THE THREE WAYS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
by Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 : THE LIFE OF GRACE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST
CONVERSION
The necessity of the interior life.
The principle of the interior life.
The beginning of eternal life.
The importance of true conversion.
The three periods of the spiritual life.
CHAPTER 2 : THE SECOND CONVERSION: ENTRANCE INTO THE ILLUMINATIVE
WAY
The second conversion of the Apostles.
What our second conversion ought to be. The defects which render
it necessary.
The motives which must inspire the second conversion, and the
fruits that derive therefrom.
CHAPTER 3 : THE THIRD CONVERSION OR TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOUL:
ENTRANCE INTO THE UNITIVE WAY
The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.
The effects of the descent of the Holy Ghost.
The purification of the spirit necessary for Christian perfection.
Create A Clean Heart In Me, O Lord. []
The necessity of the purification of the spirit.
How does God purify the soul in this third conversion?
PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
CHAPTER 4 : THE PROBLEM OF THE THREE STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
IN ASCETICAL AND MYSTICAL THEOLOGY
Statement of the Problem.
Proposed Division of the Three Stages of The Spiritual Life.
The transition from one stage to another in the Spiritual Life.
CHAPTER 5 : CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL
LIFE
Beginners.
Proficients or progressives
The Perfect.
CHAPTER 6 : THE PEACE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: A PRELUDE TO THE LIFE
OF HEAVEN
The divine awakening.
The Living Flame.
Pax in veritate.
NOTE ON THE CALL TO THE INFUSED CONTEMPLATION OF THE MYSTERIES OF
FAITH
THE THREE WAYS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
BY Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange
CHAPTER 1 : THE LIFE OF GRACE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST
CONVERSION
THE interior life is for all the one thing necessary. It ought to
be constantly developing in our souls; more so than what we call
our intellectual life, more so than our scientific, artistic or
literary life. The interior life is lived in the depths of the
soul; it is the life of the whole man, not merely of one or other
of his faculties. And our intellectual life would gain
immeasurably by appreciating this; it would receive an inestimable
advantage if, instead of attempting to supplant the spiritual
life, it recognized its necessity and importance, and welcomed its
beneficial influence -- the influence of the theological virtues
and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. How deeply important our subject
is may be seen in the very words we have used: Intellectuality and
Spirituality. And it is important to us not only as individuals,
but also in our social relations, for it is evident that we can
exert no real or profound influence upon our fellow-men unless we
live a truly interior life ourselves.
The necessity of the interior life.
The pressing need of devoting ourselves to the consideration of
the one thing necessary is especially manifest in these days of
general chaos and unrest, when so many men and nations, neglecting
their true destiny, give themselves up entirely to acquiring
earthly possessions, failing to realize how inferior these are to
the everlasting riches of the spirit.
And yet St. Augustine's saying is so clearly true, that 'material
goods, unlike those of the spirit, cannot belong wholly and
simultaneously to more than one person.' [1] The same house, the
same land, cannot belong completely to several people at once, nor
the same territory to several nations. And herein lies the reason
of that unhappy conflict of interests which arises from the
feverish quest of these earthly possessions.
On the other hand, as St. Augustine often reminds us, the same
spiritual treasure can belong in its entirety to all men, and at
the same time to each, without any disturbance of peace between
them. Indeed, the more there are to enjoy them in common the more
completely do we possess them. The same truth, the same virtue,
the same God, can belong to us all in like manner, and yet none of
us embarrasses his fellow-possessors. Such are the inexhaustible
riches of the spirit that they can be the property of all and yet
satisfy the desires of each. Indeed, only then do we possess a
truth completely when we teach it to others, when we make others
share our contemplation; only then do we truly love a virtue when
we wish others to love it also; only then do we wholly love God
when we desire to make Him loved by all. Give money away, or spend
it, and it is no longer yours. But give God to others, and you
possess Him more fully for yourself. We may go even further and
say that, if we desired only one soul to be deprived of Him, if we
excluded only one soul -- even the soul of one who persecutes and
calumniates us -- from our own love, then God Himself would be
lost to us.
This truth, so simple and yet so sublime, gives rise to an
illuminating principle: it is that whereas material goods, the
more they are sought for their own sake, tend to cause disunion
among men, spiritual goods unite men more closely in proportion as
they are more greatly loved. This principle helps us to appreciate
how necessary is the interior life; and, incidentally, it
virtually contains the solution of the social question and of the
economic crisis which afflicts the world to-day. The Gospel puts
it very simply: 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice,
and all these things shall be added unto you.' If the world to-day
is on its death-bed, it is because it has lost sight of a
fundamental truth which for every Christian is elementary.
The profoundest truths of all, and the most vital, are in fact
those elementary verities which, through long meditation and deep
thought, have become the norm of our lives; those truths, in other
words, which are the object of our habitual contemplation.
God is now showing men what a great mistake they make when they
try to do without Him, when they regard earthly enjoyment as their
highest good, and thus reverse the whole scale of values, or, as
the ancient philosophers put it, the subordination of ends. As
though in the hope of compensating for the poor quality of earthly
goods, men are striving to increase their quantity; they are
trying to produce as much as possible in the order of material
enjoyment. They are constructing machinery with the object of
increasing production at a greater profit. This is the ultimate
objective. But what is the consequence? The surplus cannot be
disposed of; it is wasted, and unemployment is the result. The
worker starves in enforced idleness while others die of surfeit.
The present state of the world is called a crisis. But in fact it
is more than a crisis; it is a condition of affairs which, if men
only had eyes to see, ought to be revealing, it ought to show men
that they have sought their last end where it is not to be found,
in earthly enjoyment -- instead of God. They are seeking happiness
in an abundance of material possessions which are incapable of
giving it; possessions which sow discord among those that seek
them, and a greater discord according as they are sought with
greater avidity.
Do what you will with these material goods: share them out
equally, make them the common property of all. It will be no
remedy for the evil; for, so long as earthly possessions retain
their nature and man retains the nature which is his, he will
never find his happiness in them. The remedy is this, and this
only: to consider the one thing necessary, and to ask God to give
us saints who live only on this thought, saints who will give the
world the spirit that it needs. God has always sent us saints in
troubled times. We need them especially to-day.
The principle of the interior life.
It is all the more important to recall the necessity and the true
nature of the interior life, because the true conception of it, as
given to us in the Gospel, in the Epistles of St. Paul and in the
whole of Tradition, has been partially obscured by many false
ideas. In particular it is evident that the notion of the interior
life is radically corrupted in the Lutheran theory of
justification or conversion. According to this theory the mortal
sins of the convert are not positively blotted out by the infusion
of the new life of grace and charity; they are simply covered
over, veiled by faith in the Redeemer, and they cease to be
imputed to the person who has committed them. There is no
intrinsic justification, no interior renewal of the soul; a man is
reputed just merely by the extrinsic imputation of the justice of
Christ. According to this view, in order to be just in the eyes of
God it is not necessary to possess that infused charity by which
we love God supernaturally and our fellowmen for God's sake.
Actually, according to this conception, however firmly the just
man may believe in Christ the Redeemer, he remains in his sin, in
his corruption or spiritual death. [2]
This grave misconception concerning our supernatural life,
reducing it essentially to faith in Christ and excluding
sanctifying grace, charity and meritorious works, was destined to
lead gradually to Naturalism; it was to result finally in
considering as 'just' the man who, whatever his beliefs, valued
and practised those natural virtues which were known even to the
pagan philosophers who lived before Christ. [3]
In such an outlook, the question which is actually of the first
importance does not even arise: Is man capable in his present
state, without divine grace, of observing all the precepts of the
natural law, including those that relate to God? Is he able
without grace to love God the sovereign Good, the author of our
nature, and to love Him, not with a merely inoperative affection,
but with a truly efficacious love, more than he loves himself and
more than he loves anything else? The early Protestants would have
answered in the negative, as Catholic theologians have always
done. [4] Liberal Protestantism, the offspring of Luther's
theology, does not even ask the question; because it does not
admit the necessity of grace, the necessity of an infused
supernatural life.
Nevertheless, the question still recurs under a more general form:
Is man able, without some help from on high, to get beyond
himself, and truly and efficaciously to love Truth and Goodness
more than he loves himself?
Clearly, these problems are essentially connected with that of the
nature of our interior life; for our interior life is nothing else
than a knowledge of the True and a love of the Good; or better, a
knowledge and love of God.
In order fully to appreciate the lofty conception which the
Scriptures, and especially the Gospels, give us of the interior
life, it would be necessary to study a theological treatise on
justification and sanctifying grace. Nevertheless, we may here
emphasize a fundamental truth of the Christian spiritual life, or
of Christian mysticism, which has always been taught by the
Catholic Church.
In the first place it is clear that according to the Scriptures
the justification or conversion of the sinner does not merely
cover his sins as with a mantle; it blots them out by the infusion
of a new life. 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great
mercy,' so the Psalmist implores; 'and according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from
my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.... Thou shalt sprinkle me
with hyssop and I shall be cleansed; thou shalt wash me and I
shall be made whiter than snow.... Blot out all my iniquities.
Create a clean heart in me, O God; and renew a right spirit within
my bowels. Cast me not away from thy face, and take not thy holy
spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and
strengthen me with a perfect spirit.' [5]
The Prophets use similar language. Thus God says, through the
prophet Isaias: 'I am he that blot out thy iniquities for my own
sake.' [6] And the same expression recurs throughout the Bible:
God is not content merely to cover our sins; He blots them out, He
takes them away. And therefore, when John the Baptist sees Jesus
coming towards him, he says:' Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him
who taketh away the sin of the world!' We find the same idea in
St. John's first Epistle: [7] 'The blood of Jesus Christ...
cleanseth us from all sin.' St. Paul writes, similarly, in his
first Epistle to the Corinthians :[8] 'Not the effeminate nor the
impure nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor railers nor
extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God. And such some of
you were. But you are washed; but you are sanctified; but you are
justified; in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of
our God.'
If it were true that by conversion sins were only veiled, and not
blotted out, it would follow that a man is at once both just and
ungodly, both justified, and yet still in the state of sin. God
would love the sinner as His friend, despite the corruption of his
soul, which He is apparently incapable of healing. The Saviour
would not have taken away the sins of the world if He had not
delivered the just man from the servitude of sin. Again, for the
Christian these truths are elementary; the profound understanding
of them, the continual and quasi-experimental living of them, is
what we call the contemplation of the saints.
The blotting out and remission of sins thus described by the
Scriptures can be effected only by the infusion of sanctifying
grace and charity -- which is the supernatural love of God and of
men for God's sake. Ezechiel, speaking in the name of God, tells
us that this is so: 'I will pour upon you clean water, and you
shall be cleansed from all your filthiness; and I will cleanse you
from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and put a
new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of
your flesh and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my
spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in my
commandments.' [9]
This pure water which regenerates is the water of grace, of which
it is said in the Gospel of St. John: [10] 'Of his fulness we have
all received; and grace for grace.' 'By (our Lord Jesus Christ) we
have received grace,' we read in the Epistle to the Romans
;[11]... 'the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the
Holy Ghost who is given to us' ;[12] and in the Epistle to the
Ephesians: 'To every one of us is given grace, according to the
measure of the giving of Christ.' [13]
If it were otherwise, God's uncreated love for the man whom He
converts would be merely an idle affection, and not an effective
and operative love. But God's uncreated love for us, as St. Thomas
shows, is a love which, far from presupposing in us any
lovableness, actually produces that lovableness within us. His
creative love gives and preserves in us our nature and our
existence; but his life-giving love gives and preserves in us the
life of grace which makes us lovable in His eyes, and lovable not
merely as His servants but as His sons. (I, Q. xx, art. 2).
Sanctifying grace, the principle of our interior life, makes us
truly the children of God because it makes us partakers of His
nature. We cannot be sons of God by nature, as the Word is; but we
are truly sons of God by grace and by adoption. And whereas a man
who adopts a child brings about no interior change in him, but
simply declares him his heir, God, when He loves us as adoptive
sons, transforms us inwardly, giving us a share in His own
intimate divine life.
Hence we read in the Gospel of St. John: [14] '(The Word) came
unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as
received him, to them he gave the power to be made the sons of
God, to them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.'
And our Lord Himself said to Nicodemus [15] 'Amen, amen, I say to
thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Wonder not that I said to thee: You must be born again.'
St. John himself, moreover, writes in his first Epistle [16]
'Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin; for God's seed
abideth in him. And he cannot sin because he is born of God.' In
other words, the seed of God, which is grace -- accompanied by
charity, or the love of God -- cannot exist together with mortal
sin which turns a man away from God; and, though it can exist
together with venial sin, of which St. John had spoken earlier,
[17] yet grace is not the source of venial sins; on the contrary,
it makes them gradually disappear.
Still clearer, if possible, is the language of St. Peter, who
writes :[18] 'By (Christ) he hath given us most great and precious
promises, that by these you may be made partakers of the divine
nature' ; and St. James [19] thus expresses the same idea: 'Every
best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights, with whom there is no change nor shadow of
alteration. For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of
truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature.'
Truly sanctifying grace is a real and formal participation of the
divine nature, for it is the principle of operations which are
specifically divine. When in heaven it has reached its full
development, and can no longer be lost, it will be the source of
operations which will have absolutely the same formal object as
the eternal and uncreated operations of God's own inner life; it
will make us able to see Him immediately as He sees Himself, and
to love Him as He loves Himself: 'Dearly beloved,' says St. John,
[20] 'we are now the sons of God; and it hath not yet appeared
what we shall be. We know that when it shall appear we shall be
like to him, for we shall see him as he is.'
This is what shows us, better than anything else, in what the true
nature of sanctifying grace, the true nature of our interior life,
consists. We cannot emphasize it too much. It is one of the most
consoling truths of our faith; it is one of those vital truths
which serve best to encourage us in the midst of the trials of our
life on earth.
The beginning of eternal life.
To understand what our interior life is in itself and in its
various phases, we must consider it not merely in its seed, but in
its full and complete development. Now, if we ask the Gospel what
our interior life is, it tells us that the life of grace, given to
us in Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist, is the seed or germ
of eternal life.
According to St. Matthew's account of the Sermon on the Mount,
preached by Christ at the beginning of His ministry, our Lord says
to His hearers (and it is the burden of the whole of His
discourse): 'Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.' He
does not say: 'Be ye as perfect as the angels,' but 'as your
heavenly Father is perfect.' [21] It follows, therefore, that
Christ brings to men a principle of life which is a participation
of the very life of God. Immeasurably above the various kingdoms
of nature: the mineral kingdom, the vegetable, the animal kingdom,
and even above the kingdom of man and above the natural activity
of the angels, is the life of the kingdom of God. And this life in
its full development is called, not the future life -- of which
even the better among the pre-Christian philosophers spoke-but
eternal life; a life measured, like that of God, not by future
time, but by the one instant of motionless eternity.
The future life of which the philosophers speak is a natural life,
similar almost to the life of the angels; whereas eternal life, of
which the Gospel speaks, is essentially supernatural, as much for
the angels as for us. It is not merely superhuman, it is
superangelic, truly divine. It consists in seeing God immediately
as He sees Himself, and in loving Him as He loves Himself. This is
the reason why our Lord can say to you: 'Be ye perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect' ; because you have received a
participation in His inner life.
While the Old Testament speaks of eternal life only in figure,
under the symbol of the Promised Land, the New Testament, and
especially the Gospel of St. John, speaks of it continually; and
from that time forth it has become almost impossible to conclude a
sermon without mentioning eternal life, as that supreme beatitude
to which we are called and destined.
But the Gospels, and especially the Gospel of St. John, tell us
more about grace; we are told that grace is eternal life already
begun.
In the fourth Gospel our Lord is recorded as saying no fewer than
six times: 'He that believeth in me hath eternal life.' [22] And
it is not only in the future that he will have it, if he
perseveres; in a sense he possesses it already: 'He that eateth my
flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise
him up in the last day.' [23] What is the meaning of these words?
Our Lord explains them later: 'Amen, amen, I say to you: If any
man keep my word he shall not see death for ever. The Jews
therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is
dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man keep my word
he shall not taste death for ever.... Whom dost thou make
thyself?' It was then that Jesus said: 'Before Abraham was, I am.'
[24]
What, then, does our Lord mean when He says: 'He that believeth in
me hath eternal life'? He means: He that believes in Me with a
living faith, that is, with a faith which is united with charity,
with the love of God and the love of his neighbour, possesses
eternal life already begun. In other words: He who believes in Me
has within himself in germ a supernatural life which is
fundamentally the same as eternal life. Our spiritual progress
cannot tend in the direction of the life of eternity unless it
presupposes the seed of it already existing in us, a seed of the
same nature as the life towards which we are tending. In the
natural order, the germ which is contained in the acorn could
never grow into an oak tree unless it were of the same nature as
the oak, if it did not contain the life of the oak in a latent
state. The little child, likewise, could never become a man if it
had not a rational soul, if reason were not already latent within
it. In the same way, a Christian on earth could never become one
of the blessed in heaven unless he had already received the divine
life in Baptism.
And just as it is impossible to know the nature of the germ
enclosed within the acorn unless we study it in its perfect state
in the oak tree, so we cannot know the life of grace unless we
consider it in its ultimate development, in that glory which is
the consummation of grace.' Grace, 'says the whole of Tradition,'
is the seed of glory.'
Fundamentally, it is always the same supernatural life, the same
sanctifying grace and the same charity, but with two differences.
Here on earth we know God supernaturally, but not in the clearness
of vision; we know Him in the obscurity of faith. Moreover, while
we hope one day to possess Him finally and definitively, here on
earth it is always possible for us to lose Him by a mortal sin.
But, in spite of these two differences, relating to faith and
hope, it is the same life, the same sanctifying grace, and the
same charity. And so our Lord said to the Samaritan woman: 'If
thou didst know the gift of God and who he is that saith to thee:
Give me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of him, and he
would have given thee living water.... He that shall drink of the
water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever. But the
water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water
springing up into life everlasting.' [25] And in the Temple, on
the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and said in
a loud voice, not merely for the benefit of privileged souls, but
for all: 'If any man thirst let him come to me and drink He that
believeth in me... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water.' [26] 'Now this he said,' adds St. John, 'of the Spirit
which they should receive who believed in him.' And in fact the
Holy Ghost is called fons vivus fons vitae: the living fountain,
the fountain of life.
Again Jesus says: 'If any one love me he will keep my word (faith
alone, then, is not enough), and my Father will love him, and we
will come to him and will make our abode with him.' [27] Who will
come? Not only grace, God's created gift, but the divine Persons
will come: the Father and the Son, and also the promised Holy
Spirit. Thus the Holy Trinity dwells in us, in the obscurity of
faith, in very much the same way as It dwells in the souls of the
saints in heaven who see It face to face. 'He that abideth in
charity abideth in God, and God in him.' [28]
It is much more wonderful than any miracle, this supernatural
life. A miracle is an exercise of the divine omnipotence by which
God signifies that one of His servants speaks in His name, or that
he is of eminent sanctity. But even the raising of the dead to
life, the miracle by which a corpse is reanimated with its natural
life, is almost nothing in comparison with the resurrection of a
soul, which has been lying spiritually dead in sin and has now
been raised to the essentially supernatural life of grace.
Grace, then, is eternal life already begun within us, and this is
why Christ says: 'The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
Neither shall they say: Behold here or behold there. For lo, the
kingdom of God is within you.'[29] It is there, hidden within you,
like the grain of mustard seed, like the leaven which will cause
the whole of the meal to rise, like the treasure hidden in a
field, like the source from which gushes a river of water that
will never fail. 'We know,' says St. John, 'that we have passed
from death to life, because we love the brethren' ; [30] and
'these things I write to you that you may know that you have
eternal life, you that believe in the name of the Son of God.'
[31] And Christ, His beloved master, had said: 'This is eternal
life: that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent.' [32]
St. Thomas expresses this doctrine in the brief statement: 'Gratia
nihil aliud est quam quaedam inchoatio gloriae in nobis' : Grace
is nothing else but a certain beginning of glory within us.' [33]
And Bossuet says the same thing: 'Eternal life in its beginnings
consists in knowing God by faith (united with charity); in its
consummation eternal life consists in seeing God face to face,
unveiled. Jesus Christ gives us both the one and the other,
because He has merited it for us and because He is the source of
it in all the members to which He gives life.' [34]
And therefore the Liturgy tells us, in the Preface used for the
Mass of the Dead. 'Tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur, non
tollitur' : 'From them that believe in thee, O Lord, life is not
taken away; it is changed and transformed.'
The importance of true conversion.
We are thus able to appreciate something of the importance of true
conversion, by which a man passes from the state of mortal sin to
the state of grace. In the former state his energies were
dissipated and he was indifferent in regard to God; now he loves
God more than he loves himself, more than he loves anything else;
at any rate he esteems God beyond all earthly things, even though
his love of God may not be free from all selfish motives. The
state of sin was a state of spiritual death; a state in which,
more or less consciously, he made himself the centre of all his
activities and the end of all his desires; in which he was
actually the slave of everything, the slave of his passions, of
the spirit of the world, of the spirit of evil. The state of
grace, on the other hand, is a state of life in which man begins
seriously to tend beyond himself and to make God the centre of his
activities, loving God more than himself. The state of grace is
entrance into the kingdom of God, where the docile soul begins to
reign with God over its own passions, over the spirit of the world
and the spirit of evil.
We may well understand, therefore, how St. Thomas could write:
'Bonum gratiae unius majus est quam bonum naturae totius universi'
The lowest degree of grace in a soul, for example in that of a
small child after its baptism, is of greater value than the
natural goodness of the whole universe. This grace alone is worth
more than all created natures together, including even the angelic
natures. For the angels, too, stood in need, not of redemption,
but of the gratuitous gift of grace in order to tend to the
supernatural beatitude to which God called them. St. Augustine
says that when God created the nature of the angels He also gave
them the gift of grace: 'Simul in eis condens naturam et largiens
gratiam ';[35] and he maintains that 'the justification of the
ungodly is something greater than the creation of heaven and
earth, greater even than the creation of the angels.' [36]
St. Thomas adds. 'The justification of the sinner is
proportionately more precious than the glorification of the just;
because the gift of grace more greatly transcends the state of the
sinner, who is deserving of punishment, than the gift of glory
transcends the state of the just man, who, by reason of his
justification, is worthy of the gift of glory.' [37] There is a
much greater distance between the nature of man, or even between
the nature of the highest of the angels, and grace, than there is
between grace itself and glory. No created nature, however
perfect, is the germ of grace, whereas grace is indeed the germ or
the seed of eternal life, semen gloriae. Hence when a sinner is
absolved in the confessional, an event occurs which is
proportionately of greater importance than the entrance of a just
soul into heaven.
This doctrine is expressed by Pascal in one of the finest pages of
his Pensees, a page which summarises the teaching of St. Augustine
and St. Thomas on this point: 'The infinite distance which
separates bodies from spirits is a symbol of the infinitely more
infinite distance which separates spirits from charity, for
charity is supernatural. [38] The whole of the material creation
together, the firmament, the stars, the earth and its kingdoms, is
inferior to the least of the spirits; for he knows all this and he
knows himself, whereas bodies know nothing. All bodies together,
and all spirits together, and all that they can produce, are of
less value than the smallest act of charity, because this is of an
infinitely higher order. From all bodies together it would be
impossible to extract a single thought, because a thought is of a
higher order than they. From all bodies and all spirits together
it would be impossible to extract one single act of true charity,
because an act of charity is of the supernatural order.' [39]
Luther erred fundamentally, therefore, when he tried to explain
justification, not by the infusion of a grace and charity which
remit sin, but merely by faith in Christ, without works and
without love; making it consist simply in the extrinsic imputation
of the merits of Christ, an imputation which covers sins without
destroying them, and thus leaves the sinner in his filth and
corruption. According to his view there was no regeneration of the
will by the supernatural love of God and men. We have seen, on the
contrary, what is the teaching of the Scriptures and of Tradition.
Faith and the extrinsic imputation of the justice of Christ are
not sufficient for the justification or conversion of the sinner.
He must be willing, in addition, to observe the commandments,
above all the two great commandments of the love of God and the
love of one's neighbour: 'If any one love me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
abode with him.' [40] 'He that abideth in charity abideth in God,
and God in him.' [41]
According to the true teaching of Christ we are in an order far
transcending natural morality. Our unaided reason tells us that it
is our duty to love God, the author of our nature, and to love Him
effectively, that is, by observing His commandments. But even this
natural duty we are unable to fulfil without the help of God's
grace, so weakened are our wills in consequence of original sin.
Still less are we able by our natural powers alone to love God,
the author of grace; for this love is of an essentially
supernatural order, as supernatural for the angels as it is for
us.
Such is the supernatural life which we received in Baptism; and
this is what constitutes our interior life.
This beginning of eternal life, as we have called it, is a
complete spiritual organism, which has to grow and develop until
we enter heaven. The root principle of this undying organism is
sanctifying grace, received in the very essence of the soul; and
this grace would last for ever, were it not that sin, a radical
disorder in the soul, sometimes destroys it. [42] From sanctifying
grace, which is the germ of glory, proceed the infused virtues.
First, the theological virtues, the greatest of which, charity, is
destined to last for ever- 'Charity never falleth away,' says St.
Paul, ... 'Now there remain faith, hope and charity, these three;
but the greatest of these is charity.' [43] Charity will remain
for ever, after faith has disappeared to make room for vision;
after hope has been displaced by the everlasting possession of
God, seen face to face.
In addition to the theological virtues there are also the infused
moral virtues, which perfect man in his use of the means of
salvation, just as the former dispose him rightly in regard to his
end. The infused moral virtues are like so many functions
admirably adapted one to another, infinitely surpassing in
perfection those of our physical organism; they are called-
prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance... together with the
other virtues which are associated with them.
Finally, in order to supply the deficiencies of these virtues
which, in the twilight of faith and under the direction of
prudence, still act in too human a fashion, we are given the seven
gifts of the Holy Ghost, who dwells in us. These are like the
sails on a ship; they dispose us to receive obediently and
promptly the breathing that comes from on high, the special
inspirations of God; inspirations which enable us to act, no
longer in merely human fashion, but divinely, with that alacrity
which we need in order to run in the way of God, undismayed by any
obstacles.
All these infused virtues and gifts grow with sanctifying grace
and charity, says St. Thomas ;[44] they increase together just as
the five fingers of the hand, or the organs of our body, develop
simultaneously. Thus it is inconceivable that a soul should
possess a high degree of charity without possessing at the same
time a proportionate degree of the gift of wisdom; whether this
exist under a definitely contemplative form, or in a practical
guise, more directly adapted to action. The wisdom of a St.
Vincent de Paul is unlike that of a St. Augustine; but the one and
the other are equally infused.
In this way the whole of the spiritual organism develops
simultaneously, though it may manifest its activity under various
forms. And, from this point of view, since the infused
contemplation of the mysteries of faith is an act of the gifts of
the Holy Ghost, an act which disposes the soul to the beatific
vision, must we not admit that such contemplation is in the normal
way of sanctity?. -- We merely mention the question here, without
insisting further upon it. [45]
Let us now examine more closely the full development of our
eternal life in heaven, in order that we may better appreciate the
value of that sanctifying grace which is its beginning. In
particular let us compare it with what would have been our
beatitude and our reward if we had been created in a purely
natural state.
If we had been created in a state of pure nature, with a spiritual
and immortal soul, but without the life of grace, even then our
intellect would have been made for the knowledge of the True and
our will for the love of the Good. Our end would have been to know
God, the Sovereign Good, the author of our nature, and to love Him
above all things. But we should have known Him only in the
reflection of His goodness in creatures, in the same way as the
greatest among the pagan philosophers knew Him, though our
knowledge would have been more certain than theirs, and free from
any admixture of error. God would have been for us the First Cause
and the Supreme Intelligence that orders all the things of
creation.
We should have loved Him as the author of our nature, with that
love which a subject has for his superior. It would not have been
a love of friendship, but rather a sentiment compounded of
admiration, respect and gratitude, yet lacking that happy and
simple familiarity which rejoices the hearts of the children of
God. We should have been God's servants, but not His children.
This natural end is already a sublime destiny. It could never
bring satiety, just as the eye never tires of contemplating the
blue vault of heaven. Moreover, it is a spiritual end, and
therefore, unlike material goods, can be possessed at once by all
and by each, without possession on the part of one being
prejudicial to possession on the part of another, and thus without
causing jealousy or discord.
But this abstract and mediate knowledge of God would have left
many obscurities in the human mind, especially as regards the
mutual compatibility of the divine perfections. We should forever
have remained at the stage of counting singly and enumerating
these absolute perfections; we should forever have wondered how it
was possible to reconcile the almighty goodness of God with His
permission that evil should exist; an evil, too, which is
sometimes so great as to disconcert the human mind. We should have
asked ourselves, moreover, how His infinite mercy could be truly
consistent with His infinite justice. Even though we enjoyed this
natural beatitude, we should still be urged to say: 'If only I
could see this God, who is the source of all truth and goodness;
if I could see Him as He sees Himself!'
What the most brilliant of human minds, what even the intelligence
of the angels could never have discovered, divine Revelation has
disclosed to us. Revelation tells us that our last end is
essentially supernatural and that it consists in seeing God
immediately, face to face, as He is: sicuti est' (God) has
predestinated (us) to be made conformable to the image of his Son;
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.' [46] 'Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love
him. [47]
We are destined to see God, not merely in the mirror of creatures,
however perfect these may be, but to see Him immediately, without
the intermediary of any creature, and even without the medium of
any created idea; for no created idea, however perfect, could ever
represent as He really is One who is Thought itself, infinite
Truth, the eternally subsistent brightness of intelligence and the
living flame of measureless Love.
We are destined to see all the divine perfections concentrated and
intimately united in their common source: Deity. We are destined
to see how the tenderest Mercy and the most inexorable Justice
proceed from the one Love which is infinitely generous and
infinitely holy; how this Love, even in its freest choice, is
identically one with pure Wisdom, how there is nothing in the
divine Love which is not wise, nothing in the divine Wisdom which
is not synonymous with Love. We are destined to contemplate the
eminent simplicity of God, His absolute purity and sanctity; to
see the infinite fecundity of the divine nature in the procession
of the Three Persons: to contemplate the eternal generation of the
Word, the 'brightness of (the Father's) glory and the figure of
his substance,' [48] to see the ineffable breathing of the Holy
Spirit, the issue of the common Love of the Father and the Son,
which unites them in the most complete outpouring of themselves.
The Good tends naturally to diffuse itself, and the greater the
Good the more abundant and intimate is its self-giving.
None can tell the joy and the love which this vision will produce
in us, a love of God so pure and so strong that nothing will ever
be able to destroy or in the slightest degree to diminish it.
In no way, therefore, can we express more clearly the preciousness
of sanctifying grace, or of the true interior life, than by saying
that it is a beginning of eternal life. Here on earth we know God
only by faith, and, while we hope one day to possess Him, we are
able, unfortunately, to lose Him by sin. But, apart from these two
differences, it is fundamentally the same life, the same
sanctifying grace and the same charity, which is to last through
all eternity.
This is the fundamental truth of Christian spirituality.
Consequently our interior life must be a life of humility, for we
must remember always that the principle of that life, sanctifying
grace, is a gratuitous gift, and that we need an actual grace for
the slightest salutary act, for the shortest step forward in the
way of salvation. It must be also a life of mortification; as St.
Paul says, we must be 'always bearing about in our body the
mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made
manifest in our bodies' ; [49] that is to say: we must daily more
and more die to sin and to the relics that sin leaves in us, so
that God may reign more completely in us, even to the depth of the
soul. But, above all, our interior life must be a life of faith,
hope, charity, and union with God by unceasing prayer; it is above
all the life of the three theological virtues and of the gifts of
the Holy Ghost which accompany them: the gifts of wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, piety, counsel, fortitude and fear of
the Lord. In this way we shall enter into the mysteries of faith
and relish them more and more. In other words, our whole interior
life tends towards the supernatural contemplation of the mysteries
of the inner life of God and of the Incarnation and Redemption; it
tends, above all, towards a more intimate union with God, a
preliminary to that union with Him, ever actual and perpetual,
which will be the consummation of eternal life.
The three periods of the spiritual life.
If such is the life of grace, if such is the spiritual organism of
the infused virtues and the gifts, it is not surprising to find
that the development of the interior life has often been compared
to the three periods or stages of physical life: childhood, youth,
and manhood. St. Thomas himself has indicated this analogy: and it
is an analogy which is worth pursuing, particular attention being
paid to the transition from one period to the other.
It is generally admitted that childhood lasts until the age of
puberty, about fourteen; though early childhood, or infancy,
ceases at the dawn of reason, about the age of seven. Youth, or
adolescence, lasts from the age of fourteen to twenty. Then
follows manhood, in which we may distinguish the period which
precedes full maturity, about the age of thirty-five, and that
which follows it, before the decline of old age sets in.
A man's mentality changes with the development of the organism:
the activity of the child, it has been said, is not that of a man
in miniature, or of a fatigued adult; the dominant element in
childhood is different. The child has as yet no discernment, it is
unable to organize in a rational manner; it follows the lead of
the imagination and the impulses of sense. And even when its
reason begins to awaken it still remains to a great extent
dependent upon the senses. So, for example, a child asked me one
day: 'What are you lecturing on this year?' 'On man,' I replied.
'On what man?' was the next inquiry. The child's intelligence was
as yet unable to grasp the abstract and universal idea of man as
such.
Most important to be noticed, for the purposes of our present
subject, is the transition from childhood to adolescence and from
youth to manhood.
The period of puberty, which is the end of childhood, about the
age of fourteen, is characterized by a transformation which is not
only organic but also psychological, intellectual and moral. The
youth is no longer content to follow his imagination, as the child
was; he begins 10 reflect on the things of human life, on the need
to prepare himself for some career or occupation in the future. He
has no longer the child's attitude towards family, social and
religious matters; his moral personality begins to take shape, and
he acquires the sense of honour and of good repute. Or else, on
the contrary, if he passes unsuccessfully through this difficult
period, he deteriorates and follows evil courses. The law of
nature so ordains that the transition from childhood to youth must
follow a normal development; otherwise the subject will assume a
positive bias to evil, or else he will remain a half-wit, perhaps
even a complete idiot, for the rest of his life. 'He who makes no
progress loses ground.'
It is at this point that the analogy becomes illuminating for the
spiritual life. We shall see that the beginner who fails to become
a proficient, either turns to sin or else presents an example of
arrested spiritual development. Here, too, it is true that 'he who
makes no progress loses ground,' as the Fathers of the Church have
so often pointed out.
Let us pursue the analogy further. If the physical and moral
crisis of puberty is a difficult transition, the same is to be
said of another crisis, which we may call the crisis of the first
freedom, and which occurs at the stage where the youth enters
manhood, about the age of twenty. The young man, having now
reached his complete physical development, has to begin to take
his place in social life. It will soon be time for him to marry
and to become an educator in his turn, unless he has received from
God a higher vocation still. Many fail to surmount this crisis of
the first freedom, and, like the prodigal son, depart from their
father's house and confuse liberty with licence. Here again the
law ordains that the transition must be made normally; otherwise
the young man either takes the wrong road, or else his development
is arrested and he becomes one of those of whom it is said: 'He
will be a child for the whole of his life.'
The true adult is not merely a young man grown a little older. He
has a new mentality; he is preoccupied with wider questions,
questions to which the youth does not yet advert. He understands
the younger generation, but the younger generation does not
understand him; conversation between them on certain subjects,
except of a very superficial kind, is impossible.
There is a somewhat similar relation, in the spiritual life,
between the proficient and the perfect. He who is perfect
understands the earlier stages through which he has himself
already passed; but he cannot expect to be understood by those who
are still passing through them.
The important thing to be noticed is that, just as there is the
crisis of puberty, more or less manifest and more or less
successfully surpassed, between childhood and adolescence, so in
the spiritual life there is an analogous crisis for the transition
from the purgative life of beginners to the illuminative life of
proficients. This crisis has been described by several great
spiritual writers, in particular by Tauler [50] and especially by
St. John of the Cross, under the name of the passive purgation of
the senses, [51] and by Pere Lallemant, S. J., [52] and several
others under the name of the second conversion.
Moreover, just as the youth has to pass through a second crisis,
that of the first freedom, in order to reach manhood, so in the
transition from the illuminative way of the proficients to the
true life of union, there is a second spiritual crisis, mentioned
by Tauler, [53] and described by St. John of the Cross under the
name of the passive purgation of the spirit. [54] This, likewise,
may be called a third conversion, or better, a transformation of
the soul.
None has better described these crises which mark the transition
from one spiritual period to another than St. John of the Cross.
It will be noticed that they correspond to the two parts of the
human soul, the sensitive and the spiritual. they correspond also
to the nature of the divine seed, sanctifying grace, that germ of
eternal life which must ever more and more animate all our
faculties and inspire all our actions, until the depth of the soul
is purged of all egoism and surrendered entirely to God.
St. John of the Cross, it is true, describes spiritual progress as
it appears especially in contemplatives, and in the most generous
among contemplatives, who are striving to reach union with God by
the most direct way possible. He therefore shows us what are the
higher laws of the spiritual life at their maximum of sublimity.
But these laws apply in a lesser degree also to many other souls
who do not reach so high a state of perfection, but are
nevertheless making devoted progress, and not looking back.
In the chapters which follow it will be our object to show that,
according to the traditional teaching, beginners in the spiritual
life must, after a certain period, undergo a second conversion,
similar to the second conversion of the Apostles at the end of our
Lord's Passion, and that, still later, before entering upon the
life of perfect union, there must be a third conversion or
transformation of the soul, similar to that which took place in
the souls of the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
This distinction between the three periods or stages of the
spiritual life is clearly of great importance, as those who are
charged with the direction of souls well know. An old and
experienced director who has himself reached the age of the
perfect may have read but little of the writings of the mystics,
and yet he will be able to answer well and readily the most
delicate questions on the most sublime subjects, and he will
answer in the words of the Scriptures, perhaps by quoting a
passage from the Gospel of the day, without even suspecting for a
moment how truly profound his answers are. On the other hand a
young and inexperienced priest, himself only at the age of a
beginner, will have little more than a book-knowledge and a verbal
acquaintance with the spiritual life.
The question with which we are concerned is thus in the highest
sense a vital question; and it is important that we should
consider it from the traditional point of view. If we do so
consider it, we shall see how true is the saying of the ancients,
that 'in the way of God he who makes no progress loses ground' ;
and it will appear also that our interior life must, already here
on earth, become the normal prelude to the beatific vision. In
this deep sense our interior life is, as we have said, eternal
life already begun: 'inchoatio vitae aeternae.' [55] 'Amen, amen I
say to you, he that believeth in me hath eternal life, and I will
raise him up in the last day.'[56]
CHAPTER 2 : THE SECOND CONVERSION: ENTRANCE INTO THE ILLUMINATIVE
WAY
WE have seen that, comparable with the two crises which mark the
transition from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood,
there are also in the spiritual life two crises, one by which
proficients pass into the illuminative way, and another by which
the perfect reach the state of union.
The first of these crises has been called a second conversion, and
it is of this that we have now to speak.
The liturgy, especially at periods such as Advent and Lent, speaks
often of the need of conversion, even for those who are leading a
Christian life. Spiritual writers also refer often to this second
conversion, necessary for the Christian who, though he has thought
seriously of his salvation and made an effort to walk in the way
of God, has nevertheless begun once more to follow the bent of his
nature and to fall into a state of tepidity -- like an engrafted
plant reverting to its wild state. Some of these writers, such as
the Blessed Henry Suso or Tauler, have insisted especially upon
the necessity of this second conversion, a necessity which they
have learned from their own experience. St. John of the Cross has
profoundly pointed out that the entrance into the illuminative way
is marked by a passive purgation of the senses, which is a second
conversion, and that the entrance into the unitive way is preceded
by a passive purgation of the spirit, a further and a deeper
conversion affecting the soul in its most intimate depths. Among
the writers of the Society of Jesus we may quote Pere Lallemant,
who writes: 'Saints and religious who reach perfection pass
ordinarily through two conversions: one by which they devote
themselves to the service of God, and another by which they
surrender themselves entirely to perfection. We find this in the
case of the Apostles, first when our Lord called them, and then
when He sent the Holy Ghost upon them; we find it in the case of
St. Teresa, of her confessor, P. Alvarez, and of many others. This
second conversion is not granted to all religious, and it is due
to their negligence.' [57]
This question is of the greatest interest for every spiritual
soul. Among those who dealt with it before St. John of the Cross
we must count St. Catherine of Siena, who touches upon the subject
repeatedly in her Dialogue and in her Letters. Her treatment,
which is very realistic and practical, throws a great light upon
the teaching which is commonly received in the Church. [58]
Following St. Catherine, we shall speak first of this second
conversion as it took place in the Apostles, and then as it should
take place in us; we shall say what defects render this conversion
necessary, what great motives ought to inspire it, and finally
what fruits it should produce in us.
The second conversion of the Apostles.
St. Catherine of Siena speaks explicitly of the second conversion
of the Apostles in the 63rd chapter of her Dialogue.
Their first conversion had taken place when Jesus called them,
with the words: 'I will make you fishers of men.' They followed
our Lord, listened with admiration to His teaching, saw His
miracles and took part in His ministry. Three of them saw Him
transfigured on Thabor. All were present at the institution of the
Eucharist, were ordained priests and received Holy Communion. But
when the hour of the Passion arrived, an hour which Jesus had so
often foretold, the Apostles abandoned their Master Even Peter,
though he loved his Master devotedly; went so far as to deny Him
thrice. Our Lord had told Peter after the Supper, in words that
recall the prologue of the Book of Job. 'Simon, Simon, behold
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But
I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not; and thou being
once converted confirm thy brethren.' To which Peter replied:
'Lord, I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.'
But Jesus warned him: 'I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not
crow this day till thou thrice deniest that thou knowest me.' [59]
And, in fact, Peter fell; he denied his Master, swearing that he
did not know Him.
When did his second conversion begin? Immediately after his triple
denial, as we are told in the Gospel of St. Luke [60]
'Immediately, as he was yet speaking, the cock crew. And the Lord
turning, looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the
Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me
thrice. And Peter going out, wept bitterly.' Under the glance of
Jesus and the grace which accompanied it, Peter's repentance must
have been deep indeed and must have been the beginning of a new
life for him
In connection with this second conversion of St. Peter it is well
to recall the words of St. Thomas; [61] 'Even after a grave sin,
if the soul has a sorrow which is truly fervent and proportionate
to the degree of grace which it has lost, it will recover this
same degree of grace; grace may even revive in the soul in a
higher degree, if the contrition is still more fervent. Thus the
soul has not to begin again completely from the beginning, but it
continues from the point which it had reached at the moment of the
fall.' In the same way, the climber who falls when he has reached
half-way up the mountain-side, rises immediately and continues his
ascent from the point at which he has fallen. [62]
Everything leads us to suppose that Peter's repentance was so
fervent that he not only recovered the degree of grace which he
possessed before, but was raised to a higher degree of
supernatural life. Our Lord had allowed him to fall in this way in
order to cure him of his presumption, so that he might be more
humble and place his confidence in God and not in himself.
St. Catherine writes in her Dialogue :[63] 'Peter... after the sin
of denying My Son, began to weep. Yet his lamentations were
imperfect, and remained so until after the forty days, that is
until after the Ascension. (They remained imperfect in spite of
the appearances of our Lord.) But when my Truth returned to me, in
His humanity, Peter and the others concealed themselves in the
house, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit which my Truth had
promised them. They remained barred in through fear, because the
soul always fears until it arrives at true love. 'It was only at
Pentecost that they were truly transformed.
Yet even before the end of the Passion of Christ there was clearly
a second conversion in Peter and the other Apostles, a conversion
which was consolidated during the days that followed. After His
resurrection our Lord appeared to them several times, enlightening
them, as He did when He taught the disciples of Emmaus the
understanding of the Scriptures; and in particular, after the
miraculous draught of fishes, He made Peter compensate for his
threefold denial by a threefold act of love. 'Simon, son of John,'
He says to him, 'lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him:
Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my
lambs. He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me.
He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He
saith to him: Feed my lambs. He said to him the third time: Simon,
son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said to
him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou
knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him:
Feed my sheep.' And then He foretold in veiled terms the martyrdom
that Peter would undergo: 'When thou wast younger thou didst gird
thyself and didst walk where thou wouldst. But when thou shalt be
old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird
thee and lead thee whither thou wouldst not.' [64]
The threefold act of love made reparation for the threefold
denial. It was a consolidation of the second conversion, a measure
of confirmation in grace before the transformation of Pentecost.
For St. John, too, there had been something special just before
the death of Christ. John, like the other Apostles, had abandoned
his Master when Judas arrived with his band of armed men; but by
an invisible and powerful grace Jesus drew the beloved disciple to
the foot of the cross, and the second conversion of St. John took
place when he heard the seven last words of the dying Saviour.
What our second conversion ought to be. The defects which render
it necessary.
In the 60th and 63rd chapters of her Dialogue, St. Catherine shows
that what happened in the case of the Apostles, our models formed
immediately by the Saviour Himself, must happen, after a certain
manner, in the case of each one of us. Indeed we may say that if
even the Apostles stood in need of a second conversion, then still
more do we. The Saint emphasizes especially the faults which make
this second conversion necessary, in particular self-love. In
varying degrees this egoism survives in all imperfect souls in
spite of the state of grace, and it is the source of a multitude
of venial sins, of habitual faults which become characteristic
features of the soul, rendering necessary a veritable purging even
in those who have, as it were, been present on Mount Thabor, or
who have often partaken of the Eucharistic banquet, as the
Apostles did at the Last Supper.
In her Dialogue [65] St. Catherine of Siena speaks of this self-
love, describing it as 'the mercenary love of the imperfect,' of
those who, without being conscious of it, serve God from self-
interest, because they are attached to temporal or spiritual
consolations, and who shed tears of self-pity when they are
deprived of them.
It is a strange but not uncommon mixture of sincere love of God
with an inordinate love of self. [66] The soul loves God more than
itself, otherwise it would not be in the state of grace, it would
not possess charity; but it still loves itself with an inordinate
love. It has not yet reached the stage of loving itself in God and
for His sake. Such a state of soul is neither white nor black; it
is a light grey, in which there is more white than black. The soul
is on the upward path, but it still has a tendency to slip
downwards.
We read in this 60th chapter of the Dialogue (it is God who
speaks). 'Among those who have become My trusted servants there
are some who serve Me with faith, without servile fear, it is not
the mere fear of punishment, but love which attaches them to My
service (thus Peter before the Passion). But this love is still
imperfect, because what they seek in My service (at any rate to a
great extent) is their own profit, their own satisfaction, or the
pleasure that they find in Me. The same imperfection is found in
the love which they bear towards their neighbour. And do you know
what shows the imperfection of their love? It is that, as soon as
they are deprived of the consolations which they find in Me, their
love fails and can no longer survive. It becomes weak and
gradually cools towards Me when, in order to exercise them in
virtue and to detach them from their imperfection, I withdraw
spiritual consolations from them and send them difficulties and
afflictions. I act in this way in order to bring them to
perfection, to teach them to know themselves, to realize that they
are nothing and that of themselves they have no grace. [67]
Adversity should have the effect of making them seek refuge in Me,
recognize Me as their benefactor, and become attached to Me by a
true humility....
' If they do not recognize their imperfection and desire to become
perfect, it is impossible that they should not turn back.' This is
what the Fathers have so often asserted: 'In the way of God he who
makes no progress loses ground.' Just as the child who does not
grow does not merely remain a child but becomes an idiot, so the
beginner who does not enter upon the way of proficients when he
ought to, does not merely remain a beginner, but becomes a stunted
soul. It would seem, unhappily, that the great majority of souls
do not belong to any of these three categories, of beginners,
proficients or perfect, but rather to that of stunted souls! At
what stage are we ourselves? This is often a very difficult
question to answer, and it would perhaps be vain curiosity to
inquire at what point we have arrived in our upward path; but at
least we must take care not to mistake the road, not to take a
path that leads downwards.
It is important, therefore, to reach beyond the merely mercenary
love, which often we unconsciously retain. We read in this same
60th chapter: 'It was with this imperfect love that Peter loved
the good and gentle Jesus, my only-begotten Son, when he
experienced the delights of sweet intimacy with Him (on Mount
Thabor). But as soon as the time of tribulation came all his
courage forsook him. Not only did he not have the strength to
suffer for Him, but at the first threat of danger his loyalty was
overcome by the most servile fear, and he denied Him three times,
swearing that he did not know Him.'
St. Catherine of Siena, in the 63rd chapter of the same Dialogue,
shows that the imperfect soul, which loves God with a love which
is still mercenary, must do what Peter did after his denial. Not
infrequently Providence allows us, too, at this stage to commit
some very palpable fault, in order to humiliate us and cause us to
take true measure of ourselves.
' Then,' says the Lord, [68] 'having recognized the grievousness
of its sin and repented of it, the soul begins to weep, for fear
of punishment; then it rises to the consideration of my mercy, in
which it finds satisfaction and comfort. But it is, I say, still
imperfect, and in order to draw it on to perfection... I withdraw
from it, not in grace but in feeling. [69]... This I do in order
to humiliate that soul, and cause it to seek Me in truth...
without thought of self and with lively faith and with hatred of
its own sensuality.' And just as Peter compensated for his
threefold denial by three acts of pure and devoted love, so the
enlightened soul must do in like manner.
St. John of the Cross, following Tauler, gives us three signs
which mark this second conversion: 'The soul finds no pleasure or
consolation in the things of God, but it also fails to find it in
any thing created.... The second sign... is that ordinarily the
memory is centred upon God, with painful care and solicitude,
thinking that it is not serving God, but backsliding, because it
finds itself without sweetness in the things of God.... The third
sign... is that the soul can no longer meditate or reflect in its
sense of the imagination.... For God now begins to communicate
Himself to it, no longer through sense, as He did aforetime, by
means of reflections which joined and sundered its knowledge, but
by an act of simple contemplation, to which neither the exterior
nor the interior senses of the lower part of the soul can attain.'
[70]
Progressives or proficients thus enter, according to St. John of
the Cross, 'upon the road and way of the spirit, which... is
called the way of illumination or of infused contemplation,
wherewith God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul.' [71]
While St. Catherine of Siena does not give so exact an analysis,
she insists particularly upon one of the signs of this state: an
experimental knowledge of our poverty and profound imperfection; a
knowledge which is not precisely acquired, but granted by God, as
it was granted to Peter when Jesus looked upon him immediately
after his denial. At that moment Peter received a grace of
enlightenment; he remembered, and going out he wept bitterly. [72]
At the end of this same 63rd chapter of her Dialogue we find a
passage of which St. John of the Cross later gives a full
development- 'I withdraw from the soul,' says the Lord, 'so that
it may see and know its defects, so that, feeling itself deprived
of consolation and afflicted by pain, it may recognize its own
weakness, and learn how incapable it is of stability or
perseverance, thus cutting down to the very root of spiritual
self-love; for this should be the end and purpose of all its self-
knowledge, to rise above itself, mounting the throne of
conscience, and not permitting the sentiment of imperfect love to
turn again in its death-struggle, but, with correction and
reproof, digging up the root of self-love, with the knife of self-
hatred and the love of virtue.' [73]
In this same connection the Saint speaks of the many dangers that
lie in wait for a soul that is moved only by a mercenary love,
saying that souls which are imperfect desire to follow the Father
alone, without passing by the way of Christ crucified, because
they have no desire to suffer. [74]
The motives which must inspire the second conversion, and the
fruits that derive therefrom.
The first motive is expressed in the greatest commandment, which
knows no limits: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole
heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with
all thy mind.' [75] This commandment requires the love of God for
His own sake, and not from self-interest or attachment to our own
personal satisfaction; it demands, moreover, that we love God with
all our strength in the hour of trial, so that we may finally
arrive at the stage of loving Him with our whole mind, when our
love will be unaffected by the ebb and flow of sensibility and we
shall be of those who 'adore in spirit and in truth.' Furthermore,
this commandment is absolute and without limits: the end for which
all Christians are required to strive is the perfection of
charity, each in his own condition and state of life, whether it
be in the state of marriage or in the priestly or the religious
life.
St. Catherine of Siena emphasizes this in the 11th and 47th
chapters of her Dialogue, reminding us that we can only perfectly
fulfil the commandment of love towards God and our neighbour if we
have the spirit of the counsels, that is to say, the spirit of
detachment from earthly goods, which, in the words of St. Paul, we
must use as though we used them not.
The great motive of the second conversion is thus described in the
60th chapter: 'Such souls should leave their mercenary love and
become sons, and serve Me irrespective of their own personal
advantage. I am the rewarder of every labour, and I render to
every man according to his condition and according to his works.
Wherefore, if these souls do not abandon the exercise of holy
prayer and their other good works, but continue with perseverance
to increase their virtues, they will arrive at the state of filial
love, because I respond to them with the same love with which they
love Me; so that if they love Me as a servant loves his master, I
pay them their wages according to their deserts, but I do not
reveal myself to them, because secrets are revealed to a friend
who has become one thing with his friend, and not to a servant....
' But if My servants, through displeasure at their imperfection
and through love of virtue, dig up with hatred the root of
spiritual self-love, and mount to the throne of conscience,
reasoning with themselves so as to quell the motions of servile
fear in their heart, and to correct mercenary love by the light of
holy faith, they will be so pleasing to Me that they will attain
to the love of the friend. And I will manifest Myself to them, as
My Truth said in these words- "He who loves me shall be one thing
with me and I with him, and I will manifest myself to him and we
will dwell together." [76]These last words refer to the knowledge
of Himself which God grants by a special inspiration. This is
contemplation, which proceeds from faith enlightened by the gifts,
from faith united with love; it is a knowledge which savours
mysteries and penetrates into their depths.
A second motive which should inspire the second conversion is the
price of the blood of the Saviour, which St. Peter failed to
realize before the Passion, in spite of the words: 'This is my
blood which is shed for you,' which Christ pronounced at the Last
Supper. It was only after the Resurrection that he began to
comprehend this. We read in the Dialogue 1 on this subject. 'My
creatures should see and know that I wish nothing but their good,
through the Blood of My only-begotten Son, in which they are
washed from their iniquities. By this Blood they are enabled to
know My truth, how in order to give them life I created them in My
image and likeness and re-created them to grace with the Blood of
My. Son, making them sons of adoption.' This is what St. Peter
understood after his sin and after the Passion of Christ; it was
only then that he appreciated the value of the Precious Blood
which had been shed for our salvation, the Blood of Redemption.
Here we have a glimpse of the greatness of Peter in his
humiliation; he is much greater here than he was on Thabor, for
here he has some understanding of his own poverty and of the
infinite goodness of the most High. When Jesus for the first time
foretold that he must go to Jerusalem to be crucified, Peter took
his Master aside and said to Him: 'Lord, be it far from thee, this
shall not be unto thee!' In speaking thus he had, all
unconsciously, spoken against the whole economy of Redemption,
against the whole plan of Providence, against the very motive of
the Incarnation. And that is why Jesus answered him. 'Get behind
me, Satan; thou savourest not the things that are of God but the
things that are of men.' But now, after his sin and after his
conversion, Peter in his humiliation has an understanding of the
Cross, and he sees something of the price of the Precious Blood.
And so we can understand why St. Catherine constantly speaks in
her Dialogue and in her Letters of the Blood which gives efficacy
to Baptism and to the other sacraments. At every Mass, when the
priest raises the Precious Blood high above the altar, our faith
in its redemptive power and virtue ought to become greater and
more intense.
A third motive which ought to inspire the second conversion is the
love of souls which need to be saved, a love which is inseparable
from the love of God, because it is at once the sign and the
effect of that love. This love of souls ought in every Christian
worthy of the name to become a zeal that inspires all the virtues.
In St. Catherine it led her to offer herself as a victim for the
salvation of sinners. In the last chapter but one of the Dialogue
we read' Thou didst ask Me to do mercy to the world... Thou didst
pray for the mystical body of Holy Church, that I would remove
darkness and persecution from it, at thine own desire punishing in
thy person the iniquities of certain of its ministers.... I have
also told thee that I wish to do mercy to the world, proving to
thee that mercy is My special attribute, for through the mercy and
the inestimable love which I had for man I sent into the world the
Word, My only-begotten Son....
' I also promised thee, and now again I promise thee, that through
the long endurance of My servants I will reform My Spouse.
Wherefore I invite thee to endure, Myself lamenting with thee over
the iniquities of some of My ministers.... And I have spoken to
thee also of the virtue of them that live like angels.... And now
I urge thee and My other servants to grief, for by your grief and
humble and continual prayer I will do mercy to the world.'
The fruit of this second conversion, as in the case of Peter, is a
beginning of contemplation by a progressive understanding of the
great mystery of the Cross and the Redemption, a living
appreciation of the infinite value of the Blood which Christ shed
for us. This incipient contemplation is accompanied by a union
with God less dependent upon the fluctuations of sensibility, a
purer, a stronger, a more continuous union. Subsequently, if not
joy, at all events peace, takes up its dwelling in the soul even
in the midst of adversity. The soul becomes filled, no longer with
a merely abstract, theoretical and vague persuasion, but with a
concrete and living conviction, that in God's government all
things are ordained towards the manifestation of His goodness.
[77] At the end of the Dialogue God Himself declares this truth
:[78] 'Nothing has ever happened and nothing happens save by the
plan of My divine Providence. In all things that I permit, in all
things that I give you, in tribulations and in consolations,
temporal or spiritual, I do nothing save for your good, so that
you may be sanctified in Me and that My Truth be fulfilled in
you.' It is the same truth which St. Paul expresses in his epistle
to the Romans: 'To them that love God all things work together
unto good.'
This is the conviction that was born in the soul of Peter and the
Apostles after their second conversion, and also in the souls of
the disciples of Emmaus when the risen Christ gave them a fuller
understanding of the mystery of the Cross: 'O foolish,' He said to
them, 'and slow of heart to believe in all things which the
prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things and so to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and
all the prophets he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the
things that were concerning him.' [79] They knew Him in the
breaking of bread.
What happened to these disciples on the way to Emmaus should
happen to us too, if we are faithful, on the way to eternity. If
for them and for the Apostles there had to be a second conversion,
still more is such a conversion necessary for us. And under the
influence of this new grace of God we too shall say: 'Was not our
heart burning within us whilst he spoke in the way and opened to
us the Scriptures?' Theology, too, helps us to discover the
profound meaning of the Gospel. But the more theology progresses,
the more, in a sense, it has to conceal itself; it has to
disappear very much as St. John the Baptist disappears after
announcing the coming of our Lord. It helps us to discover the
deep significance of divine revelation contained in Scripture and
Tradition, and when it has rendered this service it should stand
aside. In order to restore our cathedrals, to set well-hewn stones
into their proper place it is necessary to erect a scaffolding;
but when once the stones have been replaced the scaffolding is
removed and the cathedral once more appears in all its beauty. In
a similar way theology helps us to demonstrate the solidity of the
foundations of the doctrinal edifice, the firmness of its
construction, the proportion of its parts; but when it has shown
us this, it effaces itself to make place for that supernatural
contemplation which proceeds from a faith enlightened by the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, from a faith that penetrates and savours the
truths of God, a faith that is united with love. [80]
And so it is with the question with which we are dealing, the
truly vital question of our interior life in God.
CHAPTER 3 : THE THIRD CONVERSION OR TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOUL:
ENTRANCE INTO THE UNITIVE WAY
WE have spoken of the second conversion, which is necessary for
the soul if it is to leave the way of beginners and enter upon the
way of proficients, or the illuminative way. As we have seen, many
authors hold that this second conversion took place for the
Apostles at the end of the Passion of Christ, and for Peter in
particular after his triple denial.
St. Thomas remarks in his commentary on St. Matthew [81] that this
repentance of St. Peter came about immediately, as soon as his
Master had looked upon him, and that it was efficacious and
definitive.
Nevertheless, Peter and the Apostles were slow to believe in the
resurrection of Christ, in spite of the account which the holy
women gave them of this miracle so often foretold by Jesus
Himself. The story they told seemed to them to be madness. [82]
Moreover, slow to believe the resurrection of the Saviour, they
were correspondingly anxious, says St. Augustine, [83] to see the
complete restoration of the kingdom of Israel such as they
imagined would come to pass. This may be seen from the question
which they put to our Lord on the very day of the Ascension: 'Lord
wilt thou at this time again restore the kingdom of Israel?' But
there was still much suffering to be undergone before the
restoration of the kingdom; and that restoration would be far
superior to anything that they suspected.
And so spiritual writers have often spoken of a third conversion
or transformation of the Apostles, which took place on the day of
Pentecost. Let us see first what this transformation was in them,
and then what it ought to be, proportionately, in us.
The Apostles were prepared for their third transformation by the
fact that from the time of the Ascension they were deprived of the
perceptible presence of Jesus Himself. When our Lord deprived His
Apostles forever of the sight of His sacred Humanity, they must
have suffered a distress to which we do not perhaps sufficiently
advert. When we consider that our Lord had become their very life
-- as St. Paul says: 'Mihi vivere Christus est' -and that they had
become daily more and more intimate with Him, they must have had a
feeling of the greatest loneliness, like a feeling of desolation,
even of death. And their desolation must have been the more
intense since our Lord Himself had foretold all the sufferings
that were in store. We experience something of the same dismay
when, after having lived on a higher plane during the time of
retreat, under the guidance of a priestly soul full of the spirit
of God, we are plunged once again into our everyday life which
seems to deprive us suddenly of this fulness. The Apostles stood
there with their eyes raised up to heaven. This was no longer
merely the crushing of their sensibility, as it was during the
time of the Passion; it was a complete blank, which must have
seemed to take from them all power of thinking. During the Passion
our Lord was still there; now He had been taken away from them,
and they seemed to be completely deprived of Him.
It was in the night of the spirit that they were prepared for the
outpouring of the graces of Pentecost.
The Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles.
"All These Were Persevering In One Mind In Prayer, With The Women
And Mary The Mother Of Jesus.
The Acts of the Apostles give us an account of the event.' When
the days of Pentecost were accomplished they were all together in
one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a
mighty wind coming; and it filled the whole house where they were
sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of
fire, and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost; and they began to speak with divers tongues
according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.' [84]
The sound from heaven, like that of a mighty wind, was an external
sign of the mysterious and powerful action of the Holy Spirit; and
at the same time the tongues of fire which rested upon each of the
Apostles symbolized what was to be accomplished in their souls.
It happens not infrequently that a great grace is preceded by some
striking perceptible sign which arouses us from our inertia; it is
like a divine awakening. Here the symbolism is as clear as it can
be. As fire purifies, enlightens and gives warmth, so the Holy
Ghost in this moment most deeply purified, enlightened and
inflamed the souls of the Apostles. This was truly the profound
purging of the spirit. [85] And St. Peter explained that this was
the fulfilment of what the prophet Joel had foretold: 'It shall
come to pass in the last days (saith the Lord) I will pour out my
Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy.... And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.' [86]
the Holy Ghost already dwell in the souls of the Apostles, but by
this visible mission [87] He came into them to increase the
treasures of His grace, of the virtues and the gifts, giving them
light and strength in order that they might be capable of
witnessing to Christ even to the ends of the earth, and at the
peril of their lives. The tongues of fire are a sign that the Holy
Spirit enkindled in their souls that living flame of Love of which
St. John of the Cross speaks.
Then were the words of Christ fulfilled: 'The Holy Ghost whom the
Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and
will bring to your mind whatsoever I shall have said to you.' [88]
Then the Apostles began to speak 'in divers tongues the wonderful
works of God,' so that the foreigners who were witnesses of this
marvel, 'Parthians and Medes, Elamites and inhabitants of
Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia... Jews,
Cretes and Arabians... were all amazed and wondered, saying... We
have heard them speak in our own tongues.' [89] It was a sign that
they were now to begin to preach the Gospel to the different
nations, as our Lord had commanded them-' Go ye, and teach all
nations.'[90]
The effects of the descent of the Holy Ghost.
The Acts show us what were these effects: the Apostles were
enlightened and fortified, and their sanctifying influence
transformed the first Christians; there was a transport of intense
fervour in the infant Church.
First of all, the Apostles received a much greater enlightenment
from the Holy Spirit regarding the price of the Blood of the
Saviour, regarding the mystery of Redemption, foretold in the Old
Testament and fulfilled in the New. They received the fulness of
the contemplation of this mystery which they were now to preach to
humanity for the salvation of men. St. Thomas says that 'the
preaching of the word of God must proceed from the fulness of
contemplation.' [91] This was most fully verified at that time, as
we may see from the first sermons of St. Peter related in the Acts
and from that of St. Stephen before his martyrdom. These words of
St. Peter and St. Stephen recall the saying of the Psalmist: 'Thy
word is exceedingly refined and thy servant hath loved it.' [92]
The Apostles and the disciples, men without education, were still
asking on the day of the Ascension: 'Lord, wilt thou at this time
restore the kingdom of Israel?' Jesus had answered: 'It is not for
you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in his
own power. But you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost
coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem
and in all Judaea and Samaria, and even to the uttermost parts of
the earth.' [93]
And now behold Peter. He who before the Passion had trembled at
the word of a woman, who had been so slow to believe the
resurrection of the Master, now stands before the Jews, saying to
them with an authority that can come only from God: 'Jesus of
Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of you... this same being
delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge [94] of
God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain. Him
God hath raised up [as David foretold].... This Jesus God hath
raised again, whereof all we are witnesses... he hath poured forth
this which you see and hear.... Therefore let all the house of
Israel know most certainly that God hath made both Lord and Christ
this same Jesus whom you have crucified.' [95] Herein lies the
whole mystery of the Redemption. Peter now sees that Jesus was a
willing victim, and he contemplates the infinite value of His
merits and of the Blood which He shed.
The Acts add that those who heard this discourse 'had compunction
in their heart and said to Peter: What shall we do? Peter
answered. Do penance and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. And you shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. 'And so it came to pass, and on that
day about three thousand persons were converted and received the
sacrament of baptism. [96]
Some days later, Peter said to the Jews in the temple, after the
cure of a man who had been lame from birth: 'The author of life
you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead; of which we are
witnesses.... Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucified... this is the stone which was rejected by you the
builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there
salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven
given to men, whereby we must be saved.' [97] In this enumeration
of the graces of Pentecost we must notice chiefly, not the gift of
tongues or other powers of this kind, but rather that special
illumination which enabled the Apostles to enter into the depths
of the mystery of the Incarnation, and more particularly of the
Passion of Christ. This is the mystery of which Peter could not
bear the prediction, when Jesus said that He was to be crucified:
'Lord, be it far from thee; this shall not be unto thee.' And
Jesus answered: 'Thou savourest not the things that are of God,
but the things that are of men.' [98] Now Peter has an
understanding of the things of God, and he contemplates the whole
economy of the mystery of the redemptive Incarnation. And it is
not only he who is thus enlightened. All the Apostles bear witness
in like manner, and the disciples also, and the deacon, St.
Stephen, who, before being stoned to death, reminded the Jews of
all that God had done for the chosen people in the time of the
Patriarchs, in the time of Moses and, since then, until the coming
of the Saviour. [99]
But the Apostles were not only enlightened on the day of
Pentecost, they were also strengthened and confirmed. Jesus had
promised them: 'You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost
coming upon you.' [100] Fearful before Pentecost, they are now
full of courage, even to the point of martyrdom. Peter and John,
arrested and haled before the Sanhedrin, declare that 'there is no
salvation in any other' than in Jesus Christ. Arrested again, and
beaten with rods,' they went forth from the presence of the
council rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer
reproach for the name of Jesus. And every day they ceased not, in
the temple and from house to house, to teach and preach Christ
Jesus.' [101] They all bore testimony to Christ in their blood.
Who had given them the strength to do this? The Holy Spirit, by
enkindling the living fire of charity in their hearts.
Such was their third conversion; it was a complete transformation
of their souls. Their first conversion had made them disciples of
the Master, attracted by the sublime beauty of His teaching; the
second, at the end of the Passion, had enabled them to divine the
fecundity of the mystery of the Cross, enlightened as it was by
the Resurrection which followed it; the third conversion fills
them with the profound conviction of this mystery, a mystery which
they will constantly live until their martyrdom.
The transformation which the Apostles had undergone is shown also
in their sanctifying influence, in the transport of intense
fervour which they communicated to the first Christians. As the
Acts show, [102] the life of the infant Church was a life of
marvellous sanctity; 'the multitude of the believers had but one
heart and one soul'; they had all things in common, they sold
their goods and brought the price of them to the Apostles that
they might distribute to each according to his needs. They met
together every day to pray, to hear the preaching of the Apostles,
and to celebrate the Eucharist. They were often seen assembled
together in prayer, and men wondered to see the charity that
reigned among them.' By this,' our Lord had said, 'shall all men
know that you are my disciples.'
Bossuet has given an admirable description of the fervour of the
first Christians, in his third sermon for the feast of Pentecost.'
They are strong in the face of peril, but they are tender in the
love of their brethren; the almighty Spirit who guides them well
knows the secret of reconciling the most opposite tensions.... He
gives them a heart of flesh... made tender by charity... and He
makes them hard as iron or steel in the face of peril.... He
strengthens and He softens, but in a manner all His own. For these
are the same hearts of the disciples, which seem as diamonds in
their invincible firmness, and which yet become human hearts and
hearts of flesh by brotherly love. This is the effect of the
heavenly fire that rests upon them this day. It has softened the
hearts of the faithful, it has, so to speak, melted them into
one....
' The Apostles of the Son of God had once disputed concerning the
primacy; but now that the Holy Spirit has made them of one heart
and one soul they are no longer jealous or quarrelsome. It seems
to them that through Peter they all speak, that with him they all
preside, and if his shadow heals the sick the whole Church has its
part in this gift and praises our Lord for it.' In the same way we
ought to regard one another as members of the same mystical body,
of which Christ is the head, and, far from allowing ourselves to
give way to jealousy or envy, we ought to rejoice with a holy joy
in the good qualities of our neighbour; for we profit by them as
the hand derives advantage from what the eye sees, or the ear
hears.
Such were the fruits of the transformation of the Apostles and the
disciples by the Holy Spirit.
But was the Holy Spirit sent to produce these marvellous fruits
only in the infant Church? Evidently not. He continues the same
work throughout the course of ages. His action in the Church is
apparent in the invincible strength that He gives her; a strength
which may be seen in the three centuries of persecution which she
underwent, and in the victory that she won over so many heresies.
Every Christian community, then, must conform to the example of
the infant Church. What must we learn from her?
To be of but one heart and one soul, and to banish all divisions
amongst us. To work for the extension of the kingdom of God in the
world, despite the difficulties with which we are confronted. To
believe firmly and practically in the indefectibility of the
Church, which is always holy, and never ceases to give birth to
saints. Like the early Christians we must bear with patience and
love the sufferings which God sends us. Let us with all our hearts
believe in the Holy Spirit who never ceases to give life to the
Church, and in the Communion of Saints.
If we saw the Church as she is in the most generous souls who live
most truly the life of the Church, she would appear most beautiful
in our sight, despite the human imperfections which are mingled
with the activity of her children. We rightly lament certain
blots, but let us not forget that if there is sometimes mud in the
valley at the foot of the mountains, on the summits there is
always snow of dazzling whiteness, air of great purity, and a
wonderful view that ever leads the eye to God.
The purification of the spirit necessary for Christian perfection.
Create A Clean Heart In Me, O Lord. [103]
We have seen that the transformation of the Apostles on the day of
Pentecost was like a third conversion for them. There must be
something similar in the life of every Christian, if he is to pass
from the way of proficients to that of the perfect. Here, says St.
John of the Cross, there must be a radical purgation of the
spirit, just as there had to be a purgation of the senses in order
to pass from the way of beginners to that of proficients, commonly
called the illuminative way. And just as the first conversion, by
which we turn away from the world to begin to walk in the way of
God, presupposes acts of faith, hope, charity and contrition, so
it is also with the other two conversions. But here the acts of
the theological virtues are much more profound: God, who makes us
perform these acts, drives the furrow in our souls in the same
direction, but much more deeply.
Let us see now (I) why this conversion is necessary for
proficients, (2) how God purifies the soul at this stage and (3)
what are the fruits of this third conversion.
The necessity of the purification of the spirit.
Many imperfections remain even in those who have advanced in the
way of God. If their sensibility has been to a great extent purged
of the faults of spiritual sensuality, inertia, jealousy,
impatience, yet there still remain in the spirit certain 'stains
of the old man' which are like rust on the soul, a rust which will
only disappear under the action of an intense fire, similar to
that which came down upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
This comparison is made by St. John of the Cross. [104]
This rust remains deep down in the spiritual faculties of the
soul, in the intelligence and the will; and it consists in an
attachment to self which prevents the soul from being completely
united to God. Hence it is that we are often distracted in prayer,
that we are subject to sluggishness, to a failure to understand
the things of God, to the dissipation of the spirit, and to
natural affections which are hardly, if at all, inspired by the
motive of charity. Movements of roughness and impatience are not
rare at this stage. Moreover, many souls, even among those that
are advanced in the way of God, remain too much attached to their
own point of view in the spiritual life; they imagine that they
have received special inspirations from God, whereas they are in
reality the victims of their own imagination or of the enemy of
all good. They thus become puffed up with presumption, spiritual
pride and vanity; they depart from the true path and lead other
souls astray.
As St. John of the Cross says, this catalogue of faults is
inexhaustible; and he confines his attention almost exclusively to
those defects which relate to the purely interior life. How much
longer would the catalogue be if we considered also the faults
which offend against fraternal charity, against justice in our
relations with our superiors, our equals or our inferiors, and
those which relate to the duties of our state and to the influence
which we may exert upon others.
Together with spiritual pride there remains often in the soul
intellectual pride, jealousy, or some hidden ambition. The seven
capital sins are thus transposed into the life of the spirit, to
its great detriment.
All this, says St. John of the Cross, shows the need of the
'strong lye,' that passive purgation of the spirit, that further
conversion which marks the entrance into the perfect way. Even
after passing through the night of the senses, St. John says,
'these proficients are still at a very low stage of progress, and
follow their own nature closely in the intercourse and dealings
which they have with God; because the gold of their spirit is not
yet purified and refined; they still think of God as little
children, and feel and experience God as little children, even as
St. Paul says, because they have not reached perfection, which is
the union of the soul with God. In the state of union, however,
they will work great things in the spirit, even as grown men, and
their works and faculties will then be divine rather than human.'
[105] Before this third conversion has taken place we may still
say of these souls, in the words of Isaias, that their justices
are as a soiled rag; a further, and final, purification is
necessary.
How does God purify the soul in this third conversion?
It seems that at first He strips the soul instead of enriching it.
In order to cure the soul of all spiritual and intellectual pride,
and to show it what dregs of poverty it still has within, He
leaves the understanding in darkness, the will in aridity,
sometimes even in bitterness and anguish. The soul then, says St.
John of the Cross, after Tauler, must 'remain in the dark, in pure
faith, which is dark night for the natural faculties.' [106] St.
Thomas often points out that the object of faith is that which is
not seen (fides est de non visis); it is dark. And the Angelic
Doctor adds that it is impossible for anyone to believe and to see
the same thing under the same aspect; because what is believed, as
such, is not seen. [107] The soul has now to enter into the depths
of faith and to rise to its heights, like the Apostles when they
were deprived of the sensible presence of Christ after His
ascension. As He Himself had told them: 'It is expedient to you
that I go. For if I go not the Paraclete will not come to you; but
if I go I will send him to you.' [108] St. Thomas gives an
admirable explanation of these words in his commentary on St.
John; he says that the Apostles, attached as they were to the
humanity of Christ by a natural love, were not yet sufficiently
filled with a spiritual love of His divinity, and therefore were
not yet capable of receiving the Holy Ghost spiritually, as they
must if they were to withstand the tribulations which they would
meet when Jesus had deprived them of His perceptible presence.
At first, then, God seems to strip the soul in this purification,
as in the preceding; He seems to leave it in darkness and aridity.
The motto of the soul must now be: 'Fidelity and abandonment.' It
is now that the words of Christ will be fulfilled.' He that
followeth me walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of
life.' [109] Especially illuminated now by the purging light of
the gift of understanding, the soul begins, as St. Paul says, 'to
search the deep things of God.' [110]
Now humility and the theological virtues are purged of all human
alloy. The soul experiences more and more, without seeing it, the
infinite purity and greatness of God, who transcends all the ideas
that we can form of Him; it experiences likewise all the
supernatural riches of the holy soul of Christ, which here on
earth contained the fulness of grace, 'all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge.' [111] Like the Apostles on the day of Pentecost it
has a glimpse of the depths of the mystery of the Incarnation and
the Redemption; it perceives something of the infinite value of
the merits of Christ who died for us on the Cross. The soul now
has a sort of living knowledge, an experimental perception, of the
supernatural world, a new outlook upon it. And by contrast the
soul becomes more conscious of its own poverty. The chief
suffering of a St. Paul of the Cross, of a Cure d'Ars, at this
stage, was to feel themselves so distant from the ideal of the
priesthood, which loomed now so great before them in the dark
night of faith; while at the same time they understood better the
great needs of those many souls that had recourse to them,
imploring their prayers and their help.
This third conversion or purification is, evidently, the work of
the Holy Spirit, who illuminates the soul by the gift of
understanding. As with a lightning-flash during the night He
illumines the soul that He wishes to purify. The soul had said to
Him so often.' Enlighten my eyes that I may never sleep in
death';[112] 'O my God, enlighten my darkness' ;[113] 'Create a
clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my
bowels. Cast me not away from thy face, and take not thy holy
spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and
strengthen me with a perfect spirit. I will teach the unjust thy
ways... and my tongue shall extol thy justice.' [114]
The purified soul addresses to Christ those words which He Himself
once uttered, and begs that they may be fulfilled in itself. 'I am
come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be
kindled?'[115] This third purification comes about, as St. John of
the Cross says, by 'an inflowing of God into the soul, which
purges it from its ignorances and imperfections, habitual, natural
and spiritual, and which is called by contemplatives infused
contemplation or mystical theology. Herein God secretly teaches
the soul and instructs it in perfection of love, without its doing
anything or understanding of what manner is this infused
contemplation.'[116]
This great purification or transformation appears under different
forms, according as it is in pure contemplatives like a St. Bruno,
or in souls dedicated to the apostolate or to works of mercy, like
a St. Vincent de Paul; but in substance it is the same. In every
case there is the purification of humility and the three
theological virtues from every human alloy, so that the formal
motive of these virtues takes increasing ascendancy over all
secondary motives. Humility grows according to the process
described by St. Anselm, and repeated by St. Thomas: '(I) To know
that one is contemptible; (2) to feel affliction at this
knowledge; (3) to confess that one is despicable; (4) to wish
one's neighbours to know this; (5) patiently to endure their
saying so; (6) to submit to being treated as worthy of contempt;
(7) to like being so treated.' So we have the example of St.
Dominic, who by preference went to those parts of Languedoc where
he was ill-treated and ridiculed, experiencing a holy joy at
feeling himself made like our Lord, who was humbled for our sake.
Then the formal motives of the three theological virtues appear in
all their sublime grandeur- the supreme Truth that reveals, Mercy
ever ready to help, sovereign Goodness, ever lovable for its own
sake. These three motives shine forth like three stars of the
first magnitude in the night of the spirit, to guide us surely to
the end of our journey.
The fruits of this third conversion are the same as those of
Pentecost, when the Apostles were enlightened and fortified, and
being themselves transformed, transformed the first Christians by
their preaching-as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, where
we are told of the first sermons of St. Peter and of St. Stephen's
discourse before his martyrdom.
The fruits of this third conversion are a true and deep humility,
and a living faith that begins to relish and savour the mysteries
of the supernatural order-as it were, a foretaste of eternal life.
Moreover, it produces a firm and confident hope in the divine
mercy, which is ever at hand to help us. To attain to this
perfection of hope, one must, as St. Paul says, have hoped against
hope.
But the most perfect fruit of this third conversion is a very
great love of God, a very pure and very strong love, a love that
hesitates before no contradiction or persecution, like the love of
the Apostles who rejoiced to suffer for the sake of our Lord. This
love is born of an ardent desire for perfection, it is 'hunger and
thirst after the justice of God,' accompanied by the gift of
fortitude, which enables it to triumph over every obstacle. It is
the perfect fulfilment of the commandment- 'Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul and with
all thy strength and with all thy mind.'
Henceforth the depth of the soul belongs completely to God. The
soul has now reached the stage of living almost continually the
life of the spirit in its higher part; it is now an adorer in
spirit and in truth. The darkness of the night of faith is thus a
prelude to the life of eternity: quaedam inchoatio vitae aeternae
It is the fulfilment of the words of Christ: 'If any man thirst
let him come to me and drink.... Out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.' [117] This is the living water that
springs up into eternal life, the water which Jesus promised to
the Samaritan woman: 'If thou didst know the gift of God... thou
perhaps wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee
living water.... The water that I will give him shall become in
him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting.'
[118]
PRAYER TO THE HOLY GHOST
Holy Spirit, come into my heart; draw it to Thee by Thy power, O
my God, and grant me charity with filial fear. Preserve me, O
ineffable Love, from every evil thought; warm me, inflame me with
Thy dear love, and every pain will seem light to me. My Father, my
sweet Lord, help me in all my actions. Jesus, love, Jesus, love
(St. Catherine of Siena).
(Anyone who has consecrated himself to Mary according to the
formula of the Blessed Grignion de Montfort, and then also to the
Sacred Heart, will find great treasures in a repeated consecration
to the Holy Spirit. The whole influence of Mary leads us to
intimacy with Christ, and the humanity of Jesus leads us to the
Holy Spirit, who introduces us into the mystery of the adorable
Trinity. )
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY GHOST
O Holy Ghost, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to
Thee my intellect, my heart, my will and my whole being for time
and for eternity.
May my intellect be ever docile to Thy heavenly inspirations and
to the teaching of the Holy Catholic Church of which Thou art the
infallible Guide. May my heart be ever inflamed with the love of
God and my neighbour; may my will be ever in conformity with the
divine will, and may my whole life be a faithful imitation of the
life and virtues of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom,
with the Father and thee, Holy Spirit, be honour and glory for
ever. Amen.
(Indulgence of 300 days once a day, applicable to the souls in
Purgatory -- Pius X. This consecration may be renewed by repeating
only the first paragraph of the form. )
CHAPTER 4 : THE PROBLEM OF THE THREE STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE
IN ASCETICAL AND MYSTICAL THEOLOGY
THIS chapter, written especially for theologians, will prove less
useful for the majority of readers, who will find the substance of
it explained more simply and easily in the following chapter.
One of the great problems of the spiritual life is the question
how we are to interpret the traditional distinction of the three
ways, purgative, illuminative, and unitive, according to the
terminology of Dionysius, or the way of beginners, of proficients,
and of the perfect, according to an earlier terminology.
Of this traditional division two notably different interpretations
have been given, according as the infused contemplation of the
mysteries of faith and the union with God which results from it
were considered as belonging to the normal way of sanctity, or as
extraordinary favours, not only de facto but also de jure.
Statement of the Problem.
The difference between the two interpretations may be seen if we
compare the division of ascetico-mystical theology used until the
second half of the eighteenth century with that given by several
authors who have written since that time. It is evident, for
example, if we compare the treatise of Vallgornera, O. P., Mystica
theologia divi Thomae (1662), with the two works of Scaramelli, S.
J., Direttorio ascetico (1751) and Direttorio mistico.
Vallgornera follows- more or less closely the Carmelite, Philip of
the Trinity. He likens the division given by him to that used by
previous authors, and confirms it by appeal to certain
characteristic texts of St. John of the Cross on the moment at
which the passive nights of the senses and of the spirit generally
make their appearance. [119] He divides his treatise for
contemplative souls into three parts:
1. Of the purgative way, proper to beginners, in which he treats
of the active purification of the external and internal senses,
the passions, the intellect and the will by mortification,
meditation and prayer, and finally of the passive purification of
the senses, where infused contemplation begins and leads the soul
on to the illuminative way, as St. John of the Cross explains at
the beginning of the Dark Night. [120]
2. Of the illuminative way, proper to proficients, where, after a
preliminary chapter on the divisions of contemplation, the writer
treats of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and of infused
contemplation, which proceeds especially from the gifts of
understanding and wisdom, and which is declared to be a legitimate
object of desire for all spiritual souls, as being morally
necessary for the complete perfection of the Christian life. This
second part of the work, after several articles dealing with
extraordinary graces (visions, revelations, interior speech)
concludes with a chapter of nine articles on the passive
purification of the spirit, which marks the transition to the
unitive way. This, likewise, is the teaching of St. John of the
Cross. [121]
3. Of the unitive way, proper to the perfect, where the author
deals with the intimate union of the contemplative soul with God
and with its degrees, up to the transforming union.
Vallgornera considers this division to be the traditional one, and
to be truly in harmony with the doctrine of the Fathers, with the
principles of St. Thomas and the teaching of St. John of the
Cross, and with that of the great mystics who have written on the
three periods of the spiritual life, and on the manner in which
the transition is generally made from one to another.
Quite different is the division given by Scaramelli and the
authors who follow him.
In the first place Scaramelli treats of Ascetics and Mystics, not
in the same work, but in two distinct works. The Direttorio
ascetico, twice as long as the second work, comprises four
treatises: (I) The means of perfection; (2) the obstacles
(purgative way); (3) the proximate dispositions to Christian
perfection, consisting of the moral virtues in the perfect degree
(the way of proficients); (4) the essential perfection of the
Christian, consisting of the theological virtues and especially of
charity (the love of conformity in the case of the perfect).
This treatise of Ascetics hardly mentions the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. And yet according to the common teaching of spiritual
writers the high degree of perfection in the moral and theological
virtues which is here described is unattainable without these
gifts.
The Direttorio mistico consists of five treatises: (I) An
Introduction, on the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the gratiae
gratis datae; (2) on acquired and infused contemplation, for
which, as Scaramelli admits, the gifts are sufficient; 1 (3) on
the degrees of obscure infused contemplation, from passive
recollection to the transforming union. (Here, in Chapter XXXII,
Scaramelli admits that several authors teach 1 Ch xiv. that
infused contemplation may be desired humbly by all spiritual
souls; but he comes to the conclusion that in practice it is
better not to desire it unless one has received a special call to
it: 'Altiora te ne quaesieris'); [122] (4) on the degrees of
distinct infused contemplation (visions and extraordinary interior
words); (5) of the passive purifications of the senses and of the
spirit.
It is surprising not to find until the end of this treatise on
Mystics a description of the passive purgation of the senses, a
purgation which, for St. John of the Cross and the authors above
quoted, marks the entrance into the illuminative way.
The difference between this new way of dividing ascetico-mystical
theology and the old way obviously arises from the fact that the
old authors, unlike the modern ones, maintained that all truly
spiritual souls can humbly desire and ask of God the grace of the
infused contemplation of the mysteries of the faith: the
Incarnation and Passion of Christ, Holy Mass and Eternal Life,
mysteries which are so many manifestations of the infinite
goodness of God. They considered this supernatural and confused
contemplation to be morally necessary for that union with God in
which the full perfection of the Christian life consists.
Hence it may be wondered whether the new division, as propounded
for example by Scaramelli, does not diminish both the unity and
the sublimity of the perfect spiritual life. When Ascetics are
separated from Mystics in this way, do we sufficiently preserve
the unity of the whole which is divided? A good division, if it is
not to be superficial and accidental, if it is to be based upon a
necessary foundation, must repose upon the definition of the whole
which is to be divided, upon the nature of that whole. And the
whole in question is the life of grace, called by tradition 'the
grace of the virtues and gifts'; [123] for the seven gifts of the
Holy Ghost, since they are connected with charity, are part of the
supernatural organism, [124] and, as St. Thomas teaches, are
necessary for salvation, a fortiori for perfection. [125]
Similarly, the new conception surely diminishes the sublimity of
evangelical perfection, since this is dealt with under the head of
Ascetics, without mention of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and
without mention of the infused contemplation of the mysteries of
faith and the union with God which results from that
contemplation. While the new method of treatment emphasizes the
necessity of ascetics, does it not at the same time degrade it,
weakening the motives for the practice of mortification and for
the exercise of the virtues, because it loses sight of the divine
intimacy to which the whole of this work should eventually lead?
Does it throw sufficient light upon the meaning of the trials,
those prolonged periods of aridity, which generally mark the
transition from one stage of the spiritual life to the other? Does
not the new conception diminish also the importance and value of
mysticism, which, if it is separated thus from asceticism, seems
to become a luxury in the spiritual life of a few favoured ones,
and a luxury which is not without its dangers? Finally, and above
all, does not this conception debase the illuminative and unitive
ways, by regarding them simply from the ascetical point of view?
Is it possible for these two ways normally to exist without the
exercise of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, proportionate to the
exercise of charity and the other infused virtues? Are there six
ways (three ascetical ways which are ordinary, and three mystical
ways which are extraordinary), and not only three ways, three
periods in the spiritual life, as the ancients maintained? Does it
not seem that, if ascetics is divorced from the illuminative and
unitive ways, it becomes simply an abstract study of the moral and
theological virtues? Or, if the progress and perfection of these
virtues is treated in concrete-as is done by Scaramelli -- is it
not manifest, according to the teaching of St. John of the Cross,
that this perfection is unattainable without the passive
purifications and the operation of the gifts of the Holy Ghost? On
this matter we shall do well to remember the words of St. Teresa:
'According to certain books we ought to be indifferent to the evil
which is spoken of us, and even rejoice more thereat than if we
were well spoken of; we ought to make little of honour, and be
detached from our neighbour... and many other things of the same
sort. In my opinion these are pure gifts of God, these are
supernatural graces.' [126]
In order better to preserve the unity and sublimity of the
interior life, such as the Gospels and the epistles reveal it to
us, we propose the division which follows. It accords with that of
the great majority of authors who wrote before the second half of
the eighteenth century, and, by including an imperfect form of the
illuminative and unitive ways, mentioned by St. John. of the
Cross, [127] it also safeguards that portion of truth which, in
our opinion, the more recent conception contains.
Proposed Division of the Three Stages of The Spiritual Life.
Above the condition of hardened sinners, above the state of those
sensual souls who live in dissipation, conversion or justification
sets us in the state of grace; grace which sin ought never to
destroy in us, grace which, like a supernatural seed, ought
continually to grow until it has reached its full development in
the immediate vision of the divine essence and in a perfect love
which will last for ever.
After conversion there ought to be a serious beginning of the
purgative life, in which beginners love God by avoiding mortal sin
and deliberate venial sin, through exterior and interior
mortification and through prayer. But in actual fact this
purgative life is found under two very different forms: in some,
admittedly very few, this life is intense, generous; it is the
narrow way of perfect self-denial described by the saints. In many
others the purgative life appears in an attenuated form, varying
from good souls who are a little weak down to those tepid and
retarded souls who from time to time fall into mortal sin. The
same remark will have to be made for the other two ways, each of
which likewise is found in an attenuated and in an intense form.
The transition to the illuminative life follows upon certain
sensible consolations which generally reward the courageous effort
of mortification. As the soul lingers in the enjoyment of these
consolations, God withdraws them, and then the soul finds itself
in that more or less prolonged aridity of the senses which is
known as the passive purgation of the senses. This purgation
persists unceasingly in generous souls and leads them, by way of
initial infused contemplation, to the full illuminative life. In
other souls that are less generous, souls that shun the cross, the
purgation is often interrupted; and these souls will enjoy only an
attenuated form of the illuminative life, and will receive the
gift of infused contemplation only at long intervals. [128] Thus
the passive night of the senses is seen to be a second conversion,
more or less perfect.
The illuminative life brings with it the obscure infused
contemplation of the mysteries of faith, a contemplation which had
already been initiated in the passive night of the senses. It
appears under two normal forms. the one definitely contemplative,
as in the many saints of the Carmel; the other active, as in a St.
Vincent de Paul, a contemplation which, by the light of the gifts
of wisdom and counsel, constantly sees in the poor and abandoned
the suffering members of Christ. Sometimes this full illuminative
life involves, not only the infused contemplation of mysteries,
but also certain extraordinary graces (visions, revelations,
interior speech), such as those described by St. Teresa in her own
life.
The transition to the unitive life follows upon more abundant
spiritual lights, or an easier and more fruitful apostolate, these
being, as it were, the reward of the proficient's generosity. But
in them the proficient is apt to take some complacency, through
some remnant of spiritual pride which he still retains.
Accordingly, if God wills to lead the proficient into the perfect
unitive life, He causes him to pass through the night of the
spirit, a painful purgation of the higher part of the soul. If
this is endured supernaturally it continues almost without
interruption until it leads the soul to the perfect unitive life.
If, on the other hand, the proficient fails in generosity, the
unitive life will be correspondingly attenuated. This painful
purgation is the third conversion in the life of the servants of
God.
The perfect unitive life brings with it the infused contemplation
of the mysteries of faith and a passive union which is almost
continuous. Like the preceding, this life appears under two forms:
the one exclusively contemplative, as in a St. Bruno or a St. John
of the Cross; the other apostolic, as in a St. Dominic, a St.
Francis, a St. Thomas, or a St. Bonaventure. Sometimes the perfect
unitive life involves, not only infused contemplation and almost
continuous union with God, but also extraordinary graces, such as
the vision of the Blessed Trinity received by St. Teresa and
described by her in the VIIth Mansion. In this perfect unitive
life, whether accompanied by extraordinary favours or not, there
are evidently many degrees, ranging from the lowest to the highest
among the saints, to the Apostles, to St. Joseph and our Lady.
This division of the three stages of the spiritual life is set out
in the following table, which should be read beginning from below;
the three purgations or conversions figure in the table as
transitions from one stage to another.
The scheme may be compared with the doctrine of Tradition, and
above all with the doctrine of St. Thomas, concerning the grace of
the virtues and the gifts, and with that of St. John of the Cross
on the passive purgations, on infused contemplation and on the
perfect union, the normal prelude to the life of heaven.
We have seen also how it may be compared with the three ages of
our bodily life, infancy, adolescence, and manhood, especially as
regards the crises which mark the transition from one to another.
* UNITIVE LIFE
* plenary
* extraordinary, eg. with vision of the Blessed Trinity.
* Ordinary
* purely contemplative form
* apostolic form
* attenuated: Intermittent union
* Transition: Passive purgation of the spirit, more or less
successfully endured
* ILLUMINATIVE LIFE of proficients
* Plenary
* Extraordinary, with visions, revelations, etc.
* Ordinary
* purely contemplative form
* active form
* Attenuated: Transitory acts of infused contemplation.
* Transition: Passive purgation of the senses, more or less
successfully endured.
* PURGATIVE LIFE of beginners
* Generous: fervent souls
* Attenuated: tepid or retarded souls.
* Transition: First conversion, or justification
The transition from one stage to another in the Spiritual Life.
The transitions from one stage to another in the spiritual life,
analogous to similar transitions in our bodily life, are marked by
a crisis in the soul; and none has described these crises so well
as St. John of the Cross. He shows that they correspond to the
nature of the human soul, and to the nature of the divine seed,
which is sanctifying grace. In the Dark Night, [129] after having
spoken of the spiritual imperfections of beginners, he writes:
'The one night or purgation will be sensual, wherein the soul is
purged according to sense, which is subdued to the spirit.... The
night of sense is common, and comes to many; these are the
beginners.' Then he adds: [130] 'When this house of sensuality was
now at rest -- that is, was mortified its passions being quenched
and its desires put to rest and lulled to sleep by means of this
blessed night of the purgation of sense, the soul went forth to
set out upon the road and way of the spirit, which is that of
progressives and proficients, and which by another name is called
the way of illumination or of infused contemplation, wherewith God
Himself feeds and refreshes the soul, without meditation, or the
soul's actual help. Such, as we have said, is the night and
purgation of sense in the soul.'
The words that we have italicized in this passage are very
significant, and they reproduce the original Spanish exactly.
St. John of the Cross then proceeds [131] to treat of the
imperfections which are proper to progressives or proficients:
natural roughness, outward clinging of the spirit, presumption, a
remnant of spiritual pride -- and he thus shows the need of the
passive purgation of the spirit, another painful crisis, a third
conversion which is necessary before the soul can enter fully upon
the life of union which belongs to the perfect, to those who, as
St. Thomas says, wish above all things to cleave to God and to
enjoy Him, and yearn ardently for eternal life, to be with
Christ.' [132]
This doctrine of the Dark Night is found also in the Spiritual
Canticle, especially in the division of the poem and in the
argument which precedes the first strophe. [133]
It is sometimes objected that this sublime conception of St. John
of the Cross far transcends the ordinary conception given by
spiritual writers, who speak less mystically of the illuminative
life of proficients and of the unitive life of the perfect. It
would seem therefore that the beginners of whom St. John speaks in
the Dark Night are not the beginners in the spiritual life, whom
writers generally have in mind, but rather those who are already
beginning the mystical states.
To this we may easily reply that the conception of St. John of the
Cross corresponds admirably with the nature of the soul (sensitive
and spiritual) and also with the nature of grace, and that
therefore the beginners of whom he speaks are actually those who
are usually so called. To prove this it is enough to note the
faults which he finds in them: spiritual gluttony, a tendency to
sensuality, to anger, to envy, to spiritual sloth, to that pride
which causes them to 'seek another confessor to tell the wrongs
that they have done, so that their own confessor shall think that
they have done nothing wrong at all, but only good... desiring
that he may think them to be good.' [134] The souls thus described
are certainly beginners, not at all advanced in asceticism. But it
must be remembered that when St. John of the Cross speaks of the
three ways, purgative, illuminative and unitive, he takes them,
not in their attenuated sense, but in their normal and plenary
sense. And in this he follows the tradition of the Fathers, of
Clement of Alexandria, Cassian, St. Augustine, Dionysius, and the
great teachers of the Middle Ages: St. Anselm, Hugh of St. Victor,
St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas.
This is particularly apparent in the traditional distinction of
the degrees of humility, [135] which, by reason of the connection
of the virtues among themselves, correspond to the degrees of
charity. This traditional gradation in humility leads to a
perfection
which is assuredly not inferior to that of which St. John of the
Cross speaks. St. Catherine of Siena, the author of the Imitation,
St. Francis of Sales and all the spiritual writers reproduce the
same doctrine on the degrees of humility, corresponding to the
degrees in the love of God. All books on ascetics likewise say
that we must rejoice in tribulations and in being calumniated;
but, as St. Teresa remarks, this presupposes great purgations, the
purgations of which St. John of the Cross speaks, and can result
only from faithful correspondence with the grace of the Holy
Spirit.
The same is apparent in the classic distinction, preserved for us
by St. Thomas, between political virtues (necessary for social
life), purging virtues (purgatoriae), and the virtues of the
purified soul. Describing the 'purging virtues,' [136] St. Thomas
says: 'Prudence despises all the things of the world in favour of
the contemplation of divine things; it directs all thoughts to
God. Temperance gives up all that the body demands, so far as
nature can allow. Fortitude prevents us from fearing death and the
unknown element in higher things. Justice, finally, makes us enter
fully into the way of God.' The virtues of the purified soul are
more perfect still. All this, together with what the Angelic
Doctor says elsewhere of the immediate union of charity with God
dwelling in the soul, is certainly not less sublime than what St.
John of the Cross was to write later on.
Finally, the division of the three stages of the spiritual life
corresponds perfectly to the three movements of contemplation
described by St. Thomas after Dionysius. (I) The soul contemplates
the goodness of God in the mirror of material creatures, and rises
to Him by recalling the parables which Jesus preached to
beginners; (2) The soul contemplates the divine goodness in the
mirror of intelligible truths, or the mysteries of salvation, and
rises to Him by a spiral movement, from the Nativity of Christ to
His Ascension; (3) The soul contemplates sovereign Goodness in
itself, in the darkness of faith, circling round again and again,
to return always to the same infinite truth, to understand it
better and more fully to live by it.
It is certain that St. John of the Cross follows this traditional
path which so many great teachers had trodden before him; but he
describes the progress of the soul as it is found in
contemplatives, and in the most perfect among them, in order to
arrive, 'as directly as possible at God. [137] He thus shows what
are the higher laws of the life of grace and of the progress of
charity. But these same laws apply in an attenuated form to many
other souls as well, souls which do not reach so high a state of
perfection, but which nevertheless make generous progress without
turning back. In all things, similarly, we can distinguish two
'tempos.' For example, the medical books describe diseases as they
are in their acute stage, but they also point out that they may be
found in a modified or attenuated form.
In the light of what has been said it will be easier for us now to
describe the characteristics of the three ways, with special
reference to the purgations or conversions which precede each of
them -- purgations which are necessary even though the soul may
not have fallen again into mortal sin, but remained always in the
state of grace.
From this point of view we shall now study what exactly
constitutes the spiritual state of the beginner, the proficient,
and the perfect; and it will become apparent that this is not
merely a conventional scheme, but a truly vital process founded on
the very nature of the spiritual life, that is, on the nature of
the soul and on the nature of grace, that divine seed which is the
germ of eternal life: semen gloriae. [138]
CHAPTER 5 : CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL
LIFE
WE have seen the different conceptions which various writers have
proposed of the three stages or periods of the spiritual life; and
we have seen which of these is to be regarded as the traditional
one. There is, we have said, an analogy between these three stages
of the life of the soul and those of the life of the body-
infancy, adolescence and manhood; and we have paid particular
attention to the transition between one period and another, marked
by a crisis analogous to that which, in the natural or physical
order, occurs in life about the age of fourteen or fifteen and
again at twenty or twenty-one. We have seen also how these
different periods of the interior life have their counterpart in
the life of the Apostles. We now intend, following the principles
of St. Thomas and of St. John of the Cross, to describe briefly
the characteristics of these three periods, that of beginners,
proficients and perfect, in order to show that these are
successive stages in a normal development, a development which
corresponds both to the distinction between the two parts of the
soul (sensitive and spiritual), and to the nature of 'the grace of
the virtues and the gifts.' This grace progressively permeates the
soul with the supernatural life, elevates its faculties, both
higher and lower, until the depth of the soul [139] is purged of
all egoism and self-love, and belongs truly, without any
reservation, to God. We shall see that the whole development is
logical, it is logical with the logic of life, the logic which is
imposed necessarily by life's end and purpose: Justum deduxit
Dominus per vias rectas: 'The Lord guides the just by straight
ways.'
Beginners.
The first conversion is the transition from the state of sin to
the state of grace, whether by baptism or, in the case of those
who have lost their baptismal innocence, by contrition and
sacramental absolution. Theologians explain at length in the
treatise on grace what precisely justification is in an adult, and
how and why it requires, under the influence of grace, acts of
faith, hope, charity and contrition, or detestation of sin
committed. [140] This purgation by the infusion of habitual grace
and the remission of sins is in a sense the type or pattern of all
the subsequent purgations of the soul, all of which involve acts
of faith, hope, charity and contrition. Often this first
conversion comes about after a more or less painful crisis in
which the soul progressively detaches itself from the spirit of
the world, like the prodigal son, to come back to God. It is God
always who makes the first step towards us, as the Church has
taught against the Semi-pelagians; it is He who inspires the good
movement in us, that initial goodwill which is the beginning of
salvation. For this purpose, by His grace and by the trials to
which He subjects the soul, He as it were 'tills' the ground of
the soul before sowing the divine seed within it; He drives a
first furrow therein, a furrow upon which He will later return, to
dig more deeply still and to eradicate the weeds which remain;
much as the vine-tender does with the vine when it has already
grown, to free it from all that may retard its development.
After this first conversion, if the soul does not fall again into
mortal sin, or at all events if it rises from sin without delay
and seeks to make progress, [141] it is then in the purgative way
of beginners.
The mentality or spiritual state of the beginner may be best
described in function of that which is primary in the order of
goodness, namely his knowledge of God and of himself, and his love
of God. Admittedly there are some beginners who are specially
favoured, like many great saints who have had greater grace in
their early beginnings than many who are proficients; just as in
the natural order there are infant prodigies. But after all, they
are children, and it is possible to say in general in what the
mentality of beginners consists. They begin to know themselves, to
see their poverty and their neediness, and they have every day to
examine their conscience to correct their faults. At the same time
they begin to know God, in the mirror of the things of sense, in
the things of nature or in the parables, for example, in those of
the Prodigal Son, the Lost Sheep or the Good Shepherd. Theirs is a
direct movement up to God, not unlike that of the swallow when it
rises up to the heavens uttering a cry. [142] In this state there
is a love of God proportionate to the soul's knowledge; beginners
who are truly generous love God with a holy fear of sin, which
causes them to avoid mortal sin and even deliberate venial sin, by
dint of mortifying the senses and concupiscence in its various
forms.
When they have been engaged for a certain time in this generous
effort they are usually rewarded by some sensible consolations in
prayer or in the study of divine things. In this way God wins over
their sensibility, for it is by their sensibility that they
chiefly live; He directs it away from dangerous things towards
Himself. At this stage the generous beginner already loves God
'with all his heart,' but not yet with all his soul, with all his
strength, or with all his mind. Spiritual writers often mention
the milk of consolation which is given at this period. St. Paul
himself says: [143] "I could not speak to you as unto spiritual
but as unto carnal, as unto little ones in Christ. I gave you milk
to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet.'
But what happens, usually, at this stage? Practically all
beginners, when they receive these sensible consolations, take too
much complacency in them; they regard them as though they were an
end in themselves, and not merely a means to higher things. They
then become an obstacle to their progress; they are an occasion of
spiritual greed, of curiosity in the things of God, of an
unconscious pride which leads the recipient to talk about his
favours and, under a pretext of doing good to others, to pose as
master in the spiritual life. Then, as St. John of the Cross says,
[144] the seven capital sins make their appearance, no longer in
their gross form, but in the order of spiritual things, as so many
obstacles to a true and solid piety.
Accordingly, by a logical and vital transition, a second
conversion becomes necessary, described by St. John of the Cross
under the name of the passive purgation of the senses. Of this he
says that it is 'common and comes to many; these are beginners,'
and that its purpose is to lead them into 'the road and way of the
spirit, which is that of progressives and proficients... the way
of infused contemplation, wherewith God Himself feeds and
refreshes the soul.' [145] This purgation is characterized by a
prolonged aridity of the senses, in which the beginner is deprived
of all those sensible consolations in which he had taken too great
complacency. If in the midst of this aridity there is an intense
desire for God, a desire that He should reign in us, together with
a fear of offending Him, then this is a second sign that it is a
divine purgation. Still more so, if to this intense desire for God
there is added a difficulty in praying according to the discursive
method, and an inclination towards the prayer of simple regard,
with love. This is the third sign that the second conversion is in
progress, and that the soul is being raised up to a higher form of
life, that of the illuminative way.
If the soul endures this purgation satisfactorily its sensibility
becomes more and more subject to the spirit; the soul is cured of
its spiritual greed and of the pride that had led it to pose as a
master; it learns better to recognize its own neediness. Not
infrequently there arise other difficulties pertaining to this
process of purgation, for example, in study, in our relations with
persons to whom we are too greatly attached, and from whom God now
swiftly and painfully detaches our affections. At this time, too,
there arise often enough grave temptations against chastity and
patience, temptations which God allows so that by reaction against
theta these virtues, which reside in the sensible part of our
nature, may become. more firmly and truly rooted in us. Illness,
too, may be sent to try us during this period.
In this crisis God again tills the ground of the soul, digging
deeper in the furrow which He has already driven at the moment of
our first conversion: He is uprooting the evil weeds, or the
relics of sin, 'reliquias peccati.'
This crisis is not without its dangers, like the crisis of the
fourteenth or fifteenth year in the development of our natural
life. Some prove faithless to their vocation Some souls do not
pass through this crisis in such a way as to enter upon the
illuminative way of proficients, and they remain in a state of
tepidity; they are not in the proper sense beginners, rather they
are retarded or tepid souls. In their case, the words of the
Scriptures are fulfilled: 'They have not known the time of their
visitation' ; they have failed to recognize the time of their
second conversion. These souls, especially if they are in the
religious or the priestly state, are not tending to perfection as
they should, and unconsciously they are stopping others from doing
so, placing serious obstacles in the way of those who really
desire to make progress. Communal prayer, instead of becoming
contemplative, becomes mechanical; instead of prayer supporting
the soul, the soul has to support and endure prayer. Such prayer
may even, unhappily, become anti-contemplative !
In those, on the contrary, who pass through this crisis
successfully it is, according to St. John of the Cross, the
beginning of infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith,
accompanied by an intense desire for perfection. Then the
beginner, under the illumination especially of the gift of
understanding, [146] becomes a proficient and enters upon the
illuminative way; he recognizes his own poverty, sees the
emptiness of honours and dignities and the things of this world;
he detaches himself from these entanglements. This he must do, as
P. Lallemant says, 'in order to take the step' which will lead him
into the illuminative way. He now begins what is like a new life;
he is like the child that becomes a youth.
It is true that this passive purgation of the senses, even in the
case of those who actually enter upon it, may be more or less
manifest and more or less successfully endured. St. John of the
Cross remarks this, speaking of those who are less generous at
this stage: 'This night of aridities is not usually continuous in
their senses. At times they have these aridities; at others they
have them not. At times they cannot meditate; at times they can...
for not all those who consciously walk in the way of the spirit
are brought by God to contemplation.... And this is why He never
weans the senses of such persons from the breasts of meditations
and reflections, but only for short periods and at certain
seasons.' [147] In other words, they have only an attenuated form
of the illuminative life. St. John of the Cross explains this
later by their lack of generosity: 'Here it behoves us to note why
it is that there are so few that attain to this lofty state. It
must be known that this is not because God is pleased that there
should be few raised to this high spiritual state -- on the
contrary, it would please Him if all were so raised.... When He
proves them in small things and finds them weak and sees that they
at once flee from labour and desire not to submit to the least
discomfort or mortification.... He goes no farther with their
purification... they would fain go farther on the road, yet cannot
suffer the smallest things nor submit themselves to them....'
[148]
Such is the transition, more or less generously made, which leads
to a higher form of life. So far it is easy to see the logical and
vital sequence of the phases through which the soul must pass.
This is no mechanical juxtaposition of successive states, but an
organic development of life.
Proficients or progressives
The mentality of proficients, like that of the preceding, must be
described in function of their knowledge and love of God. With
their self-knowledge there is developed in them a quasi-
experimental knowledge of God. They know Him, no longer merely in
the mirror of the things of sense or of parables, but in the
mirror of the mysteries of salvation, with which they become more
and more familiar and which the Rosary, the school of
contemplation, sets daily before their eyes. The greatness of God
is contemplated now, no longer merely in the mirror of the starry
heavens, in the sea or the mountains, no longer merely in the
parables of the Good Shepherd or the Prodigal Son, but in the
incomparably more perfect mirror of the mysteries of the
Incarnation and the Redemption. [149] To use the terminology of
Dionysius, employed also by St. Thomas, [150] the soul rises in a
spiral movement, from the mystery of the Incarnation or the
Infancy of Jesus, to those of His Passion, His Resurrection, His
Ascension and His Glory; and in these mysteries it contemplates
the radiance of the sovereign Goodness of God, thus admirably
communicating itself to us. In this contemplation, which is more
or less frequent, the proficients receive an abundance of light --
in proportion to their fidelity and generosity -- through the gift
of understanding, which enables them to penetrate more and more
deeply into these mysteries, and to appreciate their beauty, at
once so simple and so sublime.
In the preceding period or stage God had won over their
sensibility; now He thoroughly subjugates their intelligence to
Himself, raising it above the excessive preoccupations and
complications of merely human knowledge. He simplifies their
knowledge by spiritualizing it.
Accordingly, and as a normal consequence, these proficients being
thus enlightened concerning the mysteries of the life of Christ,
love God, not only by avoiding mortal sin and deliberate venial
sin, but by imitating the virtues of our Lord. His humility,
gentleness, patience; and by observing not only those commandments
that are laid upon all, but also the evangelical counsels of
poverty, chastity and obedience, or at any rate by keeping the
spirit of these counsels, and by avoiding imperfections.
As happened in the preceding period, this generosity is rewarded,
but no longer by merely sensible consolations, but by a greater
abundance of light in contemplation and in the work of the
apostolate; by intense desires for the glory of God and the
salvation of souls, and by a greater facility in prayer. Not
infrequently we find in the proficients the prayer of Quiet, in
which the will is momentarily held captive by the love of God.
This period is marked also by a great facility in doing works for
God, such as teaching, directing, organizing, and the rest. This
is to love God, not only with the whole heart, but with the whole
soul, with the whole of one's activities; but not yet with the
whole strength, nor with the whole mind, because God has not yet
achieved complete dominion in that higher region of the soul which
we call the spirit.
And what happens generally at this stage? Something similar to
what happened in the case of the beginners who had been rewarded
with sensible consolations. The proficient begins to take
complacency -- by reason of an unconscious pride -- in this great
facility in prayer, working, teaching, or preaching. He tends to
forget that these are God's gifts, and he rejoices in them with a
proprietary air which ill beseems one who adores in spirit and in
truth. It is true that he is working for God, he is working for
souls; but he has not yet sufficiently forgotten himself. An
unconscious self-seeking and self-importance cause him to
dissipate himself and to lose the sense of the presence of God. He
thinks that his labours are being very fruitful; but it is not
quite certain. He is becoming too sure of himself, he gives
himself too much importance and is perhaps inclined to exaggerate
his own talents, to forget his own imperfection and to be too
greatly aware of the imperfections of others. Purity of intention,
true recollection, perfect straightforwardness, are often lacking;
there is something of a lie in his life. 'The depth of the soul,'
as Tauler puts it, 'does not belong entirely to God.' God is
offered an intention which really is only half given to Him. St.
John of the Cross mentions these defects of proficients as they
are found in pure contemplatives, who, he says, 'believe in vain
visions... and presume that God and the saints are speaking with
them,' [151] being deceived by the ruses of the evil one. Not less
notable are the defects, mentioned, for example, by St. Alphonsus,
which are found in apostolic men entrusted with the care of souls.
These defects in proficients become manifest especially in the
obstacles which they are called upon to meet, or in differences of
opinion which, even at this advanced period of the spiritual life,
may cause vocations to be lost. It then becomes evident that the
presence of God is not sufficiently borne in mind, and that in the
search for God it is the self which is really being sought. Hence
the need of a third purgation; hence the need of that 'strong lye'
of the purgation of the spirit, in order to cleanse the very depth
of the spiritual faculties.
Without this third conversion there is no entrance into the life
of union, which is the adult age, the manhood of the spiritual
life.
This new crisis is described by St. John of the Cross [152] in all
its depth and acuteness, as it occurs in the great contemplatives
who, in point of fact, usually suffer not only for the sake of
their own purification, but for the souls for whom they have
offered themselves. The same trial occurs also in proficients of
the apostolic type, generous souls who have reached a high
perfection, but it is generally less obvious in them since it is
mingled with the sufferings incident to their apostolic labours.
In what does this crisis essentially consist? -- In the soul being
deprived, not only of sensible consolations, but of its
supernatural lights on the mysteries of salvation, of its ardent
desires, of that facility in action, in preaching and in teaching,
in which it had felt a secret pride and complacency, and by reason
of which it had been inclined to set itself above others. This is
a period of extreme aridity not only as regards the senses, but as
regards the spirit, in prayer and the recitation of the office.
Temptations frequently occur during this stage, not precisely
against chastity or patience now, but against the virtues that
reside in the higher part of the soul, against faith, hope and
charity towards one's neighbour, and even against charity towards
God, whom the soul is tempted to regard as cruel for trying souls
in such a crucible of torment. Generally during this period great
difficulties occur in connection with the apostolate. detraction,
failures, checks. It will often happen that the apostle is made to
suffer calumnies and ingratitude, even from those souls to whom he
has done much good, so that he may thus be brought to love them
more exclusively in God and for God's sake. Hence this crisis, or
passive purgation of the spirit, is like a mystical death; it is
the death of the old man, according to the words of St. Paul: 'Our
old mall is crucified with Jesus Christ, that the body of sin may
be destroyed.' [153] It is necessary to 'put off... the old man
who is corrupted according to the desire of error, and be renewed
in the spirit of your mind, putting on the new man who according
to God is created in justice and holiness of truth."[154]
All this is profoundly logical; it is the logical development of
the supernatural life. 'Sometimes,' says St. John of the Cross,
'in the stress of this purgation the soul feels itself wounded and
hurt by strong love. It is a heat that is engendered in the
spirit, when the soul, overcome with sufferings, is grievously
wounded by the divine love. 'The love of God is as a fire that
progressively dries up the wood, penetrates it, sets it alight and
transforms it into itself. [155] The trials of this period are
permitted by God in order to lead proficients to a more lofty
faith, to a firmer hope, and to a purer love; for it is absolutely
necessary that the depth of their soul should belong completely to
God. This is the meaning of the words of Scripture: 'As gold in
the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he
hath received them.' [156] 'The just cried and the Lord heard
them; and delivered them out of all their troubles. The Lord is
nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart.... Many are the
afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver
them.' [157]
This crisis, like the preceding, is not without its dangers; it
calls for great courage and vigilance, for a faith sometimes
reaching to heroism, a hope against all hope, transforming itself
into perfect abandonment. For the third time God tills the ground
of the soul, but this time much more deeply, so deeply indeed that
the soul seems overwhelmed by these afflictions of the spirit,
afflictions similar to those often described by the prophets, in
particular by Jeremias in the third chapter of the Lamentations.
He who passes through this crisis, loves God, not only with all
his heart and all his soul, but according to the scale of the
Scriptural phrase, with all his strength; and he now prepares to
love Him 'with all his mind,' to become an 'adorer in spirit and
in truth,' that higher part of the soul which should control the
whole of our activity being now in some sort established in God.
The Perfect.
What is the spiritual state of the perfect after this purgation,
which has been like a third conversion for them? They know God
with a knowledge which is quasi-experimental and almost
continuous; not merely during times of prayer or the divine
office, but in the midst of external occupations, they have a
constant sense of the presence of God. Whereas at the beginning
man had been selfish, thinking constantly of himself and,
unconsciously, directing all things to himself, the perfect soul
thinks constantly of God, of His glory, of the salvation of souls
and, as though instinctively, causes all things to converge upon
that end. The reason of this is that he no longer contemplates God
merely in the mirror of the things of sense, no longer merely in
parables or even in the mirror of the mysteries of the life of
Christ, for this cannot continue throughout the whole day, but he
contemplates the divine goodness in itself, very much in the way
in which we constantly see light diffused about us and
illuminating all things from on high. In the terminology of
Dionysius, employed also by St. Thomas, it is a movement of
contemplation, no longer straight nor spiral, but circular, like
the flight of the eagle which, after rising to a great height,
circles round and round, and hovers to view the horizon.
This simple contemplation removes those imperfections that arise
from natural eagerness, from unconscious self-seeking and from the
lack of habitual recollection.
The perfect know themselves no longer merely in themselves, but in
God, their source and their end, they examine themselves,
pondering what is written of their existence in the book of life,
and they never cease to see the infinite distance that separates
them from their Creator. Hence their humility. This quasi-
experimental contemplation of God proceeds from the gift of
wisdom, and, by reason of its simplicity, it can be almost
continuous; it can persist in the midst of intellectual work,
conversation, external occupations, such continuity being
impossible in the case of a knowledge of God which uses the mirror
of parables or that of the mysteries of Christ.
Finally, whereas the egoist, thinking always of himself, wrongly
loves himself in all things, the perfect, thinking nearly always
of God, loves Him constantly, and loves Him, not merely by
avoiding sin and by imitating the virtues of our Lord, but 'by
adhering to Him, enjoying Him, desiring, as St. Paul said, to be
dissolved and to be with Christ.' [158] It is the pure love of God
and the love of souls in God; it is apostolic zeal, zealous beyond
measure; but humble, patient and gentle. This is to love God, no
longer merely 'with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the
whole strength,' but continuing up the scale, 'with the whole
mind.' For he that is perfect is no longer merely rising gradually
to this highest region in himself; he is established there; he is
spiritualized and supernaturalized; he has now become truly 'an
adorer in spirit and in truth.' These souls preserve peace almost
constantly amidst even the most distressful and unforeseen
circumstances, and they communicate it to others who are troubled.
This is why St. Augustine says that the beatitude of the
peacemakers corresponds to the gift of wisdom, which, together
with charity, holds dominion over these souls. The great model of
such souls, after the holy soul of Christ, is the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
All this, so it seems to us, shows the legitimacy of the
traditional division of the three periods of the spiritual life,
as understood by a St. Thomas, a St. Catherine of Siena, a Tauler,
and a St. John of the Cross. The transition from one stage to
another is explained by the need of a purgation which in actual
fact is more or less manifest. These are not schemes artificially
constructed and placed mechanically side by side; it is the
description of a vital development in which each stage has its own
raison d'etre. If there is sometimes a misunderstanding of the
division, it is because sufficient account is not taken of the
defects even of generous beginners or of proficients; it is
because the necessity of a second and even a third conversion is
forgotten; it is because it is sometimes overlooked that each of
the purgations necessary may be more or less satisfactorily
undergone, and may thus introduce more or less perfectly into the
illuminative or the unitive way. [159]
Unless due attention is paid to the necessity of these
purifications it is impossible to form a just idea of what the
spiritual condition of proficients and perfect must be. It is of
the necessity of a new conversion that St. Paul was speaking when
he wrote to the Colossians: [160] 'Lie not one to another;
stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on
the new, who is renewed unto knowledge according to the image of
him who created him.... But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.'
CHAPTER 6 : THE PEACE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD: A PRELUDE TO THE LIFE
OF HEAVEN
THOSE who follow the way of generosity, self-denial, and self-
sacrifice which the saints have taught, will come at length to
know and taste the joys of God's complete dominion within us.
Truly spiritual delights have their source in the cross, in the
spirit of sacrifice which causes disordered inclinations to die in
us and gives the first place to the love of God and the love of
souls in God, which installs in the throne of our souls that
charity which is the source of peace, the tranquility of order.
These deep joys cannot enter into the soul until the senses and
the spirit have been purged and refined by tribulations and
sufferings which detach us from things created. As we read in the
Acts of the Apostles: 'Through many tribulations we must enter
into the kingdom of God.' [161]
The divine awakening.
After the dark and painful night of the spirit there is, St. John
of the Cross tells us, a divine awakening: 'The soul uses a
similitude of the breathing of one that awakens from his sleep,"
and says, 'How gentle and loving is... thine awakening, O Word and
Spouse, in the centre and depth of my soul... wherein alone,
secretly and in silence, Thou dwellest as its Lord.'This divine
awakening is an inspiration of the Word manifesting His dominion,
His glory and His intimate sweetness. [162]
This inspiration shows the face of God radiant with graces and the
works which He accomplishes. 'This is the great delight of this
awakening: to know the creatures through God and not God through
the creatures; to know the effects through the cause and not the
cause through the effects[163] Then is the prayer of the Psalmist
fulfilled: 'Arise, Lord, why sleepest thou?' 'Arise, Lord,' that
is to say, remarks St. John of the Cross, 'do thou awaken us, and
enlighten us, my Lord, that we may know and love the blessings
that Thou hast ever set before us.' [164]
The same grace is described in the 39th Psalm: 'With expectation I
have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me. And he heard
my prayers and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of
dregs; and he set my feet upon a rock and directed my steps, and
he put a new canticle into my mouth.'
In this 'powerful and glorious awakening' the soul receives, as it
were, an aspiration of the Holy Spirit, who fills it to
overflowing with His goodness and His glory, 'wherein He has
inspired it with love for Himself, which transcends all
description and all sense, in the deep things of God.' [165]
These graces are a preparation for that other awakening of the
supreme moment of death, when the soul issuing forth from the body
will see itself immediately as a spiritual substance, as the
angels see themselves. And the last awakening of all will be in
the moment of entrance into glory, when the soul, separated from
the body, sees God face to face, and sees itself in God. Happy the
saints who go straight to heaven. While those about them are
lamenting their departure, they have reached the end of their
journey in the clearness of the vision that gives them joy. As the
Gospel says, they have entered into the joy of their Lord.
The Living Flame.
Already here on earth the divine awakening produces in the soul of
the perfect a flame of love which is a participation of that
living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself. 'This flame the
soul feels within it, not only as a fire that has consumed and
transformed it in sweet love, but also as a fire which burns
within it and sends out flame.... And this is the operation of the
Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love, that His
interior actions cause it to send out flames.... And thus these
acts of the soul are most precious, and even one of them is of
greater merit and worth than all that the soul may have done in
this life apart from this transformation, however much this may
be;... it is the same difference as that between the log of wood
that is enkindled and the flame which it sends forth.... In this
state, therefore, the soul can perform no acts, but it is the Holy
Spirit that moves it to perform them.... Hence it seems to the
soul that whensoever this flame breaks forth... it is granting it
eternal life... it teaches the soul what is the savour of eternal
life... it causes the soul to experience the life of God, even as
David says: My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living
God.'[166]
This flame wounds the soul as it is given, but the wound is
tender, salutary and, instead of causing death, it increases life;
for the soul is holiest that is most wounded by love. Thus St.
John of the Cross says that 'this wound is delectable,' and he
adds that this 'came to pass when the seraph wounded the soul of
St. Francis (of Assisi) with love.' [167]
When the heart is thus burning with love for its God, the soul is
contemplating lamps of fire which enlighten all things from on
high. These are the divine perfections: Wisdom, Goodness, Mercy,
Justice, Providence, Omnipotence. They are, so to speak, the
colours of the divine rainbow which, without destroying one
another, are identified in the intimate life of God, in the Deity,
as the seven colours of the rainbow are united in the one white
light from which they proceed. 'All these are one lamp, which is
the Word.... This lamp is all these lamps, since it gives light
and burns in all these ways.' [168]
The powers of the soul are then as though melted in the splendour
of the divine lamps ;[169] it is truly a prelude to eternal life.
' The soul is completely absorbed in these delicate flames, and
wounded subtly in each of them, and in all of them more deeply and
subtly wounded in love of life, so that it can see quite clearly
that that love belongs to life eternal, which is the union of all
blessings. So that the soul in that state knows well the truth of
those words of the Spouse in the Songs, where He says that the
lamps of love were lamps of fire and flame.'[170]
The flame which the wise virgins must tend in their lamps is a
participation of this flame. [171]
The following lines from a recent commentary on the Canticle of
Canticles are worth pondering: 'The divine love is a consuming
fire. It penetrates the soul to its depth. It burns and consumes,
but it does not destroy; it transforms into itself. Material fire
which burns wood to its innermost fibres and iron to its last
molecules, is an image of that fire, but how feeble an image! At
times, under the influence of a specially powerful grace, the soul
that is on fire with divine love sends forth flames. They ascend
straight to God. He is their principle as He is their end; and it
is for His sake that the soul is consumed with love. The charity
that elevates the soul to God is only a created, finite,
analogical participation of uncreated charity; but it is
nevertheless a real, positive and formal participation of the
substantial flame of Jehovah.' [172]
We can understand, therefore, why St. John of the Cross often
compares the soul that is penetrated by God with the union of air
and fire in a flame, which is nothing else but air on fire.
Doubtless there is always an infinite distance between the Creator
and the creature, but God by His action enters so intimately into
the purified soul that He deifies it, giving it an increase of
sanctifying grace. And sanctifying grace is a real and formal
participation of His inner life, His own nature, which is Deity.
Unitive love then becomes in the soul like a sea of fire that
'reaches to the farthest heights and depths, filling it wholly
with love.' [173] This love, hardly perceptible at first, grows
more and more until the soul experiences an ever-increasing hunger
for God and a burning thirst, of which the Psalmist says: 'For
thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O, how many ways!'
[174] This is truly the beatitude of those that hunger and thirst
after justice; this is truly the prelude to the life of heaven,
truly a beginning of eternal life, 'quaedam inchoatio vitae
aeternae.' as St. Thomas has said. This is the supreme, but
normal, development of the life of grace on earth, the seed of
glory, semen gloriae.
What are we to conclude from this doctrine, which may appear too
sublime for us poor mortals?
It would certainly be too sublime for us if we had not received in
baptism that life of grace which, in us too, must develop into
eternal life; if we had not often received Holy Communion, the
precise effect of which is to increase that grace within us. Let
us remind ourselves that each of our Communions ought to be
substantially more fervent than the preceding, since each of them
ought to increase the love of God in us, and thus dispose us to
receive our Lord with a greater fervour of will on the following
day.
As St. John of the Cross says, [175] spiritual souls that desire
this union would attain it if they did not flee from those trials
which God sends them for their purification.
Exactly the same doctrine is found in the Dialogue of St.
Catherine of Siena, where we are given the explanation of those
words of Christ: 'If any man thirst let him come to me and
drink.... Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'
'You were all invited, generally and in particular, by My Truth
when He cried in the Temple, saying: "If any man thirst, let him
come to me and drink...."So that you are invited to the fountain
of living water of Grace, and it is right for you, with
perseverance to keep by Him who is become for you a bridge, not
being turned back by any contrary winds that may arise, either of
prosperity or adversity, and to persevere until you find Me, Who
give the water of Life, by means of this sweet Word of love, my
only-begotten Son.... ' [176]
'But you must have thirst, because only those that thirst are
invited. "If any man thirst," He says, "let him come to me and
drink." He who has no thirst will not persevere, for either
fatigue causes him to stop, or pleasure distracts him... he turns
back at the smallest persecution, for he likes it not... The
intellect must gaze into the ineffable love which I have shown
thee by means of My only-begotten Son.... A man who is full of My
love and the love of his neighbour finds himself the companion of
many real virtues; and then the soul is disposed to thirst: it
thirsts for virtue, and the honour of My name and the salvation of
souls, every other thirst in him is spent and dead. The soul then
walks securely... being stripped of self-love; it is raised above
itself and above transitory things.... It contemplates the deep
love that I have manifested to you in Christ crucified.... The
heart, emptied of the things that pass away, becomes filled with
heavenly love which gives access to the waters of grace. Having
arrived there, the soul passes through the door of Christ
crucified and tastes the water of life, slaking his thirst in Me,
who am the Ocean of Peace.'
What practical conclusion are we to draw from all this? We ought
to say and repeat this prayer to our Blessed Lord.
' Lord, teach me to know the obstacles that, consciously or
unconsciously, I am placing in the way of Thy grace in me. Give me
the strength to put them aside, and if I am negligent therein,
vouchsafe Thyself to remove them, howsoever I may suffer thereby.
What wouldst Thou have me to do for Thee this day, my God? Show me
what it is in me that displeaseth Thee. Teach me rightly to value
the Precious Blood which Thou didst shed for me, of the
sacramental or spiritual communion by which we are enabled to
drink that Blood from the wound of Thy most loving Heart.
' Make me, O Lord, to grow in love of Thee. Grant that our inner
conversation may never cease; that I may never separate myself
from Thee; that I may receive all that Thou dost deign to give me;
and that I may not stand in the way of the grace which through me
should be poured out upon other souls to give them light and
life.'
Pax in veritate.
And thus, in the words of St. Thomas, man lives no longer for
himself, but for God. [177] He may say, with St. Paul: 'To me to
live is Christ, and to die is gain.' [178] Life for me is not
study, not work, or natural activity of any kind, but Christ.
Such is the way that leads to this quasi-experimental and almost
continuous knowledge of the Blessed Trinity dwelling within us.
And this is what makes St. Catherine say at the end of her
Dialogue:[179]
' O eternal Trinity, O Godhead, O divine Nature that gavest to the
Blood of Thy Son so great a price, Thou, O eternal Trinity, art a
bottomless sea into which the more I plunge the more I find, and
the more I find the more I seek Thee still. Of Thee it is never
possible to say- Enough. The soul that is sated in Thy depths
desires Thee yet unceasingly, for it hungers ever after Thee....
Thou art the fire that burns ever and is never quenched, the fire
that consumes in itself all the self-love of souls, that melts all
ice and gives all light. This light is an ocean into which the
soul plunges ever more deeply and there finds peace.'
What better commentary could we find on those sublime words of St.
Paul to the Philippians:[180]' the peace of God, which surpasseth
all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' l
his is the fruit of the third conversion, in very truth a prelude
to the life of heaven.
NOTE ON THE CALL TO THE INFUSED CONTEMPLATION OF THE MYSTERIES OF
FAITH
WE have pointed out above -- and we have developed the theme at
length elsewhere [181] -- that the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost
are connected with charity, [182] and that they consequently
develop together with it. It is therefore impossible to have a
high degree of charity without having at the same time and in a
proportionate degree the gifts of understanding and wisdom, gifts
which, together with faith, are the principle of the infused
contemplation of revealed mysteries. In some of the saints, as in
St. Augustine, this contemplation bears immediately upon the
mysteries themselves; in others, as in a St. Vincent de Paul, it
bears upon the practical consequences of these mysteries; for
example, upon the life of the members of the mystical body of
Christ. But in either case it is infused contemplation. The
superhuman mode of the gifts, a mode of activity which is derived
from the special inspiration of the Holy Ghost and which
transcends the human mode of the virtues, [183] is at first
latent, as in the ascetic life; but then it becomes manifest and
frequent in the mystical life. In fact, the Holy Ghost usually
inspires souls proportionately to their habitual docility or to
their supernatural dispositions (i. e. according to the degree in
which they possess the virtues and the gifts). This is definitely
the traditional teaching.
We have also shown elsewhere, [184] that according to St. Thomas
the gifts have not a human mode specifically distinct from their
superhuman mode; for if this were so, the former might always be
perfected without ever attaining to the latter, and would thus not
be essentially subordinate to it.
Now, if the gifts have no human mode specifically distinct from
their superhuman mode, it follows that -- as we have often said --
there is for all truly spiritual. souls a general remote call or
vocation to the infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith --
a contemplation which alone can give a profound and living
understanding of the redemptive Incarnation, of the indwelling of
God within us, of the sacrifice of Calvary substantially
perpetuated on the altar during the Mass, and of the mystery of
the Cross which should be reproduced in any true and profound
Christian life. However, this 'general and remote call' does not
mean the same as an 'individual and proximate call,' just as a '
sufficient call' does not mean the same as an 'efficacious call.'
We have recently been conceded, on this matter, a point which we
had not asked -- and which, incidentally, we do not accept --
namely, that 'the negative clement of perfection, that is to say,
detachment from creatures, must be the same for all souls:
complete, absolute, universal' ; 'there can be no degrees in the
absence of voluntary faults. The very smallest, like the very
greatest, destroys perfection... a thread is enough to hold a man
captive.'
We do not think that detachment from creatures is the same for
all, whether for the greatest saints or for those souls that have
reached a minimal perfection. And the principal reason is, that
perfection excludes not only faults that are directly voluntary,
but also those that are indirectly voluntary; those which proceed
from negligence and a relative tepidity, from a secret and semi-
conscious egoism that does not allow the depth of the soul to
belong completely to God. Likewise there is a certain co-
relational between the intensive growth of charity and its
extension, in consequence of which charity gradually excludes even
those obstacles which we more or less unconsciously oppose to the
work of grace in our souls.
If then, as we are granted, every soul is called by its progress
in the love of God to exclude all voluntary faults, even the
smallest, even those that are indirectly voluntary, it will
succeed only by means of a high degree of charity. This charity
will, evidently, be proportionate to the vocation of the
individual soul; it will not be the same for Bernadette of Lourdes
as it was for St. Paul; but it will have to be a high degree of
charity. Without this the depth of the soul will not belong
completely to God; without this there will still be some egoism,
which will manifest itself often enough by faults that are at
least indirectly voluntary.
If a soul is to be perfect, it must possess a degree of charity
higher than that which it possessed when it was still in the ranks
of beginners or of proficients; just as in the physical order the
full age of manhood presupposes a physical strength superior to
that of childhood or adolescence -- though it may be that
accidentally a youth is found to be more vigorous than a fully
grown man. [185]
What conclusion follows regarding the purgation of the depth of
the soul, which is necessary to exclude all egoism and secret
pride? A recent study on this question contains the following:
' I admit that the passive purgations (which are of the mystical
order) are necessary in order to arrive at the purity required for
mystical union; and it is in this sense that St. John of the Cross
speaks.... But I deny that the passive purgations are necessary
for the purity required in the union of love by conformity of
wills. -- The reason of this difference is a profound one. For the
mystical union, which involves infused contemplation and love,
active purgation is not sufficient, precisely because the purity
of the will is not sufficient. It is necessary that there should
be added to it a sort of psychological purity of the substance and
the powers of the soul, which consists in rendering them adapted
to the mode of being of the divine infusion.'
The important question, then, is: Are the passive purgations,
according to St. John of the Cross, not necessary for the profound
purity of the will? Are they not necessary in order to exclude
that more or less conscious egoism, and those indirectly voluntary
faults which are incompatible with the full perfection of charity,
incompatible also with the full perfection of the infused virtues
and gifts, which develop together with charity like so many
functions of the same spiritual organism?
The answer to this extremely important question, for our part, is
not for a moment in doubt.
It suffices to read in the Dark Night [186] the description of
those faults of beginners which render the purgation of the senses
necessary. Here are, not faults opposed to the sort of
psychological purity of which our author speaks, but faults which
are contrary to the moral purity of the sensibility and of the
will. They are, in fact, as St. John of the Cross tells us, the
seven capital sins translated into the order of the spiritual
life, such as spiritual greed, spiritual sloth, spiritual pride.
The same remark may be made of the faults [187] of proficients
which render necessary the passive purgation of the spirit; they
are 'stains of the old man which still remain in the spirit, like
a rust which will disappear only under the action of an intense
fire.' These proficients, says St. John of the Cross, are really
subject to natural affections; they have moments of roughness, of
impatience; there is still in them a secret spiritual pride, and
an egoism which causes some of them to make use of spiritual goods
in a manner not sufficiently detached, and so they are led into
the path of illusions. In a word, the depth of the soul is
lacking, not only in psychological purity, but in the moral purity
that is required. Tauler has spoken in the same sense, solicitous
especially to purify the depth of the soul of all self-love, of
all more or less conscious egoism. Hence it is our opinion that
the passive purgations are necessary for this profound moral
purity. But these purgations are of the mystical order. They do
not always appear under so definitely contemplative a form as that
described by St. John of the Cross; but in the lives of the
saints, even of the most active among them, like a Vincent de
Paul, the chapters which treat of their interior sufferings prove
that they all have a common basis, which none has described better
than St. John of the Cross.
A final and very important concession has been made to us in
connection with the famous passage of the Living Flame, ST. II,
23:
' It behoves us to note why it is that there are so few that
attain to this lofty stale. It must be known that this is not
because God is pleased that there should be few raised to this
high spiritual state-on the contrary it would please Him if all
were so raised -- but rather because He finds few vessels in whom
He can perform so high and lofty a work. For, when He proves them
in small things and finds them weak and sees that they at once
flee from labour, and desire not to submit to the least discomfort
or mollification... He finds that they are not strong enough to
bear the favour which He was granting them when He began to purge
them, and goes no farther with their purification....'
With regard to this it has recently been conceded. 'We admit that
St. John of the Cross is treating here of the spiritual marriage,
and that he states that the will of God is that all souls should
attain to this state. But we deny that this implies a universal
call to the mystical life.... The confusion arises, in our
opinion, from a failure to distinguish two elements included by
St. John of the Cross in the two degrees of union called spiritual
betrothal and marriage. One of these two elements is essential and
permanent; the other accidental and transitory. The essential
element is the union of wills between God and the soul, a union
which results from the absence of voluntary faults and from the
perfection of charity; the accidental element consists in the
actual union of the powers, a mystical union in the proper sense
of the word, a union which cannot be continuous.'
In this supposition, it is possible that the transforming union,
or spiritual marriage, should exist in a person without that
person ever having had a mystical union, the mystical union being
merely an accidental element, like the interior words or the
intellectual vision of the Blessed Trinity mentioned by St.
Teresa. [188] To us, on the contrary, it appears certain that,
according to St. John of the Cross, the transforming union cannot
exist without there having been at least from time to time a very
lofty contemplation of the divine perfections, an infused
contemplation [189] proceeding from the gifts, which have now
reached a degree proportionate to that of perfect charity. It is,
he says, 'even as the fire that penetrates the log of wood... and
having attacked and wounded it with its flame, prepares it to such
a degree that it can enter it and transform it into itself.' [190]
Moreover, to our mind it is absolutely certain-that the profound
union of wills between God and the soul, which is recognized as
being the essential element of the transforming union, presupposes
the moral purgation of the depth of the soul, a purgation from
that more or less conscious self-love or egoism which is the
source at least of many indirectly voluntary faults; and this
moral purification of the depth of the soul, according to St. John
of the Cross, requires the passive purgations which eliminate the
faults of beginners and proficients.
We therefore maintain what we have said, in common with numerous
theologians, Dominican and Carmelite, about the doctrine of St.
Thomas and St. John of the Cross concerning the gifts of the Holy
Ghost. To conclude, we recall especially these two important texts
' The night of sense is common and comes to many; these are the
beginners.' [191] Being passive, this purification, or night, is
of the mystical order.' The way of progressives or proficients...
is called the way of illumination or of infused contemplation,
wherewith God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul.' [192] Hence
infused contemplation is in the normal way of sanctity, even
before the unitive way is reached; and therefore it is
inconceivable that a soul should be in the state of spiritual
marriage or the transforming union without ever having had that
infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith which is the
eminent exercise of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, developing in us
side by side with charity.
We cannot admit that a mind of the calibre of St. John of the
Cross can have meant only something accidental when he wrote the
passage which we have just quoted, and which we quote once more in
conclusion:
'The way of progressives or of proficients... is called the way of
illumination or of infused contemplation, wherewith God Himself
feeds and refreshes the soul.'
***END OF TEXT***
ENDNOTES
1 St. Thomas often quotes this Augustinian thought: cf. I-IIae, Q.
xxviii, art. 4, ad 2; III, Q. xxiii, art. 1, ad 3
2 Luther went so far as to say: 'Pecca fortiter et crede firmius:
sin mightily and believe more mightily still; you will be saved.'
Not that Luther intended thereby to exhort men to sin; it was
merely an emphatic way of saying that good works are useless for
salvation -- that faith in Christ alone suffices. He says, truly
enough (Works, Weimar edition, XII, 559 (1523) ), that if you
believe, good works will follow necessarily from your faith. 'But
as Maritain justly observes (Notes sur Luther; appendix to the
second edition of Trois Reformateurs),' in his thought these good
works follow from salutary faith as a sort of epiphenomenon.
'Moreover, the charity which will follow this faith is the love of
our neighbour rather than the love of God. And thus the notion of
charity is degraded, emptied gradually of its supernatural and
God-ward content and made equivalent to works of mercy. In any
case, it remains true that for Luther a man is justified simply by
faith in Christ, even though the sin is not blotted out by the
infusion of charity, or the supernatural love of God.
3 J. Maritain explains very clearly how Naturalism arises
necessarily from the principles of Protestantism: 'According to
the Lutheran theology, it is we ourselves, and only we ourselves,
who lay hold of the mantle of Christ so that with it we may "cover
all our shame."' It is we who exercise this' ability to jump from
our own sin on to the justice of Christ, thus becoming as sure of
possessing the holiness of Christ as we are of possessing our own
bodies. 'The Lutheran theory of justification by faith may be
called a Pelagianism born of despair. In ultimate analysis it is
man who is left to work out his own redemption by stimulating
himself to a despairing confidence in Christ. Human nature has
then only to cast aside, as a useless theological accessory, the
mantle of a grace which means nothing to him, and to transfer its
faith-confidence from Christ to itself -- and there you have that
admirable emancipated brute, whose unfailing and continuous
progress is an object of wonder to the universe. In Luther and his
doctrine we witness -- on the spiritual and religious plane -- the
advent of the Ego.
'We say that it is so in fact; it is the inevitable outcome of
Luther's theology. But this does not prevent the same theology in
theory from committing the contrary excess.... And so Luther tells
us that salvation and faith are to such an extent the work of God
and of Christ that these alone are active in the business of our
redemption, without any co-operation on our part.... Luther's
theology was to oscillate between these two solutions: in theory
it is the first, apparently, that must prevail: Christ alone,
without our co-operation, is the author of our salvation. But
since it is psychologically impossible to suppress human activity,
the second has inevitably prevailed in fact.' It is a matter of
history that liberal Protestantism has issued in Naturalism.
4 Cf. St. Thomas, I-IIae, Q. cix, art. 3: 'Homo in statu naturae
integrae dilectionem suiipsius referebat ad amorem Dei sicut ad
finem, et similiter dilectionem aliarum rerum, et ita Deum
diligebat plus quam seipsum et super omnia. Sed in statu naturae
corruptae homo ab hoc deficit secundum appetitum voluntatis
rationalis, quae propter corruptionem naturae sequitur bonum
privatum, nisi sanetur per gratiam Dei.' Ibid., art. 4: 'In statu
naturae corruptae, non potest homo implere omnia mandata divina
sine gratia sanante.'
5 Ps. 1, 3-14.
6 Isa. xliii, 25
7 i, 7
8 vi, 10.
9 xxxvi, 25
10 i, 16
11 i, 5
12 v, 5
13 iv, 7
14 i, 11-13
15 John iii, 5
16 iii, 9.
17 i, 8
18 2 Pet. i, 4
19 i, 17
20 I John iii, 2
21 Matt. v, 48
22 John iii, 36; v, 24, 39; vi, 40, 47, 55
23 vi, 55.
24 viii, 51-58
25 John iv, 10-14
26 John vii, 37
27 xiv, 23
28 I John iv, 16.
29 Luke xvii, 20
30 1 John iii, 14
31 V, 13
32 John xvii, 3.
33 II-IIae, Q. xxiv, art. 3; I-IIae, Q. lxix, art. 2; De Ver., Q.
xiv, art. 2.
34 Meditations sur l'Evangile, II, 37th day; in Joan., xvii, 3.
35 De civ. Dei, lib. IV, c. 9
36 In Joan., tract. 92, c. xiv, 12
37 Q. cxiii, art. 9.
38 In reality there is a greater distance between any created
nature, even the angelic nature, and the inner life of God, of
which charity is a participation, than there is between bodies and
created spirits. All creatures, even the highest, are at an
infinite distance from God, and in this sense are equally below
Him
39 Pensees (ed. Havet), p. 269
40 John xiv, 23
41 John iv, 16
42 cf I-IIae, Q. lxxxvii, art. 3
43 I Cor. xiii, 8, 13
44 I-IIae, Q. Ixvi, art. 2.
45 We have treated it fully elsewhere: Perfection chretienne et
contemplation, t. 11, pp. 430-462; see also note below, p. 105.
46 Rom. viii, 29
47 I Cor. ii, 9.
48 Heb. i, 3.
49 2 Cor. iv, 10
50 Second Sermon for Lent
51 Dark Night, Book 1, ch. 9 and ch. 10
52 Doctrine Spirituelle, Pr. II, sect. ii, ch. 6, art. 2
53 Sermon for Monday in Passion Week
54 Dark Night, Book II, ch. 1-13
55 II-IIae Q. xxiv, art. 3, ad 2; I-IIae, Q. lxix, art. 2
56 2 John vi, 47-55.
57 La Doctrine Spirituelle, Pr. II, sect. ii, ch. 6, art. 2.
58 This is not an instance of a private revelation relating to
some future event or some new truth, it is a more profound
contemplation of a truth already revealed in the Gospel -- a
fulfiment of the promise of Christ that the Holy Spirit would call
to mind whatsoevcr He had told to His Apostles (John xiv, 26).
59 Luke xxii, 31-34
60 xxii, 60-62
61 III, Q. lxxxix, art. 2.
62 The teaching of St. Thomas is quite clear: 'Contingit
intensionem motus poenitentis quandoque proportionatum esse majori
gratiae, quam fuerit illa a qua ceciderat per peccatum, quandoque
aequali, quandoque vero minori. Et ideo poenitens quandoque
resurgit in majori gratia, quam prius habuerat, quandoque autem in
aequali, quandoque etiam in minori' (III, Q. lxxxix, art. 2).
Certain modern theologians think that it is possible to recover a
high degree of grace with an attrition which is barely sufficient.
St. Thomas and the ancient theologians do not admit this. And in
fact we find in human relationships that, after considerable
offence has been given, friendship will revive in the same degree
as it existed before only if there is, not merely regret, but
regret proportionate to the offence committed and to the greatness
of the previous friendship
63 Ch. 63
64 John xxi, 15 seq
65 Ch. 60
66 According to St. Thomas this mixture is impossible in the
angels, because they cannot sin venially. They are either very
holy or very perverse. Either they love God perfectly, or else
they turn away from Him completely by mortal sin. This is due to
the vigour of their intelligence, which enters completely and
definitively into the way it has taken (I-IIae, Q. lxxxix, art.
4).
67 This is the quasi-experimental knowledge of the distinction
between nature and grace, quite different from that which we have
through speculative theology. It is not difficult to understand in
abstract the difference between the two orders; but to see it in
concrete, and to perceive it almost continuously, supposes a
spirit of faith which, in this degree, is found hardly in any but
the Saints
68 Dialogue, ch. 63.
69 Thus our Lord deprived His disciples of His visible presence,
saying to them: 'It is expedient to you that I go.' It was in fact
expedient that they should be for some time deprived of the sight
of His humanity, so that they might be elevated to a higher
spiritual life, a life more independent of the senses, a life
which would later, when made more vigorous, find expression in the
sacrifice of an heroic martyrdom.
70 Dark Night, Book I, ch. 9
71 Ibid., ch. 14
72 Luke xxii, 61
73 It is obvious that when the Saint speaks of 'self-hatred' she
has in mind the aversion which we must have for that self-love, or
inordinate love of self, which is the source of all sin. Self-
love, she tells us in chapter 122 of the Dialogue, is the cause of
injustice towards God, towards one's neighbour, and towards
oneself, it destroys in the soul both the desire for the salvation
of souls and the hunger for virtue; it prevents the soul from
reacting as it should against the most crying injustices, because
of the inordinate fear of offending creatures that self-love
entails. 'Self-love,' she says 'has poisoned the whole world and
the mystical body of the holy Church, and through self-love the
garden of the Spouse has run to seed and given birth to putrid
flowers.'
'Thou knowest,' God says to the Saint (ch. 51), 'that every evil
is founded in self-love, and that self-love is a cloud that takes
away the light of reason, which reason holds in itself the light
of faith, and one is not lost without the other.' We find the same
doctrine in St. Thomas: 'Inordinate love of self is the source of
all sin and darkens the judgement - for when will and sensibility
are ill-disposed (that is, when they tend to pride and sensuality)
everything that is in conformity with these inclinations appears
to be good; (I-IIae, Q. lxxvii, art. 4).
74 Ch. 75
75 Luke x, 27.
76 Ch. 60
77 There is nothing easier than to be convinced in theory that
Providence ordains all things without exception unto good. But it
is rare to find that truth realized in practice when some
unforeseen disaster enters like a cataclysm into our lives. There
are few who are able to see in such an event one of God's greatest
graces, the grace of their second or third conversion. The
venerable Boudon, a priest held in high repute by his own bishop
and by several bishops in France, one day received, in consequence
of a calumny, a letter from his bishop suspending him and
forbidding him to say Mass or to hear confessions. He straightway
threw himself on his knees before his crucifix, thanking our Lord
for a grace of which he felt himself to be unworthy. He had
achieved that concrete and living conviction, of which St.
Catherine speaks here, that in the divine government everything,
absolutely everything, is ordained to the manifestation of His
goodness.
78 Ch. 166
79 Luke xxiv, 25-27
80 Thus St. Thomas at the end of his life was raised up to a
supernatural contemplation of the mysteries of the faith, such
that he could not dictate the end of the Summa Theologica, the
last part of the treatise on Penance. He could no longer compose
articles with a status quaestionis, beginning with three
difficulties, followed by the body of the article and by the
answers to the objections. The higher unity which he had now
attained made him view all theological principles more simply and
more radiantly, and he could no longer descend to the complexity
of a purely didactic exposition.
81 Ch xxvi, 74
82 Luke xxiv, 11
83 In Joan., tract. 25, n. 3; Serm. 265, 2-4.
84 Acts ii, 1-4.
85 It is in the light of what is said here of the grace that
purifies and transforms that we should read the articles of St.
Thomas on the gifts of understanding and wisdom, and on the
purification which they bring about within us; likewise the Dark
Night of St. John of the Cross
86 Acts ii, 17, 21.
87 Cf. St. Thomas, I, Q. xliii, art. 6, ad I.
88 John xiv, 26
89 Acts ii, 8-12
90 Matt. xxviii, 19
91 II-IIae, Q. clxxxviii, art. 6: 'Ex plenitudine contemplationis
derivatur doctrina et praedicatio.
92 Ps. cxviii, 140.
93 Acts i, 6
94 It is to be noted in this and similar texts that the immutable
or plan of God is mentioned before His foreknowledge of which it
is the basis. God foresaw from all eternity the mystery of the
Redemption, because from all eternity He had decreed to bring it
about.
95 Acts ii, 22-36
96 ii, 41
97 Acts iii, 15; iv, 11-12
98 Matt. xvi, 22--23
99 Acts vii, I-53
100 Acts i, 8
101 Acts v, 41
102 ii, 42--47; iv, 32--37; v, I-11
103 Ps. 1, 12.
104 Dark Night, Book II, ch. vi.
105 Dark Night, Book II, ch. iii.
106 ibid., ch. iv
107 II-IIae, Q. i, art. 5.
108 John xvi, 7
109 John viii, 12
110 I Cor. ii, 10: 'Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, etiam profunda
Dei.... Nos autem accepimus.... Spiritum qui ex Deo est, ut
sciamus quae a Deo donata sunt nobis.
111 Col. ii, 3
112 Ps. Xii, 4.
113 xvii, 29.
114 1, 12
115 Luke xii, 49.
116 Dark Night, Book II, ch. v.
117 John vii, 37
118 iv, 10, 14.
119 Cf. Philip of the Trinity: Summa theologiae mysticae (ed.
1874, p. 17)
120 Book I, ch. viii and ch xiv
121 Dark Night Book II, ch. ii and ch. xi
122 Similarly Tr. I, ch. 1, n. 10.
123 Cf. St. Thomas, III, Q. lxii, art. 2: 'Utrum gratia
sacramentalis addat aliquid super gratiam vir[utum et donorum' ;
where we are reminded that habitual or sanctifying grace perfects
the essence of the soul, and that from grace there proceed into
the faculties the infused virtues (moral and theological) and the
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are to the soul like the
sails of a ship intended to receive inspirations from heaven
124 I-IIae, Q. lxviii, art. 5: 'Sicut virtutes morales
connectuntur sibi invicem in prudentia, ita dona Spiritus Sancti
connectuntur sibi invicem in caritate; ita scilicet quod qui
caritatem habet, omnia dona Spiritus Sancti habet, quorum nullum
sine caritate haberi potest
125 I-IIae, Q. lxviii, art. 2, where these passages of Scripture
are cited: 'God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom'
(Wisd. vii, 28), and 'Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God' (Rom. viii, 14).
126 Life, c. xxxi
127 Dark Night, Book I, c. xiv.
128 See Dark Night, Book I, c. ix and c. xiv; Living Flame, 2nd
stanza, v. 5
129 Book I, ch. viii
130 Ibid. ch. xiv
131 Dark Night, Book II, ch. ii
132 II-IIae, Q. xxiv, art. 9
133 See also str. 4, str. 6, str. 22, v. I.
134 Dark Night, Book I, ch. ii.
135 See above, p. 63
136 I-IIae, Q. lxi, art. 5
137 Cf. P. Louis de la Trinite, O. C. D., Le Docteur mystique;
Desclee de Brouwer, 1929, p. 55.
138 An interesting point in this connection is that which Pope
Pius X had in mind when, in prescribing an earlier age for First
Communion, he said: 'There will be saints among the children.'
These words seem to have found their fulfilment in the very
special graces which have been granted to several children, taken
very early into heaven, who are to-day proving to be the source of
so many vocations to the priestly and the religious life: such as
little Nelly, Anne de Guigne Guy de Fontgalland, Marie-Gabrielle,
T. Guglielmina and several others in France and Belgium -- souls
that remind us of the Blessed Imelda, who died of love while
making her thanksgiving after her First Communion. Our Lord, who
said: 'Suffer the little children to come unto me,' is able
evidently to endow these souls with great sanctity at a very early
age; He sows the divine seed in greater or less abundance in
souls, according to His good pleasure. (See Collection Parvuli,
Lethielleux, Paris. )
139 This expression, a favourite with Tauler, has the same meaning
as 'the summit of the soul' the metaphor changes according as
the things of sense are considered as exterior or as inferior
140 Cf. Council of Trent (Denzinger, 798) and St. Thomas, I-IIae,
Q. cxiii art. 1-8 inclusive
141 St. Thomas (III, Q. lxxxix, art. 5, ad 3) explains that
recovery is proportionate to the fervour of contrition. That is to
say, if a person had two talents before committing a mortal sin,
and if his contrition has been only barely sufficient and
imperfect in relation to his former goodness, he will perhaps
recover only one talent (resurgit in minori caritate). To recover
the same degree of grace and charity which he had lost he will
need a more fervent contrition, proportionate to the sin and to
his former sanctity.
142 The beginner sometimes considers the goodness of God also in
the mysteries of salvation; but he is not yet familiar with these
and it is not an exercise which is proper to his condition
143 I Cor. iii, 2
144 Dark Night, Book I, ch. i-vii
145 Dark Night, Book I, ch. viii; Book I, ch. xiv
146 Dark Night, Book I, ch. xiv.
147 Dark Night, Book I, ch. ix
148 Living Flame, stanza II, 23.
149 The proficient also contemplates the goodness of God in the
things of nature and in the parables of the Gospel; but this is
not the exercise proper to his condition, now that he has become
familiar with the mysteries of salvation. But he has not yet
attained, unless it be rarely and transitorily. to that circular
movement whereby the perfect contemplate the divine goodness in
itself.
150 II-IIae, Q. clxxx, art. 6.
151 Dark Night, Book II, ch. ii.
152 Dark Night, Book II, ch. 3 seq.
153 Rom. vi, 6
154 Eph. iv, 22.
155 The progress in the knowledge and love of God which
characterizes this purgation is precisely what differentiates it
from certain sufferings which bear some resemblance to it, such as
those of neurasthenia. These neurasthenic sufferings may have of
themselves no purging character, but they too may be endured with
resignation and for the love of God. Similarly the sufferings
which may be the effect of our own lack of virtue, the effect of
an undisciplined and exaggerated sensibility, have no purging
quality of themselves, although they similarly may be accepted as
a salutary humiliation in consequence of our faults, and in
reparation for them.
156 Wisd. iii, 6
157 Ps. xxxiii, 18-20
158 II-IIae, Q. xxiv, art. 9. Hence I would reply to M. H. Bremond
that this adherence to God, a direct act, which is at the source
of the discursive and reflex acts of the perfect, contains the
solution of the problem of the pure love of God and its
reconciliation with a legitimate love of self; for this is truly
to love oneself in God, and to love Him more than oneself.
159 The Carmelite, Philip of the Holy Trinity, in the prologue of
his Summa theologiae mysticae (ed. 1874, p. 17), also regards the
passive purgation of the senses as a transition between the
purgative and the illuminative way, and the passive purgation of
the spirit as a disposition to the way of union. In this, as in
many other things, Th. Vallgornera, O. P., has followed him, and
even copied literally from his work. Anthony of the Holy Spirit,
O. C. D., has done likewise, summarizing him in his Directorium
mysticum.
160 iii, 9-14.
161 xiv 21
162 Living Flame. st. IV. 3. 4
163 Living Flame, st. IV, 5
164 Ibid., 9
165 Ibid., 17
166 Living Flame, st. I, 20-22; cf. Ps. lxxxiii, 3
167 Ibid., II, 12
168 Living Flame, st., III, 3
169 Ibid. 9
170 Ibid., 5
171 Matt. xxv, 4-7.
172 Virgo Fidelis, by Robert de Langeac (Lethielleux, 1931), p.
279
173 Living Flame, st. II, 9
174 Ps. lxii, 2; Dark Night, Book II, ch. xi
175 Living Flame, st. II, 23
176 Ch. 53.
177 II-IIae, Q. xvii, art 6, ad 3
178 Phil. i, 21
179 Ch. 167
180 iv, 7
181 Perfection chretienne et contemplation, t. I, pp. 338-417; t.
II, pp.- 430-477
182 Cf. St. Thomas, I-IIae, Q. lxviii, art. 5
183 I-IIae, Q. lxviii, art. 1; see also Perfection chretienne...
t. I, pp. 355-385; t. II, pp. (52)-(64).
184 Vie Spirituelle, November, 1932 (Supplement, pp. (65)-(83):
Les dons ont-ils un mode humain?
185 Non sunt judicanda ea qua sunt per se, per ea quae sunt per
accidens.
186 Book I, ch. ii-ix
187 Dark Night, Book II, ch. i and ch. ii.
188 VIIth Mansion, ch. i and ch. ii
189 According to St. John of the Cross (Dark Night, Book I, ch.
xiv) 'the way of illumination' is a 'way of infused contemplation,
wherewith God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul.' A fortiori,
Man in the way of union
190 Living Flame, st. 1, 16
191 Dark Night, Book I, ch. viii
192 Dark Night, Book I, ch. xiv.
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