f men. Is that a sign God destines you for worldly vanities?
Quite the contrary, for all Christians are warned against the
seductions of the world and the flesh; and the life of the counsels is
essentially a constant struggle with nature and its allurements. "The
kingdom of heaven," we are told, "suffers violence, and the violent
bear it away."

If the following of Christ were easy and agreeable to the senses,
where would be the merit and reward of it? Just in proportion as it
involves effort and the overcoming of natural repugnance, does it
become high and sublime. "Do not think," says Our Lord (Matt. x: 34),
"that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but
the sword. For I came to set a man at variance with his father, and
the daughter with her mother. . . . He that loveth father or mother
more than me, is not worthy of me."

Natural antipathy then to the higher life, far from indicating that
God does not want us, merely shows that the inferior powers of the
soul are striving against the superior. In fact, when this aversion
becomes pronounced, it is sometimes evidence of a keen strife going on
within us between nature and grace, which could scarcely happen unless
grace were endeavoring to gain the mastery by winning us to Christ.

"But," it may be objected, "if nature rebels, does not God always give
a counter supernatural attraction to those whom He calls, so as to
smooth the way before them?" Certainly God gives the necessary grace
to perform good actions, but grace is not always accompanied by
sensible consolation. Suppose a boy is chided by his parents for a
fault and he is tempted to deny it; but overcoming the suggestion he
admits his wrong-doing and expresses sorrow for it. In this he acts
bravely and with no sense of accompanying satisfaction, since the pain
of his parents' displeasure is so keen as to overcome for the moment
any other feeling. His action is prompted simply by the conviction of
duty.

Accordingly, if a young man knows and clearly sees that he has every
qualification for the religious life, and has even been told so by a
competent adviser; if he has sufficient talent and learning, a steady
disposition and virtuous habits, and the persuasion that the duties of
this state are not above his strength; in short, if he is convinced
that there is no obstacle, save his own will, between him and the
higher life, can he truly say, "I feel no inclination to such a
career, and the