Grateful acknoledgement:
Can We Be Saints?
by Frank Duff
by Frank Duff
I suppose everybody, when reading the papers during this last momentous year
(1939), has been struck by the seemingly small part the Catholic Church is playing
in relation to the great disruptive happenings which are shaking the whole world.
The Holy Father has been making his broken-hearted appeals In the interests of
peace, but truly he may be described as "a voice crying in the wilderness,"
because no one seems to be listening. The Church has been just quietly elbowed
to one side. That is a very perplexing thought, but it should be much more than that
to you, Legionaries; it should be a galvanic thought, because you know that
something must be wrong when such a state of things can be. And if something is
wrong, then something must be done about it. May I put a few thoughts before you
on that subject?
The Legion, as you know, has been successful. It is growing rapidly. It is honored
by the confidence of the great people of the Church. Its future seems to be bright,
and from time to time we have wondered to ourselves if the Legion were not
actually a hope of the world, destined to help in the ushering in of a new order of
things. That would be a sweet thought. But at the same time there must be no
self-satisfaction in it, just because a certain amount has been done and certain
standards, which are not low standards, have been created. We must not foolishly
think that we have done all that is to be done. And are our standards so superb?
Consider this. That well-known French writer, Pere Plus, has defined a Christian
as one to whose care has been committed his fellow-man. That signifies that every
Christian has a duty such as that which you have taken on yourselves--every
Christian. Pius XI says, in a paragraph known to you in the Handbook, that
Catholic Action is an elementary Christian duty imposed on each person by the
Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. And in another Handbook quotation, St.
John Chrysostom warns us to this effect: "Christians, remember that at the hour of
judgment you must render an account, not for your own souls alone, but for the
souls of all men." The foregoing quotations express a truth, and that truth is this-the
Legion represents no more than common Catholic life. The Legion life is not a
unique life, and it is not a heroic life; it is common Catholicity as God intended it
and as the Church sees it. Nothing more, And, if people looking on at the Legion
should acclaim it as heroic, that only means that their standards have sunk very low
indeed, and that the true standard of living, as expressed by those great
authorities whom I have been quoting, is not understood. This fact, therefore,
stands forth, that as the Legion is only common Catholicity, all Catholics, and not
merely the pick of them, are bound to be in the ranks of the Legion, or discharging
their duty in some other similar fashion.
Shock the World into Seeing the Church
This truth will help Legionaries to take a correct view of their own position. They
must not assume that in being Legionaries they have achieved a very special
altitude, that they have climbed the spiritual peaks. The fact is that they have only
established themselves in the elements of Catholic duty as understood by the
Church; they are really only at the ground level and their climb has yet to begin.
They must brace themselves to that climb, to the achievement of heroism. I say it
again: we are only on the ground level at present. The climb is before us.
What are the possibilities of achievement offered to us in the Legion? Of late I
have been made to think a little on that subject by viewing the fine bearing of
Legionaries--towards certain happenings, not only in this country (arising out of the
governmental declaration that a state of emergency exists) but still more in the
neighboring island in the face of grievous conditions. Now we know that
Legionaries can be trusted to stand out conspicuous amongst others for
self-sacrifice, to be calm and reliable when all around is chaos, to be superbly on
duty in the very worst that can betide.
Reflecting on all that with no small degree of consolation, the further thought
suggested itself--Why should that heroic spirit only be in plain evidence amongst
us when evoked by some sort of national crisis? Note it is not a religious crisis
which has evoked that spirit, but national ones. Why should we only show
ourselves in the full light of our possibilities when death and danger come along to
bring the element of reality into everyday life? Is it not possible for sensible people
to face realities without that special stimulus? Why should we only realize the
fleeting character of this life and the futility of the things of this world when danger
comes along, when some national or social or emotional convulsion plants us right
up against final things and thus brings us to our senses? I think if we were able to
live always on this level where dire happenings have set us; if we could stabilize
that sublime indifference to life and comfort, and throw that spirit into our ordinary
life and work, we could simply tear asunder the existing faulty standards of the
world, and in their place set up entirely new standards appropriate to the Catholic
Church. Those worthy standards would call down the Omnipotence of God and
force Him--very willingly I might say--to give us whatever we may want; to give us
the conversions we want-the mass-conversions; to give us miracles of every
description, and thus to shock the cynical world into looking at the Catholic Church
and listening to her message.
What do we want with miracles?
When I talk in this way about the miraculous, you may be inclined to say: "Well,
what do we want with miracles?" My reply is this: The Catholic Church is the
carrying on of the life of Our Lord in its every aspect, and a most prominent feature
of Our Lord's life was its miracles. He worked miracles as part of His ordinary
mission; He spoke of them as the attendant of faith. They represented His chief
way of awakening people, of attracting their eyes to Himself, and shattering them
out of their indifference and worldliness and making them listen to Him, follow Him,
believe in Him. There is just as much necessity today for that sort of dazzling
doctrine as there was when Our Lord was living. In fact there is more, because we
live today in a blase world--a world that pays no attention to mere talking--that
cannot be stirred out of its indifference by any force that is less than dynamic, a
world in which such a state of affairs has arisen that an organization like the
Legion (where it is not despised or disregarded) is looked upon as a truly heroic
organization. I have already insisted that such a conception of the Legion is not
correct.
Miracles : Supreme Challenge to Unbelief
I stress this question of miracles, because they are desirable; they are needed.
They are the supreme challenge to unbelief. They are the endorsement of our
Faith, shown as such in history, shown as such in the New Testament. The
preparation for the Church was miraculous; the establishment of the Church was
miraculous; the spread of the Church was miraculous. It was all miraculous. And,
having regard to the fact that the Church merely carries on Our Lord's life, the
miraculous should be part and parcel of the mission of the Church, practically part
and parcel of its everyday work. By the miraculous I do not necessarily mean (nor
do I exclude either) the moving of mountains, or the raising of the dead, or the
stilling of the tempest. I say I do not exclude these for they are possible and
desirable now just as ever they were--the Arm of God has not shortened. But I
particularly mean the stilling of the tempest of problems and passions, the raising
of the morally dead, the moving away of the mountains of unbelief. These are all
things that we know as just as possible today as ever they were in the history of the
Church. And yet they are not being realized! Why? Because our Catholicism has
not sufficient body in It; it is only a shadow of what it is supposed to be. Even we
here, who represent a sort of upper stratum in the flock, have ourselves intolerably
low standards; we are prepared to rejoice and be content when merely modest
results come along, instead of having at all times a heart for the impossible.
Nothing Impossible with God
For that word, "impossible" is only a human relation. With God no word shall be
impossible. And to us, things will range from the impossible to the possible exactly
in the measure that we enlist the grace of God in our service. If we can call fully on
that grace, then all things whatsoever are within our grasp. There is no problem we
cannot solve, no person we cannot convert, no community we cannot win to the
Faith. There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we can but call upon the
Omnipotence of God to help us. You will say I seem to suggest that as things are
we cannot count on that Omnipotence, and you demand, "Why not?" My answer is
that we do not go about the business of claiming it in the right way--our faith is low
and poor and weak. Let us venture to give a little examination to that problem.
Real Faith Calls on Omnipotence
What is wrong with the quality of our faith and conduct that we do not get the results
which were forthcoming in the earlier days of the Church? When we read in the
Gospel about having the faith of God, the faith that moves mountains, what exactly
is meant? Does it mean just a pious belief in God and in His power to do all
things? With respect I say it means nothing of the kind, because that sort of faith is
possessed by every single person sitting here before me in this hall; in fact it is
possessed by even the most easy-going and thoughtless in the Catholic world
outside. But none of us here are working that type of miracle, nor do the people
outside work it either. The faith that is meant must be of an entirely different quality
from that which is our common possession, and which goes no further than what I
have already described as a pious belief. The faith that is wanted, the real faith,
does not mean an empty sentiment, but an action. It very definitely means
action--seeing God, and souls, and hardly seeing anything else; then pursuing
those ends with absolute determination, with complete forgetfulness of oneself, of
one's own interest and one's own safety; prepared to press after them, even if
one's own destruction is entailed. You may say this is a very extreme conception;
you may ask, does it literally mean that one must be prepared to lay down one's
life, or be destroyed or ruined in some way or another, in the search for the
interests of God? My answer is that it does. It is true that a much less noble degree
of faith will save us. But it is not going to move away the mountains of the difficult
and the impossible and to call freely on the Omnipotence of God.
The Miraculous on Tap
Now that is the kind of faith that is required to face the gigantic and grim problems
of the day; and difficult to nature though it seems, it is by no means an impossible
or unknown degree of faith, for I have seen many individuals in your own ranks
facing up to situations in that very spirit. I have known a fair number of cases where
Legionaries in the course of their work came to a point at which they had to decide
either to stop or go on. The going on apparently meant their own ruin. The stopping
meant the abandonment of a prime work for souls to which they had committed
themselves. I am happy to be able to boast (is it wrong in the circumstances?) that
in all the cases I have in mind those Legionaries pressed on--I do not say they did
it undauntedly, but I do say they pressed on. And what was the sequel? Well,
amazing to say, in every one of those cases they gained their objective completely.
Surely, for those Legionaries it was a setting of their feet upon the waters and
walking! Reflecting on those happenings, and making more than due allowance for
coincidence, one could not but be convinced that a regular law was opening
whereby the miraculous stepped In at the point where human effort and goodwill
had done their utmost, could do no more, and could only cast themselves
appealingly on the Omnipotent. We do not realize that the miraculous is, as it were,
on tap for us like that. We get the idea from what we have read or heard that the
miraculous is something altogether out of the way, something unexplainable in its
incidence, I subject to no law, experienced at specialty designated places like
Lourdes, or as manifestations of God's singular predilection for special souls, but
certainly something not to be realized by common people like ourselves. That is a
complete error. From my experience, such as it has been, I would say that the
miraculous in its different grades is absolutely on tap for anybody that requires it
and is prepared to pay the price.
Shackling the Power of Faith
I would really fear that the ordinary faith which is current even in estimable Catholic
communities, and even in a fairly select band like the Legionaries, is more natural
than supernatural. Herein, I seem to be voicing a contradiction: faith being
supernatural, how can it be natural? What I mean is that we may use a supernatural
power after a natural fashion, which almost amounts to not using it at all. As a
parallel, consider the case of a bird which has powerful wings, and yet is satisfied
to walk the ground like the common hen, or worse still, to waddle along like the
duck. Our faith, like that bird, is meant to fly and reach the higher region, but it does
not fly. It keeps to "the level and the low" and walks the ground like the hen or the
duck.
Such a use of faith means that nothing is attempted unless it can be justified from
the natural angle as well as from the supernatural. Then when we run up against an
obstacle, instead of seeking to fly over it by the miraculous powers of grace, we
allow it to bring us to a complete standstill. We regard the natural difficulty as final.
We do not exactly rule faith out, but we harness it and subject it to natural
considerations. The result of that conception of faith has been disastrous. Do
Catholic communities emerge in bold relief from among others by their mode of
life and by their standards? Sometimes it is not so easy to distinguish them. How
often have we to take refuge in saying, "Oh yes, we may not ostensibly be living
different lives, but we have the Faith"? That is a mighty poor defense. Yet, too often
it is the best that can be made. Look, for instance, at the continent of Europe, in
previous ages the fount of Catholicity, the furnisher of missionaries, the nursery of
saints. Today Europe in the Gospel phrase "walks no more with Christ," does not
want to walk any more with Him, and appears not to be convertible. And we,
shackled by our weakness of faith, stand looking helplessly on!
Conversion by Direct Attack
Again, so dominating is that merely natural attitude of Catholics towards their faith
and the powers of their religion, that there is the very considerable danger--which
has to a large extent become an actuality--that we may regard the Church as being
limited in its activities, in its possibilities, and in its accomplishments like any
ordinary earthly institution is limited. In practice we assume that what an ordinary
institution can do, the Catholic Church can do, and what an ordinary worldly
institution cannot do, the Catholic Church cannot do. Is this an exaggeration? Well,
read the papers and see. Or listen to our own conversation and judge if we have
not erred into that line of thought. I give you an example. No doubt you have noticed
the consoling articles which have appeared of late in the Catholic Press proving
that in the year 1987 or so the Catholic Church will have a larger membership in a
certain country than any other religion. Why? It is because the Catholic birth-rate is
higher than any other in that country. You see, it is by that we are going to have
more Catholics in such and such a year! I ask you if that is not looking on the
Catholic Church as a purely human institution? I do not mean to say that God does
not use that way of adding souls to His Church. But is He thus limited? Did God
ever intend the increase of His Church to depend on the marriage-rate and the
birth-rate only? You know that the very suggestion is ridiculous.
We boast that Birth Control is more prevalent in non-Catholic communities than in
ours, that therefore our members will eventually predominate. But what about the
loss of souls in the long interval of waiting while our numbers grow? Is there to be
no question of the conversion of men by direct attack? What about the days when
our little bit of a country sent its missionaries out over Europe? For what? It was to
convert men, to convert masses of men. Are these days altogether gone? Yes,
under present conditions of faith they almost appear to be. Think of the conversion
of England as it was once accomplished. Could it be won to the Faith. once more
as was done in those early days? Again I suggest, not under present conditions.
Numerically we are not going ahead there at all. For the 10,000 or so conversions
a year are counterbalanced by the leakage. In all those newspaper surveys of the
position I have not seen a word about the miraculous converting power of the
Church. And what of the greater problem of converting France-and the still greater
one of Russia?
Looking for Mass Conversions
With the persistence of this wholly natural attitude we work largely on natural lines.
The idea of getting miraculous help from God is absent. If we get impatient at the
idea of tedious extension through the birth-rate and aim at direct conversions, then
again our planning follows purely human lines. How often have we heard
something of this kind: "The future lies in our getting hold of the children. We
cannot spend time on the adults because they are hopeless."? And the attempted
conversion of a country resolves itself to this, that we endeavor to educate the
children, and we leave the adults practically alone. We have little idea of looking as
of old for mass-conversions of men, no idea of forcing--by a faith that does not
stagger--the Omnipotence of God to sweep down and gather whole continents into
His Church. Our thinking is done along natural lines. Even the choicest types of
people are inclined thus to let the natural dictate to the supernatural. One such
person, for instance, in the early days of Sancta Maria the first year--I
think--proposed an extension of the work. It was to open a little house and take a
group of five or six of our most promising girls, who would be subjected to a more
intensive process of development. We approved of the idea in general, but we
asked: "How are you going to pick the 'promising ones'?" A selection was made. It
included all the nice and trim young ones. Our comment was: "We do not think you
can pick so easily as that." Now, it is an interesting fact that the very ones named
fell away; which shows how incapable the best of us are at judging these things,
and the great danger of applying our own opinions to something that belongs to
God. That person slipped into the human fallacy of supposing that what was
naturally eligible and likely-looking was precisely the same in the supernatural
order. Such may be far from being the case.
Now, another example and mind, when I quote these I am not picking out an
unusual thing here and another there, to bolster up a strained argument. You know
that these examples are absolutely typical of the experience of ourselves and of
everybody else. They illustrate, unfortunately, our ordinary mode of thought. An
influential and good Catholic, in the position to give employment, was approached
recently about a girl and asked to give her a chance in a job. This girl had been
misconducting herself some time before, and the fact was mentioned. The reply to
the request was that the only remedy for anyone of that type was to lock her up
permanently in an institution. Study that sweeping assertion with its implications,
and you are shocked to find that it reduces the divinely-guided Church precisely to
the level of the ordinary prison system. It suggests that the Church, like the prison
system, is unable to secure a conversion other than by locking up the person
sought to be converted. I feel that every Legionary heart will instinctively repudiate
that suggestion as utterly intolerable. Moreover, I point to the working of Sancta
Maria Hostel as a practical demonstration of the untruth of such a gospel of
hopelessness. In that hostel we have seen how people of that particular type have
been induced-not in ones or twos, but wholesale--to turn over to a life of goodness,
and of persevering goodness.
Aiming at the Impossible
Yet, despite our contact with so many experiences of wonder-working grace in our
Legion activities, we ourselves have no reason to feel superior. For we, too, will
usually fetter by worldly reasonings the illimitable powers of faith. So long as there
is dry land we are prepared to walk the rough road that leads to souls. But the
moment that land ends and the waters begin--is there one amongst us Legionaries
that will set his feet upon those waters and go on? Rather will he not weigh himself
and that soul in the balance, and nearly always it will be his side that goes down
and his own interests that will win the day.
It is strange then that we are not able to call upon the Omnipotence of God in our
various works? Do not take me as suggesting that we are not ever calling upon
and obtaining graces from God. Manifestly we are, but we are not drawing upon
His Omnipotence, by which I mean His capacity to do what is impossible to nature
(including the splendidly miraculous). Yet, in the greatness of our ambitions and
our efforts we should aim at nothing less than the impossible.
All our Hostels, I would say, are exemplifying in a modest way the truth of the
statement I made earlier on when I claimed that the miraculous is more or less
always on tap. The establishment, the continuance, the general results, and the
accompanying circumstances of all these three Hostels are unquestionably
miraculous. Not spectacularly miraculous, I grant you, and therefore, possibly
veiled or unnoticeable to the ordinary person who contemplates their working. But
the Legionaries who ventured greatly there, albeit nervously, have felt--the water
grow solid beneath their feet.
Impossible situations were solved, intricate puzzles resolved themselves, utterly
hopeless people were converted and persevered in their conversion. Closed
doors were opened, many unsuspected ones leading to fresh sources of help or
wider opportunities. When, in contact with these Hostels, you see that going on,
not once or twice, but every day, as part of the ordinary routine of their life, you
could not but see in it the miraculous. Being acutely conscious of it myself, I ask
what is not possible if the spirit of those Legionaries who work in the Hostels could
be extended to the general community; if their spirit of faith-mingled determination
could be applied to the problems of the world? I would imagine the result would be
the same veiled miracles-batches of people capitulating and being converted; big
unsolved problems being readily solved.
Shaking the World out of Apathy
But in what I have said do not misunderstand me. Do not take me as claiming that
the Legionaries in our Hostels are leading lives of heroic faith. As I said before, I
say again to you frankly that none of us are. The best of us are trying to work with
one foot in each world, by which I mean compromising the supernatural with the
natural. I have particularized Hostel workers because I see a great devotion to
souls there, a very determined devotion, and a readiness to suffer dire things in the
following up of those difficult souls with whose care they are charged. Though there
are higher things than that Hostel spirit, yet it is a dynamic thing. I believe if it were
to become common among us, we would be in a fair way to bring back on earth
again those miracle-working, all-converting days of the Church. We should pray for
signs and wonders and divers miracles and try to bring them by meriting them. For
they alone can shake the world out of its spiritual apathy, can compel its attention,
can make it go on its knees and listen to the doctrine of Christ.
Sensational Triumph of Mass-Conversion
I will conclude my argument by touching on the events which are described in the
September, 1940, issue of MARIA LEGIONIS, that is, the attack on Bentley Place
(note: the pseudonym for a district in Dublin where prostitution was rife. Mr. Duff
led the apostolate of the area, which resulted in its complete erosion). According
to the human eye that first haul secured the absolute refuse and rubbish of the
area-people that by any standards were impossible. They were not sober, for one
thing; indeed there was not any natural groundwork for conversion. But you will
remember the startling sequel: their conversion accomplished, not one of them
ever looked back.
That group represented a sensational example of mass-conversion. How was
such a miraculous result achieved? This was the reason: when the Legionaries
attacked that enterprise, they morally laid down their own lives. They were
convinced that they were going to their own destruction. To quote the phrase in the
journal, they came to a signpost which said, "There lies your duty and your
destruction." Yet, when they read it they went ahead where it pointed. The result
was that their very first draught of fishes consisted of nine great ones, nor did their
net break, for that miraculous haul represented the first movement in a two years I
drama which led to the cleansing of that place utterly and absolutely, not by human
devices but by grace; not by driving forth but by converting; and not alone
converting the girls themselves but the organizers of the place as well-all were
gathered into the net. If that is not a miracle equal to anything in the pages of
Church history down through the centuries, then I have misread all such history.
Applying the Rules of God
Since those early Legionary days other similar happenings have been seen, many
wonders which must be admitted as miraculous. I am satisfied that such miracles
are available for any who resolutely reach for them. But that word "resolutely" is the
difficulty. If you want them, you must act and act with faith-centered determination.
Remember this: our religion, if It is to accomplish anything, must be supernatural.
That means it must break to an extent with the purely natural. It will in consequence
pay scant attention to the claims of worldly prudence. Heroic faith represents the
application of the rules of God, and only the rules of God, to your work and your
everyday life, the unwavering, unconditional application of His rules. I repeat you
must break with the natural, for if you try to balance one foot on the natural and the
other on the supernatural, you will in practice believe that it is the natural that
supports you and not the supernatural. So believing, you may ask, but it shall not
be given to you; you may knock, and it shall not be opened to you.
(1939), has been struck by the seemingly small part the Catholic Church is playing
in relation to the great disruptive happenings which are shaking the whole world.
The Holy Father has been making his broken-hearted appeals In the interests of
peace, but truly he may be described as "a voice crying in the wilderness,"
because no one seems to be listening. The Church has been just quietly elbowed
to one side. That is a very perplexing thought, but it should be much more than that
to you, Legionaries; it should be a galvanic thought, because you know that
something must be wrong when such a state of things can be. And if something is
wrong, then something must be done about it. May I put a few thoughts before you
on that subject?
The Legion, as you know, has been successful. It is growing rapidly. It is honored
by the confidence of the great people of the Church. Its future seems to be bright,
and from time to time we have wondered to ourselves if the Legion were not
actually a hope of the world, destined to help in the ushering in of a new order of
things. That would be a sweet thought. But at the same time there must be no
self-satisfaction in it, just because a certain amount has been done and certain
standards, which are not low standards, have been created. We must not foolishly
think that we have done all that is to be done. And are our standards so superb?
Consider this. That well-known French writer, Pere Plus, has defined a Christian
as one to whose care has been committed his fellow-man. That signifies that every
Christian has a duty such as that which you have taken on yourselves--every
Christian. Pius XI says, in a paragraph known to you in the Handbook, that
Catholic Action is an elementary Christian duty imposed on each person by the
Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. And in another Handbook quotation, St.
John Chrysostom warns us to this effect: "Christians, remember that at the hour of
judgment you must render an account, not for your own souls alone, but for the
souls of all men." The foregoing quotations express a truth, and that truth is this-the
Legion represents no more than common Catholic life. The Legion life is not a
unique life, and it is not a heroic life; it is common Catholicity as God intended it
and as the Church sees it. Nothing more, And, if people looking on at the Legion
should acclaim it as heroic, that only means that their standards have sunk very low
indeed, and that the true standard of living, as expressed by those great
authorities whom I have been quoting, is not understood. This fact, therefore,
stands forth, that as the Legion is only common Catholicity, all Catholics, and not
merely the pick of them, are bound to be in the ranks of the Legion, or discharging
their duty in some other similar fashion.
Shock the World into Seeing the Church
This truth will help Legionaries to take a correct view of their own position. They
must not assume that in being Legionaries they have achieved a very special
altitude, that they have climbed the spiritual peaks. The fact is that they have only
established themselves in the elements of Catholic duty as understood by the
Church; they are really only at the ground level and their climb has yet to begin.
They must brace themselves to that climb, to the achievement of heroism. I say it
again: we are only on the ground level at present. The climb is before us.
What are the possibilities of achievement offered to us in the Legion? Of late I
have been made to think a little on that subject by viewing the fine bearing of
Legionaries--towards certain happenings, not only in this country (arising out of the
governmental declaration that a state of emergency exists) but still more in the
neighboring island in the face of grievous conditions. Now we know that
Legionaries can be trusted to stand out conspicuous amongst others for
self-sacrifice, to be calm and reliable when all around is chaos, to be superbly on
duty in the very worst that can betide.
Reflecting on all that with no small degree of consolation, the further thought
suggested itself--Why should that heroic spirit only be in plain evidence amongst
us when evoked by some sort of national crisis? Note it is not a religious crisis
which has evoked that spirit, but national ones. Why should we only show
ourselves in the full light of our possibilities when death and danger come along to
bring the element of reality into everyday life? Is it not possible for sensible people
to face realities without that special stimulus? Why should we only realize the
fleeting character of this life and the futility of the things of this world when danger
comes along, when some national or social or emotional convulsion plants us right
up against final things and thus brings us to our senses? I think if we were able to
live always on this level where dire happenings have set us; if we could stabilize
that sublime indifference to life and comfort, and throw that spirit into our ordinary
life and work, we could simply tear asunder the existing faulty standards of the
world, and in their place set up entirely new standards appropriate to the Catholic
Church. Those worthy standards would call down the Omnipotence of God and
force Him--very willingly I might say--to give us whatever we may want; to give us
the conversions we want-the mass-conversions; to give us miracles of every
description, and thus to shock the cynical world into looking at the Catholic Church
and listening to her message.
What do we want with miracles?
When I talk in this way about the miraculous, you may be inclined to say: "Well,
what do we want with miracles?" My reply is this: The Catholic Church is the
carrying on of the life of Our Lord in its every aspect, and a most prominent feature
of Our Lord's life was its miracles. He worked miracles as part of His ordinary
mission; He spoke of them as the attendant of faith. They represented His chief
way of awakening people, of attracting their eyes to Himself, and shattering them
out of their indifference and worldliness and making them listen to Him, follow Him,
believe in Him. There is just as much necessity today for that sort of dazzling
doctrine as there was when Our Lord was living. In fact there is more, because we
live today in a blase world--a world that pays no attention to mere talking--that
cannot be stirred out of its indifference by any force that is less than dynamic, a
world in which such a state of affairs has arisen that an organization like the
Legion (where it is not despised or disregarded) is looked upon as a truly heroic
organization. I have already insisted that such a conception of the Legion is not
correct.
Miracles : Supreme Challenge to Unbelief
I stress this question of miracles, because they are desirable; they are needed.
They are the supreme challenge to unbelief. They are the endorsement of our
Faith, shown as such in history, shown as such in the New Testament. The
preparation for the Church was miraculous; the establishment of the Church was
miraculous; the spread of the Church was miraculous. It was all miraculous. And,
having regard to the fact that the Church merely carries on Our Lord's life, the
miraculous should be part and parcel of the mission of the Church, practically part
and parcel of its everyday work. By the miraculous I do not necessarily mean (nor
do I exclude either) the moving of mountains, or the raising of the dead, or the
stilling of the tempest. I say I do not exclude these for they are possible and
desirable now just as ever they were--the Arm of God has not shortened. But I
particularly mean the stilling of the tempest of problems and passions, the raising
of the morally dead, the moving away of the mountains of unbelief. These are all
things that we know as just as possible today as ever they were in the history of the
Church. And yet they are not being realized! Why? Because our Catholicism has
not sufficient body in It; it is only a shadow of what it is supposed to be. Even we
here, who represent a sort of upper stratum in the flock, have ourselves intolerably
low standards; we are prepared to rejoice and be content when merely modest
results come along, instead of having at all times a heart for the impossible.
Nothing Impossible with God
For that word, "impossible" is only a human relation. With God no word shall be
impossible. And to us, things will range from the impossible to the possible exactly
in the measure that we enlist the grace of God in our service. If we can call fully on
that grace, then all things whatsoever are within our grasp. There is no problem we
cannot solve, no person we cannot convert, no community we cannot win to the
Faith. There is nothing we cannot accomplish if we can but call upon the
Omnipotence of God to help us. You will say I seem to suggest that as things are
we cannot count on that Omnipotence, and you demand, "Why not?" My answer is
that we do not go about the business of claiming it in the right way--our faith is low
and poor and weak. Let us venture to give a little examination to that problem.
Real Faith Calls on Omnipotence
What is wrong with the quality of our faith and conduct that we do not get the results
which were forthcoming in the earlier days of the Church? When we read in the
Gospel about having the faith of God, the faith that moves mountains, what exactly
is meant? Does it mean just a pious belief in God and in His power to do all
things? With respect I say it means nothing of the kind, because that sort of faith is
possessed by every single person sitting here before me in this hall; in fact it is
possessed by even the most easy-going and thoughtless in the Catholic world
outside. But none of us here are working that type of miracle, nor do the people
outside work it either. The faith that is meant must be of an entirely different quality
from that which is our common possession, and which goes no further than what I
have already described as a pious belief. The faith that is wanted, the real faith,
does not mean an empty sentiment, but an action. It very definitely means
action--seeing God, and souls, and hardly seeing anything else; then pursuing
those ends with absolute determination, with complete forgetfulness of oneself, of
one's own interest and one's own safety; prepared to press after them, even if
one's own destruction is entailed. You may say this is a very extreme conception;
you may ask, does it literally mean that one must be prepared to lay down one's
life, or be destroyed or ruined in some way or another, in the search for the
interests of God? My answer is that it does. It is true that a much less noble degree
of faith will save us. But it is not going to move away the mountains of the difficult
and the impossible and to call freely on the Omnipotence of God.
The Miraculous on Tap
Now that is the kind of faith that is required to face the gigantic and grim problems
of the day; and difficult to nature though it seems, it is by no means an impossible
or unknown degree of faith, for I have seen many individuals in your own ranks
facing up to situations in that very spirit. I have known a fair number of cases where
Legionaries in the course of their work came to a point at which they had to decide
either to stop or go on. The going on apparently meant their own ruin. The stopping
meant the abandonment of a prime work for souls to which they had committed
themselves. I am happy to be able to boast (is it wrong in the circumstances?) that
in all the cases I have in mind those Legionaries pressed on--I do not say they did
it undauntedly, but I do say they pressed on. And what was the sequel? Well,
amazing to say, in every one of those cases they gained their objective completely.
Surely, for those Legionaries it was a setting of their feet upon the waters and
walking! Reflecting on those happenings, and making more than due allowance for
coincidence, one could not but be convinced that a regular law was opening
whereby the miraculous stepped In at the point where human effort and goodwill
had done their utmost, could do no more, and could only cast themselves
appealingly on the Omnipotent. We do not realize that the miraculous is, as it were,
on tap for us like that. We get the idea from what we have read or heard that the
miraculous is something altogether out of the way, something unexplainable in its
incidence, I subject to no law, experienced at specialty designated places like
Lourdes, or as manifestations of God's singular predilection for special souls, but
certainly something not to be realized by common people like ourselves. That is a
complete error. From my experience, such as it has been, I would say that the
miraculous in its different grades is absolutely on tap for anybody that requires it
and is prepared to pay the price.
Shackling the Power of Faith
I would really fear that the ordinary faith which is current even in estimable Catholic
communities, and even in a fairly select band like the Legionaries, is more natural
than supernatural. Herein, I seem to be voicing a contradiction: faith being
supernatural, how can it be natural? What I mean is that we may use a supernatural
power after a natural fashion, which almost amounts to not using it at all. As a
parallel, consider the case of a bird which has powerful wings, and yet is satisfied
to walk the ground like the common hen, or worse still, to waddle along like the
duck. Our faith, like that bird, is meant to fly and reach the higher region, but it does
not fly. It keeps to "the level and the low" and walks the ground like the hen or the
duck.
Such a use of faith means that nothing is attempted unless it can be justified from
the natural angle as well as from the supernatural. Then when we run up against an
obstacle, instead of seeking to fly over it by the miraculous powers of grace, we
allow it to bring us to a complete standstill. We regard the natural difficulty as final.
We do not exactly rule faith out, but we harness it and subject it to natural
considerations. The result of that conception of faith has been disastrous. Do
Catholic communities emerge in bold relief from among others by their mode of
life and by their standards? Sometimes it is not so easy to distinguish them. How
often have we to take refuge in saying, "Oh yes, we may not ostensibly be living
different lives, but we have the Faith"? That is a mighty poor defense. Yet, too often
it is the best that can be made. Look, for instance, at the continent of Europe, in
previous ages the fount of Catholicity, the furnisher of missionaries, the nursery of
saints. Today Europe in the Gospel phrase "walks no more with Christ," does not
want to walk any more with Him, and appears not to be convertible. And we,
shackled by our weakness of faith, stand looking helplessly on!
Conversion by Direct Attack
Again, so dominating is that merely natural attitude of Catholics towards their faith
and the powers of their religion, that there is the very considerable danger--which
has to a large extent become an actuality--that we may regard the Church as being
limited in its activities, in its possibilities, and in its accomplishments like any
ordinary earthly institution is limited. In practice we assume that what an ordinary
institution can do, the Catholic Church can do, and what an ordinary worldly
institution cannot do, the Catholic Church cannot do. Is this an exaggeration? Well,
read the papers and see. Or listen to our own conversation and judge if we have
not erred into that line of thought. I give you an example. No doubt you have noticed
the consoling articles which have appeared of late in the Catholic Press proving
that in the year 1987 or so the Catholic Church will have a larger membership in a
certain country than any other religion. Why? It is because the Catholic birth-rate is
higher than any other in that country. You see, it is by that we are going to have
more Catholics in such and such a year! I ask you if that is not looking on the
Catholic Church as a purely human institution? I do not mean to say that God does
not use that way of adding souls to His Church. But is He thus limited? Did God
ever intend the increase of His Church to depend on the marriage-rate and the
birth-rate only? You know that the very suggestion is ridiculous.
We boast that Birth Control is more prevalent in non-Catholic communities than in
ours, that therefore our members will eventually predominate. But what about the
loss of souls in the long interval of waiting while our numbers grow? Is there to be
no question of the conversion of men by direct attack? What about the days when
our little bit of a country sent its missionaries out over Europe? For what? It was to
convert men, to convert masses of men. Are these days altogether gone? Yes,
under present conditions of faith they almost appear to be. Think of the conversion
of England as it was once accomplished. Could it be won to the Faith. once more
as was done in those early days? Again I suggest, not under present conditions.
Numerically we are not going ahead there at all. For the 10,000 or so conversions
a year are counterbalanced by the leakage. In all those newspaper surveys of the
position I have not seen a word about the miraculous converting power of the
Church. And what of the greater problem of converting France-and the still greater
one of Russia?
Looking for Mass Conversions
With the persistence of this wholly natural attitude we work largely on natural lines.
The idea of getting miraculous help from God is absent. If we get impatient at the
idea of tedious extension through the birth-rate and aim at direct conversions, then
again our planning follows purely human lines. How often have we heard
something of this kind: "The future lies in our getting hold of the children. We
cannot spend time on the adults because they are hopeless."? And the attempted
conversion of a country resolves itself to this, that we endeavor to educate the
children, and we leave the adults practically alone. We have little idea of looking as
of old for mass-conversions of men, no idea of forcing--by a faith that does not
stagger--the Omnipotence of God to sweep down and gather whole continents into
His Church. Our thinking is done along natural lines. Even the choicest types of
people are inclined thus to let the natural dictate to the supernatural. One such
person, for instance, in the early days of Sancta Maria the first year--I
think--proposed an extension of the work. It was to open a little house and take a
group of five or six of our most promising girls, who would be subjected to a more
intensive process of development. We approved of the idea in general, but we
asked: "How are you going to pick the 'promising ones'?" A selection was made. It
included all the nice and trim young ones. Our comment was: "We do not think you
can pick so easily as that." Now, it is an interesting fact that the very ones named
fell away; which shows how incapable the best of us are at judging these things,
and the great danger of applying our own opinions to something that belongs to
God. That person slipped into the human fallacy of supposing that what was
naturally eligible and likely-looking was precisely the same in the supernatural
order. Such may be far from being the case.
Now, another example and mind, when I quote these I am not picking out an
unusual thing here and another there, to bolster up a strained argument. You know
that these examples are absolutely typical of the experience of ourselves and of
everybody else. They illustrate, unfortunately, our ordinary mode of thought. An
influential and good Catholic, in the position to give employment, was approached
recently about a girl and asked to give her a chance in a job. This girl had been
misconducting herself some time before, and the fact was mentioned. The reply to
the request was that the only remedy for anyone of that type was to lock her up
permanently in an institution. Study that sweeping assertion with its implications,
and you are shocked to find that it reduces the divinely-guided Church precisely to
the level of the ordinary prison system. It suggests that the Church, like the prison
system, is unable to secure a conversion other than by locking up the person
sought to be converted. I feel that every Legionary heart will instinctively repudiate
that suggestion as utterly intolerable. Moreover, I point to the working of Sancta
Maria Hostel as a practical demonstration of the untruth of such a gospel of
hopelessness. In that hostel we have seen how people of that particular type have
been induced-not in ones or twos, but wholesale--to turn over to a life of goodness,
and of persevering goodness.
Aiming at the Impossible
Yet, despite our contact with so many experiences of wonder-working grace in our
Legion activities, we ourselves have no reason to feel superior. For we, too, will
usually fetter by worldly reasonings the illimitable powers of faith. So long as there
is dry land we are prepared to walk the rough road that leads to souls. But the
moment that land ends and the waters begin--is there one amongst us Legionaries
that will set his feet upon those waters and go on? Rather will he not weigh himself
and that soul in the balance, and nearly always it will be his side that goes down
and his own interests that will win the day.
It is strange then that we are not able to call upon the Omnipotence of God in our
various works? Do not take me as suggesting that we are not ever calling upon
and obtaining graces from God. Manifestly we are, but we are not drawing upon
His Omnipotence, by which I mean His capacity to do what is impossible to nature
(including the splendidly miraculous). Yet, in the greatness of our ambitions and
our efforts we should aim at nothing less than the impossible.
All our Hostels, I would say, are exemplifying in a modest way the truth of the
statement I made earlier on when I claimed that the miraculous is more or less
always on tap. The establishment, the continuance, the general results, and the
accompanying circumstances of all these three Hostels are unquestionably
miraculous. Not spectacularly miraculous, I grant you, and therefore, possibly
veiled or unnoticeable to the ordinary person who contemplates their working. But
the Legionaries who ventured greatly there, albeit nervously, have felt--the water
grow solid beneath their feet.
Impossible situations were solved, intricate puzzles resolved themselves, utterly
hopeless people were converted and persevered in their conversion. Closed
doors were opened, many unsuspected ones leading to fresh sources of help or
wider opportunities. When, in contact with these Hostels, you see that going on,
not once or twice, but every day, as part of the ordinary routine of their life, you
could not but see in it the miraculous. Being acutely conscious of it myself, I ask
what is not possible if the spirit of those Legionaries who work in the Hostels could
be extended to the general community; if their spirit of faith-mingled determination
could be applied to the problems of the world? I would imagine the result would be
the same veiled miracles-batches of people capitulating and being converted; big
unsolved problems being readily solved.
Shaking the World out of Apathy
But in what I have said do not misunderstand me. Do not take me as claiming that
the Legionaries in our Hostels are leading lives of heroic faith. As I said before, I
say again to you frankly that none of us are. The best of us are trying to work with
one foot in each world, by which I mean compromising the supernatural with the
natural. I have particularized Hostel workers because I see a great devotion to
souls there, a very determined devotion, and a readiness to suffer dire things in the
following up of those difficult souls with whose care they are charged. Though there
are higher things than that Hostel spirit, yet it is a dynamic thing. I believe if it were
to become common among us, we would be in a fair way to bring back on earth
again those miracle-working, all-converting days of the Church. We should pray for
signs and wonders and divers miracles and try to bring them by meriting them. For
they alone can shake the world out of its spiritual apathy, can compel its attention,
can make it go on its knees and listen to the doctrine of Christ.
Sensational Triumph of Mass-Conversion
I will conclude my argument by touching on the events which are described in the
September, 1940, issue of MARIA LEGIONIS, that is, the attack on Bentley Place
(note: the pseudonym for a district in Dublin where prostitution was rife. Mr. Duff
led the apostolate of the area, which resulted in its complete erosion). According
to the human eye that first haul secured the absolute refuse and rubbish of the
area-people that by any standards were impossible. They were not sober, for one
thing; indeed there was not any natural groundwork for conversion. But you will
remember the startling sequel: their conversion accomplished, not one of them
ever looked back.
That group represented a sensational example of mass-conversion. How was
such a miraculous result achieved? This was the reason: when the Legionaries
attacked that enterprise, they morally laid down their own lives. They were
convinced that they were going to their own destruction. To quote the phrase in the
journal, they came to a signpost which said, "There lies your duty and your
destruction." Yet, when they read it they went ahead where it pointed. The result
was that their very first draught of fishes consisted of nine great ones, nor did their
net break, for that miraculous haul represented the first movement in a two years I
drama which led to the cleansing of that place utterly and absolutely, not by human
devices but by grace; not by driving forth but by converting; and not alone
converting the girls themselves but the organizers of the place as well-all were
gathered into the net. If that is not a miracle equal to anything in the pages of
Church history down through the centuries, then I have misread all such history.
Applying the Rules of God
Since those early Legionary days other similar happenings have been seen, many
wonders which must be admitted as miraculous. I am satisfied that such miracles
are available for any who resolutely reach for them. But that word "resolutely" is the
difficulty. If you want them, you must act and act with faith-centered determination.
Remember this: our religion, if It is to accomplish anything, must be supernatural.
That means it must break to an extent with the purely natural. It will in consequence
pay scant attention to the claims of worldly prudence. Heroic faith represents the
application of the rules of God, and only the rules of God, to your work and your
everyday life, the unwavering, unconditional application of His rules. I repeat you
must break with the natural, for if you try to balance one foot on the natural and the
other on the supernatural, you will in practice believe that it is the natural that
supports you and not the supernatural. So believing, you may ask, but it shall not
be given to you; you may knock, and it shall not be opened to you.
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Legion of Mary - Diocese of Phoenix, AZ
FAITH
"With Faith o'ercome the steeps thy God has set for thee."
by Frank Duff
With permission, Christophe Meneboeuf, photographer