Saint Anthony Mary Claret - Catholic Apologetics Information

Chapter XIV
ON THE SAME SUBJECT
242. From the Life of St. Teresa 144 "I arranged that not only this man, but others as well, should
practice prayer. As I saw that they were friends of prayer I told them to meditate, and helped them to do
so by giving them books." 145
243. "Who could look upon the Lord covered with wounds and afflicted by persecution and not
embrace them, love them, and desire to share them with Him? Who could glimpse something of the
glory He gives those who serve Him, without realizing that everything we might possibly do or suffer is
as nothing in view of the reward that we await? Who could look upon the torments of the damned
without counting our torments as delights in comparison, and without realizing how much we owe the
Lord for having spared us so many times from going to that place?'' 146
244. "What an added glory and contentment it will be for the blessed to know that, however late
they started, there was nothing that they might have done for God that they left undone! They held back
nothing that they were able to give, in accordance with their ability and their state in life; the more they
could do, the more they did. How rich they will be who have left all things for Christ. How honored they
will be who sought not honor, but delighted in being humbled. How wise will they be who were thought
to play the fool-- for so men thought the Word incarnate--and how few wise fools there are nowadays,
because of our sinfulness. Now, yes now it seems that we have seen the last of all those whom people
scorned as madmen on seeing them perform the heroic works of true lovers of Christ. O world, world,
how you go on gaining in honor simply because there are so few who know you truly!"
245. "But do we really believe that God is better served because the world regards us as wise or
discreet? Indeed this would seem to be the case, if judged by the current fashion in discretion. For it
seems to us that there is little edification unless people, each according to his state, go about with an air
of great composure and assurance. It seems to us, nowadays, though we be a friar, clerk, or nun, that to
wear an old or mended habit would be a novelty and a scandal to the weak. And what would we say of
being recollected and given to prayer? So goes the world, and so forgotten the quest for perfection and
the great vehemence of the saints, that I think much harm is added to the misfortunes of our times by the
fact that religious do not commit the scandal of putting into act, as they put into words, the truth that the
world is of little account. From such a scandal the Lord could draw great advantage: for if it would
falsely scandalize some, it would truly bring others to remorse. Would it hurt us to have a living picture
of Christ and his Apostles in our midst? We need one more than ever before.'' 147
246. "One day while I was praying I felt myself suddenly--who knows how?--plunged into hell. I
knew that the Lord wanted me to see the place that the devils had been preparing for me, a place which I
had merited by my sins. It all took place quite quickly, yet I doubt that I shall ever forget it however long
I live. The entrance seemed to be a long, narrow alley, like some very low, dark, and confining furnace.
The ground appeared to be covered with muddy, foul-smelling water, swimming with vermin. At the end
of it there was a niche like a closet in which I saw myself closely confined. All that I saw was delightful
in comparison with the awful things I felt: what I have said about it can hardly do it justice."
247. "It seems to me that what I felt could not begin to be explained or understood; but I felt a fire
in my soul, the nature of which I cannot describe. My bodily pains were so unbearable that, though I
have experienced the gravest pains and, as the doctors have said, the greatest pains in this world, such as
the contraction of my sinews when I was paralyzed-- not to mention others, some of them caused, as I
have said, by the devil--all of these were as nothing in comparison to what I felt then, especially in view
144 1 In 1864 the Lord granted Claret some profound insights while reading St. Teresa's works (cf. par. 797) and again in 1869,
while reading the Fifth Mansion. The last resolutions he made in his life were based on the Counsels of the saint. There are 16
autograph pages of Claret's excerpts from the writings of St. Teresa. Claret chose her as a co-patron of the Congregation of
Missionaries.
145 Life of St. Teresa, chap. 7, par. 7.
146 Ibid., chap. 23, par. 5.
147 Ibid., chap. 27, pars. 14-15.
46