Constancy

The constancy shown by the martyrs under torture is not to be seen in isolation.  It was the logical and crowning conclusion of what they had been practicing all their lives.  ~Dom Hubert van Zeller

Ave Maria!  Constancy is something we don't hear much about these days.  Dom Hubert van Zeller, former renowned monk of Downside Abbey, devoted a chapter to this in Glimpses, the 88th book he wrote.  He's been described as "a master of simple wisdom that is very challenging and deep," and this fat little collection of his pithy spiritual gems lives up to his reputation. 

Dom van Zeller noted that "constancy is not quite perseverance and not quite fidelity but a mixture of the two."  According to the dictionary, constancy is steadfastness, changelessness, stability.  However, we must think of it not just in the terms of the natural, he noted, but even more so in terms of the supernatural.  "It is more than the firmness displayed by a man who is determined not to desert or recant.  It is the 'armor of  God,' which St. Paul writes about to the Ephesians (see chapter 6, verses 10-18), which, over and above his natural character, enables the Christian 'to resist in the evil day and to stand in all things perfect.'"

Surely this is what St. Paul meant when he wrote to the early church at Thessaloniki, "May the Lord rule your hearts in the love of God and the constancy of Christ" (2 Thessalonians 3:5).  I beg the Lord to so rule my heart that I may practice constancy today and every day of my life, for His praise and glory.

Fourth Station, by Hubert Von Zeller

Mary, teach me at this station the true meaning of compassion. Show me what lies beyond the emotion of human pity, and lead me to that supernatural view of natural suffering which invites my active and Godward co-operation. Let me come out from the shelter of my life, and meet the miseries of thy Son's mystical body in the spirit with which you went out to meet your Son. Mary, pray for me that I may see in those who suffer -- whether physically or morally, innocently or deservedly -- the presence of Christ whose pains you willingly chose to share.

Hubert Van Zeller in The Way of the Cross