This is the fifth in a series of previously unpublished reflections from the 1854 spiritual notebook of Paulist Founder, Servant of God Father Isaac T. Hecker. The reflection series is being made public in conjunction with Father Hecker’s cause for canonization. Following the reflection is a response from Paulist Historian Father Paul Robichaud, CSP.

Selfishness

It is the delight of God to dwell with the children of men. God’s dwelling place is our soul; but we turn Him out by our selfishness. God would have us be saints, would make us saints, but our selfishness prevents Him from making us such. We conduct ourselves as though we were better, wiser and more powerful than Almighty God. We cannot make a hair on our heads black or white, nor add an inch to our stature, yet we act and speak as though the world’s destiny depended on us.

We must distinguish between our actions, our selfishness and our idleness. It is the misdirection we give to our wills, though our selfishness, that is the origin of evil. As St. Denis says, the corruption of souls comes from false direction to our actions. Selfishness and idleness are sin, but without action we shall never become holy, for God gives us the ability to act in order to love and serve Him.

We plan, we project, we speculate as if the world was on our shoulders and God was totally gone. Our misfortune is that in acting we lose God instead of finding Him. The wisest thing we can do is to meditate often on the folly of the world and above all, on our own doings. What a beautiful lesson Psalm 126 gives: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.” It is not our selfishness but the Holy Spirit that builds the Temple of God within our souls. Our actions must assist and co-operate with the grace of God for it is good for nothing else.

(Known as the “Ecstatic Doctor” but never canonized, the Belgian theologian and mystic Denis the Carthusian 1402-1471, was a favorite reference for both Saints Alphonsus Liguori and Francis de Sales who called him “St. Denis.”)

Response: Paul Robichaud CSP

Isaac Hecker is often quoted in defense of individuality and personal freedom. I think of one of his more popular sayings: “The individuality of a man cannot be too strong or his liberty too great, when he is guided by the Spirit of God.” Father Hecker puts these words about individuality and liberty in a broader context in today’s passage. Hecker writes: “It’s not our selfishness but the Holy Spirit that builds the Temple of God within our souls.” In other words, we have to be able to distinguish between what we want and what God wants for us, and be ready to admit that there is often a great deal of difference between the two. Individuality and personal freedom for Father Hecker are in the service of what God wants for us, not what we want for ourselves.

God has sent His son into the world to redeem and transform it. Jesus has returned to the Father and at Pentecost they sent their Spirit upon the church. The dwelling place of the Spirit as Father Hecker reminds us is our souls. It is in listening to the Spirit within and being able to distinguish that voice from our own selfishness – this is the path whereby we discover God’s call to us. God’s plans for us are usually bigger than our plans for ourselves. They are also not as safe or as sedentary but challenge us to extend ourselves. “God would have us be saints,” says Hecker, and we begin by listening to the Holy Spirit.

Paulist Father Paul Robichaud CSP is a Historian and Postulator of the Cause for Sainthood for Isaac Hecker. He is presently writing a history of the Paulist Fathers.

About Father Isaac Hecker’s 1854 Spiritual Notebook

Servant of God, Father Isaac Hecker wrote these spiritual notes as a young Redemptorist priest about 1854 and they have never been published. Hecker was 34 years old at the time, and had been ordained a priest for five years. He loved his work as a Catholic evangelist. The Redemptorist mission band had expanded out of the New York state area to the south and west, and the band’s national reputation grew. Hecker had begun to focus his attention on Protestants who came out to hear them. To this purpose Hecker began to write in 1854 his invitation to Protestant America to consider the Catholic Church, “Questions of the Soul” which would make him a national figure in the American church.

Hecker collected and organized these notes that include writings and stories from St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Jesuit spiritual writer Louis Lallemant and his disciple Jean Surin, the German mystic John Tauler, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Jane de Chantal among others. These notes were a resource for retreat work and spiritual direction and show Hecker’s growing proficiency in traditional Catholic spirituality some ten years after his conversion to the Catholic faith. They are composed of short thematic reflections.

Publishing and disseminating the writing of Servant of God Isaac Hecker is the work of the Office for Hecker’s Cause.