What is the world? And what ought the world to be to a Christian? These are two most interesting questions for any one who wishes to belong entirely to God, and to assure his own salvation.What is the world? And what ought the world to be to a Christian? These are two most interesting questions for any one who wishes to belong entirely to God, and to assure his own salvation.
What is the world? It is the enemy of Jesus Christ, and it is the enemy of His Gospel. It consists of that immense number of people who are attached to sensible objects, and who place in them their sole happiness; who have a horror of poverty, suffering, and humiliation, and who look upon such things as real evils from which they must flee, and against which they must protect themselves at any cost; who, on the contrary, have the greatest regard for riches, pleasures, and honours; who consider these things as real and solid good; who desire them and pursue them with extreme eagerness, without caring what means they use to obtain them; who fight with one another over the goods of this life; who envy one another, and try to take from each other what they have not themselves; who only value another person, or despise him, in proportion as he possesses or does not possess these perishable goods; in one word, who found upon the acquisition and enjoyment of temporal things all their principles, all their code of morality, and the entire plan of their conduct.
The spirit of the world is then evidently opposed to the spirit of Jesus Christ, and of His Gospel. Jesus Christ and the world condemn one another, and reprove one another. Jesus Christ, in His prayer for His elect, declares positively that He does not pray for the world; He announces to His Apostles, and through them to all Christians, that the world will hate and persecute them, as it hated and persecuted Him. And He commands them to wage a continual war against the world.
In the first ages of the Church, when nearly all Christians were saints, and the rest of men were plunged in idolatry, it was easy to distinguish the world, and to know with whom to associate, and whom to avoid. The world, openly in arms then against Jesus Christ, was distinguished by marks which could not be mistaken. But since whole nations have embraced the Gospel of Christ, and since discipline has been relaxed, there has gradually been formed in the very midst of Christians a world in which reign all the vices of idolatry a world which is eager for honours, for pleasures, and for riches a world whose maxims are in direct opposition to the maxims of Jesus Christ.
Now as this world still makes an exterior profession of Christianity, it becomes much more difficult to distinguish; and to associate with it has become much more dangerous, because it disguises its evil teaching with more cleverness, because it spreads it with more carefulness, and makes use of all its craftiness to reconcile its own evil maxims with the doctrines of Christianity. And with this end in view it weakens and softens as much as possible the holy severity of the Gospel; and on the other hand conceals as carefully as possible the venom of its own false morality. From this comes a danger of seduction, all the greater that it is not easily perceived, and so we are not sufficiently on our guard against it; from this comes also a certain spirit of accommodation and acquiescence, by which we try to reconcile the real Christian severity with the maxims of the world upon such matters as the desire of riches or the inordinate enjoyment of pleasures a reconciliation which is impossible, a state of things which can only end in flattering human nature, in spoiling Christian sanctity, and in forming false consciences. It is almost incredible to what an extent this disorder can go, even in the case of persons who pride themselves upon their piety and devotion; and it is a disorder which is in one sense more difficult to correct than that which results from conduct openly worldly and criminal, because such persons never will acknowledge themselves in the wrong, and succeed in deceiving themselves in these matters.
If we desire to live here below without sharing in the corruption of the world, there is only one thing to do, and that is to break with the world absolutely and entirely in our own hearts, and to enter into the feeling of Saint Paul when he said, "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world."
Oh, what wonderful words! And how deep is the meaning they contain! Formerly the cross was the most infamous of all punishments it was the punishment of slaves. When then the apostle says that the world is crucified to him, it is as if he said, I have for the world the same contempt, the same aversion, the same horror as I should have for a vile slave crucified for his crimes. I cannot bear the sight of it: it is for me an object of malediction, with which I can have no connection, no association, no relationship.
And there is nothing extreme, nothing but what is perfectly just and right, in this expression of Saint Paul, which ought to be that of all Christians; and the reason of this is evident. The world crucified Jesus Christ, after having calumniated Him, insulted Him, outraged Him; and the world is crucifying Him now every day. Is it not just then that the world in its turn should be crucified to the disciple of Christ? Is it not just that the disciple should have a horror of the chief enemy of his Master, his Saviour, and his God? Therefore the renunciation of the world is one of the most solemn promises of the sacrament of baptism, and an essential condition, without which the Church would not admit us amongst her children. Do we ever think of this promise? Do we ever think of the obligations it imposes upon us? Do we ever examine ourselves as to how far this renunciation extends?
The Christian's renunciation of the world ought to go as far as the worldly renunciation of Jesus Christ! This rule is clear, and we cannot be deceived in it. There is nothing more to do but to make the application of it, and to do so to its fullest extent. The world has its own gospel. We have only to take that in one hand, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the other; we have only to compare their teaching and their example with regard to the same things; we have only to oppose Jesus Christ on the cross, in suffering, in opprobrium and nakedness, to the world, surrounded and intoxicated with honours, riches, and pleasures, and say to ourselves, To which do I belong? To which do I wish to belong? Here are two irreconcilable enemies who will make war against each other for ever: on which side will I fight? It is impossible for me to remain neuter, or to take part with both of them. If I choose Jesus Christ and His cross, the world will hate me; if I attach myself to the world and its vanities, Jesus Christ will reject and condemn me. Is it a question of hesitating? Am I a Christian if I do hesitate for a moment? But if I do range myself once for all under the standard of the cross, is it not evident that the world must become from that instant an enemy with whom I can never again make peace or truce? Once more we may say, How far our obligations extend, and how holy Christians would be, if they were thoroughly penetrated with the greatness of their engagements!
It is not sufficient that the world should be crucified to us; we must also consent to be ourselves crucified to the world; that is to say, we must allow the world to crucify us, as it crucified Jesus Christ; to make war against us, as it made war against Jesus Christ; to pursue us, to calumniate us, to outrage us with the same fury; to take away from us at last our goods, our honour, and even our life. And not only must we consent to all these sacrifices rather than renounce our holiness as Christians, but we must make so doing a subject of joy and triumph. The disciple must glory in being treated like his Master. "If they have persecuted Me" said our Lord Jesus Christ to His apostles, "they will also persecute you" It is an infallible rule. The world would not be what it is, or Christians cannot be what they ought to be, if they escape the persecution of the world.
We often seek to know something about the state of our souls; we would like to know if we are pleasing to God, if Jesus Christ recognises us for His own. I will give you a rule by which you can easily be enlightened, and by which your uneasiness can be set at rest. See if the world esteems you, holds you in great consideration, speaks well of you, seeks your society. If it is so, you do not belong to Jesus Christ. But, on the contrary, if the world censures you, laughs at you, speaks ill of you, avoids you, despises you, hates you, oh, what great cause for consolation you have! Oh, well may you then believe that you do belong indeed to Jesus Christ!
Let us then think seriously, before God, what the world is with regard to us, and what we are with regard to the world. Let us sound our interior dispositions, let us study the depths of our own hearts: we shall most surely find there much that will humble and confound us; we shall discover that the maxims of the world have left deep impressions on our minds, and that in many difficult and delicate matters our judgment is far too ready to follow the judgment of the world; we shall find that we do desire the esteem of the world, and that we do fear its contempt; that we do form attachments too easily, and break from them with too much pain; that we are subject often and often to a kind of human respect, to a way of accommodating ourselves, to a giving in, as it were, to the world, which is a great hindrance to our perfection, and which keeps us in a state of constraint and dissimulation. We shall find, in short, that we are not such faithful and determined friends of Jesus Christ and enemies of the world as we thought we were.
But let us not be discouraged: to triumph entirely over the world, to brave it, to despise it, and to be pleased that in its turn it should despise and fight against us, is not the work of a moment. Let us exercise ourselves in the little occasions which present themselves to us: if God loves us, He will take care that these occasions are not wanting to us; and let us prepare ourselves by these little victories for greater conflicts. Let us remember, in all our necessities, those words of Jesus Christ: " Have confidence, I have overcome the world"
Let us beg of Him to help us to overcome it also, or rather to overcome it Himself through us, and to destroy in our hearts the kingdom of the world, that He may establish there His own kingdom.
- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou