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Friday, May 4, 2012

Blessed Hyacinth M. Cormier OP: The Advantages of Religious Life

"After you have made yourself known and have pondered the points set out for you, if your attraction remains, and if the Fathers consent to accept you into their community, your desire for a more perfect life indeed comes from God. You have there sufficient signs of a vocation; there is every reason to conclude that you will find in the religious state great advantages during your life, at the hour of death, and after death. St. Bernard has encapsulated all these advantages in these words: 


'He who embraces the religious life lives more purely and in a more holy manner than in the world; he falls more rarely into sin; he rises more promptly from his falls; he walks with greater attentiveness on the road to salvation; he receives more heavenly graces and consolations; he rests in God with greater security; he dies with great trust; in purgatory, he is purged more quickly of his faults, and he receives a more abundant reward in heaven.' [Hom.in illud Matth. XIII, "Simile est"]

These are the counsels I felt I needed to give you first of all concerning the religious state in general. I pray that the Lord may enlighten you concerning His most holy will. If He allows you to hear His voice, do not block the ears of your heart, but follow the insights and the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, in spite of the reluctance of nature. Tell yourself very seriously: What would I wish I had done at the hour of my death; on the day of my judgment? Right now, do what you need to so that later you will have accomplished it. It is a question of a happy or an unhappy eternity; at any moment, you could die and appear before the supreme Judge. Do not delay too long, and do not be ungenerous concerning your own soul."      

-excerpt from Vocation: Instruction of Novices by Fr. Hyacinthe-Marie Cormier OP, trans. George G. Christian OP & Richard L. Christian, 2011
See also:
The Surprises of Divine Providence (by Fr. Thomas Joseph White OP)
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