Chapter XIII
Shows forth the Fourth Mode of true Contemplation.
HEREAFTER follows the Fourth Mode, which is the perfection of the true Contemplative Life in all the Modes that belong thereto. This Mode is called the uplifted and illuminated Exercise of love, according to the beloved Will of God. It is born of God together with the observances of it.
Our Lord says in His Gospel, Except a man be born again of the Holy Spirit, he cannot see, nor enter into the Kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit is a Living Fountain in which those spirits that love are baptised, and wherein they live and dwell; and He pours into our living spirit the water of His Grace, and therein are we purified from all our sins; and He dwells in us with His Grace, and we dwell in Him by virtue and holy living.
And from the Spirit of Our Lord, Whom we liken to a Living Fountain, Wherein we live above our created being, spring rivulets of the living water of His Grace, and streams that scatter in our spirits His innumerable Gifts; and so He lives and dwells within us. And He purifies our spirit with His Finger, that is, with His Spirit, and, speaking to us, says: "Love Me as I love you, and have loved you from all Eternity."
This voice and that inward beseeching are so terrible to experience, that all is overthrown in a tempest of love, and the powers of the soul make answer and say one to another: "Let us love this fathomless Love, which has loved us from all Eternity."
The heart expands in desire, and all the powers of the senses follow after, in the realisation of love towards God.
This living soul, with true intention, with inward recollection, with forgetfulness and contempt of all that can impede or hinder it from the love of Our Lord, passes on beyond itself; and the enlightened intelligence and the will that is free go forward with thanks, and praise, and reverence, before the face of the Eternal Love.
All that is born of God is God and Spirit. It is God with God, one Love, and one Life in His Eternal Manifestation. It is also spirit and like to God by grace and a loving cleaving to Him. It is holy, and strong, and free, and triumphant over all, in the observances of love.
And between the being one with God in Love, and the being like to God in grace, is the sphere of loving observance in every Mode; for God touches and purifies our Spirit, and requires our love, as He loves us.
Now His Love is measureless, for It is Himself, but our love has a measure, and so we cannot fulfil all that His Love demands of us; but we fail in weakness, and then, before the Face of His Love, our love becomes modeless and without manner.
Love is neither cold nor hot, neither dark nor light, neither food nor drink, and there is nothing in the world that one can compare with Love.
But the Love of God towards us is a stirring and purifying of the Spirit; whereby He distributes His graces and His gifts to each of us, according to his need for the life of virtue.