May 2010 - To Be or Not to Be?

Words are not enough; rather, we should be wary of their bewitching and numbing charm. It is not enough to talk. It is still necessary to do, to incarnate our words into actions. To be satisfied with talking is tantamount to being content with being an upstart, to belong to a strange caste of people, an ill-assorted mixture of men who pretend to be above their station and of men who have degraded themselves without knowing it. To nourish ourselves with words and to be thus satisfied, isn’t this to praise ourselves for what we have while forgetting who we really are, to prefer the vanity of having to the richness of being?

Dear friends and benefactors,

Words are not enough; rather, we should be wary of their bewitching and numbing charm. It is not enough to talk. It is still necessary to do, to incarnate our words into actions. To be satisfied with talking is tantamount to being content with being an upstart, to belong to a strange caste of people, an ill-assorted mixture of men who pretend to be above their station and of men who have degraded themselves without knowing it. To nourish ourselves with words and to be thus satisfied, isn’t this to praise ourselves for what we have while forgetting who we really are, to prefer the vanity of having to the richness of being?

True nobility – not a matter of social standing, but of moral quality – belongs to the order of being, and the self-interested scheming that accompanies the order of material possessions is foreign to it. Its only demand is the gift of oneself; thus, it elevates us and makes us realize that we ourselves are not for sale. The noble soul is not for sale but free, since it is consecrated. Let us not be afraid to say this in today’s world: there is a total incompatibility between mediocrity and true nobility.

Either we sell ourselves, or we give ourselves: the separation between these two options is drastic, like life. He who sells himself has already the soul of a slave, prepared for any compromise and all denials. The soul for sale is the slave of a foreign power, whether economic, passional or sentimental.

We, Catholics, are radically foreign to the spirit of the world and we must fully embrace this difference, without haughtiness or pride. It is in conformity with our state to incline with kindness towards the weakest. The example is given us from on high! Where would we be without the Mercy of God? God is, but we have – richness of being, poverty of having! True nobility introduces us into the divine intimacy, but the divine friendship has its demands. It is impossible for us to bargain with the world. Let us keep our principles; they are the distinguishing signs of our nobility.

This nobility will cause conflicts, sometimes strong, always painful. It will be necessary for us to remain quite serene, even when confronted with disbelief and misunderstanding. It cannot be otherwise, on account of the antagonism that exist between the worlds of being and of having. This opposition will give us the certainty that we are on the good path. We must only be attentive not to withdraw into ourselves, otherwise we would risk being manipulated by our sensibility – and that would demean us.

To demean oneself, to lose one’s nobility, is unfortunately something within the realm of possibility and, indeed, very common today. Not to succumb, we must take great care to keep our nobility safe from all the attacks of the world. We must preserve our state, humbly.

This adverb is of great importance. He who is humble lives steeped in reality and refuses the illusions and poverty of the simple having. Nobility does not belong to us, we cannot appropriate it. We received it as a deposit of which we are the stewards, and not the owners. Any idea of appropriation or domination, of arrogance, is the thought of a vulgar soul, not of a noble one. Let us live in humility and kindness. To be good is the deed of a consecrated soul. We cannot scorn our neighbors and our duty is to assist their weakness, without forgetting our own fundamental weakness.

To manage to live in humility and kindness, we must rely on God, first source of any nobility. Prayer is the armor of nobility, with which we cover ourselves in our oath of service to God and by which we find the strength to remain faithful. Our interior life, founded upon Faith, enables us to remain united to Our Lord and then our acts carry the true seal of nobility, since they are as many acts of adoration.

This fundamental disposition of adoration keeps our soul in balance and gives it an incomparable force. We do not work for some money, our hope is of another order! Our Lord and Our Lady are ours, and we acknowledge in them our masters to whom we give our fidelity. This is what nobility really is!

Certainly, our prayer must not rise alone before the Throne of Grace, it must be accompanied by our renouncements. Nobility imposes the renouncement of the world, the realm of having. But we should not be satisfied with knowing this only in theory, our lives must be filled with concrete acts of renouncement, arising naturally in our souls, eager to prove our love to Him Who loves us infinitely. This spirit of sacrifice is inherent in the spirit of nobility. Has it suddenly died out in our souls? We will sink immediately into the mire. Is it reborn? We enter into the path of redemption. Although our nobility does not belong to us, we belong to it. If it exists in our souls, our own selfish desires must give way to it. We must be the first and only victims of our nobility. Belonging to God, we owe ourselves to men.

Our duty is to serve – it is a sacred duty of defense and protection that is exercised before all towards the highest and most fragile of human realities, the Truth. If need be, we must be ready to offer our lives to defend it. This absolute fidelity is not possible unless we receive a solid formation which makes us men of principles. Nourished with the milk of sure and pure doctrines, we can fight with strength the current liberalism that contaminates and degrades souls. True nobility is judged by its absolute horror of such a system! We will come back to this topic. For now, let us remember that we must preserve our spirit from the dangerous contagion of error, and we will to do so only by forming our judgment and cultivating the love of Truth and Beauty.

In Christo Sacerdote et Maria,

Fr. Yves le Roux