CHAPTER 5
Continues speaking of confessors. Explains why it is important that they should be learned men. . |
May the Lord grant,
for His Majesty's own sake,
that no one in this house shall experience
the trials that have been described, or find
herself oppressed in this way in soul and body.
I hope the superior will never be so intimate
with the confessor
that no one will dare to say anything about him
to her or about her to him.
For this will tempt unfortunate penitents
to leave very grave sins unconfessed
because they will feel uncomfortable
about confessing them.
God help me!
What trouble the devil can make here and
how dearly people have to pay for
their miserable worries and concern about honour!
If they consult only one confessor,
they think they are acting
in the interests of their Order and
for the greater honour of their convent:
and that is the way the devil lays his snares for souls
when he can find no other.
If the poor sisters ask for another confessor,
they are told that this would mean
the complete end of all discipline in the convent;
and, if he is not a priest of their Order,
even though he be a saint,
they are led to believe that they would be
disgracing their entire Order
by consulting him.
Give great praise to God, Daughters,
for this liberty that you have,
for, though there are not a great many priests
whom you can consult,
there are a few,
other than your ordinary confessors,
who can give you light upon everything.
I beg every superior, [26] for the love of the Lord,
to allow a holy liberty here:
let the Bishop or Provincial be approached
for leave for the sisters to
- go from time to time
beyond their ordinary confessors and
- talk about their souls with persons of learning,
especially if the confessors, though good men,
have no learning;
for learning is a great help in giving light
upon everything.
It should be possible to find a number of people
who combine both learning and spirituality, and
the more favours the Lord grants you in prayer,
the more needful is it that
your good works and
your prayers
should have a sure foundation.
You already know
that the first stone of this foundation
must be a good conscience and
that you must make every effort
to free yourselves from even venial sins
and follow the greatest possible perfection.
You might suppose
that any confessor would know this,
but you would be wrong:
it happened that I had to go
about matters of consciences to a man
who had taken a complete course in theology;
and he did me a great deal of mischief by telling me
that certain things were of no importance.
I know that he had no intention of deceiving me,
or any reason for doing so:
it was simply that he knew no better.
And in addition to this instance
I have met with two or three similar ones.
Everything depends on our having true light
to keep the law of God perfectly.
This is a firm basis for prayer;
but without this strong foundation,
the whole building will go awry.
In making their confessions, then,
the nuns must be free to discuss spiritual matters
with such persons as I have described.
I will even go farther and say
that they should sometimes do as I have said
even if their confessor has all these good qualities,
for he may quite easily make mistakes and
it is a pity that he should be the cause
of their going astray.
They must try, however, never to act
in any way against obedience,
for they will find ways of getting
all the help they need:
it is of great importance to them that
they should, and so
they must
make every possible effort to do so.
All this that I have said has to do with the superior.
Since there are no consolations
but spiritual ones to be had here,
I would beg her once again
to see that the sisters get these consolations,
for God leads [His handmaidens]
by different ways and
it is impossible that one confessor
should be acquainted with them all.
I assure you that,
if your souls are as they ought to be,
there is no lack of holy persons
who will be glad to advise and console you,
even though you are poor.
For He Who sustains our bodies
will awaken and encourage someone
to give light to our souls,
and thus this evil of which I am so much afraid
will be remedied.
For if the devil should tempt the confessor,
with the result that he leads you astray
on any point of doctrine
he will go slowly and be more careful
about all he is doing
when he knows that the penitent
is also consulting others.
If the devil is prevented from entering convents
in this way,
I hope in God that he will never get
into this house at all;
so, for love of the Lord,
I beg whoever is Bishop
to allow the sisters this liberty and
not to withdraw it
so long as the confessors are persons
both of learning and of good lives,
a fact which will soon come to be known
in a little place like this.
In what I have said here,
I am speaking from experience of things
that I have
seen and heard in many convents and
gathered from conversation
with learned and holy people
who have considered what is most fitting
for this house,
so that it may advance in perfection.
Among the perils which exist everywhere,
for as long as life lasts,
we shall find that this is the least.
No vicar should be free
to go in and out of the convent, and
no confessor should have this freedom either.
They are there to watch over
the recollectedness and
good living of the house and
its progress in both interior and exterior matters,
so that they may report to the superior
whenever needful,
but they are never to be superiors themselves.
As I say, excellent reasons have been found
why, everything considered,
this is the best course, and
why, if any priest hears confessions frequently,
it should be the chaplain;
but, if the nuns think it necessary,
they can make their confessions to such persons
as have been described,
provided
the superior is informed of it, and
the prioress is such that the Bishop
can trust her discretion.
As there are very few nuns here,
this will not take up much time.
This is our present practice;
and it is not followed merely on my advice.
Our present Bishop, Don Alvaro de Mendoza,
under whose obedience we live
(since for many reasons
we have not been placed
under the jurisdiction of the Order),
is greatly attached to
holiness and
the religious life, and,
besides being of most noble extraction,
is a great servant of God.
He is always very glad
to help this house in every way, and
to this very end he brought together persons of
learning, spirituality and experience,
and this decision was then come to.
It will be only right that future superiors
should conform to his opinion,
since it has been decided on by such good men,
and after so many prayers to the Lord
that He would enlighten them
in every possible way,
which, so far as we can at present see,
He has certainly done.
May the Lord be pleased to promote
the advancement of this to His greater glory.
Amen.
Foot Notes: [26] Lit.: "I beg her who is in the position of a senior (mayor)." Mayor was the title given to the superior at the Incarnation, Avila, and many other convents in Spain, at that time. . |
