Traditional Catholic Teaching - TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Christ will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 1: 8.

In addressing these words of comfort to the Corinthians and to us all, St. Paul reminds v3 that it is our duty throughout life to co-operate with the grace given us. Solitude and retirement help us very much in this cooperation with grace, and, as a rule, the object in view, when any one chooses a solitary life for love of God, is to be free to lift up his heart to God, undisturbed by the distractions and turmoil of the world, and by means of prayer and meditation to live in the presence of God, thus cleansing his soul from the stain of sin, and to remain safe from the dangers that threaten those who live in the world.

Solitude produces noble thoughts, holy feelings and heroic resolutions. In solitude minds that have suffered in their conflict with the world regain their health, and in solitude we learn that true happiness consists in quiet retirement and in humble seclusion, far from the clashing interests and pursuits of busy life. Solitude prepares our hearts to appreciate the pure joys of devotion and love of God, and suggests to us thoughts and opinions of true wisdom. The Son of God frequently withdrew into solitude, and it was on the gloomy slopes of Quarantania, far from human intercourse, that He prepared Himself by fasting and prayer continued during forty days for His public ministry. He fled into solitude when the Jews, carried away by their enthusiasm, wanted to make Him their King; and it was from lonely spots on the Mount of Olives that our Saviour's prayer rose frequently at night to His heavenly Father.

Even in the Old Testament we see men of strong character chosen by God to do great works, gaining in solitude additional strength for the accomplishment of the tasks imposed upon them. We see, too, how, whilst they were alone, the streams of God's grace cleansed, strengthened and enriched their hearts.

Abraham was alone, engaged in prayer, when he received the promise that the ardently desired Messias should be born of his race; Jacob was alone when he beheld the ladder reaching to heaven, which was a pledge of God's protection; David, the shepherd-boy, was alone with his flocks when he was called by God to be anointed king. At the place where the promontory of Mount Carmel juts out into the Mediterranean Sea, Elias and Eliseus sojourned, communing with God, and it was on the seashore, amidst the murmur of the waves, that they obtained power to subdue and overcome the outbursts of human passion. Achab, Jezebel and others, accustomed to see their people subservient to their arbitrary and ruthless commands, trembled at the words uttered by these solitary prophets from Mount Carmel, for with courage derived from solitude they boldly proclaimed what the Lord had made known to them in that solitude.

At a much earlier date, when the Hebrew nation was still subject to the tyranny of the Egyptian Pharaos, what mighty king would have dared even to attempt to deliver the oppressed people from their rulers? Yet spiritual force, obtained in solitude, was by God's grace able to accomplish what no external power would have attempted. It was in the solitude of Mount Horeb that Moses beheld the burning bush, and, being thus enlightened with regard to his own high calling, he could encourage the men of his race with hopes of future salvation. The Old Testament abounds in instances of the power possessed by solitude, when consecrated to God, to raise, strengthen and sanctify the mind of man; and, if we look at the history of the Christian Church, we shall find many examples of saints that show us the advantages of solitude. When persecution broke out in the early Church, many Christians fled into the deserts, learned to love them and remained there, striving to attain to the higher destiny of man, and despising all earthly pleasures.

Fearing to be denounced as a Christian by his brother-in-law, St. Paul, the first hermit, left his home, and, after wandering about in the mountains for a long time, found a cave which at first seemed to afford convenient shelter, but subsequently became his permanent abode. Quite apart, however, from any persecutions, a great impulse was given to the eremitical life by St. Anthony the Hermit, who was born about 252 A. D., at Cana, in Upper Egypt, and, interpreting the Gospel teaching literally, gave all his goods to the poor, and then visited various pious recluses in the desert, striving to imitate the cheerfulness of one, the zeal of another, the faith of a third, and the mortification of a fourth. After spending fifteen years in retirement, striving to acquire Christian virtues and overcoming grievous temptations, he went still further into the desert, to the mountains near the Red Sea, and there he lived for twenty years, visited occasionally by his friends, until at length the fame of his sanctity attracted thither a number of Christians eager to save their souls. They lived in isolated dwellings under his rule, and by God's will they became the origin of an association destined to follow closely our Saviour's example, and to counteract the moral laxity of the age. Strengthened at last by God's grace, which he obtained by his prayers in the wilderness, St. Anthony left his solitary retreat when it was necessary for him to labour for the salvation of his fellow men. He did this in 311, to console and encourage the persecuted Christians, and in 328, to defend the doctrine of the divinity of Christ against the heretical teaching of the Arians. He died in January 356, by which time similar settlements of recluses had been founded by his friend Aron in Lower Egypt, and his pupil Hilarion in the desert between Gaza and Egypt. His sister presided over the first community of virgins, who withdrew into the desert in order to strive after greater perfection with hearts unsoiled by the world and aiming at God alone.

Apart from these instances of perfect and perpetual solitude, we may regard the glorious purity of heart and true piety of all the saints as the outcome of solitary prayer and silent meditation. Some lived out in the world and withdrew only for an hour now and then into the solitude of their own room, some were surrounded by royal splendor and by the noisy amusements of the world, from which their position forbade them to retire, but still in their hearts they conversed with God, maintaining an inward solitude. These minutes and hours of holy solitude, during which they received and stored up graces, gave them strength to persevere to the end, when, according to St. Paul's promise, they will appear not only blameless, but worthy of the greatest reward at our Lord's coming.

Let us implore these saints to help us to follow their example, and so to live that we too may appear without crime and blameless before our Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes to judge the world. Amen.

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