_ are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor.

3:18).

Here are some of Father Hecker's words, printed but a year or two before his death, which treat not only of the interior life in general, but in particular of its relation to the outer action of G.o.d on the soul through the divine organism of the Church:

"St. Thomas Aquinas attributes the absence of spiritual joy mainly to neglect of consciousness of the inner life. 'During this life,' he says (_Opuscula de Beat.i.tudine,_ cap. iii.), 'we should continually rejoice in G.o.d, as something perfectly fitting, in all our actions and for all our actions, in all our gifts and for all our gifts. It is, as Isaias declares, that we may particularly enjoy him that the Son of G.o.d has been given to us. What blindness and what gross stupidity for many who are always seeking G.o.d, always sighing for Him, frequently desiring Him, daily knocking and clamoring at the door for G.o.d by prayer, while they themselves are all the time, as the apostle says, temples of the living G.o.d, and G.o.d truly dwelling within them; while all the time their souls are the abiding-place of G.o.d, wherein He continually reposes! Who but a fool would look for something out of doors which he knows he has within? What is the good of anything which is always to be sought and never found, and who can be strengthened with food ever craved but never tasted? Thus pa.s.ses away the life of many a good man, always searching and never finding G.o.d, and it is for this reason that his actions are imperfect.'

"A man with such a doctrine must cultivate mainly the interior life.

His answer to the question, What is the relation between the inner and the outer action of G.o.d upon my soul? is that G.o.d uses the outer for the sake of the inner life.

"There seems to be little danger nowadays of our losing sight of the Divine authority and the Divine action in the government of the Church, and in the aids of religion conveyed through the external order of the sacraments. Yet it is only after fully appreciating the life of G.o.d within us that we learn to prize fittingly the action of G.o.d in His external Providence. Such is the plain teaching of St.

Thomas in the extract above given.

"By fully a.s.similating this doctrine one comes to aim steadily at securing a more and more direct communion with G.o.d. Thus he does not seek merely for an external life in an external society, or become totally absorbed in external observances; but he seeks the invisible G.o.d through the visible Church, for she is the body of Christ the Son of G.o.d.

"Once a man's hand is safe on the altar his eye and voice are lifted to G.o.d.

"It is not to keep up a strained outlook for times and moments of the interior visitations, but to wait calmly for the actual movements of the Divine Spirit; to rely mainly upon it and not solely upon what leads to it, or communicates it, or guarantees its genuine presence by necessary external tests and symbols.

"Not an anxious search, least of all a craving for extraordinary lights; but a constant readiness to perceive the Divine guidance in the secret ways of the soul, and then to act with decision and a n.o.ble and generous courage--this is true wisdom.

"The Holy Spirit is thus the inspiration of the inner life of the regenerate man, and in that life is his Superior and Director. That His guidance may become more and more immediate in an interior life, and the soul's obedience more and more instinctive, is the object of the whole external order of the Church, including the sacramental system.

"Says Father Lallemant (_Spiritual Doctrine,_ 3d principle, chap. i.

art. 1): 'All creatures that are in the world, the whole order of nature as well as that of grace, and all the leadings of Providence, have been so disposed as to remove from our souls whatever is contrary to G.o.d.'"

What follows has been culled from notes and memoranda:

"When authority and liberty are intelligently understood, when both aim at the same end, then the universal reign of G.o.d's authority in the Church will be near and the kingdom of G.o.d be established universally."

"The whole future of the human race depends on bringing the individual soul more completely and perfectly under the sway of the Holy Spirit."

"What society most needs to-day is the baptism of the Holy Spirit."

"That soul is perfect which is guided habitually by the instinct of the Holy Spirit."

"The aim of Christian perfection is the guidance of the soul by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is attained, ordinarily, first by bringing whatever is inordinate in our animal propensities under the control of the dictates of reason by the practice of mortification and self-denial; for it is a self-evident principle that a rational being ought to be master of his animal appet.i.tes. And second, by bringing the dictates of reason under the control and inspiration of the Holy Spirit by recollection, and by fidelity and docility to its movements."

"To attain to the spiritual estate of the conscious guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the practice of asceticism and of the natural and Christian moral virtues are the preparatory means.

"To rise before the light appears, is vain; to hinder the soul from rising when it does appear, is oppression. In the first place, the soul is exposed to delusions; in the second, it is subjected to arbitrary human authority. The former opens the door to all sorts of extravagances and heresies; the latter breeds a spirit of servility and bondage."

"To reach that stage of the spiritual life which is the consciousness of the indwelling and guidance of the Holy Spirit some souls need the practice of asceticism more than others, these latter being more advanced by the practice of the Christian virtues. Others, again, need the strenuous practice of both of these means of advancement until the close of their lives. And there is another cla.s.s which reaches this degree of spiritual growth sooner and with less difficulty than the generality of souls."

"Whenever the guidance of the Holy Spirit is sufficiently recognized, then the practice of the virtues immediately related to this action and proper to increase it in the soul are to be recommended, such as recollection, purity of heart, docility and fidelity to the inner voice, and the like."

"It should ever be kept in view that the practice of the virtues is not only for their own sake and to obtain merit, but mainly in order to remove all obstacles in the way of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and to a.s.sist the soul in following His operations with docility."

"Obedience in its spiritual aspect divests one of self-will and makes him prompt to submit to the will of G.o.d alone. Viewed as an act of justice, obedience is the payment of due service to one's superior, who holds his office by appointment of G.o.d."

"The essential mistake of the transcendentalists is the taking for their guide the instincts of the soul instead of the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. They are moved by the natural instincts of human beings instead of the instinct of the Holy Ghost. But true spiritual direction consists in discovering the obstacles in the way of the Divine guidance, in aiding and encouraging the penitent to remove them, and in teaching how the interior movements of the Holy Spirit may be recognized, as well as in stimulating the soul to fidelity and docility to His movements."

"The director is not to take the place of the Holy Ghost in the soul, but to a.s.sist His growth in the soul as its primary and supreme guide."

"The primary worker of the soul's sanctification is the Holy Spirit acting interiorly; the work of the director is secondary and subordinate. To overlook this fundamental truth in the spiritual life is a great mistake, whether it be on the part of the director or the one under direction."

The great obstacle to the prevalent use of this privilege of divine interior direction is lack of practical realization of its existence by good Christians. And this want of faith is met with almost as much among teachers as among learners, resulting in too great a mingling of the human element in the guidance of souls. What is known as over-direction is to be attributed, as Father Hecker was persuaded, to confessors leading souls by self-chosen ways, or laboriously working them along the road to perfection by artificial processes, souls whom the Holy Spirit has not made ready for more than the beginning of the spiritual life. This is like pressing wine out of unripe grapes. Another practice which Father Hecker often deprecated was the binding of free and generous souls with all sorts of obligations in the way of devotional exercises. This is forcing athletes to go on crutches. The excuse for it all is that it really does stagger human belief to accept as a literal matter of fact that G.o.d the Holy Ghost personally comes to us with divine grace and gives Himself to us; that He actually and essentially dwells in our souls by grace, and in an unspeakably intimate manner takes charge of our entire being, soul and body, and all our faculties and senses.

"By sanctifying grace," says St. Thomas (p. I, q. 33, art. 2), "the rational creature is thus perfected, that it may not only use with liberty the created good, but that it may also enjoy the uncreated good; and therefore the invisible sending of the Holy Ghost takes place in the gift of sanctifying grace and the Divine Person Himself is given to us."

It is the soul's higher self, thus in entire union with the Spirit of G.o.d, that Father Hecker spent his life in cultivating, both in his own interior and in that of others. He insisted that in the normal condition of things the mainspring of virtue, both natural and supernatural, should be for the regenerate man the instinctive obedience of the individual soul to the voice of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

To what an extent this inner divine guidance has been obscured by more external methods is witnessed by Monsignor Gaume, who places upon the t.i.tle-page of his learned work on the Holy Spirit the motto "Ignoto Deo"--to the Unknown G.o.d!

Objections to this doctrine are made from the point of view of caution. There is danger of exaggeration, it is said; for if in its terms it is plainly Catholic, it may sound Protestant to some ears.

And in fact to those whose glances have been ever turned outward for guidance it seems like the delusions of certain cla.s.ses of Protestants about "change of heart" and "inner light."