Ii. Confusions To Be Avoided In Expounding The Traditional Doctrine
CHAPTER VI
THE CALL TO CONTEMPLATION OR TO THE MYSTICAL LIFE
ARTICLE I
The Different Meanings of the Word "Call"
WE will consider the general and remote call, the individual and proximate call, the sufficient call, and the efficacious call.
When the call to mystical contemplation, properly so named, is discussed, and the question is raised as to whether this call is general or particular, we need a clear definition of the word "call" or "vocation," which may have very different acceptations.
First of all, "called to the mystical life" does not mean raised, conducted, chosen, or predestined to the mystical life. "For many are called, but few chosen," are the words used in the parable of the wedding guests.1
Theologians observe 2 that the vocation may be either exterior, that is, it may come through the Gospel, preaching, direction, reading; or interior, by reason of a grace of light and attraction.3 The exterior call is general when it is addressed to all without distinction; it becomes individual when it reaches such or such a one in particular. Thus all pagans are in a general way called to the Christian life by the Gospel, before such or such a one is called in an individual manner.
The vocation may, on the contrary, be special when it is addressed only to a group of men, such as the vocation to the priesthood. It may even be very special and unique, as the vocation of Mary, Mother of God, or that of St. Joseph. It may be very particular, as that of a founder of a religious order, or indeed as that to enter a determined order, for example, the Carthusians.
The interior vocation may be, like sufficient grace, remote or proximate. Since "the habitual grace of the virtues and the gifts," which all the just possess, reaches the plenitude of its normal development only in the mystical life, properly so called, all the just are called to this life in a remote manner. This is our opinion, as well as that of the authors who admit the general call to the mystical life. St. Teresa found this teaching expressed in several passages in Scripture, two of which she quotes 4 in The Way of Perfection.5
Even in the opinion of these authors, all souls do not individually receive the proximate vocation to the mystical life. This vocation exists only when the three signs mentioned by St. John of the Cross, and before him by Tauler, can be proved to exist in the soul: (1) meditation becomes impracticable; (2) the soul has no desire to fix its imagination on any particular interior or exterior object; (3) the soul takes delight in being alone with God and fixing its loving attention upon Him.6 We will explain these signs farther on (pp. 372 f.).
This proximate vocation to the mystical life may itself be either sufficient or efficacious, as we find in the parable of the wedding feast. Each of the guests was called individually. "The kingdom of heaven is likened to a king, who made a marriage for his son. And he sent his servants to call them that were invited to the marriage; and they would not come. . . . But they neglected, and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise. . . . Then he saith to his servants: The marriage indeed is ready; but they that were invited were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways; and as many as you shall find, call to the marriage." 7
"Efficacious" may, in this case, be understood either in the Thomistic sense, which is ours, or in the Molinistic sense. The Thomists find a greater gratuity in the gift of God because, according to St. Thomas, grace is efficacious of itself, and leads us sweetly and firmly to the salutary consent which it produces in us and with us. In Molina's opinion, grace is rendered efficacious by our good consent, the free determination of which, as determination, would come exclusively from us and not from God.8
Although the Thomists commonly say that the remote call to the mystical life is general, they in no way diminish the gratuity of the individual, proximate call. They always presuppose the mystery of predestination, as St. Augustine and St. Thomas understand it.9
Moreover, the proximate vocation to the mystical life may be delayed, like that of the laborers of the eleventh hour, who received as much as those who had been called earlier. At the end of this parable 10 and that of the wedding feast, our Lord says: "For many are called, but few are chosen."11
A proximate, efficacious vocation to the mystical life is not necessarily an efficacious vocation to the highest degrees of the mystical life or to a high perfection; that depends on predestination in the order of the divine intentions, and on the fidelity of the soul in the order of execution. "It is true," says St. John of the Cross, "that souls, whatever their capacity, may have attained union, but all do not possess it in the same degree. God disposes freely of this degree of union, as He disposes freely of the degree of the beatific vision." 12 St. Thomas expresses the same opinion when he discusses predestination.13
Such are the different meanings of the word "call." They can be seen at a glance in the following synopsis, which should be read from the bottom up so as to follow the ascending progress. In it we do not mention the special vocation, such as that to the priesthood, since we are speaking here only of the call to the mystical life, which, in our opinion, is first of all general, then individual; first remote, then proximate.
This division should solve several other questions.14
If, therefore, a writer who is accepted as an authority denies the call of all souls to contemplation, meaning by this the proximate call, as one can see from the principles of his teaching and from the context, we need not for this reason conclude that he denies the remote call.
With the different meanings of the word "vocation" thus precisely determined, the teaching on the general and remote call of souls to the mystical life is more easily understood. To have a clear grasp of this doctrine, we must distinguish, as is always done in ethics, what belongs to the nature of things (per se) from what is an accidental exception (per accidens). Theologians, seeking to establish a law, speak formally of the nature of things, and not of the accidental circumstances that cause variations in the application of the law. For example, a certain act is morally good by its very nature, because of itself it produces a certain effect willed by God; and it remains morally good even if accidentally it no longer produces that effect.15 Or again, what is entirely legitimate and salutary in itself, such as daily communion, may accidentally cease to be so, if the subject does not fulfil the required conditions. Nothing is more sanctifying in itself than Eucharistic communion, but accidentally it may become a sacrilege. Corruptio optimi pessima. Nothing is better than true mysticism, nothing worse than false mysticism.
Even in the order of vegetable and animal life, for lack of certain conditions, many laws are applied only in the majority of cases, ut in pluribus as the Scholastics say; these are approximative laws, to use the terminology of present-day scholars. Because many acorns do not produce oaks, we cannot deny the law that the acorn is naturally made to produce an oak. Even if it is planted with this end in view, favorable external conditions, required for the development of the seed that it contains, may be lacking.
Likewise, because the majority of men follow their passions instead of controlling them, as St. Thomas observes,16 must we reject the law that man, by his nature as a rational being, is called to live in a reasonable manner? Because many men are lost, must we deny that the entire human race was ordained by God for a supernatural end, the beatific vision? Because many Christians sin mortally, is it necessary to deny that the grace received in baptism is by its very nature made to endure forever and to grow unceasingly until death? Is it not eternal life begun?
Normally a little child, who from the age of seven receives communion several times a week, should not cease receiving the bread of life, and each day he ought to approach the holy table with better dispositions. If he perseveres in this way and is generally faithful to the graces he receives, will he not normally, at least at the end of his life, reach the mystical life, properly so called? Is this something different from the plenitude of the life of faith and of the love of God, different from perfect docility to the Holy Ghost?
After having determined the various meanings of the word "call," general or individual, remote or proximate, sufficient or efficacious, we will examine whether it is true that all souls in the state of grace are called in a general, remote, and sufficient manner to the mystical life, and how the individual, proximate call, whether sufficient or efficacious, is manifested.
These distinctions are necessary if we are to solve this problem of spirituality, which is so much studied in our day. It is practical, however, to recall that more attention must be paid to the perfect practice of the virtues–humility, self-denial, obedience, patience in trial, the spirit of faith and confidence in God in prayer despite interior aridities and obscurities, and fraternal charity–than to the more or less mystical form of prayers which may lead thereto. This is so much the more true because the degree of prayer is not easily known, especially in those periods called the dark night where the soul is contemplative without knowing it. This is the explanation of the fact that in the process of beatification the heroic degree of the virtues is examined much more closely than the form of prayer. The latter is learned only with difficulty from documents; it suffices, however, to become acquainted with the heroic practice of the theological virtues in order to know that a soul was very intimately united to God.17 Moreover, certain souls reach mystical prayer with greater rapidity than others, which are much more advanced. Souls are also found which draw greater profit from these prayers, others less. Some souls are more virtuous than mystical, and vice versa.
All of this is very important in fact, and should not be forgotten when insistence is laid, as is done in this article, on the general law, and on the extremely varied applications of which we seek the formula and the doctrinal basis according to traditional teaching. But conformably to this law, it is also very useful and practical to know whether or not souls have passed through the night of the senses and that of the soul; for without this double passive purification, souls cannot attain the full perfection of the Christian life. The way leading to it in the midst of trials is that indicated by St. Teresa in her well-known Bookmark:
"Let nothing disturb thee;
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changes;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth."18
Anyone who is imbued with these dispositions, who has taken this step and willingly allows himself to be conducted in his prayer and in all phases of his life by Mary Mediatrix, who leads us to the intimacy of Christ, and by Christ, who brings us to the Father, will attain to true humility, which will draw upon him the grace of contemplation and of divine union. This happy result will be attained in spite of unfavorable conditions, by reason of the profound, strong, and gentle influence of these two mediators, who have been given us in our weakness.19
ARTICLE II
The General and Remote Call to Mystical Contemplation
The question we are studying may be formulated exactly either by considering the life of grace in an abstract manner, or concretely by studying the souls which have received this light. In the first case, the intimate law of the superior development of the divine seed, semen gloriae, is considered; in the second case, as in the parable of the sower, the variable conditions of the soil are considered. Likewise the two following questions are distinct: (1) Is grace by its very essence the seed of eternal life? (2) Does God give, not only to all men in general, but to each person individually, sufficient grace to obtain salvation?
We will, therefore, consider first the general and remote call of souls in the state of grace to the mystical life; and secondly, the individual and proximate call. In another article, we will examine the objections that may be raised against this doctrine.
THE THREE PRINCIPAL REASONS WHICH ESTABLISH THE GENERAL AND REMOTE CALL
The question confronting us is whether the life of grace can have its full, normal development without the mystical life, properly so called. This latter, as we have seen, is characterized by the predominance of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and of their divine mode, specifically distinct from the human mode of the virtues which characterizes the ascetical life.1 According to what we have said in the preceding article, it appears certain to us that the mystical life thus defined is the adult age of the Christian life. For a clear grasp of this doctrine, the division of the supernatural should be recalled (cf. supra, p. 59).
It is evident from this division that the supernatural nature of a miracle, of prophecy, of the gift of tongues, etc., is inferior to that of sanctifying grace, of the infused virtues, and of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. As a help in discerning among these forms of the supernatural, those which are ordinary, although eminent, and those which are extraordinary, the classic division of the divine power directed by wisdom should also be recalled.
Our problem in this question is to examine whether the essential foundation of the mystical state belongs to the first category or to the third; the third, while extraordinary, is inferior to the first, which alone contains eternal life begun. Is the mystical life the full normal development of the life of grace? We are concerned here not only with the collective sanctity of the Church, which requires even graces gratis datae, such as that of the discernment of spirits, but with what is normally necessary in the majority of cases for a soul to reach sanctity.2
The reasons for the affirmative answer must be based on the life of grace considered in its essence, and not only on exterior signs or statistical material. As a matter of fact, it is not sufficient to say that this call is general because there are mystical souls in every human condition; among the ignorant and the learned, priests and laity, religious and seculars, in the contemplative orders and also in the active orders. This reason is probable, but is insufficient; for we can just as well say that artists are to be found among all classes of people, and yet the artistic vocation in the natural order is not general but special. It is a particular gift not granted or promised to all.
Likewise, to establish that God wishes to save all men, we must do more than show that He wishes to save men from every condition of life; Jews and pagans, learned and illiterate, rich and poor.
To prove that all souls in the state of grace are in a general and remote manner called to the mystical life, as they are to that of heaven, the reasons for this call must be based on the very nature of the life of sanctifying grace, or "grace of the virtues and the gifts." This life may be considered chiefly in three ways: in its principle, grace itself; in its progress, perfect purification from sin and imperfection; in its end, the life of heaven. These three considerations are not accidental, exterior, or material, but essential and formal. In other words, to show that the interior life has its full, normal development here only in the mystical life, properly so called, we must demonstrate: (1) that their principle is the same; (2) that the progress of one is complete only in the other; (3) that their end is the same, and that only the mystical life prepares immediately and perfectly for this end. These are, as we shall see, the principal reasons proving the normal though eminent character of the mystical life.
A. THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF THE MYSTICAL LIFE IS THE SAME AS THAT OF THE COMMON INTERIOR LIFE
The basic principle of the mystical life is sanctifying grace, or "the grace of the virtues and the gifts." It manifests itself in the interior ascetical life according to the human mode of the virtues; in the mystical life, according to the superhuman mode of the gifts which predominates in it. These gifts, as habitual dispositions rendering us docile to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, grow, as do the infused virtues, with charity, which in this life ought always to develop, through our merits and holy communion, according to the requirements of the first precept of love which has no limit.3 Therefore the soul cannot possess charity in a high degree without having the gifts, as habitual dispositions, in a corresponding degree.4 It follows that a truly generous and faithful soul will come more and more under the immediate direction of the Holy Ghost, and the human mode of its activity will be gradually subordinated to the divine mode of the inspirations of the interior Master. This mode should end by dominating, a condition which characterizes the mystical life.
The objection has been raised that if progress is normal, the virtues and gifts should be perfected pari passu, without the mode of the gifts eventually prevailing over the mode of the virtues. This objection fails to reckon with what St. Thomas has proved 5 and with what we have explained in accordance with his teaching,6 namely, that the human mode of the infused virtues is essentially imperfect in relation to our supernatural end, for it is that of the human faculty in which these virtues are received. The purpose of the gifts is precisely to remedy this imperfection by joining with the virtues, as occurs especially in infused contemplation.7
Hence the imperfection of the human mode of the virtues should be corrected in proportion as the soul approaches perfection, so much the more so, as it is a question here not only of believing the mysteries, but of penetrating them, tasting them, judging all by them, living by them and that, not in a transitory, but in an habitual manner. The influence of the gifts should be exercised more in proportion as the soul needs to be purified in its inmost depths, where God penetrates, so as to root out the seeds of death, the existence of which we ourselves do not suspect. God alone can eradicate them by applying iron and fire to them. This explains why, in the normal progress of the life of grace, the superhuman mode of the gifts should end by dominating and prevailing over the human mode of the virtues. Habitual facility thus supernaturalizes us more and more, and eventually the virtues are no longer exercised without the co-operation of the gifts, without an almost constant direction on the part of the interior Master, who unites us more and more closely to His life and His action. This is the prelude of eternal life. "A thing is perfect so far as it attains to its principle"8 and is united to it. Each of our acts is perfect in proportion as God imprints His manner, His inimitable mark, more deeply upon it. The sovereign efficacy of His action in us does not destroy our liberty; it is His action which causes our liberty, by producing in us and with us even the free mode of our acts.9 He alone can thus penetrate our souls, since He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. The mystical state with its constant docility is none other than the perfect fruit of efficacious grace, as conceived by St. Paul, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas. Only in this way does the soul attain to the living and profound knowledge of God's infinite grandeur and of its own wretchedness, of the value of grace and the gravity of sin.
"But, someone will say," declares St. Teresa in the objection she raises to her own doctrine,10 "if for long days and years I considered what a frightful thing it is to offend God, and how those who are lost are His children and my brethren; and if I were to weigh the perils to which we are exposed in this world, and how advantageous it would be for us to leave this wretched life, would that not suffice? No, my daughters, the pain to which these reflections give rise in us would be quite different from the torture of which I speak. With the grace of God and by many considerations we can experience this grief; but it does not penetrate the very depths of our being like the other which seems to rend and grind the soul without its co-operation, and at times even without its wish. What is this sorrow, then, and whence does it come? I will tell you. You remember those words of the Bride, which I quoted to you, but with another meaning: 'He brought me into the cellar of wine, He set in order charity in me.'11 In this quotation you have the explanation of what you asked me. This soul has so completely abandoned itself into the hands of God and loves Him so greatly that, as a result, it is so submissive that it knows and wishes nothing, but that God should dispose of it according to His good pleasure. In my opinion, this is a grace which God bestows only on a soul which He considers entirely His. His will is that, without knowing how, the soul should issue forth stamped with His seal. . . . O God of goodness! It is Thou alone who dost all! Thou dost demand but one thing, that we abandon our wills to Thee, in other words, that the wax offer no resistance."
Attentive reading of this quotation, which expresses the mystical suffering of the soul at the sight of the greatest evil, sin, will reveal the full development of the grace of the virtues and the gifts which we received in baptism—perfect abandonment, most pure charity, equally lively faith, and complete docility to the Holy Ghost who impresses His seal on the faithful soul. This demonstrates that the principle of the common interior life contains the seed of the mystical life. It is, therefore, called to develop under this superior form which is on earth the flower of the supernatural life.12 In some perfect souls the gifts of action will be especially prominent; but the gift of wisdom will have a diffuse, though very real, influence.
In virtue of the fact that this principle is common both to the ordinary interior life and to the mystical life, we must add that by the progress of charity 13 we can come to merit, in the strict sense of the word (de condigno, condignly), the superior degrees of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, considered as habitual dispositions, connected with charity. Thereby we merit, at least in the broad sense (saltem de congruo, congruously), the actual inspirations corresponding to these superior degrees of the gifts; for, as a rule (and the propriety of this is evident), the Holy Ghost enlightens and inspires souls according to the degree of their habitual docility, humility, and love of God.14
This is the teaching concerning the merit saltem de congruo of Thomistic mystical theologians who follow St. Thomas, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa. Among these theologians are Philip of the Blessed Trinity, O.C.,15 Vallgornera, O.P.,16 and Meynard, O.P.17 From this teaching on merit, it is evident that the actual grace of contemplation can be merited more than that of a happy death, which is, nevertheless, necessary to salvation.18
The first reason for the remote and general call of souls in the state of grace to the mystical life rests, therefore, on the basic principle of this life, that is, the grace of the virtues and the gifts. This fundamental reason may also be more concretely expressed and even confirmed thereby in the following terms: there is no sanctity without the heroism of the infused virtues, connected with charity; that is, without a high degree of these virtues, described by St. Thomas when he speaks of the perfecting virtues and especially of the perfect virtues.19
The gifts of the Holy Ghost, as habitual dispositions connected with charity, grow with it. The Holy Ghost ordinarily moves us according to the degree of our habitual docility, and with greater frequency as we become more docile. Consequently, as a rule,20 there is no sanctity unless the soul is often moved by the Holy Ghost according to the superior degrees of the gifts. This constitutes the mystical life in the broad sense and also in the strict sense, the passive state in which the human mode of our activity no longer dominates, but rather the activity of the Holy Ghost, and our completely docile passivity.21
In relation to this subject, the statement of Benedict XIV in regard to the heroicity of virtues and their connection should be read. It is this connection, he says, which was lacking in the heroes of paganism and also in the false martyrs, who died obstinately persisting in their errors; they did not pray for their executioners.22 For the proof of heroic virtue, he lays down four necessary conditions: (1) the matter must be difficult, above the common strength of man; (2) the acts must be accomplished promptly, easily; (3) they must be accomplished joyously; (4) they must be performed not only once or rarely but often, when the occasion presents itself. This supposes a high degree of charity and a proportionate degree of the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
This teaching clarifies the meaning and the compass of the first reason that we invoked: namely, that the basic principle of the mystical life is identical with that of the common interior life. Farther on we shall see the objections that may be raised against this first reason.23 We will now consider the second, which considers what the progress of the interior life demands.
B. IN THE PROGRESS OF THE INTERIOR LIFE THE PURIFICATION OF THE SOUL IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT THE PASSIVE PURIFICATIONS, WHICH BELONG TO THE MYSTICAL ORDER
This progress should, in fact, be brought about by the purification from sin, from its results, and from imperfections. It is twofold: an active purification or mortification which we impose on ourselves; and a passive purification which has its origin in the divine action within us.24 Although exterior trials supernaturally borne contribute greatly to our purification, yet, according to the great masters, especially St. John of the Cross, this work is normally completed only by the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul.
According to these same masters, these painful purifications, which are a sort of anticipated purgatory, belong to the mystical order, properly so called. Wholly generous souls are purified by the Holy Ghost while they are on earth, to such an extent that they do not, through their own fault, have to undergo after death the meritless purification of purgatory. Ordinarily we must pass through this crucible in one way or another; either in this life while meriting, or in the life to come without meriting.25
This reason appears decisive to one acquainted with the reasons given by St. John of the Cross to explain the necessity of the double, passive purification of the senses and of the soul.26 We have already (chap. 4, art. 1) given a brief exposition of these purifications, and (chap. 5, art. 3) we have shown how St. Teresa describes the night of the soul at the beginning of the sixth mansion
According to St. John of the Cross, God almost immediately bestows the grace of the passive purification of the senses on persons who are habitually recollected.27 The entrance into this purification is indicated by inactivity of the imagination,28 the human or discursive mode of prayer disappears; the soul must content itself with a loving and peaceful attention to God.29 His grace, which is then given to it, is no longer sensibly manifest; it is entirely spiritual, which explains why the sensible part is cowardly in regard to action, but the spirit is generous and strong.30 In the light of the gift of knowledge, the soul sees in itself wretchedness and unworthiness which it was ignorant of in the time of its prosperity; at times it believes itself abandoned by God. But in suffering, it is purified of numerous imperfections and exercised in the virtues that perfectly subject the flesh to the spirit.31 Thus, interior liberty grows through the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost, and the love of God through an ardent desire to serve Him. St. John of the Cross offers a good summary of his doctrine when he says: "The night of sense is common, and the lot of many among beginners. . . . As the manner in which they behave when they first start out on the way to God is not noble, and since they become entangled in sensible tastes and self-love, God intervenes to make them progress by freeing them from their vulgar conception of love. He wishes to lift them up to Himself, to make them abandon the inferior exercise of sense and reasoning, by which they seek God in a petty manner in the midst of the obstacles which we have pointed out, and to introduce them into the more profitable exercise of the spirit, which will permit them to communicate less imperfectly with God." 32
This passive night of the senses, which seems to consist especially in the disappearance of the so-called sensible graces, marks rather the appearance of spiritual graces; the human mode of prayer ceases only because the superhuman mode of the contemplative gifts begins to become frequent and manifest. Corruptio unius, generatio alterius: the grain of wheat, cast into the earth, dies that the seed which it bears may develop; just so, the soul must die to its too human manner of thinking of God and loving Him that it may live in the divine manner which the Lord wishes to see in it. It is thus that the soul enters upon the illuminative way.33
Since the object of the passive purification of the senses is the perfect subjection of the passions to the intellect and will, the object of the purification of the soul–proceeding especially from the illumination of the gift of understanding–is the full subjection of the spirit to God and the purification from all alloy not only of the moral virtues, but also of the theological virtues, which unite us immediately to God. This purification, granted to souls that have already made progress, is intended to remove habitual imperfections of which we are so often unaware, and which are an obstacle to divine union.34 It marks the entrance into the unitive way, according to St. John of the Cross. He expresses himself in the following terms:35 "The dark night (of the soul) is a certain inflowing of God into the soul, which cleanses it of its ignorances and imperfections, habitual, natural, and spiritual. Contemplatives call it infused contemplation. . . . But it may be asked: 'Why does the soul call the divine light, which enlightens the soul and purges it of its ignorances, the dark night?' . . . The first reason is that the divine wisdom is so high that it transcends the capacity of the soul, and is, therefore, in that respect, darkness. The second reason is based on the meanness and impurity of the soul and, in that respect, the divine wisdom is painful to it, afflictive and dark also. . . . We take for granted a principle of the Philosopher, namely, the more intelligible and evident divine things are, the darker and more hidden they are to the soul naturally. Thus the clearer the light, the more it blinds the eyes of the owl. So the divine light of contemplation, when it beats on the soul not yet perfectly enlightened, causes spiritual darkness, because it not only surpasses its strength, but because it blinds it and deprives it of its natural perceptions. It is for this reason that St. Dionysius and other mystical theologians call infused contemplation a ray of darkness, that is, for the unenlightened and unpurified soul . . . 'clouds and darkness are round and about him.'36 . . . God is surrounded by a cloud and darkness. He dwells in 'light inaccessible.'
"The soul seeing its own impurity distinctly though dimly in this bright pure light, acknowledges its own unworthiness before God and all creatures. What pains it still more is a fear that it never will be worthy and that all its goodness is gone." 37 The suffering is such that the soul believes itself crushed under an immense weight; it is broken and overwhelmed at the sight of its miseries and feels itself wrapped in a mortal cloud. "So great are the weakness and impurity of the soul that the hand of God, which is so soft and so gentle, is felt to be so heavy and oppressive, though neither pressing nor resting on it, but merely touching it and that, too, most mercifully; for He touches the soul not to chastise it, but to load it with His graces." 38
The soul cannot, as before, raise its mind and heart to God; it feels that God has interposed a cloud which cuts off the way of prayer.39 The light of this purification permits the soul to see only its sins and miseries.40 In this darkness it distinguishes, however, better than before between what is more and what is less perfect.41 To enjoy the fruits of this purification, the soul must suffer from the impression that it will never possess God.42 It must pass through this crucible for "one single, actual, or habitual particular affection is sufficient to prevent the perception, taste, and communication of the subtle sweetness of the spirit of love which contains all sweetness within itself in an eminent degree." 43 This night of purification is also a safe road, "for it holds the appetites, affections, and passions, lulled, asleep, and mortified. Were they awake and active, they would not fail to oppose the departure" of the soul toward these higher regions.44
This passive purification, this refinement of the spirit, is "indispensable for union with God in glory. After death, impure souls pass through the fires of purgatory; in this life, the soul attains to union only by undergoing the fire of trials, which are more violent for some than for others, and proportionate in length to the degree of union to which God intends to raise them and to their need of purification." 45 From these trials we can judge the sufferings of purgatory. Its fire has no effect on those who have no faults to expiate; 46 it is dark and material; that of this life is spiritual and obscure.47 In this life, the soul is purified while meriting; after death, without meriting.
These purifications are the most efficacious means leading to divine union, because they alone free humility and the three theological virtues from all alloy. They alone bring into powerful relief the entirely supernatural formal motive of these highest virtues. They oblige us to make extremely meritorious acts, which thus increase the gifts tenfold by immediately obtaining for us a great increase of faith, hope, and charity. They oblige us to believe for the sole motive that God has said it. Moreover, they make us adhere firmly to the first revealing Truth, in an order infinitely superior to a sensible miracle and to the human reasoning that discerns it.48 They oblige us to hope against all human hope for the pure motive that God, who is all powerful and good, is infinitely helpful, Deus auxilians, and will not abandon us first. They lead us to love Him, not for the sensible or spiritual consolations He grants us, but for Himself, because He is infinite goodness; to love Him above all things and more than ourselves, because He is infinitely better than we are.
Happy are those who pass through these painful purifications, which alone can fully supernaturalize them and conduct them to the summit of faith, hope, and charity. Since these passive purifications belong to the mystical order, we must conclude that the mystical life is not extraordinary in its very essence, but is on the normal way of sanctity. Now that we have studied the means, we will consider the end of the interior life.
C. THE END OF THE INTERIOR LIFE IS THE SAME AS THAT OF THE MYSTICAL LIFE, BUT THE LATTER PREPARES THE SOUL MORE IMMEDIATELY FOR IT
Heaven is the end of the interior life. Although in fact quite rare, the normal summit of the development of the life of grace on this earth should be a very perfect disposition to receive the light of glory immediately after death, without passing through purgatory. As a matter of fact, no one goes to that place of suffering, where there is no merit, except through his own fault, because he has neglected graces received or offered. It is in the radical order to see God immediately after death; that is why the souls in purgatory suffer so greatly at not seeing Him.
The perfect disposition to receive the beatific vision immediately after death can be only the intense charity of a fully purified soul, coupled with the earnest desire to see God, such as we find them in the mystical union, and more especially in the transforming union. This last is, therefore, the summit of the development of the life of grace on earth; in it alone do we find the full development of the supernatural life.
It would be easy to show that this third reason, like the two preceding reasons, has been more or less explicitly formulated by all the great masters of mysticism. Let us merely recall what St. Thomas says about the superiority of the contemplative life over the active life.
The contemplation of God is not a means to the moral virtues and the works of the active life; on the contrary, it is the end to which they are subordinated as means and dispositions.49 The moral virtues dispose to the contemplative life by producing peace, quiet in the passions, and purity.50 Prudence serves wisdom, as a guard serves the king.
God is the end and object of the theological virtues and the corresponding gifts, whereas He is merely the end of the moral virtues, which have a created object.
The contemplative life, with its beginning and end in love, is the eminent exercise of the theological virtues. In it the soul burns to see the beauty of God.51 Contemplation itself is not perfection; perfection is found essentially in charity. But contemplation is the most excellent means united to the end, since it joins us to God,52 for "the contemplative life is directed to the love of God, not of any degree, but to that which is perfect."53 By it man "offers his soul in sacrifice to God," 54 and it is, so to speak, a beginning of perfect beatitude "for it bestows on us a certain inchoate beatitude, which begins now and will be continued in the life to come." 55
Thus the contemplative life is better than the active life.56 It is proper to man according to his soul's noblest faculty. It can be more continuous than the active life. For example, Mary remains at our Lord's feet to listen to His words, while Martha busies herself. Although it contains great trials, the contemplative life is more delightful and more meritorious, because the love of God is in itself more meritorious than love of our neighbor.57 It is sufficient to itself, moreover, and is not busy about many things. It is loved for itself, while the active life is ordained to something other than itself. This is why the psalmist says: "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." 58 The contemplative life is a sort of holy repose in God (otium sanctum): "Be still and see that I am God." 59 It is occupied with divine things; the active life, with human affairs: "In the beginning was the Word; behold Him to whom Mary listened," says St. Augustine. "And the Word was made flesh; behold Him whom Martha served."60 Moreover, Christ Himself said: "Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her." 61 St. Augustine observes: "It is not that your part, O Martha, is bad, but that Mary's is better. Why is it better? Because it will not be taken from her. A day will come when the burden which necessity imposes on you will be withdrawn; but the sweetness of truth is eternal." 62
This contemplative life exists fully only in the mystical life, which is the true prelude to that of heaven. All, even those who are engaged in the active life, should strive for it in virtue of the first precept; prayer is no less necessary to them. If the conditions of their life render the highest forms of contemplation less accessible, its substance is not refused them; on the contrary, our Lord invites us all. "Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for the contemplative by the practice of the active life,"63 by fulfilling its duties for the love of God. It would be an error to think that a person should pray well for the purpose of accomplishing well the duties of his state: for example, in order to take good care of the sick or to teach well, as if prayer and union with God were ordained and subordinated to these acts which are inferior to them. Rather, the active soul should accomplish the duties of its state out of love for God, to be more closely united to our Lord and to make Him loved more, so that its activity should become as it were the exterior radiation of its prayer, of its union with God, which is the most important part of activity. Thus the mystical life, far from harming action, is its living source.
St. Augustine says: "Holy leisure is longed for by the love of truth; but it is the necessity of love to undertake requisite business. If no one imposes this burden upon us, we are free to sift and contemplate truth; but if it be laid upon us, we are necessitated for love's sake to undertake it. And yet not even in this case are we obliged wholly to relinquish the sweets of contemplation; for were these to be withdrawn, the burden might prove more than we could bear." 64 St. Thomas says that, when a person is called from the contemplative to the active life, it should not be by way of subtraction from the first, but by addition of the second.65 This is why the apostolate should flow, as he says elsewhere, from "the plenitude of contemplation." 66 The faithful, the interior souls who come to listen to the word of God, expect it to be given to them in a divine manner, which is but the radiation of contemplation.
The contemplative life, which by its intimacy with the interior Master and its perfect docility to His inspirations merits the name of mystical life, or life hidden with Christ in God, is therefore truly the normal prelude to that of heaven.
In the preceding pages we have discussed the three principal reasons for the remote and general call of just souls to the mystical life. They are fundamental since they rest: (1) on the common principle of the interior life and of the mystical life, and on the law of the progress of the gifts as habitus, or habitual dispositions, connected with charity; (2) on the necessity of the passive purifications, which belong to the mystical life and are the most efficacious means to lead the soul to divine union on earth; (3) on the common end of the interior and of the mystical life, and on the perfection normally required to receive the beatific vision immediately after death, and that not in its lowest degree. These three considerations of the principle of the supernatural life, of its most efficacious means, and of its end are not accidental or material; they are essential and formal, and thus permit us to establish the law of the superior development of the divine seed, of the life of grace, semen gloriae.
Therefore it seems certain that the mystical life, characterized by the predominance of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, is required for the full perfection of the Christian life. Is this likewise true of mystical contemplation, properly so called? After granting what precedes, certain writers, who hestitate to answer this question, explain their attitude by saying that in some souls the dominant gifts of the Holy Ghost are those relating especially to action; in their prayers and in the psalmody the dominant gift is piety; yet their prayer is not properly passive, nor is there any frequent and manifest intervention of the contemplative gifts of understanding and wisdom. Consequently these souls would be in the mystical life, which is superior to the ascetical, but without having mystical contemplation, properly so called, the prayer of passive recollection or of quiet.
As we have already stated, the gifts of contemplation may as yet intervene in these souls only in a diffuse manner; the mystical life is still imperfect in them. It may be accompanied by a great generosity, which merits the name of perfection without, however, being the full perfection of the Christian life.67 This last, to be truly a plenitude, requires a complete development of the entire spiritual organism, including the superior gifts of understanding and wisdom.68 It is the prelude to the life of heaven, the perfect, immediate preparation for the beatific vision, which is given only to entirely purified souls when they desire it keenly.
This seems to us, in conformity with tradition, to be St. Thomas' doctrine on the relations of the gifts of the Holy Ghost with the progress of charity.69 In the different religious orders, it is also the teaching of St. Bonaventure, Tauler, Ruysbroeck Louis de Blois, Dionysius the Carthusian, St. Teresa, St. John of the Cross, Father Lallemant, S.J., and his disciples, Father Surin, S.J., and others as Canon Saudreau proves at length in the third edition of his work on The Life of Union with God according to the Great Masters of Spirituality.70 Father Lamballe holds the same opinion in his book entitled Contemplation. We agree with these authors and with Father Arintero, O.P., that the supernatural life has its full development in this life only in the transforming union, such as it is described by St. John of the Cross and by St. Teresa in the seventh mansion. It will be sufficient to recall here some characteristic texts and also those which seem opposed to them.
Speaking of the passive purification of the senses, which belongs to the mystical order, St. John of the Cross says, as we have seen: "The soul must pass through this dark night in order to become perfect."71 "The soul has set out and begun to penetrate the way of the spirit, the way of the proficient and the advanced, which is also called the illuminative way, or the way of infused contemplation."72 "It is God alone who must raise the soul to this supernatural state. What is required of the soul is that, so far as it can, it should prepare itself for it. This is possible naturally, especially when we consider the divine help which ordinarily accompanies effort. As the soul makes progress in rejecting forms and emptying itself of them, God gives it union. In this operation the soul is passive." 73 "In the case of religious, this change often takes place after a relatively short time, for having renounced the world they more easily fashion their senses and spirit according to the will of God." 74 "As soon as the soul succeeds in carefully purifying itself of forms and sensible images, it will bathe in that pure and simple light which will become for it the state of perfection. As a matter of fact, this light is always ready to penetrate the soul; forms and veils of creatures create an obstacle to its infusion." 75
Farther on, after showing the necessity of the passive purification of the soul in order to reach full perfection,76 St. John of the Cross tells us that such perfection is found only in the transforming union where "the soul is no longer troubled by the devil, or the flesh, or the world, or the appetites. It can now say: 'Winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land.' " 77
St. Teresa expresses the same idea in the beginning of the fifth mansion: "Thus all we who wear the holy habit of Carmel are called to prayer and contemplation. This is our first object . . . and yet I declare to you that very few of us prepare themselves so that our Lord may reveal to them the precious pearl of which we are speaking. I admit we are outwardly virtuous. But how many things we lack, and what need we have to banish all negligence in order to acquire the virtues necessary to attain to contemplation!"78
In The Way of Perfection, speaking of infused contemplation and the living waters of prayer, St. Teresa enunciates this general principle, which she later develops (chaps. 20, 21, 23, 25, 29, 33). We have already quoted some of these texts. "Remember, our Lord invited 'Any man': He is truth itself; His word cannot be doubted. If all had not been included He would not have addressed everybody, nor would He have said: 'I will give you to drink.' He might have said: 'Let all men come, for they will lose nothing by it, and I will give to drink to those I think fit for it.' But as He said, unconditionally: 'If any man thirst let him come to Me,' I feel sure that, unless they stop halfway, none will fail to drink of this living water." 79 The saint says in chapter 21: "I maintain that this is the chief point; in fact, that everything depends on their having a great and a most resolute determination never to halt until they reach their journey's end, happen what may, whatever the consequences are, cost what it will, let who will blame them . . . whether the earth itself goes to pieces beneath their feet." The general call of souls to the mystical life could not be more clearly affirmed.
And yet, St. Teresa, Tauler, and St. John of the Cross occasionally make reservations. We read, for example, in The Way of Perfection:80 "It does not follow, because all the nuns in this convent practise prayer, that they must all be contemplatives. Such an idea would greatly discourage those who do not understand the truth that contemplation is a gift of God.81 . . . Sometimes our Lord comes very late, and pays as much all at once as He has given to others during many years."
Why does St. Teresa make these reservations, which seem at first glance to contradict the principle of the general call of souls to infused contemplation? She herself says: 82 "The last chapter seems to contradict what I said, when in order to console those who were not contemplatives I told them that God had made many ways of reaching Him, just as He has made 'many mansions.' I repeat that His Majesty, being God, knows our weakness and has provided for us. He did not say: 'Let some men come to Me by drinking this water, but let others come by some other means.' His mercy is so great that He hinders no one from drinking of the fountain of life. . . . Indeed, He calls us loudly and publicly to do so. He is so good that He will not force us to drink of it, but He gives it in many ways to those who try to follow Him, so that none may go away disconsolate or die of thirst. From this overflowing river spring many rivulets, some large, others small, while there are little pools for children—by children, I mean beginners, unformed in virtue. You see, sisters, there is no fear you will die of drought on the way of prayer. . . . Then take my advice; do not loiter on the road, but struggle manfully, until you perish in the attempt."83
The restrictions made above by St. Teresa do not, therefore, concern the remote general call, but the proximate individual call, which we shall now consider.
ARTICLE III
The Individual and Proximate Call to Contemplation
The aforementioned reservations made by St. Teresa, St. John of the Cross, and Tauler, are not, we maintain, directed toward the general law of the full development of the life of grace, considered in itself, but toward the ground in which the divine seed is received, as we read in the parable of the sower. "And whilst he soweth some fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and ate them up. And other some fell upon stony ground, where they had not much earth: and they sprung up immediately, because they had no deepness of earth. And when the sun was up they were scorched: and because they had no root, they withered away. And others fell among thorns: and the thorns grew up and choked them. And others fell upon good ground: and they brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."1 Again, among trees, the cedar or the palm normally reaches a great height when the soil and climate are favorable; but it is quite otherwise in an unfavorable climate. Just so, the question of the call to the mystical life is complicated and in a way materialized as soon as the life of grace is no longer considered in itself, but in the souls that receive it.
Because souls are in the state of grace, are they thereby called one and all to the essentially mystical life? First of all, clearly they are not all predestined to it; for predestination infallibly produces its effect, without, however, doing violence to liberty. It is a fact that all souls in the state of grace do not reach the mystical life. It is also evident that they are not all individually called to it in a proximate manner; for the three signs of this call, enumerated by Tauler,2 later on by St. John of the Cross, and commonly accepted, are certainly not found in all of them.
1. THE THREE PRINCIPAL SIGNS OF THE PROXIMATE CALL
1) Meditation becomes difficult or even impracticable. "The imagination remains inert; the taste for this exercise has disappeared; and the sweetness formerly produced by the object on which the imagination dwelt, has changed into dryness. As long as sweetness persists and the soul can in meditating pass from one thought to another, meditation must not be abandoned, except when the soul is in peace and in quiet, of which I shall speak in describing the third sign." 3 St. Teresa teaches the same doctrine in the fourth mansion,4 where she says that if the soul has not yet received the grace of "supernatural recollection," we must "take care not to stop the movement of our thoughts . . . and remain there like dolts." From these quotations it is evident that these two great saints are speaking of the passage from meditation to infused contemplation, and not to an acquired contemplation, which would be an intermediate state.5
2) A second sign is necessary, for the difficulty or impossibility of meditating might come from physical illness, from a distraction, from lack of recollection, or from some other similar cause, as happens even to those who preserve a taste for this exercise. Exactly stated, the second sign is that "the soul no longer has any inclination to fix the imagination or the senses on any particular interior or exterior object. I do not say that the imagination will no longer manifest itself by the coming and going which is characteristic of it—and which takes place even in profound recollection—but that the soul will have no desire to fix it deliberately on these objects." 6 For example, when reading, one feels the need of closing the book; if praying vocally, one is inclined to interrupt this prayer in order to give oneself up to the contemplation of God. This is due to an interior inspiration. "It is not, therefore, surprising that such a soul should experience pain and distaste when, once it has begun to enjoy this peace, it is forced to resume meditation and to begin again the work of particular considerations. Its condition is like that of an infant torn away from its mother's breast while it was nursing. . . . Or picture to yourself one who, after having removed the rind from a fruit, is, when tasting it, commanded to peel the rind which has already been removed. He can find no rind and ceases to taste the fruit which he already had. He is like one who lets go the prize in order to grasp a shadow." These explanations from the writings of St. John of the Cross show clearly that7 in his opinion the passage from meditation to infused contemplation is normal, even though we cannot produce contemplation by our own effort. After peeling the fruit, we taste the substance.
3) A third sign is necessary because the first two are not decisive. Melancholy or some other indisposition might produce in us a suspension of our faculties, as it were, during which the soul would take pleasure in doing nothing and in remaining inactive. "The third and most decisive sign is this: The soul delights to be alone with God, fixing its attention lovingly on Him. It does not make any particular considerations, and enjoys interior peace and an impression of repose and quiet. The powers, memory, understanding, and will, do not manifest themselves by acts and exercises. I mean that the soul does not give itself up to discursive acts, which consist in going from one subject to another, but is absorbed in the knowledge of and attention to God. This knowledge is confused, general, and loving, and does not tarry on any particular perception." 8 Just so, a child looks lovingly at its mother without thinking of anything distinct, but only of the fact that she is its mother. At the outset this loving gaze of the soul is so subtle and delicate that it passes almost unperceived.9 Here, there is no longer, as there was in meditation, clearly perceptible co-operation on the part of the imagination. Moreover, at the beginning the soul does not let itself be satisfied with this love which is given to it; it seeks love under a more sensible form. "Once the soul, however, lets itself be introduced into peace, it will not fail to penetrate farther and farther into it. As the loving thought of God becomes clear, the soul finds it more attractive than anything in the world because of the peace, rest, sweetness, and delight which it draws from it without effort." 10 The last words of this sentence help to prove that St. John of the Cross is really discussing infused contemplation, even in this first work, The Ascent of Mount Carmel. Chapter 15 makes the matter clear.11 In The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St. John describes chiefly the part we can have in this contemplation, not indeed in producing it, but in preparing ourselves for it or in favoring its exercise.12 In the following work, The Dark Night of the Soul, he describes particularly God's action and our passivity. These phases do not follow each other chronologically; instead, they are two subordinate aspects of the interior life; in this case, the soul is "more passive than active," 13 but preserves the liberty of consenting to the superior inspiration which the Holy Ghost gives it to make it act divinely.
The three signs given in The Ascent of Mount Carmel are repeated in The Dark Night of the Soul; 14 there they are more markedly formulated as indications of God's purifying work in us, or of purifying aridity: (1) The soul no longer finds savor or consolation in divine things (known by way of the senses) or in any created thing–these last words indicate that this state does not come from tepidity or attachment to creatures; (2) The soul preserves ordinarily in its remembrance of God the fear of not serving Him and of going backwards, because it no longer experiences sweetness in divine things–this fear is another sign that this powerlessness does not come from tepidity; (3) The soul finds difficulty in meditating, as it did in the past, by having recourse to the imagination. "The reason for this is that God is beginning to give Himself no longer by means of reasoning, but by the simple act of contemplation which He inspires in us."
Other indications may confirm these three necessary and classic signs. St. Teresa delights in adding the complete gift of oneself to God, scorn of all earthly things, a great humility, and the desire for heaven. Infused contemplation may, however, be granted to souls that do not as yet possess such high virtues; often it is contemplation which gives them: "All good things came to me with her," 15 as the Book of Wisdom says. It is especially the infused knowledge of the goodness of God which makes us love Him and practice virtue for love of Him. These three signs, then, suffice to prove the proximate call of a soul to infused contemplation.
II. OBSTACLES TO THIS PROXIMATE CALL; ITS VARIETIES
True, the three signs, which we have just explained, are not found in all souls in the state of grace. But we believe that each and every one is called to the mystical life in a remote and sufficient manner, since the grace of the virtues and gifts, which they have received, contains, by reason of the intimate law of its development, the seed of the mystical life, which is the normal prelude to that of heaven.16
What is meant by a remote and sufficient call? It means that, if all souls were faithful in avoiding, as they ought, not only mortal but venial sin, if they were, each according to his condition, generally docile to the Holy Ghost, and if they lived long enough, a day would come when they would receive the proximate and efficacious vocation to a high perfection and to the mystical life, properly so called. They have, in fact, received its radical principle. Until that day comes, however, we may simply say that they are not as yet called to it; just as we say that infidels, who have never heard the Gospel preached, are not as yet individually called to the Christian life, even though all pagans have a general vocation to the Christian life, as the sole way of salvation willed by God for all men.17
Many souls will not develop enough spiritually to be suitably prepared for the mystical life. This is due especially to a lack of humility, purity of heart, simplicity of gaze, recollection, and generosity; or also because they are naturally too much inclined to be outward-minded; or because, being too much absorbed in study or the cares of administration, they do not sufficiently love the silent and profound prayer which leads to union. How easy it is to tarry on the way and to live a superficial life! Lastly these souls often lack good spiritual direction or a suitable environment. They will not be called to the mystical life in a proximate manner. Perhaps, for lack of certain conditions which do not depend on their will, some of them, although generous, would reach the mystical life only after a longer period than the ordinary span of human existence.18
Others, who as a rule are more advanced, will be called to the mystical life in a proximate and sufficient manner, but all will not respond to this call. Many will become discouraged after their first steps in the dark night. This last group is numerous, and according to St. John of the Cross, in this difficult passage they are often badly directed by their spiritual guide.19
Others will be called in a proximate and efficacious manner to the mystical life, but they will not advance beyond its lower degrees because of lack of generosity or direction. As the parable of the sower tells us, there are good souls which yield thirtyfold; this does not represent the summit of the normal development; others give sixtyfold; and some yield a hundredfold. These last will be called in a proximate and efficacious manner to the higher degrees of the mystical life, to the transforming union. From this fact, we shall see that they were predestined to it.
"Many are called, but few are chosen," St. Teresa remarks apropos of the fifth mansion.20 We should humbly aspire to be among this élite. As it is of faith, in contradiction to Jansenistic teaching, that he who does not save his soul, can do so by means of the sufficient grace given him; we must also say that an adult who, after neglecting many graces, reaches only a lower degree of glory, could without being predestined thereto reach a much higher degree, and he would have attained it if he had been more faithful.21 Only the saints, after generously using the time of trial, reach the plenitude of the perfect age, though not all, however, attain to great sanctity. In the transforming union, which is in this life the age of sanctity, there are, to be sure, many degrees lower than that attained by St. Paul or St. John. Likewise in a forest, many oaks reach their full normal height and tower above many others less developed, without reaching the height of certain giant oaks, which are truly exceptional.
This explains a much controverted text from The Dark Night of the Soul.22 In this passage, St. John of the Cross states first the general principle: "Once the soul has entered the purification (i. e., the passive purification of the senses), inability to discourse only increases. . . . The soul will end by abandoning (in prayer) all sensible operations, if it is truly to advance (si es que han de ir adelante)." Then he adds: "For those who do not go by the way of contemplation (porque los que no van por camino de contemplación), it is otherwise; in their case, the night of the senses is often interrupted. In turn, it makes itself felt and then disappears; at one time discursive meditation is impossible, and at another, it becomes easy. God keeps them in this way, then, only in order to try them and humble them; to refine their appetites in order to turn them away from a vicious gluttony in spiritual matters; and not to lead them to the way of the spirit, which is that of contemplation, properly so called. God does not, in fact, raise 23 to contemplation all who desire to attain it by following the way of the spirit; He does not even take half of them. Why? He alone knows. These last (whom God does not raise to contemplation, properly so called)24 never finish weaning the senses so that they completely abandon considerations and reasoning. They have this grace only intermittently, as we have just said."
This text does not deny the remote general call of souls in the state of grace to the mystical life; it only denies the proximate and efficacious individual call of many to the perfection of this life. The good souls mentioned in this text are those which, in the parable of the sower, yield a thirtyfold harvest. This does not represent the normal summit of the life of grace; others will yield sixtyfold and even a hundredfold, as the parable tells us.
St. John of the Cross does not say that the souls of which we are speaking are called to a high perfection without being called in a proximate manner to the superior degrees of the mystical life. He even teaches the contrary. In his opinion, a soul cannot obtain lofty perfection without passing through the night of the senses and even that of the spirit.25
And if St. John of the Cross is asked why God does not raise to contemplation, properly so called, all those who desire to attain it by following the way of the spirit and why He takes only half of them, he will not answer, as certain commentators would have him do, that contemplation, properly so called, is essentially extraordinary and that it reaches beyond the summit of the normal life. On the contrary, he answers: "God alone knows." In like manner, St. Augustine says apropos of the text, "Many are called, but few are chosen": "Why God draws one and not another, seek not to judge, if thou dost not wish to fall into error." 26 This is the mystery of predestination,27 of which St. John of the Cross himself says: "It is true that souls, whatever their capacity, may have attained union, but all do not possess it in the same degree. God disposes freely of this degree of union, as He disposes freely of the degree of the beatific vision." 28 In this opinion, St. John of the Cross agrees with Tauler, Louis de Blois, Ruysbroeck, and the other great mystics.
Finally, St. John of the Cross speaks more clearly on this subject in The Living Flame of Love:29 "We must explain here why there are so few who reach this high state of perfection and union with God. It is certainly not because God wishes to limit this grace to a small number of superior souls; His desire is rather that this high perfection should be common to all. It is only too often that He seeks in vain for vessels capable of containing such perfection. He sends light trials to a soul, and it shows itself weak and immediately flees all suffering . . . which is intended to refine and to polish it. Consequently, God does not continue to purify such souls and to draw them from earthly dust by mortifying them. . . . O souls who dream of walking in tranquillity and consolation in the spiritual way, if you but knew how necessary it is for you to be tried in order to attain this security and consolation!" After the description of the transforming union,30 he says: "O souls created for such glories, . . . of what are you thinking? What are you doing? How sad your blindness is! You close your eyes to the most dazzling light and do not listen to the powerful voices which solicit you!"
Even in the natural order, the greater number of men do not succeed in disciplining their passions, although they are all called to do so by their very nature as rational beings. Likewise, among those who spend many years in the study of some science (such as mathematics, law, or medicine), only a small number acquire a profound knowledge of it. Inventors and extraordinary geniuses are rare. Similarly in the order of the life of grace, not even half the number of interior souls are raised to the summit of the normal development of the supernatural life. "Many are called, but few are chosen," as St. Teresa so often remarks. We should, however, humbly desire to be numbered in this élite, as we should desire to grow in charity without placing any limit on its progress.
The doctrine that all souls in the state of grace have the remote and sufficient helps to reach the mystical life offers no greater difficulties than that other doctrine, which is certain, namely, that all men, including unfaithful souls and hardened sinners, have both in general and in particular the necessary helps to save their souls.
ARTICLE IV
The Conditions Ordinarily Required for Infused Contemplation
AN EXAMINATION OF THE PRINCIPAL DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO THE GENERAL CALL
We have given the reasons for our acceptance of a general and remote call to the mystical life of all souls in the state of grace, although this call becomes individual and proximate only when it can be proved that the three classic signs of the beginning of the mystical life, explained by St. John of the Cross, exist in the soul. This individual proximate call remains sufficient and inefficacious in those who resist it. In others it is efficacious in one of two ways: either it leads only to the inferior degrees of the mystical life, or it leads higher and even to the transforming union, the summit of the normal development of the interior life.
The three principal reasons we adduced for affirming the general and remote call are : (1) The radical principle of the mystical life is the same as that of the common interior life, the grace of the virtues and the gifts; (2) In the progress of the interior life, the purification of the soul cannot be complete without the passive purifications, which belong to the mystical order; (3) The mystical life is the normal prelude to the beatific vision, the goal of the life of grace.
This teaching presupposes what we have set forth 1 on sufficient and on efficacious grace. We summed it up in the masterly words of Bossuet: "Let us learn to bow our intellects before the divine obscurity of this great mystery and confess two graces, one of which (sufficient grace) leaves the intellect without any excuse before God, and the other (efficacious grace) does not let it glory in itself." 2
It is not surprising that the traditional teaching about the general and remote call of all just souls to the mystical life should encounter obscurity or difficulty. These difficulties are not any greater than those raised against the doctrine commonly taught in the Church as to the salvation which is offered and is possible to all men who have the use of reason, even to those who have not been able to hear the Gospel preached. All receive sufficient grace (at least remote) to reach eternal life.
Since this is so and since the mystical life is the prelude to eternal life, why not admit the general and remote call which we maintain? The principal difficulties are three: (1) It is objected that, even while admitting the principles of St. Thomas in relation to the increase of the grace of the virtues and gifts, if things are considered in the concrete rather than in the abstract, it becomes evident that Christian souls generally lack the conditions of the mystical life, and that through no fault of theirs; (2) It must not be forgotten that some souls have received only one or two talents, and not five; (3) The doctrine of the general, even though remote, call seems by its nature to lead some to presumption and illusion, and others to discouragement. We will examine these different points.
I. DO GENEROUS INTERIOR SOULS GENERALLY LACK THE PRINCIPAL CONDITIONS ORDINARILY REQUIRED FOR THE MYSTICAL LIFE?
Some writers tell us that the attainment of mystical contemplation requires conditions that are impossible of realization for the majority of souls, no matter how generous they may be. According to this opinion, a special environment is necessary, such as a Carthusian or a Carmelite monastery, where silence, solitude, and long hours of prayer are the common rule. Without this atmosphere, a special temperament inclined to recollection and prolonged prayer is needed. Lastly, we are told that a soul must have appropriate spiritual guidance, directing it more and more toward the contemplative life. These conditions are usually wanting in the lives of the majority of generous interior souls that remain in the world or that enter active or even mixed religious orders. The cares of administration which occupy superiors and the demands which intellectual work makes on a priest whose principal activity is teaching, also hinder the development of the mystical life, properly so called, even in interior souls much attached to their duties.
We now offer our reply to this objection. Even if the above mentioned conditions, difficult of realization for many, were required, we should not, as a result, necessarily conclude that the mystical life is not the normal summit of the development of the life of grace. We should simply have to say that, for the attainment of this summit, conditions are demanded which are difficult of realization in the world, or even in a religious life that is not very fervent. In this case the soul is like a cedar, which attains the summit of its normal development only in certain conditions of soil and climate.
Moreover, the conditions enumerated, though very useful, are not the chief ones. We recognize the fact that environment has its importance; also that a calm temperament is much better disposed to the contemplative life than a restless and agitated spirit.3 It may indeed be that among these last, some, even though quite generous, would reach the mystical life only after a period longer than the ordinary span of life. And it is certain that bad spiritual direction often allows souls to vegetate or turns them away from infused contemplation, whereas another type of direction would definitely turn them toward contemplation.
However important these conditions may be, they remain superficial compared to others which are the chief ones. Here again the same rule holds true as in the matter of salvation, which is possible to all who possess a developed conscience, even to those not born in a Christian environment, who are strongly inclined to evil, and who have not had an opportunity to hear the Gospel preached. If they ordinarily follow the dictates of their conscience, they will be mysteriously led from grace to grace, from fidelity to fidelity, to eternal life.
Anyone who wishes to advance in the spiritual life and to prepare himself for the grace of contemplation must, to the best of his ability, use the great means which the Church gives us all. The assiduous reception of the sacraments, daily hearing of mass, frequent communion, love of the Eucharist, devotion to the Holy Ghost, filial and incessant recourse to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 4 and to the Blessed Virgin, mediatrix of all graces, are evidently necessary.
Contemplation is a fruit of true devotion to the Blessed Virgin, as explained by Blessed Grignion de Montfort.5 He says that, without a great love for her, a soul will attain union with God only with extreme difficulty. "It is necessary to pass through dark nights, combats, strange agonies, sharp thorns, and frightful deserts. By the way of Mary, the soul advances with greater sweetness and tranquillity. Along this way it encounters many crosses and great difficulties to overcome, but our good Mother keeps so close to her faithful servants . . . that, in truth, this virginal road is a path of roses in spite of the thorns." It thus leads more easily and surely to divine union. Mary, wonderful to relate, makes the cross easier and, at the same time, more meritorious: easier, because she sustains us with her gentle hand; more meritorious, because she obtains for us a greater charity, which is the principle of merit, and because, by offering our acts to our Lord, she increases their value. By reason of her pre-eminent charity, Mary merited more while performing the easiest acts than all the martyrs in their tortures.
Another great means to prepare for the grace of contemplation, a means within the reach of all interior souls, is found in the liturgy, in an ever more intimate union with the great prayer of the Church. "The graces of prayer and of the mystical state have their type and source in the hieratic life of the Church; they reflect in the members the likeness of Christ which is perfect in the body." 6 Liturgical prayer recited with recollection, in union with our Lord and His mystical body, obtains for us holy lights and inspirations which illumine and inflame our hearts. Consequently it is advisable to make mental prayer after the psalmody which prepares us for it; just as after mass and holy communion, it is well to prolong our thanksgiving, and if possible devote an hour to it.
Lastly, the frequent reading of Scripture and the study of sacred doctrine, undertaken in a truly supernatural manner, are other excellent means to prepare the soul for contemplation. Thus the ancients 7 used to say that divine reading (lectio divina) by pious study (studium) leads to meditation (meditatio), then to prayer (oratio), and finally to contemplation (contemplatio).8
Of course certain interior dispositions are necessary if we are to make good use of the great means which the Church proposes to all. These dispositions constitute the chief conditions ordinarily required for the mystical life.9 As a rule they accompany the proximate individual call to contemplation; in very generous souls they may supply for exterior conditions if these cannot be had.
Spiritual authors group these dispositions as follows: (1) purity of heart; (2) simplicity of spirit; (3) profound humility; (4) love of recollection and perseverance in prayer; (5) fervent charity.10
Who can say that these interior dispositions are beyond the strength and the graces offered him? St. Jerome writes: "One man may tell me that he cannot fast; but can he declare that he cannot love? Another may affirm that he cannot preserve virginity, or sell all his goods in order to give the price to the poor; but can he tell me that he cannot love his enemies? All that is necessary is to look into one's own heart . . . , for what God asks of us is not found at a great distance."11 On the other hand, if we become even a little negligent, how easy it is to fail in the interior conditions we have just enumerated!
The purity of heart mentioned in the beatitude, "Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God," is the fruit of exterior and interior mortification, which is not practiced without suffering. We must not be attached to sin, must not condone our faults or make peace with them. The soul must enter upon the narrow way that leads to true life; better than ever before, it will understand our Lord's words, "Many are called, but few are chosen." It must also be ready to pass through the fire of sufferings, for purity of heart should grow with contemplation through the purifying trials which God sends to those humbly and ardently desiring His divine intimacy. As Scripture tell us, He is jealous; He removes the persons and the things to which the soul might become attached and makes it pass through a crucible to cleanse it of all its blemishes. When inordinate inclinations and the disorders of sensuality, egoism, self-love, and intellectual and spiritual pride have disappeared, and purified heart is like a spotless mirror reflecting the beauty of God. Who can say that he is unable to have a clean heart?
Simplicity of spirit is born of this cleanness of heart and, like it, should be keenly desired by everyone. Holy Scripture often mentions it: "His communication is with the simple." 12 "If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome." 13 "Be ye therefore wise as serpents and simple as doves." 14 Without simplicity it is impossible to have a high degree of wisdom, which is learned from God without guile.15 Simplicity of spirit evidently does not consist in unceremoniously telling our every thought and feeling, at the risk of contradicting ourselves from day to day when circumstances and impressions are changed. In spite of appearances, such conduct is quite the contrary of simplicity; it leads to confusion, disturbance, incoherence, and rambling. The simplicity of which we are speaking shares in that of God and consists in seeing in God all things, all events, whether happy or unhappy, all persons, friends or enemies, and all we have to do, whether agreeable or painful. It produces unity of spirit, for he who possesses it sees that everything is willed, or at least permitted, by God for His glory and that of His elect. Consequently, that all ought to aspire to this superior unity and simplicity of spirit, is evident. The presence of simplicity in the soul indicates that the gift of wisdom is already well developed, and that the soul possessing it habitually is very close to mystical contemplation, if it does not already have it.
This simplicity is manifested by a great rectitude of life; from this point of view, St. Thomas speaks of it when he is discussing the virtue of truth or veracity as opposed to falsehood. "Simplicity," he says, "is contrary to duplicity, by which a man makes himself out to be something other than what he is interiorly." It is a perfect uprightness and even a certain candor, in the good sense of the word, which leads us to acknowledge our defects easily because we do not cease to see the one thing necessary above all others. To have ordinarily in our relations with our neighbor the undiminished simplicity of the dove together with the prudence of the serpent evidences a high degree of the light of divine wisdom. It is a proximate disposition for mystical contemplation. Who can say that this superior simplicity is not, upon the whole, within the reach of generous souls?
Humility of heart is no less attainable than the preceding dispositions. In fact, it is born of them at the realization of the distance separating the infinite perfection of God from the nothingness of creatures, which of themselves are incapable of existing, acting, and directing themselves as they should. Anyone who already possesses this virtue in a high degree, who is happy to recognize his nothingness and abjection before God, who loves to be nothing so that God may be all, to humble himself before what is divine in every other soul, is prepared for the grace of contemplation. Our Lord Himself says: "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." 16 "Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 17 If you become as little children, you shall enter heaven; and by contemplation the soul enters it in a quasi-experimental manner even in this life. "Take up My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls." 18
This rest for the soul is to be found especially in loving contemplation. "God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble." 19 He makes them humble in order to load them with His gifts. Humility prepares the soul for contemplation, for it already sings the praise of God's glory. The Imitation says that contemplatives are few in number because there are few souls profoundly humble. To receive the grace of contemplation, ordinarily the soul must have made a profound act of true humility which colors its whole life. When a soul has often and practically recognized the fact that its entire existence depends absolutely on God, that it continues to exist only by Him, that it acts well only by reason of His grace, which works in us both to will and to accomplish, that it directs its energies only by His light, that it has sinned frequently, and that it is an unprofitable servant deserving of scorn; then the soul generally obtains the grace we are speaking of.
Love of recollection, fidelity to the grace of the present moment, and perseverance in prayer are also dispositions which should not be lacking in generous souls. These dispositions necessitate a reaction against the agitation of what today is called strenuous life. As a matter of fact, it is not life, but a fever, a deadly illness; it is materialism in action. After turning away from God and from the true life of the soul, it seeks its equivalent in multiplied and increasingly intense activity, which is often a complete loss; for the finite can never equal or become the Infinite. To a true contemplative, people who are devoted to an exaggerated intensity of life must seem like walking corpses; dead men running, as an old ballad says.
"Is the decay of faith astonishing," asks a recent translator of the works of Tauler, "since no one any longer has time to think of faith? Materialism has snuffed out spirituality. Yet the desire for God, who is man's end, still persists in human hearts, with the result that more than ever before there is an indefinable uneasiness in the world. Souls are suffering and dying of this unconscious desire for the Infinite." 20 The reaction from this uneasiness should raise up many contemplative vocations. This is an important argument for the doctrine we are defending here, namely, that an unfavorable environment provokes a salutary reaction in good souls.
Materialism in action extends unfortunately to the things of the spirit and prevents many souls from believing they are called to contemplation. It turns them away from recollection and perseverance in prayer. Even spiritual subjects have been developed along the lines of a material science which, instead of giving us a doctrinal judgment founded on principle, presents us with a jumble of material information which is often useless and impossible to classify. Apparently the more there is, the more science grows. In reality, this entirely material multiplicity puts a great distance between us and the unification of learning, that higher view of the whole which deserves to be called wisdom, and to be called contemplation when it is accompanied by the love of God.
If the present problem of the general call of souls to the mystical life were studied according to the methods of this material science, a doctrinal solution would never be reached; on the contrary, it would seem that no conclusions can be reached, a skeptical attitude which is no evidence of superiority. Were this problem studied in the light of theological wisdom, in the works of the great masters, and also in the light of the gift of wisdom, which is particularly important here, the result would be quite different.
We can scarcely exaggerate the importance of Tauler's teaching on the dangers of a completely material study for a religious who should aspire to contemplation. Speaking even of religious, the great mystic observes that some of them are like cisterns receiving water only from drains and not from the fountain of living water. Without an interior life, they spend themselves on outward things, and pride is the result. He says these intellectuals, infatuated with themselves and their intellect, which is nourished solely by creatures, are cisterns. Their mental attainments cannot support them in trials and will be confounded at death.21
In his explanation of the parable of those who refused the invitation to the feast, Tauler says: "Who could count today the number of men who act in the same way. . . . Everyone, I speak not only of lay people, but also of ecclesiastics and religious, is busy about his affairs. What negotiations and innumerable occupations continually distract and absorb the world! The very thought of it all is enough to set one reeling. We surround ourselves with so many things, whereas a tenth of them would suffice; for, after all, time on earth is short and uncertain. We ought to remember that this world is merely a passage to eternity, and then we would use temporal things with moderation and be satisfied with the necessities of life. It would be better to die of hunger on the way than to let ourselves be encumbered and crucified by so many occupations." 22
Tauler is not speaking here of apostolic work which is the radiation of the interior life, but of countless useless, or at least unsanctified, occupations. If his words were true of his time, what must be said of ours? With such conditions it is not astonishing that only a small number of souls attain to contemplation. These conditions, however, represent essential disorder, which turns souls away from the recollection and prayer necessary to any interior life. Keeping this in mind, we easily understand why our Lord said at the end of the parable of the wedding feast: "Many are called, but few are chosen."
This is not true in a normal Christian life, even in the world. Without excessive difficulty, generous souls attain by meditation to a simple and spontaneous affective prayer, which is an excellent disposition to mystical or infused contemplation.23
Fervent charity toward God and our neighbor is the last of the dispositions that we listed as requisite for contemplation. The love of God for man unites us to Him; and the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which are the principles of infused contemplation, being connected with charity, develop with it. "Wisdom as a gift of the Holy Ghost judges aright about them (divine things) on account of connaturality with them. . . . This sympathy or connaturality for divine things is the result of charity, which unites us to God." 24 Hence it is inconceivable that a soul should reach a high degree of charity without having a proportionate degree of the gift of wisdom as an habitual disposition, because the Holy Ghost inspires and illumines souls, as a general rule, according to the degree of their habitual docility. These souls not only earnestly desire and humbly ask for the grace of contemplation, which will increase their love and adoration, but they cannot restrain themselves from exclaiming: "God is so beautiful; everything in Him deserves admiration even to the forget-fulness of all else. He should indeed be the sole object of our love. It is painful to see how little He is known and how few souls admire His infinite grandeur. How many Christians would love Him if they knew by experience His goodness and tenderness, which are so different from what these words usually connote! They would love Him, even to the complete forgetfulness of self and the world, that they might find again all souls in Him, since these souls are loved by Him."
This explains why the gift of infused contemplation is ordinarily granted to the perfect, as many theologians teach.25 The perfect have, in fact, merited in the strict sense of the word (condignly) a high degree of the gift of wisdom, considered as an habitual disposition; and they have thus merited, at least in the broad sense of the word (congruously),26 the actual superior inspirations commensurate with this degree of the gift.27
Evidently the principal conditions ordinarily required for the mystical life are not, as a rule, lacking in generous interior souls, even if they are detained in the world and are unable to enjoy the silence and solitude of the cloister. Like St. Catherine of Siena, they can build an interior cell in their hearts and find God there.
2. PARTICULAR OBSTACLES TO CONTEMPLATION
After reading the preceding section, souls that have not received the grace of contemplation may question whether they themselves are setting up some obstacle to contemplation.
The obstacle always comes from an inordinate attachment, from selfishness. In many souls it is in the will; they choose their own way; in other words, they wish to go to God by using means of their own selection, and they demand, as it were, that God should come to them according to their way. They count not a little on their own activity instead of allowing God to act in them, and they desire to build up their perfection without His help. No slight obstacle is interposed when a soul wishes to direct itself in matters that should not be under its direction; it runs the risk of more or less consciously opposing the superior direction of the Holy Ghost. To want to be a center, to wish that good be done by us, or at least by our religious family or convent, and in our way, is an ineffectual preparation for contemplation, which is characterized precisely by being God's way. "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." Occasionally, it is in the poorest little convents, which seem to have no influence, that the most contemplative and holiest souls are to be found.
In other souls, the obstacle to contemplation is found in the mind. They try to analyze everything psychologically, and to record it in order to evaluate their slight progress. Consequently they turn their gaze upon themselves instead of on God. True, self-knowledge is always necessary even in the highest states,28 but this self-scrutiny should not be separated from the soul's attention to God. Is not the best examination of conscience that which questions sincerely what record the day has left in the Book of Life? If this is done, the light of the Holy Ghost will effect what St. Augustine asked in his prayer: "That I may know Thee, O Lord, and that I may know myself." "In my opinion," says St. Teresa, "we will never succeed in knowing ourselves well unless we try to know God; by contemplating His greatness, we will discover our baseness. . . . If, on the contrary, we never rise above our own miseries, we will reap distinct harm. . . . Self-knowledge becomes warped if we never take our thoughts off ourselves, and I am not a bit astonished at that. That is why I maintain, my daughters, that we should fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, our treasure, and on the saints; there we shall learn true humility. By this way, I repeat, our intellect will be ennobled, and self-knowledge will cease to make us fearful and cowardly." 29
Among those who analyze themselves too much, some leave off their prayer to find out whether it conforms to the descriptions given by mystical authors, and also to ascertain what degree they have reached. Others imagine that, in order to live by these things, it is sufficient to know them exteriorly, and they try of themselves "to eliminate images and to empty their minds." By so doing they expose themselves to every kind of illusion; they confound a simple intellectual speculation about the Deity, which is superior to the divine perfections that it contains in its eminence, a speculation within the reach of every philosopher, even though he is in the state of mortal sin, with the infused contemplation described by Dionysius when he speaks of the great darkness.30 They forget that the principle which leads to Christian contemplation is to love God for Himself. They lose themselves in abstract speculations and do not comprehend the love of Christ. With a great amount of unconscious pride, they might thus go completely astray and end in a theosophical or Buddhistic contemplation.
Lastly, certain souls appear better prepared in some respects, since they would willingly allow God to operate in them, and do not pride themselves on knowing everything; but their heart seeks in God enjoyment rather than God Himself. In this they are deceived, for it is a crucified God whom we must love, and intimacy with Him is often found in suffering. Undoubtedly joy and unequaled happiness come later, but this is not what the soul should seek.
Some souls that have opposed all these obstacles to the grace of God have had the happiness of seeing Him overthrow them all in order to prove once more that He came to seek sinners and to save that which was lost. Perhaps the intimacy of prayer was necessary for their salvation; if they had not obtained it, they might have wished to enjoy their faculties for themselves and to find in a forbidden love or in the satisfactions of pride what exists in divine love alone. Priceless treasures are often wasted by shutting oneself up in self. We should invoke God's help in the following prayer: "O Lord, take me from myself, and give me strength to give myself completely to Thee."
3. WHAT SHOULD BE THOUGHT OF SOULS THAT HAVE RECEIVED ONLY ONE OR TWO TALENTS?
Is it morally possible for souls that have received only one or two talents to reach the divine intimacy we are now discussing? Even though they could do so only with great difficulty, it would not follow that this divine intimacy is essentially extraordinary. Not all the oaks in a forest attain the height of their normal growth; some are stunted. We find an analogy in the spiritual order. God casts more or less beautiful divine seed into souls according to His good pleasure; and sometimes this seed encounters such obstacles that it is very difficult for it to attain its complete normal development.
But we must remember what St. Thomas says: "The very least grace is sufficient to resist any degree of concupiscence"; 31 that is, the very least sufficient grace gives this power, and the very least efficacious grace makes it become an act. As Cajetan,32 Gonet,33 and several other Thomists remark, this is true of the slightest sufficient grace considered in itself, but perhaps not of this grace when it is in a soul that is both very weak and much tempted. Thus the heat of boiling water drives away the cold; but, since water is not the natural subject of heat, the heat in turn is driven out by the cold if the fire is not kept up.
It should be remembered, however, that the privilege of frequent communion is offered to these less favored souls. If they receive the Holy Eucharist frequently with growing fervor of will, why should they not, at the end of a long life, by daily fidelity reach at least the lower degrees of the mystical life? Perhaps, as the parable of the sower relates, they will yield a thirtyfold harvest, while others will yield sixtyfold or a hundredfold.34 We must keep in mind the parable of the laborers of the eleventh hour, who, out of gratitude, worked so well that they earned the same reward as those who had worked since morning. Let us also recall the good thief and the graces he must have received when he heard the words of the dying Christ: "Amen, I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." Finally, it must be remembered that the majority of the elect pass through purgatory after death by reason of their own fault, that is, because of negligences that prevented the perfect purification they could have reached in this life 35 with the help of grace.
4. IS THIS DOCTRINE OF A NATURE TO LEAD SOME SOULS TO PRESUMPTION AND OTHERS TO DISCOURAGEMENT?
The objection may be raised that, if the doctrine of the general and remote call of all just souls to the mystical life is accepted, some souls may be inclined to anticipate God's time and simulate passive prayer, which would lead them to quietism or semi-quietism. Others, it may be objected, may become discouraged if, in spite of their generosity, they do not have the signs of passive prayer, and they may be led to think they will never be able to reach the full perfection of the Christian life.
This objection fails to appreciate the true meaning of the doctrine we have just set forth, or it considers only the harmful application which an imprudent director might make of it.
This is evident from the way St. Thomas answers a similar objection to the expediency of vows. The objection is phrased thus: He who makes a vow exposes himself to sin against this vow; therefore it is not expedient for him to make it. St. Thomas answers: 36 "When danger arises from the deed itself, this deed is not expedient—for instance, that one cross a river by a tottering bridge. But if the danger arise through man's failure in the deed, the latter does not cease to be expedient: thus it is expedient to mount on horseback, though there be danger of a fall from the horse: else it would behove one to desist from all good things, since they may become dangerous accidentally. Wherefore it is written (Eccles. 11: 4): 'He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that considereth the clouds shall never reap.' " Should people quit using knives because now and then a man cuts himself? Are the vows an obstacle to perfection, because by making them a person indirectly exposes himself to transgress them occasionally? And should we fear to lead fervent souls humbly to desire the true mystical life, simply because there is a false one? Must a very great good be renounced through fear of something unbecoming which might accidently arise?
What does St. Teresa say about those who think it dangerous to follow the way of prayer and to desire to drink from the fountain of living water? In The Way of Perfection she says: "A want of humility, of the virtues, may endanger you, but prayer—prayer! Never would God permit this. The devil must have originated these fears and so brought about, by crafty tricks, the fall of certain souls that practised prayer. . . . Therefore, sisters, banish these misgivings: take no notice of public opinion. . . . Cast aside these causeless fears. . . . Beware, daughters, of a certain kind of humility suggested by the devil, which is accompanied by great anxiety about the gravity of our past sins. He disturbs souls in many ways by this means, until at last he stops them from receiving holy communion by doubts as to whether they are in a fit state for it." 37 Elsewhere, speaking of those who inspire such vain fears in souls, she says: "I, also, am acquainted with these semi-doctors who are always suspicious. They have cost me quite dear." 38
The doctrine which we have explained is not at all dangerous in itself, or when applied by prudent directors. Joseph of the Holy Ghost, a Carmelite well known for his work on mystical theology, sums up this doctrine in two propositions, which he gives exactly as the expression of traditional teaching: "If it is a question of infused contemplation, taken in the sense of rapture, ecstasy, and similar favors, we can neither apply ourselves to it nor ask it of God nor desire it. But if it is a question of infused contemplation itself, as an act of contemplation, although we can certainly not have it through our own activity aided by grace, we can aspire to it, by desiring it ardently and humbly asking God for it." 39 The union of these two words "ardently" and "humbly" recalls the fortiter et suaviter of Scripture; it solves the problem by the conciliation of humility and magnanimity. St. Thomas has beautifully explained the harmony between these two virtues which are apparently so contrary. Humility, he says, by inclining us profoundly before God, reminds us of our wretchedness; while magnanimity makes us aspire to great things, even to the divine intimacy which God offers us.40 A Christian should keenly aspire to these great things, and by increasingly perfect fidelity prepare himself for them, and humbly wait for the divine mercy to bestow them. In the present article, we have insisted particularly on humility, which corrects presumption, and on the desire of hope and charity, which, united to forgetfulness of self, corrects discouragement. It is well to keep in mind that, by reason of the connection of the virtues, profound humility is impossible without great magnanimity, as the lives of the saints show. As St. Paul says, we bear an exceedingly precious treasure, grace and the Blessed Trinity, in a fragile vase; the greater our knowledge of the fragility of the vase, the greater also will be our appreciation of the value of the treasure, and the keener our aspiration to live intimately by it. This is taught by the passive purifications, a mystical state which, far from making the soul proud, humbles it profoundly. Without these purifications, it is scarcely possible to love to be nothing in order that God may be all; amare nesciri et pro nihilo reputari.
The doctrine leading to presumption is the teaching that all interior souls are called to the mystical life, not only in a general and remote manner, but in a proximate and individual way. Were this mistake made, the director should advise souls to practice the repose of passive prayer even before he had been able to prove the existence in them of the three signs enumerated by St. John of the Cross, and discussed in the course of these pages.41 The soul would thus end in quietism.
The doctrine leading to discouragement is that which would maintain that interior souls are not generally called, even in a remote manner, to the divine intimacy of the mystical life. Many souls would thus be retained in the lower forms of the spiritual life and many, in spite of their generosity, would despair of reaching intimate union with God in this life.
Others, before undergoing the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul, might decide, and not without presumption, that they had reached the ordinary unitive life, and that it would be enough for them to remain in it, since the higher degrees are extraordinary, and humility does not permit one to aspire to them.
To combat the excess of quietism or semi-quietism, care should be taken not to fall into the opposite extreme, a sort of practical naturalism which breaks the progress of the interior life. As usual in these great problems, truth is found in a happy mean above two extreme errors, which are opposed to each other; truth, like a summit, dominates the ramblings and contradictions of error. Moreover, it rises above an inconsistent eclecticism which always goes only halfway, which cannot affirm anything precisely, and which oscillates from right to left because it fails to see the superior principles that alone reconcile the most varied aspects of reality. The apparent antagonisms are resolved by the equilibrium of their terms carried to the highest degree; on this summit harmony is reached, for example, between humility and magnanimity. Every interior soul ought to strive humbly and ardently for great things. Humility in itself should not be inferior to magnanimity, for these virtues, in appearance so contrary, grow together and mutually strengthen each other; at one and the same time, they preserve the soul from pride and discouragement. The apparent contradiction between them is solved by what St. Paul says: "For God . . . has shined in our hearts . . . but we have this treasure in earthen vessels." If we consider the fragility of the vessel, we can never humble ourselves too greatly; if we consider the value of the treasure, we can never too greatly desire the intimate reign of God in our souls and the more and more perfect fulfilment of the first precept which knows no limit. "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," in order to become truly "an adorer in spirit and in truth." We can never too greatly desire to grow in charity and in divine wisdom which, like all the gifts, grows with it.
This doctrine does not, therefore, lead good souls either to discouragement or to presumption, but, like the dogma of predestination, it makes them aspire to divine union by instilling in them a holy fear of not being sufficiently generous and docile to the Holy Ghost. It does not lead to discouragement any more than do the passive purifications, which are intended to refine the virtue of hope by the struggle against temptations to despair. These temptations arise when God Himself reveals more clearly to the soul the height of the goal to be attained. In this light the soul sees more and more its own wretchedness, and must then, in spite of the devil's suggestions, hope against all hope. This purification is necessary that the soul may be completely and forever cured of vain self-complacency, and that the roots of pride and presumption may be completely extirpated. Instead of leading to pride, mystical contemplation destroys it and teaches humility, as God alone can. "Where humility is, there also is wisdom"; 42 and where profound humility is, there is also lofty wisdom, that which comes from the Father of light. As the author of The Imitation says, there are so few contemplatives because the number of profoundly humble souls is so small.
This doctrine, therefore, makes it possible to reply to the difficulties proposed against it; it is thereby newly confirmed and appears more and more as the true expression of traditional teaching. To live it, however, we need what many authors have called "the second conversion." What this should be may be determined from what we have just said about the interior conditions ordinarily required for mystical contemplation or for the virtues which prepare for it. If there are few perfect souls, this is because there are few that follow the direction of the Holy Ghost. His seven gifts often have little effect in many souls because they are, as it were, fettered by contrary habits and affections. More or less deliberate and frequent venial sins exclude the graces necessary to produce the acts of the gifts.43 But we cannot doubt their existence, because Scripture, tradition, and the liturgy speak of them, and, if the obstacles were removed, we should ordinarily see the gradual realization of what the Church makes us implore in the Veni Creator:
Creator, Spirit, all divine,
Come visit every soul of Thine,
And fill with Thy celestial flame
The bosoms Thou Thyself didst frame.
The sevenfold mystic gifts are Thine,
Finger of God's right hand divine;
His gracious promise sent to teach
The tongue a rich and heavenly speech.
Kindle with fire brought from above
Each sense, and fill our hearts with love
And grant our flesh so weak and poor
That strength which lasts forevermore.
This prayer, which should be said by the faithful soul with an ever increasing fervor of will, reminds us that the life of grace is eternal life begun; and it ends by asking for the normal fruit of this "grace of the virtues and of the gifts," the infused contemplation of the Blessed Trinity dwelling in us:
To us, through Thee, the grace be shown
To know the Father and the Son:
And Spirit of Them both, may we
Forever hold firm trust in Thee.
Consequently the mystical life is the plenitude of faith, hope, charity, and the gifts which accompany them; in other words, the normal prelude to the life of heaven.
We must have confidence in the divine promises. Aridity is not the result of tepidity, when, instead of love of the world, interest in our spiritual advancement predominates. We must trust in the Holy Ghost who dwells in us and who increases His work in us in proportion to our growing fidelity to the first commandment: "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" in order to become "adorers in spirit and in truth." Our Lord said: "I will not now call you servants . . . but I have called you friends." We should believe in the wholly divine strength of the grace received in baptism, of the Holy Ghost who was given to us. We do not see this strength any more than we see the life hidden in an acorn from which a vigorous oak grows. If the oak is encircled by a band of iron, the bark will soon grow over it. Who can measure the supernatural energy contained in the grace of the virtues and the gifts, which is none other than eternal life begun? Who can set a limit to the work of sanctification which the Holy Ghost has begun in us, and prevent souls from reaching even the inner sanctuary where the Blessed Trinity dwells? "Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me." 44 "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." 45
SOME THEORETICAL DIFFICULTIES CAN THE GRACE OF CONTEMPLATION BE MERITED? ARE THE REQUIRED CONDITIONS NORMAL?
Some objections in the speculative order may be raised against the doctrine we have expounded. Particularly deserving of examination is the objection which bears on the question as to whether the grace of contemplation can be merited at least congruously.
The first objection: "The law of the development of grace in man ought not to be understood only for grace abstractly considered, but for grace as capable of being shared by human nature. It is thus St. Thomas (qu. disp. de caritate, a. 10) distinguishes between: (1) the absolutely perfect charity which God alone can have; (2) the perfect charity which man can have only in heaven; and (3) the perfect charity which he can have in this life. St. Thomas expresses the same opinion in IIa IIae, q. 24, a. 8, and IIIa, q. 7, a. 10."
It is easy to answer that, in the question of the general and remote call,46 we considered the grace of the virtues and the gifts, not in a purely abstract manner, independent of the mode according to which it exists in angels or in man, but as it exists in the human soul even in this life. This quasi-ideal soul was itself considered as a beginner, a proficient, and finally as perfect. And we insisted particularly on one point, namely, that infused contemplation does not require infused ideas like those of the angels, but that acquired ideas suffice, as they do for the act of faith. The question is, therefore, concerned with grace in so far as it can be shared by man in this life, and not in purgatory or in heaven.
Moreover, in the question of the individual call47 we considered the life of grace as capable of being shared in and as participated in by an individual soul, according as it possesses or does not possess the three signs mentioned by Tauler and later by St. John of the Cross, signs which have become the classic indications of the beginning of infused contemplation. Furthermore, in this second question the distinction between the merely sufficient call and the efficacious call (efficacious in the Thomistic sense, whether it be to the lower degrees of the mystical life or to the higher degrees) safeguards the gratuity of God's gift, just as in the case of the grace of conversion or that of final perseverance.
Therefore it is in entire conformity with the doctrine taught by St. Thomas (qu. disp. de. caritate, a. 10), since even the transforming union 48 is included in what St. Thomas calls caritas perfecta secundum tempus, scilicet quae potest haberi in hac vita.49
Every soul should be sufficiently purified at the moment of death to go straight to heaven without passing through purgatory, where it will be detained only through its own fault in neglecting graces that were granted or offered it. It will suffer so greatly in purgatory from the deprivation of the sight of God only because it is radical to the order established by God to see Him immediately after death. The fact that there are a great many retarded souls should not make us forget the normal way of sanctity, to which every Christian should aspire in order to be in the radical order willed by God.
Those who object to our teaching on this subject insist further. "It seems," they say, "that a law of grace (of its growth and perfection) cannot be as rigorously formulated as a law of nature. Grace, which is a participation in the divine nature and an absolutely gratuitous gift, has not by reason of this double title and, as it were, form, any measure that can regulate its perfection and mode of growth other than the free love of God for each man in particular."
This interesting objection leads us to state definitely an important point. Certainly, according to the teaching of St. Thomas50—and St. John of the Cross expresses the same opinion 51—the degree of glory of each predestined soul and the corresponding degree of charity at the hour of death depend on God's good pleasure. In addition, neither the first grace nor that of final perseverance can be merited; 52 and we shall see that not even any efficacious help which keeps us in the state of grace can be merited condignly, or according to the strict meaning of the word "merit." 53
Nevertheless, if God gratuitously places a soul in the order of grace, and maintains it therein, then the laws of this order apply to that soul. Among these laws of the order of grace, some are absolutely rigorous and without exception; for example, there are truths of faith which must, not only of precept but of necessity, be believed by adults as an indispensable means of salvation. Likewise, it is impossible to have a supernatural love of God without faith; besides, the infused virtues are connected with charity, just as the gifts are.54 This connection presupposes numerous mutual relations between the infused virtues and the gifts, relations which are the laws of the supernatural organism. As a result, in Ia IIae and IIa IIae of the Summa, almost every article dealing with the relations of the virtues to each other, or of the gifts to each other, or of the gifts with the virtues, contains a law belonging to the order of grace.
This is the way we can merit condignly (or in the strict sense, a rigorous law) the increase of charity which is accompanied by that of the infused virtues and of the gifts.55 This is so true that a soul cannot have charity in a heroic degree without having the other infused virtues and the gifts (as habitus) in a proportionate degree.56 This law is more rigorous than the law in virtue of which the five fingers of the hand develop at the same time. In the sensible order, there are exceptions, inasmuch as matter sometimes escapes the domination of the directing form or idea which organizes it. The infused virtues, which are mutually connected, considered formally, grow simultaneously without exception: "Their growth in man is equal, as the fingers . . . grow in proportion to one another."57 The same is true of the gifts that are connected with them in charity.58
A further objection is offered: "If this point of view were entirely exact, there would be no need of hesitation in saying that the mystical state can, at a given moment, be merited condignly."
We answer this objection 59 in our frequently reiterated statement that a distinction must be made between the gifts themselves, considered as habitual dispositions, and the acts that proceed from them.
It is true that we can merit condignly the increase of charity, of the virtues, and of the gifts as habitus, and that in this life no limit can be placed on this augmentation.60 The Holy Ghost moves souls as a rule according to the degree of their infused habitus, of their habitual docility (provided there is no obstacle, venial sin or imperfection; in case there is, the meritorious act is weak, remissus, inferior to the degree of charity). Consequently Thomists 61 usually say that the just man, who perseveres in fervor, can merit saltem de congruo (at least in the broad sense of the word "merit") the grace of infused contemplation. Why do they say saltem, at least congruously? Because in the grace of infused contemplation there is something merited strictly or condignly, that is, a high degree of the gifts of understanding and wisdom, considered as habitus; it is an act, and the mystical state is this act which lasts a certain time. But this act supposes an efficacious, actual grace. According to Thomists, we cannot strictly or condignly merit the efficacious help which keeps us in the state of grace. Why is this? Because the principle of merit does not fall under merit: that is why neither the first grace nor the efficacious help which maintains us in the state of grace nor the gift of final perseverance, though so necessary to salvation, can be merited condignly.62
Moreover, if a just man could strictly merit efficacious grace A, by it he would likewise merit efficacious grace B, and so on to the grace of final perseverance, which would thus be merited condignly. Whence it follows that many graces necessary to salvation cannot be the object of strict merit. It should not surprise us then that the actual efficacious grace of infused contemplation cannot be merited condignly, even though it is in the normal way of sanctity. It can be merited more than the grace of final perseverance, for it would be an exaggeration to say that this last can be merited at least congruously.63 But in one sense the actual grace of infused contemplation is more gratuitous than that necessary to the obligatory exercise of the infused virtues, for we use infused virtues when we wish to do so. The same is not true of the gifts, although by our fidelity we can prepare ourselves to receive the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Indeed, we ought to prepare ourselves for it; and if we do this generously, a day will come when the grace of contemplation will be given to us quite frequently. God ordinarily gives it to the perfect, provided there are no accidental obstacles; but He gives it either in aridity and night, or in light and consolation.64
The following objection is offered: "What you consider accidental and what you are a bit inclined to scorn theoretically because it is material, is perhaps part of that material causality, which is as indispensable to the essence of the composite (nature and grace) as formal causality, although in an inferior rank."
We must answer this objection by stating that souls receive grace according to the obediential power which is the same in all.65 As for the material causality, which prepares for the reception and increase of grace, it is itself the effect of an actual grace of supernatural order. According to St. Thomas, this is the meaning of the axiom: "If man does what is in him to do, God will not deny him grace." 66 The infusion and increase of grace certainly require an aptness, for no form or perfection is produced in a subject unless the subject is disposed for it; but it is God Himself who thus disposes our souls, or who moves them supernaturally to prepare themselves.67 Grace and charity are not given to us in proportion to our natural capacities or dispositions, for they surpass them infinitely.68 Consequently Thomists teach that it is our supernatural acts which not only merit, but physically prepare for the augmentation of charity.69
We considered these supernatural dispositions for infused contemplation at considerable length in the preceding chapters.70 That teaching on the subject is classical, and it would be an unpardonable fault to neglect it. These dispositions, as we have seen, are chiefly: (1) great purity of heart, "Blessed are the clean of heart"; (2) great simplicity of mind which seeks only the truth; (3) profound humility; (4) habitual recollection; (5) perseverance in prayer; (6) fervent charity. This last disposition is the most important together with a profound humility. In the order of material preparation, humility is fundamental, according to St. Thomas, ut removens prohibens, inasmuch as it removes the principal obstacle which is pride, intellectual pride so frequent in a certain type of learning, or spiritual pride.71 This is why St. Teresa insisted so strongly on this fundamental disposition in all her works, particularly in the Epilogue to The Interior Castle. Our Lord Himself taught this to us when He exclaimed: "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones." Often, by reason of humility, the inequality of supernatural conditions or of graces balances marvelously the inequality of natural conditions or dispositions. In the exposition of traditional teaching, too much insistence cannot, therefore, be placed on the supernatural dispositions to contemplation. And who can answer that he is unable to have this purity of heart, simplicity of mind, profound humility, spirit of prayer, and charity? We ought to beg God to give us these dispositions.
We have, moreover, considered the external conditions that favor contemplation and union with God. They are: a certain solitude, silence, sufficient time given to prayer, no overburdening, no useless reading, no preoccupations foreign to our vocation. To these external conditions must be added natural aptitude and also enlightened direction. If many of these exterior conditions are lacking, it is difficult to reach contemplation, which no longer has its normal environment, Profound humility and ardent charity, however, may supply this lack, especially if joined with great devotion to the Blessed Virgin and to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.72 He who habitually begins his prayer with these two mediators, will be led by them to intimate union with God, since the object of the Blessed Virgin's influence is to lead us to her Son, and that of Christ to lead us to the Father.
When suitable external conditions are lacking, it may happen that generous souls will reach contemplation only after a period of time longer than the usual span of life; but they tend to it as to the normal prelude of the beatific vision. And the active life itself, according to St. Thomas, is thus ordained to the contemplative life, for which it should prepare us.73
To revert to the proposed objection, we have shown in the preceding chapter74 that we understand "accidental" or per accidens in the same sense as St. Thomas does. Since sanctifying grace is, in fact, a beginning of eternal life (inchoatio vitae aeternae, semen gloriae), it is of itself (ratione sui) inamissible and should continually increase, especially through daily communion. But we hold this treasure in a fragile vessel and, because of the subject or of the defectibility of our free will, grace can be lost or may increase very little. Now this loss or even this check in its development is opposed to the intrinsic law of the divine seed, which was created to develop continually until eternal life is reached. This opposition characterizes sin in its various degrees. Whoever does not advance in the spiritual life, retrogresses.75
In view of the three fundamental reasons quoted in the preceding chapter,76 we know that in principle (per se loquendo), infused contemplation is in the normal way of sanctity, given the above mentioned interior dispositions and good direction in a favorable environment. But if accidentally good direction, which should be normal in the Church, is lacking, and with it silence and recollection, and if the environment opposes contemplation instead of favoring it, then even generous souls may possibly not attain to infused contemplation in this life. This is similar to the case of a good intellect in a milieu that is strongly prejudiced against the teaching of St. Thomas. In such a situation, a good intellect will find great difficulty in reaching a clear grasp of St. Thomas' doctrine. This also represents something accidental.77
To know what is the normal way of sanctity and the full development of the grace of the virtues and the gifts, we must consider how this grace grows in principle (per se) in suitable and not contrary interior and exterior conditions. The same rule holds good in the spiritual order as in the natural order. When we wish to discover what a certain seed will produce, for example, the seed of a cedar, we plant it in suitable soil; otherwise it will not reach the summit of its normal development. We are speaking, therefore, of souls in a Christian environment which corresponds to the designs God has on them.
Another difficulty may be stated as follows: "From the sole concept of grace formally considered, we cannot deduce a priori that the mystical state is normal, even in the sense which has just been expressed. The proof should be supplemented at least by the observation of facts, or by having recourse to theological authority, tradition for example."
This objection is easily answered. The three fundamental proofs proposed in the preceding chapter 78 are individually, as well for the major as for the minor and the conclusion, founded not only on the concept of the grace of the virtues and the gifts, but on tradition and the experience of the perfect life, as it has been described especially by St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross. Moreover, ten to fifteen years' experience in ministering to contemplative communities, and even to those of fervent mixed life, suffices to show that the experience of the perfect life conforms even today with what the saints have told us about it.
Therefore infused contemplation is in the normal way of sanctity for the following reasons: (1) It proceeds from the grace of the virtues and the gifts accorded to every baptized person, and it appears when the superhuman mode of the gifts begins to prevail, as is proper for perfection, over the human and imperfect mode of the virtues.79 This takes place in the illuminative and especially in the unitive way. (2) In this life the soul is perfectly purified in the depths of its faculties only by the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul, which belong to the mystical order and are accompanied by infused contemplation, at least by initial or arid contemplation. (3) Infused contemplation and the very ardent desire to see God are, according to tradition and the experience of the perfect life, the normal prelude to the beatific vision. Therefore, since heaven is accessible to all, as much must be said of what is its ordinary prelude in the perfect.80
Although eminent, the grace of infused contemplation is in the normal way of sanctity, even of the sanctity which every Christian should have before death in order to avoid purgatory and, immediately after the separation of the soul from the body, to be in the radical order willed by God, and not to be painfully deprived of the beatific vision for a longer or shorter time.
There is a further objection: "No one can question the fact that the spiritual progress expressed under these three aspects is in the normal line of the formal development of grace. But does not human nature in this life (in via) present in its normal state such resistance to this growth that this development should be considered an extraordinary favor? The beatific vision is, indeed, in the order of the formal development of grace, but it would be essentially extraordinary to receive it here below. Now, between the normal conditions of human life and the exterior and interior conditions required for the mystical life, almost as great a distance exists as between life and death."
Here again we reply with St. Thomas,81 that the beatific vision cannot take place in this life without rapture, and that it excludes the co-operation of the imagination. The case is quite otherwise with infused contemplation, which we are here considering. It is, therefore, conformable to the normal state of man in this life.82 In addition, we should not forget that there is less distance between a just man on this earth, even though he is not a mystic, and a saint in heaven, than between this just man and a sinner deprived of grace; for nature is not the seed of grace, whereas grace is the seed of glory, or eternal life begun, inchoatio vitae aeternae. No great distance separates the normal conditions of a perseveringly fervent Christian life from the conditions required for the mystical life.83
The conditions required for the mystical life are found both in contemplative orders and in fervent communities devoted both to contemplation and to action, and even in Christian marriage when it is truly what it ought to be.84 Many experienced directors have found in all these walks of life, among generous souls habitually faithful to the Holy Ghost, many that have reached the mystical state. Recently one of these directors wrote as follows: "Many believe themselves to be on the mystical way and qualified to write and speak about it, who have no true experience of it. . . . On the other hand, many lead the mystical life unawares and sometimes are very far advanced in it without suspecting that God is doing very great things in them, or realizing that theirs is the mystical life. I have found such in all walks of life, notably among the poor and little children and among illiterate persons, and even among savage tribes of North America." 85 The author of these lines goes so far as to maintain that ordinarily a soul does not persevere in fervor, humility, self-forgetfulness, and generosity, without attaining to the life of intimate union with God; in other words, to the essence of the mystical life. This does not prevent him from writing: "An amazing fact is that a comparatively enormous number of persons remain beginners all their lives. Very few, even among religious and clerics and secular persons making a profession of piety, very few indeed are those who really go beyond the threshold of the mystical life and who answer the loving, pressing invitation of God: 'Friend, go up higher' (Luke 14: 10)." 86 As we said in the preceding chapter,87 this explains the fact that conditions necessary for the mystical life are not generally lacking in the case of generous interior souls. If we are inclined to hold a contrary opinion, we should take care not to seek in an unfounded theory the justification of a certain spiritual mediocrity. We should not assert that the mystical life is extraordinary, simply to avoid the obligation of aspiring to it by that despoiling of self which prepares for it.
We might add that unfavorable surroundings often provoke a salutary reaction in good souls, especially in very good ones; and the Lord helps them in proportion to the difficulties to be overcome. For example, the suffering caused by injustice reveals to us the worth of justice; self-sufficiency and pride, which become unendurable, demonstrate the worth of humility. Love of truth, relish for the word of God, solid piety, all of which are not content with appearances, react by common accord and quite spontaneously against empty and pretentious learning, which alters everything by its false spirit. The lack of simplicity in life emphasizes the desirability of that frank cordiality without which there is no true union of hearts and minds in God. A discordant note, which violates the order of charity by placing the love of neighbor above the love of God, startles us and by contrast recalls the grandeur of the first precept. Falsehood under its various forms shows us the worth of truth; the absence of truth in varying degrees is one of the greatest obstacles to the life of prayer. A soul becomes contemplative only if it is established in the truth, because infused contemplation is simply the immediate effect of the direct operation of God's truth on the soul to bring it to a greater love.
Finally, the chief obstacle comes from certain subtleties of intellectual or spiritual pride which, especially when found in those who direct souls, can have irremediable consequences, at least for a time. In this case, mystical grandiloquence is no less to be feared than a certain sterile intellectualism. This explains by contrast why more real contemplation and sanctity are sometimes found in poor convents that are very little known, but are exceedingly dear to our Lord Jesus Christ. The divine mercy often compensates for the inequality of natural conditions by great graces. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Deep humility supplies for other conditions in the life of union with God. The two great mediators, Jesus and Mary, stoop to the humble in order to lead them to the intimacy of the Father. We have only one life, and on it our eternity depends. As Tauler says, if we have not entered the divine intimacy before we are advanced in years, we run the risk of not entering it in this life, even though it is the normal prelude to heaven.
Lastly, this objection is offered: "The conditions generally required for the mystical life, although normal to grace, are abnormal to human nature, which is not made normally for these conditions of life. In the habitual mode of acting which characterizes the mystical state, and in the terrible passive purifications, there is an annihilation of nature to which nature is not essentially ordained. This annihilation is not required for simple justification or for the life of grace according to the human mode of the virtues. . . . Finally, in this life the normal prelude of the beatific vision is charity, strictly speaking, and not infused contemplation proceeding from the gift of wisdom."
This objection, which devotes more attention to the exigencies of nature than to those of grace, is reminiscent of the spirit of certain Christian humanists rather than of the spirit of wisdom mentioned here. It fails to recognize several essential points that we have expounded at length.
1) It loses sight of the scope of our Lord's teaching on the mystery of the cross. In St. Luke's Gospel (9: 23) we read: "And He said to all: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; for he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall save it." From this point of view, the conditions of the mystical life which seem abnormal to nature are not so to nature regenerated by grace; they are not abnormal to Christian life, considered especially in its full perfection attainable on this earth. A Christian should imitate Christ crucified. The passive purifications are not opposed to the harmony of nature and grace. These purifications, more or less painful according to the faults to be expiated and to the degree of supernatural life to which God wishes to conduct the soul,88 are, like the cross, necessary, according to the saints, in order to reach this perfect harmony, which on earth finds its complete realization only in the fully developed unitive life, that is, in the mystical life and its superhuman mode.89 In it alone the virtues apparently so contrary harmonize completely: the loftiest wisdom with prudence, attentive to the slighest detail; strength with meekness; mercy with justice. In the unitive life alone the supernatural life becomes truly connatural without losing any of its elevation. It is like a second nature whose acts are spontaneous and very simple because the purified soul refers all to God 90 instead of referring all instinctively to self.
We should not forget, however, that fallen nature rises again to its natural normal state only by the grace which heals (gratia sanans), and that without this grace we cannot observe all the natural laws or love God, the Author of our nature, above all else, even in a natural way. St. Thomas is explicit in his teaching on this point. He says: "In the state of perfect nature, man referred the love of himself and of all other things to the love of God as to its end; and thus he loved God more than himself and above all things. But in the state of corrupt nature, man falls short of this in the appetite of his rational will, which, unless it is cured by God's grace, follows its private good, on account of the corruption of nature." 91
2) The objection would, in addition, lead one to maintain, in opposition to what we have set forth about the sublimity of the first commandment,92 that the majority of just souls could not by progressive fidelity reach Christian perfection, that is, the third degree of charity. As we have seen,93 this degree is normally accompanied by the third degree of the gifts, which belongs to the mystical order. God is prompt in giving the grace of contemplation to those who are prepared for it, but man is slow in preparing suitably by perfect humility and abnegation.
3) It would also follow that for the majority of the elect purgatory would be inevitable, since they could not be perfectly purified in this life. This error fails to take into account the fact that, in the order willed by God, purification should be undergone in this life with the resulting merit, instead of after death without merit.94
4) It is not only charity which in perfect souls is the normal prelude to the beatific vision, but charity accompanied by the virtues of the purified soul (purgati animi)95 by the gifts in the third degree, and by the beatitudes, the reward of which belongs in a sense to this life.96
The solution of these objections confirms the doctrine we taught in the preceding chapter on the general and remote call of just souls to the mystical life, which is in the normal way of sanctity, on the normal way to heaven, to which all the just are most certainly called. This explains our summary of this doctrine in the following outline. Its meaning and scope can now be better understood. By reading from the bottom up, the ascending movement of grace in our souls is followed.
VENIAL SIN AND IMPERFECTION, OBSTACLES TO DIVINE UNION
Too much insistence cannot be placed on the divers obstacles hindering the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in our souls. Father Lallemant, S.J., gives a clear exposition of these hindrances in his beautiful book, The Spiritual Doctrine.97 He says: "It has been asked why the majority of religious and devout persons who lead a lukewarm spiritual life make so few acts of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, since, being in the state of grace, they possess them. . . . It is surprising to see so many religious who, after living in the state of grace for forty or fifty years, saying mass daily, and performing all the holy exercises of the religious life, and consequently possessing the gifts of the Holy Ghost in a very high physical degree, corresponding to that sort of perfection in grace which theologians call gradual or a physical increase—it is surprising, I repeat, to see that these religious give no evidence of the gifts of the Holy Ghost in their actions and conduct. Their life is entirely natural, for when blamed or disobliged they show their resentment; they are very eager for praise, esteem, and the applause of the world, and take great pleasure in these things. They love and seek their ease and all that flatters self-love.
"This should not be a subject of amazement, for the venial sins which they commit continually hold the gifts of the Holy Ghost, as it were, bound 98 in such a way that it is not at all surprising that they do not show their effect. It is true that the gifts grow, like charity, habitually and in their physical being; but not actually, and in that perfection which corresponds to the fervor of charity and which increases our merit, because venial sins are opposed to the fervor of charity and consequently hinder the operation of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. . . . It is past all conception, says St. Lawrence Justinian, how many sins fill our hearts if we do not take care to purify them constantly. . . . Few people give themselves wholly to God, and abandon themselves so completely to the conduct of the Holy Ghost that He alone lives in them and is the principle of all their actions."
Moreover, people often neglect to correct a multitude of imperfections which are not, at least essentially, venial sins. St. John of the Cross 99 names many of them, when he speaks of the imperfections of beginners and of proficients.100
In this matter, it is important to see how, according to the opinion of the best Thomists, imperfection differs from venial sin. At first glance, this distinction seems contrary to two principles enunciated by St. Thomas. He teaches 101 that there are no deliberate individual or concrete acts which are indifferent, that is, which are neither morally good nor morally bad. If they are indifferent by reason of their object, as, for example, taking a walk, they are either good or bad by reason of the end which the person intends; because man, when acting deliberately, ought always to do so for a right end. If he does this, the act is morally good; otherwise, it is bad. Hence it does not seem that between virtuous acts and venial sins there can be any place for what is called an imperfection.
Elsewhere St. Thomas teaches102 that the perfection of charity falls under the precept of the love of God, if not as matter, or something to be accomplished, at least as the end toward which every Christian, each according to his condition, should tend. Consequently it seems that when he does not accomplish all that he can at a given moment, he commits a venial sin, slight perhaps, but real. Therefore imperfection does not seem distinct from venial sin.
St. Thomas, nevertheless, often speaks of good acts which are imperfect. This is the case with acts of charity that are notably inferior to our degree of charity (actus remissi): for example, when, having five talents, we act as though we had only two.103 Besides, when St. Thomas 104 defines initial fear, which is intermediate between servile fear (the fear of suffering) and filial fear (the fear of sin), he says that initial fear does not differ essentially from filial fear (it is, therefore, not a venial sin); but that it is something imperfect, for it is accompanied by a certain amount of servile fear. A man who as yet possesses only initial fear, says St. Thomas, "is inclined toward good, not only through love of justice, but also for fear of punishment; for this fear ceases in a soul that possesses perfect charity." As a matter of fact, servile fear diminishes with the progress of charity, while filial fear increases.
The reason which serves as a basis for the distinction between venial sin and imperfection has been clearly expounded in the Thomistic school by the Carmelites of Salamanca.105 Their doctrine is as follows: Venial sin cannot be ordained to the end of charity (est irreferibile ad finem caritatis) for it is a disordered act, in the order of means, as mortal sin is disordered in relation to the last end from which it turns us aside.106
On the contrary, what is called "an imperfection" is a morally good act which can be ordained to the end of charity, but which lacks a certain perfection suitable to spiritual progress.
For a clear understanding of this distinction we must, as the Carmelites of Salamanca say, observe that an imperfect act (often called an imperfection) is not absolutely identified with the absence of perfection (or formal imperfection) which is found in it. This absence of perfection is certainly not good. But the imperfect act we are speaking of is morally good, though it does not possess the degree of perfection suitable to spiritual progress. It can, therefore, be ordained to the end of charity.
It is not an indifferent act in individuo, since it is good. Properly speaking, neither is it opposed to the precept of the love of God, for the perfection of charity does not fall under this precept as materia, something to be done sub gravi or sub levi, but only as the end. Sin is committed only when there is a transgression of a precept with respect to the matter of this precept, whether obligatory sub gravi or sub levi. An imperfect act is opposed only to a counsel, which in itself does not oblige. As a matter of fact, we must preserve the distinction between the precepts and the counsels, whether the latter are contained in the Gospel, or are directly inspired by God in a certain soul. The Holy Ghost often makes a soul comprehend that a certain act is better for it, but that it is not obliged to that act, unless it has made the vow of doing what is most perfect.
The division of imperfections, analogous to that of venial sins, has its origin in this definition. Thus, there are imperfections: (1) ex genere suo; (2) ex parvitate materiae; (3) ex indeliberatione.
1) An imperfection ex genere suo, or by its very nature, is of such a kind that even when deliberate it does not become a venial sin. To this class belong supernatural and meritorious acts that are imperfect (remissi) relative to our degree of charity: for example, when a proficient makes an act of charity proportionate to the virtue of beginners. Likewise initial fear is imperfect because of servile fear which accompanies it and which should diminish with the progress of charity. To this category may also be linked natural acts that are not forbidden, but that are not in accord with spiritual progress, and that would surprise us in a mortified person and especially in the saints, unless a special reason motivated them: for example, the use of certain needless things, such as tobacco; certain ways of amusing oneself or of taking pleasure in scientific or artistic things; in study, an activity that has been branded as "natural" because it is not sufficiently supernaturalized by the motive prompting it. We may place in this class the omission of something which we think is better for us, and to which at the time, from a lawful but less perfect motive, we prefer something less good: for example, when, although we could make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, we prefer to spend our time at a useful philosophical study which could be postponed. This act in itself is not evil, nor is it so for us unless by a special vow we are obliged to do what is most perfect. Therefore it is good, since concretely no deliberate act is indifferent; but it is less good than the other. We should not stigmatize as evil what is only less good. But we should keep in mind this imperfection in the order of good, remembering that, as venial sin disposes to mortal sin, imperfection disposes to venial sin. If we desire to keep to what is strictly obligatory with God, He, who often gives us much more than what is strictly necessary, will on His part diminish His graces.
Moreover, in the cases quoted there will, as a matter of fact, accidentally be venial sin, since the motive for our not doing what is best for us here and now is frequently negligence or laziness.107
2) There are imperfections ex levissima materia, because the matter or object involved is extremely slight, and man is not obliged to deliberate on these extremely slight things: 108 for example, some little negligence in one's bearing.
3) Finally, there are imperfections ex imperfectione actus, that is, through lack of attention or deliberation. In this category are ranged acts that are good by reason of their object, but that are accomplished in a mechanical fashion as a result of involuntary distraction. These acts are not sins, although they lack the perfection which comes from attention.109 To this class belong also the very first disordered movements of sensuality, which are produced before we can be aware of them and repress them. They are an imperfection destined to disappear chiefly as a result of the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul; and they become rare in a perfect soul. As much must be said of the defective way in which a perfect soul accomplishes a good act; for example, in the necessary repression of evil, even the saints sometimes—and that quite contrary to their intention—mingle some movement of anger which slightly exceeds the just measure. 110 Lastly, to this class belongs the purely material transgression of a precept through invincible ignorance.
There are certainly many imperfections which, though not essentially venial sins, take from our lives the harmony, peace, and vigor suitable to spiritual progress. They appear particularly in the common life, especially in acts requiring a greater perfection: for example, chanting the office too slowly or too rapidly may annoy our neighbor without our being aware of it; playing the organ in a certain way may become a hindrance to prayer rather than an aid. It may be these acts contain no venial sin, properly so called, but an imperfection springing from our temperament, from fatigue, from a defect in our training, or from a certain cast of character inclined either to neglect details or, on the contrary, to become absorbed in them. A more perfect charity, characterized by a greater delicacy toward God and our neighbor, accompanied by the gifts of the Holy Ghost in a proportionate degree, would cause these imperfections to disappear gradually.
We have already listed111 several imperfections that constitute obstacles to contemplation. Especially important are those indicated by St. John of the Cross in The Dark Night of the Soul:112 the inclination to seek enjoyment in God rather than God Himself; the first movements of spiritual pride; the stains of the old man which persist in the spirit even after the passive purification of the senses; a certain dullness of the mind; natural rudeness, the result of sin. "Proficients themselves are subject to distractions and to dissipation of mind. . . . Some use their spiritual goods in a manner that is not very interior. . . . They thus expose themselves to delusion by the suggestions of the devil or their own fancy. . . . This matter is inexhaustible. . . . In order to show the necessity of the night of the soul, we must add that there is not one among the proficients, however great may be his efforts, who is exempt from many natural affections and imperfect habits, which must be purified before divine union is attained." 113
This is another argument in favor of the doctrine that these passive purifications and infused and obscure contemplation, which is the principle of the purifications, are truly in the normal way of sanctity. "This dark night is an inflowing of God into the soul to purify it of its habitual ignorances and imperfections, both natural and spiritual. Contemplatives call it infused contemplation and mystical theology, in which God instructs the soul secretly in the perfection of love, without any intervention on its part, and without its understanding in what this infused contemplation consists. . . . How does it happen that the soul calls the divine light a dark night? . . . There are two reasons for this. The first is that the divine wisdom transcends by reason of its elevation the capacity of the soul, and for that very reason is darkness for it. The second reason lies in the baseness and impurity of the soul which makes the light painful, afflictive, and at the same time dark for it. . . . Although still in darkness, the soul sees none the less clearly its own impurity by means of this light. It is persuaded that it is unworthy of God or of any creature. . . . The divine and obscure light places clearly before it all its infidelities." 114 Thereby it learns true humility, which prepares it to receive an abundance of divine grace, for "God gives His grace to the humble," and He makes them humble in order to load them with His gifts.
Such is the way of true life, the only sure road to eternal beatitude. "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search His testimonies: that seek Him with their whole heart. . . . I have run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou didst enlarge my heart," 115 by divine charity, in the light of life, which reveals Thy grandeur and omnipotence, and Thy infinite mercy toward us. The voice of the psalms is that of contemplation, animating the great prayer of the Church. To live truly by faith, every believing soul should aspire to this contemplation. In this aspiration humility and magnanimity, by reason of the connection of the virtues, ought to be united; and only when they are united, are they genuine.116 Only a profoundly humble soul can in a fitting manner aspire to the great things promised by Christ to those who wish to follow Him; from the very fact that a soul is humble, it will be filled to overflowing: Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.
ARTICLE V
Extraordinary Graces that Sometimes Accompany Infused Contemplation
The doctrine we have expounded receives additional confirmation from the comparison of infused contemplation with the extraordinary graces that sometimes accompany it, and yet are distinct from it. These extraordinary graces generally belong to the charisms, or graces freely bestowed (gratis datae), enumerated by St. Paul: "Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit. . . . And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit. To one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom; and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another, faith in the same Spirit; 1 to another, the grace of healing in one Spirit: to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, diverse kinds of tongues; to another, interpretation of speeches. But all these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to everyone according as He will." 2 St. Paul places charity far above these gifts: "And if I . . . have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." 3
As St. Thomas shows, sanctifying grace and charity are much more excellent than these charisms; the former unite us immediately to God, our last end, whereas the charisms are ordained chiefly for the benefit of our neighbor and only prepare him to be converted, without giving him divine life.4 As a rule, they are not essentially supernatural like sanctifying grace, but only preternatural like a miracle and prophecy.5
St. Thomas shows clearly the nature of these charisms by his division of them.6 This classification is set forth in the following table:
To these charisms may generally be attached the extraordinary favors that sometimes accompany infused contemplation; that is, private revelations, visions, and supernatural words, which St. John of the Cross discusses at length in The Ascent of Mount Carmel.7 He takes great pains to distinguish them from infused contemplation, which is attached to the grace of the virtues and of the gifts, or sanctifying grace. This teaching of St. John of the Cross rests theologically on St. Thomas' treatise on prophecy,8 where six articles 9 are devoted to the rapture which sometimes accompanies prophetic revelation, as it may also accompany infused contemplation.
According to St. Thomas, prophetic revelation may be made in three ways: by a sensible vision; an imaginary vision; or an intellectual vision; and the prophet may be awake, asleep, or in ecstasy. Occasionally in fact, a sensible, outward sign appears to the eyes or an exterior voice is heard.10 At other times, to express His thought to us, God co-ordinates certain images that pre-exist in our imagination, or He imprints new ones on it.11 More rarely He acts directly on the intellect by co-ordinating our acquired ideas or by imprinting new ideas, called infused.12 There is always infused prophetic light, and indeed it alone suffices, for example, to interpret certain signs, as Joseph interpreted the dreams of Pharao.13
If the prophet is awake, the vision is more perfect than if given to him during sleep, because he has the full use of his faculties.14 Occasionally the so-called imaginary vision or the intellectual vision is accompanied by ecstasy, or alienation of the senses.15 A partial or total ecstasy may be a natural effect of the absorption of the superior faculties in the object manifested; the soul may no longer be attentive to exterior things.16 If, on the contrary, ecstasy, so to speak, precedes the vision or contemplation and prepares for it, it is extraordinary like rapture, properly so called, which carries with it the idea of a certain violence, by lifting the soul above inferior things in order to fix it in God.17 Christ and the Blessed Virgin had all these charisms in an eminent degree, but without losing the use of their senses; from the very beginning of their lives, they were superior to ecstasy and rapture.18
Following these principles, St. John of the Cross draws a clear distinction between general and obscure infused contemplation 19 and different modes of particular and distinct supernatural knowledge: (1) visions, sensible, imaginary, or intellectual; 20 (2) revelations;21 (3) interior words.22 After enumerating these modes of knowledge, St. John of the Cross adds: "In regard to obscure and general knowledge, there is no division; it is contemplation received in faith. This contemplation is the end to which we should lead the soul; all other knowledge should be directed toward this, beginning with the first; and the soul should progress by detaching itself from all of them." 23
To bring out clearly what is explicit in the traditional teaching on this point, we will proceed from the general to the particular. Consequently, following the example of St. Thomas,24 we will first discuss revelations, to see the special modes of their manifestation, that is, either by vision, or by words. But we should note that visions and locutions are particular modes of revelation only when they disclose hidden things of the future, the present, or the past.
We will also proceed from the lower to the higher by considering in each of these categories the sensible, imaginary, and intellectual manifestations, according as they progressively reveal the works of God and God Himself.
Finally, it is also fitting to go from the exterior to the interior by considering first among these favors those that are manifestly directed toward the benefit of our neighbor and are more directly connected with charisms or graces gratis datae, particularly with prophecy; this is the case especially with private revelations. Others among these favors approach the order of sanctifying grace, because they are directly ordained to the sanctification of the person who receives them. They prepare the soul for divine union according as they make God better known and lead the soul to love Him, often amid great trials. This is particularly the case with various interior words and also with divine touches received in the will, which St. John discusses last.25
DIVINE REVELATIONS
Divine revelations are the supernatural manifestation of a hidden truth by means of a vision, a word, or a prophetic instinct; they presuppose the gift of prophecy. They are called public if they have been made by the prophets, Christ, or the Apostles, and are proposed to all by the Church, which preserves them in Scripture and tradition. They are called private when they are ordained only for the particular benefit of those who are favored with them. Private revelations, no matter what their importance, do not belong to the deposit of Catholic faith.
Those who receive divine revelations, recognized as such, should after prudent judgment most certainly incline respectfully before this supernatural manifestation.26 According to some theologians, they ought even to believe in them with divine and theological faith, for, in their opinion, these revelations contain the formal motive of faith, the authority of God revealing.27 According to other theologians,28 anyone who receives a certain private revelation should adhere to it immediately, not through divine faith but by prophetic light; 29 and the supernatural certitude should last or, on the contrary, give way to a moral certitude if the prophetic illumination disappears.
In approving the revelations made to the saints, the Church declares simply that they contain nothing contrary to Scripture and to Catholic teaching, and that they may be proposed as probable to the pious belief of the faithful.30 Private revelations may not be published without the approbation of ecclesiastical authority.31 Even in those approved as probable by the Church, some error may slip in; for the saints themselves may attribute to the Spirit of God what proceeds from the depths of their own soul, or may falsely interpret the meaning of a truly divine revelation. This is explained by the fact that there are many degrees in prophetic light, from the simple, supernatural instinct to perfect revelation. When there is only a prophetic instinct, the meaning of things revealed and even the divine origin of the revelation 32 may remain unknown. It was in this way that Caiphas prophesied, without being aware of it, when he said, "that it was expedient that one man should die for the people." 33
The soul receiving a truly divine revelation should with humility and simplicity communicate it in a few words to its spiritual director, but should not become attached to it and should perfectly obey the minister of Jesus Christ.34 The gift of prophecy may, it is true, be found in those who do not possess these qualities, but such an exception is rare.
Before regulating its conduct by private revelation, a soul that is truly enlightened by God will always consult its director or some other learned and discreet person. St. Teresa insists particularly on this point.35 This is especially necessary since the soul may easily go astray in the interpretation of revelations, either because it considers them too literally, or because they are sometimes conditional.36 A learned, prudent, and virtuous confessor, however, has graces of state which make him avoid error, especially when he fervently prays for these graces.
St. John of the Cross, who so often invites us to desire ardently and humbly the infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith and also divine union, reproves the desire for revelations in terms even more forcible than those employed by the other saints. On this point he is in complete accord with St. Vincent Ferrer,37 and shows that by this curiosity the soul desiring revelations gives the devil an opportunity to lead it astray; 38 that this inclination takes away the purity of faith;39 produces a hindrance for the spirit; 40 certainly denotes a lack of humility; 41 and exposes it to many errors.42 To ask for revelations shows also a lack of respect toward Christ, because the fulness of revelation has been given in the Gospel.43 God sometimes grants these extraordinary favors to weak souls; 44 but to desire them is at least a venial sin, even when the soul has a good end in view.45 They are of value only because of the humility and love of God which they awaken in the soul.46 This statement in regard to revelations shows clearly the error of imprudent directors who, impelled by curiosity, are excessively concerned with souls favored by visions and revelations.47 This attention is likely to cast the soul into trouble and illusion, and turn it away from the road of humility through a vain complacency in extraordinary ways.
Furthermore, the desire for revelations turns the soul from infused contemplation. St. John of the Cross makes this clear when he says: "The soul imagines that something great has taken place, that God Himself has spoken, when in reality there is very little, or nothing, or less than nothing. In truth, of what use is that which is void of humility, charity, mortification, holy simplicity, silence, etc.? This is why I affirm that these illusions offer a great obstacle to divine union, for if the soul makes much of them, this fact alone drives it very far from the abyss of faith. . . . The Holy Ghost enlightens the recollected intellect according to the measure of its recollection. The most perfect recollection is that which takes place in faith. . . . Infused charity is in proportion to the purity of the soul in a perfect faith: the more intense such charity is, the more the Holy Ghost enlightens the soul and communicates His gifts to it." 48 No words could more strongly condemn the longing for revelations and make the soul desire that perfect spirit of faith, which is found in infused contemplation and which leads to divine union.
Therefore it is a serious and frequent error to confound the desire for revelations with a desire for infused contemplation; the former is blameworthy and also turns the soul away from infused contemplation, which is highly desirable. St. John of the Cross thus gives us the best commentary on St. Thomas' words: "Sanctifying grace is nobler than gratuitous grace." 49 In other words, sanctifying grace (with charity and the gifts connected with it) is far superior to the charisms, and even to prophecy, the hightest of all. We thus return to the teaching of St. Paul on the eminence of charity.50
We must distinguish two kinds of private revelations: (1) revelations properly so called, disclosing secrets about God or His works; (2) revelations improperly so called, giving a greater understanding of supernatural truths already known by faith.51
1) Revelations manifesting secrets to us are much more subject to illusions. God sometimes reveals to the living the time which remains to them on this earth, the trials which they will undergo, what will happen to a nation, to a certain person.52 The devil is clever in counterfeiting these things and, to gain credit for his lies, he begins by nourishing the spirit with truths and likely things.53 St. John of the Cross says: "It is almost impossible to escape his wiles if the soul does not immediately get rid of them, because the spirit of evil knows well how to assume the appearance of truth and give this appearance credit." 54 "In order to be perfect there is, therefore, no reason to desire these extraordinary supernatural things. . . . The soul must prudently guard itself against all these communications if it wishes, in purity and without illusions, to reach divine union by the night of faith." 55 No words could make a clearer distinction between these extraordinary supernatural things and infused contemplation, and more effectively show that infused contemplation is normal in the perfect.
2) Revelations improperly so called, which give us a greater understanding of revealed truths, are associated with infused contemplation, especially if they concern God Himself and do not stop at particular things, but profoundly penetrate His omnipotence, wisdom, or infinite goodness. "This profound loving knowledge is, moreover, accessible only to a soul in union with God; they are this union itself, for they have their origin precisely in a certain contact of the soul with the Divinity. Consequently it is God Himself who is felt and tasted, though He is not perceived manifestly in full light, as He is in glory; but the touch is so strong and so profound, by reason of the knowledge and attraction, that it penetrates the substance of the soul. It is impossible for the devil to interfere in this and to deceive by imitation, for nothing is comparable to it, or approaches it in enjoyment and delights. These touches savor the divine essence, eternal life, and the devil cannot counterfeit such lofty things." 56 We will treat this subject again at the end of this article when we speak of divine touches. "In regard to the other perceptions," St. John of the Cross adds, "we said that the soul should abstract itself from them, but this duty ceases before these, since they are the manifestations of that union to which we are trying to conduct the soul. All that we have taught previously on the subject of despoliation and of complete detachment was directed toward this union; and the divine favors which result from it are the fruit of humility, of the desire to suffer for the love of God, with resignation and disinterestedness as to all reward." 57
VISIONS
Visions are revelations when they disclose hidden things; otherwise, they are distinguished from revelations. They are, as we have said, either sensible, imaginary, or intellectual.
Sensible or corporal visions generally represent our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, or the saints. They are not signs of great virtue, tor they are sometimes granted beginners to detach them from worldly things. They are subject to the illusions of the imagination and of the devil. If the vision is common to a great number of persons, it is a sign that the apparition is exterior, without its thereby being certain that it is of divine origin.58 If it is individual, the dispositions of the witness who declares that he has had it must be attentively examined and great circumspection must be exercised.
Those who are favored with these apparitions of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints should render to the persons represented the honors due them, even though the apparition should be the result of an illusion of the imagination or of the devil, for as St. Teresa says: "Although a painter may be a wicked man, honor should none the less be paid to a portrait of Christ done by him." 59 In this case also, the director should be consulted, for he will be able to recognize whether these apparitions are graces of God, by their conformity to the teaching of the Church and by the good dispositions toward the practice of virtue which they leave in the soul. The soul itself should be faithful in reaping the fruits of sanctity which God proposes by granting it these favors.60 These apparitions must never be desired or asked of God.61
Imaginary visions, so called because they are produced in the imagination by God or by the angels, are granted when a person is either awake or asleep. According to the Gospel, St. Joseph was on several occasions supernaturally instructed in a dream; and the lives of the saints contain many similar instances. That a dream may be supernatural, it should not be explicable by the laws of memory and imagination; to be divine, it should not contain anything contrary to revealed doctrine or to good morals.62 Although this divine origin may be hard to discern, ordinarily when the soul seeks God sincerely, He makes Himself felt either by a profound feeling of peace, or by events that confirm the vision; thus in a dream a sinner may be warned of the urgent necessity of conversion, or a just man may be advised of a grave decision to be made.
Imaginary visions are subject to the illusions of the imagination and of the devil.63 We have three signs by which to discern whether they are of divine origin: (1) when they cannot be produced or dismissed at will, but come suddenly and last but a short time; (2) when they leave the soul in great peace; (3) when they produce fruits of virtue, a very great humility and perseverence in good.64
A divine imaginary vision, granted while a person is awake, is almost always accompanied by at least partial ecstasy so that the soul may distinguish the interior apparition from external impressions;65 there is ecstasy also because a soul enraptured and united to its God loses contact with external things.66 There is no perfect imaginary vision without an intellectual vision, which makes the soul see and penetrate its mystical meaning.67 For example, the former may concern the sacred humanity of Christ; the second, His divinity.68
Imaginary visions should not be desired or asked of God any more than sensible visions; they are in no way necessary to holiness.69 The perfect spirit of faith and obscure contemplation are of superior order and prepare the soul more immediately for divine union.70
An intellectual vision is the certain manifestation of an object to the intellect without any actual dependence on sensible images. It is brought about either by acquired ideas supernaturally co-ordinated or modified, or by infused ideas, which are sometimes of angelic order.71 It requires an infused light, that of the gift of wisdom or of prophecy. It may refer to God, spirits, or material things, like the purely intellectual knowledge of the angels. The intellectual vision is at times obscure and indistinct, that is, it manifests with certitude the presence of the object without any detail as to its intimate nature. Thus St. Teresa often felt our Lord near her for several days.72 At other times the intellectual vision is clear and distinct; it is then more rapid and is a sort of intuition of divine truths or of created things in God.73 It cannot be translated into human language.74
Intellectual visions, especially those caused by infused ideas, are free from the illusions of the imagination and of the devil; but at times what is only an over-excitement of the imagination or a suggestion of the devil75 may be taken for an intellectual vision. The divine origin of these favors may be recognized from the effects they produce: deep peace, holy joy, profound humility, unshakable attachment to virtue.76
"By the very fact that this knowledge is communicated suddenly, independently of the will, it is useless for the soul to desire it . . . ; it ought simply to allow God to act when and how He wills. . . . These favors are not given to a soul which is attached to any good; they are the effect of a special love, which God bears toward the soul which strives for Him in detachment and disinterested love." 77
The loftiest intellectual visions, since they are inferior to the beatific vision, cannot attain the divine essence sicuti est, but only by a certain manner of representation due to infused ideas, "por cierta manera de representación." 78 In the opinion of a number of authors, the intellectual visions which frequently accompany the transforming union79 are the equivalent of a special revelation which gives the soul the certitude of being in the state of grace and of predestination. St. John of the Cross even says: "In my opinion, the soul can never be placed in possession of this state (the transforming union) without at the same time being confirmed in grace." 80
Supernatural words are manifestations of God's thought which are heard either by the exterior senses or by the interior senses or directly by the intellect. Hence there is an analogy between them and visions, which they sometimes accompany.
An auricular supernatural word is a vibration formed in the air by the ministry of angels. For example, St. Luke tells us 81 that Zachary heard the angel Gabriel speak to him. The same angel Gabriel said to Mary: "Hail, full of grace." 82 Like corporal visions, these locutions are subject to illusions; the same rule should be applied to them for discerning those of divine origin.
Imaginary supernatural words are heard by the imagination, when the person is either awake or asleep. They sometimes seem to come from heaven; at other times from the depths of one's heart. They are perfectly distinct, although not heard with bodily ears.83 They are not easily forgotten; those especially which contain a prophecy remain graven on the memory.84 They can be distinguished from those of our spirit by the fact that they are not heard at will, and that they are words and works at one and the same time. For example, when they reprove us for our faults, they suddenly change our interior dispositions and render us capable of undertaking everything for the service of God.85 Consequently it is often easy to discern them.86 When it is the devil who makes these imaginary words heard, they not only do not produce good effects, but, on the contrary, produce evil effects. The soul is disturbed troubled, frightened, disgusted; and if it experiences any sensible pleasure, it is very different from divine peace.87
Intellectual words are heard directly by the intellect without the intermediary of the senses or imagination, in the way the angels communicate their thoughts to one another. They suppose a divine light and the co-ordination of pre-existent acquired ideas, and at times of infused ideas.88 "It is a wordless language, which is the tongue of the fatherland."89
St. John of the Cross teaches that intellectual words may be either successive, formal, or substantial.90 Successive intellectual words are produced only in the state of recollection; they come from our spirit which is enlightened by the Holy Ghost, and with such facility and new views that the understanding cannot imagine that they spring from its own depths.91 These successive words are subject to illusion, for the spirit, which at the beginning followed only the truth, may deviate, go astray, and fall into a thousand extravagances, inasmuch as the devil often insinuates himself into these successive words, especially when people are attached to them. He acts with even greater reason in this way toward those who are bound to him by a tacit or formal act, with heretics, and especially with heresiarchs.92
Successive words come from God when they simultaneously produce in the soul an increase of charity and humility. But it is often difficult to discern clearly supernatural love from a certain natural love, and true humility from pusillanimity. Hence it is difficult to recognize the divine origin of successive words.93 They should not be desired, for obscure faith is far superior to them.94
Formal intellectual words are so called "because the soul knows formally that they are uttered by another, without any contribution on its part . . . and it can hear them when not recollected, and even when far from thinking of what is said." 95 They are, therefore, very different from those we have discussed, and are at times very precise; for example, Daniel says that an angel spoke to him.96 These locutions ordinarily explain some teaching, clear up some point; this effect is always produced, even though the soul may experience repugnance in fulfilling the divine order.97 God allows this repugnance to subsist that He may preserve the soul from natural eagerness with regard to great things; if, on the contrary, the Lord inspires humiliating things, He gives greater facility to accomplish them.98
These formal intellectual words are in themselves free from illusions, since the understanding cannot contribute anything to them, and the devil cannot act directly on the intellect.99" "The soul ought not, however," says St. John of the Cross,100 "to esteem formal words much more than successive words. If it pays attention to them, it swerves from faith, which is the proper and immediate means of divine union. This exposes it to easy deception by the devil, the more so as in many cases good communications are with difficulty distinguished from evil communications.101 What they say should not be immediately translated into action, nor should they be held in esteem no matter what their origin. It is indispensable to make them known to an experienced confessor or to a discreet and learned person. . . . If an experienced person is not to be found, the soul should keep whatever is substantial and sure in these words; disregard the rest; and speak of it to no one, lest a counselor be found who would do the soul more harm than good. The soul should not place itself at the mercy of anyone at all, for it is of prime importance whether one acts judiciously or is deceived in such matters."
Substantial intellectual words are formal locutions which effect immediately what they announce. We read in The Ascent of Mount Carmel: "For example, God says formally to a soul: Be good! and instantly the soul becomes good. Or He says: Love Me!, and at once the soul possesses and experiences in itself true love of God. Or again He may say: Fear nothing, and at that very instant, strength and peace come upon that soul. . . . Thus, God said to Abraham: 'Walk before Me, and be perfect.' (Gen. 17: 1), and instantly perfection was given to him, and thenceforth he walked reverently before God. . . . A single one of these words instantly operates more good than the efforts of a lifetime. When the soul receives such locutions, it has only to abandon itself; it is useless to desire or not to desire them, for there is nothing to repulse, nothing to fear. The soul ought not even to seek to effect what is said, for God never utters substantial words in order that we should translate them into acts; He Himself brings about their effect. This is what distinguishes them from successive and formal locutions. . . . Illusion is not to be feared here, for neither the understanding nor the devil can interfere in this matter . . . unless the soul has given itself to the devil by a voluntary pact; but then the effect is quite different. . . . Every word of his is as pure nothingness in the presence of God. . . . Substantial words are, therefore, a powerful means of union with God. . . . Happy the soul to which God addresses them." 102 God's words are living flames in purified souls.103
There is a fourth kind of favor which frequently 104 accompanies infused contemplation, that is, divine touches, which are imprinted in the will and which "react on the intellect. . . . They give, thus, a very lofty and sweet intellectual penetration of God." 105 These touches are thereby attached to "particular and distinct contemplation." 106 They do not depend on the activity of the soul, or on its meditations, although these prepare the soul for them.
These divine touches are occasionally so profound and intense that they seem imprinted "in the very substance of the soul." God, in fact, who preserves the very substance of the soul in existence by a virtual contact, which is creation continued,107 produces, preserves, and increases sanctifying grace therein, whence the virtues infused into the faculties108 spring. He also moves these faculties, either by proposing an object to them, or by applying them to the exercise of their acts, and that from within.109 The divine touch of which we are speaking is a supernatural motion of this type, but one of the most profound. It is exercised on the very depths of the will and of the intellect, where these faculties take root in the substance of the soul whence they arise.110 In truth, our will is, in a way, infinite in its profundity; for this reason created things cannot exercise an invincible attraction on it. It is free to love them or not to; only God seen face to face infallibly attracts it and captivates it, even to the very well-spring of its energies.111 So-called substantial divine touches 112 affect this basis of the will and of the intellect. The very substance of the soul experiences things only through these faculties.113 But God, who is closer to the soul than it is to itself, inasmuch as He preserves it in existence, can from within touch and move the very foundation of the faculty by a spiritual contact which reveals itself as divine. This depth is also called the summit of the spirit in relation to sensible things, according as they are considered either as exterior or as inferior to it. With this in mind, we understand what St. John of the Cross says on this subject: "Nothing is more calculated to dissipate this delicate knowledge than the intervention of the natural spirit. Since it is a question of a sweet supernatural communication, it is useless to try to comprehend it accurately, for that is impossible; the understanding has only to accept it. If, on the contrary, the soul seeks to provoke it or desires it, it may happen that what it conceives comes from itself, and thereby gives the devil the opportunity of presenting counterfeit knowledge. . . . Passive acceptance in humility is, therefore, incumbent on the soul. God grants these favors according to His good pleasure, and it is the humble and thoroughly detached soul that receives God's preference. By acting in this way, the progress of the soul suffers no interruption, and such knowledge serves efficaciously to advance it. These touches are touches of union serving to unite the soul passively to God." 114
St. John of the Cross has described these favors at greater length in The Dark Night of the Soul115 and in The Living Flame.116 In his opinion, they are obtained only by the practice of despoilment and detachment from all creatures. By one of these touches of love, the soul is rewarded for all its works and sufferings. The substance of God, which is identical with His creative, preserving, and sanctifying action, touches the substance of the soul and makes itself felt as divine and sovereign. This teaching clarifies the doctrine that the mystical state is the normal completion of Christian perfection, provided it is distinguished from certain accessory facts which sometimes accompany it. But, to establish the truth of this doctrine, we must guard against several confusions which contemporary writers, in their desire to return to traditional teaching, apparently have not always sufficiently avoided.
II. CONFUSIONS TO BE AVOIDED IN EXPOUNDING THE TRADITIONAL DOCTRINE
1) In order to show that infused contemplation is not an extraordinary grace like revelations and visions and that it ought to be desired and asked for by generous interior souls, we need not lessen the mystical state or link it too closely with what it really is not. Affective prayer, or the acquired prayer of recollection, described by St. Teresa,117 should not be confounded with the supernatural recollection which she speaks of.118
2) A chasm should not be interposed between the initial mystical state (fourth mansion) and what essentially constitutes simple union, complete union, and the transforming union, described in the fifth, sixth, and seventh mansions. The summit of the normal development of the grace of the virtues and of the gifts is, in this life, found only in the transforming union, which is the normal termination of the initial mystical state.119
3) The essence of these supernatural mystical states should not be confounded with the extraordinary facts which sometimes accompany them. These accessory facts, described by St. Teresa especially in the fifth and sixth mansions, often disappear in the seventh.120 In fact, these phenomena accompany chiefly the influence of the Holy Ghost "on the faculties" rather than what "touches the substance of the soul," as the mystics say. This wholly intimate action of God on the depths of the soul is found principally in the transforming union, a state in which, as a rule, ecstasies have disappeared.121
It is in the depths of the soul that everything ends, and in a sense it is there that everything began, without our having been aware of it. This influence of the Holy Ghost "on the depths of the soul" in fact precedes, without our knowing it, the influence which the Holy Ghost exercises more manifestly "on the faculties." The completely purified soul experiences this action in its very depths, when it has at length entered the sanctuary where God dwells and operates from the moment of justification or of conversion.122 In the opinion of Tauler, Louis de Blois,123 St. John of the Cross,124 and St. Teresa,125 who have spoken so frequently of this "depth of the soul," at the end of the passive purifications of the spirit the soul experiences, without seeing it, this "substantial" action of God in which everything has its beginning, at which everything terminates, and beyond which it seems that there is nothing. This is why what is called the depths of the soul, in relation to sensible things considered as exterior, is called the summit of the spirit in relation to these same things considered as inferior.126
4) The three traditional ways should, moreover, not be confused with what is only an imperfect form of them. From what precedes, it is clear why, according to the tradition preserved by St. John of the Cross, the perfect purgative way requires the passive purifications of mystical order; why he calls the illuminative way the way of infused contemplation; 127 and why the unitive way is normally completed only in the transforming union, the prelude to heaven. These three ways are often lessened because writers describe them merely from the outside. St. John of the Cross gazed upon them from above, and this is why he penetrated to their depths. He must have received the gift of wisdom in a very high degree in order to have discussed with so great mastery such deep supernatural things, for the light of life illumines all the pages of his work.
5) Divine touches must not be likened to revelations and visions, which are, properly speaking, extraordinary and, as it were, exterior facts. It is true that St. John of the Cross distinguishes general and obscure infused contemplation from distinct supernatural knowledge,128 and that he links with the latter the divine touches impressed on the will, which have their reaction on the intellect. But these divine touches, without being essential to infused contemplation, by their influence on the will help to constitute union with God 129 and are not to be feared.130 Thereby they differ notably from events which are properly extraordinary and in a way exterior, like revelations and visions, which the saint declares are often dangerous.131
It would also be a gross error to confound these divine touches, this contact which has been called substantial, with the emotions of the sensitive part; and likewise it would be a mistake to confuse "the tastes," which St. Teresa mentions,132 with the consolations acquired by meditation.
6) Since analysis is necessary because of our weakness, it has, especially in these matters, a drawback that must be corrected by synthesis. The desire to be too precise in this matter leads to division, and as a result to the materialization of what is a unit in the reality of the spiritual life. Therefore in these questions we can keep to the truth only by considering them in the light of higher principles, as did St. Thomas and great mystics like St. John of the Cross. Consequently a material and mechanical exactness, which they do not share, has been applied to these spiritual matters. Hence many commentaries on the spiritual works of the great doctors resemble these works in the same way as a polygon inscribed within a circle resembles the circle; the complexity of the former is in proportion to the simplicity of the latter. This brings about the loss of the strong security with which these great speculative and mystical teachers dealt with these lofty questions. By applying the highest principles to them, they gave in controversies over secondary points only due importance to them. This attitude alone, which is notably different from that of many modern writers, placed them on the way of truth and enabled them to formulate it with a perfection that has never since been attained. No one will be able truly to perfect their work, unless he has received the same grace as they received. We should, therefore, become their disciples without pretending to complete their work immediately. We would accomplish much if we could even succeed in understanding them clearly. In order even to comprehend them fully, it would be necessary to equal them.
Some recent critics have claimed that the mystical life properly so called cannot be explained by the principles formulated by St. Thomas. In their opinion, probably he did not have this special form of the interior life in view when he formulated them. To this we answer with Dom Louismet: "If such a universal writer as St. Thomas Aquinas does not speak of mystics as a peculiar class, is it not because for him, as for the Areopogite, all Christians are de jure mystics? . . . And if he never mentions a separate body of mystical doctrine, is it not because for him there is no mystical doctrine distinct from the common deposit of faith?" 133 As a matter of fact, it is faith fully lived in persevering generosity in the love of God. "By Catholic traditional mysticism I mean the mysticism with which the Epistles of St. Paul and St. John, and the other canonical epistles, and all the other Scriptures, are overflowing. It is the mysticism of the everlasting sacrifice of the Lamb on the cross and on our altars, and of the whole sacred liturgy around it: the mysticism of the Missal, of the Ritual, of the Pontifical, of the Ceremonial of Bishops, of the Breviary, and of the Martyrology." 134 We do not believe that this assertion would be contradicted by true mystics who experience the higher life to which every Christian should aspire.