CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX.
Mystic Writings of St. Bonaventure.
'"' Dedit mihi Dominus linguam mercedem meam; et
in ipsa laudabo eum."—Ecc Les. li. 30.
THE most religious men have always been the most fruitful in good deeds.
The soul that is purified by constant contact with Heaven becomes capable of actions that are strong, persevering, sublime, and truly great. Everything great in this world depends on the spirit of sacrifice, and this spirit is most powerful where the divine breath is most strongly felt.
St. Paul, St. Bernard, St.
Francis Xavier, and all the glorious Saints whose journey through this world has left so deep an impression, were men who were animated by divine thoughts and guided by celestial desires.
Their works were great, because there was in them nothing that was earthly; and because, as the Apostle said, "neither life, nor death, nor present nor future things, could separate them
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from the love of Jesus Christ".
They had, therefore, reached the summit of evangelical perfection, and their works were really the works of God.
When we examine closely the lives of such men, we see in all their efforts an intense desire to make the world such as they themselves are.
St. Paul wrote to all Christians letters which are full of counsels of detachment, of mortification, of tender and devoted charity.
He proportioned his words to the feebleness of those to whom he wrote, and the instructions that he gave them filled with admiration and enthusiasm the most lofty minds. St. Bernard had among his children men of all ranks, and yet he explained to all the ineffable mysteries of the Canticle of Canticles ; to all he related the most abstruse operations of Divine love, and he never seemed to fear lest his instructions should be above their understanding or unsuited to their needs.
For, in fact, the first need of the heart of man is the love of God; detachment, abnegation, poverty, humility, obedience—in a word, all the virtues—are only,means to attain to this love, to increase its intensity, to give entire freedom to !
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| its action.
So, when a heart is pure, nothing is so dear to it as the love of God; and, if all men had arrived at such purity, their only language would be the language of love, the language of the blessed country above.
We have a striking example of this truth in the death of St. Thomas of Aquin.
When the Saint lay in his last illness, the children of St. Benedict, among whom he died, begged of him, as the greatest boon, that he would explain to them the Canticle of Canticles, the book of love.
To lead men to the love of God, and to detach them from the things of earth, to raise them to the full height of their divine vocation, is the foundation of the teaching of all the mystic authors, and of St. Bonaventure in particular. At first sight, their writings appear obscure and unintelligible, but they are only so to unreflecting and ignorant souls, especially when these authors have been men of sublime virtue, who have written of things that they have experienced themselves.
The science of such men is a science of profound meditation—a science that is based on an intimate knowledge of souls and of their needs, of creatures and of their supernatural
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end, of God and of the irresistible attraction of His love to us.
This science of experience has never been more clearly made known in the Church, than in the thirteenth century.
'Till then it had seemed to be the possession of only a few privileged souls of some fervent communities, but the sweet whispers of these favoured ones hardly
- were heard beyond the cloister walls.
St. Bernard was the first to make it known more widely than before.
His grave and powerful voice had more strength, and his writings made by degrees many disciples whose thoughts carried them to celestial heights, and whose ambition was, to be more
- closely united to God.
The Orders of St.
Francis and St. Dominic extended this knowledge in the world, and the echo of their preaching was expressed by the words of the Prophet: "Taste and see how gracious is the Tord St. Bonaventure was the principal representative of the mystic school in the thirteenth century.
That which St. Thomas was for theology, he was for the direction of souls in the higher regions of spirituality.
As a faithful
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disciple of St. Bernard, he earnestly studied his doctrine, and he so strictly embraced all his ideas, that the voice of St. Bernard seems to speak again from his lips.
His books on the Seven Roads of Eternity, the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Five Festivals of the Child Jesus, the Seven Degrees of Contemplation,
S&c., are pure and lovely specimens of mystic works.
In some of these books he leans constantly on the support of his masters, but in others he seems, so to speak, to forget his great learning: he leans on no one, and they are simply the effusion of a heart entirely given up to love.
At other times his words seem to belong more to the intelligence than to the will, and he appears to be building up one stone upon another of the edifice on which he is engaged.
In these works he advances by degrees, but from the beginning it is easy to see that his heart is burning, that even his science is incandescent with love, and that the building which he has begun on earth will only. receive its crown in the highest regions of Heaven.
His system is that of the Gospel—that of the Apostles.
He never forgets what man is by
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nature, and what he can become by grace.
Sin ought to be restrained without mercy, not as a work of perfection, but of justice. Imperfections are sicknesses of the soul.
They never entirely disappear, and to the end they cause even saints to exclaim, ''Unhappy man that I arn! who shall deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. vii.).
He shows that these imperfections may be diminished, however, by applying the faculties of the soul to the practice of all the virtues, and that each of these virtues has its special end.
Union of the soul with God is the end of all mystical science, as it is the end of the Gospel.
In this life such union must always be imperfect, but it will find its consummation in eternal bliss.
Even when the soul has reached the most -sublime heights, it is not dispensed from the necessity of practising the virtues.
On the contrary, it is the more obliged to exercise them, the more highly it is favoured.
Thus, when the Lord left His holy conferences with His Heavenly Father, it was to apply Himself to preaching and to all the works of charity, and the Apostles constantly passed from the active to
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the contemplative life, and afterwards returned to active work again.
So in our human life, labour prepares us for repose, and repose disposes us to toil.
The virtues are the life of the soul, and if only one of them grows feeble, it has a fatal effect on the rest.
The way that leads to these sublime heights is no other than ardent love for Jesus crucified.
This love is reached by desire, and the desire is kindled by prayer and contemplation.
Reading is useless without unction; consideration is of no avail without devotion ; research, without admiration ; application, without joy of heart ; cleverness, without piety; science, without charity ; intelligence, without humility ; application, without grace ; light, without the inspiration of divine wisdom.
We must begin by flying from all terrestrial dignity, by abhorring all ostentation of science and all vainglory, and in utter poverty, incessantly seeking the love of God, in prayer and meditation.
It is false to attribute to mystic authors the systematic intention to encourage raptures and ecstatic affections of the soul.
These are the works of God, and not of men.
The mystic
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\ authors only desire to lead men to love, and to make their love burn more brightly, because they recognise it to be the consummation of all virtue.
"I endeavour," says St. Bonaventure, "to excite all men to love, and. to the most ardent love."
The Saint treats of these extraordinary ways, in the book entitled Spz7tual Advancement of Religious, and in it we can discern with what wisdom the mystic authors pursued their teaching, how salutary are their counsels, and how safe it is to obey them.
It was under the influence of the mystic life, that poetry took its distinctively religious tone,
and became the truest and purest expression of the emotions and needs of the soul.
Where can we find anything more divine and more poetic than the " Dies ire" of Thomas Celano, the "Veni Sancte Spiritus" of Innocent IIL, the "Lauda Sion," and the other hymns of St. Thomas of Aquin?
St. Francis of Assisi surpasses, in his canticles, all the lyric poems in the world; and James Toda, also a child of the Franciscan family, has written many good and holy songs.
The Church has, in
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every age, seen in the mystic authors men who had been admitted to more intimate knowledge of the secrets of God; and she has loved and praised their works.
St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales, have left writings which are dear to her heart, but she has spoken of none with more tenderness than of the mystic works of St. Bonaventure, of none has she spoken with higher praise.
"God," she says, '*has covered him with honour and glory in the eyes of all the people, and his memory is blessed by them; for he has written in such a manner of the things of God, that the Holy Spirit seems to speak by his mouth". * * Bull of Canonisation.