The Profession of the Dominican Laity

I. IT IS A REAL PROFESSION

A GOOD Christian performs day by day such acts of virtue as befit the station in which Providence has placed him. What more could he do if he were a Tertiary? . . . Take another such Christian, one who belongs to a Third Order, is he any better?

Let us avoid comparisons between individuals. God alone is judge. Let us only consider the aforesaid good Christian and compare his present condition with the state in which he would find himself if he became a Tertiary.

Two things would certainly place him in a more favourable position for striving after Christian perfection. In the first instance, his condition on entering the Third Order would receive a new direction which would regulate his duties and extend them. Then he would be under a stricter obligation to fulfil those duties and would be less liable to omit them. His profession would consequently give him a twofold aid towards the acquisition of greater merits.

A term consecrated by the Church characterizes at the same time this more favourable position and this more binding obligation. By the very fact of his Profession, the Tertiary is introduced is fixed into a "superior state of life." Although it falls short of the state in which those who take the triple vow of religion are established and settled, nevertheless it imitates that state in its quality and duration.

In view of the perfection which he is bound, like any other Christian, to strive for amid the duties of his secular life, the Tertiary has at his disposal special means which are well proved and which have been long since canonized by the Church. They are the Rule and way of life required by the Third Order of which he forms part. "Besides the accomplishment of the ordinary precepts and the duties proper to his state “there are definite observances prescribed for him, " especially assiduous prayer, as far as possible liturgical prayer, the practices of mortification, and apostolic and charitable works for the Faith and the Church, according to his particular state or condition in life" (I. 3).

The ordinary Christian may, of course, in a moment of fervour make like resolutions, impose upon himself similar penances, perform identical religious exercises, and devote himself to the same apostolic or charitable works. But in his case the acts will be more or less spasmodic, at the mercy of chance and the impulse of the passing moment: sooner or later circumstances or instability of character are likely to lead to their being dropped altogether. The Tertiary, on the other hand, by a choice long considered and really personal, by a decision taken when he was completely master of himself, has made profession to lead this life until his death.

Far be it from me to liken the simple Christian who is concerned with his perfection to a man who is a law to himself or who plays fast and loose with the spiritual life, But the Tertiary is undoubtedly admitted into a training school of spirituality and makes a profession of Christian perfection. If he is fully conscious of his Profession, if he takes quite seriously its emblems which he wears, I was going to say its badges which he displays, he will continue unremittingly to strive after perfection according to the principles and the practice of his school. "The Brethren of the Third Order, after their Profession, which is for life, are bound to persevere in this Order, nor may they without a just cause pass to another Third Order" (V. 27).

Still more strongly is it prohibited to "return to the world," as the ancient rule expresses it. "We give order," it says, "that no brothers or sisters of this Order or Fraternity should be allowed, after their Profession, to leave the Order or to return to the world. It is permitted, however, to pass over to one of the approved religious Orders where the three solemn vows are professed."

In such a case, ascent is made to a still more perfect condition of life, to which one is bound still more closely by the vow of religious obedience, which is a promise made to God. In the Third Order there is no promise to God, but a word of honour is given. And that is a great thing. Even in the world the breach of such a pledge is very severely judged. Moreover, this particular undertaking is, like the above-mentioned vow, made in public: it is regulated by the Church and officially accepted by her. It is therefore weighty. One must not lightly bind oneself in that way.

"No one shall be admitted into the Third Order unless, after careful investigation and sufficient testing, he gives reason to hope that he will persevere in his good resolution." Maxime si sit juvenis. If he is young, particular circumspection is necessary (II. 8). Moreover, no one must be inscribed in the Third Order before the completion of his eighteenth year. Only with the sanction of the Prior Provincial, given for adequate reasons, is it allowable to receive a postulant at the age of seventeen (II. 9). Finally, before being admitted to their profession, novices must apply themselves for a year to study the Rule under the direction of the Master of Novices " in order to acquire a knowledge of their obligations, and strive to assimilate the spirit of our Holy Father, St. Dominic " (V. 21).

I can, at any rate, understand the mentality of Blessed Osanna of Mantua, who, after having entered the novitiate of the Third Order at the age of fourteen (it was permissible in those days), deferred making her Profession for forty years. But I can find no excuse for those persons who, after undertaking these solemn engagements, come in the course of time to disregard them altogether. One does not leave a fraternity as one might cease to attend a salon. And the fact of having lost sight of the religious who received one's Profession does not give a dispensation from a contract which was binding "until death."

II. THE OBLIGATION CONTRACTED

The Tertiary has solemnly promised "that henceforth he will live according to the Rule and manner of the Brothers and Sisters of the Order of Penance of St. Dominic" (V. 25).

These words of profession comprise the sum total of the observances that it is intended to practise: they express the desire to live by the Dominican Rule. They also formulate the exact nature of the obligation incurred: they pledge one to this Rule.

Now the Rule of the Third Order of St. Dominic closes with a very important notice: "The precepts of this Rule, except those which are divine or ecclesiastical, do not oblige the Brothers and Sisters under pain of sin before God, but only to the punishment determined by the law or to be imposed by the Prelate or Director in accordance with the prescriptions of Chapter XVIII."

Do not run away with the idea that this regulation implies anything derogatory to the Third Order: do we not find the same thing in the Constitutions of the Friars Preachers and their Sisters of the great Order?

At the Chapter of Bologna (as we learn from Bl. Humbert of Romans), St. Dominic declared, for the consolation of the timorous, that the actual rules were not binding under penalty of sin. St. Thomas also writes in his Summa Theologica: "There is a form of religious life, that of the Order of Friars Preachers, in which transgression or omission does not in itself involve any fault either mortal or venial and is punishable only by a fixed penalty. The reason is that they have bound themselves in this way to the observance of those kinds of regulations." This enactment which St. Dominic originated and which St. Thomas regarded as so very wise has since then been extended by ecclesiastical law to all religious families. Of course, the matter of the three vows is on an altogether different footing, and so is the case of a formal precept imposed on anyone who makes a vow of obedience. But these things do not affect Tertiaries. On the other hand, what follows in the text of St. Thomas does apply also to them. "They may, however, sin, either venially or mortally, if their conduct proceeds from negligence, passion or contempt."

Is it then possible for them, by breach of rule, to commit mortal sin? Yes, in the case of contempt. Total and wilful disregard of their Rule, which is an authorized form of Christian perfection, approved by the Church and voluntarily professed, is direct opposition to the duty of seeking perfection: it is an offence against Holy Church and it is the attitude of an apostate. But contempt of that sort, St. Thomas considers, is rare, even amongst those who often fail to keep the Rule. "An act of transgression or omission, "he says, "implies contempt when the will of its perpetrator rebels against the precept of the law or of the rule, and, when it is this rebellious spirit which makes him act in opposition to the law or the rule. But when it is a particular motive, such as concupiscence or anger, which induces him to infringe the law or the rule, he is not sinning from contempt but from some other motive even should the lapse recur frequently for the same motive or one similar. St. Augustine also states that every sin does not originate in contempt. Nevertheless, constant repetition of a fault predisposes us to contempt."

If there is no contempt, the sin can only be venial: it will never be mortal, and this should reassure over-timorous souls. Nevertheless, some measure of venial sin, slight though it may sometimes be, is always entailed by the voluntary and unreasonable infringement of the Rule.

Why seeing that the Rule does not bind under penalty of sin?

What is prescribed in the Rule does not of itself bind under penalty of sin, it is true. But my conduct must always conform to what is enjoined by my reason, the reflection in me of the eternal order. I must not make myself responsible for any action or omission which my reason could not fully justify in view of my last end. In order the better to direct my life towards its supreme goal I made profession of this Rule and I am bound constantly to take it into consideration. I may indeed happen to have an adequate motive for not observing some special practice and then I do right to omit it. But if I omit it under the influence of some passion, I am sinning against the virtue which ought to have controlled that passion and to have brought rational order into my conduct. If there is not passion, there may have been simple negligence. I omit a prayer pre- scribed for me by the Rule through carelessness, or I say it without proper attention. In all such cases I am culpable, because I have not conformed my conduct to the order of my reason.

Furthermore, a Tertiary must perform the penance which the Rule or the Superior imposes for faults. It is sometimes asserted that this, at least, is binding under penalty of sin. Why? Is it not an article of the Rule like any other? Not more than the rest does it bind us under penalty of sin, seeing that we are not told that it forms an exception. This is the teaching of Cajetan, who is a great authority on the question. But here again a voluntary omission brought about by negligence or passion is not free from sin. And here there would be more likelihood that the sin might become mortal, because systematic refusal to perform penances imposed for faults would be very apt to lead to contempt.

We are now in a position to understand the sense and the implications of the last paragraph in the Rule of the Dominican Third Order. After stating that its injunctions do not bind under penalty of sin against God, but only bind us to the penance fixed by the Rule or laid down by the Director of the Chapter or Fraternity, it adds: " Mindful, however, of their Profession, let all the Brethren observe the ordinations of this Rule by the help of the grace of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."

In order to observe faithfully the Rule which they have embraced, Tertiaries should re-read it from time to time. Perhaps on the day of their Profession they heard themselves addressed by the Director of the Dominican Fraternity in the terms of an ancient formulary. The words only state the exact truth: "Receive, Brother, this Rule as a lasting record and memorial of the promise you made to-day. Know that it will be shown to you at the Last Judgment by the holy angels for your glory and security if you have kept it ; if, on the other hand, you have neglected it, it will be turned against you by your accusers to your despair and shame. Take it there- fore with your hands, embrace it with your mind, that embracing it in deed, it may profit you unto life everlasting."

III. RISKS AND SPIRITUAL ADVANTAGES

The Tertiary's "order sheet" is therefore one which is calculated to reduce to a minimum the spiritual dangers to which he is exposed, whilst at the same time providing him with enormous advantages.

Risks there are, undeniably. It stands to reason that if we have placed ourselves in a state which entails more claims upon us, we shall have more opportunities for failure. However, the sins to which we become liable as Tertiaries will only be venial. I shall never commit more than a venial sin by omitting to perform an act prescribed by the Rule, but not commanded by God or the Church. As we have said, only in the case of contempt is there mortal sin, and contempt is rare. Moreover, I may assure you that it is not confined to Tertiaries. The ordinary Christian, anyone, in fact, who absolutely despises a precept, reduces his soul to a state of anarchy which is deadly to him.

Undoubtedly, in giving way to such contempt, the Christian would be more guilty of ingratitude than an infidel, and the Tertiary still more so. Similarly, the sin of a Tertiary may afford more matter for scandal than that of the ordinary Christian, and for that reason may be charged with special gravity.

The above, then, constitute all the risks incurred by those who make their Profession. In practice they are very slight.

The advantages, on the other hand, are immense and far more than compensate for any possible drawbacks. Who would venture to condemn as evil all modern means of rapid transit, on the ground that they sometimes give rise to accidents? To reach the distant spot to which I wish to go, I consider the railway preferable to a journey on foot. So also I shall find in the Rule of the Third Order a superior way which will more satisfactorily lead me to my last end. Moreover, it carries with it an insurance policy against accidents. To the Tertiary may be applied a great proportion of the remarks which St. Thomas makes about the Religious: "His sin, if it is a light one, is to some extent covered by his numerous good deeds. And if he should chance to commit a mortal sin, he recovers himself more readily, primarily because his intention which he usually directs towards God, but which has deviated for a moment, springs back almost spontaneously… as happened in the case of him who said: 'I know, not this man/ and who shortly afterwards, when the Lord had looked at him, began to weep bitterly… Besides, his brethren help him to rise, as it is written, If one falleth, another will support him.' But woe betide the solitary who falls: he has no one to come to his help."

Let us not be amongst those timid souls who can see nothing but the possible risks. St. Thomas, in the passage just quoted, speaks of the good deeds which absorb the sins to which one is exposed. He who has made a profession, albeit without religious vows, participates in proportion to the stability of his profession in the advantages derived from permanent vows. There is more certainty and more merit attached to his performance of good deeds. More certainty, because he has pledged himself to do them and consequently is less liable to omit them.

But is there really more merit? Is it not more meritorious to offer work to God spontaneously with one's liberty unfettered?

Let us consider this point. You are not acting under compulsion when you act on the strength of a promise freely made to God. And, by the very fact of your having offered to God in perpetuity your power of action, you have subjected yourself to Him far more fully than if you were only to offer Him a series of acts. Is not the man who makes a present of the tree more generous than he who makes annual offerings of its fruit? Moreover, when, after serious consideration, I have made profession to do good at all times, my will works with a stronger attraction to that good than if I act on impulse as the result of passing emotion. If a good disposition prevails, the vow itself does not preclude continual self- surrenders to God in joy. Even at times of temptation and weakness, a certain sense of satisfaction is felt at being bound by past promises. It is rather like a patient who is not quite sure of himself and allows himself to be tied down to undergo a painful operation. Finally, in addition to the merit of the particular virtue I practise in performing a good act, the virtue of penance, for instance, when I fast, there is the yet higher merit of obedience. For here the great advantage of this kind of profession comes in. By breaches of the Rule one does not sin against obedience, and by observing it one acquires the merit of obedience. If its precepts do not serve to increase our danger of sinning they hold good to help us to win merit, and such great merit! As St. Thomas teaches, the merit of an act of virtue consists in the fact that a man despises a creature in order to cleave to God. After the theological virtues, which definitely lead us to cleave to God, there can hardly be a more meritorious moral virtue than obedience. Does it not make us despise the best of our created possessions, our will, simply to enable us to cleave to God?

I cannot find anyone to whom I can better compare our Tertiary than to a son who works for his father. The father does not force him; but is that going to make the son neglect the good of the house? Such conduct would indeed be folly: it would prove him to be an unworthy son and would display the mind of a hireling or of a slave. As a rule, the son will do more than a servant, whilst his work is performed with the ready alacrity of a volunteer. Nevertheless, he is acquiring the full merits of obedience. His obedience is all the better for being steeped in love, based on his affection for his father and his interest in the good of the house.

The Spirit of St. Dominic

by Fr. Ferdinand-Donatien Joret, O.P.


I. WHAT IS THE SPIRIT OF A RELIGIOUS ORDER?

There are some religious congregations that have little to distinguish them beyond the name of the place that gave them birth, or some particular devotion which they practise more specially and from which they derive their name. The Order of St. Dominic, on the other hand, is one of those which, upon their appearance, constituted a new species in the Church. It is an Order which is definitely distinguished from others. Whilst the elements that enter into its composition are not all of them original, their organization at least is the outcome of an original conception.

This organization finds its full scope in the First Order, that of the Friars Preachers. Its aim, though complex, is clearly defined, and the means are perfectly regulated with a view to that end.

Like every other religious Order, it strives to realize in each one of its members the perfection of charity. Only, in its case, charity takes the form of contemplation. The love of God prompts the Dominican soul to fix upon Him the eyes of the intelligence. The Friar Preacher does not apply himself to contemplation with the sole object of procuring food for his preaching. Contemplation is for him a true end, to be sought for its own sake, the highest of all ends, the beginning here below of life eternal. But although contemplation is not just a means to the apostolate, although the life of union with God marks the summit of Dominican life, nevertheless, it is the source of the apostolate. Our contemplation must overflow and find its outlet in apostolic action.

 

We shall, accordingly, impart to others the fruits of our contemplation. This communication will take many forms, of which the most important are the teaching of sacred science, the preaching of Christian doctrine and spiritual direction.

We see, then, that whilst for us contemplation and the apostolate are two ends, they are not parallel and casually connected, still less are they subordinated the one to the other, as though the contemplation were made for the apostolate, but they are ends, the second of which arises from the superabundance of the first so surely that Dominican contemplation naturally overflows into the apostolate. Everything must be subservient to that twofold end. Poverty, chastity, obedience, the great fundamental means, not to speak of the various observances of monastic and canonical life, all take a colouring of their own in view of the goal for which they must be adapted, relaxed or extended as the case may require.

Great as is their use, vows and observances are more or less negative means. They separate us from the world and deliver us from its snares and anxieties. But the Friar Preacher, thus set free and protected, has to apply himself to the great positive means through which he must strive to reach his goal. Those means are choral prayer and, above all, religious study. By them we attain immediately to the contemplation and the apostolate to which we are vowed.

Such is, briefly stated, Dominican life in its perfection.

 

Just as there is in every man a spirit which is the substantial form of the human composite and which determines its organization, so also there is a Dominican spirit which has formed this composite whole, which maintains good relations between its various elements and animates all our life. Let us try to define it. By so doing we shall render good service to our Tertiaries, who must permeate their entire conduct with that spirit if they wish to be faithful to the Order to which they belong. They will not readily find in their Rule the majority of the elements we have mentioned as ends and means in the life of the Friars Preachers. Indeed, the various prescripts of this Rule, literally taken, do not differ materially from those of other Third Orders, or from those of certain pious associations. This is not to be wondered at. It is by the spirit which animates their observances that they must be distinguishable from the other groups, and must fit themselves into St. Dominic's great Order.

The Church understands this and recognizes a real incompatibility between different Third Orders, as well as between the religious profession in one Order and the Tertiary state in another. A Franciscan religious may not be Dominican Tertiary, nor can one person belong, at the same time, to the Third Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis without a very special dispensation.

The spirit of these divers groups is not identical, albeit the spirit of all is Christian. In Our Lord the Christian spirit was manifested in its fulness. The different religious Orders emphasize different features of their divine model. Each one sounds its own note. From the combination of these notes the Church obtains a noble harmony which attempts to reproduce the perfect beauty of Jesus Christ a beauty that could be represented entirely by none of them singly.

Let nobody be so fatuous, so narrow minded as to despise the part assigned to others. (Does the eye despise the ear ? Does the mouth jeer at the wounded foot which has been cut by the stones on the highway?) At the same time, let everyone remain faithful to his own role, and to enable him to play it aright let him be permeated with its spirit.

The Dominican spirit is made up of principles, maxims, motives, tendencies, sentiments and tastes, in accordance with which we must rule ourselves in the Order of St. Dominic, under all circumstances and in all branches of the Order.

Manifold and varied are the occupations of the different congregations of our Third Order regular. And widely dissimilar are the family conditions and the civil avocations of our secular Tertiaries. But "because every spirit possesses the prerogatives of spiritual nature, which are simplicity and liberty (that is to say, the possibility of realizing itself in degrees infinitely varied), whoever shares in a spirit can aspire to the plenitude and total perfection of that spirit, no matter to what kind of life he may be called. On the other hand, it is quite possible, alas, to accomplish all the external activities required by our Order without living by its spirit, or again we may be tempted to think that this spirit is confined to certain forms to the exclusion of others which are, however, no less Dominican." (1)

It is for the novice whom the Order of St. Dominic has taken to its bosom to assimilate the spirit of the family which has adopted him.

II. WHERE IS THE TRUE SPIRIT OF OUR ORDER TO BE FOUND?

God Himself can best reveal to us the spirit that should inspire our conduct. Therefore nothing is so potent to obtain it for our souls as humble, trustful and persevering prayer. The Three Persons Who said: "Let Us make man to Our image," also took counsel together to produce this particular spirit which was to become incarnate in each one of the members of our Order equally and impartially. Only in the mind of God does the Dominican ideal exist in its absolute purity. The Father expresses it in the Son and They both love it in the Spirit of Love. The joy of apprehending it and of delighting in it will be vouchsafed to us when we attain to the Heavenly Vision.

Here below we see it manifested in those who have most fully realized in themselves the ideal God has conceived. And first of all in St. Dominic, our Father.

On March 18th, 1924, the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius XI, wrote to the Superiors of Regular Orders as follows: "Above all we exhort religious to take as their model their own founder, their fatherly lawgiver, if they wish to have a sure and certain share in the graces which flow from their vocation. Actually when those eminent men created their institutions, what did they do but obey divine inspirations? Therefore the character which each one strove to impress upon his society must be retained by all its members if it is to remain faithful to its original ideal. As good sons let them devote themselves heart and soul to honour their father and lawgiver, to observe his precepts and to imbibe his spirit."

So we too must be steeped in St. Dominic's spirit - as it came to be gradually understood by our Blessed Father himself and as he finally evolved it. Not until the closing years of his life did St. Dominic, formulating his idea at last, arrive at a clear-cut conception of his Order. Until then it had been but an intuition which God had placed in him: persistent and powerful though it was, it remained mysteriously hidden in the depths of the soul of Jane of Aza's son, of the student of Palencia, of the Canon of Osma, and of the King of Spain's ambassador. The conclusion, to which he was led by perfect self-surrender to divine influence, coincided with the idea God had had for him from the beginning.

Like the Father Who expresses Himself in His Eternal Word, Dominic had a son who formulated his thoughts with a precision and a forcefulness which can never be surpassed. I have called St. Thomas Aquinas the word of our Father. We have none of St. Dominic's writings. The witnesses to his life at the process for his canonization mention the notes with which he covered his books, the theses he wrote against heretics, precious letters addressed to his friars to direct them in his precepts. . . . Alas ! they have all of them been lost. However, we have the works of St. Thomas to console us.

The ardent zeal which inspired the Count of Aquino's son, already received into a Benedictine Abbey, to persist in his efforts to enter the Dominican Order which realized his ideal, enabled him afterwards triumphantly to vindicate that ideal when it was attacked by William of St. Amour and other masters of the University, and to live up to it until his death. No one was ever better qualified to express what our spirit ought to be. Take his Summa Theologica and study the moral part, which is later and still more able and finished than the dogmatic part. Everything in it helps to define the character of the Order which St. Dominic conceived, and which is placed by St. Thomas at the head of the hierarchy of religious Orders. (2)

By his theological teaching he has sealed the Dominican spirit with his own permanent seal. The spirituality of the Preachers has been profoundly influenced by "dear St. Thomas, the Master, the shining light," as Bl. Henry Suso called him. From henceforth the Dominican spirit and the Thomist spirit are one and the same for the humblest Tertiary as for the Master in Theology. Read the life of that fourteenth-century Sienese mantellata, "one of the most amazingly simple souls who ever drew nigh to God." "Ignorant though she is, St. Catherine of Siena is steeped in the same spirit" (as St. Thomas). "In artless speech which recalls the Romaunt of the Rose, she utters pious thoughts which are redolent of the sweet fragrance of the purest Thomism." (3)
 

After St. Dominic and St. Thomas, she is the greatest figure in our Order. Born into the world at a time when St. Dominic's family, like the rest of Christendom, was experiencing a phase of great religious relaxation, she exercised a powerful influence over a group of Preachers who became the promoters of a reform movement amongst their brethren. After her death in 1380 at the age of thirty-three, her confessor and spiritual son, Raymund of Capua, having been elected Master General, laboured to restore the ancient discipline. Following Raymund of Capua and his collaborators we always call St. Catherine of Siena our mother.

Since we have compared our founder and our great doctor to the Eternal Father and the Word, we may well say that in the Dominican trinity she takes the part of the Holy Spirit. It would have been possible so to abuse Thomist intellectualism as to have been satisfied with a beautiful system, logically constructed, of mere philosophical and theological abstractions. The humble, noble-hearted woman whom the Holy Spirit overwhelms with His mystical favours helps us to preserve in the spirit of our Order the fervour of love which cleaves to reality, even to the reality of God. It is precisely this divine reality that must be born in us ; we must consecrate ourselves to it and we must bear witness to it before the world. St. Catherine. gives us no encouragement to relegate to a secondary plane that pursuit of truth which St. Thomas, following St. Dominic, placed first. Like them, she is eminently intellectual and rational.

Many other saints, many other blessed and venerable persons, have defined and have lived the Dominican ideal between the thirteenth century and our own. We shall speak of many in the following pages. But it is more particularly to these three great souls that we must turn to discover the characteristics that should mark our life, the principles and sentiments that must guide our conduct, in short, all that constitutes what we call our spirit.

 

III. WHAT CONSTITUTES THE DOMINICAN SPIRIT?

One word summarizes our spirit: it is the "motto" which appears at the top of the shield marked with the black and white cross. Veritas! We are the knighthood of truth.

Others have Pax or Caritas or Gloria Dei. None of these is outside the orbit of the Dominican soul, but she will reach them by the way of truth: it is in the light of truth that she looks at everything. Truth sets off and quickens the elements that she shares with other Christian forms of spirituality. A thirst for truth will be the ruling sentiment of our soul.

When we sing the praises of our Father, in a noble hymn every night after returning from our procession to the altar of Our Queen and Lady, Mary, we call St. Dominic "light of the Church, doctor of the Truth":  we say that he pours forth the water of wisdom and that his preaching diffuses grace. And if we add that he was a "rose of patience" and "ivory of chastity," these are but the accompaniments of his fundamental vocation to be a man dedicated to the truth. He espoused the faith as St. Francis espoused poverty. (4) Whereas St. Benedict wished that "nothing should take precedence of the divine praise," St. Dominic placed study in the forefront of his own life and of ours. St. Bruno forsook the schools to seek the wildest solitude and to shut himself up there: Dominic founded his priories and convents in the heart of the town and particularly in university centres to study and teach there. St. Bernard, like St. Augustine, wished his monks to spend much time in manual work: St. Dominic did not hesitate to suppress such labours entirely in order that spiritual work alone should be undertaken.

All ancient observances that he retained are subordinated and adapted to the pursuit of truth. Francis of Assisi, putting poverty above all else, reproved a young disciple who wished to study theology, on the ground that possession of the requisite books would entail unfaithfulness to holy poverty. Dominic, on the other hand, looks upon poverty as a release from temporal anxieties to facilitate concentration upon study. Moreover, he authorizes his disciples to possess, as he did himself, the books which are the instruments of knowledge. Dominic, the former canon of Osma, attached though he was to choral prayer, nevertheless shortened the time set apart for the Divine Office to allow of more time for study.

Brother John of Navarre, who had known our Father intimately, solemnly deposed, during the process for his canonization, that both by word of mouth and by letter he often urged upon the friars continual study of theology and of the sacred Scriptures. St. Catherine of Siena in her Dialogue rejoices to hear the Eternal Father praise that love of science which characterizes the "barque" of Dominic. "Our Order is the first," said Humbert of Romans, "to have thus linked study to the religious life, prius habuit studium cum religione conjunction." (5)

It is not the pleasure of cultivating our mind that underlies our intellectual efforts: it is love of Him Who is the Truth itself, it is the love of God. Dominic seeks God in the sacred books where He has revealed Himself. Always, as he trod the highways which lead to Rome, he turned in search of God to the infallible Master of sacred doctrine.

"What is God?" was the oft-repeated question of the little child in whom the Dominican vocation was beginning to awake, and who was to work until the end of his life to compile the Summa of what man can know on that divine subject. "Our spirit," said St. Thomas, "must strive unceasingly to know God more and more." (6)

St. Catherine of Siena bids us gaze upon God with a wide-open eye, the pupil of which is faith. Even simple Tertiaries should be relatively better instructed and more intellectual than other Christians, and assuredly no Dominican soul worthy of the name will ever prefer sentimental dreams to the certainties of the faith.

Study ought to upraise us towards God and lead us on to contemplate His perfections, His government and His activity within us. This contemplation will be the highest expression of that appreciation of truth which characterizes the Dominican soul. It must be attempted even by those who cannot make long and profound meditation. To help them St. Dominic instituted the Rosary, which places the contemplation of the Christian mysteries within the reach of everyone. As Pere Lemonnyer notes with pleasure in his book upon the Friars Preachers, it was by Masters of Theology that this splendid devotion was restored and propagated in the fifteenth century. (7)

Although St. Dominic placed study above every other means, he did not wish liturgical prayer to be sacrificed to it. For he rightly recognized the divine Office as the chief method authoritatively established by the Church for raising the soul to God. Moreover, he was irresistibly attracted to it by his appetite for truth. The Office of the Choir, with High Mass as its centre, seemed to him a perfect harmony of rites and forms well calculated to foster those contemplative intuitions which study begets and which it is easy afterwards to prolong in private prayer. This theme we shall deal with more fully presently.

We shall also explain how this cherished truth, once known and lovingly contemplated, must influence our whole conduct. We must set ourselves with fervent zeal to live the truth, to spread the truth and to defend the truth.

Entirely taken up with God and with giving Him the first place in the realm of action as in the realm of prayer, and knowing himself only in God, in accordance with St. Catherine's advice, a Dominican is wholly intent upon following the grace which God gives him through Jesus Christ Our Lord and Our Lady and Virgin Mary, in order to actualize his Creator's idea. The intellectual virtue of prudence, of which St. Dominic was such a shining example both in his own life and in the organization of his Order, and to which St. Thomas consecrated a long Treatise in his Summa (thus differing from other moralists who only give a few pages to the subject), and which St. Catherine, a worthy sister of St. Thomas, so strongly urges on us under the name of "santa virtu della discretions" prudence, I repeat, that is to say the just appreciation of how to regulate our conduct, plays a leading part in the life of a Dominican soul. St. Paul's words, "doing the truth in charity," might well serve as its motto.

Treading in the footprints of St. Dominic, who was ever ready to preach and defend the truth, affiliated to the Order of Preachers, whom the Pope, in approving them, styled "Champions of the faith and lights of the world," every Dominican, even those of the Third Order, will be eager to enlighten those who are, deprived of the truth and also to avenge the truth when it is attacked.

Moreover, no one can be admitted to the Third Order until it is satisfactorily established that he is an orthodox Catholic and is zealous to promote and defend the truth of the faith to the best of his ability. Where these dispositions are lacking, there cannot be a Dominican vocation. And it is by developing them that we shall prove ourselves to be true sons of St. Dominic (II. 8).

Following the example of Our Lord on the night before His crucifixion, St. Dominic, as he lay dying, prayed for his children ; and he promised that he would continue to pray for them on high. Our Patriarch's petition might almost be summed up in Our Lord's supreme prayer: "Sanctifica eos in veritate: Sanctify them in the Truth!"

 

 

NOTES:
(1) Fr. Couturier in V Annie Dominicaine of July, 19345 p. 206.

(2) Ila Ilae, q. 188, a. 6. 

(3) FF. Rousselot and Huby, S.J., in Christus, 1 133.

(4) Dante, Pdradiso, XII, 61.

(5) Humbert, Opera, t. II, p. 29.

(6) De Trin.. II, i, ad 7.

(7) Les Freres Pr&heurs, p. 103.

 

 

 

Source:

F.D. Joret, O.P. Dominican Life. London: Sands & Co. Limited, 1937  

 

Manliness

by Fr. Francis Xavier Lasance, 1910

Manliness implies self-control, conscientiousness, moral courage, fearless discharge of duty in the face of obloquy and prejudice, firm determination to do what is right because it is right and pleasing to God, without regard to human respect, expediency, or popularity, a steadfast adherence to one's religious principles and convictions — in a word, an upright Christian character.

“Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power:
Yet not for power — power by herself
Would come uncalled for — but to live by law.
Acting the law we live by without fear;
And, because right is right, to follow right
Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.”
—Tennyson

“Act like a man;

take courage and do;

and be not dismayed”

- 1 Paralipomenon 28:20*

“Do ye manfully,

and let your heart be strengthened

—all ye that hope in the Lord”

- Psalm 30:25**

“Behold, I command thee, take courage and be strong.

Fear not, and be not dismayed;

because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things”

- Josue 1:9***

“If God be for us, who is against us?”

- Romans 8:31

“He that feareth man shall quickly fall:

he that trusteth in the Lord, shall be set on high”

- Proverbs 29:25

“I myself will comfort you;

who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid

of a mortal man, who shall wither away like grass?”

- Isaiah 51:12

“Who is he that can hurt you, if you be zealous of good?”

- 1 Peter 3:13

Strive to be a manly man! A manly man is a man of character; one who is controlled by conscience; one who does his duty under all circumstances; one who is swayed by reason, by faith, by moral principles - not by every passing impulse, not by transient emotions, not by fancy or caprice, not by human respect. A manly man is one who is endowed with the courage of his convictions; one who is conscientious, sincere, truthful, honest, upright, just and charitable, unselfish and magnanimous, kind and gentle: one who practises what he preaches, whose life is consistent with his faith; one who heeds the admonition of his Creator: “walk before Me and be perfect” (Genesis 17:1); “Thou shalt be perfect and without spot before the Lord thy God” (Deuteronomy 18:13); one, in fine, who may be called truly a Christian gentleman – who seeks to please God first and always, and then observes the Golden Rule: “As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them in like manner.” (Luke 6:31)



Vacillation of mind, feebleness of will, unsteadiness of purpose, want of courage, energy, and perseverance – these militate against success in the battle of life, and impede a man's progress in the way of virtue and perfection.

A firm will underlies every good and strong character, and to the lack of it must be attributed much unhappiness and misery in the world.

Strength of character includes both firmness of will and the power of self-restraint. A man, for instance, who yields to anger, and whose bursts of fury make his subjects tremble, may appear to be strong, as he ruthlessly bears all before him, but he is really weak – pitiably weak. He has not conquered himself; he is mastered by his passions. He lacks self-control, and therefore he is not strong. That man is great, that man is strong, who subdues his feelings, suppresses his evil inclinations, and bridles his passions.

“The patient man is better than the valiant,

and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh cities”

-  Proverbs 16:32

“He is most powerful who has himself in his power.”

- Seneca

“He who reigns within himself and rules passions, desires, and fears,

is more than a king.”

– Milton

“There never did and never will exist anything permanently noble and excellent in a character which was a stranger to the exercise of resolute self-denial.”

– Sir Walter Scott.

Statue of St. Paul at the
National Shrine of St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Sto. Tomas, Batangas
(c) Vincent Domingo

 

Father Von Doss, S.J., (Thoughts and Counsels for Catholic Young Men, Von Doss-Wirth) says:

"There are characters so wavering that one is scarcely able to describe or portray them. Now joyous, now sad; sometimes disposed to good; again inclined to evil; at one time impetuous, at another hesitating, in constant agitation, in eternal waves of commotion – their hearts remain even to themselves inexplicable riddles. Such men are tossed on the ocean of life, like ships without rudder or helm.

"'Do you not know that it is said of the fool that he is changed as the moon (Ecclesiasticus 27:12),**** and of the just man that he is an everlasting foundation? (Proverbs 10:25).

"Alas I for those soft, unstable characters which are capable of being molded at will!

"Who shall discover in such a youth the man of the future? He is full of inconsistencies. In his changeable nature timidity sometimes yields to a spirit of enterprise; coldness, to that of enthusiasm. He is given to violent and easily formed attachments! Although susceptible to virtue, yet evil impressions leave behind in his heart far deeper traces.

"This inconstancy takes such a hold on some, that even their exterior – their looks, carriage, gait, speech, and gestures – bear testimony to it.

"God grant that a young man of that sort may never be approached by a seducer! What an easy prey he would find!

"There are characters so flighty that even God's grace seems inefficacious in their regard. Interior admonitions, salutary inspirations, good example – all these, and even more, produce no effect; for the volatile soul pays no attention to them, refuses to co-operate with them.

"Pitiable characters, who can be transformed into reliable men only with great difficulty and the most indefatigable perseverance!

"Yet such natures are by no means incorrigible.

"No, young man! despond not! Earnest efforts must be successful.

"First of all, be humble, and acknowledge your inconstancy. Then, endeavor to cope with it in detail.

"Have the courage necessary to keep a strict watch over yourself for a time; and by continually renewing your good resolutions fight against the failings you discover within you.

"Accustom yourself to quiet and reflection. Do not act precipitately nor impetuously. Render an account to yourself of all that you do.

"Do not permit your feelings to get the upper hand; rather strive to become the master of your own heart.

"Nothing is more disgusting than a sentimental piety,

"Nothing is further from perfection than that external piety which derives its sweetness from the feelings alone.

"Nothing is more inefficacious than a piety which lives only on impressions.

"Of course, there is a sensible devotion, and it is of value; for it is a gift of the Holy Ghost and may be made an excellent means of virtue. But there is, also, a disposition of the heart – we may call it a sort of dainty piety – which is a great drawback to virtue. It inflates the spirit, and leaves the heart empty. It seizes upon the spiritual tidbits, while good, substantial food is wanting to the soul.

"Do you know in what manly piety consists? In this – that man's will (which constitutes his manliness) be employed in its full strength for God's honor and glory, in His holy service.

"If a commandment of God is to be kept, it is ready to keep it.

"If a good fight is to be fought for principle and virtue, it is ready for action.

"If a difficulty is to be overcome, it is ready for the task.

"Manly piety does not, by any means, despise or disregard external practices of piety, but it regulates them and brings them in harmony with the duties of one's station in life; it keeps away everything extraordinary, and despising the mere appearance, and insisting more upon the interior spirit, it reaches to the heart. Proceeding to sacrifice, it labors and toils, struggles and conquers.

"Does it appear to you, that too much is required of you when you are asked to cultivate such manliness?

"Make, at least, the attempt, and begin. 'Lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees.' (Hebrews 12:12)

"There are children enough, and plenty of weaklings. Be manly; and, although young in years, put to shame those who call themselves mature, although not such either in thought or deed.

"The world needs men – not grand geniuses or plausible talkers. It is not sentimentality and dreams that will save it, but acts and deeds. It was not merely by revelations and visions that the saints became such, but by spiritual combat, by self-denial, and overcoming the enemies of their souls.

"Expect the Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait thou for the Lord” (Psalm 26:14).*****

"There is only one thing of which a man ought to be ashamed – of evil – to do evil, or to have done it.

"But, miserably enough, he is often ashamed of the very opposite, of avoiding evil and doing good.

"The thought of being ridiculed, blamed, or despised by others, disquiets him; he becomes confused and alarmed; he acts contrary to his better convictions. The inspiration to good is flighted, the favorable opportunity passes – he is overcome – conscience, virtue, God, are surrendered!

"Young people yield easier than others to this false shame, this foolish fear – because their imaginations are so lively, their minds so susceptible to all impressions.

"How many conversions from evil to good, and from good to better, does not this human respect prevent! How much evil does it not cause, how much good does it not frustrate!

"What will they think of me? What will they say to it? They will laugh at me, ridicule me. How can I separate myself from this, or from that? How can I give up this one or that one? They will think hard of me; it will look odd and singular!

"The whole world is full of such cowards and often those who boast most of their independence are the most pitiful slaves of this mean passion.

"Honor – much abused word! Does honor consist in cowardly compliance, in a more than untimely readiness to please? in sacrificing conscience? in surrendering our highest and best convictions?

"Has he honor who lies down in cringing servitude — the bond-slave of a word, a jest, a look, a reproach?

"Coward! – for such you are, and as such you are regarded even by those to whom you yield – coward! Why do you suffer yourself to be thus enslaved?

"Are those whom you so much fear your legitimate lords and masters?

"God alone is, by right, your Lord and Master. From Him you have your being; He can take it away from you at His pleasure, whenever He wills – and not they. He shall one day judge you. His good pleasure must be of more value to you than all the displeasure of men. God's displeasure can not be outweighed by all the good pleasure of men.

"'Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you shall fear: fear ye Him who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell. I say to you, fear Him' (Luke 2:4-5)

"Alas! what an insult do you offer to God by preferring man before him! Are you, then, ashamed of God?

"What is more honorable than to serve God? to do His holy will? Is He not the King of heaven and earth? Is He not the best, the highest, the loveliest, and the most beautiful?

"How, if God should, one day, be ashamed of you? If, on the terrible judgment day He let you perish in your nothingness? If, then, He should deny you, as you deny Him now, if He should refuse to know you? What then?

"'Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His majesty' (Luke 9:26), says the Lord – and He will keep His word.

"Tell me, at least, before whom are you ashamed?

"Before the good and virtuous? Before those who will, one day, come with the saints of heaven to sit in judgment over the world?

"Is it not rather before sinners, evil-doers, perverts, and fools? Yes, indeed – fools. The Sacred Scripture says: 'Fools hate them that flee from evil things' (Proverbs 13:19). Yes, indeed – sinners. 'The worship of God is an abomination to a sinner' (Sirach 1:32).*^ And again: 'He that walketh in the right, and feareth God, is despised by him that goeth by an infamous way' (Proverbs 14:2).

"Are you so sensitive as to the recognition or respect of men? Why, then, do you not labor for the esteem and praise of the just and good?

"Why all these cowardly fears? Is virtue, then, something disgraceful? What has any worth, if not it, and it alone?

"Riches vanish, honors evaporate, pleasures slip away – virtue, valuable in itself, recognized by God, fostered by the noblest and best of men – an object of envy, even to the wicked – virtue remains, reaches even beyond the grave – crowns, and is crowned – reigns in, and for, all eternity! 'They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.' (Daniel 12:3)

"Can it be possible that you are ashamed of your nature, of your existence, of your destiny? Unheard-of folly! Is the bird ashamed of flying, the fish of swimming? And is not the service of God your nature, your element, your end and aim? 'Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is all man.' (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

"You are afraid of being thought singular, odd, queer, peculiar?

"But, are you not aware that, as a virtuous man, you will always be singular, odd, queer, peculiar, in a world of sinners?

"Not to be singular in the sense of the wicked, is to renounce all virtue.

"If you do not walk in the broad way of destruction, you are singular; if you walk in the straight path, and seek the narrow gate, you separate yourself from the vast multitude that rush through the wide portals into everlasting ruin.

"Remain singular! The singular ones go into heaven, whilst the children of the world remain outside.

"Say, young man, what will become of you, if you accommodate yourself to the sentiments and conduct of certain youthful companions? If you praise what they praise, blame what they blame, do as they do? Do they not travel in crowds upon the broad road of sin and sensuality?

"No, you have a conscience; you have your principles, drawn from the Gospel; act according to these, and ask for nothing else.

"It is time for you to become a man; to be, in the fullest sense of the word, manly. You talk and dream so much of self-dependence; where is it?

"Is there question of principles? The loosest are those of the majority; they are favored. Honor, revenge, dueling, suicide, are permissible, or at least excusable, acts. As to morality, if one only avoid the most flagrant crimes, if he but escape talk and publicity – for the rest, human weakness deserves some indulgence; we are not angels.

"Here, a double-meaning word is spoken – you remain silent; there, a smutty one – you show no sign of disapproval; again, a vulgar one – you laugh at it. And, in order to avoid all suspicion of narrow-mindedness, one at last joins in, applauds, contributes his share, out-does – yea, vies with the rudest in nastiness, and thereby purchases for himself among young libertines and low companions the unenviable reputation of being a good fellow – of a young man that knows how to live – who lives and lets live – a liberal, broad-minded young man full of 'go.'

"In the dictionary of worldlings and sinners, intemperance is excusable weakness; idleness – necessary relaxation; endless, and too often passionate play – pastime; reading of sensual books – culture, knowledge of the world; extravagance – generosity; vanity and affectation – civility; flattery – courtesy; untruth – necessary reticence; ambiguity – prudence; dishonesty – clever calculation.

"'Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter' (Isaiah 5:20), for men's sake!

"The slave of human respect is like a puppet, involuntarily performing all the motions which Satan and the world compel it to.

"Pitiful role – especially for a young man, who should carry his free, noble brow high in air, and not suffer it to bear the brand of a miserable bondage to creatures!

"Evil companions may sneer at you because you discharge the duties of your station; because you study, labor, and make good use of your time. Answer, I know what I am about!

"They may entice you to carousals, to dangerous amusements. Say, I will not go with you!

"They may press you to learn the cause of your change of life. Tell them, That concerns me alone!

"They may mock at your altered demeanor. Let them go on; blunt arrows do no harm.

"They may laugh at your conscientiousness. Pity their want of conscience.

"Contradict when and where necessary; have courage; defend yourself. Here defiance is necessary and right.

"The worst thing that could happen to you in this case would be the best – that such people would let you alone.

"Oh, happiness, to be rid of such perverse and false friends, and to be able, at last, to breathe freely once more!

"'Thou hast broken my bonds: I will sacrifice to Thee, the sacrifice of praise' (Psalm 115:16-17),*^^ to serve Thee as I must; to love Thee as I can; to be guided only by holy fear, as I should!

"'Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me, and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed.' (Luke 9:26)

"'Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth' (Exodus 23:2).

"'But if you also suffer anything for justice’ sake, blessed are ye. And be not afraid of their fear, and be not troubled' (1 Peter 3:14).

"'For God hath scattered the bones of them that please men; they have been confounded, because God hath despised them' (Psalm 52:6)*^^^

"'With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed' (Ecclesiasticus 1:13)*^^^^

St. Aloysius is the perfect model for all young men in regard to purity and manliness. Pope Benedict XIII named him patron of youth.

Father Rickaby, S.J., commenting on this in “Ye are Christ's,” says: “Our Lord, we may say, has ratified and carried into effect the nomination of his Vicar. St. Aloysius has taken a strong hold on our boys. This seems to be some part of the reward given him of God even on earth, where he renounced so much. Then again every Catholic boy appreciates that virtue which is the chief ornament of his age, the virtue of which Aloysius is so brilliant an example, and whence he derives his name of Angelic. Many also are held to the saint by ties of gratitude; for his intercession on behalf of the young is singularly powerful with God. There are those who ascribe to some devotion done in his honor the settlement of their vocation. On the other hand, here is an authentic story of a boy delivered through St. Aloysius from the calamity of being pushed forward to the priesthood against his will. In a clerical seminary in Italy, about the year 1850, on St. Aloysius’ day, the boys used to write letters to the saint, which lay before his statue all day, and then were burned or given back unread. The bishop of the diocese insisted on taking up one of these letters and reading it, to see, as he said, that the boys did not write nonsense. No representations of the Jesuit rector, from whom this story comes direct, could stop him. The letter he happened to get hold of ran to this effect: ‘Dear Aloysius, my parents will have me here, because they want me to be a priest: I have no vocation: can you get me out of it?' The thing was settled that day. Furthermore, it is plain to any one who will study his life, that Luigi Gonzaga was a high-spirited, energetic, and courageous boy, with the makings of a soldier or a statesman in him, one quite capable of filling the high position he was born to. The efforts of the Marquis, his father, to retain him, though he had two younger brothers, Rudolf and Francis, are a testimony to his fitness for being the head of a noble house. People useless in the world are seldom much good in the Church. Heroic sanctity requires high courage. One reason why sanctity is so rare is because high courage is rare. A ‘muff’ will never make a canonizable saint. A boy's instinct soon discovers that there was nothing of the 'muff' in Luigi Gonzaga.”

----

Notes:

* 1 Paralipomenon = 1 Chronicles

** Psalm 31:25 in Bibles that follow the Hebrew numbering

*** Josue = Joshua

**** Ecclesiasticus = Sirach

***** Psalm 27:14 in Bibles that follow the Hebrew numbering

*^ Ecclesiasticus 1:32 = Sirach 1:22

*^^ Psalm 116:6-7 in Bibles that follow the Hebrew numbering

*^^^ Psalm 53:6 in Bibles that follow the Hebrew numbering

*^^^^ Sirach 1:11

A Method of Meditation

by Rev. James Bellord, 1898

REMOTE PREPARATION

1. Read the meditation material over-night. (Preferably a passage from the Bible. - VD) 

2. Review it at intervals till next morning.

3. Affections of love and joy up to the meditation.

INTRODUCTION

1. Place yourself in the presence of God.

2. Act of humility: acknowledge your unworthiness.

3. Confess your incapacity: ask for aid.

Members of our Chapter praying.
(c) Vincent Domingo

MEDITATION PROPER

I. Adoration

A. Contemplate the subject in God the Father, or in Jesus Christ, with reference to His: (i) dispositions, (ii) words, (iii) actions.

B. Offer Him, with respect to the subject: (i) adoration,  (ii) admiration,  (iii) praise, (iv) love, (v) joy, (vi) gratitude.

II. Reflex action on yourself

Transfer to yourself what you have contemplated in God, considering:

A. What example, or warning, or knowledge, is to be gathered with view to your own case;

B. What are your past negligences, present deficiencies, future needs;

C. What grace do you require from God.

III. Practice

A. Petition: (i) simple petition; (ii) with obsecration (through the merits of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, etc.); (iii) with thanksgiving; (iv) with intercession for others. (N.B. Your petitions must be humble, confident, and persevering.)

B. Resolutions: (i) let them be practical; (ii) for immediate use; (iii) adapted to your special case; (iv) efficacious.

C. Colloquies: with God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin, your Guardian Angel, etc.

CONCLUSION

A. Thanksgiving: (i) for admission to God's presence; (ii) for ability to pray; (iii) for lights received.

B. Contrition: for faults committed, with brief examination of the meditation.

C. Oblation: offer the meditation to God by the hands of the Blessed Virgin for the supplying of all defects.

D. Spiritual Bouquet: sum up the meditation in maxim or ejaculation to be recalled during the day.