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Fr. Nicolas Caussin, S.I., confessor to Louis XIII exiled by Cardinal Richelieu and heavily criticized by many Jansenists, is well-known as the author of "La Cour Sainte" ("The Holy Court"). In his "Entretiens" ("Entertainments") for Lent, some of his sermons for the Season are presented in a devotional format: an examination of the traditional scriptural readings for the day in the Roman Rite followed by the aspirations of the soul thirsty for Christ. He is our main inspiration for seasonal posts this Lent.
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"When, therefore, Jesus had lifted up His eyes and seen that a very great crowd had come to Him, He said to Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? But He said this to try him, for He Himself knew what He would do." (From the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Lent, St. John vi)
What a happy thing it is to serve God, whose conversation is so worthy of all love! See how he carried himself toward this poor multitude which followed him with such zeal and constancy. It seems as if they were his children, that he carried them all upon his shoulders, that he had their names, their country, their qualities, and the conditions of their small fortunes graven in his heart. He is so tender over them, he so afflicts himself about them as a shepherd over his poor flock. He instructs them, he speaks to them of heavenly things, he heals their maladies, he comforts their sadness, he lifts his eyes up to heaven for them, and for them he opens his divine hands, the treasures of heaven, and nourishes them by a miracle, as they had wholly resigned themselves to him with such absolute confidence.
O, how are we cherished by heaven, since God binds himself to help us: and we would be unfaithful not to trust him who makes nature itself so faithful to us. There is here much to be observed, that God does no miracles for his own profit; he does not change stones into bread in the desert, to nourish himself after that long fast which he did there make, but for his faithful servants he alters the course of nature; and being austere to himself, he becomes indulgent to us, to teach us that we should despoil ourselves of self-love, which ties us to our own flesh, and makes us so negligent to our neighbor.
What precious thing is to be had by following the world, that we should forsake Jesus in the desert, and run after vain hopes at Court and great men's houses, where we pretend to make some fortune? How many injuries must a man suffer? How many affronts must we swallow? How many deadly sweats must he endure to obtain some reasonable condition? How many times must he sacrifice his children, engage his own conscience, and offer violences to others to advance the affairs of great men? And, after many years of service, if any hard or ruinous business committed to his charge - in the pursuit of which he must walk upon thorns - he shall by chance miscarry, all the fault must be laid upon the good officer; and if he prove unlucky, he shall be made culpable, and in the turning of a hand all his good services will be forgotten and lost: and, as a final reward, he will be laden with infinite disgraces.
It is quite the opposite in the service of God, for he encourages our virtues, he supplies our defects, he governs our spiritual and yet does not neglect our temporal needs. He that cloathes the flowers of the meadows more gorgeously than monarchs, who lodges so many little fishes in golden and azure shells, he who does but open his hand and replenishes all nature with blessings, if we be faithful in keeping his commandments, will never forsake us at our time of need. But yet we find all the difficulties of the world to put our trust in him, we disdain our cares for eternity, and by seeking after worldly things by which to live, we torment ourselves, and in the end lose our own lives. A man that must die needs very few worldly things; a very little cabin will suffice by nature, but whole kingdoms will not satisfy covetousness.
Jesus flies from scepters and runs toward the Cross; he would have no worldly kingdoms, because their thrones are made of ice and their crowns of glass. He valued the Kingdom of God above all things, so that he might make us partakers of his precious conquest, an infinitely rich prize. But now it seems that heaven is not a sufficient kingdom for us; men run after land, and itch after the ambition of fading greatness, and sometimes all their lives pass away in great sins, and through great troubles in order to get a poor title of three letters upon their tomb. Alas, do we know better than God in what honour consists, that we must seek after that which he avoided and not imitate that which he followed?
Let us follow God, and believe that there where he is there can be no desert or solitude for us. They shall never taste the delights of virtue who feed on the joys of vanity. All worldly pleasures are fireworks filled with the smoke and vapors of the earth; and instead of giving light and brightness, they bring forth murder and disease. But following God is always sweet, and he which suffers from it changes his very tears into nourishment.
Aspirations
O, my God! I always run after that which flies from me, and never follow Jesus who follows me by incomparable paths, and loves me even while I am ungrateful: I will no more run after the shadows of worldly honor; I will no more have my own will, which both is, and has proved so unfaithful. I will put myself into the happy course of God's will for all which shall happen unto me, either in time or in eternity. His careful eye watches over me, it is for me that his hands have treasures, and the very deserts possess abundance.
O crucified Love, the most pure of all beauties, it is for thee that so many generous champions have peopled the deserts and passed the streams of bitterness and sorrow, bearing their crosses after thee, and thereupon have felt the sweetness of thy visits amongst their cruel rigors. God forbid that I should deceive great and so generous a company. I go to thee, and will follow thee amongst the deserts; I run not after bread, I run after thy divine Person; I will love thy wounds, I will honor thy torments, I will conform myself to thee that I may find joy amongst thy dolors, and life itself amongst thine infinite sufferings.
Nicolas Caussin, S.I.
La sagesse évangelique pour les sacrés entretiens de carême
1635
(Transl.: Sir Basil Brooke, adapted)
