Sermon XXXI. On the Various Visions of God

"O Thou, Whom my soul loveth, show me where Thou feedest where Thou liest in the mid-day."

"Show me, O Thou, Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou liest in the mid-day." The Divine Word, the Bridegroom of our souls, often reveals Himself, my brethren, to fervent spirits, but not always under the same form. Why so? No doubt because they do not yet see Him "as He is." For this vision is fixed and immutable, as fixed and immutable as the Form of the Divinity Which is its Object. It simply is, suffering no change from the future to the present, nor from the present to the past. Take away "was" and "shall be" and where now is there any room for "change or shadow of alteration"? But whatever exists in such a way that it ceases not to pass from that which it has been, and to tend to that which it shall be, by an uninterrupted process of mutation, has indeed a passage through an indivisible nunc of actual being, but certainly never is.¹ For how can we say that that is which "never continueth in the same state"? Therefore that alone truly is which can neither be separated from itself as it has been by alteration, nor effaced by itself as in the future it shall be, but alone invincibly, unchangeably is, and remains ever that which it is.f Its present has co-existed with the whole of the unbeginning past, and shall co-exist with the whole of the unending future. In this way does it vindicate for itself true being, that is to say, uncreated, interminable, immutable being. When, therefore, He Who is such, rather I should say, Who being infinite, cannot be described as such or such at all — when He is seen as He is, the vision must of necessity be abiding, as subject to no vicissitude. And thus to all who enjoy that sight, the one penny of the Gospel shall have been paid in the one same vision, which is offered to all. For as the Object seen is immutable in Itself, It must appear without variation to all those who behold It. And they who contemplate It can wish to behold nothing more desirable or beautiful, nothing more capable of ravishing their hearts. When, therefore, shall that eager appetite give place to satiety, or that sweetness lose its savour, or that truth be found deceptive, or that eternity fall short and fail? But if both the vision itself and the soul's delight in it shall endure for evermore, surely that is the very consummation of beatitude. For since, on the one hand, the contemplation of the Divine Beauty is all-sufficing and eternal, nothing can ever be wanting to those who enjoy it; and on the other, as their love also is everlasting they can never grow weary of what they behold.

But, my brethren, this vision is not for the present life. It is reserved for the next, and for them only who can say, "We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is." Now, indeed, He appears to whom He pleases and as He pleases, but not as He is. No sage, no saint, no prophet can see Him as He is, or, at least, could see Him so, whilst clothed in this mortal flesh. But they who are accounted worthy shall enjoy that vision of Him in the immortal body of the future. In the mean-time, therefore, He is seen, not as He is, but in the way He wills. So it is, indeed, even with that great luminary, I mean the material sun, which daily rises upon us. For it is never seen as it is in itself, but only by the light which it communicates to the air, for instance, or to the mountain, or to the wall. And we could not see it at all, if the light of our bodies, viz., the eye, did not bear a certain resemblance in its natural purity and clearness to the solar radiance. For no other bodily member is sensitive to light, which is doubtless due to their lack of any such affinity. But even the eye itself, when "troubled," is unable to perceive the light, because, namely, it has lost the similitude necessary thereto. Therefore, the same faculty which when "troubled," or clouded, cannot see the bright sun as having no likeness to it, may yet behold it, when rendered bright itself, on account of this resemblance. And it is evident that, were the eye possessed of a purity equal to the purity of the sun, it would be able, by reason of such perfect resemblance, to contemplate with undazzled gaze that luminous body as it is in its meridian splendour. In the same way, the Divine Sun of Justice, "Who enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world," can be seen by the soul that is enlightened, according to the degree in which He enlightens her, because of the partial resemblance between them. Nevertheless, He cannot yet be seen as He is in Himself, for the reason that the similarity is not yet perfect. Hence, the Psalmist exhorts us, saying, "Come ye to Him and be enlightened and your faces shall not be confounded." Thus shall it be, no doubt, if only we are enlightened as much as is needful, so that "beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, we are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord."

Consequently, we must "come to Him," not, mark you, intrude ourselves boldly upon Him, lest the irreverent "searcher of majesty "should be "overwhelmed by glory." Not from place to place must we advance towards Him, but by a progress "from glory to glory," and this not the glory of the flesh, but of the Spirit: "as by the Spirit of the Lord." Manifestly, I say, it is not by our own spirit that this advance is to be made, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Although it must indeed be accomplished in our own spirit. Therefore, each of us draws nearer to God in proportion as he increases in this spiritual glory or purity. But he who has attained to perfect purity has arrived at the very presence of God. Furthermore, for those who have already reached that divine presence, to see Him as He is is the same thing as to be as He is, and no longer to be confounded because of any dissimilitude. But such happiness belongs, as I have said, to the life to come. In the meantime, this marvellous variety of forms, this infinitude of beautiful kinds in creation, what are they but so many rays, so to speak, from the Sun of the Divinity, showing indeed that He Who is their source, truly is, but not fully declaring what He is? Hence we only see what proceeds from Him, not His own Divine Self. But beholding all the works of His hands, although Himself we cannot see, we still feel assured that He truly exists, and that we have a duty to seek Him out. And grace shall not be wanting to the honest inquirer, nor shall ignorance excuse the slothful and negligent. This mode of vision is common to all. Jf It is within the competence of every one who has attained the use of reason, as St. Paul testifies, "to see clearly the invisible things of God, being understood by the things that are made."

Another way of vision is that whereby the fathers were often graciously admitted to delightful familiarity with God as present, although not even they were privileged to see Him as He is in Himself, but only as He condescended to appear. Neither did He show Himself in the same form to all, but, as the Apostle speaks, "at sundry times and in divers manners," although one in Himself. For "the Lord thy God is one God," as He Himself said to Israel. This revelation was not indeed common, yet it was made exteriorly, that is to say, through sensible images or spoken words. There is still another mode of contemplating the Divinity, differing from those mentioned, in that it is more interior. In this manifestation, God vouchsafes to visit in person the soul that seeks Him, provided, however, that she devotes herself with all desire and love to this holy quest. And a sign of His coming to us in this manner shall be, as we learn from one who has had the experience, that "A fire shall go before Him and shall burn His enemies round about." For it is necessary that the ardour of holy desire should go before His Face unto every soul which He intends to visit, in order to burn out the rust of vice and sin and prepare a place for the Lord. And then shall the soul know that "the Lord is nigh," when she feels herself inflamed with that fire; and she shall exclaim with the Prophet Jeremias, "From above He hath sent fire into my bones and hath chastened me," or with the Psalmist, "My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation a fire shall flame out."

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When, as sometimes happens, the Object of her desires, so ardently sought after, compassionately reveals Himself to the soul that sighs often, prays unceasingly and afflicts herself in the impatient eagerness of her longing; then, as I think, she will be able, from her own experience, to cry with the Prophet, "Thou art good, O Lord, to them that hope in Thee, to the soul that seeketh Thee." And the angel guardian of that soul, who is one of the friends of the Bridegroom and by Him deputed to be the minister and witness of this secret and mutual intercourse — Oh! how he exults! How he shares in the joy and the bliss of his protege! Turning to the Bridegroom, he exclaims, "Thanks to Thee, O Lord of Majesty, because? Thou hast given her her heart's desire, and hast not with olden from her the will of her lips.'" He it is, who, as the solicitous companion of the soul in every place, does not cease to urge her forward and to admonish her with constant suggestions, saying, "Delight in the Lord, and He will give thee the petitions of thy heart"; or, "Expect the Lord and keep His way"; or, "If He make any delay, wait for Him, for He shall surely come and He shall not be slack." But to the Lord he says," ' As the hart panteth after the fountains of water, so ' does this soul ' pant after Thee, O God.' She 1 hath desired Thee in the night,' and Thy Spirit within her in the morning early hath watched for Thee." And again, "All the day long has she spread out her hands to Thee. ' Send her away because she crieth after

Thee/ ' Return a little ' and ' be entreated ' in favour of this soul. ' Look down from heaven, and see, and visit, this desolate one.' "So does this faithful paranymph, who is the confidant, without envy, of the mutual love of the Bridegroom and His Bride, seek not his own but his Master's interests. He acts as an intermediary between the Spouse and her Beloved, presenting to Him her prayers, and bearing back to her His favours. His exhortations reanimate the Bride, and His intercessions appease the Bridegroom. Sometimes also, although rarely, he actually brings them together into each other's presence, either snatching her up to Him, or leading Him down to her dwelling. For he is a domestic, a familiar in the palace, having no fear of meeting with a repulse, and daily seeing the "Face of the Father."

But take care, my brethren, that you do not understand me as conceiving the union between the Word and the faithful soul to be something corporal and perceptible to the sense. I am only speaking the language of St. Paul, who has said that "He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit." The ecstatic elevation of the pure soul to God and God's loving descent to the soul I am trying to describe as well as I can with human words "comparing spiritual things with spiritual." The union whereof I speak, therefore, is a spiritual union, because "God is a Spirit," and He desires the beauty of the soul which He observes to be walking in the Spirit, and not "making provision for the flesh in its concupiscences." More especially if He beholds her inflamed with His love. Such a Spouse, then, so disposed and so beloved, can by no means be content either with that manifestation of her Bridegroom which is given to the many by the things that are made, nor yet with that which is vouchsafed the few in visions and dreams. She will not be satisfied, unless, by a special privilege of grace, He descends into her from the height of heaven so that she may embrace Him with her tenderest and strongest affections, and in the very centre of her heart, and may have thus intimately united to her the Divine Object of her heart's desire, not in bodily form, but by a spiritual indwelling; not as beheld in vision, but as clasped and clasping in a close embrace ot mutual love. Nor does it admit of any doubt that this mode of the divine presence is only all the more delectable for being so interior. For the Word of God is not a sounding but a "piercing" Word, not pronounceable by the tongue, but "efficacious in the mind," not sensible to the ear, but fascinating to the affections. His Face is not an object possessing beauty of form, but rather is the Source of all beauty and all form. It is not visible to the bodily eye, but rejoices the eye of the heart. And It is pleasing, not because of the harmony of Its colour, but by reason of the ardent love It excites.

Yet even here I would not venture to say that He shows Himself as He is, although at the same time He does not appear in this kind of vision altogether different from Himself as He is. For He does not constantly manifest Himself thus, even to the most fervent souls, nor yet in the same way to all. It is necessary that grace and the savour of the divine presence should vary in accordance with the varying desires of the soul, and that the infused relish of heavenly sweetness should please the spiritual palate in different ways and degrees. You must have noticed in this love-song how often He changes His Countenance, and with "how great a multitude of sweetness" He condescends to transform Himself in the presence of His beloved one. Thus, at one time, He appears as a bashful Bridegroom, soliciting the secret embraces of the holy soul, and finding His pleasure in kisses; at another, He reveals Himself in the role of a Physician, with oils and unguents, and that for the sake of such tender and weak souls as still have need of lotions and lenitives, and hence are designated by the name of "young maidens," a name expressive of delicacy. Should anyone murmur at His acting thus, he shall be told that "They that are in health need not a Physician, but they that are ill." Occasionally also, as a Wayfarer, He associates Himself with the wayfaring Spouse and young maidens, who are journeying forward together, and He relieves the labour and weariness of the way with His delightful conversation. Hence they say to each other, after their parting from Him, "Was not our heart burning within us whilst He spoke to us on the way?" Most pleasant of companions, Who makes all to run after Him, to the sweetness of His voice and the attractions of virtues, as to the delicious odour of spiritual ointments! Hence they, the Spouse and the young maidens, also say, "We will run to the odour of Thy ointments." Sometimes, again, He presents Himself as a wealthy Father of a family, whose house abounds with bread; or rather as a magnificent and powerful Monarch, Who appears in order to support the pusillanimity of His poor Spouse, and to excite her pious cupidity by showing her all the riches of His glory, the treasures of His wine-presses and His storehouses, the abundance of His gardens and His fields, and lastly, leading her even into the privacy of His bedchamber. For "the heart of her Husband trusteth in her"; and amongst all His possessions there is nothing which He thinks ought to be concealed from her whom He redeemed from poverty, whom He has found faithful under trial, and whom He now embraces as worthy of His love. And so He ceases not to manifest Himself in one or other of these interior ways to the eye of the soul that seeks Him, in order that the word may be fulfilled which He spoke, saying, "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."

In all these various kinds of vision, the Beloved appears "sweet and mild and plenteous in mercy." For as the bashful Bridegroom, intent on kisses, He shows Himself pleasant and affectionate; as the Physician with His oils, His medicines, and His unguents, clement and rich in the bowels of piety and compassion; as a Wayfarer, cheerful and affable and full of charm and consolation; as a Monarch, exhibiting His treasures and possessions, munificent and liberal to reward, with a royal liberality. And so, in every verse of this Canticle you will see the Word obscurely represented under such images. Hence, in my opinion, this must have been the Prophet's meaning, where he says, "A Spirit before our face is Christ the Lord; under thy shadow we shall live among the gentiles"; because, as St. Paul tells us, "we see now through a glass, in a dark manner," and not yet "face to face." But this is to be the case only whilst we "live amongst the gentiles." For when we are amongst the angels, it shall be otherwise. Then, enjoying quite the same happiness as these blessed spirits, we also shall see Him as He is, that is to say, in the "Form of God," and no longer under symbol or figure. For just as we say that the Old Dispensation possessed but the shadow and the image, whereas under the Gospel we have the very truth shining upon us, through the grace of Christ present in the flesh; so may we, too, whilst here below, be said to live in the shadow, in comparison with that light of truth wherewith we shall be illumined in the world to come. No one will deny this, except one who does not agree with the Apostle, when he says, "We know in part and we prophesy in part," and, "I do not count myself to have apprehended." For surely there must be a difference between walking by faith and walking by vision. And therefore, whilst the holy soul lives here in the shadow of Christ, the holy angel rejoices in the splendour of His unclouded glory.

Yet a good thing is this shadow of the faith, which tempers the light to the weak eye, and at the same time strengthens the eye to bear the light. For, as it is written, Christians should be constantly employed in "purifying their hearts by faith." Faith, therefore, instead of extinguishing, guards the light. Whatever that Object is which the angels are already contemplating, the same, no doubt, faith preserves for me, keeping it hidden away in its faithful bosom, to be revealed at the proper time. Is it not well, my brethren, to hold, even thus wrapped up, a treasure which we could not hold uncovered? Even the Lord's Mother herself lived in the shadow of faith, for to her was it said "And blessed art thou that hast believed." She had also a shadow from the Body of Christ, as the Angel implied when he told her "And the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee." For that is no slight shadow which is thrown by the power of the Most High. And truly there was power in the Flesh of Christ, which overshadowed the Virgin, so that, by means of the intervening screen of this vivifying Body, she might be enabled to endure the presence of the Divine Majesty and bear the splendours of the Light inaccessible, a thing otherwise quite impossible to a mortal woman. That is power indeed, by which every opposing power is vanquished. It is at once a power and a shadow, by which the demons are put to flight and men sheltered and defended. Or certainly an invigorating power and a cooling shadow.

We live then, my brethren, in the shadow of Christ, whilst we walk by faith and feed on His Flesh as the source of our life. For Christ's Flesh "is Meat indeed." And consider, whether it may not be for this reason He is even now represented as appearing in pastoral guise, if I may so speak, in this place, where the Spouse seems to address Him as if He were one of the shepherds. "Show me," she says, "where Thou feedcst'^ where Thou liest in the mid-day." A "Good Shepherd," in truth, "Who giveth His life for His sheep!" He gives His life for them, and His Flesh to them. His life is their ransom, His Flesh their food. Strange thing! He is at once their Pastor, their Pasture, and their Price!

But the conclusion of this discourse is still a long way off. The subject is a large one, and comprehends numerous grandeurs and sublimities, so that it cannot be compressed within narrow limits. Hence it seems best to make here an interruption rather than an end. But memory must watch in the interval, and not let slip what has been said. For in the next sermon, I shall resume this subject, and begin at the point where I now leave off, according as I may be inspired by Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. Cf. St. Augustine, Confess., lib. xi. cap. xiv. — (Translator.) f "Solum proinde vere est quod nee a f uit praeciditur, nee ab erit expungitur, sed solum atque inexpugnable remanet ei est, et manet quod est." Passages like this, numerous with St. Bernard, are the despair of the Tenderer. — (Translator.) 3^5 ↩