Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/297

 the care  of  his  secular  affairs,  of  providing  him  with meals, of  taking  care  of  his  linen,  and  other  similar things. " Oh!" says St.  Teresa,  "  what  obstacles  does such  worldly  correspondence  present  to  the  spiritual progress  of  religious." Should there  be  an  ancient  custom in  your  convent  of  making  presents  to  the  confessor, it  will  be  enough  for  you  to  send  him  two  or  three times a  year  some  trifle  as  a  mark  of  attention. Be always most  watchful  over  your  words  so  that  nothing may ever  escape  you  that  would  express  the  least  affection or  tenderness.

Do not  pretend  that  there  is  no  danger  because  that priest is  a  saint. " Nor,"  says  St.  Thomas,  "  are  they  to be  less  avoided  because  they  are  more  holy:  for  the greater  their  sanctity  the  more  they  excite  sentiments  of affection." The Venerable  Father  Sertorio  Caputo  of the  Society  of  Jesus  says  that  the  devil  first  makes  us love  a  man's  virtue,  then  his  person,  and  at  length  draws us over  the  precipice. St. Thomas  teaches  that  the devil at  first  kindles  an  attachment  which  only  slightly wounds the  soul:  but  what  appeared  to  be  pure  angelic love soon  degenerates  into  the  human  affection  of  beings clothed with  flesh. Looks and  words  of  tenderness  follow; these  are  succeeded  by  a  desire  of  each  other's  society: thus  by  degrees  a  holy  attachment  will  be  converted into  a  natural  affection. Such is  the  doctrine  of St. Thomas.

St. Bonaventure gives  five  marks  by  which  we  may ascertain whether  a  mutual  attachment  between  two friends is  pure  or  otherwise. 1. It  is  not  pure  when  it leads  to  long  and  useless  discourses;  and  when  conversations are  very  long  they  are  always  useless. 2. When each delights  in  looking  at  each  other  and    in   praising