Book I. Dialogue VII: The reality of passive prayer: various passive prayers

I

Q. This title alone might surprise most people; what precautions does the Bishop of Meaux take against this before beginning ?

A. He takes none here, because he has already done that in his Preface.

Q. Would you tell me how he did it ?

A. This passage may be rather long, but it seems to me so beautiful and so appropriate that I cannot bring myself to shorten it: this is it i¹ c Though my chief intention is to spread in all hearts the sweet attractions of perfect prayer, nevertheless in many places, and especially where I am treating of that prayer which is called passive, I cannot avoid that abstraction and dryness, which in so sublime and delicate a subject necessarily accompanies definitions and precise solutions. Besides, it is necessary to enter into matters not to the popular taste and often indeed the subject of its gibes. Contemplatives are usually treated as having weak and feeble minds; the raptures, the ecstasies and the holy refinements of divine love are regarded as dreams and empty visions. The fleshly man, as S. Paul calls him, who neither can nor will understand the mysteries of God, is scandalized; these marvellous operations of the Holy Ghost in our souls, these blessed communications and this sweet familiarity with eternal wisdom, which delights in conversing with man, are a hidden secret about which everyone may reason as he wishes.

Among so many different thoughts which minds form on this matter, how can I prevent the profanation of the mystery of piety which the world refuses to appreciate ? God knows, and he knows too how I am to deal with the contradictions, either secret or open, which are to be found on the way, in a matter of which everyone thinks himself a master, and in which it is only too plain how strangely impassioned prejudicial minds become on behalf of their views: but of what importance is this opposition to the seekers of truth? God knows to whom he wishes to speak; he is able to find them; despite all obstacles he can make his intended impression in their minds by means of our feeble discourse. 5

Q. Does not this passive prayer the truth and abuse of which he wishes to show us bear different names among the different writers who treat of it ?

A. True; here are those which Bossuet gives us i² he calls it the prayer of repose or quiet, or of the simple presence of God, of simple regard or simple surrender, that is of yielding to God, as S. Francis de Sales says.

Q. Why are these Prayers called passive ?

A. Because in them God operates in a particular manner, quite different from the way in which he usually operates in souls when he makes them act in prayer.

II

Q. What is the ordinary way of praying, and what is that which is called particular and passive ?

A. The first, says Bossuet, 2 consists in stimulating oneself by reasoning and by discursive considerations; but in the second one becomes stimulated without reasoning, by a simple gazing of the spirit; in the first by acts of understanding which we call discursive, by personal effort and industry; in the second by simple and direct acts, by a simple interior gaze, by a simple repose of the heart in God, produced by a special motion which gives a fortunate facility to these good movements. It is this that the Bishop of Meaux, following S. Teresa and the other mystics, calls passive Prayer.

Ill

Q. I had quite a different idea of passive Prayer; the very name suggested to me, as it does to many others, something extraordinary.

A. As a matter of fact there are extraordinary kinds of passive prayer; in order to distinguish the different kinds the mystics divide them into ordinary and extraordinary passive prayer.

(T. In what way does God grant these prayers ?

A. Sometimes incidentally, sometimes constantly, habitually, as one might say.

Q. When he grants them in one of these ways, does he grant them to all in the same degree ?

A. No, surely; for each one has its various degrees; like all the other virtues.

Q. Do these degrees extend far ?

A. Bossuet makes them extend to infinity, when he says c We must in good faith agree that God can develop to a great extent, rather, as far as he wishes, these passive prayers and states, without anyone saying to him: “ Why do you do this ? 95 9

Q. On what principle does he speak in this way?

A. On a principle of faith³ that c God does with men whatever he pleases: he moves them, overwhelms them, draws them whither he will, does in them and by them what he decides to do in his eternal plan, because

1 The soul accustomed to reasoning and to stimulating its affections itself by the consideration of certain motives, is suddenly struck, as it were, by a sovereign hand, and not only does not, but even cannot, reason any longer.

That is what the mystics call passive prayer, or contemplation, which according to them is an act rather of God than of man, and rather infused by God than stimulated by the effort of the mind. (Book VII, § 8.)

he is God, and holds his creatures in his hand and is Master of his work/ he does this not by compelling the will but by moving it with efficacious graces.⁴⁵

Q. Is the Bishop of Meaux going on to speak of passive prayer which is in some degree extraordinary ?

A. No, for as you have no doubt gathered from his explanation, he speaks only of the most ordinary passive prayer, that which S. Teresa puts first, as an introduction to the other kinds of passive prayer, namely, the prayer of quietude and simple recollection.

Q. Why does he do this ?

A. Doubtless in order to be of use to the greatest number of people; that is why he declared that he was following S. John of the Cross in all his views, for he, according to him, admits nothing extraordinary, not even completely passive prayer; which he demonstrates by the two passages of his works that he quotes. 2 Again, that is why, when he has quoted Fr. Baltazar Alvarez several times, he adds these few notable and instructive words: 3 ‘In general this Father teaches us that his prayer consisted in stopping discourse at intervals for the presence of God 5; and later he demonstrates, by the various formal acts of offering, of thanksgiving, of petition, etc., that this Father, whom elsewhere he calls a great Contemplative, practised only that prayer of quiet which is called passively active, or actively passive, that is to say, mixed.

Q. But why does the Bishop of Meaux insist so strongly on this ?

A. As he says himself,⁶ it is in order to make it clear that in the passive prayer of which he speaks there is often involved much personal action, industry and effort.

Q. But what is the use of knowing this ?

A. It helps his twofold plan, which is to preserve the love of truth while condemning abuses.

IV

Q. In what consist the abuses of the truth of passive prayer ?

A. The first lies in excluding from these prayers, and even from the whole state of soul of those who are fixed on them, not only discursive acts but all direct acts. The second, although it may only be a consequence of the first, seems to me even more incomprehensible, for according to Bossuet it consists in associating with this prayer of quiet, which is, we agree with S. Teresa, the first prayer in which God begins to draw the soul from the common way, a complete and lasting suspension of the faculties, whereas this suspension comes only to those who are in the state of sublime contemplation, and even then only for the short duration of this perfect and uniform contemplation; a this he proves by numbers of quotations from the mystical doctors and fathers, and confirms it further by these words of S. Teresa taken from Chapter XVIII of her life: ‘... as it seems to me, the period of time, however long it may have seemed, during which the faculties of the soul were entranced, is very short; if half an hour, that would be a long time. I do not think that I have ever been entranced so long.’ ‘ The new mystics,* Bossuet adds, c are much more perfect, for they admit a perpetual suspension of the faculties. 5

Q. What is this suspension of the faculties, which lasts such a short time, at any rate in the ordinary way, and which according to Bossuet the new mystics wish to make perpetual ?

A. You think perhaps that he has exaggerated a little here: but be that as it may, it is certain that the suspension of which S. Teresa talks is a transport of the mind and a true rapture of the will, for the Saint goes on to say that one loses all feelings, and becomes incapable of imagining anything. She says later: c Asking myself how I could express what the soul does in the time of that suspension, I heard Our Lord saying to me: she annihilates and loses herself completely, my daughter, in order that she may give herself more and more to me: it is not herself that lives at that moment, it is I. As she cannot comprehend what she hears, it is as if she heard nothing. 5

Q. As I find it difficult to understand that the false mystics claimed to practise a prayer which involved this perpetual suspension, and which would thus be a true rapture, I beg you to tell me if the short suspension of which S. Teresa speaks is different from the most perfect prayer of quiet.

A. It is so different from this kind of prayer that the Saint adds in the same chapter: c After these short periods of suspension the faculties recover themselves and are quiet for another moment. In this way some hours may be, and are, passed in prayer;... this prayer, however long it may last, does no harm. 55 No better distinction could be made between the prayer of quiet which lasts a long time and the short periods of total suspension which may intervene in its long duration.

Q. But perhaps this total suspension of the faculties may arise in some way other than by transport of the spirit, which is a true rapture of the will.

A. When it arises in some gentler and more peaceful way it throws the soul not into transports but into the mystical sleep mentioned in the Canticle of Canticles. But this is not so lasting, for I have never heard from the most experienced souls that it lasted more than a quarter of an hour in even the most contemplative people. Note that it is in the short suspension of transport of the mind, or of this sleep, that the true explanation of the passage of S. Thomas quoted by Bossuet lies.⁷ This passage says that whereas actual contemplation may last a long time in the less perfect acts which demand a less absorbing attention, it cannot last so long in its principal acts, which to my mind can only be the rapture of the will, or that slumber of the soul which the doctors quoted call perfect and uniform contemplation, and which usually lasts such a short time. 2

Q. There is surely some ambiguity here, for I cannot believe that the false mystics in their fanaticism went so far as to believe themselves in a perpetual rapture or a perpetual slumber of the soul. Could there not be some other suspension which is responsible for the ambiguity I feel here ?

A. No, there is no other total suspension but that which lasts for so short a time, which the doctors quoted call perfect, uniform contemplation and S. Teresa calls transport of the spirit or rapture, and others mystical sleep.

V

There is, it is true, another sort of suspension, which is not total, but in which the above-mentioned discursive acts alone are suspended, and it is to this that Bossuet referes when he continues: ‘ Those who limit this suspension to the time of actual prayer do not merit our censure.’ 3

Q. Does not the light Bossuet sheds on these two different kinds of suspension provide the reply to the objections of certain writers, who appear to ridicule a prayer of quiet and simple recollection which lasts several hours; whereas, they point out, S. Teresa affirms that the suspension of the faculties in these kinds of prayer is rare and short ?

A. Yes, I admit that the total suspension of the faculties which is the rapture of the will, or mystical sleep, which others call perfect and uniform contemplation, is very rare and extremely short even in prayer of the highest degree; but the suspension of the discursive acts alone, which is passive prayer according to Bossuet, in which God draws a soul only to the direct acts of simple gaze of the mind by faith, or of simple repose of the heart in God, is neither so rare nor so short, for S. Teresa herself says that this prayer may and does last several hours, even in persons at the lowest degree of this kind of prayer, as a hundred experiences have shown. This is an example of the mistakes into which one is led by such gross equivocations, when one knows nothing of mystical theology or of the most well-known terms.

VI

Q. Were there not other abuses of these kinds of passive prayer ?

A. Another abuse of which the Bishop of Meaux tells us,⁸ is to use them to weaken the spirit of mortification and the practice of the virtues; on this point he quotes Fr. Baltazar Alvarez, who teaches that those who are content to be in a state of contemplation without any exercise of mortification or the other virtues should be corrected and warned that they were abusing themselves, and that unless they correct themselves their recollection might be considered as very doubtful. The last abuse is to try to declare passive prayer common even to children, and absolutely necessary for salvation.

Q. Where is this last abuse found ?

A. In the two books of the new mystic, Mme. Guyon, who says in the Moyen court, so Bossuet informs us,⁹ that we are all called to prayer as we are all called to salvation: that in truth not all are capable of meditating and very few are suited to it: but also that it is not this prayer which God demands, and that it is the prayer of simple presence; that all those who would be saved should practise it. But worse is said in the Preface to the Canticle; for there it is laid down, Bossuet adds, 2 that whoever does not hear this voice (the voice of passive prayer) is not only imperfect but even is unaware of the nature of true love. Steeped in selflove and an attachment of the senses to creatures, he is incapable of experiencing the ineffable effects of pure charity. This shows how far the necessity of this prayer is pushed, says Bossuet, begging his readers to consider these last words and all the decisions that we have just heard from a person as ignorant as she is foolhardy.

VII

Q. Do the true mystics say anything of this sort ?

A. They say exactly the opposite: for though they all agree that this prayer is one of the most mighty aids to the perfection of pure love, and that without this aid it is rarer and more difficult to attain, they nevertheless declare that it can be and is attained without it. On this point Bossuet quotes at length 3 the views of S. Francis de Sales in the second of his two Dialogues, and in the same connection I cannot but quote the old Spiritual Catechism of Fr. Surin, seeing it so highly esteemed by the Bishop of Meaux. By simple and most natural comparisons Father Surin shows us the three states of prayer in these words: ‘ We come to God by meditation, but slowly and with difficulty like those who go on foot; by affective prayer more quickly and with less difficulty, like those who go on horse- back; and lastly by the prayer of simple recollection, very quickly and with little difficulty, like those who travel the sea in a good vessel, with a favourable wind/ It is the comparison used by S. Francis de Sales in the passage quoted above.

Q. Since this prayer, although not absolutely necessary, is such a mighty aid, I should like to know if God usually gives it, I will not say to most Christians, for it is not common prayer, but at least to most good Christians, to the truly faithful, who surely are not the majority.

A. And how could God give it them, since there are so few even of the last-named class who prepare themselves to receive it by the good custom of common prayer? For that of which Bossuet speaks is midway between extraordinary passive prayer and common prayer, just as special grace comes between extraordinary and common grace; now just as God does not usually grant special graces to those who do not correspond with the first or common graces, so he usually grants the special prayer of simple recollection, which is a kind of entrance to the other prayers of which S. Teresa speaks, only to those who are well exercised in ordinary prayer, as the same Saint teaches us in the preceding Chapters XVI and XVII.

Q. But referring to this class, do you think God grants it to most of them, at any rate in some of its lowest degrees ?

A. Of what use to you would be my own personal views ? I only know that S. Bonaventure in his Mystical Theology often says that the end of meditation is contemplation; S. John of the Gross supports him in all his works; S. Teresa says positively that she has known many who at least attained to the prayer of quiet, but very few who passed beyond it. The Venerable Mother de Chantal says more, which we shall set forth in its place, when Bossuet deals particularly with the prayer of this holy Mother; and I know too because I have been told by many of the most experienced people, that among those persons who regularly practise prayer in their own manner there are few who have not felt often some fleeting touches either of this sweet rest in God, or of enjoyment of God, touches of simple recollection, or of silence or wonder, or of that quiet and great peace of which Bossuet speaks, but that many have had no profit from it, either because they did not recognize the gift of God, or because they lacked faith to respond.

VIII

Q. What happens to those who * are able to profit by these fleeting touches, dwelling gently on them, yielding themselves to their divine attraction, who cease from discourse at intervals for the sake of the presence of God, as we have lately learnt ? ’

A. By this constant fidelity, combined with acts of virtue, the practice of which is thus facilitated because we are helped to discover in them their attractive savour, these fleeting touches become every day more frequent and longer, and gradually produce in us a habitual disposition towards recollection; which is certainly not meritorious in us, for it is not an act, as Bossuet says,¹⁰ but it keeps the soul perpetually more disposed to recollect itself in God —it is this that is called the fixed state of prayer, which is not actual and perpetual exercise, as the Quietists declare, but merely a fixed and permanent habit which prepares the soul for prayer in this way more than another, and gives it the inclination with the faculty.

Q. I should like to know what happens in this prayer, and what are its principal effects in those who are normally in this state; that is, not by actual and perpetual exercise, which is the error condemned, but by habit, by inclination, by facility, as the Bishop of Meaux explains.

A. Since this question and my replies would take us a long time, let us keep them for the next dialogue.

Footnotes

1. Preface, § 10. ^3 ↩

2. Book VII, § 2. ' Ibid., § 6, 7, 9. ↩

3. Book VII, § 3. ↩

4. Bossuet adds: ‘ It is also an article of faith that in all acts of piety there are many things which we receive merely, as opposed to any action or movement on our part.’ Such are the enlightenments of the understanding and the pious affections of the will, which operate in us without our aid: 4 It is not in our power,' says S. Augustine, 4 to determine a thing to please us ’; and S. Ambrose also says that 4 our hearts are not in our power ’; this refers to certain dispositions, either good or bad, of which we are not masters. These two passages alone show us that in all the leadings of grace there is a certain passivity which is inseparable from it. All this belongs to the attraction of God, which is more or less perceptible, but without which no act of piety can be performed. ↩

5. 1 would add ’ (he continues) 4 that in all actions not only are there many things which take place in us without our co- operation, but also there are more of these than of those which we do deliberately; and the reason is that in the work of our salva- tion and all that leads us to it there is more of God than of us, more of God’s grace than of our efforts.’ J Eook VII, § 9 and 12. 3 Ibid., § 10. ↩

6. Book VII, § 12. * Ibid., § 9. ↩

7. Book VII, § 13. 1 Ibid., § 9. 3 Ibid., § 9. ↩

8. Book VII, § 19. ↩

9. Book VII, § 28. * Ibid., 8 Book IX, § 12. H ↩

10. Book VII, § 14. ↩