Chapter XVII: Of Prophecy, as understood in Ancient Times

We have easily recognised in infused contemplation the existence of two orders of graces which it is extremely important not to confound; graces gratuitously given, and gifts which truly elevate and sanctify the soul that receives them. The first are compatible with imperfection, they may be found in even a state of sin; the others always suppose the absence of sin, and ordinarily they are granted only to souls sufficiently prepared by long purifications and very perfect dispositions. Graces gratuitously given are more external, and frequently have no other object than the profit of our neighbour; sanctifying graces transform the human soul by reaching into its very depths. But the Apostle St. Paul has on this subject given such complete and extensive teaching that it will suffice for our purpose to comment upon his words.

"Now concerning spiritual things, my brethren, I would not have you ignorant,"¹ said he to the Corinthians. At the very outset he shows by these words that it is useful and profitable for the faithful to know the course of the divine workings in the human soul. He then enumerates the many splendid gifts given by the Holy Spirit to the Church, gifts permanently bestowed upon her which subsist and which will subsist in her to the end: "Now there are diversities of graces, but the same Spirit; and there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all. And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit.”²

These gifts, which are visible to every one, and which are distributed by God to His creatures with sovereign liberty, are therefore favours altogether gratuitous and exceptional. In them God has directly in view the profit of His Church, and sometimes also the advantage of individuals. Moreover, our Lord promises them to His apostles as signs of their mission: “And these signs shall follow them that believe: in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover.”³ So regularly are these signs intended for the profit of those who witness them, that even in the canonized saints they appear to be the result not of their sanctity, but of the sphere in which they lived. The apostles, for instance, having to found numerous centres of Christianity, were especially enriched with them; God frequently condescends to manifest great prodigies to simple souls, while He hides Himself from the curious and the proud. Hence our Lord multiplied His miracles in Galilee, but refused to satisfy the vain curiosity of Herod. St. Paul speaks eloquently before the Areopagus, but He does not there work any of the signs which our Lord had put in his power.

For in point of fact these gifts are under the control of him who has received them; he can at will use them or not use them, so long as God has not recalled them.

St. John of the Cross goes even so far as to say that those who possess them should be sober in the use of them, under pain of being momentarily turned aside from the one thing necessary. This explains that sentence of St. Paul: "And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets."⁴ He is undoubtedly here speaking, as the context shows, of graces gratuitously given, for it is in them that the gifts of the Spirit are subject to those who have received them, and, as St. Gregory remarks, these miraculous facts or prodigies are accomplished in two ways: "Those that are intimately united with God, in two ways work miracles when circumstances require; sometimes they do them in virtue of prayer, sometimes in virtue of their power."⁵

These gifts, as we have already remarked, are not an infallible sign of the degree of charity existing in the soul; examples in proof of this abound in the holy Scriptures. Balaam spoke under divine inspiration; Caiphas prophesied at the time of our Lord's Passion, but simply because he was high priest that year. In the order of miracles we know that pagans using the sign of the Cross have cast out devils and healed the sick; these facts are so well known that it is unnecessary for us to dwell longer upon them. But what shows that these gifts come from God, even when the agent is not in grace with Him, is the end they are intended to bring about, which end is invariably the salvation, the conversion and the sanctification of souls. But in such a case we must observe that the grace gratuitously given is for only a determined and transitory act. It could not be otherwise, for being a divine power it cannot permanently reside where the Holy Spirit is not. Without this reserve God would run the risk of lending Himself to what might deceive man.

However, in the just these supernatural gifts have a certain permanency. But in this kind of regular concession nothing can become for man a subject of pride any more for example than the perpetuity of the priesthood in the priest; even when these gifts are man's possession, they do not cease to be always the property of God. This domain belongs absolutely to the divine good pleasure. God gives His gratuitous graces to whom He pleases, when He pleases and in the measure He pleases. And in the same way He takes them back again to Himself. At one time permanent and, as it were, continuous, at another transitory and suffering interruptions, there is always in them a certain weak point which betrays the precarious and dependent title on which man has received them.

In the Book of Kings the example of Eliseus shows clearly that even the fullest gift of prophecy does not embrace all knowledge, for he says to his disciple: "Let her alone, for her soul is in anguish, and the Lord hath hid it from me and hath not told me."⁶ In truth the gift of discerning spirits and of discovering the secrets of hearts does not apply to all times, nor to all spirits, nor to all the secrets of hearts, but only to the times and in the measure that God wills for the profit of souls.

Moreover, all this order of things should hold a much lower place in our estimation than the admirable security in which the Sacraments place us. Therefore, these gifts, though they may be useful, are never indispensable for salvation; persons would expose themselves to even deplorable illusions by desiring them for themselves, and it would be positively irreverent to make them subjects of experiment and of curiosity, or, as we have already said, to lessen in favour of them the sovereign esteem which we ought to have for the Sacraments.

Among these graces gratuitously given we must admit also that they are far from being all of equal value, and we cannot esteem them everywhere equally. The great Apostle proceeds to show this when he says: "But be zealous for the better gifts. And I show unto you yet a more excellent way."⁷ This way is that of charity; not of charity in its first degree, but of charity truly perfect and consummate. Such are the Apostle's instructions to his children in Jesus Christ.

While cautioning them against an exaggerated and exclusive esteem for what is extraordinary, he thus shows that the whole perfection of the Christian life consists in charity. Charity gives these mystic gifts their real value; for he says: "Charity never falleth away, whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away."⁸ "Follow after charity, be zealous for spiritual gifts; but rather that you may prophesy."⁹ And to the Thessalonians the Apostle gives the same counsel: "Extinguish not the Spirit. Despise not prophecies. But prove all things; hold fast that which is good."¹⁰ Just as he tempers enthusiasm regarding spiritual gifts, so he blames the contempt which some might have of them, and strives to inspire them with a reasonable, well-ordered and somewhat restrained esteem for them.

St. Paul no doubt foresaw that under pretext of advanced science naturalism would try to restrict the action of God, to stifle the Holy Spirit, to set a limit to supernatural workings and to say that nothing is real but that which is perceived by the senses. Doubtless illuminism is a danger, but it is not more contrary to faith than naturalism. St. John admonished the first Christians to be on their guard: "Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world."¹¹ Is there anything surprising in this? False coin proves only that there is true coin, and true coin is esteemed in proportion as the false is despised; whereas many men fall into the most ridiculous and puerile credulity in consequence of their having refused to submit themselves heart and soul to faith, as we see in our own days. Do we not know very well that "Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light."¹² But we have the means by which to tear off his mask when we remain submissive, respectful and faithful children of the holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, the sovereign and infallible mistress of truth: "Understanding this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is made by private interpretation."¹³

In what then does that favour consist which St. Paul wished us to desire above all others? "But rather that you may prophesy."¹⁴ Evidently it is not prophecy as understood nowadays, in quite a modern sense, namely, as the revelation of things to come. In the mind of St. Paul, as in holy Scripture and the teaching of the ancients, prophecy means a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who triumphantly takes possession of the superior faculties of man and subjects them to the action of God. Prophecy is the sum total of all those gratuitous graces which have knowledge as their object; it does not comprise future things only, but extends in a comprehensive manner to all divine things.

Prophecy embraces all supernatural visions, corporeal, imaginary and intellectual. It sometimes also means a special light granted either for understanding or for judging what others have seen. The divine reality of these visions is recognised in the fact that God, while using the faculties of man as a natural basis, applies them in a way that is absolutely beyond their power.

Thus the corporeal vision is the extraordinary manifestation under a physical and sensible form, of an object which, without such manifestation, the external senses could not perceive, and which, without supernatural help, the intellect could not understand. By its very nature it is easy to see that this order of vision is less elevated and more subject to delusion. In general, God makes use of it only for those who are still much attached to earthly things, in order by these sensible means to draw them. Far from being the sign of great virtue, it is rather a mark of weakness and infirmity. These graces can be judged only by the effects they produce, and these alone determine their value. They ought never to be desired and rarely to be accepted on account of the extreme danger of illusion.

In the imaginary vision the imagination falls under the action of God, for man could not by the ordinary way of its working cause it to produce forms so noble and so beautiful, which suggest intellectual truths hitherto quite unknown. And even when God merely brings back in the imaginary vision things that the senses have already perceived they become invested with a dignity and a comprehensiveness which they had not by nature. God does not act against nature, but in a manner superior to nature. To the imaginary vision belong divine and supernatural dreams.

In this order of favours illusion is to be feared, for the imagination, being a faculty upon which creatures can act, may easily be deceived by the demon. Here again the effects help us to determine what has been their cause. If this vision can neither be produced nor hindered at one's own pleasure, if it leave very great peace in the soul, finally, if the virtues, and especially the spirit of humility and submission, increase, there can be no doubt that God is the author of it. This kind of favour should not be desired, nor long dwelt upon any more than the corporeal vision. St. John of the Cross gives an excellent reason for this. "In acting thus," he says, "we are delivered from the risk and labour of discriminating between good and bad visions. The attempt to do so is not profitable at all, but rather waste of time and an occasion of many imperfections and disquietudes."¹⁵

Intellectual vision, by the very reason of its more elevated nature, is much less subject to illusions than imaginary vision or corporeal vision. It seems to be the most perfect act of infused contemplation, especially if that vision not only shows divine things to the soul, but moreover discovers to her their signification. Then it is called revelation; for to reveal is to tear away the veil.

Intellectual vision is the certain and evident manifestation of a truth or of an object made to the understanding without the actual help of sensible images. This vision may be more or less perfect; sometimes notions already acquired are in a supernatural way set forth in the intellect, sometimes intellectual species or forms are directly communicated to it. Intellectual vision thus seems to stand midway between the obscure knowledge of faith and the clear vision of God. The light that illumines the object of the vision is not yet the light of glory, but it is even now a magnificent development of the gifts of understanding and wisdom united with the light of prophecy.

St. Basil, commenting upon the Prophet Isaias, gives us a very high idea of intellectual vision, which he calls a gift of God, a light super-added to our intellect, to enable us to contemplate and to conceive divine things. There is this difference between God and man: man cannot make known his thoughts nor manifest them to another without using some medium or corporeal means; whereas God, elevating the understanding, directly impresses upon it the knowledge that He wishes to reveal concerning His mysteries. According to St. Augustine it was to this higher kind of vision that St. Paul was raised in the rapture spoken of in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.¹⁶

Unlike other mystic phenomena, intellectual vision may sometimes be of long duration. St. Teresa speaks of an intellectual vision of our Lord which lasted more than two years. We have in the lives of the saints other examples of this kind.

We may conclude from what has been said that this kind of vision is scarcely possible without perfect charity, and that it is produced in part by prophetic light; hence we can better understand those words of the Apostle when he says: "Be zealous for spiritual gifts; but rather that you may prophesy."¹⁷ Thus understood, prophecy is no longer merely a grace gratuitously given; it belongs to the order of sanctifying grace.

Ecstasy also, as a special phenomenon, may be called a grace gratuitously given, and as such it may sometimes be granted to imperfect souls, even to sinners, as for example, to St. Paul on the road to Damascus. But more commonly it is a degree of union with God; and in this light ecstasy is linked with charity and helps to sanctify the soul. We must speak of it in this latter point of view.

Ecstatic union, taken in general, is a supernatural elevation of the soul to heavenly things, an elevation which is brought about by the Holy Spirit, and which suspends the ordinary action of the senses. The word ecstasy signifies that the soul, whose natural way is to arrive at the knowledge of truth by means of the external senses, is raised by abstraction from the senses into the region of the supernatural. If this elevation takes place with violence the ecstasy is called rapture. God is the cause of this supernatural attraction; He acts upon the understanding and upon the will. In the one it is truth that captivates, in the other it is love; and this happy captivity momentarily withdraws the soul from the use of her senses.

The holy Abbot John, with great simplicity and without scientific phraseology, spoke of this to Cassian: "I remember that the Divine Goodness favoured me and ravished me to such a degree that I forgot the burden of the body. My soul isolated itself all of a sudden from the external senses, and separated itself so much from the things of this world that my eyes and ears became insensible; my mind was so absorbed in the meditation of divine truths that frequently in the evening I could not say if I had eaten anything all day or if I had fasted the previous day. To avoid this uncertainty a basket is given to each of the solitaries containing his provisions for the week; there are two loaves a day, and he can see on Saturday whether he has forgotten to take his food."¹⁸

So then these men of angelic lives were well acquainted with ecstatic union. They concerned themselves much less than people do in these days about the external effects of ecstasy, the importance of which is very secondary, since they are found in natural and in even diabolic ecstasy; but what they esteemed was that God should so take hold of the understanding and the will as to bring about the suspension of the senses. This possession by God cannot be of long duration, and only by miracle is it extended to many hours. Although God is the author of ecstasy, and though ecstatic union is more elevated than simple union, it may be said that ecstasy comes from the weakness of the creature unable as yet to bear the divine action, rather than from the excellence of this divine communication. Our Lady certainly never had an ecstasy; and when the soul is raised to the highest reach of contemplation and to the consummation of charity, she very habitually escapes it, though God communicates Himself to her so fully that the Beatific Vision alone lies beyond these, His manifestations.

Ecstatic union produces in the soul admirable effects: an ardent desire of serving God, an extreme contempt of the world and of earthly things, a greater knowledge of God and of self, an ardent thirst after God, accompanied by a lively desire of seeing Him, a wound of love at once delicious and painful, a great interior jubilation which manifests itself sometimes under a most charming form. Certain psalms were written in ecstatic union, and they can easily be recognised by their rapturous tone. One real ecstasy is sufficient to produce in a most complete manner all these effects.

But the predominant effect of all is a valiant and truly heroic virtue. St. Francis of Sales expresses this very piquantly. "When," says he, "we see a soul that has raptures in prayer, by which she goes out from, and mounts above herself in God, and yet has no ecstasy in her life, that is, leads not a life elevated and united to God by abnegation of worldly concupiscences, by mortification of natural wills and inclinations, by an interior sweetness, simplicity, humility and, above all, by a continual charity; believe, Theotimus, that all these raptures are exceedingly doubtful and dangerous .... for what can it profit the soul to be ravished unto God by prayer, while in her life and conversation she is ravished by earthly, base and natural affections; to be above herself in prayer and below herself in life and operation, to be angelic in meditation and brutish in conversation. . . . It is a true mark that such raptures and ecstasies are but operations and deceits of the evil spirit.”¹⁹

The holy doctor makes one important remark. We have said that in simple union the soul has the sense of God's presence within herself; whereas in ecstatic union, especially in rapture, she has almost always the sense of an attraction above herself. If this attraction is not promptly victorious, and does not at once unite the soul with its divine object, there results an anxiety, the more painful as no one can at pleasure cause it to cease. If the ecstasy goes so far as flight of the spirit, which is the quickest form of rapture, the soul is torn away from herself so suddenly that she does not suffer the same anguish.

There are similar differences in the way in which the soul returns to her natural state. Sometimes God allows her to come back suddenly, but it seems then that she has neither been so far nor so high, otherwise she could not bear the violent transition; sometimes He seems to lay her down gently upon the earth and with precaution to leave her to herself, lest her nature should be shattered. If she is not yet very spiritualized, she remains a long time as it were stupified, inebriated, and she takes up the life of the senses again only little by little.

No small courage is needed to support so powerful a divine action. When it is first felt the instinct of animal life wakes up with a strange force and inspires the whole inferior part with a terror like to that which the approach of natural death might cause. In truth the soul knows not whither she is going, and as long as she is not joined to God she feels a strange struggle between the superior part, which, like a bird, is striving to escape, and the inferior part, which is opposing a desperate resistance. If the soul is courageous, she resolutely faces death. It seems indeed that the natural life would be in real danger, if it were not that He who has made us knows well, whilst working in us, how to bring about a separation from self without destroying us.

To resist with all our might the divine action then becomes a duty, and it is also a means of knowing whether the working is truly God's, because in that case the resistance will be useless, and will save the poor creature from the responsibility of seeming to seek favours so far above her, which seeking would be presumptuous.

St. Peter, when witnessing the prodigies worked by his divine Master, cried out: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."²⁰ This should always be our first movement, and the justice which we render to ourselves. After that, God is the Master, and nowhere does He more fully make this felt than in the union of which we are now treating, wherein the creature is like a feather which the wind raises and wafts about at pleasure. It is also like the working of a sieve in the cleansing of wheat: the human spirit, we believe, is purified and spiritualized while undergoing the ecstatic movement; it learns to live above and beyond the senses in a liberty which no human industry could ever have obtained for it. Only God can bring about such freedom and render the human soul, that is to say, a spirit created to be adapted to organs so simple.

We must know also that the cause of ecstatic union is not always admiration and joy; knowledge and love may indeed be exercised upon dolorous subjects also, and compassion, in its turn, may occasion ecstasy. Only God knows the depth and the extent of these sufferings.

One last remark: a perfect imaginary vision, when a person is awake, and also an intellectual vision in its less perfect degrees, most frequently bring with them suspension of the senses and ecstasy. We might, however, quote some examples to the contrary. Beyond that, the soul, being divinely strengthened, no longer fails in that manner, because God's action entirely excludes the imagination. We believe also that this is the reason why, by an extraordinary grace of God, it is possible that contemplation is not interrupted even during sleep. Such was our Lord's contemplation and that of the Blessed Virgin; but this culminating point, which belongs to transforming union, deserves to be treated apart.

Thus then, in the wide sense given to it by St. Paul, prophecy comprises elevated and excellent gifts which amount, at least indirectly, to sanctity. In this light we can explain that sentence of Proverbs: "When prophecy shall fail, the people shall be scattered abroad."²¹ Whereas the Prophet Joel shows on the contrary that bountiful mercy will take the form of an outpouring of supernatural gifts: "And it shall come to pass after this that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy."²²

God does not always give spiritual gifts to the most perfect; the souls that possess them retain their several degrees of advancement, and prophecy, as we see, has almost indefinite degrees; when, however, charity creates intimacy between God and the soul, He seems to long to communicate Himself to her.

When Abraham in his generous fidelity had left without hesitation his country and his kindred, the Lord lets fall this marvellous word: "Can I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?"²³ One would think that God can have no secrets from a soul that is so closely united to Him. And in fact Abraham treats with God of the fate of the guilty cities with a liberty which reveals the closest intimacy. And thus does it come to pass with a soul that has no pretensions to extraordinary things, who would even be led to fly from them were it not that the force of her love and the divine condescension raise her up while she is free from self-consciousness.

Neither does she reflect upon what may be taking place in other souls, she knows only that God is treating her as He treated Moses: "And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend."²⁴

Such are the mysterious intimacies of the sacred Canticle, which the humble and simple soul does not desire, does not ask for, from which she turns away as much as she is able; but if God takes from her the power to do so, if He leans towards her, she bows down with the ingenuous simplicity of a child, and repeats after her august queen and Mother: "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because He hath looked down on the lowliness of His handmaiden. . . . Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is His name."²⁵

Footnotes

1. De spiritualibus autem nolo vos ignorare, fratres (1 Cor., xii, 1). ↩

2. Divisiones vero gratiarum sunt, idem autem Spiritus. Et divisiones ministrationum sunt, idem autem Dominus. Et divisiones operationum sunt, idem vero Deus qui operatur omnia in omnibus. Unicuique autem datur manifestatio Spiritus ad utilitatem (1 Cor., xii, 4-7). ↩

3. Signa autem eos qui crediderint, hæc sequentur: In nomine meo dæmonia ejicient, linguis loquentur novis: serpentes tollent, et si mortiferum quid biberint non eis nocebit; super ægros manus imponent, et bene habebunt (Mar., xvi, 17, 18). ↩

4. Spiritus prophetarum prophetis subjecti sunt (1 Cor., xiv, 32). ↩

5. 2 Dialog, xxx. ↩

6. Dimitte illam; anima enim ejus in amaritudine est, et Dominus celavit a me, et non indicavit mihi (4 Reg., iv, 27). ↩

7. Æmulamini autem charismata meliora. Et adhuc excellentiorem viam vobis demonstro (1 Cor. xii, 31). ↩

8. Caritas numquam excidit, sive prophetiæ evacuabuntur, sive linguæ cessabunt, sive scientia destruetur. Ex parte enim cognoscimus, et ex parte prophetamus. Cum autem venerit quod perfectum est, evacuabitur quod ex parte est (1 Cor., xiii, 8-10). ↩

9. Sectamini caritatem; æmulamini spiritalia, magis autem ut prophetis (Ibid., xiv, 1). ↩

10. Spiritum nolite extinguere: prophetias nolite spernere. Omnia autem probate; quod bonum est tenete (1 Thess., v, 19-21). ↩

11. Carissimi, nolite omni spiritui credere, sed probate spiritus si ex Deo sint: quoniam multi pseudo-prophetæ exierunt in mundum (1 Joann., iv, 1). ↩

12. Ipse Satanas transfigurat se in angelum lucis (2 Cor. xi, 14). ↩

13. Hoc primum intelligentes, quod omnis prophetia Scripturæ propria interpretatione non fit (2 Pet., i, 20). ↩

14. Magis autem ut prophetetis (1 Cor., xiv, 1). ↩

15. The Ascent of Mount Carmel II, xvii. ↩

16. Chap. xii. ↩

17. Æmulamini spiritalia, magis autem ut prophetetis (1 Cor., xiv, 1). ↩

18. Cassian, Coll, xix, 3. ↩

19. Treatise on the Love of God, VII, vii. ↩

20. Exi a me quia homo peccator sum, Domine. (Luc., v, 8). ↩

21. Cum prophetia defecerit, dissipabitur populus (Prov. xxix, 18). ↩

22. Erit in novissimis diebus, effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii vestri et filial vestræ (Joel ii, 32; et Act. ii, 17). ↩

23. Num celare potero Abraham quæ gesturus sum? (Gen., xviii, 17). ↩

24. Loquebatur autem Dominus ad Moysen facie ad faciem, sicut solet loqui homo ad amicum suum (Exod., xxxiii, 11). ↩

25. Exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo, quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ . . . quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen ejus (Luc., I, 47-49). ↩