A very old inscription discovered in the Indies reads: "Jesus - may He be praised - has said, 'The world is a bridge, pass over it but do not build a dwelling there.'"
If there is one characteristic teaching in the Gospel, it is this, do not cling to transitory things, build on the eternal.
In breaking with the world to enter religion, I intended to break with the affairs of temporal life and to devote myself to eternal things; I understood that earth was commonplace and only heaven was worth possessing. This satisfaction of having chosen the best, alleviated the too natural pangs suffered in separating myself from insignificant and secondary values.
I gave myself to God, to live for God and in God alone with no compromise, no turning back. That was explicit and final.
And have not the temporalities of life drawn me back imperceptibly, little by little? Have I not, unknowingly and perhaps even somewhat consciously reverted to the world or the spirit of the world? Is the beautiful detachment which characterized the beginning of my religious life still my chief concern? I wanted merely to pass by; have I not taken hold of something? Do I not cling to many temporal things? Or rather are there not many things clinging to me, keeping me from advancing?
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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