Chapter XIII
THE MYSTICAL ARK
supermundane and truly more than human state? By means of a marvelous transfiguration that spirit seems to fall away from the human into the divine, so that now it is no longer itself insofar as it begins from that time to cling more firmly to the Lord. For "he who clings to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). And he who is such a kind of person is able to sing: "My soul falls away into your salvation" (Ps.
118:81). And so, that one is in the spirit who ascends to the supreme part of mind; and that one falls away from the spirit, as it were, who goes beyond the highest part of mind. But let us leave the discussion of these matters for souls who are better instructed.
Chapter XIII That in the second mode of ecstasy ^ divine showing sometimes comes even before our meditation Let us now consider how divine revelation is accustomed sometimes to come even before the effort of our meditation and to lift up the human soul that has been cast down below even the common state of human liberty by the sudden violence of temptations. In this event the soul not only is lifted up to the usual state of stability but is even raised beyond the limits of human possibility.
For often after receiving many honors for its exertions, the human mind is buffeted by the importunate force of temptations and after being shaken violently out of that ark of its sublime security and tranquillity is cast down. This happens lest it boast miserably and uselessly, as it were, concerning its own fortitude in the midst of a continuous succession of virtuousness. Hence it is that the blessed Peter, the leader of the apostles, after innumerable merits and sublime miracles, was taken, bound and imprisoned. But after the visit of an angel he is set free no less marvelously than he was earlier tortured cruelly by the administrators of cruelty (Acts
12:3-10).
Do you wish to know about chains of this sort, which are sometimes accustomed to ensnare severely the minds of worthy persons and even of high-ranking persons? Who does not know the irritations of voluptuous desires that arise at one time from outside, at another time from within; from the outside, from delight; from
RICHARD OF ST. VICTOR
within, from suggestion; by means of delight, in the flesh; by means of suggestion, in the mind? At one time the flesh is inflamed by foul titillation, while at another time the soul is befouled by filthy thoughts. Therefore, we meet darkness like that of a prison when, after being ensnared in these entwinings of concupiscence, we wish to turn away from the blindness of our confusion but we are not able to do it. But surely a showing of divine consolation is deserved by that mind which endures this darkness of its confusion not so much because of the personal listlessness of its sluggishness, but because of the wanton malice of another. Such a holy soul is set free by the coming of a divine ambassador, when from the grace of divine inspiration and the light of a showing it is relieved of the weight of its oppression. An angel is called a messenger. An angel doubtless is a messenger—not just any kind of messenger, but a divine messenger through whom we come to know the good pleasure of the divine will; a messenger through whom we are illumined for knowing eternal things and inflamed with longing for them. But do you know this messenger is only from heaven? Might he not be from earth? But how can he who knows the greater things be ignorant of lesser things? Surely that ambassador is good who suffices not only for teaching everything but also for persuading, insofar as He who sent him wishes it. Do you wish to hear what sort of ambassador the apostle John promised us when he said: "His unction will teach you concerning all things" (1 John 2:27)? What is this unction, except divine inspiration?
This is that messenger whom we sought for a long time; this is a truly powerful ambassador, truly sufficient to lead the human soul to all truth and incline it to every good pleasure of the divine will. Therefore, why marvel if such a messenger, who immediately equally imparts knowledge and love of celestial and eternal things when he wills and as much as he pleases, sets an oppressed soul free from the involvements of its concupiscence and leads it from the darkness of its ignorance? He who said: "He sent from heaven, and he freed me" (Ps.
56:4) had experienced such messengers in his being set free. But perhaps you still seek to know of what sort that ambassador was, by whom he escaped from the captivity of his soul: "God sent his mercy and his truth and set my soul free" (Ps. 56:4-5). An angel coming with light means the working of divine compassion imparting truth. Mercy
THE MYSTICAL ARK
leading to truth means unction teaching. However, what does it mean for God to send mercy and truth and to set a man free from his captivity, except by the working of his mercy to inspire truth, and by the inspiration of truth to stabiHze with respect to the strength of virtue? And who would ever completely escape the perils of his soul if he were not found worthy to experience the aid of this ambassador? Blessed is Peter, who was found worthy not only to be set free by the angel but also to follow the angel after he was set free.
I think that not all of those who are set free by an angel even follow the angelic footprints.
I read that when imprisoned, the apostles were led forth by an angel but they did not follow it (cf.
Acts 5:19-20). Peter is taught by his own angel who set him free that he should follow him. What do we say that this means? How great a thing do we think it is to follow angelic footprints and go after celestial and winged creatures? Think, if you are able, what that departure or forward motion of the angel who precedes or follows means. Neither the custodian of the prison nor the iron door was able to prevent or retard the passage of this angel. Which of these is not new; which of these is not marvelous?
It is truly angelic, and truly more than human, to go out from the darkness and terror of human suffering and to go beyond the difficulty and narrowness of ordinary impossibility. Think about that going forth which the first man had before he sinned and which man would now have if he had never sinned. By this going out, as often as it was necessary, he would have had easy passage from mundane things to supermundane things, from visible things to invisible things, from transitory things to eternal things, since he would be prepared to be present daily with celestial citizens by means of contemplation, to press freely into that place of divine secrets and to enter worthily into that inner joy of his Lord. Think how consequently, after sin, divine severity blocked and guarded with a door of terrible force and bars of impossibility that earlier easy passageway for going to and fro. Think about this, I say, and perhaps by this thinking you will discover what you ought to think and dare to affirm concerning that iron door. Yet if you are not capable of this, do not inquire of us, but rather inquire of those persons to whom perhaps this iron door is well known because of frequent passage and for whom perhaps it is often actually open.