ife are suited
to different characters; thus S. Gregory says[487]: "It often happens
that men who could have given themselves to peaceful contemplation of
God have been burdened with external occupations and so have made
shipwreck; while, on the contrary, men who could have lived well had
they been occupied with human concerns, have been slain by the sword of
their life of repose." Consequently the active life does not seem to
precede the contemplative.

But those who are subject to the influx of their passions
because of their natural eagerness in action, are for that very
reason more suited for the active life, and this because of the
restlessness of their temperament. Hence S. Gregory says[488]:
"Some are so restless that if they desist from work they suffer
grievously, for the more free they are to think the worse
interior tumults they have to endure." Some, on the contrary,
have a natural purity of soul and a reposefulness which renders
them fit for the contemplative life; if such men were to be
applied wholly to the active life they would incur great loss.
Hence S. Gregory says[489]: "Some men are of so slothful a
disposition that if they undertake any work they succumb at the
very outset." But he adds: "Yet often love stirs up even
slothful souls to work, and fear exercises a restraining
influence on souls which suffer a disturbing influence in their
contemplation." Hence even those who are more suited for the
active life, may, by the exercise of it, be prepared for the
contemplative; and, on the contrary, those who are more suited
for the contemplative life may profitably undertake the labours
proper to the active life, that so they may be rendered still
more fit for contemplation.

"I have cried to Thee, for Thou, O God, hast heard me: O incline
Thy ear unto me, and hear my words. Show forth Thy wonderful
mercies; Thou Who savest them that trust in Thee. From them that
resist Thy right hand keep me, as the apple of Thy eye. Protect
me under the shadow of Thy wings."[490]

FOOTNOTES:

[438] S. Luke x. 42.

[439] _Ethics_, x. 7 and 8.

[440] _Moralia in Job_, vi. 18.

[441] _Of the Words of the Lord, Sermon_ ciii., _alias_ xxvi. 2.

[442] S. Luke x. 41.

[443] _Of the Words of the Lord, Sermon_ civ., _alias_ xxvii. 2.

[444] S. Luke x. 42.

[445] _Sermon_ ciii., _alias_ xxvi. 4.

[446] _Topica