Volume 4
636 pgs.
To prepare for its bicentennial of 2017, the Society of Mary has produced a critical edition of the writings and words of Blessed William Joseph Chaminade. Now the initial offering of this multivolume French work–Ecrits et Paroles–is available in English under the title The Chaminade Legacy.
The reader follows step by step the evolution of Chaminade's thought and activity and examines the dynamism of a spirituality that, while remaining always open to God's inspiration, must often adapt itself to the human condition, both political and cultural.
Volumes 2, 3, and 4 of The Chaminade Legacy gather together Father Chaminade’s notes for conferences and sermons. They may be dated between 1800 and 1809, and almost all were intended for lay people.
Volume four completes the documents presented in volumes two and three, presentations made mainly to the members of the Sodality from 1800 to 1809; the French published these as Notes d’instruction. As can be seen from the table of contents, Father Chaminade reflects on a wide range of topics, including the sacraments, the virtues, sin, the Christian life, God’s mercy, several sermons and retreat subjects, feasts of the Church. . . . These writings witness to the breadth of his ministry and his care for those around him.
Document 147: Meditations on the Love of God
[18] Charity is a love by which we attach ourselves to God and prefer God to all creatures.
The principle of charity is the Holy Spirit, who pours it into our hearts which are in agreement with the Spirit, to produce its acts (Rom 5:5). The object, the end, and the reason for this charity is God, who is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16).
When giving us the great commandment of the love which we owe, God shows us the three great reasons which urge us to love, while at the same time showing us the way in which we are to love God. This is the commandment. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30).
[19] Three reasons in these three words: “The Lord your God”. . . .
Lord, by supreme authority.
God, by infinite perfections.
Our, to us by God’s continual gifts. . . .
The Way of Loving God
First. With all our hearts. What does it mean, to love God with all our hearts?
[25] (1) It means to prefer God over all creatures.
(2) It means to love only God, and to love God with all our souls.
(3) It means to act and to suffer only for God.
Second. With all our souls. What does it mean, to love God with all our souls?
(1) It means to love God the full length of our life.
(2) It means to prefer God to our own life, which we must lose rather than be unfaithful to God.
(3) It means to sacrifice all our passions to God.
Third. With all our minds. What does it mean, to love God with all our minds?
(1) It means to walk in God’s presence, to think often of God.
(2) It means to employ all our skills to have God loved.
(3) It means to seek out whatever is pleasing to God in order to do it.
(4) It means to apply ourselves to finding out what displeases God,
so as to avoid it.
(5) It means to submit our insights to those of God, which should
rule over us; it means to think as God does.
Fourth. With all our strength. What does it mean, to love God with all our strength?
(1) It means to observe all God’s laws, to conform ourselves to all God desires.
(2) It means to employ all that we are, all that [26] we possess, in God’s service.
(3) It means to direct ourselves to God with all the fervor of which we are capable.
Contents
Translator’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
A Word to the Reader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Notebook Number Seven
On Temptations
1. Instruction for Young People. Habitual Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. On Temptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3. Temptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4. Hope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5. The Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
6. Temptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
7. Temptations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
To Live Love
8. How To Reach Perfection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9. On Love of Neighbor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
10. On Emnity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Eucharist and Penance
11. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
12. On Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
13. Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
14. Sacrament of Penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
15. Concerning Sincerity in Confession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
16. Grave Sins. Doubtful Sins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
17. Contrition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
18. Satisfaction. Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Virtues and Vices
19. Pride. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
20. Humility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Peace
21. Peace of Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Virtues and Vices
22. Avarice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
23. Second Conference on Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
24. Third Conference on Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
25. Fourth Conference on Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
26. Fourth Conference. Practice of Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
27. Second Conference on Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
28. Third Conference. The Humility of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
29. Fourth Conference. The Humility of Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
30. Concerning Scandal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Conscience
31. False Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
32. Retreat. Conferences, Meditations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
33. [Scrupulosity] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Impurity, Chastity, Prayer
34. Impurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
35. The Two Gadarene Demoniacs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
36. Lust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
37. Remedies and Measures Opposed to Impurity . . . . . . . . . 99
38. Fifth Conference. Impurity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
39. Impurity, Principle of Damnation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
40. Chastity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
41. Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Choice of a Christian Future Life
42. On the Truth of a Future Life [First Conference] . . . . . . 115
43. On the Importance of a Future Life.
Second [Sermon] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
44. Complete Accomplishment of God’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . 119
45. Perfect Observance of God’s Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
46. God’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
47. On Zeal for God’s Glory. An Exhortation. . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus
48. First Appearance. To the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Human Destiny
49. [Predestination and Reprobation] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
50. The Sinner, Abandoned by God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
51. Half-heartedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
52. Duties of Married People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
53. Knowledge of God and of Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
54. For Young People. On True Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
55. Serving God from Our Youth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
The Work of the Miséricorde of Bordeaux
56. Blessed Are the Merciful, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Notebook Number Eight
Penance
57. Penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
58. The Truth about Penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
59. Postponing Penance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
60. Final Impenitence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
61. Death of the Sinner. Premature Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
62. Parable of the Fig Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Christian Life. Conversion and Progress
63. On the End of the Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
64. Conversion of the Sinful Woman. Qualities
of Penance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
65. Conversion and Justification, Carried Out
by Degrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
66. Conversion and Perfection of Human Beings,
by Degrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
67. Conversion and Perfection on the Part of
Human Beings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
68. True and False Virtue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
69. Dispensing Ourselves from Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
The Sin, the Sinner, the Relapse
70. Concerning Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
71. Sin and Its Effects on the Soul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
72. Sin. Second Long Discourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Mortal Sin
73. Effects of Mortal Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
74. Sermon on Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
75. Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
76. The Heart of the Obstinate Sinner, Image of Hell . . . . . 209
77. On Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
78. On Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
79. Sermon on the Sins of a Christian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
80. The Leprosy of Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
81. [Enormity of Sin]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
82. On Relapsing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
83. Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
The Mercy of God
84. On God’s Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
85. Essential Condition for Obtaining Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Christian Philosophy
86. On Christian Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Retreats
87. The Interior Reign of Jesus Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
88. Retreat. The Kingdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
89. [The Passion and the Establishment of the Realm]. . . . . 272
Eternal Goods. Temporal Goods
90. On Grace and the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
91. Dangers and Joys of Temporal Goods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
92. Concerning the Three Garments of the Spouse. . . . . . . . 299
93. The Three Enemies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Covered Notebook Number One
Saint Joseph
94. Concerning Saint Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Commentaries on the Gospel
95. The Gospel of the Good Shepherd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
96. Gospel for the Fourth Sunday after Easter . . . . . . . . . . 317
The Eucharist
97. The Eucharist, the New Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Mary and Magdalene
98. The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
99. Mary Magdalene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
100. The Feast of Our Lady of the Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Various Feasts
101. Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
102. Nativity of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Program of Life
103. Elements of a Program of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
104. Sources of the Imperfections of a Christian Soul . . . . . 355
105. Pride and Vanity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
106. Ascension of Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
107. Visitation of the Blessed Virgin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
108. Reflections on a Sermon about Mary Magdalene . . . . . 366
109. Sermon on the Nativity of Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
110. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Covered Notebook Number Two
Faith, Hope, Charity
111. Eight Days of Retreat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
112. The Fifteen Marks of Charity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 376
Various Subjects
113. Remorse of Conscience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
114. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
115. On Slander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
116. Guardian Angels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
117. Spiritual Nuptials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Covered Notebook Number Three
Mary, Mother of Christians
118. The Blessed Virgin, Mother of Christians. . . . . . . . . . . 397
Ascension and Pentecost
119. The Ascension of Jesus Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
120. On the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
121. The Spirit of Jesus Christ and the Spirit
of the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
122. Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
The Assumption
123. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
124. About Providence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
125. The Love of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
126. Conception of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442
127. The Passion of Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444
128. The Feast of Pentecost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
129. Tender Friendships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455
130. The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
131. Conscience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
132. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Covered Notebook Number Four
The Mass
133. Assistance at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass . . . . . . . . 465
134. Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 16) . . . . . . . . . . . 481
135. Notes on the Sacred Heart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 482
136. Saint Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
137. [Christians Carrying Their Cross] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Twelve Meditations on the Last Things
138. Meditation Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
The Resurrection
139. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
Prayer
140. The Purpose of Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
Venial Sin
141. The Nature of Venial Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
Life Ruled by Faith
142. Reception of Communion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526
143. Life Ruled by Faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 528
Notes for Conferences and Sermons
Covered Notebook Number Five
Sin
144. Relapsing into Sin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
The Passion of Jesus
145. On the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . . . . . . . . . 540
Meditations
146. Exercises Specified by the Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 550
147. Meditations on the Love of God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
148. Use of Our Faculties in Mental Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Saint Joseph
149. For the Feast of Saint Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
150. Meditation for the Same Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Conversion
151. Of the Mixture of Good and Bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
152. On the Dispositions of Those Who Listen to
the Word of God or Receive God’s Grace . . . . . . . . . . 585
153. Progress of the Sinner Toward Justification . . . . . . . . . 587
Christian Law
154. On Christian Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
155. Concerning Sinful Communion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Christian Faith
156. Instruction on the Abjuration of Heresy . . . . . . . . . . . . 596
157. Dignity of Human Beings, Based on Creation . . . . . . . 597
158. Credo in Deum Patrem Omnipotentem, Creatorem . . . 600
159. On the Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
160. Subjects of Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603
Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607
Biblical Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609
Index of Proper Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 631
