Part 23 (1/2)
But from the consideration of the Divine judgments a man is led to the contemplation of the Divine justice; and from a consideration of the Divine benefits and promises a man is led to a knowledge of the Divine mercy and goodness, as it were by effects either already shown or to be shown.
3. Once more, Richard of S. Victor[362] distinguishes six kinds of contemplation; the first is according to the imagination simply, when, namely, we consider corporeal things; the second is in the imagination directed by the reason, as when we consider the harmony and arrangement of the things of the senses; the third is in the reason, but based on the imagination, as when by the consideration of visible things we are uplifted to the invisible; the fourth is in the reason working on the things of the reason, as when the soul occupies itself with invisible things unknown to the imagination; the fifth is above the reason, but not beyond its grasp, when, for instance, we know by Divine Revelation things which cannot be comprehended by the human reason; and the sixth is above the reason and beyond its grasp, as when by Divine illumination we know things which are apparently repugnant to human reason--for example, the things we are told concerning the mystery of the Holy Trinity.
And only the last named of these seems to come under Divine Truth; consequently contemplation of the truth is not limited to Divine Truth, but extends also to those truths which we consider in created things.
But by these six are signified the steps by which we ascend through created things to the contemplation of G.o.d. For in the first we have the perception of the things of sense; in the second, the progress from the things of sense to the things of the intellect; in the third judgment upon the things of sense according to intellectual principles; in the fourth, the simple consideration of intellectual truths at which we have arrived by means of the things of sense; in the fifth, the contemplation of intellectual truths to which we could not attain by the things of sense, but which can be grasped by reason; in the sixth, the contemplation of intellectual truths such as the reason can neither find nor grasp--truths, namely, which belong to the sublime contemplation of the Divine Truth, in which contemplation is finally perfected.
4. Lastly, in the contemplative life the contemplation of truth is sought as being man's perfection. But any truth whatsoever is a perfection of the human intellect. Consequently the contemplative life consists in the contemplation of any kind of truth whatsoever.
But the ultimate perfection of the human intellect is the Divine Truth; other truths perfect the intellect by way of preparation for the Divine Truth.
_S. Augustine:_ Martha, Martha, thou hast chosen a good part, but Mary hath chosen the better. Yours is good--for it is good to busy oneself with waiting on the Saints--but hers is better. What you have chosen will pa.s.s away at length. You minister to the hungry, you minister to the thirsty, you make the beds for them that would sleep, you find house-room for them that need it--but all these things will pa.s.s away!
For there will come a time when none will hunger, when none will thirst, when none will sleep. And then thy care will be taken from thee. But Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall never be taken from her!
It shall not be taken away, for she chose to live the life of contemplation, she chose to live by the Word. What kind of life will that be that flows from the Word without spoken word? Here on earth she drew life from the Word, but through the medium of the spoken word. Then will be life, from the Word indeed, but with no spoken word. For the Word Himself is life. _We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is_[363] (_Sermon_, CLXIX., xiv. 17).
_S. Augustine: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life!_[364]
Whosoever asks for This One Thing and seeks after It prays with sure and certain confidence; nor need he fear lest, when he shall have obtained It, he shall find It disagreeable to him, for without It naught that he prays for as he ought, and obtains, is of any avail. For this is the one, true, and only Blessed Life--to contemplate the delights of the Lord for eternity, in immortality and incorruptibility of body as well as soul. For the sake of This One Thing are all other things to be sought after, and only thus our pet.i.tions for them are rendered not unbecoming. Whosoever hath this One Thing will have all that he wishes for, nor indeed will he be able to wish there for anything which is unfitting. For there is the Fountain of Life, for which we must now thirst in prayer as long as we live by hope--as long, too, as we see not What we hope for. For we dwell 'neath the shadow of His wings before Whom is all our desire, that so we _may be inebriated with the plenty of_ His _house, and may drink of the torrent of_ His _pleasure: for with_ Him _is the Fountain of Life, and in_ His _light we shall see light._[365] Then shall our desire be sated with all good things, then will there be naught for us to seek for with groanings, but only What we shall cling to with joy. Yet none the less, since this is _the peace that surpa.s.seth all understanding_, even when praying for it _we know not what we should pray for as we ought_[366] (_Ep._ cx.x.x. _ad probam_).
”He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord G.o.d shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His people He shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our G.o.d, we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for Him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in His salvation.”[367]
V
Can the Contemplative Life attain, according to the State of this Present Life, to the Contemplation of the Divine Essence?
S. Gregory says[368]: ”As long as we live in this mortal flesh none of us can make such progress in the virtue of contemplation as to fix his mind's gaze on that Infinite Light.”
S. Augustine also says[369]: ”No one who looks on G.o.d lives with that life with which we mortals live in the bodily senses; but unless he be in some sort dead to this life, whether as having wholly departed from the body, or as rapt away from the bodily senses, he is not uplifted to that vision.”
A man, then, can be ”in this life” in two ways: he can be in it actually--that is, as actually using his bodily senses--and when he is thus ”in the body” no contemplation such as belongs to this present life can attain to the vision of the Essence of G.o.d; or a man may be ”in this life” potentially, and not actually; that is, his soul may be joined to his body as its informing principle, but in such fas.h.i.+on that it neither makes use of the bodily senses nor even of the imagination, and this is what takes place when a man is rapt in ecstasy: in this sense contemplation such as belongs to this life can attain to the vision of the Divine Essence.
Consequently the highest degree of contemplation which is compatible with the present life is that which S. Paul had when he was rapt in ecstasy and stood midway between the state of this present life and the next.
Some, however, say that the contemplative life can, even according to our present state of life, attain to the vision of the Divine Essence, thus:
1. Jacob said: _I have seen G.o.d face to face, and my soul hath been saved._[370] But the vision of the face of G.o.d is the vision of the Divine Essence. Whence it would seem that a man may by contemplation actually reach, even during this present life, to the vision of the Essence of G.o.d.
But S. Denis says[371]: ”If anyone saw G.o.d and understood what he saw, then it was not G.o.d he saw, but something belonging to Him.” And similarly S. Gregory says[372]: ”Almighty G.o.d is never seen in His Glory, but the soul gazes at something derived from It, and thus refreshed, makes advance, and so ultimately arrives at the glory of vision.” Hence when Jacob said, _I saw G.o.d face to face_, we are not to understand that he saw the Essence of G.o.d, but that he saw some appearance--that is, some imaginary appearance--in which G.o.d spoke to him; or, as the Gloss of S.
Gregory[373] has it, ”Since we know people by the face, Jacob called knowledge of G.o.d His face.”
2. Further, S. Gregory says[374]: ”Contemplative men turn back within upon themselves in that they search into spiritual things, and do not carry with them the shadows of things corporeal; or if perchance they touch them, they drive them away with discreet hands. But when they would look upon the Infinite Light, they put aside all images which limit It, and in striving to arrive at a height superior to themselves, they become conquerors of their nature.” But a man is only withheld from the vision of the Divine Essence, which is Infinite Light, by the necessity he is under of turning to corporeal images. From this it would seem that contemplation can, even in this present life, arrive at the sight of the Infinite Essential Light.
But human contemplation according to this present state cannot exist without recourse to the imagination, for it is in accordance with man's nature that he should see intelligible forms through the medium of pictures in the imagination, as also the Philosopher teaches.[375] Yet intellectual knowledge does not consist in such images, rather does the intellect contemplate in them the purity of intelligible truth; and this is not merely the case in natural knowledge, but also in those things which we know by revelation. For S. Denis says: ”The Divine Light manifests to us the Angelic hierarchies by means of symbolical figures by force of which we are restored to the simple ray,” that is, to the simple knowledge of intelligible truth. It is thus that we ought to understand S. Gregory's words when he says: ”In contemplation men do not carry with them the shadows of things corporeal,” for their contemplation does not abide in these things but rather in the consideration of intelligible truth.
3. Lastly, S. Gregory says[376]: ”To the soul that looks upon its Creator all created things are but narrow. Consequently the man of G.o.d--namely, the Blessed Benedict--who saw in a tower a fiery globe and the Angels mounting up to Heaven, was doubtless only able to see these things by the light of G.o.d.” But the Blessed Benedict was then still in this life. Consequently contemplation, even in this present life, can attain to the vision of the Essence of G.o.d.