The Spirit of the Cure of Ars.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!
The Spirit of the Cure of Ars.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom! The Spirit of the Cure of Ars.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!
2 SPIRIT OF THE CUR^ OF ARS.LL This is what purifies the eye of the heart,and enables it to raise itself to the true light Icontempt of worldly cares, mortification of thebody, contrition of heart, abundance of tears,. . . meditation on the admirable Essenoe of Godand on His chaste Truth, fervent and pure prayer,joy in God, ardent desire of heaven. Embraoeall this," adds the saint, "and continue in it.Advance towards the light which offers itselfto you as to its sons, and descends of itself intoyour hearts. Take your hearts out of yourbreaste, and give them to Him who speaks toyou, and He will fill them with deific splendour,and you will be sons of light and angels of God."The description we have just read seems tohave been traced from the very lie of the Cudof Ara. Every detail recalls him, every featureharmonises marvellously with his. Who hasever carried further contempt of worldly cares,mortification of' the body, abundance of tears" ?He mas always bathed in tears. And then," meditation on the admirable Essence of Godand on His chaste Truth, and fervent and pureprayer, joy in God, ardent desire of heaven,"-how characteristic is this ! " He had advancedtowards the light, and the light had descendadof itself into his heart. . . . He had taken hisheart from his breast, and given it to Him whospoke to him ; and He who spoke to him," who
IlUT OF TEE CUR^ OF US. 8jg -the Divine, uncreated Word of God, " fliedhim with deific splendour!' No one could doubtL who has had the happiness of aesisting atany of the catechisms of Ars ; of hearing thatextraodmuy language, which was like no humanlanguage ; who has seen the irresistiblee&t produced upon hearers of all classes bythat voice, that emotion, that intuition, thatfire, and the signal beauty of that unpolishedand almost vulgar French, which wan transfiguredand penetrated by his holy energy,even to the form, the arrangement, and theharmony of its words and syllables. And yetthe Curd of Are did not speak word9; trueeloqueuce consists in speaking things: he spokethings, adin a most wonderful manner. Hepoured out hie whole soul into the souls of the ,crowds who listened to him, that he mightmake them believe, love, and hope like himself.That is the aim and the triumph ofevangelical eloquence.How could this man, who had nearly beenrefused admittance into the great Seminary becauseof his ignorance, and who had, since hispromotion to the priesthood, been solely employedin prayer and in the labours of theconfessional-how could he have attained tothe power of teaching doctrine like one of theFathers of the Church? Whence did he derive
- Page 2 and 3: THE SPIRITTHE CUR& OF ARS.Qaulattb
- Page 4 and 5: ivPREFACE.the inspired words and th
- Page 6 and 7: YiPBEFACE.even fashion, wua submitt
- Page 8 and 9: ...VlllCONTENTS.PABT 111.----. ----
- Page 12 and 13: 4 SPIRIT OF TEE C& OF ABB. ~his ast
- Page 14 and 15: passionate accent., with such abund
- Page 16 and 17: 8' SPIRIT OF THE CUR^ OF ARS.pure r
- Page 18 and 19: 10 SPIRIT OF THE CUR^ OF ARS.'of th
- Page 20 and 21: 12 SPIRIT OF THE C W ~ O9.ABS.pract
- Page 22 and 23: We have, however, set down a few wo
- Page 24 and 25: 16 SPIRIT OF THE CUR^ OF ABB.Iprayi
- Page 26 and 27: 18 SPIRIT OI TEE CUR^ OF U S .The l
- Page 28 and 29: 20 WIIUT OF TEE CUR$ OI ARS." The g
- Page 30 and 31: from the infinite ocean of the Divi
- Page 32 and 33: 24 emm or TEE CURL OF ARE.like lien
- Page 34 and 35: '' Bee, father, what I have found."
- Page 36 and 37: 28 SPIRIT OF THE C& OF ARS.not whet
- Page 38 and 39: 30 SPIRIT OF THE cud OF ARS.those p
- Page 40 and 41: 32 8PIRIT OF THE C U OP ~ ARS.with
- Page 42 and 43: 84 6mIT DF TEE CUB# OF AM.you behav
- Page 44 and 45: 86 SPIRIT OF TEE c d OF ABS. 1II. .
- Page 46 and 47: Worldly people say, it is too diffi
- Page 48 and 49: 40 SPIRIT or THE CUR% OF AM.that Go
- Page 50 and 51: 42 WIEIT OF TEE c d OF AM.dispelled
- Page 52 and 53: 44 SPrruT OP THE C& OF ABS.it from
- Page 54 and 55: 46 SPIRIT OF THE CUR$ OF ARS.loving
- Page 56 and 57: 48 SPIRIT OF THE CUB$ OF ABS.Holy S
- Page 58 and 59: 5i) SPIRIT OF TEE ~d OF AM.never we
2 SPIRIT OF THE CUR^ OF ARS.LL This is what purifies <strong>the</strong> eye <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> heart,and enables it to raise itself to <strong>the</strong> true light Icontempt <strong>of</strong> worldly cares, mortification <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>body, contrition <strong>of</strong> heart, abundance <strong>of</strong> tears,. . . meditation on <strong>the</strong> admirable Essenoe <strong>of</strong> Godand on His chaste Truth, fervent and pure prayer,joy in God, ardent desire <strong>of</strong> heaven. Embraoeall this," adds <strong>the</strong> saint, "and continue in it.Advance towards <strong>the</strong> light which <strong>of</strong>fers itselfto you as to its sons, and descends <strong>of</strong> itself intoyour hearts. Take your hearts out <strong>of</strong> yourbreaste, and give <strong>the</strong>m to Him who speaks toyou, and He will fill <strong>the</strong>m with deific splendour,and you will be sons <strong>of</strong> light and angels <strong>of</strong> God."<strong>The</strong> description we have just read seems tohave been traced from <strong>the</strong> very lie <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cud<strong>of</strong> Ara. Every detail recalls him, every featureharmonises marvellously with his. Who hasever carried fur<strong>the</strong>r contempt <strong>of</strong> worldly cares,mortification <strong>of</strong>' <strong>the</strong> body, abundance <strong>of</strong> tears" ?He mas always ba<strong>the</strong>d in tears. And <strong>the</strong>n," meditation on <strong>the</strong> admirable Essence <strong>of</strong> Godand on His chaste Truth, and fervent and pureprayer, joy in God, ardent desire <strong>of</strong> heaven,"-how characteristic is this ! " He had advancedtowards <strong>the</strong> light, and <strong>the</strong> light had descendad<strong>of</strong> itself into his heart. . . . He had taken hisheart from his breast, and given it to Him whospoke to him ; and He who spoke to him," who
Change language