September 4

The Means Of Healing Our Soul

Preparation. - Although Jesus is the Physician of souls, as we have learned, He, nevertheless, wishes that we should assist Him in effecting our cure. Hence we shall see, first, by what means, and secondly, in what spirit we should do so. Then we shall resolve often to present ourselves to Jesus as a patient to his physician, asking Him to heal us of our defects, and especially of the one that predominates in us, saying: “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean” (Mat. 8. 2).

I. The Means Of Curing Our Spiritual Infirmities

The sick that were brought to Jesus during His mortal life, had usually, when their disease was not manifest, to explain their suffering. In like manner, it behooves us to disclose to our spiritual director, as to Jesus Himself, the interior pains that afflict us. Is not this also the case with all the sick towards their physicians? If the healing of the body requires this candid disclosure that conceals nothing, how much more is it necessary for that of the soul, which is of far greater importance and needs, besides, the graces attached to obedience!

It behooves us, then, to manifest to our confessor or spiritual director our faults, our perverse inclinations and the temptations that beset us. We ought, moreover, to indicate to him the means we use to correct our faults, to deny and conquer ourselves, the peculiar attractions coming from God concerning prayer or certain virtues. For each one is directed as much as he wishes, that is, as much as he discloses the state of his interior to his spiritual father.

In the next place, all that remains for us to do, is to listen to the voice of Jesus speaking to us through His representative, and to put in practice what he prescribes to us. If we fulfill these conditions, our very frequent faults will soon disappear as well as our habitual sloth, our dangerous inconstancy, and our regrettable miseries and imperfections. Our spiritual physicians have the inappreciable advantage over those of the body, of possessing unfailing remedies. For obedience to their human words into divine words, which operate what they mean in those that receive them with faith, and faithfully practice them. Wherefore it is impossible for a docile soul to subject herself wholly to spiritual direction, without finding therein her cure, her progress and her salvation.

Are we not of the number of those presumptuous minds that wish to depend solely on their own judgment even in matters of conscience? “Unless you become as little children,” said our divine Saviour even to His apostles, “you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 18. 3). O my God, deign to confer upon me the spirit of uprightness and sincerity, which I need so much in order to make myself known to those who direct me in Thy name. Enable me to follow, in every point, and not only for one day, but every day, their counsels for the direction of my interior life. Enable me to overcome my inclinations, to repress my defects and to fulfill my duties under Thy guidance, that I may recover perfect health.

II. In What Spirit We Should Seek To Be Cured

The idea of sickness, applied to our vices, indicates also what spirit we should strive to effect our cure. The faithful infirmarian should treat his patient kindly, and cause him to take punctually all the prescribed remedies. If the disease increase, or becomes chronic, he should continue his care with the same patience and zeal. Such is the model we ought to follow in effecting our spiritual cure. We should devote ourselves to it without getting fretful or vexed, and with invincible constancy in employing the means sanctioned by obedience. Let us beware of growing despondent when we see ourselves making no progress, or when our defects, instead of diminishing, seem only to be aggravated under the breath of our passions become more violent in the course of time, or on account of our efforts to overcome them.

The infirmarian, who is filed with the spirit of God, knows that he will be rewarded, not according to his success, but according to his labor. Hence our soul should bear in mind that she will be rewarded for the moments she employed in humbling herself, in mortifying and denying herself in order to obey, even if her efforts seemed unavailing to render her more perfect. She should never cease watching over herself, endeavoring to be recollected, praying constantly, and exercising herself in every virtue, even if she would remark in herself her former inclinations, weaknesses and imperfections, for a day will come when her labors will be duly rewarded.

O Jesus, I will say to Thee with the sisters of Lazarus: “He whom Thou lovest, is sick.” My soul has received so many wounds from my sins; I come to Thee, my divine Physician; heal me. I will labor with Thee, and by means of self-denial, prayer and the sacraments will strive to become conformable to Thee. How many saints, naturally as weak as myself, succeeded by the very means in my power to recover their lost innocence, and even practiced heroic virtue. With Thy assistance and that of Thy holy Mother, may I not do what so many of Thy servants have done? O my lovely Master, I am resolved, first, to come always to Thee, especially in holy Communion, as a sick man goes to his physician; and secondly, earnestly to beseech Thee for the grace of a persevering confidence in Thy help and in the direction Thou givest me through Thy representatives. “There is no power but from God” (Rom. 13. 1). “He that heareth you, heareth Me” (Luke 10. 16).