Chapter XIV
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
Chapter XIV Howfew persons there are who have a soul alwayspreparedfor the reception ofgrace I remain silent about those who are outside, who have never been able to know spiritual delight. They hear the commands of the Lord from the daily lectures or the writings of the doctors, yet they never come to a state of rest. Sinning daily, they demand that a time of penance be given to them daily. While some from among these gladly hear the words of life, what do they say by their effort except, "Command, command again." And while they heap sins upon sins, what else do they shout by their longing except "Wait, wait again." Demanding a daily interval of penance and proposing a daily time for the recovery of one's self, what do they do except prolong it daily? For the carnal mind, certainly the whole span of this life seems very short for satiating his desires. And while a soul of such sort now expends much time in other things and yet reckons it all as but a moment, what else, I ask, resounds in the ear of divine patience except "a moment here, a moment there"? But meanwhile, being silent concerning these persons, what,
I beg you, are we to say about ourselves: We who have put on the garb of religious persons; we who have been given over to spiritual practices; we who continually receive, as it were, certain betrothal gifts of divine love? What, I ask, shall we say especially, we who have no enjoined duty other than to read, to chant and to pray; to be meditating, speculating and contemplating; to be free from preoccupations and to see how sweet the Lord is? (Cf. Ps. 33:9.) Who among us will not be ashamed to say these things and weary our Beloved with words of this kind: "Command, command again; command, command again; wait, wait again; wait, wait again; a moment here, a moment there" (Isa. 28:10, 13). If I am not mistaken, you who daily pursue reading and meditation receive His messengers and come to know
His commands. From the hidden recesses of Scripture we daily draw out new understandings. What is this other than that we listen to some messengers of our Beloved? Surely all sacred reading and wise meditation serve this undertaking. And so some persons by means of readings, others by means of meditations, run to meet
THE MYSTICAL ARK
the messengers of divine secrets who present the commands of our Beloved to us and instruct us concerning individual things.
It often happens that one and the same passage of Scripture says many things to us in one thing when it is expounded in several ways:
Expounded morally it teaches us what our Beloved wishes us to do; taken allegorically, it reminds us what He has done for us through Himself; interpreted anagogically it proposes what He plans to make of us in the future. And so in this way He often commands and commands us again and announces many things to us by one messenger, as it were. One and the same command is often proposed under various enigmas and figures so that it may be impressed more deeply in our minds. And while the same thing is said to us in many ways and at many times, what else is this except that the same thing often seems to be commanded and commanded again and that there are many who daily receive messengers of this kind? Nevertheless, concerning former tepidity or negligence, they wish to correct it very little or not at all. Surely they thirst for the sort of thing about which they can boast but not for that by which that can be built up. Indeed, they strive after knowledge, not sanctity. They long to be pretenders to knowledge much more than to be saints. While they seek new meanings and new understandings by their daily striving, what do they cry out by striving and zeal except "Command and command again; command and command again"? We listen to messengers of this sort daily, and with now some, now others arriving we still daily rudely drive out the ones and the others. Then we cry out loudly in the ears of the Lord Sabaoth:
"Command, command again; command, command again." But the more the messengers abound, surely the more sharply, and harshly our own conscience accuses and crucifies us.
For this reason it often happens that we arrange to correct our life; yet we always delay. And while we propose that this correction take place in the future, it happens that the future always remains future— nay, perhaps it never will come.
Often, however, some specific future time is set up so that our life may be corrected.
Meanwhile to our Beloved we say, "Wait." And when that future time becomes the present time, it is transferred again to another future time. Again we say: "Wait again." How many persons often propose and firmly establish with themselves that if it is once