this feigned reserve entirely vanishing, she resumed her former manners, spent her time in idle conversations, and thought of nothing but of amusing herself with some seculars who were pensioners in the same monastery. Just as the bow, though bent, when the string is loosened quickly restores itself to its natural form, in like manner the impressions made on this young lady's mind were quickly effaced, as they had been made by an external cause, whose source lay not in her heart.
The affair of Christian perfection is not a business to be done by constraint; it is the heart which must undertake it. Speaking to the young man in the gospel, our Saviour tells him, "If thou wilt be perfect" (Matt. xix. 21) ; in order to show us that the root of perfection is in our will. For if we have not a sincere desire of becoming perfect, all the care and attention of our superiors will avail nothing. Here we can find the answer to the question put by St. Bonaventure, when he asks: Why was one superior sufficient formerly for one thousand religious, nay for four or five thousand, who, according to St. Jerom and St. Austin, lived under one abbot; and now-a-days one superior is scarce sufficient for ten^ religious, nay even for a smaller number. (Bon. Rel. Per. T. I. c. 39.) The reason is, because formerly the religious cherished an ardent desire of perfection, and this fire kindling in their hearts, they applied themselves, with all possible zeal, to their spiritual advancement. " The just," says the Wise Man, " shall shine, and shall spread like sparks of fire among reeds." (Wis. iii. 7.) By this metaphor, the Holy Ghost explains very clearly, with what ease and speed just men advance in the paths, of virtue, when their hearts are once inflamed with this divine fire. "They shall spread like sparks of fire among reeds." Imagine to yourselves how quick the flame rushes among reeds, when they are set on fire, and you will conceive how the just advance in virtue, when their hearts are once inflamed. This was the case with the ancient hermits, who, for this reason, were so far from having need of a superior to spur them on in their duties, that they needed one to moderate their zeal. But if we feel not these desires in our hearts, so far from one superior being sufficient for ten religious, ten superiors, notwithstanding their united efforts, would not make one religious man perfect against his will. For what will it avail to visit his chamber; to see that he makes his meditation and prayer at the time appointed? The visit being past, cannot he amuse himself as he pleases? And even whilst he is on his knees, cannot he
