Predominant Passion
“For he was at the point of death. Lord, come down before that my son die.”—John 4:47, 49
Our passions are not in themselves bad or harmful. When they are regulated according to the dictates of reason and prudence, they do us no injury, but are, on the contrary, profitable to the soul. But when they are disordered, they bring irreparable ruin upon those who obey them; for when a passion takes possession of the heart, it obscures the truth and makes the soul unable to distinguish between good and evil. So Ecclesiasticus begged the Lord to deliver him from a mind under the sway of passion: “Give me not over to a shameless and foolish mind” (Ecclus. 23:6). Let us, then, be careful not to let any sinful passion rule over us.
In this day’s gospel we are told that a certain ruler, whose son was at the point of death (incipiebat enim mori—“for he was beginning to die”), heard that Jesus Christ had come into Galilee, went in search of him, and begged him to come and cure his son: “Come down before that my son die.” The same may be said of anyone who begins to submit to the tyranny of a passion. He is at the point of death—the death of the soul, which is to be dreaded far more than the death of the body. Hence, if he wishes to keep his spiritual life, he ought to ask the Lord to deliver him as soon as possible from that passion: Lord, come down before my soul die. If he does not, he shall be miserably lost. Today I intend to show the great danger of damnation to which all who submit to the rule of any sinful passion are exposed.
1. “Only this,” said Solomon, “I found, that God made man right, and he hath entangled himself with an infinity of questions” (Eccles. 7:30). God created man right—that is, in the state of justice. But by giving ear to the serpent, man exposed himself to temptation and was overcome. He rebelled against God, and his passions rebelled against himself. These are the passions that, according to St. Paul, wage a continual war between the flesh and the spirit: “For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh” (Gal. 5:17).
Yet with the help of divine grace it is within man’s power to resist these passions and not let them rule over him. Indeed, as the Lord told Cain, it is even in man’s power to rule over them and bring them into subjection to reason: “But the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it” (Gen. 4:7). However violent the assaults of the flesh and of the devil may be to make us abandon the way of God, Jesus Christ has said: “Lo, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Within us he has established a kingdom in which the will is the queen who ought to rule over all the senses and passions. And what greater honor or glory can a man have than to be master of his passions?
2. The proper regulation of the motions of the mind is the very interior mortification so strongly recommended by the masters of the spiritual life, and in it lies the salvation of the soul. The health of the body depends on the right balance of the humors: if one of them grows excessive, it causes death. So too the health of the soul consists in the proper control of the passions by reason. But when a passion rules over reason, it first enslaves the soul and then kills it.
3. Many give great attention to their outward conduct; they try to appear modest and respectful, but at the same time they cherish in their hearts sinful affections against justice, charity, humility, and chastity. For them is prepared the punishment with which the Savior threatened the Scribes and Pharisees, who were careful to keep their cups and dishes clean but nourished within unjust and unclean thoughts: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees—hypocrites; because you make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness” (Matt. 23:25).
The Royal Prophet says that all the beauty of a soul who is the true daughter of God consists in an interior good will: “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within” (Ps. 44:14). What use is it, then, asks St. Jerome, to abstain from food and at the same time let the mind swell with pride? Or to abstain from wine and indulge in the drunkenness of anger? Quid prodest tenuari abstinentia, si animus superbia intumescit? quid vinum non bibere, et odio inebriari?—“What does it profit to be weakened by abstinence, if the mind swells with pride? What profit is there in not drinking wine, but being inebriated with hatred?” Christians who act in this way do not lay aside their vices; they only cover them with the mantle of devotion.
A man, then, must strip himself of all sinful passions; otherwise he will not be the king but the slave of his affections, and, against the command of the Apostle, sin shall reign in his heart: “Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6:12). Man, as St. Thomas says, is king of himself only when he regulates his body and his carnal affections according to reason. Rex est homo per rationem, quia per eam regit totum corpus et affectus ejus—“Man is king through reason, because through it he rules his whole body and its affections” (In Joan., c. 4). But, according to St. Jerome, “when the soul serves vice she loses the honor of a kingdom” (In Thren. 2:7). She loses the honor of a queen and becomes, as St. John teaches, the slave of sin: “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34).
4. St. James urges us to treat the body and its lusts as we would treat a horse. We put a bridle in a horse’s mouth, and so we lead him wherever we please: “We put bits in the mouths of horses, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body” (Jas. 3:3). Hence, as soon as we feel the cravings of any sinful passion, we must restrain it with the bridle of reason; for if we yield to its demands, it will bring us down to the level of brute animals, which follow not the dictates of reason but the impulse of their beastly appetites: “And man, when he was in honor, did not understand: he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them” (Ps. 48:13).
“It is worse,” says St. John Chrysostom, “to become like a senseless beast than to be born one; for to be without reason by nature is bearable.” To lack reason by nature, the saint says, is no disgrace; but to be born endowed with reason and then to live like a beast, obeying the lusts of the flesh, is degrading to man and makes him worse than a senseless brute. What would you say if you saw a man who chose of his own accord to live in a stable with horses, to feed with them on hay and oats, and to sleep, as they do, on dung? The man who submits to the tyranny of any passion does what is far worse in the eyes of God.
5. This is how the Gentiles lived, who, because the darkness of their understanding kept them from telling good from evil, went wherever their sensual appetite led them. “That you walk not,” says St. Paul, “as also the Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened” (Eph. 4:17, 18). Hence they were abandoned to their vices—to impurity and avarice—and blindly obeyed the commands of their passions: “Who, despairing, have given themselves up to lasciviousness, unto the working of all uncleanness, unto covetousness” (v. 19). To this same wretched state are reduced all Christians who, despising reason and God, follow the dictates of passion. In punishment of their sins, God abandons them, as he abandoned the Gentiles, to their own wicked desires: “Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their own heart” (Rom. 1:24). This is the greatest of all chastisements.
6. St. Augustine writes that two cities may be built up in the heart of a Christian: one by the love of God, the other by self-love. Coelestem civitatem aedificat amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui; terrestrem aedificat amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei—“The heavenly city is built by the love of God even to the contempt of self; the earthly city is built by the love of self even to the contempt of God” (City of God, Bk. 14, ch. 28). Thus, if the love of God reigns within us, we will despise ourselves; if self-love reigns, we will despise God. But the victory to which a crown of eternal glory shall be given consists in conquering self-love. This was the great maxim that St. Francis Xavier always impressed upon his disciples: “Conquer yourself; conquer yourself.”
All the thoughts and feelings of man, Scripture says, are inclined to evil from his boyhood: “The imagination and thought of man’s heart are prone to evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). Hence, throughout our whole life, we must zealously fight and conquer the evil inclinations that continually spring up within us, as noxious weeds spring up in our gardens. Someone may ask how he can free himself from sinful passions, and how he can keep them from rising up within him. St. Gregory gives the answer: “It is one thing to look at these beasts, and another to keep them within the den of the heart” (Moralia, Bk. 6, ch. 16). It is one thing, the saint says, to look at these beasts, or sinful passions, while they are outside us, and another to harbor them in the heart. As long as they are outside, they can do us no harm; but if we let them into the soul, they devour us.
7. All sinful passions spring from self-love. This, as Jesus Christ teaches all who wish to follow him, is the chief enemy we have to contend with, and this enemy we must conquer by self-denial: “If anyone shall come after me, let him deny himself” (Matt. 16:24). Non intrat in te, amor Dei, nisi exulet amor tui—“The love of God does not enter into you, unless the love of self departs.” Unless we banish self-love from the heart, the love of God cannot enter. Blessed Angela of Foligno used to say that she feared self-love more than the devil, because self-love has greater power than the devil to draw us into sin.
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi used to say the same, as we read in her life: “Self-love is the greatest traitor we have to guard against. Like Judas, it betrays us with a kiss. He who conquers it conquers all enemies; he who does not conquer it is lost.” The saint then adds: “If you cannot kill it with a single stroke, give it poison.” She meant that, since we are not able to destroy this accursed enemy, which, according to St. Francis de Sales, dies only with our last breath, we must at least labor to weaken it as much as possible; for while it is strong it kills us. Death, says St. Basil, is the reward that self-love gives its followers. The wages of self-love is death; it is the beginning of every evil. Stipendium amoris proprii mors est, initium omnis mali—“The wages of self-love is death, it is the beginning of every evil” (St. Basil, as quoted by Lyreus, book 2).
Self-love seeks not what is just and honorable, but only what is agreeable to the senses. Hence Jesus Christ has said: “He that loveth his life”—that is, his sensual appetite or self-will—“shall lose it” (John 12:25). He who truly loves himself, and wishes to save his soul, should refuse the senses whatever God has forbidden; otherwise he shall lose God and himself.
8. There are two principal passions that reign within us: the concupiscible and the irascible appetites—that is, love and hatred. I have said two principal passions, for each of them, when vicious, draws a train of other sinful passions after it. The concupiscible appetite brings with it rashness, ambition, greed, avarice, jealousy, scandal. The irascible brings with it revenge, injustice, slander, envy. St. Augustine advises us, in our combat with the passions, not to try to beat them all down in a single conflict: Calca jacentem, conflige cum resistente—“Trample on the one lying down, fight with the one resisting” (On Romans 8). We must trample on the passion we have cast to the ground, so that it can no longer contend with us, and then we must go on to subdue the other passion that resists us.
9. But above all we must try to find out our predominant passion. He who conquers this conquers all his passions; he who lets himself be overcome by it is lost. God commanded Saul to destroy all the Amalekites, along with all their animals and all their goods. He destroyed everything that was worthless, but spared the life of King Agag and preserved all that was valuable and beautiful: “And Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the flocks of sheep… and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them; but everything that was vile and good for nothing, that they destroyed” (1 Kings 15:9).
In this Saul was afterward imitated by the Scribes and Pharisees, to whom our Lord said: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you tithe mint, and anise, and cumin, and have left the weightier things of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith” (Matt. 23:23). They were careful to pay the tithe on things of least value but neglected the weightier matters of the law, such as justice, charity to their neighbor, and faith in God. Some people act in much the same way: they abstain from certain minor faults, and at the same time let themselves be ruled by their predominant passion. But if they do not destroy this passion, they shall never gain the victory of salvation.
The King of Syria commanded the captains of his cavalry to kill the King of Israel only and not to mind the others: “Fight ye not with small or great, but with the King of Israel only” (2 Chron. 18:30). They obeyed the order, slew King Ahab, and gained the victory.
10. We must imitate the captains of Syria: unless we kill the king—that is, the predominant passion—we shall never be able to obtain salvation. The passion that brings a man under its sway first blinds him and keeps him from seeing his danger. Now, how can a blind man, led by a blind guide such as passion, which follows not reason but sensual pleasure, possibly avoid falling into some abyss? “If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit” (Matt. 15:14).
St. Gregory says that it is a common trick of the devil to inflame our predominant passion daily more and more, and so to bring us into many horrible excesses. For the sake of a kingdom, Herod shed the blood of so many innocent infants. For love of a woman, Henry the Eighth caused so many frightful spiritual evils, put to death several most worthy men, and in the end lost the faith. No wonder: for the man under the rule of a passion no longer sees what he does. So he pays no heed to corrections, to excommunications, or even to his own damnation; he seeks only his own pleasure and says: “Come what may, I must satisfy this passion.” And just as an eminent virtue is accompanied by other virtues, so an enormous vice brings other vices in its train. In catena iniquitatis, foederata sunt vitia—“In the chain of iniquity, vices are bound together.”
11. As soon as we see any passion beginning to reign within us, then, we must beat it down at once, before it gains strength. “Before cupidity gains strength,” says St. Augustine, “strike it down while it is small” (On Psalm 136). St. Ephrem gives the same advice: “Unless you quickly destroy the passions, they form an ulcer” (On Perfection). A wound, if it is not closed up, will soon become an incurable ulcer. To illustrate this by an example: a certain monk, as St. Dorotheus relates (Sermon 11), ordered one of his disciples to pull up a small cypress. The disciple obeyed and drew it up with a slight effort. The monk then told him to pull up another tree, somewhat larger. He succeeded, but only with a good deal of labor. The disciple was then told to pull up a tree that had taken deep root, but all his efforts were useless. The monk then said to him: So it is, my son, with our passions; once they have taken deep root in the heart, we shall no longer be able to tear them out. Dearly beloved brethren, keep always before your eyes this maxim: that either the spirit must trample on the flesh, or the flesh shall trample on the spirit.
12. Cassian has laid down an excellent rule for conquering our passions. Let us try, he says, to change the object of our passions; and so, from being vicious, they shall become holy. Some are prone to anger against all who treat them with disrespect. Such people ought to change the object of their passion and turn their indignation into a hatred of sin, which can do them more harm than all the devils in hell. Others are inclined to love everyone who has attractive qualities; let them fix all their love on God, who is infinitely worthy of love.
But the best remedy against the passions is to commend ourselves to God and to beg him to deliver us from them. And when a passion becomes very violent, we must multiply our prayers. Reasoning and reflection are then of little use, for passion darkens our faculties; and the more we reflect, the more delightful the object of the passion appears. Hence there is no other remedy than to have recourse to Jesus and to most holy Mary, saying with tears and sighs: “Lord, save us, or we perish; do not permit us ever to be separated from you.” “We fly to your protection, holy Mother of God.” O souls created to love God, let us raise ourselves above the earth; let us stop fixing our thoughts and affections on the miserable things of this world; let us stop loving dross and smoke and dung; let us strive with all our strength to love the Supreme and Infinite Good, our most lovable God, who has made us for himself, and who awaits us in heaven to make us happy and to let us enjoy the very glory that he himself enjoys for eternity.
Points for Reflection
1. “Unless we kill the king—that is, the predominant passion—we shall never be able to obtain salvation” (§10)
2. “As soon as we see any passion beginning to reign within us, we must beat it down at once, before it gains strength” (§11)
3. “When a passion becomes very violent, we must multiply our prayers. Reasoning and reflection are then of little use, for passion darkens our faculties” (§12)