As regards the people in rural districts, who are dull, timid, susceptible, and rather gross, you must strive to open out their souls in order that religion may penetrate them. They are not over-exacting, not having been spoilt on that score, and a very little attention satisfies them. A token of good-will, a salutation, an act of politeness, a trifling gift bestowed on their children, will suffice to attract them toward religion; for, generally speaking, when it is properly presented to them, they are attached to it: they love it, they are proud of their Church and of their curé, and are ready to fight to prove that he is the most accomplished priest in the kingdom.
The peasant must never be provoked or pushed to extremes. When he resists, don't attack him in front, but turn the difficulty by laying hold of one of his weaker points, some one of the good fibres of his heart; otherwise, the more you talk and threaten the more he will consider it a duty not to listen to you. Never be at variance with any one. The priest should have no enemies, and should not be content while he has any. I do not like to hear the remark: "That man is my enemy." Christ never said so; but He did say:—"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
One of the most effectual ways of gaining over the peasant, as well as the people generally, is to show great confidence in him, and to raise him in his own eyes. Don't be chary either of encouragement or commendation when he has but partially deserved them. Suppose him to be all that you could wish; you will thereby pave the way to impart some useful truths to him. Exalt his good qualities in his own estimation. He has fallen so low that you need not be afraid of making him vain, or of raising him too high. May you rather succeed in exalting him to heaven! Did not Christ come to raise the fallen? Carrying about with him, as man does, the remembrance of his noble origin, he finds it very hard to resign himself to being a nonentity on the earth. For my part, I prefer a little vanity to the mania of envy and hatred.
In this respect also, timidity has led to our passive cooperation with the malevolent. We have suffered the people to be too much depressed. We have allowed them to be practically told that they are nothing and the rich every thing; that the lot of the disinherited poor is toil, misery, and contempt; that of the rich, affluence, enjoyment, and honors. Rather raise the people by telling them, in the accents of truth, that they are great in the estimation of God and the Gospel; that they have their share of dignity and honor, and have no cause to envy others.—"My friends, the rich have their advantages and you have yours. They have their joys and so have you. Beware of envying them. A good workman! why, such an one is the spoilt child of Providence. You are mistaken in thinking that wealth alone brings happiness. The rich happy, indeed! How can any one be led into such a delusion? You know not what they have to suffer: their sufferings are fearful; and if I wished to discover the most poignant sorrows on earth, I should not knock at the hut or cottage to seek for them. I should knock at the gates of those splendid mansions which adorn our squares. It is there, behind those triple curtains, that I should find them with their claws of iron embedded in broken hearts. … My friends, with a stout heart and two strong arms you may be as deserving, as happy, as great, as noble as any one."
But this must not only be said; the people must be treated in such a manner that they may understand it. We must respect them much, in order that they may learn to respect themselves; showing them always due deference: as, indeed, we should show all men. In a word, we should practise, in our dealings with the people, all the decorum and refined politeness of the drawing-room; with greater sincerity, to boot.
For, indeed, they have more need of such treatment than others. As manifested toward them it would be novel and efficacious; elsewhere it is generally vain and barren. This kind of politeness charms and raises them out of that moral degradation, the remembrance of which besets and weighs them down. So treated they will cease to hate, to envy, or chafe; and will learn to love, to be resigned, to have better aspirations: and, withal, they will bless you.
The best way to direct, to benefit, and to reclaim the people to religion, is to develop the good sentiments which lie dormant in the recesses of hearts; the foremost of which is charity, or the spirit of self-sacrifice.
France is the home of charity: it exists among the high, the low, and the middle classes. The people are naturally sympathizing. As already remarked, it is a pleasure to see their readiness to oblige. The rich class are charitable; but are they more so than the popular classes? I will not judge; I prefer saying to all: "Well done; onward!"
If you wish to inspire a man of the people with good-feeling, calm, and a love of the truth, prevail on him to perform a charitable act. Get him to comfort or to relieve some one, even though you undertake to compensate him for so doing.