ENTER THE RELIGIOUS STATE.

Q. Is it allowable to encourage those who give signs of a vocation to enter the religious state?
A. St. Thomas, the angel of the schools, says: "Those who lead others into religion not only commit no sin, but even merit a great reward; for it is written: 'He who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way shall save his soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins'; and, 'They that instruct many to justice shall shine as stars for all eternity.'"

Yet coercion or forcing in this matter, is forbidden by the Fathers of the Council of Trent.

Q. We know that St. John Chrysostom, as well as St. Thomas, eloquently defended the religious state; what does this holy and learned doctor say on this point?
A. St. Chrysostom says: "If we knew that a place was unhealthy and subject to pestilence, would we not withdraw our children from it, without being stopped by the riches that they might heap up in it, or by the fact that their health had not as yet suffered? . . . Among seculars shipwrecks are more frequent and sudden, because the difficulties of navigation are greater; but with anchorites storms are less violent, the calm is almost undisturbed. This is why we seek to draw as many as we can to the religious life."

Q. St. Jerome read every known author of his time, and summed up in himself the doctrine of all; what does he teach about exhorting others to embrace the religious state?
A. St. Jerome writes thus to Heliodorus: "I invite you: make haste. You have made light of my entreaties; perhaps you will listen to my reproaches. Effeminate soldier! What are you doing under the paternal roof? Though your mother tear her hair and rend her garments, though your father stand on the threshold and forbid your departure, you must be deaf to the voice of nature, and hasten with unmoistened eye to enlist under the banner of Christ; love for God and fear of hell easily break all chains."

Q. Does St. Augustine teach the same doctrine?
A. Yes; St. Augustine says: "I have been passionately fond of the perfection of the evangelical counsels; with God's grace I have embraced them. With all the power I have I exhort others to do the same; and I have companions whom I have succeeded in persuading."

Q. What does St. Bernard teach about this question?
A. Enumerating the advantages of religious above persons living in the world, St. Bernard says: "They live more purely, they fall more rarely, they rise more speedily, they are aided more powerfully, they live more peacefully, they die more securely, and they are rewarded more abundantly."

The influence which St. Bernard exercised by his letters and burning words was so effectual, so irresistible, that he was soon surrounded by a company of young men, who not only changed their way of life, but bound themselves to him to follow the holy path which God had traced out for him.

His biographers tell us that the doctrine and eloquence of St. Bernard concerning the religious state were so powerful and convincing that, when he preached, mothers concealed their sons, and wives hid their husbands, and companions kept one another out of Bernard's way, because he persuaded so many to renounce the world and to embrace the religious state. [*]

[*] See larger catechism with examples: "Questions on Vocations."

Q. Is entrance into the religious state more important for some than for others?
A. Yes; entrance into religion is a moral obligation for some, whilst it is a privilege for others.

The two following pages will make this point clear.

[This page explains the Obligation.]

Some are so evidently called to the religious state that they are morally obliged to obey the call.

Proofs of this doctrine:

1. The principle itself of special vocations. "Who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace."—GAL. i. 15.

"The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit . . . dividing to every one according as He will."—1. COR. xii. 7, 11.

2. "There are very many who cannot enter heaven unless they abandon all things."—ST. GREGORY THE GREAT.

3. "If we wish to secure our eternal salvation, we must embrace that state of life to which God calls us."—ST. LIGUORI.

4. "The choice of a state of life decides whether our conduct shall be good or bad."—ST. GREGORY NAZIANZEN.

5. "It is very difficult to save one's self in a state of life in which God does not wish one to be."—ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

6. "You run well, but out of the way; he who does little, but in the state to which God calls him, does more than he who labors much, but in a state which he has thoughtlessly chosen; a cripple limping in the right way is better than a racer out of it."—ST. AUGUSTINE.

7. "O hard-hearted father; O cruel mother; you wish rather that we perish with you (by remaining in the world) than be saved without you."—ST. BERNARD.

[This page explains the Privilege.]

There are yet many more persons who have the privilege of entering the religious state without a moral obligation of doing so.

Even though persons should have vocations to the marriage state in the sense that God would not require anything higher of them, yet they are privileged to enter the religious state if no impediment exists.

Proofs of this doctrine:

1. The MIND of Church. The Church sacredly guards for all her children the privilege of entering the religious state, even after promise of marriage: "Be zealous for the better gifts. And I shew unto you yet a more excellent way."

2. It is of faith that virginity is preferable to matrimony: "If any one saith that the marriage state is to be preferred before the state of virginity, let him be anathema."—COUNCIL OF TRENT.

The religious state is a more usual and a safer way of preserving virginity than a life in the outer world.

3. The invitation to the counsels is general; it may be accepted by anyone who is not prevented by some particular impediment, as marriage, sickness, or home obligations.

"The three counsels—of poverty, chastity, and obedience—constitute the substance, of the religious state."—SUAREZ.

4. "I say to the unmarried, and to the widows: it is good for them if they so continue, even as I. . . . The unmarried woman and the virgin thinketh on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married thinketh on the things of the world, how she may please her husband."—ST. PAUL.

5. "As it is the duty of the pastor to propose to himself the holiness and perfection of the faithful, his earnest desires must be in full accordance with those of the Apostle when, writing to the Corinthians, he says: 'I would that all men were even as myself;' that is, that all embraced the virtue of continence."—CATECHISM OF COUN. TRENT.

6. "A life of continence to be desired by all."—Marginal résumé of the above paragraph, CATECHISM OF COUN. TRENT, page 225.

7. "In the world there is a vast number of women who damn their souls; the number of those who lose their souls in convents is very small."— ST. LIGUORI.

CHAPTER XI.

MEANS OF PRESERVING A VOCATION TO THE RELIGIOUS STATE.—SOME OBSTACLES.

Q. What are the means of preserving a vocation whilst preparing to enter the religious state?
A. Prayer, retirement, and promptness in entering religion.

Q. Why is retirement, or seclusion from the world, necessary in order to preserve the grace of a religious vocation?
A. Because an apparently trifling circumstance often causes the loss of such a vocation. A day of amusement, a discouraging word, even from a friend, an