To affirm that the long practice of solid virtue is the most sure preparation for the performance of heroic actions, the occasions of which may afterwards present themselves, is to utter a truism. We will, therefore, keeping in view the maxim we have laid down, consider this subject from another point, in order that the heart may be convinced as well as the reason.
Love is the mainspring of all true heroism, for it brings into action the desire of doing good to, and suffering for, the object loved. Whence it follows that everything which fosters love becomes a means of fitting the soul for the endurance of great sufferings, or for undertaking difficult works. Now a hidden life is peculiarly adapted to form this great virtue within us, inasmuch as it is a life passed alone with God, as we have seen in former meditations. Its spiritual associations are laid far away amid the spots where Jesus lived and wrought while He was on earth; or else, perhaps, amidst the dazzling light of that eternity wherein images have faded out of sight, and the soul only knows that she dwells in the bosom of God her Father, that she is there at rest. Now a life thus removed from the materializing influences of the world is ever advancing in the knowledge, and consequently in the love of God, who communicates Himself to such a one with special delight and abundant liberality. He has promised by the mouth of His Prophet, "I will lead her into the wilderness: I will speak to her heart" (Osee 2:14), and the Divine words whispered to the soul in that solitude are never to be forgotten.
Thus has it been with the saints. Solitude with God has ever laid the first foundation of their future sanctity, and their thoughts have reverted to the remembrance of this whenever they would draw fresh courage for the difficulties they had afterwards to encounter. Out of the thousands of examples which might be cited, let us take that of Saint Ignatius, whose memory in his after life ever travelled back with such tender affection to the grotto of Manresa, in the solitude of which the first seeds of his future spiritual greatness had been sown. Let us also call to mind all that the martyrs have written from their silent dungeons, describing to us the superabundance of the Divine communications granted to them there, and converting their lonely prisons into a very heaven.
But even where consolation has not been so freely bestowed, there is still in solitude the same special facility afforded for union with God to the soul which loves Him, the same advantages resulting from the removal of external influences. Let it not be forgotten, that in speaking of a hidden life, we do not refer exclusively to a mere material solitude, but rather to an inner solitude of the heart and mind. Hence even persons whose lot is cast among the distractions of the world, may apply to themselves all that is here laid down, just as much as Religious within their life of seclusion.
In order to bring this truth more home to the hearts of all - the efficacy, namely, of the hidden life as a means of preparing the soul for great sufferings or difficult undertakings, let us consider the ordinary effect of long and affectionate intercourse between two persons whom circumstances have withdrawn from the society of others. Let us suppose, for example, that some misfortune has thrown two members of the same family exclusively together for a long period of years, how their mutual affection becomes intensified, above all, when suffering sanctifies it, rendering their hearts but as one. If, in after years they are separated, how their memory reverts to that time of intimate mutual intercourse undisturbed by the presence of any third person, and how their love nourishes itself on that remembrance and grows yet stronger as each circumstance, and word, and even expression of voice during that hallowed past comes back to them. So, likewise, in the spiritual life there are seasons which most of us can recall, when we have in a special manner participated in the Hidden Life of Jesus, when either some particular grace, or great sorrow, or corporal malady has withdrawn us from the outer world, and we have learnt to live alone with God, and He has spoken to our hearts. Such are precious seasons, which we have afterwards loved ta bring to mind, and by that remembrance have probably received new motives and incentives to serve the Heart of Jesus with greater fidelity, and to correspond with greater generosity and fervour to the demands of His love.
Let such seasons, then, be for us a House of Nazareth, wherein we may attain the habit of living in God, and may thus prepare ourselves for whatever He may require of us afterwards.
In the preceding meditations we have studied closely the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ at Nazareth. We have seen the interior occupation of His Sacred Heart, we have watched Him in prayer, we have dwelt upon His sufferings. His humiliations, His ceaseless self-abasement and subjection. Then, in the first part of the present chapter, it has been shown that a life passed in the imitation of the ^example left us by our Lord at Nazareth, is the surest preparation for the performance of heroic actions, if such should hereafter be demanded of us - a preparation, gentle yet austere, for the endurance of future sufferings; inasmuch as a hidden life is, as we have seen, one of intimate union with God, as well as of severe, interior mortification.
Let us remember, in the first place, that unbroken union of His Holy Soul with His Eternal Father amidst His labours at Nazareth, which we have, before everything else, desired to keep in view throughout the course of these meditations, because on our own recollection and union with God, in solitude of heart, depends the whole efficacy of a hidden life for us. Without this condition, indeed, we cannot imitate the life of Jesus at Nazareth. At that time, it is true, the crown of thorns did not actually press upon His brow, but already it encircled His Heart, there to remain while He laboured with His hands; and, we have seen how deeply He felt its anguish. The material Cross was not as yet laid upon His shoulders, but the weight of the whole world's sin lay, day and night, upon His Heart; and year after year He supported in secret this terrible burden. The blasphemy and scorn of the people of Jerusalem were not as yet hurled against Him, but the coarse reproofs of His employers were His preparation for that humiliation.
These and many other circumstances manifest the analogy between our Lord's Hidden Life and the remaining portion of His sojourn on earth, and they also place before us an example of the practice of solid interior virtues in a hidden life as a preparation for what may follow hereafter. Vain, otherwise, would be our desires of accomplishing extraordinary works, of enduring great sufferings, perhaps of undergoing martyrdom itself. We must follow the order which Incarnate Wisdom has traced out for us, seeing that our Lord began His life in the obscurity of Nazareth.
Let us, then, often recur in thought to that Holy House, as Jesus Himself did amidst the weariness of His Public Ministry, and the tumult of the Passion, as also Mary did when, the world's salvation having been accomplished, Jesus ascended to His Father, leaving her alone to suffer still longer on earth. How often must not the Mother's thoughts have gone back fondly to the quiet spot where she had dwelt so many years with Jesus, recalling His words, His tones and gestures; and, although sadness was mingled with that memory, by reason of the very contrast to it of her present life without Him, nevertheless, she derived therefrom a special grace, inasmuch as through it the tide of her love rose still higher in her soul.
Thus will it be with us if we endeavour to live in solitude with God. Let us, we repeat, often in spirit go to Nazareth, as so many of the saints have done, above all when visited by trial and sorrow. If we have familiarized ourselves with its sacred associations in meditation and prayer, and have aimed at leading a life conformed to the Divine Model there proposed to us, it will be for us a peaceful home', where our souls may find rest amidst the noise and distraction of the world, or the weariness of affliction and temptation.
Let us, moreover, earnestly entreat the Heart of Jesus to attract us to Him, in His Hidden Life, that we may obtain the grace of living in union with Him at Nazareth, and so preparing ourselves for the trials that may be awaiting us in the outer world.
- text taken from the 1906 edition of The Heart of Jesus of Nazareth - Meditations on the Hidden Life; it has the Imprimatur if Bishop John Baptist Butt, Diocese of Southwark, England, 5 February 1890