ope, "is to revert to a
spirituality which is freer than that which Providence assigned as
the counteraction of Protestantism in the sixteenth century--to a
spirituality which is, and ever has been, the normal one of the
Christian inner life. That era accentuated obedience, this
accentuates no particular moral virtue, but rather presses the soul
back upon Faith and Hope and Love as the springs of life, and makes
the distinctive virtue fidelity to the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
impelling the Christian to that one of the moral virtues which is
most suitable to his nature and to the requirements of his state of
life, and other environments."

But from what has been said it must not be inferred that Father
Hecker thought it safe to be without spiritual counsel, above all
when the soul seemed led in extraordinary ways. He firmly believed in
the necessity of direction, and that in the sense intended by
spiritual writers generally. In practice he himself always consulted
men of experience and piety. We have seen how he sought advice, and
was aided by it at every crisis of his life. But he did not accept
all that is said by some writers about the surrender of the soul to
one's father confessor. He thought that confession was often too
closely allied with direction, and he was convinced that many souls
could profit by less introspection in search of sin, and more in
search of natural and supernatural movements to virtue. He condemned
over-direction, and thought that there was a good deal of it. He
thought that there were cases in which spontaneity of effort was too
high a price to pay for even the merit of obedience. His sentiment is
well expressed by St. John of the Cross in the ninth chapter of _The
Ascent of Mount Carmel:_

"Spiritual directors are not the chief workers, but rather the Holy
Ghost; they are mere instruments, only to guide souls by the rule of
faith and the law of God according to the spirit which God gives to
each. Their object, therefore, should be not to guide souls by a way
of their own, suitable to themselves; but to ascertain, if they can,
the way which God Himself is guiding them."

Leave much to God's secret ways, was one of Father Hecker's
principles. "When hearing some confessions on the missions," he once
said, "and when about to give absolution, I used to say, in my heart,
to the penitent, Well, no doubt God means to save you, you poor
fellow, or He wouldn't give you the grace to make this mis