The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-10-03
SERVE GOD IN THE WORLD.
Advice to Young Men Unsuited Fol
Relieious Communities.

Religious Communities.
The Jesuit fathers of Canisius col
lese. Buffalo. conduct Our Question
Box" in the Catholic Union and Times.
Here is an answer given to one query
why is it that young men of a self
sacrificing spirit for the honor and
glory of Almighty God are deprived Of
being members of certain religious
communities because they are hard OF
hearing or because their .eyesight is
not good. or they have a defect in thei"
speech? / am one of them who has
been deprived of my hearts greatest
desire-the service Of Almighty God.
All religious communities have the
necessary right of requiring certain
conditions under which they will or
VIII not admit applicants 10 their or
der or congregation. A certain divine
vocation is necessary for any one who
desires to ADOPT religious life The
admission OF members who have no
divine vocation is dangerous, both to
the Individual who enters and the com
munity that admits him. Now. a divine
vocation TO the religious state consists
in the internal and external fitness of
the applicant. and in the supernatural
impulse which induces the applicant
to seek admittdnce to the religious
state. ID External fitness consists in
such d condition of circumstances
which render it both possible and adj
MISSILE to enter a religious COM
munity. If one is bound by grave
moral obligations which are incom
patible with the religious life, q. g. OBJ
legations towards ones parents, who
absolutely need the assistance of their
son or daughter. or, if one had con-
tracted large Indebtedness, such eX-
ternal circumstances would indicate
the absence of a divine vocation. 81
internal fitness means such a condition
of body and soul as enables the ap-
plicant to perform the laburS and to
sustain the burdens of religious life
and to promote the proXimate end OF
the particular institute which the APP
plcant intends to join Take, for in
stance, teaching community. The
proXimate end Of such an insti-
tuition demands special qualifica-
tons without which the applicant
would not be able to perform
the special duties of his state. Mo-
Only must his general health be toler-
ably good, his judgment sound, and
his talent sufficient, but he must be
free from any defect in his eyesight,
his hearing and his speech, as such de-
fects disqualify him from promoting
the special end of a teaching COM
munity. In the absence of these quail
fications, his mere desire to join such,
community is no proof of a divine vo-
cation. Nor need the questioner be
anxious about being deprived of his
hearts greatest desire-the service of
Almighty Cod" For nobody deppives
him of this desire. He can serve God
ir the world with 1.-THE same. or even
higher perfection than in the cloister.
What is the real test Of supernatural
perfection of the service of God? Is it
the state of life in which man lives?
Certainly not, The real test is the de
gree of sanctifying grace in which a
man dies and. consequently, the degree I
Of eternal glory. There are millions of |
saints in heaven who have obtained |
their sanctity in the world and now en- |
JOY greater glory in heaven than |
many a religious person that loved /
God less fewently than they and OBJ |
tanned a lower degree of sanctifying |
grace. Let the questioner fulfil his
Catholic duties, join some sodality or /
the Society Of st. Vincent de Paul, love
God with daily Increasing fervor and |
his neignbor accordingly, and he will in .
full obtain his greatest desire-the
service Of Almighty God"