A reasonable person should always be guided by reason. A Christian soul, possessing in full the c1earsightedness that faith gives, judges not only with good human wisdom, but leaning upon this human wisdom judges everything from a divine viewpoint.
If such is the normal manner of acting for a Christian, such ought to be, a fortiori, the normal manner of acting for a religious soul - calm good judgment and an ardent spirit of faith.
Should I not then, for this very reason, ward off and condemn all outbursts of humor; flee excesses of sensibility or of imagination; and avoid giving events an importance they do not have?
I will remind myself of this, again and again, and I will try to convince myself that things are just as important as I make them. Assuredly they possess a value in themselves; it is very possible, however, that their value is not at all what I accord to them; but I am emotionally excited either pleasantly or unpleasantly, not so much by the realities which surround me, as by the interpretation I give them.
Imagine any happening, say the death of a woman, for example; I am not informed of it; the reality exists, but I do not suffer. Or, again, when there is some insignificant detail, I make a mountain out of it; I am going to suffer, not for what it is in itself, but for the importance I attach to it.
The danger consequently lies in permitting my imagination to wander, my sensibility to go unchecked; in allowing myself to color insignificant details, trifling details, blue, black, or rose according to the state of my soul, so that I do not see them as they really are. Some persons distort everything, take everything the wrong way, even a kind word someone says to them; they embellish or blacken according to the days, the time, or the weather.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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