Chapter III

Of course the religious life has its hardships, it is _a life of sacrifice_; but that is its honor and its recommendation to a noble soul: “The kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away” (St. Matth. xi, 12). All the Saints have led lives of sacrifice, like their Divine Master: “Jesus said to His disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Ib. xvi, 24).

To aid us in carrying the cross of the religious life cheerfully, let us reflect what _magnificent prizes_ are held out to us.

1. There is the bright _crown of virginity_, with the distinguished privilege of more intimate union with Jesus in Heaven. “These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth” (Apoc. xiv, 4).

2. There is also the glory of being seated, with Christ, on the _judgment seat_, when He will come in His Majesty on the clouds of heaven: they are to judge the world, rather than to be judged. Thus at least the Venerable Bede explains the promise made by Christ to His Apostles, which for a parity of reason, he extends to religious: “Amen I say to you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of His Majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (St. Matth. xix, 28).

3. Another most valuable advantage of the religious life lies in the _protection_ it affords against dangerous temptations to sin. True, as long as we live upon earth we may fall from grace, and forfeit, through our own grievous fault, the rich store of merit so far accumulated and our right to eternal bliss: “He that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall,” writes the Apostle (I Cor. x, 12). The best a man can do is to surround himself with such securities as lessen the assaults from without and strengthen the will within him. And such is undoubtedly the religious life. Its vows of poverty, chastity and obedience cut off the fiercest assaults of man’s triple enemy, the world, the Devil and the flesh; and its constant practices of piety and mortification provide a copious supply of Heavenly assistance to resist temptations.

Therefore _St. Bernard draws this consoling picture_ of religion: “It is a state,” he says, “in which man lives with more purity, falls more rarely, rises more promptly, walks more securely, is more frequently bedewed with celestial graces, sleeps more peaceably, dies with more assurance, passes more quickly through Purgatory, and is more richly rewarded.”