Continuing a series on the writings of Elisabeth Leseur, which I started here.
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We're working our way through Elisabeth's letter to her nephew. Elisabeth's approach in this letter is to explore the theme of orare et laborare as it unfolds through three stages of life, that is,
- the time of adolescent crises, intellectual and moral;
- the time of adulthood, of seeking and living out one's vocation;
- the time of venerable old age.
In my first post about this letter, I wrote about Elisabeth's depiction of the time of adolescent crisis, and in my second, I discussed her advice for getting through adolescence with one's faith not merely preserved, but tested, hardened, and the better for having been tested. Here's how I ended that last bit:
I like how Elisabeth acknowledges what all young, eager people feel, that "real life" has not started yet, that what is "real" is the life to be lived in the future as a grown man or woman. But Elisabeth identifies it with a more precise term, "your active life."
At the same time everything that has gone into her essay so far demonstrates that Elisabeth takes the lives of young people quite seriously, and that the struggle of adolescence can only be won by manly courage. It's obvious that she doesn't think of adolescence as an inactive life, or a dormant one. I think the metaphor of the military training ground is apt; one does one's time there before entering "active" duty, and yet it is not a place free from peril.
Now, having recapped what I wrote two weeks ago, we'll move on to the "active duty" of the Christian life.
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Elisabeth on vocation:
When you… are ready to become an adult, it will be extremely important for you to recognize and follow your vocation. The word vocation means "calling:" it is God's secret call to your conscience to follow the path that he has marked out… [E]ach of us is intended to do some special work and receives a task determined beforehand. Human society would be wonderful and harmonious if everyone accomplished all the work given to him by the "head of the household," and if we, laborers of the first hour, tried to discover God's will at every stage of our life.
The reference to "laborers of the first hour" is to the parable of the workers in the vineyard. It is, in this context, a subtle reminder that the one who remains in God's service from the very beginning of his life — like Elisabeth's nephew, a so-called cradle Catholic — can not expect to receive special accolades or a greater reward than those who come later. And Elisabeth has attached to it a gentle note of responsibility.
This cannot be, because from the beginning evil entered into the world, but we can at least take our stand among those who desire to carry out God's plans…
Therefore, when the time comes, try to discern God's will for you.
Elisabeth on how to discern one's vocation:
In order to do so, you must
- pray,
- fortify yourself with the wise and loving advice of your parents and of others whose character validates consulting them, and especially of the priest, the friend and guide of your soul.
- Withdraw into your depths alone with God;
- face the thought of death, which clarifies so much,
- and try to recognize your tastes and desires
- and to discern what career and what kind of life will be the most fruitful for you and for others. Try to see clearly where you will be able to do most good while freely developing your abilities.
Note the balance of outward-facing good works and inward development! Elisabeth's idea of the Christian life is not a self-effacing one, but one of self-development for service. She goes on:
Give as much time as necessary to this patient search; this discovery is worth the effort and refection that help you reach it. It is better to spend a long time looking for the right road than to risk getting lost or choosing a hard and difficultpath. Ask God to illumine you; he will not refuse you but will show you the way.
Discernment does not end with the discovery of one's vocation:
Then courageously begin your work, always trying to discern your true task and the most amount of good that you can do, telling yourself that, whatever your vocation may be, there are always people suffering in mind or body to be cared for, tempers to be calmed, and hearts to be healed… During this active phase of your life, let your motto always be Orare et laborare.
(Here comes the part that I know a lot of my readers, by now well up to their elbows in their vocations, will want to pay attention to.)
Prayer during the active years
Be faithful to your morning and evening prayer, and to that honest examination of conscience… However absorbing your occupations may be, every day reserve a few minutes for recollection and solid meditation, which will strengthen you for the struggle.
Eucharist as a meeting between "friends" during the active years
Above all, receive holy communion often with simplicity, confidence, and love. Approach our Savior without anxiety as the friend he is, able to understand and share everything, with whom you can talk about your joys and sorrows, your temptations, and even the doubts that he can remove, your human plans and spiritual desires.
Elisabeth warns against a scrupulosity common among Catholics in her culture:
Do not imagine, as some do, that, before going to holy communion you must be "well disposed" or worthy of the divine visit. Such an idea is the result of a misconception about the goal and action of the holy Eucharist. When we are physically weak, we eat the bread that restores our life; let us do the same spiritually. If we were saints, the same abyss would exist between God and ourselves; but since he fills it up with his love, let us go to him as friends whom he does not frighten and whom his goodness attracts.
And she warns against despair in the face of a lack of spiritual "feelings:"
Above all, never stop receiving holy communion because you feel no consolation. Sometimes we deeply sense our Savior's real presence and are tempted to believe that this loving awareness ought to happen every time. This is a mistake, for, if it were so, communion would be heaven, whereas it is only meant to be the ay…. Just as food affects the body, so does God affect us without our perceiving it…
Work during the active years
Live your life as a man, in youth and in maturity, filling it with strenuous work and make it holy through prayer. Orare et laborare: once more I ask you to make this your motto throughout life, especially during those years of mental and physical energy when you can do so much to further God's interest.
(It's sobering right now to think that these are "those years of mental and physical energy." I maybe need to stop complaining about being tired all the time.)
Although it may be possible later to make up for wasted years, they can never be replaced. Privileged people like yourself will have to render a strict account of them.
Elisabeth seems to have an almost contemporary notion of the significance of "privilege," one that goes beyond ours, which generally stops not far beyond race, class, and gender. She recounts the privileges that have been André's heritage here, and stresses that the most significant thing such privilege gains for him is responsibility to use its advantages in the service of God. We can use this moment to pause and consider our own privileges and concomitant responsibilities:
It fills me with emotion to think about the good you can do with the gifts you have received. You are beginning life under the following circumstances:
- God has given you good health and intelligence;
- you were born into a distinguished and united family ;
- you have an excellent father and a Christian mother;
- you have received great gifts spiritually, baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist,
- and also many signs of your heavenly Father's love for you.
Until now, you have been able to offer him nothing in return except a little love and good will. But from now on, you should think seriously about what you will be able to do for him, and by means of what courageous efforts, good works, and strong spirituality you will become a true soldier of Christ [Miles Christi].
This concludes Elisabeth's discourse on adulthood; like the discourse on adolescence, it ends with a military note.
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I am struck by the repeated reference to Jesus, especially in the Eucharist, as "friend." It's not an uncommon designation, of course, but Elisabeth has many designations to choose from — Lord, King, Judge, Bridegroom, Messiah, among others — and I am sure she has picked this one deliberately.
Indeed, "friend" is how the landowner addresses the "laborers of the first hour" when they complain about their wages in the parable that Elisabeth has referenced earlier in the letter. I am inclined myself to remember John 15:
You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
In a culture where an appropriate sense of unworthiness often leads to an inappropriate to fear of approaching the chief remedy, Elisabeth is, I think, making a point that Jesus himself has called us his "friends."
He calls us "friends" not unconditionally; but the conditions are not only for the heroic, but for the humble. He requires of us, his "friends," only obedience to what has been made known to us by Himself. Not some extra mile, not imaginary requirements to imbue us with special sanctity, not legalistic rules that we make up and attempt to impose on ourselves or on others over which we hold no teaching authority. So we need not fear to approach the Eucharist, if only we have kept his commands, including the commandment to repent of our failures and seek absolution through the ordinary means that have been made available to us.
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It is interesting to compare the two letters, the one to a young woman, the other to a young man. The advice in them is not so very different, except in tone. We live today in a time that has succeeded in removing many artificial distinctions between males and females (yes, it tries also to remove necessary and good distinctions; but that does not negate the real benefits of having dealt blows to unnecessary and harmful ones). Today's Christian women cannot escape an awareness, after medieval exemplars like St. Joan and modern exemplars like St. Edith Stein, of being called to the lives of milites Christi. Today's Christian men have an awareness that to "'possess your soul in peace,' to be gently and lovingly composed," often requires virtue bordering on the heroic. Perhaps because of this, I think men and women, and especially adolescents like those to whom Elisabeth composed her letters, can appreciate almost equally the somewhat-gender-tailored advice that appears in her two letters.
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