Bronchain Meditations: October 11

Character Of The Interior Man

Preparation. - In the Christian religion, says St. Paul, “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3. 11). The interior man strives to cling to God alone, and therefore in the first place, he views everything in God, and secondly, he finds everything in God. Let us examine whether our intentions are always upright and our affections perfectly pure, so that we may belong entirely to Jesus Christ and, through Him, wholly to God. “Christ is all in all;” “that God may be all in al” (1 Cor. 15. 28).

I. To Be Interior, We Must View God In All Things.

The interior man judges of every thing, not by reason alone or from mere appearances, but by the light of faith and the gift of understanding with which the Holy Ghost enlightens him. He knows that God is the centre of all creation, that every thing subsists by His power, and that His wisdom governs powerfully and mildly every thing, from the stars in the heavens to the smallest insect concealed under the grass. He acknowledges that from Him he receives the light that enlightens him, the air he breaths, the garments he wears, the food he eats and all the good done him, and he thanks the Lord for it all, and draws therefrom continual motives for adoring, loving, praising and thanking Him.

Does not the Gospel teach him that his superiors hold the place of God on earth (Luke 10. 16), and that Jesus considers as done to Himself whatever is done to the least of His brethren? (Mat. 25. 40). Wherefore he sees Jesus Christ in all those who lawfully command him or receive his services. He sees Jesus in the Holy Father, the bishops, priests, rulers and magistrates (Rom. 18. 2); in the unfortunate, the poor, the sick, the afflicted, in all who have a soul created by God and redeemed with the blood of Jesus.

He considers Him even in the events most opposed to his wishes. When he has to bear contempt, privations and reverses, he blesses Providence for furnishing him occasions of becoming more humble, more mortified, more patient, and consequently richer in merits.

Do we act thus? Alas! nature has such a dominion over us, that it is but seldom that the principles of faith can induce us to obey, suffer and practice charity in a manner worthy of God and befitting a disciple of Jesus. We so often act through feeling, taste and inclination, instead of viewing God in all things, and this is one of the reasons why we make so little progress in the interior life.

O my God, by a continuous creation, Thou drawest all creatures out of nothing. Thou art present to each, and nevertheless, I think of everything except of Thee, the Author of all good. Thou laborest without ceasing for my sanctification by mans of earthly events, and I am so often hardened against Thy holiest dispositions! Deign to forgive me, and show me henceforth, in all things and everywhere, Thy presence and beneficent influence.

II. To Be Interior, We Must Find All Things In God.

The interior man not only sees God in all things, but also finds all things in God. By means of faith, mental prayer and confidence he draws from the supreme Good that which satisfies his thirst for truth, love and happiness, by which the human heart is tormented here below. Often the angels hear his cry: “What is there in heaven, and what can I desire upon earth, if not Thyself? When shall I come and appear before Thy face,” to contemplate all truth in Thee? When a certain remembrance grieves him, or some created object disputes God’s place in his affections, he says with St. Francis de Sales; “Lord, Thou alone art sufficient for me; in Thee alone do I find what is necessary for my soul.”

And, in fact, what else can a soul need than to possess God, His grace and His love? In heaven He is the joy of the angels and saints, and one day He will be there our delights; and why should He not already in this life be everything to us? What! God is sufficient for Himself, and should not He be sufficient for us? O how narrow and miserly is the heart that craves for flesh and blood, for the transitory goods of this life, and remains cold and indifferent, when there is question of the supreme Good! Our heart having been created for God, is a vase destined to possess Him alone. The blood of a God redeemed, consecrated and sanctified it, and made it, as it were, into a ciborium, which every foreign attachment defiles and profanes.

And then what happiness can that heart enjoy out of its centre and final destiny? By serving and loving God alone, it would, on the contrary, already in this exile, enjoy a foretaste of the delights of our true country. If we really desire to become holy and happy, let us learn to content ourselves with the supreme and eternal Good, and often say to ourselves: “My only pleasure here below is to see God glorified and His will fulfilled. In this dwell my honor, my rest, my treasure and all my delights both in this life and in the next.”

O my God, for the love of Jesus and Mary, enable me to seek in Thee what is found nowhere else, that is, truth, love and happiness; truth, to enlighten my mind concerning the mysteries best calculated to raise and ennoble me; love, to purify and deify my heart, and happiness, to make me a partaker in Thy own peace and happiness. I shall thereby possess everything in Thee, O infinite Good, and “Thou shalt be all to me in all things.”

Method

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Servant of God

Charles Louis Laurent Bronchain was born of excellent parents, September 4, 1829, at Frameries, near Mons in Belgium. From his early boyhood he was distinguished for his piety. As an altar boy he was modest and recollected, and was wont after serving Mass to remain as close as possible to the priest. Being asked why he acted thus, he replied: "I do this, because I wish to be nearer to the good God." When he saw people going to holy communion, he was filled with a holy envy, and would say to himself: "When shall I also have the happiness of receiving our Lord?" We may easily imagine his joy and happiness when this favor was vouchsafed to him for the first time. When out walking with his playmates, he always managed to bring them near a church and induced them to enter it with him to pay homage to our divine Saviour in the Sacrament of His love.

During the six years he studied at the "Petit Seminaire de Bonne Esperance," he was universally admired and respected for his modesty, piety, charity, and other virtues. Heeding the divine call to a more perfect life, he, with the consent of his parents, renounced the world and the brightest prospects of success, and entered in 1850 the Redemptorist Novitiate at St. Trond. The following year he made his profession and was sent to Wittem to prosecute his studies. As novice and student, Louis Bronchain was a model to his companions in regular observance, charity, love of prayer, and study, and self-denial. After his ordination in 1857, he labored zealously for some years in the ministry and in giving missions.

In 1865 he was appointed Master of Novices. To his novices he was ever a tender and loving father, giving them the example of every virtue. His life was practically a continual prayer. Rising very early every morning to be able to devote more time to it, he would spend hours in meditation before the Blessed Sacrament. Though very severe towards himself and addicted to corporal austerities, he, like a true saint, was always cheerful and full of charity and condescension towards others, and of solicitude in supplying the wants of his novices. His health failing, he was relieved of his heavy burden in 1870. From that time until his death, his life was one of continual suffering, borne with wonderful patience and resignation. As long as he was able he labored for his fellow-religious, and for the salvation of souls. Being an able spiritual director, he enabled his many penitents to make great progress in the spiritual life. As for himself he was an “interior man,” such as he describes in his “Meditations.” He died June 2, 1892, in the odor of sanctity.

Father Bronchain spent his years of suffering in composing spiritual works, which passed through many editions during his lifetime and have done incalculable good to souls. They are, like the works of St. Alphonsus, whose spirit he possessed in a remarkable degree, noted for the solidity of their doctrine, the simplicity and popularity of their language, and especially for that sweet unction which induces the practice of virtue, horror of sin, and especially the love of Jesus and Mary.

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October 11

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Servant of God

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