I. Anglican Letters

i

SINCE the appearance of Confessions of a Convert, one does not feel that one is intruding on intimately personal matters in speaking of Father Benson as an Anglican. He has told us much in the Confessions. But he has not spoken of himself as the spiritual director, even then, of a large number of souls. Such, however, was the case, and among them were found many of his first converts.

The letters I shall quote under this heading will probably be a revelation to many, especially to those who had not the joy of knowing Father Benson in his Anglican days. From the first day when, as an Anglican, I went to confession to him — both sincerely believing ourselves to be Catholics — he became my director not only in spiritual, but, by force of circumstances, in many important temporal matters. Through the mercy of God I owe not only my conversion to him; but, directly or indirectly, every good thing that has happened to me since I became a Catholic — to his help, his sympathy, his influence, and his

A prayers. Of his friendship I do not speak; but I maintain that no one could possibly owe more to him, and I think the implicit proof of that statement will be found in these letters.

The " Anglican Letters " cover a period of nine or ten months, from November 1902 onwards. The earlier ones, relating as they do chiefly to forms of mental prayer, were written after a Retreat preached by Father Benson, at which I was present. The notes of that Retreat, written out fully, and reproducing almost the exact words spoken, are in my possession. They might have been preached by a Catholic priest. Indeed, there is much, both in form and matter, which is identical with at least one Retreat given by him in later years.

The first letter deals with a form of meditation which Father Benson had explained in the Retreat.

(i) " As regards the Blosian method — in a sense it makes one's meditations alike, but one must partly expect that. After all, the object of all ' intellectual ' meditation is to lead up to acts of the will: and acts of the will are bound to be like one another. But the result of continued acts is a habit: and monotony is a price well worth paying to obtain habits of contrition, adoration, and so on.

" As you say, however, it is extremely good not to neglect the intellect; and I should say that your plan of taking [the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius during] the weeks through from Septuagesima till Easter is an excellent one.... Also, if you do feel the need of more activity of intellect, I would return from time to time to the Ignatian method [after Easter].

" As regards depression and ' touching the walls of the house,' I meant that the cause of depression is subjectivity, always. The Eternal Facts of Religion remain exactly the same, always. Therefore in depression the escape lies in dwelling upon the external truths that are true anyhow; and not in self-examination, and at tempts at ' acts ' of the soul that one is incapable of making at such a time.

" Is that at all clearer? Therefore to your question: ' Is it any good to force oneself to pray? ' I would say that ' subjective prayer ' and self-reproach, and dwelling on one's temporal and spiritual difficulties, is not good at such times; but that objective prayer, e.g. intercession, adoration, and thanksgiving for the Mysteries of Grace, is the right treatment for one's soul. And of course the same applies to scruples of every kind."

The next two letters deal with the question of offering one's life for a particular person or object; or, as Catholics would say, for a particular intention.

(ii) " The question you ask is a very difficult one, and very much disputed. I have heard of learned and holy Religious who have said ' No ' quite plainly: but others take other views.

" So one dare not answer dogmatically. But it seems as if one can say with tolerable safety:

" (i) Our Lord's Self-oblation is the only truly acceptable oblation.

" (2) Any other oblation in union with this, is acceptable in virtue of that union.

" And therefore that one can ' apply ' any personal oblation, in union with that of Our Blessed Lord, on behalf of any object that one desires: and that in this sense such a vicarious oblation no more derogates from the dignity of His Oblation than prayer derogates from the dignity of His Intercession, or the Cross derogates from the Sacrifice of Calvary. Neither an oblation of self, nor prayer, nor the Holy Sacrifice have value except so far as they are applications and extensions of the merits of Our Blessed Lord.

" I am afraid this seems confused; but I think it is the only way I can answer it. Briefly, I should say that you can offer your life for an other, so long as you in no sense regard it as apart from our Lord's One and Only Oblation.

" But I should hesitate, if I were you, to make such an offering for that one object. It might be safe to include that object among others for which you wish to dedicate yourself; but I would not make it the only one. A life that in any sense of that kind rests upon a personal affection, however deep or sincere, has not the strongest foundation. It is astonishing how our Lord will not allow to His closest children, in religion, any absorbing love, except the love of His own adorable Person. He allows, indeed, many affections and relationships that are most happy; but they must not be central. They may be buttresses, but not pillars, of the spiritual building.

" May our Lord bless you and keep you, and bring you closer and closer to Himself."

(iii) " About the matter of dedicating a life on behalf of any one particular soul — you say that

4 humanly speaking ' you owe all to. *

But it is that very phrase that expresses what I mean; it ^'s ' humanly speaking ' only. More and more it appears true that the share of souls in the work of God is so insignificant as to be practically negligible. I think I know well what your heart must feel towards one through whom such great blessings have come: and that very fact must be a sign that there is danger of dwelling more on the channel than on the Source....

1 An old and valued friend, who was the unconscious instrument of my meeting Father Benson.

But I would still rather advise the coupling with this object some other object of the same kind which is of equal importance generally, though not personally, to you: e.g. some work of God abroad or in the spiritual world. But still, this is not my business at all.

" If there is anything at all you would care to ask about the Meditations in the Retreat I shall be delighted to answer if I can.... I am so glad you like Divine Revelations. It is a marvel lous book, I think, for quieting anxious souls in these anxious times. It is so fundamental, and confident in God."

The date of the above letter is January 15, 1903. Many of those who knew him will re member his love for the Revelations of Divine Love, of the mystic anchoress, Mother Julian of Norwich. Father Benson had quoted from this book largely and often during the Retreat which has been already mentioned. After he became a Catholic I sent him a beautiful Anglican translation in my possession, with which he expressed himself " delighted. It is about my path by day," he wrote, " and my bed at night. Can you really spare it? "

The next letter is quoted almost in extenso.

(iv) " The first thing you speak about is very difficult to write about, because words have such different values with different people; and the same spiritual experiences would be variously described by various people. It appears to me, however, that Pere Grou and Brother Lawrence are not contradictory, because they are speaking of different things. May I try to put it coarsely in my own language?

" The soul appears to have two departments. There is (i) the ordinary activities; understanding; intellectual attention; emotion; and one kind of imperfect memory. These faculties are used constantly by every sane person, good or bad. All such words as ' clever,' * stupid,' ' good memory,' &c., are all applied to this important but superficial department. (2) The real part of the soul — the immortal part that we take with us when we die— is that, to my thinking, which is called the ' image ' of God. It is * capable of God.' Here the real character resides; the real self. It is by this we shall be judged. It is here, too, that the real will resides. The ' character ' of this self is formed and deformed and reformed by its use of the more external powers I have called ' (i).'

" Now it appears to me that Pere Grou means that we cannot always keep ' (i) ' fixed upon God. For example, to take the instance you take, in teaching you are bound to concentrate all those powers under ' (i) ' upon the business in hand. To withdraw them, even to fix them on God, would be to misuse them; because God has given us them to arrive at Him indirectly with.

" But Brother Lawrence means that it is possible to keep ' (2) ' always fixed upon God— the deep inner self; so that when your whole intellectual powers are engaged in teaching, your soul is with God. ' I sleep, but my heart waketh.' But this requires effort. Therefore at certain times to make deliberate intellectual acts of the Presence of God: and emotional acts of Love: and acts of memory in recalling His Passion, &c. — all these are good, and tend to steady the deep inner self on God. Sin has affected every part of our nature — spoilt even the 'image,' so that our tendency is not even to keep that part of self fixed on God. Gradually, however, as the work of sanctification goes forward, the inner self * (2) ' spends longer and longer periods with God; and its attention gets more and more intensified, and its control of the outer department gets more and more complete, until ultimately the real self never stirs from contemplation. Mary is always at His feet, while Martha does her business without distracting Mary: and every now and then herself comes in to Mary too. — I am putting all this so badly, but I hope it is true, and intelligible.

" As regards your second point, as to distrac tions, it seems true that the way to meet them is not by effort, but by cessation of effort; not by wrestling with them, but by simply dropping them. This is surely the good point in the Quletists. It runs all through their system. It is of course capable of dreadful abuse, but within limits it is wonderfully true, and such a relief to a tired soul. What is needed to get into the Presence of God is not a strong aspiration, but a letting all else drop, and falling into God. So too when the ordinary thoughts resume their activity, and distractions begin, the way to deal with them is to let them go again.

" If we picture God as a vast still abyss in the depth of our soul, with cliffs round, and winding ways leading to it, it is a help. The simplest way, if only we have faith, is to throw ourselves off the cliff into Him — (or of course we may climb by ' acts ' laboriously down to Him). Then our restless self begins to climb up the cliffs again into the common day. Then repeat the process of letting go. It is so much simpler and less tiring than climbing down.

" As regards the Ignatian method of meditation. Its object is to develop the external powers ' (i) ' in the service of God; and is of course a most important part of spiritual life.

But everyone has their natural method ordained by God: and if this causes you great distress and difficulty, after finishing the course quickly, I would rather advise your trying the Blosian method. In fact I would advise your doing the latter, as it is, for at least a few minutes in the day, as well as the Ignatian. I would not advise your giving up the Ignatian as you have begun, until you have ended it: and then to take a complete rest from it, and practise the Blosian. I cannot help thinking that it is to the latter that God is leading you. No better book could be found than ' Mother Julian ' to be used as material for mental prayer. (I enclose a little leaflet which I drew up some while ago on the Blosian method. It is almost the same as the one the Church Review issued.)

" I should recommend your getting A Short Rule and Daily Exercise.... It is a wonderful pamphlet by Blosius: and will answer your difficulties far better than any scraps I can write down of my ignorance.

" Therefore, to recapitulate: I would recommend your continuing the Ignatian method... just as a simple act of Faith in a method that has produced its own peculiar saints. At the same time to make your spiritual reading a kind of continual mental prayer, according to the de-

ANGLICAN LETTERS n scription given in the leaflet. Then, when you have finished the Ignatian... to leave it alto gether for a year or so, and continue the Blosian.

" As regards the * materialistic ' difficulties of the Ignatian meditations on hell, &c., it may be a help to remember that our senses are merely one set of instruments for receiving spiritual truth. To say that hell ' smells of brimstone ' is a sort of ' sacramental ' way of conveying to oneself some mysterious spiritual quality of hell: just as to look at a rose is to see the Beauty of God.

" And after all, this method of presentment is that used by our Blessed Lord in the [book of] Revelation. It cannot therefore be merely conventional. To exercise the senses is to obtain a truth about hell, 6-c., which is probably unobtainable by any other means.

" May God bless you, and show you more and more of Himself. Indeed you have my prayers."

Lest any should be unfamiliar with the "Blosian" form of meditation, it may be said shortly to be the raising of the heart to God in acts of Faith, Hope, Love, Contrition, &c., inspired by the reading of some spiritual book, and uttered at the moment when the heart is moved to make them. Such a meditation — made of course after suitable preparation — might thus consist almost entirely of " acts," intellectual and emotional; or, on the other hand, of a spiritual reading fruitful only in distractions. The important thing is the intention. As Father Benson points out in another letter, " it may be better to spend half an hour in driving away distrac tions deliberately and firmly than twice the time in making what we may think to be a really good meditation, with great sensible devotion."

The next letter is dated April 16, 1903, and, like all those quoted under this heading, was written from Mirfield. It is chiefly in answer to a question about Quietism.

(v) " Thank you so much for your letter, and kind Easter wishes. May I in return wish you every joy at this season, with a continual and deepening increase of grace flowing from our Risen Lord?

" In your previous letter you asked about books. It is difficult to recommend books beyond those that one has found helpful for one self. But I will do my best with that.

"As regards the Quietists, reading their own books is always more enlightening than reading about them. And I should strongly recommend Mme. Guy on' s A Method of Prayer.... One has to bear in mind that they were condemned; as it was found that their disciples gradually came to despise all external religion, such as sacra ments, relics, rosary, preaching, and vocal prayer.

They even went so far as to discourage specific petition, saying that a state of prayer was higher. It is quite easy to see how all this came about, and how their very grasp of truth made them one sided. As long as one keeps all this before one's mind, one can get no harm by them, and nothing but good, I should think.

" Molinos' Spiritual Guide is well worth reading.... You know John Inglesant, no doubt? That gives one a slight sketch of Molinos' [teaching]. If you come across Viscount St. Gyres' Fenelon, the chapters on the Quietists are worth reading to see what their enemies said.

" If I can be of any use as regards recommend ing any other books I shall be delighted to do what I can. We have a very large library here, and I could probably give you any information if you would let me know on what lines you desire it. Thank you so much for asking for objects for prayer. I will give a list on the last page of this paper.

"May our Lord increase His grace in you more and more."

The last request for prayer, at the end of this letter, was " For myself; a profitable time of rest this spring and early summer " (1903).

But Father Benson was still at Mirfield five weeks later when he wrote the next — and, as far as the present writer is concerned, his last — Anglican letter; if that be excepted in which he announced his immediate reception into the Church.

(vi) " May I say first, in answer to your first question, what a relief it is to come across anyone who doesn't know about ' science '? Personally I fear I am a hopeless person to ask about it; it always seems to me a ' red herring ' in Christian apologetics; and that unless one REALLY knows about it, like Fr., one had much better keep to generalities, such as that science and religion have no more to do with one another than, e.g., geography and music! They are both branches of truth, and therefore both come from God; but beyond that, &c. Or that the real difficulties in accepting Christianity are moral and not intellectual, at least in 99 cases out of 100. But I am hopelessly prejudiced! And you had much better ask Fr. what he thinks;

I am sure he would be delighted to be of any use he could.

" With regard to the other, naturally I know even less! But at the same time I do most entirely sympathise; the details that one de sires in Heaven vary, of course, with various people; but we all have them in some form.

Now it appears to me that we must allow that EVERYTHING, even the smallest details, is sacra mental; and both represents and conveys some spiritual detail necessary for one's entire spiritual satisfaction; and therefore that there must be some provision whereby these details form part of one's ' treasure in Heaven.' When one doubts, therefore, as one is constantly tempted to do, in this matter, is it not the old temptation to doubt God's INFINITE Care? One can, by a sort of magnifying, believe that God is very ' great '; but that does not in the least really approximate to His Infinity. It is exactly because He is Infinite, and not only very great, that those very details MUST be included under His Infinite Care. There is a beautiful illustration of Fr. Tyrrell's on the MODE of identity being preserved, and yet being changed. A child, he says, hasher heart quite full when she holds her doll in her arms; but when she becomes a mother, and holds her firstborn child in her arms, she smiles at the thought of her doll, and of all that it meant to her. Yet it is the same sort of joy, and full of the same sort of familiar details, but of a higher order altogether. So, when the same mother meets her child in Heaven, she will laugh to think she ever thought she knew what a mother's joy was before.

" (Fr. Tyrrell always seems to me to say the last possible word!)

"As regards what to believe [about Heaven] one may almost say that it is DE FIDE to believe that one's most detailed imagination cannot approach the details of God's provision. Above all, those details that relate to ' service ' such as you speak of, cannot be absent.

" I am afraid this is a meagre answer, but what can you expect?

" I am so delighted that you have something to do that brings you nearer to your desire. Nothing is so paralysing as standing still."

Very shortly after this letter was written Father Benson left Mirfield, and began to work at By What Authority? which was written in the summer of 1903.