THE PATH OF EVANGELICAL POVERTY

70. When one really strives to become poor in spirit one follows the evangelical path which leads to God. The soul who sets out on this path does not worry about food or clothes, nor the morrow. He seeks the kingdom of Divine grace and justice.

71. He who is truly poor in spirit is convinced that God will paternally provide for his needs; He who feeds the birds of the air.

72. He becomes in his soul as free as a bird in the heavens, because by detaching himself from the world he rises above it and moves freely towards the spiritual things of God.

73. One follows the way of the Gospel when, in order to live integrally the purity which one has promised to God, one empties one's heart of all vain affection and purifies one's senses of all useless connections.

74. One follows the way of the Gospel when one strips one's soul entirely, in order to make it meek and humble, when one has the courage to remain alone with a bruised heart, without looking for either joy or consolation; when one has a hunger and thirst for justice; when one prefers to contradict rather than swerve from the path of perfection.

75. One follows the poverty of the Gospel when one is prepared to refuse everything to oneself, in order to remain in the presence of God; in simplicity of heart; when one accepts interiorly and exteriorly all he wishes and accomplishes all he asks. 

OBEDIENCE

76. By the vow of obedience we have surrendered ourselves to God. The spirit of obedience obliges us to accept any function of which the superiors judge us capable, and to perform it faithfully. We have not to judge our own talents. Let God dispose of us as He wishes by the voice of the superiors. Let us be guided by His will without being troubled. This will is manifested to us by the will of the superiors.

77. So that a religious community may be perfect, it is necessary that each member obey the superiors in all things, and see in them Jesus Christ alone.

78. To obey does not signify to accomplish exteriorly all that the superiors impose, one must do it freely, with exactitude and joy, in spite of natural repugnances. To obey also signifies to become strong in God's service by a pure adhesion of faith.

79. If you know of a man who had had Christ personally for his guide, a man whose task had been determined by Him... even down to the tiniest details, you would deem him happy.

80. You are just as happy as He is, thanks to obedience. Christ guides you by the rule and by the superiors.

81. Obey the sound of the bell and the word of your superiors as a call from God Himself.

82. Obey, as did Jesus Christ, all those who must command you. Obey one another.

83. Don't wait for an explicit order. Let it suffice you to know the will of your superiors.

84. Remember that in obeying you do the will of God, and obedience will be your joy.

85. To obey blindly signifies to renounce all questionings, and putting the orders of the superiors into practice in pure faith.

VIGILANCE

86. So that the Holy Spirit make His home in you, you must seek Him and attract Him to you by fervent and continual prayer.

87. But how can the Holy Spirit come and live in us if, instead of attracting Him, we act contrary to our vows? He avoids unfaithful religious communities. The teaching Spirit flees from hypocrites; and withdraws from unintelligent thoughts.

88. It is by idleness that sin and the spirit of the world penetrate into the convent.

89. Idleness gives rise to much evil. It turns the religious away from good works and exposes him to all temptations. The state of a lazy soul is shown in the Gospel.

90. The unclean spirit which has possessed a man and then goes out of him, walks about the desert looking for a resting place, and finds none; and it says, I will go back to my dwelling, from which I came out. And it comes back, to find that dwelling empty, and swept out, and neatly set in order. Thereupon it goes away, and brings in seven other spirits more wicked than itself to bear it company, and together they enter in and settle down there; so that the last state of that man is worse than the first.

91. When a religious leaves the world he banishes all evil from his heart. But if he does not watch to keep the Holy Spirit within him, directing his mind towards good thoughts and his heart towards ardent desires, if he does not permit his soul to search for the divine presence, he prepares a new home for the old enemy, more spacious than before. He opens the door of his senses to him; and his soul is carried to sensuality. The bonds that he has broken with so much trouble blind him again, and much more tightly than before.

92. Because laziness makes him slip into a dissipated and restless life, he occupies himself with many troubles and doubtful occupations which keep him so tightly closed that only a special grace of the Holy Spirit can bring about his second conversion.

REGULAR DISCIPLINE

93. I ask only one thing : that all my children in all the houses be happy, because of their fidelity to the rule.

94. Charity, agreeableness, and piety flourish in a religious community where the brothers live according to the spirit of the Rule. A director is not even necessary. The rule directs the house.

95. When I know that the Rule is observed in our houses, I have the assurance that God is ardently loved and served there, that charity is irreproachable, and that the brothers devote themselves perfectly to the apostolate. One does not stray when one follows the Rule.

96. May the superior be a living rule; the rule is a silent superior that the superior himself must also obey.

97. It is out of pure goodness and mercy that God has called me to the religious life. The only thing He asks of me is that I should be pleasing to Him, by the acceptation of the penances imposed by the faithful observance of the rule.

98. To observe the rule exactly - to carry out the same duties at all times in spite of repugnance and all other annoying circumstances, this is the mortification which God expects from you. It is more pleasing to Him than all the penances you would impose upon yourself.

99. They falsify the rule, who only carry out its exterior prescriptions and do not strive at the same time to acquire the interior perfection of them; they pray to God in words but not in actions. The commandments of God and the rules of monastic life have interior submission and detachment as their aim. No matter how many the apparent number of followers may seem to be, this does not guarantee neither the way they follow, nor the happiness of their souls.

100. To help a tepid community to find its first fervor once again, one must banish all that can diminish the sanctity and integrity of souls. One must cut short all occasions by which irregularity can filter in.

101. I know religious who think they do not violate the vows by performing acts contrary to the spirit of poverty and obedience. They imagine that they are only bound to what constitutes (according to them) the matter of the vow, and to an observance of the Rule such as it was the moment they entered religion. They think they do not have to live the rule more intensely than do certain modern religious under pressing circumstances.

102. The founder of an order would reply to those souls that it belongs to their special election and their state of perfection to attach themselves to the primitive spirit of the rule, even if they did not understand it like that at their profession; even if the superiors were not observing it.

103. Many are called but few are chosen. Christ did not only speak these words when thinking of the world, but also of the chosen group among consecrated souls.

104. We haven't made a vow to follow the crowd. At our profession we accepted the rule as a means of sanctification. Even if we alone were to live it integrally, we would be obliged to do so. In any case we will be judged according to our own actions, not according to the actions of others.