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Preferring the Narrow Gates

  • SAINT CLAUDE DE LA COLOMBIERE, S.J.

While meditating on the impassibility of Jesus Christ, I examined, I looked into something that can still move me.


asaintCavallini-fresco I have felt an extreme repugnance to obey in certain circumstances.  By God's grace I overcame it and am ready for anything.

I reflected that it is dangerous to make plans, even in matters of slight importance, unless one be quite resolved to drop everything in order to obey or practice charity. Every occupation which one leaves with difficulty and which one would rather keep than do anything else, or even to do nothing, if God should so wish, offers the danger of human attachment.  I have really resolved to be on my guard on this point.

I must have this consolation, with God's grace, of yielding nothing to nature. With God's help I must, before coming to a decision on anything at all, on any proposal that is made to me, I must, I say, consult God, and accustom myself to anticipate the movement which things produce in my soul, by elevating my mind to God, and seeing what thought I ought to have about it according to the Gospel.

Unless I am careful about this, it is impossible to preserve peace of heart and to keep from falling into many faults, because everything that happens appears either agreeable or disagreeable to nature, and it is not from this angle that we must take our view. To keep from doing so there is no means other than this manner of raising my mind to him to whom everything I observe should be referred.

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Acknowledgement

colombiere Saint Claude de la Colombiere, S.J. "Preferring the Narrow Gates." excerpt from Faithful Servant, Spiritual Retreats and Letters of Blessed Claude La Colombiere (St. Louis, Missouri: B. Herder Book Co., 1960).

This excerpt appeared in Magnificat.

The Author

colombiere1colombiere Saint Claude de la Colombiere. S.J. (1641-1682) promoted the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and was the confessor of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. Claude de la Colombiere was born of French noble parents in 1641. In 1674, after 15 years of Jesuit life, Colombiere took a personal vow to observe the Rule and Constitutions of the Society of Jesus. He is the author of Claude La Colombiere Sermons: Volume I: Christian Conduct, The Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence, The Faithful Servant: Spiritual Retreats And Letters Of Blessed Claude La Colombiere, and Spiritual Direction of St Claude de La Columbiere

Copyright © 1960 Public Domain