PREFACE
PREFACE
WE are happy to have an English translation of this book in which our purpose was to establish, according to the principles formulated by St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross, that Christian perfection consists especially in charity according to the plenitude of the two great precepts: "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind: and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). We also show that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith, the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity present in us, of the redeeming incarnation, of the cross, of the Eucharist, sacrament and sacrifice, is in the normal way of sanctity. This contemplation proceeds from faith illumined by the gifts of understanding and wisdom, which are in all the just; that is, from living faith, which has become penetrating and sweet.
This view of perfection is by no means something novel. The number of theologians who of late consider it as traditional has increased notably. This doctrine seems to us the theological commentary of our Savior's words: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. . . . Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 5:37 f.). All are invited to drink from the fountain of living water, as St. Catherine of Siena says in her Dialogue (chap. 53); the only condition laid down for reaching the fountain is a true thirst for virtue, the honor of God, and the salvation of souls.
FR. REGINALD GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE, O.P.