Dominican Life_Joret_OCR_CK.pdf - the Catholic Kingdom!

36 DOMINICAN LIFE
weep bitterly. . . . Besides, his brethren help
him to
rise, as it is written, * If one falleth, another will support
him.' But woe betide the solitary who falls : he has no
one to come to his help." 1
Let us not be amongst those timid souls who can see
nothing but the possible risks. St. Thomas, in the
passage just quoted, speaks of the good deeds which
absorb the sins to which one is exposed. He who has
made a profession, albeit without religious vows, participates
in proportion to the stability of his profession
in the advantages derived from permanent vows. There
is more certainty and more merit attached to his performance
of good deeds.
because he has
More certainty,
pledged himself to do them and consequently
is less
liable to omit them.
But is there really more merit? Is it not more
meritorious to offer work to God spontaneously with
one's liberty unfettered ?
Let us consider this point. You are not acting under
compulsion when you act on the strength of a promise
freely made to God. And, by the very fact of your having
offered to God in perpetuity your power of action, you
have subjected yourself to Him far more fully than if
you were only to offer Him a series of acts.
man who makes a present of the tree more generous
than he who makes annual offerings of its fruit ?
Is not the
Moreover,
when, after serious consideration, I have made
profession to do good at all times, my will works with a
stronger attraction to that good than if I act on impulse
as the result of passing emotion. If a good disposition
prevails, the vow itself does not preclude continual selfsurrenders
to God in joy. Even at times of temptation
and weakness, a certain sense of satisfaction is felt at
It is rather like a patient
being bound by past promises.
who is not quite sure of himself and allows himself to
be tied down to undergo a painful operation. 2 Finally,
1 Ila Ilae, q. 186, a. 10.
2 Ila Ilae, q. 88, a. 6 ; q. 189, a. 2.
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