Denis the Carthusian: How the World is to be Conquered and Despised

 Translated by Qwen.

HOW THIS WORLD IS TO BE CONQUERED AND DESPISED

“Friendship with this world is enmity with God.” (James 4:4)

As Augustine teaches, two loves establish two cities; for the love of God, that is, spiritual and infused charity, establishes the City of God, which is the Church of the elect. But the love of the world, or self-love—that is, a depraved love turned inward, by which a person loves himself in himself and not in God—establishes the city of Babylon, the congregation of the wicked, which is the body and kingdom of the devil, by whom it is possessed and ruled. Therefore, just as whiteness is opposed to blackness, heat to cold, and health to sickness, so spiritual love, which is called charity, is opposed to private and inordinate carnal and worldly love. Hence James says: “Friendship with this world”—that is, the love by which someone loves the world and the things that are of the world, which love thrives in worldly men—“this friendship, I say, is enmity with God,” because it makes men disobedient, opposed, and displeasing to God. From this the Apostle James concludes: “Whoever therefore wishes to be a friend of this world is established as an enemy of God.” To this agrees what John writes in his first epistle: “Do not love the world or the things that are in the world. For if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

But concerning this, a useful question arises. Since every creature of God is good and therefore to be loved, and since God loves all that He has made, it seems that the world ought not to be hated, conquered, or despised, but rather loved. Furthermore, what is understood by the name “world” when it is said that the world must be despised? For either the fabric of the world is meant, or the men inhabiting the world. But the fabric of the world is not to be despised, nor are men, especially since we are commanded to love even our enemies, nor ought we to despise anything except ourselves, as Isaiah testifies: “Woe to you who despise; shall you not also be despised?” Malachi the prophet also says: “Keep your spirit, and do not despise.”

To these things it must be answered that “world” in Scripture is taken in various senses, which for brevity’s sake I now pass over. However, when the world is commanded to be despised and not loved, “world” is taken for vain and vicious men who inordinately love carnal, transitory, and earthly things, and for those things which men of this kind seek, desire, embrace, and hold contrary to God’s commandment, such as: to prosper temporally, to take carnal delight, to be exalted in this age, to be enriched, to be praised. All such temporal and sensible things, therefore, are to be spurned and hated—not as to what they are essentially, but insofar as they obstruct us on God’s way, in divine service, and in our progress toward the heavenly homeland, and hinder spiritual advancement. Indeed, in this way, parents and all others, however near, are to be hated according to Christ’s teaching, as He Himself says: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother… he cannot be My disciple.” Yet we ought to love their nature and the persons insofar as they are created in God’s image, capable of beatitude, and redeemed by Christ’s blood. Moreover, when the world is commanded to be despised, by “world” may be understood the vanities and instabilities of this age, and all its vices. Whence, when St. John had said, “Do not love the world, etc.,” as it were explaining what it means to love the world, he added: “For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

A second question arises concerning the foregoing: Is contempt for the world necessary for salvation? It seems so, from the words of John and James cited above, because whoever loves the world lacks divine love, indeed becomes an enemy of God. But if this is so, it seems that all secular and married persons, who must deal with and manage worldly affairs—as the Apostle says, “He who has a wife is anxious about worldly things”—would be in a state of damnation.

The answer is that there is a twofold degree of hating and despising the world, speaking generally and as suffices for the present. The first degree is that the world and worldly things be despised and hated insofar as they directly impede and turn us from God; that is, they are neither loved above God, nor does one conform to or acquiesce in them against God’s commandments, nor are earthly goods preferred to heavenly ones. In this way, contempt or hatred of the world is necessary for salvation. And in this sense the aforementioned authorities of the Apostles are to be understood. And because this is difficult to fulfill in the world, it is therefore difficult to be saved in the world. For which reason the Savior said: “Narrow is the way that leads to life.”

The second degree of despising and hating the world is that all the aforementioned things be spurned and relinquished not only insofar as they directly impede, but also insofar as they occasionally impede God and retard spiritual progress, and draw man back from perfection. And thus to fulfill the evangelical counsels, and through voluntary poverty, chastity, and obedience, to renounce all the pomp of the world, carnal desires, and fleshly attachments, so that the mind may devote itself purely, freely, fervently, and wholly to God alone.

Therefore, what St. John says at the opening of today’s epistle, “Whatever is born of God conquers the world,” is to be understood with respect to the first degree of despising and hating the world. For not all who are reborn of God through faith and charity abandon or overcome the world in this second manner, but at least to such an extent that they do not act against God’s commandment out of love for the world, nor is the world or any creature so alluring that they transgress a divine commandment or a decree of the Church for its sake. Therefore, to conquer the world is not to be turned away from God by prosperity or adversity, so that one would prefer to die rather than abandon God’s love or violate His commandment. For which reason Christ says: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” Thus the martyrs conquered the world, yielding neither to tyrants nor to persecutors. Hence Augustine says: “The world brings forth a twofold line of attack against the servants and soldiers of Christ. For it threatens with adversities to terrify them and induce them to sin through fear; likewise, it flatters with prosperities, promises or sets forth delights to deceive or draw them, and seduces them through pleasure.” Indeed, there is something of beauty, delight, and lovableness in created, sensible, and worldly things, by which the hearts of the imprudent are drawn in and seduced. For which reason the Wise Man says: “Creatures were made a trial to the soul of men, and a snare and trap to the feet of the foolish”—not directly, for as Solomon professes, “God made all things that He might be feared,” but occasionally, insofar as the reprobate and perverse, vainly attached to the beauty and delightfulness of creatures, rest in them and finally find their quiet, not ordering such things to the glory of the Creator, who alone is the end of us all.

We ought to conquer the world because, out of love and regard for God, who is infinitely more lovable, more beautiful, and sweeter than all creatures, we ought to despise created things, subordinate them to God, order them to God’s honor and glory, and do or love nothing against God’s commandment. Moreover, according to the teaching of St. John, to conquer the world is the work of faith formed and strengthened by charity, because such faith causes us to deeply and frequently consider divine judgment, future glory, and the eternal damnation of the reprobate. From this consideration, a man is kindled to despise present things and to desire heavenly goods, and to avoid offending God or incurring infernal punishments. Whence, whoever through such faith duly considers that Jesus is his Savior and Judge easily conquers the world.

Finally, just as in bodily warfare a man needs a fourfold armor—namely, a sword to strike others, a shield to protect himself, a strong society to aid him, and a just cause for which he fights—so in spiritual warfare against the devil and sins he needs charity for a sword, faith for a shield, God’s help for aiding society, and the confession of Christ for a just cause.

From these things it is evident how great is the virtue of faith, because through it the world is conquered. Indeed, so great is its power that the Savior says: “All things are possible to him that believes.” It is the foundation of the virtues, without which it is impossible to please God. It casts out demons; for when the apostles said to Christ concerning a very hard demon, “Why could we not cast it out?” He answered, “Because of your unbelief.” It also works miracles, as Christ asserts: “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, that whoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and shall not hesitate in his heart, but believe that whatever he says shall come to pass, it shall be done for him.” Whence also the Apostle says, “If I have faith so as to remove mountains…” Let us therefore hold a most certain faith, since the Christian faith rests on an infallible and supremely certain foundation, namely uncreated Truth. That which the Apostle wrote to the Galatians holds: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you other than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” “If I should have all faith,” he says, [yet have not charity, I am nothing].

How much the strongest faith of Christians, especially of the perfect, avails to obtain things from God is shown by this: when Alexander the Great had come to the Caspian Gates, and the Ten Tribes of Israel, held captive beyond those mountains, had begged him for permission to depart, he, learning the cause of their captivity—namely, that they had worshipped golden calves, abandoning the true God—responded that he would confine them even more strictly. And when he wished to block their narrow paths with bituminous hills, seeing that human labor was insufficient, he prayed to the God of Israel to complete that work. And the steep cliffs of the mountains drew together, and that place was made impassable. Yet, as Josephus relates, what will God do for His faithful if He did so much for unbelievers?

Therefore, integral faith greatly pleases God. Indeed, as Augustine says, no greater riches, no treasures or honors, no greater substance of this world exists than the Catholic faith, which saves sinners, enlightens the blind, heals the sick, baptizes catechumens, justifies the faithful, restores penitents, augments the just, crowns martyrs, preserves virgins, widows, and married persons in chaste modesty, and places the elect in the eternal inheritance with the angels. May the most high and blessed God deign to grant this to us above all things. Amen.

CONTINUE