Lest You Remain

Saint Bernard, a man most beloved of God, holds the same opinion saying: “In every creature under the sun, controlled by the vanities of the world, nothing is found more sublime than the human heart, nothing more noble, nothing more like God. Therefore, He seeks from you, nothing other than your heart.” Additionally, if our heart is a little more noble, it can be filled with no other thing except God alone! And so it should seek nothing except God, nor to rest anywhere but in Him, to whom it is morally bound. Augustine acknowledged that by speaking to God in this way: “You made us, Lord, for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” The most learned and devout Father Nieremberg illustrated this in a very elegant and appropriate metaphor saying: “The compass needle does not come to rest until it turns toward the North, and looks straight at the Arctic Pole; and in whatever other direc- tion it finally turns, it never stops there: in the same way, our Hearts, which God has made for Himself alone and not for anything else, tend and incline toward their own center or natural perfection: and they cannot rest until they look to their Creator.” ( Templum Dei Mysticum) 3 Let [God] remain alone on His altar. Nothing earthly, let alone impure, should come to rest on it. Let us keep this altar, with utmost zeal, very pure for God alone. [...] Nor should we permit anything except God on the altar of our heart. His com- mand is, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart” (Mt 22:37). [...] The slightest disordered feeling toward a small trifle, toward ourselves, impedes, in the highest degree, this perfect love. “For those who love God,” as Theodoretus says, “with all their heart, do not divide their feeling by placing it both among earthly matters and among heavenly things, but bear it entirely upwards”. ( Templum Dei Mysticum) 4 “The weeds made their appearance as well” (Mt 13:26). With the greatest dili- gence, you should avoid little imperfections and even the smallest sins. Undoubtedly, they are invisible when the devilish scoundrel sows them in. However, after more serious falls, and a large number of mortal sins, you finally realize them and think- Fr. Founder’s Selected Thoughts on the Religious Life 131