40 The Interior Castle , seventh mansion, chap. 3.

40 The Interior Castle , seventh mansion, chap. 3.

   ⁴⁰ The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 3.

   ⁴¹ This has been clearly explained by Saudreau, État mystique, 2d ed., p. 89. Precisely because of this we regret to see in the same work (p. 46) that he applies the term "extraordinary" to the prayers of the fifth and sixth mansions which are accompanied by ecstasy. They are not extraordinary in their essence, but only in certain concomitant and accidental phenomena. Saudreau recognizes this (p. 51) when he says as we do: "God can conduct the soul even to the transforming union without granting it raptures." He is certainly right in distinguishing the mystical state from what he calls the extraordinary phenomena of angelic order (p. 180). The objections which have been raised against him lately on this point (Revue Apologétique, June 15, 1922) are not well founded. Father Poulain himself clearly distinguished the mystical state from the visions which may accompany it.

   Father Lallemant, S.J., rightly observes in his Doctrine spirituelle (VII Principe, chap. 4, art. 7): "According to some writers the degrees of contemplation are: first, the recollection of all the powers; second, semi-rapture; third, complete rapture; fourth, ecstasy. This division does not, however, so much express the essence of contemplation as its accidents; for a soul may sometimes have without rapture a more sublime light, a clearer knowledge, a more excellent operation of God, than another that is favored with extraordinary raptures and ecstasies. The Blessed Virgin was raised higher in contemplation than all the angels and saints together, and yet she had no raptures." Some of the saints, as Bernadette at the Grotto of Lourdes, have had them in childhood, and then fewer of them in later years. This observation contains something analogous to what is ordinarily said about science: its progress in extension is not a certain sign of its progress in penetration. Several persons have a rather extended knowledge of a science without possessing a profound or elevated knowledge that enables them to grasp with a glance the whole science in its first principles. Cf. St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.52.

   ⁴² Besides the texts that we shall quote, see what the saint says in her Life about the progress of virtue corresponding to the prayers symbolized by the four manners of watering: second water, the flowers (of the virtues) are about to appear (chap. 15); third water, the flowers bloom; the virtues draw from this prayer much greater vigor than from the preceding, which is that of quiet (chaps. 16 f.); fourth water, "this is the time of resolutions, of heroic determinations, of the living energy of good desires, of the beginning of hatred of the world, and of the most clear perception of its vanity. The soul makes greater and higher progress than it ever made before in the previous states of prayer; and grows in humility more and more" (chap. 19).

   ⁴³ The Way of Perfection, chap. 31, p. 179.

   ⁴⁴ Ibid., p. 183.

   ⁴⁵ The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 2.

   ⁴⁶ The Way of Perfection, chap. 31; The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 1.

   ⁴⁷ The Way of Perfection, chap. 24, 34, 38. The Interior Castle, third mansion, chap. 1; fourth mansion, chap. 1. Cf. St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I.

   ⁴⁸ Life, chap. 15.

   ⁴⁹ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1. The saint observes that it is no longer sufficient to follow one's rule attentively; besides, one must be very docile to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost, who becomes more exacting in proportion as He gives more and wishes to give more.

   ⁵⁰ Ibid.

   ⁵¹ The first way of watering, by drawing water from a well by main strength, is a picture of meditation (Life, chap, 11); the second way, with the noria (water wheel), symbolizes the prayer of quiet in which there is still some activity, even though this is a supernatural prayer (Life, chap. 14); the third way of watering, by water flowing from a river or fountain, corresponds to the sleep of the powers (Life, chap. 16); the fourth water, which is rain, symbolizes the prayer of union (Life, chap. 18).

   ⁵² The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1.

   ⁵³ Ibid., chap. 2.

   ⁵⁴ Ibid. It must be observed that by this transformation this insect reaches adult age; by an analogous transformation the soul reaches the adult age of the supernatural life.

   ⁵⁵ Life, chap. 17.

   ⁵⁶ Ibid.

   ⁵⁷ Fifth mansion, chap. 3.

   ⁵⁸ This shortcut and the delights found in it have at times been thought to be infused or mystical contemplation; but it is only the suspension of the imagination and memory, or a beginning of ecstasy, which sometimes accompanies mystical union and greatly facilitates it. Cf. Arintero, O.P., Evolutión mística, p. 639, and Cuestiones místicas, pp. 325 ff.; Father Garate, S.J., Razón y Fe, July, 1908, p. 325. Saudreau rightly observes in Les degrés de la vie spirituelle (5th ed.), II, 101: "Apropos of this passage (fifth mansion, chap. 3), the new translators of St. Teresa say that according to her teaching there are two ways leading to the state of union, the mystical way and the non-mystical way. St. Teresa says nothing of the sort; if she did, she would be contradicting her own constant teaching (cf. The Way of Perfection, chaps. 18–21). She says—and the new translation shows this to be the original text—merely that the soul enters this fifth mansion either by union, which is a beginning of ecstasy, or without it. It may be that the soul has not this ecstatic union, and yet has received very precious mystical graces." We repeat that the passive prayer of union is not extraordinary in its basis or in its very essence, even though certain of its accidental or concomitant phenomena may be so. For a discussion of St. Teresa's word "shortcut," cf. Philip of the Blessed Trinity, Theol. myst., III, 71; Anthony of the Holy Ghost, Direct. myst., Tract. IV, Disp. I, sec. 4; Vallgornera, O.P., Theol. myst., II, 137.

   ⁵⁹ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 2.

   ⁶⁰ Ibid.

   ⁶¹ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 1. St. Teresa understood thus by experience the great doctrine of St. Augustine and St. Thomas on efficacious grace, as Dominic Banez expounded it. Generally souls which pass through the night of the soul can no longer admit any other doctrine, even though previously they have been inclined toward the contrary opinion, according to which grace is rendered efficacious by our good consent.

   ⁶² The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 1.

   ⁶³ Ibid., chap. 11.

   ⁶⁴ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 5. Father Joret, O.P., showed clearly (La vie spirituelle, May, 1922, p. 90) that ecstasy, which is a consequence of infused contemplation, is not properly speaking extraordinary. It is a different matter if it precedes contemplation and prepares the soul for it.

   ⁶⁵ This is in virtue of the principle often formulated by St. Thomas: "cum totaliter anima intendat ad actum unius potentiae, abstrahitur homo ab actu alterius potentiae" (De veritate, q. 13, a.3).

   ⁶⁶ God then appears more and more as supreme Truth, and the soul understands the meaning of the psalmist's words: "Every man is a liar." The soul also sees why the Most High so greatly loves humility. "Because He is the supreme Truth and humility is the truth. It is most true that we have nothing good of ourselves, and that misery and nothingness are our portion" (sixth mansion, chap. 10). It would, therefore, be an error to believe that the just man is distinguished from the sinner by his liberty alone, and that this difference does not come from grace. "What distinguisheth thee?" says St. Paul.

   ⁶⁷ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 6.

   ⁶⁸ Ibid., chap. 9. In the same sense the Discalced Carmelite, Joseph of the Holy Ghost, correcting Anthony of the Annunciation, C.D., rightly observes and proves that "we can keenly desire and humbly petition God for infused contemplation, but not for ecstasy and other similar favors which sometimes accompany it." Cursus theol. mystico-scolasticae (1791), II, 222, 224.

   ⁶⁹ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 9.

   ⁷⁰ St. Teresa speaks of it in the seventh mansion (chaps. 1, 2), and describes it as it was granted to her "in an extraordinary way." St. John of the Cross, who discussed at greater length the spiritual marriage in its relation with the theological virtues, does not say that such a vision is necessarily linked with that state. He simply points out (Canticle, Part III, and The Living Flame) the fact that in the transforming union there is a very lofty contemplation of the divine perfections. Father Poulain recognizes this. Cf. Les grâces d'oraison (gth ed.), chap. 19, no. 15.

   ⁷¹ The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 3: "From the moment when the Lord discloses to the soul the wonders of this mansion and gives it entrance to it, the soul loses this great weakness (of ecstasy) which was so painful to it and from which nothing could deliver it. Perhaps this comes from the fact that the Lord has strengthed it, dilated it, and rendered it capable of His operations." Thus union with God, being possible without hindering the exercise of the faculties, becomes almost constant.

   ⁷² The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 2.

   ⁷³ See I Cor. 6: 17.

   ⁷⁴ John 17: 22 f.

   ⁷⁵ The Living Flame, st. 1, v. 4.

   ⁷⁶ The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 2.

   ⁷⁷ Ibid., chap. 3.

   ⁷⁸ See IIa IIae, q.188, a. 6.

   ⁷⁹ The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 4.

   ⁸⁰ Luke 10: 27.

   ⁸¹ Cf. the texts from The Way of Perfection, chaps. 18–21, quoted in the first part of this article.

   ⁸² Cf. also St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, st. 34.

   ⁸³ Chap. 40: "Then He said: 'Ah, My daughter, they are few who love Me in truth; for if men loved Me, I should not hide My secrets from them.' " She observes also (ibid.): "There are many more women than men to whom our Lord gives these graces." To show what purity of soul is required for us to enter heaven, she says (chap. 38): "In all the visions I had, I saw no souls escape purgatory except three." Yet to avoid purgatory is the normal way of sanctity.

   ⁸⁴ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 7, 8.

   ⁸⁵ Cf. St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q. 184, a.3. The doctrine taught in this article is forgotten and misunderstood by many great modern theologians.

   ⁸⁶ The Way of Perfection, chap. 21.

   ¹ In the ascetical life, the inspiration of the Holy Ghost remains latent; but in the mystical life it is generally quite manifest. It may not be so for the soul receiving it, for in periods of trial this inspiration may remain hidden from the soul; but it is manifest at least for the spiritual director who sees that the passive night of the senses and of the spirit have as their principal cause a purifying light of mystical order.

   ² It is thus that Honoré de Sainte-Marie, C.D., in his work, which in certain respects is very valuable, Tradition des pères et des auteurs ecclésiastiques sur la contemplation, 1708, Part III, Diss. 3, a. 1, sec. 2, applies the word "acquired" to all contemplative prayer which has been preceded by some work of recollection. Moreover, he even maintains that acquired contemplation, like infused, "is accompanied . . . by the prayer of quiet, by the sleep of the powers, by spiritual silence, ecstasy, rapture." He is, however, obliged to add: "Although acquired contemplation may sometimes cause ecstasy and rapture, it seems quite evident that this cannot happen without some influence of the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and thus acquired contemplation passes into infused." We read in the same chapter: "In this acquired contemplation, one never attains to what is called pure contemplation."

   ³ This is what Anthony of the Annunciation, C.D., taught in his Disceptatio mystica, tr. 2, q.4, a.8, no. 34. He was later corrected on this point by Joseph of the Holy Ghost, C.D., Cursus theol. myst.-scol., II, 224.

   ⁴ Farges, Les phénomènes mystiques, 1921, pp. 76, 86, 94, 98, 108, 114.

   ⁵ Bossuet, Instruction sur les états d'oraison, Bk. VII: "The mystical state is like prophecy, or the gift of tongues or of miracles. It resembles the kind of grace which is called a grace freely bestowed, gratia gratis data. . . . If we must be more explicit, we shall say that the mystical state, consisting principally in something that God operates in us, without us, and in which consequently there is not and cannot be any merit." This is a surprising confusion in so great a soul; it is one which led him to state in the same work (Bk. IX) that St. Francis de Sales had not experienced quiet. St. Jane de Chantal says the contrary in her Réponses (2d ed., 1665), pp. 508 ff. It is true that later on in his last work, in his letters of direction and pious treatises, after having examined the question more thoroughly, Bossuet spoke of contemplation and the prayer of the simple presence of God as St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa did. Cf. p. 230 note 31.

   ⁶ Life, chap. 14.

   ⁷ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 12.

   ⁸ Summa, IIa IIae, q.9, a.4.

   ⁹ Ibid., q.8, a. 7.

   ¹⁰ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 6.

   ¹¹ Joseph of the Holy Ghost, C.D., Cursus theol. myst.-scol. (1721), Vol. II, Praedicabile II, disp. XI, q.2, pp. 224, 236.

   ¹² Summa, IIa IIae, q. 173, a.2.

   ¹³ Ibid.

   ¹⁴ Saudreau, État mystique, 2d ed., p. 356.

   ¹⁵ St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.180, a.5 ad 2um; De veritate, q. 18, a.5. In this article St. Thomas shows that in the state of innocence, Adam, to whom he nevertheless attributes a very lofty mystical contemplation, did not know the angels by their very essence, in a purely spiritual manner; for he did not obtain natural knowledge and supernatural knowledge without sensible images, except perhaps in extraordinary raptures. Man, in his present state, does not know things in fact without a certain contribution on the part of the imagination, and grace perfects the intellect without changing the mode of knowing. St. Thomas cites in support of this doctrine the following quotation from Dionysius, who nevertheless had the loftiest conception of infused contemplation (De coelesti hierar., chap. 1): "quod impossibile est nobis aliter lucere divinum radium, nisi varietate sacrorum velaminum circumvelatum." Cf. also De veritate, q. 13, a. 1.

   ¹⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 15, a. 3.

   ¹⁷ This is the common teaching. Cf. Vallgornera, Theol. myst. S. Thomae, I, 450; Philip of the Blessed Trinity and Anthony of the Holy Ghost.

   ¹⁸ Farges, Les phénomènes mystiques, p. 97: "To sum up; God, the supernatural agent, is immediately perceived in His action received in the soul (infused idea), as the material agent is directly perceived in its action on the external senses, quasi species (impressa) rei visae."

   ¹⁹ Cf. op. cit., p. 98. A text is cited from the Contra Gentiles, Bk. III, chap. 54. But St. Thomas is there speaking of the light of glory necessary for the beatific vision, and not of an infused idea which would render possible an immediate perception of God inferior to this vision. The difference is a notable one.

   ²⁰ Farges, Les phénomènes mystiques, p. 98.

   ²¹ See Ia, q. 12, a. 2.

   ²² The Council of Vienne condemned this error of the Beghards: "The soul does not need the light of glory in order to see God and to enjoy Him."

   ²³ See Ia, q.56, a.3; q.94, a. 1; IIa IIae, q.5, a. 1; De veritate, q. 18, a. 1.

   ²⁴ De veritate. loc. cit.

   ²⁵ Even in such extraordinary graces as intellectual visions of the Blessed Trinity, of which St. Teresa speaks, intuition remains negative, per viam negationis, as St. Thomas teaches, De veritate, q. 10, a. 11 ad 14um: ". . . de visione intellectuali, qua sancti divinam veritatem in contemplatione intuentur; non quidem sciendo de ea quid est sed magis quid non est." In an intellectual vision of the Blessed Trinity, a vision of angelic order or by means of infused ideas, the soul sees, especially in regard to the divine essence of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, what they are not, rather than what they are. This vision is very superior to theological speculation, but it does not take away faith; it does not give the intrinsic evidence of the mystery, evidence which is given only by the light of glory.

   ²⁶ op. cit., pp. 99, 108.

   ²⁷ See Ia, q.56, a. 3.

   ²⁸ Farges, loc. cit.

   ²⁹ See Ia, q.64, a. 1.

   ³⁰ The reader will not be astonished that, from this point of view, Bishop Farges declares that the unitive way branches in two different directions: the ordinary or active way, and the extraordinary or passive way (op. cit., p. 18). To support this statement, he appeals to an isolated text from St. Teresa's writings, the meaning of which should be determined by comparison with many other very important texts commonly quoted in favor of the contrary thesis.

   The principal reason, he tells us (op. cit., p. 275), why, according to St. Teresa, many souls do not pass beyond quiet, is that God does not call them higher. . . . St. Teresa, on the contrary, expresses this opinion (fifth mansion, chap. 1): "There are many called, few chosen. . . . Let us beg the Lord to grant us His grace in order that we may not be frustrated by our own fault: let us ask Him to show the way and give us the strength to dig continually until we find this hidden treasure." Cf. St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, Bk. XII, chap. 11.

   Bishop Farges also appeals (p. 127) to the authority of Father Vallgornera, O.P., but he seems to forget that this Thomist, faithful to his school, teaches, as do the Carmelite theologians, that all souls should aspire to infused contemplation and that it is ordinarily granted to the perfect. It is, therefore, not essentially extraordinary (by nature). Cf. Vallgornera, Theol. myst. S. Thomae, I, 428; likewise Philip of the Blessed Trinity, C.D., and Anthony of the Holy Ghost, C.D.

   He recognizes elsewhere (op. cit., pp. 243, 257) that the passive purifications, purgatory before death, are necessary to cleanse the soul from all its blemishes. When we add to this idea the fact that these passive purifications are, as St. John of the Cross says, a mystical state, must we not conclude that the mystical state normally leads to the full perfection of Christian life, to the perfect purification of the soul immutably united to God?

   ³¹ Thus our infused faith, which is exercised by acquired ideas, differs materially from the infused faith of the angels, which is exercised by infused ideas; but it does not differ from it formally by the formal motive, or by the infused light which is likewise supernatural.

   ³² Summa, IIa IIae, q. 1, a .4.

   ³³ Life, chap. 27.

   ³⁴ Cf. Saudreau, État mystique (2d ed., pp. 320–48), in which he shows that the texts invoked in favor of the immediate perception of God are incomplete and have not the meaning that some writers attribute to them.

   ³⁵ Summa, IIa IIae, q.97. a. 2 ad 2um. In the Commentary on the Divine Names (chap. 2), St. Thomas thus explains this passage: "Not only learning but also experiencing divine things, that is, not only receiving the knowledge of divine things in the intellect but also by loving, united to Him by affection." Likewise De veritate, q.26, a.3 ad 18um. See farther on (p. 306) for other texts of St. Thomas and of John of St. Thomas.

   ¹ This inspiration and illumination are quite manifest, if not for the person who receives them, at least for the experienced spiritual director to whom the soul reveals itself. We will explain this later on. The soul may, in fact, be in the mystical state without knowing it. This is the case with certain very pure and simple souls who have never heard of the passive state, but who are in it, as St. Teresa remarked on more than one occasion.

   ² St. Teresa says: "Here, indeed, learning would be very much to the purpose, in order to explain the general and particular helps of grace; for there are many who know nothing about them. Learning would serve to show how our Lord now will have the soul to see, as it were, with the naked eye, as men speak, this particular help of grace" (Life, chap. 14). This is a clear statement about the special inspiration to which the gifts of the Holy Ghost make us docile.

   ³ Council of Trent, Sess. VI, chap. 7.

   ⁴ See Ia IIae, q.63, a.4.

   ⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a. 8.

   ⁶ Ibid., a. 1.

   ⁷ In Is. 11:2 f., we read: "And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding, the spirit of counsel, and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord." This text is applied to the announced Messias, and since Pentecost, also to the living members of the mystical body of our Lord. It is in this way that the fathers understood it. Cf. Dict, de théol. cathol., art. "Dons du Saint-Esprit" by Father Gardeil, O.P.: "Fondement scripturaire de cette doctrine, et enseignement des Pères," col. 1728–81.

   ⁸ We are concerned here with what happens in the supernatural order of reason illumined by faith; it is thus in particular that infused prudence directs the infused moral virtues.

   ⁹ "Secundum ea homo disponitur, ut efficiatur prompte mobilis ab inspiratione divina."

   ¹⁰ Is. 11: 2.

   ¹¹ John 14: 17.

   ¹² "Whether sacramental grace confers anything in addition to the grace of the virtues and gifts" (IIIa, q.62, a. 2).

   ¹³ Moral., Bk. II, chap. 56.

   ¹⁴ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.3; a.2 ad 1um; III Sent., D. XXXIV, q. 1, a. 1.

   ¹⁵ "The beatitudes are none but perfect works and which, by reason of their perfection, are assigned to the gifts rather than to the virtues" (Ia IIae, q.70, a.2).

   ¹⁶ Bishop Gay, De la vie et des vertus chrétiennes, first treatise.

   ¹⁷ If we confuse the virtues and the gifts, we meet with serious difficulties. It would not be possible to explain why certain gifts, such as fear, are not among the number of the virtues, and why Christ possessed the seven gifts, as Isaias (11: 2) teaches us, without having certain infused virtues such as faith, hope, and penance, which suppose an imperfection.

   ¹⁸ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a. 1 ad 3um.

   ¹⁹ "Since the gifts are above the human mode in their action, it is fitting that the operations of the gifts should be measured by a rule other than that of human virtue, which is the Divinity itself shared by man in his manner, so that he operates no longer in a human way after the manner of man, but as though he were made God by participation" (ibid., and III Sent., D. XXXIV, q. 1, a.3).

   ²⁰ "The gifts surpass the ordinary perfection of the virtues, not as regards the kind of works (as the counsels surpass the commandments), but as regards the manner of working, in respect of man being moved by a higher principle" (Ia IIae, q.68, a.2 ad 1um). Likewise III, D. XXXIV, q.1, a. 1: "The gifts are distinguished from the virtues in this that the virtues accomplish acts in a human manner, but the gifts in a superhuman manner." III, D. XXXV, q.2, a.3: "The gift transcends the virtues in this that it operates above the human manner."

   This doctrine of St. Thomas in his Commentary on the Sentences does not differ, in spite of what has been said, from that of the Summa, as can be seen from the text (Ia IIae) quoted at the beginning of this note, and from that indicated in the following note. Moreover, it is clear that when (Ia IIae, q.68, a. 1) he distinguishes the virtues from the gifts by what moves them respectively, it is a question of the powers which direct and rule (the Holy Ghost and reason) and not of pure, efficient causes which would give a more or less strong impulse without direction and formal regulation. It is manifest that the Holy Ghost directs according to a superhuman mode. The doctrine of the Summa clearly maintains on this point what had already been written in the Commentary on the Sentences. Likewise Qu. Disp. de caritate, q. unic., a. 2 ad 7um: "The gifts perfect the virtues by elevating them above the human manner."

   ²¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.52, a.2 ad 1um.

   ²² St. Thomas says expressly: "Prudence or eubulia, whether acquired or infused, directs man in the research of counsel according to principles that the reason can grasp; hence prudence or eubulia makes man take good counsel either for himself or for another. Since, however, human reason is unable to grasp the singular and contingent things which may occur, the result is that the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels uncertain (Wis. 9: 14). Hence in the research for counsel, man requires to be directed by God who comprehends all things: and this is done through the gift of counsel whereby man is directed as though counselled by God" (IIa IIae, q.52, a. 1 ad 1um).

   ²³ "If man, instead of doing what he can, were to be content with awaiting God's assistance, he would seem to tempt God" (IIa IIae, q.53, a.4 ad 1um).

   ²⁴ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.2.

   ²⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.2. Cf. Cajetan's commentary on this question 68, and also that of John of St. Thomas.

   ²⁶ Ibid., ad 3um.

   ²⁷ Ibid., a. 2 ad 2um. Some theologians have wrongly interpreted this text of St. Thomas and thought he meant to say that man needs always to be moved for each salutary act by a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, even in acts which are called remissi. They confounded ordinary actual grace with the special inspiration which is in question here. St. Thomas did not write: "Quin indigeat semper moveri," but "Quin semper indigeat moveri." St. Thomas' expression means that man is not perfected to such a degree by the theological virtues that he never needs to be inspired by the interior Master, as one might say: "This student of medicine is not so well instructed that he never needs the assistance of his master for certain operations." It is quite certain that man can make a supernatural act of faith with an actual grace, without any assistance on the part of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. This is certainly the case with a soul which, being in the state of mortal sin, has lost together with charity the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and which, nevertheless, still rather frequently makes acts of supernatural faith. Cf. Gardeil, art. "Dons," in Dict. théol., col. 1779; Father Frojet, O.P., De l'habitation du Saint-Esprit dans les âmes justes, Part IV, pp. 407–24, clearly expresses the true thought of St. Thomas on this point.

   ²⁸ Rom. 8: 14. "For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

   ²⁹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a. 2.

   ³⁰ St. Thomas, III Sent., D. XXXIV, q. 1, a. 2.

   ³¹ "Whether the gifts of the Holy Ghost are habits" (Ia IIae, q.68, a. 3).

   ³² Ibid., ad 2um.

   ³³ Vol. IV, col. 1728–81.

   ³⁴ Loc. cit., col. 1776.

   ³⁵ Cf. Gardeil, Le donné révélé et la théologie, 1910: A comparison of the theological systems (pp. 266–86). On the question which occupies our attention, see also the introduction of the excellent work of the same author, Les dons du Saint-Esprit dans les Saints Dominicains.

   ³⁶ De gratia et libero arbitrio, 1907, II, 201, 225, 247.

   ³⁷ There is, properly speaking, no deliberation and election on the ultimate end; cf. Ia IIae, q. 13, a. 3; IIa IIae, q.24, a. 1 ad 3um. We will explain this farther on.

   ³⁸ Summa, Ia IIae, q.g, a.6 ad 3um. See, on this text and its relation with the others which we have quoted, Del Prado, De gratia et libero arbitrio, I, 236; II, 228, 266.

   ³⁹ Ibid., q. 10, a.1, 2.

   ⁴⁰ "To know that God exists in a general and indefinite way is implanted in us by nature, inasmuch as God is man's beatitude. For man naturally desires happiness, and what is naturally desired by man must naturally be known to him. This, however, is not to know absolutely that God exists; as to know that someone is approaching is not the same as to know that Peter is approaching, even though it is Peter who is approaching; for many there are who imagine that man's perfect good (which is happiness) consists in riches, and others in pleasures, and others in something else" (Ia, q.2, a. 1 ad 1um).

   ⁴¹ Bossuet, Méditations sur l'Évangile, first meditation.

   ⁴² Summa, Ia IIae, q.g, a.3: "The intellect, through its knowledge of the principle, reduces itself from potentiality to act, as to its knowledge of the conclusions; and thus it moves itself. And, in like manner, the will, through its volition of the end, moves itself to will the means." Ibid., ad 1um and Ia, q.63, a.5.

   ⁴³ Summa., Ia IIae, q.g, a.6, third objection and reply.

   ⁴⁴ Summa, Ia, q.63, a. 1 ad 4um; a.5; a.6; Ia IIae, q.79, a.1, 2.

   ⁴⁵ Otherwise it would follow that God by His motion is no more the cause of the good act than of the sin, which would be contrary to the definition of the Council of Trent (Sess. VI, canon 6): "Si quis dixerit mala opera ita ut bona Deum operari non permissive solum, sed proprie et per se, anathema sit." If the divine share were only simultaneous or if it were an indifferent first impulse, God by this participation would no longer be the cause of the good act any more than of the sin. The reason why He would not be the cause of the sin, is that His participation would be only simultaneous and indifferent; for the same reason He would not, strictly speaking, be the cause of the good act. Cf. Ia IIae, q.79, a. 2, and the Thomists on this article.

   ⁴⁶ See I Cor. 4: 7. As St. Thomas shows, in a commentary on this Epistle, all good things come from God, even the good determination of our free will, in so far as it is distinguished from the evil. Cf. Ia, q.23, a.5; Ia IIae, q. 109, a.2.

   ⁴⁷ Summa, Ia IIae, q.79, a. 1, 2.

   ⁴⁸ Ibid.

   ⁴⁹ "Even the Philosopher says in the chapter on Good Fortune (Ethic. Eudem., loc. cit.) that for those who are moved by divine instinct, there is no need to take counsel according to human reason, but only to follow their inner promptings, since they are moved by a principle higher than human reason. This then is what some say, viz., that the gifts perfect man for acts which are higher than acts of virtue" (ibid., q.68, a. 1).

   ⁵⁰ "Accordingly, as to things subject to human reason, and subordinate to man's connatural end, man can do them through the judgment of his reason. If, however, even in these things man receive help in the shape of special promptings from God, this will be out of God's superabundant goodness: hence according to philosophers, not everyone that had the acquired moral virtues, had also the heroic or divine virtues. But in matters directed to the supernatural end to which man's reason moves him, according as it is, in a manner, and imperfectly, actuated by the theological virtues, the motion of reason does not suffice, unless it receives in addition the prompting or motion of the Holy Ghost, according to Rom. 8: 14: 'Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God' " (Ia IIae, q.68, a. 2).

   ⁵¹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.113, a. 1–3, 4 ad 1um; a.5–8. Cf. Del Prado, De gratia et libero arbitrio, II, 240.

   ⁵² Summa, Ia IIae, q. 111, a. 2: "First, there is the interior act of the will, and with regard to this act the will is a thing moved, and God is the mover; and especially when the will, which hitherto willed evil, begins to will good. Hence, inasmuch as God moves the human mind to this act, we speak of operating grace. But there is another, exterior act; and since it is commanded by the will, as was shown above (q. 17, a. 9), the operation of this act is attributed to the will. And because God assists us in this act, both by strengthening our will interiorly so as to attain to the act, and by granting outwardly the capability of operating, it is with respect to this that we speak of co-operating grace." In the same article (in reply to the second objection), St. Thomas shows how under operating grace, although the will does not move itself by virtue of an anterior act, it nevertheless freely consents to be moved: "God does not justify us without ourselves, because while we are being justified we consent to God's justification (justitiae) by a movement of our free will. Nevertheless, this movement is not the cause of grace, but the effect; hence the whole operation pertains to grace."

   ⁵³ "Hence if God intends, while moving, that the one whose heart He moves should attain to grace, he will infallibly attain to it" (ibid., q. 113, a .5; q. 112, a. 3).

   ⁵⁴ Summa, IIa IIae, q.24, a. 1 ad 3um. Cf. Del Prado, op. cit., II, 220. "Hic motus voluntatis (sub gratia operante in instanti justificationis) quamvis liberrimus, est etiam ad instar motus naturalis per modum simplicis volitionis; et homo non valet per rationem se primo determinare ad hujusmodi velle, quod excedit omnem naturalem facultatem, tam rationis, quam voluntatis. . . . Est fundamentum omnium sanctarum electionum in ordine gratiae." Cf. ibid., p. 223, and I, 226–28, 236, where the author shows that on this point St. Thomas is followed more faithfully by Lemos than by Didacus Alvarez, Gonet, and Goudin, who reduce operating grace to a simple exciting grace which does not go as far as consent.

   ⁵⁵ Thus by infused prudence a man delibertates that he may act as is proper according to the virtues of religion, justice, fortitude, and temperance; and, when necessary, even to make acts of faith, hope, and charity. Prudence thus rules per accidens the acts of the theological virtues, although it does not measure them. Cf. Billuart's commentary on IIa IIae, q.81, a .5.

   ⁵⁶ "But in that effect in which our mind both moves and is moved, the operation is not only attributed to God, but also to the soul; and it is with reference to this that we speak of co-operating grace" (Ia llae, q.III, a.2). The will already willing the supernatural last end moves itself, under the impulse of cooperating grace, to will the means ordained to this end. Actual grace is necessary for every act of infused virtue. Cf. Ia Ilae, q.10g, a.g, and Hugon,De gratia, pp. 281-83.

   ⁵⁷ "If God moves the will to anything, it is incompossible with this supposition, that the will be not moved thereto. But it is not impossible simply. Consequently, it does not follow that the will is moved by God necessarily" (Ia IIae, q. 10, a.4 ad 3um).

   ⁵⁸ "The divine will extends not only to the doing of something by the thing which He moves, but also to its being done in a way which is fitting to the nature of that thing. And therefore it would be more repugnant to the divine motion for the will to be moved of necessity, which is not fitting to its nature, than for it to be moved freely, which is becoming to its nature" (ibid., ad îum). Likewise Ia, q. 19, a.8; q.83, a. 1 ad 3um; De malo, q.6, a. 1 ad 3um: "Deus movet quidem voluntatem immutabiliter propter efficaciam virtutis moventis, quae deficere non potest, sed propter naturam voluntatis nostrae, quae in-differenter se habet ad diversa, non inducitur necessitas, sed manet libertas" (ibid., ad 1um).

   ⁵⁹ See Ia IIae, q.68, a. 1–3.

   ⁶⁰ Ibid.

   ⁶¹ Luke 4: 1.

   ⁶² Phil. 2: 13: St. Thomas, In Ep. ad Rom., 8: 14: "For whosoever are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Likewise, In Comm. in Cantic., chap. 1.

   ⁶³ See Ia IIae, q. 111, a. 2.

   ⁶⁴ In Matth., 4: 1: "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert."

   ⁶⁵ See IIa IIae, q.24, a. 11.

   ⁶⁶ We do not actually deliberate for the purpose of desiring happiness, and if we do so to place our last end in God and not in a creature (Ia IIae, q.89, a.6), it is not deliberation, properly speaking, which bears on the means (cf. Ia IIae, q.13, a.3, and IIa IIae, q.24, a.1 ad 3um): "Charity, whose object is the last end, should be described as residing in the will rather than in the free will."

   ⁶⁷ See Ia IIae, q.9, a.6 ad 3um. This is the explanation of that famous ad 3um which has been the object of so many controversies. Cf. Del Prado, De gratia et libero arbitrio, I, 236; II, 228, 256.

   ⁶⁸ See Ia IIae, q.68, a. 2 ad 3um: "Human reason as perfected in its natural perfection, or as perfected by the theological virtues, . . . does not know all things, nor all possible things. Consequently it is unable to avoid folly and other like things . . . ignorance, dullness of mind, and hardness of heart."

   ⁶⁹ "There are the virtues of those who have already attained to the divine similitude: these are called the perfect virtues. Thus prudence sees nought else but the things of God; temperance knows no earthly desires; fortitude has no knowledge of passion; and justice, by imitating the divine mind, is united thereto by an everlasting covenant. Such are the virtues attributed to the blessed, or in this life, to some who are at the summit of perfection" (Ia IIae, q.61, a.5).

   ⁷⁰ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. Ill, chap. 1.

   ⁷¹ This transformation is the effect of a high degree of grace; since grace, being a participation of the divine nature, deifies us in a way. Cf. Ia IIae, q. 112, a. 1: "For it is as necessary that God alone should deify . . . as it is impossible that anything save fire should enkindle."

   ⁷² St. Thomas speaks in a like manner of the Blessed Virgin's holiness (Ilia, q.27, a. 4).

   ⁷³ "The grace of the virtues and gifts perfects the essence and powers of the soul sufficiently as regards ordinary conduct: but as regards certain special effects which are necessary in a Christian life, sacramental grace is needed" (IIIa, q.62, a. 2 ad 1um).

   ⁷⁴ This enumeration of the gifts corresponds to that made by Isaias (11: 2) except for the gifts of counsel and of fortitude, which, because of their difficult matter, are placed by Isaias before those of knowledge and of piety, though they are simpliciter inferior to them. Cf. Ia IIae, q.68, a.7.

   ⁷⁵ Summa, IIa IIae, q.9, a.4.

   ⁷⁶ See Ia IIae, q.69, a.3 ad 3um, and IIa IIae, q.8, a.7; q.9, a.4; q.45, a.6; q. 19, a.12; q.121, a.2; q.139, a.2.

   ⁷⁷ See Ia IIae, q.69, a.3 ad 5um. On the fruits of the Holy Ghost, cf. Ia IIae, q.70, where St. Thomas shows clearly that they proceed from the Holy Ghost, according as He disposes our souls in regard to God, to our neighbor, and to inferior things.

   ⁷⁸ Ibid., q.68, a.4; IIa IIae, q.8, a.6.

   ⁷⁹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.7.

   ⁸⁰ Ibid., q.66, a.5. In the preceding outline, to simplify the arrangement wisdom was placed after understanding. It should, however, precede it.

   ⁸¹ "Wisdom denotes a certain rectitude of judgment according to the eternal law. Now, rectitude of judgment is twofold: first, on account of perfect use of reason, secondly, on account of a certain connaturality with the matter about which one has to judge . . . thus, Dionysius says (Div. Nom., ii) that Hierotheus is perfect in divine things, for he not only learns, but is patient of, divine things" (IIa IIae, q.45, a. 2).

   ⁸² Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.5.

   ⁸³ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 184, a. 3.

   ⁸⁴ Ibid., q.24, a. 9; q. 183, a.4.

   ⁸⁵ Opera omnia, 1908, XXXV, 157–260: De donis Spiritus Sancti.

   ⁸⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q.9, a. 2, 4. This gift has an important place in the passive night of the senses; from it proceeds the holy sadness of which Christ speaks in the beatitude of tears.

   ⁸⁷ By this gift St. Francis of Assisi trod earthly things under foot and received such a penetrating intuition of the symbolism of nature that he called all creatures his brothers and sisters, and through them was lifted to God.

   ⁸⁸ On these three degrees of the gift of knowledge, cf. Dionysius the Carthusian, op. cit., tr. 3, a. 25.

   ⁸⁹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.52, a. 1, 2. It makes us more surely avoid haste, rashness, inconsiderateness, negligence, and inconstancy. Cf. IIa IIae, q.53–55.

   ⁹⁰ Cf. Dionysius the Carthusian, op. cit., tr. 3, a.7.

   ⁹¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.52, a.4.

   ⁹² Ibid., q.19, a.9, c; q. 141, a. 1 ad 3um.

   ⁹³ Ibid., a. 9 ad 1um.

   ⁹⁴ Ps. 118: 120: "Pierce Thou my flesh with Thy fear."

   ⁹⁵ See II Cor. 4: 10.

   ⁹⁶ Ps. 110: 10.

   ⁹⁷ Rom. 8: 15.

   ⁹⁸ Summa, IIa IIae, q.121, a. 1 ad 3um; a.2.

   ⁹⁹ Summa, IIIa, q.79, a. 2 ad 1um: "We must first suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified afterward with Him (Rom. 8: 17)." Cf. Officium SS. Sacramenti. On the three degrees of the gift of piety, see also Dionysius the Carthusian, op. cit., tr. 3, a. 40. To the third degree of this gift, considered in relation to one's neighbor, Dionysius refers St. Paul's words: "I most gladly will spend and be spent myself for your soul; although loving you more, I be loved less" (II Cor. 12: 15).

   ¹⁰⁰ See I Pet. 2: 5.

   ¹⁰¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.139, a.1, and Dionysius the Carthusian, op. cit, tr. 3, a. 18.

   ¹⁰² Ps. 33: 20.

   ¹⁰³ See II Cor. 7: 4.

   ¹⁰⁴ Col. 1: 24. Cf. St. Thomas, In Ep. ad Col. 1: 24. There is nothing lacking in the passion of Christ in itself. It has a superabundance and infinite value; there is something lacking only in its radiation in us. This is why St. Paul says: "I fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh," in order to be associated in the great work of the redemption in Christ and through Him, in order to continue His redeeming work by the application of His merits. "Heirs indeed of God and joint-heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him."

   ¹⁰⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q.69, a.3, 4. See also what St. Thomas says of the active life and its relation to the contemplative life and to the mixed or apostolic life (IIa IIae, q.179, 181, 182, 188, a.4, 6).

   ¹⁰⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q.8, a.1, 2, 4.

   ¹⁰⁷ "For cleanness is twofold. One is a preamble and a disposition to seeing God, and consists in the heart being cleansed of inordinate affections: and this cleanness of heart is effected by the virtues and gifts belonging to the appetitive power. The other cleanness of heart . . . is the cleanness of the mind that is purged of phantasms and errors . . . and this cleanness is the result of the gift of understanding" (ibid., a. 7).

   ¹⁰⁸ "In this life . . . the (mind's) eye being cleansed by the gift of understanding, we can, so to speak, see God." Thus, the reward of each of the eight beatitudes exists in a certain inchoative manner in Christian life on earth, which is eternal life begun, semen gloriae (Ia IIae, q .69, a. 2 ad 3um).

   ¹⁰⁹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.8, a. 7: "Again, the sight of God is twofold. One is perfect, whereby God's Essence is seen: the other is imperfect, whereby though we see not what God is, yet we see what He is not; and whereby, the more perfectly do we know in this life, the more we understand that He surpasses all that the mind comprehends. Each of these visions of God belongs to the gift of understanding; the first, to the gift of understanding in its state of perfection, as possessed in heaven; the second, to the gift of understanding in its state of inchoation, as possessed by wayfarers."

   ¹¹⁰ De donis, tr. 2, a. 35: "Ad tertium gradum (doni intellectus) id attinet ut singulorum fidei articulorum proprias rationes ac fundamenta quis purgatissima acie valeat considerare . . . atque certissimo mentis oculo quoeat delectabiliter speculari."

   ¹¹¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q .45, a. 1, 2.

   ¹¹² "Socrates or Plato perceives that he has an intellectual soul, because he perceives that he understands" (Ia, q.87, a.1).

   ¹¹³ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a.2, 5, and q.97, a.2 ad 2um, where it is stated: "There is a twofold knowledge of God's goodness or will. One is speculative. . . . The other knowledge of God's will or goodness is affectve or experimental, and thereby a man experiences in himself the taste of God's sweetness and complacency in God's will, as Dionysius says of Hierotheos (Div. nom., ii) that he learns divine things through experience of them." This does not require infused ideas. St. Thomas says also in Ia, Dist. 14, q.ll, a.2 ad 3um: "This knowledge is quasi-experimental."

   ¹¹⁴ Rom. 8: 16.

   ¹¹⁵ St. Thomas (In Ep. ad Rom. 8: 16) says: " 'Ipse enim Spiritus testimonium reddit spiritui nostro quod sumus filii Dei,' reddit testimonium per effectum amoris filialis quem in nobis facit." Likewise in Ia IIae, q. 112, a.5: "Without special revelation the presence of God in us and His absence cannot be known with certainty. . . . But things are known conjecturally by signs; and thus anyone may know that he has grace, when he is conscious of delight in God, and of despising worldly things, and inasmuch as a man is not conscious of any mortal sin. And thus it is written (Apoc. 2: 17): 'To him that overcometh I will give the hidden manna . . . which no man knoweth, but he that receiveth it.' because whoever receives it knows, by experiencing a certain sweetness, which he who does not receive it, does not experience." It is with this meaning, moreover, that this text of the Apocalypse is generally quoted by mystics.

   John of St. Thomas explains this doctrine clearly by saying: "Sicut contactus animae quo experimentaliter sentitur, etiamsi in sua substantia non videatur, est informatio et animatio, qua corpus reddit vivum et animatum, ita contactus Dei quo sentitur experimentaliter, et ut objectum conjunctum, etiam antequam videatur intuitive in se, est contactus operationis intimae, quo operatur intra cor, ita ut sentiatur, et experimentaliter manifestetur, eo quod 'unctio ejus docet nos de omnibus,' ut dicitur I Joan. 4. . . .

   "Haec cognitio experimentalis datur etiamsi intuitive non videatur in se sufficit quod per proprios effectus, quasi per tactum et vivificationem sentiatur, sicut animam nostram experimentaliter cognoscimus, etiamsi intuitive ejus substantiam non videamus." John of St. Thomas, on Ia, q.43, disp. 17, a.3, nos. 13, 17. Also Vallgornera, Theol. myst. D. Thomae, Vol. II, no. 866.

   ¹¹⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a.3.

   ¹¹⁷ See I Cor. 2: 6–16; and St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.45, a.1.

   ¹¹⁸ Cf. St. Thomas on Ps. 33: 9: "O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet." "The effect of experience is twofold: one is certitude of the intellect, the other security of the affections."

   ¹¹⁹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a .6.

   ¹²⁰ Ps. 72: 28.

   ¹²¹ summa, IIa IIae, q.24, a.9: "The divers degrees of charity are distinguished according to the different pursuits to which man is brought by the increase of charity (beginners, proficients, and the perfect). . . . Man's third pursuit is to aim chiefly at union with and enjoyment of God: this belongs to the perfect who desire to be dissolved and be with Christ." Likewise In Ep. ad Phil. 1: 23.

   ¹²² See II Cor. 12: 10.

   ¹²³ Summa, Ia IIae, q.69, a. 3 ad 5um.

   ¹²⁴ De donis, tr. 2, a. 15: "Quod donum sapientiae et virtus caritatis divinae proportionaliter crescunt simul." Art. 16: "And I live, now not I: but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2: 20). Dionysius observes here that these three degrees of the gift of wisdom correspond to the three degrees of the moral virtues explained by St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.61, a.5, where he divides the virtues into social virtues, perfecting virtues, and perfect virtues. Cf. Dionysius, De fonte lucis, a. 12, 13, 15, and De cont., Bk. I, a. 44. In these works we find a similar description of the gift of wisdom. In De fonte lucis (a. 12, 15) it is clearly stated that that is properly the contemplatio unitivae ac mysticae sapientiae which unites us to God tanquam prorsus ignoto in the transluminous darkness, per supersplendentem caliginem, of which Dionysius the Mystic speaks, and St. Thomas after him (In lib. de div. nom., chap. 1, lect. 1; chap. 7, lect. 4).

   ¹²⁵ Cf. Henry Suso, L'Exemplaire, Part I, chap. 4; Part III, chap. 1; Ruysbroeck, Le royaume des amants, chap. 33.

   ¹²⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a.5; and on graces gratis datae, Ia IIae, q. 111, a. 1.

   ¹²⁷ Cf. Thomas of Jesus, CD., De contemplatione, Bk. II, chaps. 3–5; De oratione, Bk. II, chaps. 1,4; Schram, Theol. myst., I, 2; chap. 4, sec. 244. "Solum probatur contemplationem secundum essentiam suam non consistere in his gratiis, sed per illas juvari accidentaliter et perfici directe in ordine ad alios, indirecte in ordine ad se. . . . Quia sermo est de contemplatione perfecta, quae supponit vel facit animam perfectam, haec nequit a solis gratiis gratis datis procedere, cum sit caritate formata, et elevata donis Spiritus Sancti." Cf. Meynard, O.P., Traité de Ia vie intérieure, Vol. II, nos. 42–46.

   ¹²⁸ Summa; IIa IIae, q. 175, a.3–6.

   ¹²⁹ Ibid., IIa IIae, q.184, a.3.

   ¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a. 1, 2.

   ² Ibid., q.8. By an illumination of this kind, our Lord opened the minds of the disciples of Emmaus to give them understanding of the Scriptures.

   ³ Summa, IIa IIae, q.g. Thus the gift of knowledge, according to St. Augustine and St. Thomas, corresponds to the gift of tears: "Blessed are those who mourn" when they see, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the gravity of their faults as a disease of the soul and offense against God. The other gifts, those of counsel, piety, fortitude, and fear, do not formally participate in infused contemplation, but prepare the soul tor it. Contemplation may at times be accompanied by prophetic light, but it is then an extraordinary favor.

   ⁴ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a. 2, and John of St. Thomas, De donis, art. 4.

   ⁵ Is. 11: 2.

   ⁶ Wis. 7: 28.

   ⁷ Ibid., 1: 4.

   ⁸ See I John 2: 27.

   ⁹ Rom. 5: 5.

   ¹⁰ Ibid., 8: 15.

   ¹¹ See I Cor. 2: 6–16.

   ¹² See II Cor. 3: 18.

   ¹³ Wisd. 7: 11.

   ¹⁴ Jas. 3: 17.

   ¹⁵ Cf. Diet, théol., art. "Dons" by Father Gardeil, O.P., for the doctrine of the fathers. The Scriptural bases of the teaching of St. Thomas on the gifts are to be found in his commentaries on the Old and New Testament, on the passages we have just quoted, and also on the following: Ps. 41: 2; Wis. 7: 7, 22; Eccles. 15: 2; 39: 8; Is. 12: 3; 55: 1; Matt. 5: 1; John 3: 4; 4: 10; 7: 38; 14: 16–26; 16: 13 f.; Rom. 8: 26; Eph. 3: 16; 4: 30; Phil., chap. 4; I John, 4: 1–13.

   ¹⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 180, a. l.

   ¹⁷ Ibid.

   ¹⁸ Ps. 33:9.

   ¹⁹ St. Thomas says in the preceding article: "Now man obtains this judgment through the Holy Ghost . . . who searcheth all things." In this there might indeed be a simple affective knowledge through faith united to charity. That this knowledge may proceed from the gift of wisdom, there must be, moreover, an inspiration of the Holy Ghost; thereby infused contemplation is distinguished from the sensible consolations acquired in meditation, as we will point out later on.

   ²⁰ Summa, IIa IIae, q.45, a.2.

   ²¹ On Ia IIae, q.68, disp. 18, a.4.

   ²² John 7: 17.

   ²³ Summa, Ia IIae, q.28, a. 1 ad 3um: "Knowledge is perfected by the thing known being united, through its likeness, to the knower. But the effect of love is that the thing itself which is loved, is, in a way, united to the lover, as stated above. Consequently, the union caused by love is closer than that which is caused by knowledge."

   However, if knowledge is absolutely immediate, if one knows God by His very essence and no longer by a likeness, as is the case in the beatific vision, then it is this knowledge which makes us take possession of God rather than love. Cf. Ia IIae, q.3, a.4.

   ²⁴ Bk. II, chap. 16, sec. 1.

   ²⁵ Ibid., chap. 17.

   ²⁶ The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 3.

   ²⁷ Every true Catholic mystic is and should be ready to give his life for the least iota of the Credo. Every formal heresy destroys infused faith in us and therefore charity; that is, the essential principle from which proceeds the contemplation we are speaking of.

   ²⁸ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 180, a. 6.

   ²⁹ Chap. 4.

   ³⁰ Summa, IIa IIae, q.180, a. 6. This contemplation, compared by Dionysius to a circular movement, consists, as he says (loc. cit.), "in the soul leaving exterior things so that it may enter into itself; that it may recall its intellectual faculties to unity in order that shut up, as it were, in a circle it may not go astray; then in this release from distractions, in this recollection and simplification of itself, that it may unite itself to the angels marvelously lost in unity, and allow itself thus to be led toward the beautiful and the good, toward the Deity itself, superior to the beautiful and the good." Philip of the Blessed Trinity, C.D., followed by Vallgornera, O.P., recognizes in his Mystical Theology, II, 66, where he discusses circular contemplation, that it is generally infused. This is the least that can be said. This contemplation differs enormously from the acquired speculation of the philosopher or from meditation on the ineffability of the divine essence.

   ³¹ John, chap. 17.

   ³² He says in the Summa (IIa IIae, q.180, a.6 ad 2um): "Discoursing must be laid aside and the soul's gaze fixed on the contemplation of the one simple truth."

   ³³ The Divine Names, VII, 3.

   ³⁴ Loc. cit., lect. 4.

   ³⁵ Ep., IX, 1.

   ³⁶ Theol. myst., II.

   ³⁷ The Divine Names, IV, 5.

   ³⁸ lbid., III, 1.

   ³⁹ Theol. myst., I, 1.

   ⁴⁰ The Divnie Names, IV, 12.

   ⁴¹ Hierar. coel., I, 3.

   ⁴² In libr. de my st. theol. Dionys. q. proem., ad 1.

   ⁴³ We have treated this question elsewhere from the speculative point of view. Cf. Garrigou-Lagrange, God, His Existence and His Nature, Vol. II, chap. 3, "Reconciliation of the Divine Attributes: Their Formal Existence and Their Identification in the Eminence of the Deity." "Absolute perfections are contained formally and eminently in God, and yet they are only virtually distinguished from each other. They are contained formally, which means according to their formal concept; they are contained eminently, which means according to a mode infinitely above the created mode. . . . Thus, the absolute perfections are contained formally in God and yet are only virtually distinguished from one another, or, in other words, according to a reasoned-out distinction for which there is a foundation, but consequent to the consideration of the mind" (ibid., p. 196).

   ⁴⁴ Le livre des visions et instructions de Ia B. Angèle de Foligno, chap. 26: "One day my soul was ravished and I saw God in a light superior to every known light; in a plenitude superior to every plenitude. In the place where I was, I sought love and I no longer found it. . . . Then I saw God in a darkness, and necessarily in a darkness because He is too far above the spirit, and all that can become the object of a thought cannot express Him. . . . This is an ineffable delectation in the good which contains all, and nothing there can become the object of a word or a concept. I see nothing, I see all. The more profound the darkness is, the more the good exceeds all. This is the reserved mystery . . . . The divine power, wisdom, and will, which I saw marvelously elsewhere, seems less than this. This is a whole; the others could be called parts. . . . In the immense darkness I see the Blessed Trinity. . . . That is the supreme attraction, in comparison with which all is nothing; that is the incomparable." On the same subject, cf. St. Thomas, In De divinis Nominibus, c. VII, lect. 4; and I Sent. d.B, q.t, a.1 ad 5um. It would be a gross error to confound this infused contemplation with the philosophical meditation in which one thinks that the divine essence surpasses all our concepts.

   ⁴⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q. 111, a .5.

   ⁴⁶ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 11–13; The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 9.

   ⁴⁷ Thus he treats of the essence of prudence, which is analogically found in acquired and in infused prudence, or of the essence of friendship which makes possible the definition of charity.

   ⁴⁸ This is what theologians, particularly Thomists, generally teach. Cf. Joseph of the Holy Ghost, C. D., Cursus theol. scol.-mysticae, Vol. II, Disp. VII, q.1, no. 28.

   ⁴⁹ On this point cf. Joseph of the Holy Ghost, ibid.

   ⁵⁰ Cf. Gardeil, Dict, théol., art. "Dons," the last part of the article.

   ⁵¹ St. Thomas says (IIa IIae, q.52, a.2 ad 1um): "In the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the position of the human mind is of one moved rather than of a mover." He speaks in the same manner of operating grace in order to distinguish it from co-operating grace (Ia IIae, q.111, a.2): "Hence in that effect in which our mind is moved and does not move, but in which God is the sole mover, the operation is attributed to God, and it is with reference to this that we speak of operating grace. But in that effect in which our mind both moves and is moved, the operation is not only attributed to God, but also to the soul; and it is with reference to this that we speak of co-operating grace." The inspiration of the Holy Ghost, of which we are speaking, is an operating grace that we receive with docility and that makes us accomplish acts which we would not succeed in producing by our personal efforts aided by grace. St. Teresa says, in speaking of the prayer of union (fifth mansion, chap. 1): "Here God does not leave us any other share than that of a fully submissive will." Likewise St. Felicitas remarked to one of her jailers when she was suffering the pains of childbirth: "Today it is I who suffer; but then (during martyrdom) there will be another in me who will suffer for me, because I also will suffer for Him." This is the difference between the virtue and the gift.

   ⁵² Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a. 1: "Human virtues perfect man according as it is natural for him to be moved by his reason in his interior and exterior actions. Consequently, man needs yet higher perfection, whereby to be moved by God. . . . Even the Philosopher says in the chapter on Good Fortune (Ethic. Eudem., loc. cit.) that for those who are moved by divine instinct there is no need to take counsel according to human reason, but only to follow their inner conscience, since they are moved by a principle higher than human reason. This then is what some say, viz., that the gifts perfect man for acts which are higher than acts of virtue." Cf. John of St. Thomas on this article. It is clear that every actual grace does not dispense us from deliberating.

   St. Thomas speaks thus (In Rom. 8: 14) on the text: "For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God": "Homo spiritualis, non quasi ex motu proprie voluntatis principaliter, sed ex instinctu Spiritus Sancti inclinatur ad aliquid." Cf. Froget, O.P., De l'habitation du Saint-Esprit dans les âmes justes, Part IV, chap. 6, p. 407.

   ⁵³ Summa, IIa IIae, q.g, a.4.

   ⁵⁴ Ibid., q.8, a. 7.

   ⁵⁵ The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 2.

   ⁵⁶ See what St. Thomas says about the passions or emotions resultant by redundance (Ia IIae, q.24, a. 3 ad 1um); of sensible joy, the effect of the devotion of the will (IIa IIae, q.82, a.4); and of the effects of communion (IIIa, q.79, a.1 ad 2um).

   ⁵⁷ Summa, Ia IIae, q.111, a .5. In this article St. Thomas states that sanctifying grace is "nobler than gratuitous grace." It is helpful to reread the office for the feast of St. Teresa, particularly the Little Chapter in which only the gift of wisdom is mentioned: "Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me" (Wis. 7: 7).

   ⁵⁸ Revue d'ascétique et de mystique, October, 1920. On the question of mystical contemplation, cf. pp. 333–336.

   ⁵⁹ The first two opinions can be reconciled by the principle of the mutual causality of knowledge and love, "causae ad invicem sunt causae in diverso genere." From different points of view, there exists here priority either of knowledge or of love, as there is, for example, at the end of the deliberation when the free will determines upon the last practical judgment which directs its choice. The third opinion mentions the special passivity which is proper, at one and the same time, to infused knowledge and to infused love, which are united in the simple and loving attention of which the fourth opinion speaks. It is not, therefore, very difficult to reach an understanding on this point; the divergencies in this case may be only verbal.

   ⁶⁰ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 2, 5, 8: Faith is the only proximate and proportionate means which enables the soul to attain to the divine union; chap. 9; Bk. Ill, chaps. 4, 6.

   ⁶¹ On IIa IIae, q.45, a. 1.

   ⁶² Cursus theol. scol.-mysticae, Vol. II, dist. 13, p. 395, where Suarez is also quoted as admitting this conclusion.

   ⁶³ This seems to be the thought of John of St. Thomas, De donis, d. 18, a. 4; a.2, no. 25: "Dona ad excellentius perficiendum et exercendum virtutes theologicas deserviunt." Cf. T. Vallgornera, O.P., Theol. myst. S. Thomae, I, 471; II, 446.

   ⁶⁴ Summa, IIa IIae, q.180, a.l.

   ⁶⁵ Quaest. disp. de caritate, a.2 ad 17um; III, d.34, q.1, a. 1.

   ⁶⁶ "Sicut virtutes intellectuales praeferuntur virtutibus moralibus et regulant eas; ita virtutes theologicae (per quas unimur Spiritui Sancto moventi), praeferuntur donis Spiritus Sancti et regulant ea." Thus faith is the remote rule of the intellectual gifts, which can be exercised only on the truths of faith. Their proximate, immediate rule is the illumination of the Holy Ghost, which constitutes the formal motive of penetrating or sweet, infused contemplation.

   ⁶⁷ St. Thomas, Super Isaiam, chap. 11.

   ⁶⁸ St. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. ad popul., XLIII, no. 67.

   ⁶⁹ Ps. 1: 3.

   ⁷⁰ Gal. 5: 22 f.

   ⁷¹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.70, a.1, 2.

   ⁷² St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.69, a.1; q.70, a. 2.

   ⁷³ Ibid., q.70, a. 2.

   ⁷⁴ Matt. 5: 3.

   ⁷⁵ Phil. 4: 4–9.

   ⁷⁶ Wis. 7: 8–14.

   ⁷⁷ Ibid., 8: 8 f.

   ⁷⁸ Wis., chap. 9.

   ⁷⁹ Matt. 5: 11.

   ¹ This is the meaning of the words "called" and "chosen," that is, chosen for glory, in Matt. 20: 16; 22: 14; 24: 24; Mark 13: 20, 22, 27; Luke 18: 7. This is also the current meaning in theology. However, in the writings of St. Paul (I Cor. 1: 26 f.) "called" has the same meaning as "chosen," because he speaks of the efficacious vocation to faith and to the Christian life, and of election to grace, not to glory. Cf. Vosté, O.P., Comment, in Ep. I ad Thessal., 1:4. St. Thomas observes on this subject that the efficacious vocation to the Christian life and election to the same life are identical; but the word "vocation" is used in relation to the new life, and "election" in relation to the world whence one has been drawn and chosen.

   ² Cf. St. Thomas, Ia, d.41, q.i, a.2 ad 3um, and In Epist. ad Rom., chap. 8, Iect. 6; and the Salamanca theologians, De praedestinatione, Disp. IV, dub. 3: "Quaenam vocationes electorum sunt effectus praedestinationis eorum?" According to these theologians and many other Thomists, even inefficacious vocations, which the elect resist, are an effect of predestination. Cf. Billuart, De Deo, Diss. IX, a. 6, 1.

   ³ Generally the exterior vocation and the interior vocation are united, as the objective motion (quoad specificationem) and the subjective motion (quoad exercitium); as preaching and the grace which inclines the soul to adhere to it. These two constitute a single vocation.

   ⁴ Matt. 11:28: "Come to Me all you . . ." John 7: 37 f.: "Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink. . . . Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

   ⁵ Chaps. 19, 20.

   ⁶ Cf. St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II chaps. 11–13, and The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 9. Cf. also the work which may be considered a summary of Tauler's teaching, The Institutions, chap. 35.

   ⁷ Matt. 22: 2–10.

   ⁸ Cf. St. Thomas, De malo, q.6, a. 1 ad 3um: "Deus movet quidem voluntatem immutabiliter propter efficaciam virtutis moventis, quae deficere non potest; sed propter naturam voluntatis motae, quae indifferenter se habet ad diversa, non inducitur necessitas, sed manet libertas." It is thus St. Thomas understands St. Paul's expression: "For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to accomplish, according to His good will" (Phil. 2: 13). Cf. also Ia IIae, q. 112, a. 3: "If God intends, while moving, that the one whose heart He moves should attain to grace, he will infallibly attain to it, according to John 6: 45: 'Everyone that hath heard of the Father and hath learned cometh to Me.'" Likewise la, q. 105, a.4; Ia IIae, q. 10, a.4, c and ad 3um; q. 111, a.2 ad 2um; q. 113; De veritate, q.22, a.8, 9. Contrary to what Molina said later, St. Thomas wrote (In Matth., 25:15): "Qui plus conatur, plus habet de gratia; sed quod plus conetur, indiget altiori causa." Likewise In Ep. ad Ephes., 4: 7, and Ia IIae, q. 112, a.4.

   ⁹ See Ia, q.23, a.5. Modern authors who deny this general call, as if they fear to impair the gratuity of the proximate, individual call, are mostly Molinists. They are inspired by principles other than those of St. Thomas. They assume that ordinarily it is we who render divine grace efficacious. Then they regard as essentially extraordinary the passive states, in which grace seems efficacious of itself, in which our free determination comes from God who produces it in us and with us, and in which the soul needs only to commit itself into the hands of God and to use its own activity merely to make itself more dependent on Him. Cf. Molina, Concordia (1876 ed.), pp. 230, 459, 565.

   ¹⁰ Matt. 20: 1–16.

   ¹¹ Cf. infra, p. 379, and also St. Teresa, The Interior Castle, fifth mansion,chap. 1.

   ¹² The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 5.

   ¹³ St. Thomas, Ia, q.23, a.5 ad 3um.

   ¹⁴ It is thus the sacerdotal vocation is not only exterior (by the bishop), but also interior (by grace). Canon 1353 of the Code of Canon Law states that pastors should train in piety and in studies children in whom they find "signs of an ecclesiastical vocation" in order "to cultivate this germ of vocation in them."

   ¹⁵ Cf. Cajetan, on IIa, IIae, q. 153, a.3: "Praecepta moralia attendunt ad id quod secundum naturam est, et non ad id quod per accidens in hac vel complexione, vel aetate invenitur." Cajetan makes this remark frequently against those who forget that St. Thomas speaks formally of the nature of things, prescinding from accidental circumstances. "Auctoris sermo et doctrina est formalis et nihil detrimenti patitur ex his quae sunt per accidens." Thus St. Thomas himself answers his own question as to whether an oath is licit: It is in itself, but it may become illicit if bad use is made of it; that is, if one takes an oath without necessity and the desired precautions; just as Eucharistie communion may become a sacrilege (IIa IIae, q.89, a. 2).

   ¹⁶ See Ia, q.49, a. 3 ad 5um: "In man alone does evil appear as in the greater number; because the good of man as regards the senses is not the good of man as man—that is, in regard to reason; and more men seek good in regard to the senses than good according to reason." On this point see the general index to the works of St. Thomas, Tabula aurea, under the word "Malum," no. 37.

   ¹⁷ We could easily point out in the lives of almost all the saints the interior trials which correspond to the mystical state, called by St. John of the Cross the passive night of the senses and of the spirit.

   ¹⁸ Translation by Longfellow.

   ¹⁹ Cf. Blessed Grignion de Montfort, Traité de la vraie devotion à Marie, chap. 4, art. 5. St. Teresa, The Interior Castle, epilogue.

   ¹ Cf. St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.68. The mystical state is identified with the passive way. It is, consequently, entirely distinct not only from graces gratis datae, like prophecy, but also from certain special and extraordinary favors, such as interior words, which may be ordained especially to the sanctification of the soul receiving them, and sometimes accompany infused contemplation and the mystical union, without constituting its essence. They are concomitant, accessory, and passing phenomena which may be declared essentially extraordinary, without impairing the doctrine according to which mystical contemplation itself is not essentially or intrinsically extraordinary, but only extrinsically so.

   ² Cf. supra, pp. 235–38, for the meaning of the words "ordinary" and "extraordinary."

   ³ Summa, IIa, IIae, q. 184, a.3.

   ⁴ Cf. Ia IIae, q.66, a.2: All the virtues, as habitus, by reason of their relation (and the same must be said for the gifts which are also connected with them in charity, Ia llae, q.68, a.2, 5) grow together, while keeping their difference of perfection like the fingers of one's hands. A man may, however, have a greater natural inclination to practice one virtue than another, or he may be more inclined by the grace of God to make acts of that virtue. Likewise St. Thomas, when speaking of the connection of the gifts, says: "One cannot be perfect without the others" (Ia IIae, q.68, a.5 ad sum). Yet one soul has greater excellence in the acts of one than of another.

   ⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a. 1, 2.

   ⁶ Cf. supra, pp. 281 ff.

   ⁷ In fact, it proceeds as to its substance from faith, and as to its mode from the gift of wisdom.

   ⁸ St. Thomas Ia, q. 12, a.1.

   ⁹ Ibid., q.19, a. 8.

   ¹⁰ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 2.

   ¹¹ Cant. 2: 4.

   ¹² Some theologians have taught that the Holy Ghost moves souls in two ways: (1) according to the common mode which accommodates itself in everything to the human mode and does not exceed the ordinary laws of grace; (2)according to an extraordinary and preternatural mode of which mystical authors speak. Cf. Billot, De virt. infusis, pp. 173, 188.

   These expressions seem to show that for these theologians mystical contemplation is essentially extraordinary and not eminent only. If they hold this opinion, we no longer see how they remain faithful to the teaching of St. Thomas on the gifts. It is clear that each of the gifts cannot have two distinct modes, a distinction not only of degree but of nature. There would then be two habitus specifically distinct; the first would develop in vain, for it would never attain the second. Moreover, it would be incomprehensible why, above the acquired virtues and the infused virtues with a human mode, there would still be necessary an exercise of the gifts according to a human mode, distinct from their exercise according to their divine mode. The human mode of the gifts would be identical with that of the infused virtues. The opinions mentioned above might, however, be explained in a way not opposed to the teaching we have set forth according to the principles of St. Thomas. As a matter of fact, we recognize that the inspirations of the gifts of the Holy Ghost are exercised at first in a latent manner which is suited to the human mode, and that later their superhuman mode becomes manifest and frequent. The latter may even be called extraordinary when it is accompanied by graces gratis datae, destined for the benefit of one's neighbor, such as the grace called sermo sapientiae. This is what St. Thomas means in IIa IIae, q.45, a.5, as Cajetan explains, ibid.; John of St. Thomas, De donis, d. 18, a. 2, 9; and Joseph of the Holy Ghost, Cursus theol. myst., II, 236 ff. Compare this text (IIa IIae, q.45, a.5) with Ia IIae, q.111, a.4 ad 4um.

   ¹³ Cf. Ia IIae, q.114, a.8. St. Thomas shows that we can merit condignly the increase of grace and glory, by quoting this text from the Book of Proverbs, 4: 18: "But the path of the just as a shining light, goeth forward and increaseth even to perfect day." But what we cannot merit is the very principle of merit, the grace of justification, and the efficacious grace which preserves us in statu gratiae, particularly that of final perseverance. Cf. ibid., a.5,9.

   ¹⁴ Condign merit is based on divine justice; it is a right to a reward. Congruous merit is based on divine friendship, in jure amicabili, or at least on the liberality of God. The first renders us worthy of reward; the second, as the name indicates, implies only propriety.

   ¹⁵ Summa theologiae mysticae (1874), II, 311.

   ¹⁶ Mystica theologia D. Thomae (1911), I, 445.

   ¹⁷ Traité de la vie intt!rieure (1885), II, 128.

   ¹⁸ The grace of a happy death or of final perseverance cannot be merited condignly in the strict sense of the word, nor even strictly congruously. It is, however, necessary for salvation and we ought certainly to desire it, to dispose ourselves for it, and to ask for it incessantly, because persevering prayer will obtain it for us. The same may be said for the grace of conversion or justification for a sinner. It cannot be merited, since it is the principle of merit; yet anyone in the state of mortal sin ought, with the actual grace offered him, to desire it and ask for it. These are profound mysteries of the efficacy of grace and of predestination. Cf. Ia IIae, q.114, a.5, 9.

   The grace of justification and that of final perseverance are necessary for salvation, but they cannot be merited condignly. The same is true of efficacious graces which keep us in the state of grace.

   The grace of infused contemplation is not gratuitous, since one can progressively merit condignly a very high degree of the gift of wisdom, considered as a habitus, and since the Holy Ghost generally inspires souls according to the degree of their habitual docility.

   Moreover, we must add to merit the impetrative power of prayer. Since we ought to ask for the grace of a happy death, which we are unable to merit, a fervent soul may indeed ask also, with as much confidence as humility, for the grace of contemplation in order to live the mysteries of salvation more fully, to know its own wretchedness better, to humble itself on this account, and to be less indifferent to the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Reduced to common terms, this is what the soul requests when it recites the Veni Creator with sincerity. The grace of contemplation is thereby less gratuitous than graces gratis datae, such as the grace of a miracle or prophecy, which are in no way necessary to our personal sanctification. After all, the fact remains that the Holy Ghost breathes where He wills, and when He wills; for we do not exercise at will the acts which proceed from the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Cf.infra, pp. 409 ff., "An examination of some theoretical difficulties," in particular as to merit.

   ¹⁹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.61, a.5; q.68, a. 1 ad 1um; In Matth., 5.

   ²⁰ We do not speak here of any case in particular, but of a general law.

   ²¹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.68, a.3 ad 2um. St. John of the Cross held that the virtues of the purified soul of which St. Thomas speaks belong to the mystical life. Cf. Œuvres (2d ed.), II, 42.

   ²² De Servorum Dei beatificatione, Bk. III, chap. 21, "de virtute heroica."

   ²³ Cf. infra, chap. 5, art. 4; chap. 6, art. 1.

   ²⁴ It proceeds especially from the gift of understanding. Cf. St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.8, a. 7. Ia IIae, q.69, a. 2 ad 3um: "In this life . . . the (mind's) eye being cleansed by the gift of understanding, we can, so to speak, see God."

   ²⁵ We say that ordinarily the soul must pass through this crucible. There are, in fact, exceptions, to mention only that of children who die immediately after their baptism. They will not, however, have as high a degree of glory as if they had merited in trial. As for martyrs who before their torture did not pass through the crucible of which we speak, they did pass through it in their last sufferings. This explains why St. John of the Cross says of souls which have undergone the very painful night of the soul: "As a result of their perfect purification by love, they will not pass through purgatory" (The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 20).

   Likewise Tauler states (Sermon 55) on the subject of beginners, who remain faithful to the commandments: "It is rather an exception for them to live in sufficient purity to avoid purgatory, although that may occasionally happen." It may occur, for example, in the case of a young religious who dies immediately after profession. If he had lived longer, he would probably have fallen again into faults which would exact the purification of which we are speaking either before or after death. In any case, no one goes to purgatory after death except through his own fault. If he had been more faithful to grace, he could have avoided it.

   ²⁶ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 3; Bk. II, chap. 1.

   ²⁷ Ibid., Bk. I, chap. 8.

   ²⁸ Ibid., chap. 9.

   ²⁹ Ibid., chap. 10.

   ³⁰ Ibid., chap. 9.

   ³¹ Ibid., chaps. 11–13.

   ³² The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 8.

   ³³ Ibid., Bk. I, chap. 14: "The soul has gone forth: it has begun to penetrate the way of the spirit, which the proficient and the advanced follow, and which is also called the illuminative way, or the way of infused contemplation." This traditional conception of the illuminative way is far superior, as is evident, to that which has been set forth by several non-mystical writers since the seventeenth century.

   ³⁴ Ibid., Bk. II, chap. 2.

   ³⁵ Ibid., chap. 5.

   ³⁶ Ps. 96: 2.

   ³⁷ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 5.

   ³⁸ Ibid.

   ³⁹ Ibid., chap. 5.

   ⁴⁰ Ibid., chap. 13.

   ⁴¹ Ibid., chap. 8.

   ⁴² Ibid., chap. 9.

   ⁴³ Ibid.

   ⁴⁴ Ibid., chap. 15.

   ⁴⁵ The Living Flame of Love, st. II, 5.

   ⁴⁶ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 10.

   ⁴⁷ Ibid., chap. 12.

   ⁴⁸ When a soul passing through this night of the spirit is suffering from temptations against faith, and is at the same time blinded, so to speak, by the divine light which illumines the depths of mysteries, it would be singularly strange to advise as a remedy the reading of a good, well-reasoned study on apologetics. The divine work, which the soul is undergoing, has precisely for its object to raise the soul above reasoning and to make it adhere in an entirely supernatural manner to the first uncreated and revealing Truth ("Veritas prima in dicendo, auctoritas Dei revelantis"). At such a time the soul should ask the Lord for the grace of faith, the inspiration and illumination of the Holy Ghost which elevates our will and intellect even to the uncreated and eternal Word of God, the Author of grace, in order to make them adhere to it in spite of the darkness, with a certitude superior to that of the most evident rational principles. IIa IIae, q.1, a. 1; q.4, a. 8. See supra, pp. 63–77.

   ⁴⁹ Summa, IIa IIae, q.180, a. 2, c and ad 2um.

   ⁵⁰ Summa, Ia IIae, q.58, a.5.

   ⁵¹ See IIa IIae, q.180, a.1, 7.

   ⁵² "The contemplative life pertains directly and immediately to the love of God" (ibid., q.182, a.2).

   ⁵³ Ibid., a. 4 ad 1um.

   ⁵⁴ "A sacrifice is rendered to God spiritually when something is offered to Him; and of all of man's goods, God especially accepts that of the human soul when it is offered to Him in sacrifice. Now a man ought to offer to God, in the first place his soul; . . . in the second place, the souls of others. . . . And the more closely a man unites his own or another's soul to God, the more acceptable is his sacrifice to God; wherefore, it is more acceptable to God that one apply one's own soul and the souls of others to contemplation than to action. Consequently, the statement that no sacrifice is more acceptable to God than zeal for souls, does not mean that the merit of the active life is preferable to the merit of the contemplative life, but that it is more meritorious to offer to God one's own soul and the souls of others, than any other external gifts" (ibid., a.2 ad 3um).

   ⁵⁵ Ibid., q. 180, a. 4.

   ⁵⁶ Ibid., q. 182, a. 1.

   ⁵⁷ "Wherefore, that which pertains more directly to the love of God is generically more meritorious than that which pertains directly to the love of our neighbor" (ibid., a.2).

   ⁵⁸ Ps. 26: 4.

   ⁵⁹ Ps. 45: 11.

   ⁶⁰ De verbis Domini, serm. 27.

   ⁶¹ Luke 10: 42.

   ⁶² De verbis Domini, serm. 27.

   ⁶³ St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.182, a.4 ad sum.

   ⁶⁴ City of God, Bk. XIX, chap. 19.

   ⁶⁵ Summa, IIa IIae, q.182, a.1 ad 3um.

   ⁶⁶ Ibid., q.188, a. 6.

   ⁶⁷ As St. Teresa frequently observes, the delights of contemplation are not required for perfection, and not even for very high perfection. As a matter of fact, mystical contemplation is often arid and painful. Cf. Saudreau, La vie d'union a Dieu, d'apres les grands mattres de la spiritualitt! (3d ed.), p. 263, where he quotes several texts from St. Teresa's writings.

   ⁶⁸ In other words, the mystical contemplation of the mystery of God present in us is required for the full perfection of the life of grace, if we take this word "perfection" not only in the broad sense and from the moral point of view, but in the strict and metaphysical sense, which in this case expresses the full development of the supernatural organism.

   ⁶⁹ See particularly Ia llae, q.69, a.2: "Whether the rewards assigned to the beatitudes refer to this life?" They are, he says, granted to the perfect (not only to some of them) as a prelude to the life of heaven, "by a kind of imperfect inchoation of future happiness." See also lla llae, q.45. "Every Christian," says St. Thomas, "should participate in the contemplation of God, for the precept (Ps. 45: u) applies to all: 'Be still and see that I am God'" (Ilia, d.g6, q.t, a.3 ad sum). If this is true of every Christian, what must be said of the Christian who has reached the full perfection of the interior life?

   ⁷⁰ The third edition is more complete than the former editions and contains (notably p. 290) the result of the research done by Father Colunga, O.P.,on the struggle between the spirituals and the intellectuals at the time of Cano.

   ⁷¹ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 1.

   ⁷² Ibid., Bk. I, chap. 14.

   ⁷³ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. III, chap. 1.

   ⁷⁴ The Living Flame of Love, st. III, verse 3.

   ⁷⁵ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 15.

   ⁷⁶ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 1.

   ⁷⁷ The Spiritual Canticle, Part III, st. 22.

   ⁷⁸ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1.

   ⁷⁹ Chap. 19.

   ⁸⁰ Chap. 17.

   ⁸¹ Even if all souls, and more particularly all Carmelites, are called to contemplation, it evidently does not follow that all must be contemplatives from the start. As St. Teresa says in the text which we quote, God often delays greatly in bestowing this gift. It may even happen that a very generous soul, which is naturally much inclined to the active life, would attain to infused contemplation only after a longer period than the ordinary span of life.

   ⁸² The Way of Perfection, chap. 20.

   ⁸³ Ibid.

   ¹ Matt. 13: 4–9.

   ² Tauler's teaching on this subject is summarized by his disciples in the Institutions, chap. 35.

   ³ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 13.

   ⁴ Chap. 3.

   ⁵ Cf. supra, pp. 221–35.

   ⁶ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 13.

   ⁷ Ibid., chap. 14.

   ⁸ Ibid., chap. 13.

   ⁹ Ibid.

   ¹⁰ Ibid.

   ¹¹ Ibid., chap. 15: "In this state God communicates Himself to the soul which remains passive . . . and the soul, when it thus receives the supernaturally infused light, understands all, while remaining passive."

   ¹² Ibid., chap. 14. St. John shows here that God sometimes favors souls by granting His contemplative love without the intermediate preparation. This recalls what St. Teresa says of the water wheel apropos of the supernatural prayer of quiet, for which the soul usually prepares itself by certain work of the mind. (Cf. Life, chap. 14.)

   ¹³ St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.68, a.1, 3; IIa IIae, q.52, a.2 ad 1um.

   ¹⁴ Bk. I, chap. g.

   ¹⁵ Wis. 7: 11.

   ¹⁶ The expression "remote sufficient grace" is current in theology in another question, which resembles this one and which concerns not only all souls in the state of grace, but all men; i. e., is it possible for each and every one to be saved? God has not only prepared in general, but offers and gives to all men, and each one in particular, in view of his salvation, sufficient help, sufficient at least in a remote manner, according to the conditions of each one. It is thus that the proximate sufficient grace to pray is a remote sufficient grace to perform the salutary work in view of which one prays. If the soul does not resist this remote sufficient grace, it will receive the proximate sufficient grace to act well. If this last grace is not resisted, efficacious grace will be received, which will make us accomplish the salutary work. Cf. Billuart, De Deo, diss. 7, a. 8. This doctrine applies even to infidels and hardened sinners.

   ¹⁷ St. Thomas, I Sent., q.41, a.2 ad 3um. "Vocatio semper est temporalis, quia ponit adductionem quamdam ad aliquid. . . . Est quaedam vocatio temporalis ad gratiam, cui respondet et electio temporalis et aeterna; IIaec autem vocatio est vel interior per infusionem gratiae, vel exterior per vocem praedicatoris."

   ¹⁸ This explains several reservations made by Tauler, St. Teresa, and St. John of the Cross, on the principle of the general call. They have in mind individual cases which arise from particular obstacles.

   ¹⁹ The Living Flame of Love, st. III, v. 3: "Being ignorant of spiritual ways and what characterizes them, these directors turn souls away from the delicate unctions by which the Holy Ghost prepares them for divine union. They content themselves with prescribing contemptible recipes which they have invented or found by chance in their reading, and which are hardly suitable for beginners. . . . They persist in not allowing souls to advance–even if God's desire manifests itself formally–beyond their principles and methods which are limited to discursive acts and those of the imagination. Forbid souls to pass beyond the limits of their natural capacity, and what poor fruit they will gather!"

   ²⁰ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1.

   ²¹ On this point, cf. St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God, Bk. II, chap. 11.

   ²² Bk. I, chap. 9.

   ²³ St. John of the Cross says clearly: "God does not raise" (lleva), and not: "God does not call." "Many are called, but few are chosen."

   ²⁴ The original text says: "These last"–that is, those whom God does not raise.

   ²⁵ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chaps. 3, 14; Bk. II, chap. 1.

   ²⁶ St. Thomas quotes this text and expresses the same opinion in Ia, q.23, a.5 ad 3um.

   ²⁷ Father Lamballe, in his La contemplation, pp. 70, 72, gives this explanation of this text from St. John of the Cross.

   ²⁸ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 5.

   ²⁹ St. II, v. 5.

   ³⁰ The Spiritual Canticle, IV, st. 39, v. 1.

   ¹ Cf. chap. 3, arts. 3, 4.

   ² Bossuet, ɶuvres complètes (1845), I, 643.

   ³ St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.182, a.4 ad 3um: "He that is prone to yield to his passions on account of his impulse to action is simply more apt for the active life by reason of his restless spirit. . . . Others, on the contrary, have the mind naturally pure and restful, so that they are apt for contemplation. . . . Those who are more adapted to the active life can prepare themselves for the contemplative by the practice of the active life; while, none the less, those who are more adapted to the contemplative life can take upon themselves the works of the active life so as to become yet more apt for contemplation." Thus all ought to tend toward contemplation as the normal prelude to the life of heaven.

   ⁴ It is fitting to unite ever more closely devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and that to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in devotion to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, in order to thank our Lord for the act of supreme love by which He gave us the Holy Eucharist.

   ⁵ Traité de la vraie devotion à Marie, chap. 4, art. 5 (1909 ed., p. 119).

   ⁶ Father Clérissac, O.P., Le mystère de l'Église, p. 102.

   ⁷ The Rule of St. Benedict, chap. 48.

   ⁸ See IIa IIae, q. 180, a. 3.

   ⁹ They are not, however, always required, for mystical contemplation is sometimes granted to souls that are still very imperfect.

   ¹⁰ Philip of the Blessed Trinity, O.C.D., Summa theologiae mysticae, II, 305.

   ¹¹ St. Jerome, Comm. in Matth., chap. 5.

   ¹² Prov. 3: 32.

   ¹³ Matt. 6: 22.

   ¹⁴ Matt. 10: 16.

   ¹⁵ Wis. 7: 13.

   ¹⁶ Matt, 11: 25.

   ¹⁷ Matt. 18: 3.

   ¹⁸ Matt. 11: 29.

   ¹⁹ Jas. 4: 6.

   ²⁰ Cf. ɶuvres de Tauler, translated into French by Father Noël, O.P., IV. 215–16, translator's note.

   ²¹ Cf. Tauler, First Sermon on the Ascension (Noël ed.), II, 401.

   ²² Tauler, Second Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Noël ed.),IV, 215.

   ²³ Theologians who follow St. Thomas and St. John of the Cross have never admitted that so-called acquired contemplation is the end of spiritual progress in this life; rather, they see in it a proximate preparation for infused contemplation. With Philip of the Blessed Trinity (Summa theol. myst., II, 309), they agree in saying: "Contemplatio acquisita cum auxilio gratiae comparata, est optima dispositio ad contemplationem supernaturalem."

   ²⁴ St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.45, a. 2.

   ²⁵ Cf. Philip of the Blessed Trinity, C.D., Summa theol. myst., II, 310, and Anthony of the Holy Ghost, C.D., and Vallgornera, O.P., who express the same opinion in the same section of their mystical theologies which follow the division used in that of Philip.

   ²⁶ This is the very expression of the theologians we have just quoted. Cf. Philip, ibid., p. 311.

   ²⁷ This is the principal reason why we cannot accept the thesis recently upheld by Farges and Pourrat, who consider mystical contemplation as essentially extraordinary.

   ²⁸ St. Teresa, The Interior Castle, first mansion, chap. 2: "This knowledge of self is so necessary, even to souls admitted by God to His own dwelling, that they should never depart from it no matter how high they may be raised. Moreover, even though they should wish to do so, they could not do it."

   ²⁹ Ibid.

   ³⁰ This error fails to take cognizance of the fact that infused knowledge is infused, that it presupposes a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and that it proceeds, not from love of the joys of knowledge, but from love of God.

   ³¹ Summa, IIIa, q.62, a. 6 ad 3um.

   ³² Cajetan, on Ia IIae, q. 109, a. 9, no. 4.

   ³³ Gonet, Clypeus theol thom., de gratia, disp. I, a. 6, par. 2, no. 305.

   ³⁴ Cf. supra, p. 345.

   ³⁵ Cf. infra, p. 409. We offer the following explanation of this particular point. According to Christian tradition, absolute purity is necessary for entrance into heaven; all the dust and rust which have encrusted the soul must be removed before it can be raised to the beatific vision, in other words, before it can see God as He sees Himself. This purification must therefore affect not only the sensual part, but also the spiritual part, of the soul. Consequently it is perfect, as St. John of the Cross shows (The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 3; Bk. II, chap. 1), only when the soul has passed through what he calls the double passive night of the senses and of the soul. It is not a subject of wonder, then, that he writes apropos of souls that have passed through the dark night of the spirit: "Because of their perfect purification by love, they will not have to pass through purgatory" (op. cit., Bk. II, chap. 20). In note 25 on p. 357, we quoted an almost similar expression of Tauler; and St. Thomas says (Contra Gentiles, Bk. IV, chap. 91): "Ad visionem Dei creatura rationalis elevari non potest, nisi totaliter fuerit depurata . . . unde dicitur de Sapientia quod nihil inquinatum in ea incurrit." St. Thomas also believes that the pains of purgatory are much greater than the pains of this life. Cf. St. Catherine of Genoa, Treatise on Purgatory.

   Moreover, we stated that to avoid purgatory, where the soul no longer merits, ordinarily or in principle it must before death, while meriting, pass through the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul, which alone assure the perfect and stable purity of the soul in its higher as well as in its lower part.

   Someone may ask what is to be thought of so many Christians for whom the world of the spiritual life is only an illusion, or for whom the life of prayer is a snare. What is to be thought of people who have not leisure to study these things, or minds able to understand them; or of those who are better endowed, but who lack time and favorable circumstances? After all, God does not give everyone a temperament that inclines to the heroism necessary for undergoing the passive purifications of the soul.

   The answer to these objections must be:

   1) That we affirm, as ordinarily or in principle true, what we said following the teaching of St. John of the Cross; that is, that there are exceptions, and exceptions which prove the rule. We have already listed them; for example, children who die immediately after baptism, or a religious who dies immediately after making perpetual profession with great fervor. If these children or this religious, however, continued to live, they would probably have fallen into faults and imperfections which would have required the perfect purification of which we spoke. In a sense, they die accidentally at a good moment, before reaching a stable perfection, and they will not have as high a degree of glory in heaven as if they had continued to live and merit.

   2) There are equivalents of the passive purifications, for example, martyrdom, or a very intense contrition like that which the good thief, who was so near the dying Jesus, must have had.

   3) Moreover, the pains of purgatory may be either very intense and short, or longer and less violent, like the passive purifications in this life.

   4) Some souls that are naturally rather good, but without fervor of will or interest in spiritual things, have many defects, to which they do not give much heed. If they die in this condition, after having merely sufficient contrition, they will certainly have much to suffer in order to reach the perfect purity necessary to enter heaven.

   5) Finally, for many persons the passive purifications on earth may be less painful than those borne by the great saints; for in the case of the latter these sufferings are in proportion not only to the imperfections that have to be eradicated, but also to the very high degree of charity, of apostolic and reparatory life, to which God wishes to lead them.

   ³⁶ Summa, IIa, IIae, q.88, a. 4 ad 2um.

   ³⁷ The Way of Perfection, chaps. 21, 39.

   ³⁸ The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1.

   ³⁹ Joseph of the Holy Ghost, Cursus theologiae mystico-scolasticae, Vol. II, Praed. II, disp. XI, q.2, concl. 2, 3. He says (no. 23) that this last conclusion (that we can aspire to contemplation, etc.) is admitted by Alvarez de Paz, Philip of the Blessed Trinity, Anthony of the Holy Ghost, Vallgornera, and commonly by the mystics, communiter mystici; and that he cannot understand why Anthony of the Annunciation, another Carmelite, in his Disceptatio mystica, places infused contemplation among the graces gratis datae. Joseph of the Holy Ghost (ibid., p. 236) says that this is a great mistake, magnam aequivocationem passus est, and a false interpretation of the passage from St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.45, a.5 Cf. Ia IIae, q.111, a.4 ad 4um; and In I Cor. 12: 8.

   ⁴⁰ On the reconciliation of the most profound humility and the loftiest magnanimity, such as it is found in the souls of the saints, cf. St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q. 129, a. 3 ad 4um: "Magnanimity makes a man deem himself worthy of great things in consideration of the gifts of God. . . . Humility makes a man think little of himself in consideration of his own deficiency, and magnanimity makes him despise others in so far as they fall away from God's gifts; since he does not think so much of others as to do anything wrong for their sake. Yet humility makes us honor others and esteem them better than ourselves in so far as we see some of God's gifts in them," which are always very superior to what we have of ourselves, that is, our indigence and personal defects. These two virtues are, therefore, contrary only in appearance, and not in reality like vice and virtue.

   ⁴¹ Cf. supra, p. 373.

   ⁴² Prov. 11:2.

   ⁴³ Father Lallemant, S.J., Doctrine spirituelle, pp. 113, 187 ff., 203.

   ⁴⁴ Wis. 7: 7.

   ⁴⁵ Matt. 11: 25.

   ⁴⁶ Cf. supra, pp. 337 f., 340, 345 f.

   ⁴⁷ Cf. supra, p. 372.

   ⁴⁸ Cf. The Interior Castle, seventh mansion.

   ⁴⁹ Cf. IIa IIae, q.24, a.8; q.184, a.2, which were explained at length supra, pp. 156–98.

   ⁵⁰ Summa, Ia, q.23, a.5.

   ⁵¹ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 5.

   ⁵² St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.114, a.5, 9.

   ⁵³ Condign merit is a supernatural and free act, the value of which constitutes a right to a supernatural reward, to the increase of grace, and to eternal life. It is, therefore, founded on justice. Congruous merit is not merit in the strict sense but rather in the broad sense of the term. It is not founded on justice but on friendship, vel in jure amicabili, vel solum in liberalitate et benignitate praemiantis.

   ⁵⁴ Cf. Ia IIae, q.65; q.68, a.5. Faith and hope can subsist in a soul in the state of mortal sin; but then they do not, properly speaking, deserve the name of virtues. Cf. Ia IIae, q.65, a.4 ad 1um: "Faith and hope . . . can be without charity, although they are not virtues without charity."

   ⁵⁵ See Ia IIae, q. 114, a. 8.

   ⁵⁶ Ibid., q.66, a. 2.

   ⁵⁷ Ibid., and the Commentary of the Theologians of Salamanca, no. 2.

   ⁵⁸ Ibid., q.68, a.5. The spiritual organism should develop proportionately in all its parts so that their harmony may subsist, just as our corporal organism does. But as in the body a part may hypertrophy to the detriment of the other parts, so in the spiritual life the harmony of the virtues may be compromised as a result of certain defects. In some souls, for example, faith is not developed in proportion to other virtues and to scientific or philosophical culture. This disorder may reach such a degree that he who suffers from it becomes a spiritual dwarf.

   ⁵⁹ Cf. supra, p. 353.

   ⁶⁰ Summa, IIa IIae, q 24, a. 7.

   ⁶¹ Vallgornera, Theol. myst. D. Thomae, q.3, disp. 3, a.6, no. 5; Meynard, Traité de la vie intérieure (1885), II, 128; Philip of the Blessed Trinity, Theol. myst. (1874), II, 311, and Anthony of the Holy Ghost, Directorium mysticum, tr. III, sec. 6, no. 240.

   ⁶² See Ia IIae, q.114, a.9. On this article, cf. John of St. Thomas, no. 1: "Principium meriti non potest cadere sub meritum: sed auxilium et motio divina, qua aliquis movetur a Deo, ut non succumbat tentationibus, nec gratiam interrumpat per peccatum, tenet se ex parte principii meriti, quia auxilium et motio est principium operandi, et in hoc solum consistit quod moveat ad opus; igitur non potest cadere sub meritum." No. 4: "Conservatio est continuatio primae productionis . . . , unde qui mereretur auxilia continuativa gratiae, seu perseverantiam, consequenter mereretur ipsam continuationem principii meriti, quod est gratia secundum quod se tenet ex parte Dei moventis ad conservandum. . . . Quod probat non posse sub meritum cadere motionem divinam, non quamcumque, sed quatenus est conservativa gratiae, quae est principium meriti." Cf. Salmanticences, ibid., nos. 89–109.

   ⁶³ Cf. Ia IIae, q. 114, a.9; also the Commentary of Billuart. He shows that according to the principles of St. Thomas it seems that final perseverance cannot be merited by a congruous merit properly so called, but only by a congruous merit improperly so called. While condign merit is founded on justice (jus ad praemium) and congruous merit, properly so called, on jure amicabili, secundum leges amicitiae, congruous merit improperly so called is founded in liberalitate et benignitate Dei.

   ⁶⁴ Moreover, by prayer we can obtain the grace of a happy death, which cannot be merited; in like manner the interior soul ought to ask humbly for the grace of contemplation. Cf. supra, p. 354 note 18.

   ⁶⁵ What is more, the obediential power or capacity to receive grace is no greater in angels than in men. It is according to this capacity that the soul is the subject of grace.

   ⁶⁶ Cf. Ia IIae, q.109, a.6. This article concludes as follows: "Hence it is clear that man cannot prepare himself to receive the light of grace except by the gratuitous help of God moving him inwardly." The reason for this is that the order of the agents must correspond to the order of the ends, and that only a supernatural agent can move to a supernatural end. Ibid., ad 2um. "Hence when a man is said to do what is in him to do, this is said to be in his poweraccording as he is moved by God." Therefore, to a man doing what is in him to do (with the help of actual grace), God does not deny (habitual) grace.

   ⁶⁷ See Ia IIae, q. 112, a.2: Taking grace in the first sense (habitual) a certain preparation of grace is required for it, since a form can only be in disposed matter. Ibid., ad 3um. "So likewise, when God infuses grace into a soul, no preparation is required which He Himself does not bring about." The same is true for the increase of charity, IIa IIae, q.24, a.2, and the following articles.

   ⁶⁸ See IIa IIae, q.24, a.3: "Since charity surpasses the proportion of human nature . . . it depends, not on any natural virtue, but on the sole grace of the Holy Ghost who infuses charity. Wherefore the quantity of charity depends neither on the condition of nature nor on the capacity of natural virtue, but only on the will of the Holy Ghost who divides His gifts according as He will." Ibid., ad 2um: "The form does not surpass the proportion of the matter; they are both of the same genus. In like manner, grace and glory are referred to the same genus, for grace is nothing else than a beginning of glory in us. But charity and nature do not belong to the same genus, so that the comparison fails." It is not, therefore, only the mystical graces which are gratuitous, in this sense that the Holy Ghost gives them when He wills, but it is also the degree of charity given at the moment of justification to an adult who is converted with greater fervor than another, under the impulse of a stronger actual grace. St. Thomas, ibid., ad 1um.

   ⁶⁹ Cf. Billuart, De caritate, diss. II, a. 2.

   ⁷⁰ Cf. supra, pp. 388–95.

   ⁷¹ See IIa IIae, q. 161, a.5: "Humility makes a man a good subject to ordinance of all kinds and in all matters." Ibid., ad 2um: "First, by way of removing obstacles: and thus humility holds the first place, inasmuch as it expelspride, which God resisteth, and makes man open to receive the influx of divine grace. Hence it is written (Jas. 4: 6): God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. In this sense humility is said to be the foundation of the spiritual edifice."

   ⁷² Cf. Blessed Grignion de Montfort, Le traité de la vraie dévotion à Marie,chap. 4, art. 5, and the summary of this treatise, Le secret de Marie, made by Blessed Grignion. With a view to mental prayer, it is also well to meditate often on the office and mass of the Sacred Heart, and also on the office and mass of the Eucharistie Heart which have been recently approved by the Church.

   ⁷³ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 181, a. 1 ad 3um; q. 182, a.4.

   ⁷⁴ Cf. supra, pp. 341–43.

   ⁷⁵ Cf. supra, pp. 188 f.

   ⁷⁶ Cf. supra, pp. 345–67.

   ⁷⁷ Cf. supra, pp. 341–43.

   ⁷⁸ Cf. supra, pp. 245–67.

   ⁷⁹ Cf. supra, pp. 299, 324–26.

   ⁸⁰ The Teresian Congress of Madrid (see El Monte Carmelo of Burgos, May, 1923) approved the following conclusion: "Since the virtues find their ultimate perfection in the gifts, and the gifts reach their perfect actuation in contemplation, it results that contemplation is the ordinary 'way' of sanctity and of habitually heroic virtue." Theologians are more and more agreed in accepting this teaching. On this subject, see our "Chronique de théologie mystique" in La vie spirituelle, June, 1923.

   ⁸¹ See IIa IIae, q.175, a.4; q.180, a.5.

   ⁸² See IIa IIae, q. 180, a.5 ad 2um: "In the present state of life, human contemplation is impossible without phantasms, because it is connatural to man to see the intelligible species in the phantasms, as the Philosopher states (De anima, iii). Yet intellectual knowledge does not consist in the phantasms themselves, but in our contemplating in them the purity of the intelligible truth: and this is not only in natural knowledge, but also in that which we obtain by revelation. For Dionysius says (Coel. hier., ii) that the divine glory shows us the angelic hierarchies under certain symbolic figures, and by its power we are brought back to a single ray of light, i. e., to the simple knowledge of the intelligible truth. It is in this sense that we must understand the statement of Gregory that contemplatives do not carry along with them the shadows of things corporeal, since their contemplation is not fixed on them,but on the consideration of the intelligible truth."

   ⁸³ Cf. supra, pp. 393 f.

   ⁸⁴ Cf. supra, p. 384.

   ⁸⁵ Dom Louismet, The Mystical Life, p. 8.

   ⁸⁶ Ibid., p. 23.

   ⁸⁷ Cf. supra, p. 384.

   ⁸⁸ Cf. supra, p. 357.

   ⁸⁹ St. Thomas even says of the theological virtues, independently of the gifts: "The theological virtues are above man as stated above (q.58, a.3 ad 3um). Hence they should properly be called not human but superhuman or Godlike" (Ia IIae, q.61, a. 1 ad 2um). Consequently it is only among the virtues which are properly human that the four cardinal virtues are called principal virtues, in spite of the incomparable superiority of the theological virtues, which are directed toward the last end. Cf. ibid.

   ⁹⁰ Cf. supra, pp. 37; 40 f., 152 ff.

   ⁹¹ Summa, Ia IIae, q.109, a.3, 4. In the works of St. Thomas, see the references to the fames peccati and the wounds; cf. Tabula aurea under these words.

   That Thomists are faithful to St. Thomas is shown when they teach generally that man in the state of fallen nature, not as yet regenerated, is weaker in regard to good than he would have been in the state of pure nature. On the article quoted, see the Commentaries of Lemos, Alvarez, Billuart, john of St. Thomas, and especially Salmanticenses, De gratia, tr. XIV, q.109, disp. 2, dub. 2–5, nos. 99, 102, 116, 129, 135. Among modern theologians, this is the opinion of St. Alphonsus: it is generally the doctrine of spiritual authors, who echo the writmg of the saints. Cf. The Imitation of Christ, Bk. III, chaps. 54. 55· Such seems to be also the natural meaning of the texts of the ecclesiastical magisterium where it speaks of the wounds of fallen nature and of free will not destroyed but attenuated, weakened, and of the fomes peccati; c£. Denzinger (10th ed.), nos. 174, 181, 198, 788, 793, 1275, 1616, 1627, 1634 ff., 1643.

   ⁹² Cf. supra, pp. 191–98, 399.

   ⁹³ Cf. supra, pp. 299–310.

   ⁹⁴ Cf. supra, pp. 356 f., 400 ff.

   ⁹⁵ Summa, Ia IIae, q.61, a.5.

   ⁹⁶ Ibid., q.69, a. 2, and ad 3um, commentary on "Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God."

   ⁹⁷ Part IV, chap. 3, art.3.

   ⁹⁸ In the same chapter, Father Lallemant says: "Venial sins, which they commit in great number, exclude the graces necessary to produce acts of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. God refuses them the help of His graces, because He foresees that if He gave them these graces in their present disposition, they would be of no use to them, since their will is bound by a thousand fetters which would prevent them from consenting." These bonds are contrary habits and affections.

   ⁹⁹ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 3; Bk. II, chap. 2.

   ¹⁰⁰ He makes a distinction between habitual imperfections and actual imperfections. Among the habitual imperfections in beginners, he lists the inclination to spiritual sensuality and to spiritual pride. Venial sins are often the result. There are also first movements of impatience, sensuality, and pride which precede all actual advertence, and sometimes even the advertence possible in beginners, especially when they are fatigued or drowsy. Cf. St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.74, a.3 ad 2um: "This corruption of the fomes does not hinder man from using his rational will to check individual, inordinate movements, if he be presentient of them, for instance, by turning his thoughts to other things." Cf. ibid., Salmanticences; also Ia IIae, q.17, a.7; q.8o, a.3 ad 3um; IIa IIae, q.154, a. 5; De malo, q.7, a. 6 ad 6um.

   ¹⁰¹ See Ia IIae, q.18, a. 9.

   ¹⁰² See IIa IIae, q.184, a.3.

   ¹⁰³ Summa, IIa IIae, q.24, a.6 ad 1um (and the Thomistic commentators); also Ia IIae, q.114, a.8 ad 3um. Cf. supra, pp. 188–98. The progress of the soul should be uniformly accelerated, and each communion more fervent and fruitful than the preceding, since each ought to increase charity in us and thus dispose us for a better reception of the Holy Eucharist the next day.

   ¹⁰⁴ See IIa IIae, q.19, a.8.

   ¹⁰⁵ Cursus theol., De peccatis, tr. XIII, disp. 19, dub. 1, nos. 8 and 9, and De incarnatione (in St. Thomas, IIIa, q.15, a.1, De impeccabilitate Christi),where it is shown that no venial sin or imperfection was possible in Christ.

   ¹⁰⁶ Summa, Ia IIae, q.88, a. 2.

   ¹⁰⁷ It is unlawful to omit something which is better for us for the sole motive that we are not obliged to it, and that we wish to use our liberty. Several Thomists rightly remark that this is a will without just motive, volitio otiosa carens pia utilitate aut j usta necessitate. Cf. Billuart, De actibus humanis,diss. IV, a. 6, solv. obj. 3.

   ¹⁰⁸ See Ia IIae, q.14, a.4.

   ¹⁰⁹ But, as a matter of fact, in these there is often negligence and, as a result, venial sin, when one could and should consider and deliberate.

   ¹¹⁰ St. Thomas observes (IIIa, q. 15, a.9 ad 3um), apropos of anger, that when Christ drove the buyers from the Temple His anger was perfectly holy and proportioned to the motive which inspired it; while in us anger, even when commanded and moderated by right reason, slightly disturbs the gaze of contemplation; for when the operation of one of our faculties is intense, it often hinders the act of another faculty. "This is the reason why any movement whatsoever of anger, even if it be tempered by reason, dims the mind's eye of him who contemplates." This disappears gradually in the saints.

   ¹¹¹ Cf. supra, pp. 395 ff.

   ¹¹² Bk. I, chap. 3; Bk. II, chap. 2.

   ¹¹³ Ibid.

   ¹¹⁴ The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 5.

   ¹¹⁵ Ps. 118: 1–2, 32.

   ¹¹⁶ Summa, IIa IIae, q.129, a.3 ad 4um.

   ¹ This does not mean the theological virtue of faith, since the latter is common to all Christians; rather St. Paul means a special certitude and security which God grants especially to theologians or to preachers so that they may transmit His divine word with a conviction which nothing can shake. Cf. infra, p. 441 note 29.

   ² See I Cor. 12: 4, 7–11; cf. Rom. 12: 6.

   ³ See I Cor. 13: 3.

   ⁴ Summa, Ia IIae, q. 111, a.5: "Now the end is always greater than the means. But sanctifying grace ordains a man immediately to a union with his last end, whereas gratuitous grace ordains a man to what is preparatory to the end; i. e., by prophecy and miracles, etc., men are induced to unite themselves to their last end. And hence sanctifying grace is nobler than gratuitous grace." Ia IIae, q.111, a. 1 ad 3um: "Sanctifying grace adds to the notion of gratuitous grace something pertaining to the nature of grace, since it makes man pleasing to God. And hence gratuitous grace which does not do this keeps the common name, as happens in many other cases." As the animal devoid of reason is simply called "animal," so these graces of inferior order, which in themselves do not render man agreeable to God, are called "graces gratuitously given."

   ⁵ See supra, p. 59, for the distinction between the supernatural quoad sub-stantiam and the supernatural quoad modum.

   ⁶ See Ia IIae, q. 111, a. 4.

   ⁷ Bk. II, chaps. 10–31.

   ⁸ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 171–75.

   ⁹ Ibid., q.175.

   ¹⁰ Ibid., q. 174, a.1 ad 3um.

   ¹¹ Ibid., q. 173, a.2 ad 1um.

   ¹² Ibid., ad 2um.

   ¹³ Ibid., q. 173, a.2.

   ¹⁴ Ibid., q.174, a. 3.

   ¹⁵ Ibid., a. 1 ad 3um.

   ¹⁶ Cf. St. Thomas, De veritate, q. 13, a.3: "Cum totaliter anima intendat ad actum unius potentiae, abstrahitur homo ab actu alterius potentiae." Cf. IIa IIae, q.173, a.3, on partial or total ecstasy. Neither is necessary to prophecy or contemplation. Cf. ibid.

   ¹⁷ See IIa IIae, q.175, a. 1 and a.2 ad 1um: "Rapture adds something to ecstasy . . . a certain violence in addition."

   ¹⁸ Cf. IIIa, q.10, 11.

   ¹⁹ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 1–9.

   ²⁰ Ibid., chaps. 10–24.

   ²¹ Ibid., chaps. 25–27.

   ²² Ibid., chaps. 28–31. St. John of the Cross links with distinct supernatural knowledge (chaps. 10 and 32) the divine touches received in the will, which produce spiritual sentiments in it and "react on the intellect." We will discuss them at the end of this article.

   ²³ Ibid., Bk. II, chap. 10.

   ²⁴ See IIa IIae, q.171, 173, 174.

   ²⁵ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 32.

   ²⁶ Benedict XIV, De serv. Dei beat., Bk. III, last chap., no. 12. C. de Lugo, S.J., De fide, disp. I, sec. 11.

   ²⁷ Card. Gotti, O.P., Theol. schol. dogm., Vol. I, tract. 9, q. 1, dub. 3, no. 2: "Verius existimo, revelationem privatam, etiam ex parte rei revelatae, esse credendam ab eo, cui fit, fide divina theologica. . . . Quia ubicumque est eadem ratio formalis objecti, ibi est idem specie habitus." When attempts were made to obtain a denial of her divine mission from St. Joan of Arc, she answered that she had to believe in it as in the mystery of the redemption; and several times she appealed to the pope in this matter, as supreme judge of these things.

   ²⁸ Salmanticenses, De fide, disp. I, dub. IV, 104 and 111: In favor of this opinion, they quote St. Thomas and his principal commentators. They observe in particular that a number of these revelations bearing on temporal things have not a sufficient bond with the first object of theological faith.

   ²⁹ It may also proceed from faith, which is mentioned among the gratituous graces (I Cor. 12: 4–10). According to the Salmanticenses, loc. cit., no. 113, "Praedicta fides confertur ut in plurimum doctoribus Ecclesiae circa articulos fidei catholicae."

   ³⁰ Benedict XIV, op. cit., Bk. II, chap. 32, no. 11.

   ³¹ Cf. the decree of Urban VIII, March 13, 1625, confirmed by Clement IX, May 23, 1668.

   ³² St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.173, a.4.

   ³³ John 18: 14.

   ³⁴ Cf. Bona, De discretione spirituum, chap. 20.

   ³⁵ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 3.

   ³⁶ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 19, 20.

   ³⁷ St. Vincent Ferrer, Traité de la vie spirituelle, chap. 13.

   ³⁸ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 11.

   ³⁹ Ibid.

   ⁴⁰ Ibid., chap. 16.

   ⁴¹ Ibid., chaps. 16, 17.

   ⁴² Ibid., chaps. 21, 27.

   ⁴³ Ibid., chaps. 19, 22. Under the Old Law it was licit to ask for revelations; it is not so under the law of the Gospel, for all revelation is found in Christ.

   ⁴⁴ Ibid., chap. 21.

   ⁴⁵ Ibid.

   ⁴⁶ Ibid., Bk. III, chaps. 9, 12.

   ⁴⁷ Ibid., Bk. II, chap. 22.

   ⁴⁸ Ibid., Bk. II, chap. 29.

   ⁴⁹ See Ia IIae, q. 111, a.4.

   ⁵⁰ See I Cor., chap. 13.

   ⁵¹ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 25.

   ⁵² Ibid., chap. 27.

   ⁵³ Ibid.

   ⁵⁴ Ibid.

   ⁵⁵ Ibid.

   ⁵⁶ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 26.

   ⁵⁷ Ibid.

   ⁵⁸ Cf. St. Thomas, Ia, q.51, a.2.

   ⁵⁹ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 9. Signs of respect should be given only conditionally if the soul thinks that perhaps the devil wished in this way to make himself adored under the figure of Christ. Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, d.9, q.1, a.2; q.6 ad 3um.

   ⁶⁰ Cf. Vallgornera, Theol. myst. D. Thomae, q.3, disp.5, a. 1, no. 13.

   ⁶¹ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 11.

   ⁶² St. Thomas, IIa IIae, q.95, a.6; q.173, a.2.

   ⁶³ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 16.

   ⁶⁴ Vallgornera, loc. cit., no. 11; St. Teresa, The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 9.

   ⁶⁵ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 173, a.3.

   ⁶⁶ The Interior Castle, loc. cit.

   ⁶⁷ St. Thomas, De veritate, q. 12, a. 12.

   ⁶⁸ St. Teresa, Life, chap. 29.

   ⁶⁹ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 16, 17; The Interior Castle, loc. cit. Cf. supra, p. 256.

   ⁷⁰ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 8.

   ⁷¹ Summa, IIa IIae, q. 173, a. 2 ad 2um; De veritate, q. 12, a. 12.

   ⁷² St. Teresa, Life, chap. 27.

   ⁷³ The Interior Castle, sixth mansion, chap. 10; The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 22, 24.

   ⁷⁴ The Interior Castle, loc. cit.

   ⁷⁵ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 24.

   ⁷⁶ Ibid.

   ⁷⁷ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, loc. cit.

   ⁷⁸ The Interior Castle, seventh mansion, chap. 1.

   ⁷⁹ Cf. supra, pp. 256–58.

   ⁸⁰ The Spiritual Canticle, st. 22. Philip of the Blessed Trinity (Theol. myst. Prooem., a.8), Scaramelli (Dir. myst., tr. II, chap. 22 no. 258) and several other authors hold that so sublime a state demands that God reveal to the soul, His spouse, the indissoluble friendship that exists between them. On this point, see Meynard, O.P., La vie intérieure, Vol. II, no. 270. In this way certain passages from the writings of the great orthodox mystics are made to harmonize with the decree of the Council of Trent, namely, that without a special revelation no one on earth can have absolute certitude that he is in the state of grace, and with even greater reason that he will persevere in it until death. Cf. Concilium Tridentinum, Sess. VI, chaps. 9 and 13; canons 13, 14, 16.

   Cf. Salmanticenses, De gratia, q. 110, disp. 3, dub. 11, no. 259, on the question of confirmation in grace and its difference from the gift of final perseverance. This gift of confirmation in grace is, they say, a certain participation in the impeccability of the blessed, and needs to be completed by a special protection on the part of God; for this reason it is superior to the gift of final perseverance, which all the predestined receive.

   ⁸¹ Luke 1: 19.

   ⁸² Luke 1: 28.

   ⁸³ St. Teresa, Life, chap. 25.

   ⁸⁴ Ibid.

   ⁸⁵ Ibid.

   ⁸⁶ Ibid.

   ⁸⁷ Ibid. Cf. also St. Thomas, Ia, q.111, a. 1, 3; q. 114; Ia IIae, q.80, a. 1–3.

   ⁸⁸ Cf. St. Thomas, Ia, q. 107, a. 1; also Cajetan's commentary.

   ⁸⁹ St. Teresa, Life, chap. 27.

   ⁹⁰ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 28–31.

   ⁹¹ Ibid., chap. 29.

   ⁹² Ibid.

   ⁹³ Ibid., Bk. II, chap. 29. Likewise circumspection and reserve must be exercised in regard to what St. Thomas calls instinctus propheticus (IIa IIae, q.171, a.5; q. 173, a.4). This instinct or supernatural attraction is an interior illumination which does not give certitude as to its divine origin. These interior movements must not be scorned, but, before giving them too much attention and following them, they must be rightly discerned.

   ⁹⁴ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 29.

   ⁹⁵ Ibid., chap. 30.

   ⁹⁶ Dan. 9: 22.

   ⁹⁷ Ex. 3: 11.

   ⁹⁸ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 30.

   ⁹⁹ Cf. St. Thomas, Ia, q.111, a. 1, 3; q.114, a. 1–4; Ia IIae, q.8o, a. 1–3; also Cajetan, Curiel, and Suarez; cf. Cardinal Bona, De discretione spirituum, chap. 17; and Nicholas of Jesus Mary, C.D., Elucidatio phrasium myst. operum Joannis a Cruce, chap. 5, no. 4.

   ¹⁰⁰ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, loc. cit.

   ¹⁰¹ Although the devil cannot act directly on man's intellect and will, his artifices may frequently be taken for words of God, by our confounding what immediately touches the intellect with what takes place in the imagination.

   ¹⁰² The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 31.

   ¹⁰³ The Living Flame of Love, st. 1, 1.

   ¹⁰⁴ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 32.

   ¹⁰⁵ Ibid.

   ¹⁰⁶ Ibid.

   ¹⁰⁷ Cf. St. Thomas, Ia, q.8, a. 1–3; q.43, a.3; q. 104, a.1, 2; q. 105, a.3, 4.

   ¹⁰⁸ St. Thomas, Ia IIae, q.110, a.3, 4.

   ¹⁰⁹ Ibid., q.9, a.4; q. 10, a. 1, 2, 4.

   ¹¹⁰ Ibid., q. 113, a.8, and De veritate, q.28, a.3: "Ipse Deus, qui justificat impium, tangit animam, gratiam in ea causando. . . . Mens autem humana aliquo modo tangit Deum, eum cognoscendo et amando." At the moment of justification, there is a divine action causing the very essence of the soul to pass from spiritual death to life by producing in it sanctifying grace, which is eternal life begun. The mystical favor of which we are speaking makes us, in a way, take cognizance of this divine influx into the very depths of our being. It is often preceded by the passive purification of the spirit, which notably deepens the work done in us by God at the moment of our conversion (Ia IIae, q.113, a.8, "De ordine eorum quae ad justificationem concurrunt"). It is as if the Author of grace deepened anew, but much more profoundly, the furrow in which the divine seed is to grow.

   ¹¹¹ See Ia IIae, q. 10, a.2.

   ¹¹² Cf. Vallgornera, Theol. myst. D. Thomae, q.3, disp.5, a.9, nos. 1, 3, 4.

   ¹¹³ In the opinion of St. Thomas, no created substance can operate, feel, perceive, or love of itself, but only through its faculties; it has received them for that purpose. Cf. Ia, q.54, a.1: "Whether an angel's act of understanding is his substance?" A. 2: "Whether in the angel to understand is to exist?" A. 3; "Whether an angel's power of intelligence is his essence?" Q.77, a. 1: "Whether the essence of the soul is its power?" A. 2: "Whether there are several powers of the soul?" It is in the light of these articles that, to avoid all error, we should understand what Tauler, Louis de Blois, and St. John of the Cross say of the depths of the soul. Cf. Louis de Blois, Institutio spiritualis, chap. 12, where it is said that the depth of the soul is the origin of the higher faculties, virium illarum est origo. Cf. infra, p. 458.

   ¹¹⁴ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 32.

   ¹¹⁵ Bk. II, chap. 23.

   ¹¹⁶ St. 2, v. 3.

   ¹¹⁷ The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

   ¹¹⁸ The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 3.

   ¹¹⁹ Cf. supra, pp. 256 ff.

   ¹²⁰ Cf. supra, pp. 251–58.

   ¹²¹ Cf. supra, p. 258.

   ¹²² Cf. St. Thomas: "Illabi menti convenit soli Deo." IIIa, q.8, a. 8 ad 1um; q.64, a. 1; Ia IIae, q.112, a. 1; In Joan., 13, lect. 4; In I Cor., 2, lect. 2. In De veritate (q. 10, a. 1) we read: "Mens in anima nostra dicit illud quod est altissimum in virtute ipsius; unde cum secundum id quod est altissimum in nobis divina imago inveniatur in nobis, imago non pertinebit ad essentiam animae nisi secundum mentem prout nominat altissimam potentiam ejus; et sic mens, prout in ea est imago, nominat potentiam animae et non essentiam, vel si nominat essentiam, hoc non est nisi in quantum ab ea fluit talis potentia." The thirteen articles of this question De mente in the treatise De veritate should be read in connection with this point of doctrine.

   ¹²³ Institutio spiritualis, chap. 12, 2: "The soul becomes fit to contemplate with calm, simplicity, and delights, without gross images, and without any intellectual illusions, the abyss of the divinity. It is then that, turned entirely toward God by pure love, and an incomprehensible light illuminating, so to speak, the depths of its essence, the eye of the reason and the intellect is, as it were, dazzled by it. . . . The soul knows then by experience that God is infinitely superior to every image, . . . and to all that the intellect can comprehend. . . . It loses itself in the solitary and obscure immensity of the divinity; but to lose itself in this way is to find itself again." All this admirable chapter is, as it were, a summary of the teaching of Tauler, which Louis de Blois defended.

   ¹²⁴ Cf. The Living Flame of Love, st. 1, v. 3: The most profound center of the soul: "It is in the substance of the soul, inaccessible to the senses and the devil, that this joy of the Holy Ghost develops. He alone is capable, in the center of the soul and in its intimate depths, of making it act and operate without the intervention of the senses." The activity of the soul tends toward this center, as a stone toward the center of the earth; and it more closely approaches it in proportion as its charity is more intense.

   Cf. The Spiritual Canticle, Part I, st. 1, v. 1: "The Word, the Son of God, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost, is essentially hidden in the intimate being of the soul. Whence it must be concluded that if the soul wishes to find the Spouse, it must live detached by affection and will from all creatures, enter into profound recollection, and act toward the world as if it did not exist."

   ¹²⁵ Cf. The Interior Castle, especially the seventh mansion, chap. : 2.

   ¹²⁶ Cf. supra, pp. : 258, 455.

   ¹²⁷ he Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 14.

   ¹²⁸ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 10.

   ¹²⁹ Ibid., chap.30.

   ¹³⁰ Ibid.

   ¹³¹ Ibid., chaps. 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 25, 27.

   ¹³² The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 2.

   ¹³³ The Mystical Life, pp. xiii f.

   ¹³⁴ Ibid., pp. xi f. We should like, however, to find in the writings of Dom Louismet a sharper distinction between the mystical life, properly so called, and fervent Christian life, and to see him accentuate and develop what he has said on this subject. Ibid., pp. 8, 23.

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