If, on the one hand, religion humbles a man by teaching him that he comes from nothing, that he was conceived in sin, that he is inclined to evil and incapable of any supernatural good, on the other hand it raises him up, and inspires him with great thoughts about himself, by teaching him what his nature is really capable of through the grace of God, what is the greatness of his destiny, and what it cost God to purchase his salvation.
The human soul, by its very nature, is endowed with the faculty of knowing God and the capacity for loving Him. The intelligence of the soul, transporting itself above all that is created and finite, has power to raise itself even to the contemplation of that Being Who alone is uncreated and infinite, Who is the source of all good and all perfection; it is able to form of Him an idea that is clear, and accurate, and indelible. The will of the soul is made to love this sovereign Good which the understanding presents to it. The desires of the soul, which no created object can ever satisfy, and which reach far beyond the limits of this life, tend necessarily towards a Good that is supreme, eternal, and infinite, and which alone can content the soul and make her happy.
If the soul will analyse the desire which she has of happiness, and the idea of happiness which presents itself to her, she will find that the object of this idea and of this desire is only and can only be God. This is the impression which she bears in the depths of her nature, this is what reason will teach her if she will only reflect a little, and this is what neither prejudice nor passion can ever entirely efface. Everything that is not God, everything that does not relate to God, is unworthy of occupying the mind or the heart of man, has no proportion with the immensity of his ideas and desires, and can never fully satisfy them. The very heathen philosophers comprehended this truth up to a certain point; and this was what rendered man so great in their eyes. Happy would they have been if in their conduct they had followed the light of their reason and the secret instinct of their hearts!
Not only is man destined to know and to love God in this life, but in another life he is to possess God eternally. It is not enough for him to be immortal; he is one day to be united to the Source of immortality, and to be happy with the very happiness of God. Of what use, indeed, would immortality be to him, if he were to be for ever consumed with a desire for God without ever possessing Him? Such a desire, if it were never satisfied, would only be a torment.
This is, then, the final end of man the eternal enjoyment of God! He will see God; he will contemplate God as He is in Himself; and this sight and this contemplation will overwhelm him with an ineffable joy. Reason puts us in the way of learning this great truth, but Divine revelation alone can give us distinct instructions upon it. And as it is a wonderful gift, which certainly is not due to our nature, we should never have known of it unless God Himself had expressly revealed it; therefore there is nothing like it in the writings of the wise men of antiquity. But this eternal possession of God is not promised to man absolutely and without conditions; he must merit it by the good use which he makes of his free-will during this short life; and God, on His part, gives him and offers him everything that is necessary for making a good use of his free-will. And in what does this good use consist? In loving and serving God according to the knowledge with which reason and religion supply him; in practising a certain number of precepts which in themselves have nothing but what is just and right, and which reason cannot help approving of, towards which an upright heart is drawn of itself, and in the observation of which man finds, even in this world, peace and happiness.
How great is man when we consider him from this point of view! How noble are his ideas, how elevated his sentiments, how pure his actions, how worthy he is of the esteem of God and of his fellowmen, when he thinks and speaks and acts always with a view to this sublime destiny, when he never loses sight of it, and when he never allows himself anything that could draw him away from it! What more just and excellent use can he make of his reason and his liberty?
But how small is he, how mean, how foolish, how unjust and cruel to himself, if, confining his ideas and affections to this life, which is passing away, to this life, of which not one single moment is in his own power, he lowers himself to the enjoyment of things which were not made for him, to things which will always leave him empty and craving for more! and if, to procure himself this enjoyment, he tramples under foot the law of God, and exposes himself to the danger of losing for ever the eternal happiness which is awaiting him!
Is there any folly to compare with such folly as this? Can the degradation of our being be carried farther? Can a man be a greater enemy to himself? "Be astonished, O Heavens" God Himself exclaims at the sight of such a strange perversity; "Gates of Heaven, give yourselves up to desolation! My people," that is to say, those men that I formed in My own image, whom I destined to be the citizens of My kingdom, to share My glory and felicity, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the Fountain of living water" (of true happiness), "and they have hewed themselves out broken cisterns that can hold no water" These two evils, which one could hardly believe possible on the part of a reasonable being, are nevertheless two very common evils, very prevalent, and, we might almost say, universal. In every country, in the very midst of enlightenment and religion, nearly all men forget God, despise God, offend God, look upon Him almost as a mortal enemy; and why? Because He created them for Himself, because He has destined them to enjoy His new happiness, because He wishes to associate them with His own eternal felicity, and because, for this reason, He forbids them to fix their affections on fleeting and perishable pleasures, which are unworthy of them and incapable of ever satisfying them. Almost all men fix their eyes upon this earth, which is only the place of their exile, and will not look towards Heaven, which is their true country. They only desire immortality that so they may always possess the goods of this world; and they console themselves for the frightful prospect of death by the hope of returning to the nothingness from which they came.
But that which puts the crown on the real greatness of man, and on the sad disorder of his abasement of himself, is the thought of what the salvation of his soul has cost God. The Word of God, the eternal Son of God, Who was God like His Father, and equal in all things to His Father, united Himself to our human nature, took upon Himself our passible and mortal flesh, conversed with men, condescended to instruct them by His teaching and example, and finally, as a voluntary victim, sacrificed Himself for them to the Divine justice, to expiate their sins, to reconcile them to God, to restore to them the grace of their first innocence from which they had fallen, and to grant them all the assistance and all the means necessary for their salvation. That which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did and suffered for all men, He did and suffered for each one in particular; and He would not have thought it too much to do if it had only been a question of saving one single soul. The salvation of a soul is then the price of the blood of God, the price of the death of God, the price of the greatest sacrifice which God clothed in our human nature could possibly make! This is incomprehensible; I know it is; and if this mystery were not supported by all the weight of the proofs of a divine revelation, human reason could never bring itself to believe it.
But if this mystery is of a truth, and a certainty, and a moral evidence which no reasonable mind can deny, what does it prove? It proves that the dignity of a soul is beyond understanding; for God to abase Himself, for God to annihilate Himself, for God to sacrifice Himself, only to save that soul, and make it happy for ever! Can we be afraid of deceiving ourselves, when we esteem that which God esteemed so much? And if, that we may save ourselves, God requires of us the same sacrifice to which Jesus Christ willingly submitted Himself, can we say that He requires too much?
Again, what does this mystery prove? It proves that a Christian who knows and understands it, and who, to satisfy a miserable earthly passion, consents to the eternal loss of his own soul, renders useless the sufferings, the death, and the sacrifice of God; and this is not saying enough: he turns them to his eternal damnation, and makes for himself a hell a thousand times deeper than that from which Jesus Christ died to deliver him.
And what shall we say of those who, because this mystery is so incomprehensible, treat it as a myth and an absurdity? They do not wish that God should have thought them worth so much: it was not worth the trouble, they say, that God made Man should die for them on a cross. The human soul is too small a thing for its happiness to cost God so much. To hear them speak, it seems as if they were taking the part of God, and regarding His glory; they seem to think that it is an unbearable pride on the part of men to imagine that their souls could have such a high value. As if a mystery so Divine, so above human reason, so incredible, could ever have been an invention of human imagination or the fruit of human pride! Let us leave these impious ones, who vainly try to justify their impiety.
As for us, who believe humbly and firmly all that God has revealed to us, let us learn, by the contemplation of God upon a cross, what is the value of our souls; let us not lose our soul, let us not prostitute it to creatures, and to make sure of our eternal salvation, which cost so much to the Son of God, let us beg of Jesus Christ Himself to take charge of it, to lead us in the right way and guide us always. Such an inestimable treasure runs too great a risk in our own hands. Let us trust it to God and our Saviour; let us make Him the Master of our liberty, which we may so easily abuse, and the abuse of which may bring about such terrible consequences. Once abandoned to the safe and infallible guidance of His grace, we have no more to fear. He loves us too much, He takes too much interest in our salvation, ever to lose the price of His Blood and His sufferings.
- taken from Manual for Interior Souls, by Father Jean Nicolas Grou