Chapter II. The Place of the Unittve Life and the Mystical Order

A comparison of the views of St. Alphonsus with the thought of St. Thomas and St. John of the Cross¹ All that has gone before shows clearly enough, we believe, that the unitive life, like the passive purifications of the senses and of the soul presupposed by it, belongs to die mystical order, that is to say, it requires infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith. The testimony of St. John of the Cross is explicit on the point and seems to conform perfectly to tradition.² However, because St. Alphonsus Liguori has sometimes been quoted as opposed to him, we should like to make certainty more certain by comparing the two.

Father Charles Keusch of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer has recently published a study on the spirituality of St. Alphonsus which will be of service in making this comparison. 3 His work purposes to make people more familiar with St. Alphonsus' thought on the relationship between the ascetical and the mystical life: whether the ascetical is ordered to the mystical as to its normal fulfillment, or

whether, on the contrary, infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith consists in something by nature extraordinary and outside of the normal way of sanctity, like revelations and visions. Because St. Alphonsus has sometimes been quoted as supporting the second point of view, defended by many authors of his time, we are fortunate to have the different shadings of his doctrine brought out with great delicacy and distinction by one of his sons dedicated in a special way to the study of his spiritual doctrine. With him let us examine the general characteristics of St. Alphonsus' teaching on spirituality and then let us compare it with the doctrine set forth in this work, following St. Thomas' principles and their application to spiritual progress as worked out by St. John of the Cross.

THE SPIRITUALITY OF ST. ALPHONSUS: ITS GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

After twenty years of work, Father Keusch has put before us his explanation of St. Alphonsus in the book, Die Aszeti\ des hi. Alfons Maria von Liguori, im Lichte dcr Lehre vom geistlichen Leben in alter und neuer Zeit* This work has had three editions in ten years and has been highly praised at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where die author brilliantly defended his doctrinal thesis. It contains a penetrating study of the personality of St. Alphonsus, an examination of the early and modern sources on which he drew, and the entire literature concerning the subject.

4 Druck_ und Verlag der Bonijacius-Drucl<crci, Padcrborn, 1926, Zweite und dritte Auflage, 1 vol. in-8, 407 pp.

2 3 o THE LOVE OF GOD

The doctrinal points gone into most deeply include the concept of perfection, the call to perfection for Christians in general, and for priests and religious in particular, detachment, and divine union. To reach some conclusion on the value of this spirituality, Father Keusch considers it in the light of St. Thomas' principles and then compares it with the more modern schools of spirituality of St. Ignatius, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Vincent de Paul. Some critics accuse him of straining to prove the harmony of St. Alphonsus' views with St. Thomas' and do not believe that the Doctor of Salvation was actually so completely Thomistic in his doctrine.

The author answers that he has made his appraisal from a theological rather than from a historical point of view and that, to arrive at an exact definition of doctrine, he could choose no better guide than St. Thomas. St. Alphonsus' attachment to the Angelic Doctor is furthermore deeper than is generally supposed. Shortly after his death, a Dominican master of theology, Father Vincenzo Gregorio Lavazzoli, professor at the Theological College of St. Thomas at Naples, wrote: "We are fully aware of how much the servant of God loved our Order and especially St. Thomas, whom he took as his only and sure guide in all his works." 5

The spiritual works of St. Alphonsus are to be recommended because of their doctrinal certainty, the saintly unction found on every page and, above all, because of their eminently practical character. They are calculated to round out the great speculative views to which St. Thomas ac-

• Reproduced at the beginning of A. M. Tannoja's Mimotres stir la vie et I'inslilut de saint Alphonse, 3 vols. (Naples, 1793-1802).

customs us, and to show how these ought to give direction to our daily actions in advancing toward perfection.

St. Alphonsus has been declared a doctor of die Church precisely because of his sure doctrine on moral and spiritual matters. He was given by God to His Church at a time when die Jansenist heresy was turning souls away from the contemplation of infinite mercy, when quietist errors tended to drive generosity out of the service of God, when the doctrines of Voltaire, Rousseau, and die Encyclopedists were ravaging the minds of men. In die sorry eighteenth century this great saint served as die voice of God reminding men of His indefeasible rights and even more of His boundless mercy, restating the greatness of the divine law and the Chrisdan conscience. He gave new life to moral doctrine, then so often smothered under the vain discussions of casuists more interested in the material circumstances of human acts than in the divine exigencies of the last end; and he re-established, for the greater good of souls, the confessional as the center of parochial life.

As to spirituality properly so called, he continued the work of the sanedfication of the common people undertaken by St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century and continued by St. Francis de Sales in the seventecndi. The latter had, as it were, brought spirituality out of the cloister and among seculars but his Introduction to the Devout Life addressed only people of culture. St. Alphonsus Liguori, like the great popular preachers of the Middle Ages, brought himself down to poor folk, to country people, who were receiving all too little care, that he might teach them, in language wonderfully suited to dieir understanding, the beauty of the mysteries of faith and of the Christian life. His excellent hymns to the Blessed Sacrament, always so popular in Italy, lifted up the souls of the simple, revealing to them the grandeur of the mysteries of the Rosary, the beauties of the Eucharist, the practice of the love of God, the great means of prayer. In his day he became throughout the whole region around Naples an incarnation of the gospel spirit: "The poor have the gospel preached to them." 6 After perusal of his wonderful life, no one could travel through that part of the country or visit the shrine of Pagani, where his relics are venerated, without being deeply stirred and moved to thank God for having raised up for His Church at such a time a saint who has left us both his teachings and sons to diffuse tli cm '

St. Alphonsus' influence is not limited to this one field only; he deeply affected the clergy and religious, both men and women. We can always read with much profit the Selva or The Sanctified Priest, the different writings relative to pastoral life and its great responsibilities, the counsels given to his sons, particularly to student novices, on the relations between piety and study. In these he shows how piety should animate and supernaturalize study and how study should preserve piety from errors due to imagination and sentiment. Many religious find their spiritual nourishment in The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, The Glories of Mary, The Way of Salvation, the second part of

' One eU popularizes of St. Alphonsus in France is Pere Achille Desurmont He has published several well-known books, VAr, d'assurer son sal,.,, U S «fcSU U ChariU sacerdotal*. The second of these works paruc- S contains a study of the mysteries of Providence in the s P1 r.t of St. Alphonsus, considered from a doctrinal, ascetical, and social viewpoint.

which contains the best "reflections for souls desiring to advance in divine love." These "reflections" of some sixty pages suffice of themselves to show the sublimity of the doctrine proposed by the saint to every really interior Christian desirous of advancing in God's love.

A soul of deep and unremitting prayer and of perfect abnegation, the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer went through, as we know, the most grievous interior purifications and the most wounding exterior trials that the founder of an order could know. This is why, even when St. Alphonsus treats only questions of the ascetical order or when he speaks of moral virtues and gives practical advice for beginners, his words have the inspiration of mystical truths, the breath of the theological virtues, the greatness of the spirit of faith, the confidence of abandonment, and the generosity of charity. These presuppose the light of the gifts of wisdom and of understanding and point ahead to the higher end to which asceticism is ordered, the intimacy of divine union.

If many of St. Alphonsus' works have a clearly defined practical character, let us not forget that the great height of his spirit of faith and the increasingly generous aspiration of his heart belong to the mystical order and serve well to turn souls toward all that belongs to the normal way of salvation, toward everything that ought to dispose them for the life of heaven, the possession of God through the beatific vision.

When, for example during a retreat, we take time to read slowly and in God's presence the spiritual writings of this great servant of His, we see how much he was ruled by the Holy Ghost and what a high degree of divine union he enjoyed. Under the influence of the seven gifts, his union with

God was not only active but passive as well, patiebatur divina. From this source his life drew its sublimity, its power, and, in spite of the multiplicity of acts involved in certain practices of his, 8 its unity. This could not help but be apparent to the good Christian people to whom he preached; his words awoke in them a desire for union with God in the full sense of the commandment of love, which sets no limits whatever to charity but bids us love with all our heart. Some people with their minds full of external things felt his power less because of his great prudence, his care to warn them against exaltation; others, of a more spiritual mold, felt it all the better for that, his very prudence dispelling all compromise, simulation, and illusion.

A COMPARISON OF THE SPIRITUALITY OF ST. ALPHONSUS WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF ST. THOMAS AND THE DOCTRINE OF ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

We now return to a question introduced at the beginning of the chapter: Does St. Alphonsus consider, as we have often taught, 9 that the ascetical is ordered to the mystical as to its normal consummation? To put it more precisely, does he hold that infused contemplation— absolutely distinct from s In his life of the saint, Pire Bcrthc relates, chap. 6, that each evening before going to sleep the saint made himself say ten acts of love, ten acts of trust, ten acts of contrition, ten acts of conformity to God's will, to which he adds acts of love and abandonment to our Lord and the Blessed Mother. This multiplicity of acts belonged chiefly to the lower faculties but in the intellect and will there was rather a continuous act such as that performed by a man of prayer when reciting the Rosary. His attentive search for ways of pleasing God evidences St. Alphonsus' great charity.

o Cf. Christian Perfection and Contemplation and a number of articles appearing in La vie spirituelle from 1919 to 1929.

extraordinary graces such as prophetic revelations, visions, stigmatizations, and so forth— forms part of the normal way of sanctity, is the full perfection of the Christian life; or radier, since in fact we so rarely encounter infused contemplation or perfection itself for that matter, does he look upon it as something extraordinary, like private revelations ?

The question often arises these days, and we encounter it stated in oversimplified terms not only to the neglect of the nuances of the subject but also to the disregard of its essentials. As a result, it is robbed of significance, and the answer to it which we maintain as traditional also loses meaning and importance and becomes strangely distorted either by those who admit it spontaneously without sufficient reflection or those who reject it without any thorough examination.

Father Keusch, who has spent his life studying the spiritual doctrine of St. Alphonsus and desires to follow him faithfully, tells us of diis matter:

La vie spirituelle has given new life ... to St. Thomas' doctrine on perfection, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, and contemplation. It has broken down, so to say, the barriers of the school of pure asceticism to allow the integral notion of sanctity to shine out with much greater luster than before. ... In themselves, it seems . . . these beautiful doctrines are not in opposition to the deep thought of St. Alphonsus. The holy doctor admits — wc have no formal text to deny it — the unicity of the interior life, and for sanctity the possibility of the existence of . . . and even a certain necessity for, transitory infused prayer. For reasons of theology, of experience, and of conscience, which we have set forth, he thinks that mystical states of more intense development are not necessary, although elsewhere he concedes their high efficacy and excellence. 10

23 6 THE LOVE OF GOD

Father Keusch's judgment, because of his profound knowledge of St. Alphonsus' spirituality, is of great interest, and we are happy to see it formulated in this wise. He adds a little farther on:

The apparent opposition between St. Alphonsus' doctrine and that given in La vie spirituelle arises in my opinion from diversity of method. La vie spirituelle sees things "from the heights." . . . It shows us the origins, development, and consummation of the interior life in the light of Thomistic principles. Its point of view we share in many ways and believe that its sublime outline correctly sketches the approaches to heaven. The zealous apostle St. Alphonsus has followed the opposite method. A man in the midst of an active life, he sees things "from the valleys" ... and builds his theory from experience, although he takes into consideration the data of theology. 11

"We conclude then," Father Keusch finishes by saying, "that there seems to be no fundamental doctrinal discord between St. Alphonsus and La vie spirituelle, although in questions of method diversity appears. Let us add a prayer that it be often given us to complete the teachings of the Angelic Doctor with the thought of the Zealous Doctor for the inevitable profit of souls."

Having taken up again recently the invigorating spiritual works of St. Alphonsus, which we propose to study further with the purpose that Father Keusch desired to have pursued, we are led to believe that the doctrinal accord is even more complete than he thinks and that the difference of method, although it exists, seems more apparent than real. A brief examination of these two questions will therefore follow.

Diversity of method

In speaking of method, we must make a distinction here between the method of doctrinal exposition that is followed in such articles as we have written for La vie spirituelle and the method of practical teaching to be used for preaching, which must be adapted to different audiences, and lastly, the method of direction, which must be suited to individual souls. In the latter case, the question arises not only of the preservation of a logical sequence of ideas, but of prudence; and when we recall how St. Thomas cautions us to practice this virtue, 12 we can, it seems, fully agree with St. Alphonsus.

St. Thomas is the first to tell us that a foreseen and desired end is first in the order of intention but last in die order of realization. 13 Accomplishment must begin by employing the lowest kinds of means in order to rise by degrees to the use of higher means and so to come at last to achieve the end, conceived, desired, and willed before anything else. Elsewhere 14 we have developed the consequence of this principle of spirituality. The most elementary prudence moves us never to lose sight of it. A saying goes that a good life is thought out during youth and realized during maturity. The conception of an ideal comes at the beginning; its realization only at the end.

The architect first conceives tire building that he plans to erect in all its grandeur and beauty and then he decides on the means that he must use to build it, and when he starts

14 Cf. La vie spirituelle, September, 1927, pp. 573-89, "Ne brdlons pas les etapes," an article reproduced in die 7th edition of Perfection chretienne et contemplation, pp. 776-89.

23 8 THE LOVE OF GOD construction it never occurs to him to begin the arches before laying the foundation. What must we think of any director who, having disclosed to someone under his direction the beauty of Christian perfection by reading the evangelical beatitudes to him from the Sermon on the Mount, then attempts to begin the construction of his spiritual edifice not with the foundation, by the spade work of humility, mortification, and obedience, but with the topmost part of the building? He would be like an architect essaying to begin the erection of a cathedral with the spire or a young bird trying to fly before growing its wings.

From this viewpoint, the most elementary common sense demands that we admit as indispensable the first of the three propositions drawn up by Father Keusch as representing St. Alphonsus' thought. Father Keusch summarizes it thus: "Before introducing a soul into the higher regions of the spiritual life constituted by the presence of the mystical element or by the exercise of the prayer of contemplation properly so called, St. Alphonsus demanded with redoubled insistence that the life of ordinary virtue be first quite solidly established." 15 Following St. Thomas, 16 we have always said the same thing: that the active life or the practice of the moral virtues regulating the movements of our sensuous appetency and the acts of our will must precede the contemplative life, which becomes thereafter the soul of the apostolate. 17

The expression "rushing souls into the mystical way" shocks us no less than the disciples of St. Alphonsus. No serious theologian, and no director with even a modicum of

"La vie tpirituette, June, 1927, p. [199]. 16 IIa Mac, q. 182, a. 4. "Ibid., q. 188, a. 6.

prudence, would adopt such a policy. There seems little difference between pushing people into the mystical way and forcing them to prophesy or work miracles; for, after all, despite the fact that we maintain that infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith belongs to the normal way of sanctity, we firmly hold that God infuses it into our souls and that none of us can acquire it by our own efforts or introduce others into it by means of direction. The quietists, on the contrary, upheld their passivity as acquired, as entered upon at will through the cessation of all activity, a sort of pious sleep.

A much more understandable expression is to be found earlier in Father Keusch's work where he says: "St. Alphonsus does not belittle mystical graces; quite the opposite, he presents them as desirable but only for those souls who are prepared for them by God's invitation." We should recognize the great prudence that St. Alphonsus shows here. He is more the mystic than he would have us know. When he speaks of these sublime things to the general run of pious souls, he prudently tones down what he has to say in order to avoid the risk of having them overreach God's grace. In this prudence, every director should imitate him, especially when dealing with youthful imaginations, for he was, as Father Keusch says, one of the most skilled handlers of souls that ever lived. 18 Let us not forget, however, that he avoided

58 We have no need of a great deal of experience with souls to know that when we speak too soon to young religious about passive purifications instead of simply saying that we should carry our cross daily, some of them arc going to conclude that they have entered the dark night of the soul at the first experience of dryness or darkness. Nothing could be more ridiculous.

They could well have the first chapters of The Darl{ Night read to them, since these deal with the faults of beginners, the seven capital sins as they are encountered in the life of piety under the guise of spiritual sensuality or spiritual pride; but it is wise to wait before giving them all the works of St. )ohn of the Cross, for some of them, thinking that they have already overcome the faults of beginners, will both of two extremes. He knew that a director should intervene neither too early nor too late and he said that sometimes "God calls us without being heard." 19 As soon as "God's invitations" began in souls under his direction he would detect them because of his supernatural vigilance. Many other directors discover them only much later and allow souls to mark time for a long period because, for example, diey attribute to melancholy the aridities attendant on the beginning of habitual infused prayer. 20

The prudent practical direction given by St. Alphonsus in no way runs counter to the speculative doctrine that the normal development of the gifts of the Holy Ghost includes not an individual and proximate but a general and remote call to all interior souls to enter upon infused contemplation of the mysteries of faith. 21 St. Alphonsus' prudence makes him give that kind of direction which leads souls to desire divine union without telling them cxacdy how contemplation of the mysteries of faith contributes to that end. We go on to read with avidity the second book of The Dark. Night and The Living Flame as well; they will thus rob these beautiful works of the ir freshness by attempting to become acquainted with them too soon and grasp.ng no more than thc.r outer expression; later others more humble than they will be nourishing themselves with these living fruits but they will be incapable of assimilating them because they have not grown up, resembling toddlers who dcsp.se m.lk but cannot yet chew meat. .... . • ih

Everything in its place and time: othcrw.se we shall have something like spirituality rather than spirituality itself, an absolutely deplorable thing. Monstrosities can be made by applying a form beautiful in itself to matter not yet disposed to receive it. To make a beautiful statue of the Blessed Virgin we need not only a good mold; but we need also clay that is neither too dry nor too wet, otherwise in a day or two our statues will not be worth much.

i°St. Alphonsus, Opere (Torino: Marictti, 1887), III, 295- 2 « Cf. St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Ml. Carmel, the prologue. 21 Cf St. Thomas, la Hac, q.68, a. 5: "Whether the gifts of the Holy Ghost are connected." The meaning of the expression "remote and general call" as d.sunguished from "individual and proximate call" has been explained at length elsewhere. Cf. Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 337"427- can see clear evidence of this in the saint's meditations for the time of Ascension and Pentecost 22 and in his reflections for those desiring to advance in divine love. 23 In his novena to the Holy Ghost he tries to draw souls out of the shadow of sin by telling them: "The Holy Ghost, called the lux beatissima, inflames our hearts with His divine splendor, making us know the vanity of earthly goods, the value of those of eternity, the importance of salvation, the worth of grace, God's goodness and Christ's infinite love for us. . . . St. Teresa says that God is not loved because He is not known. Wherefore the saints are always asking God for light: Emitte lucem; illumina tenebras meas; revela oculos meos. Without divine light we can neither avoid destruction nor find God." 24 Can anyone say that the saint had no thought of infused contemplation when speaking in this way of the supernatural light received from the Holy Ghost? Similar passages are found throughout his spiritual works. Addressing all of us and speaking from the abundance of his heart, he goes beyond the strict limits of the purely ascetical and leads us to aspire, with humility and discretion, to a closer union with God and to whatever that normally requires of the understanding.

The saint invites those whom he directs, whenever they say the Office, to be supcrnaturally attentive to the words of the psalms. If we follow his advice, we shall grasp more and more perfectly the meaning of the aspirations that they contain: "Da mihi intellectum, et scrutabor legem tuam; da mihi intellectum, et discam mandata tua; da mihi intellectum, et

22 Opere (Torino: Marietu, 1887), H, 393. 28 Ibid., II, 249-314. 2 * Ibid., II, 394- vivam." 2B God inspires this petition said so often by all priests and religious; it contains and expresses a holy and humble desire for the light of the gift of understanding, which, together with the gift of wisdom, constitutes the principle of infused contemplation. 29

St. Alphonsus used these aspirations often, even when speaking to the general public, and certainly not because he had forgotten the rule of prudence: nulla nimia securitas, ubi periclitatur aeternitas. He knew full well that complete security can be found only in perfect docility to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. And if, as Father Keusch says, "Above all he never left off recommending St. John of the Cross to young confessors for a deeper study of things mystical," he did so because he knew that in these matters no one has done more to warn us against die desire for extraordinary graces like visions and revelations dian the author of The Dar\ Night, while at the same time he continually leads interior souls to desire die light of the Holy Ghost, without which they cannot grow in the spirit of faidi and reach divine union. He even makes die profound remark diat a desire for extraordinary graces turns us away from true contemplation wherein the soul lives more and more in the blessed darkness of faidi. 27

The difference of method between St. Alphonsus and St. John of the Cross arises in large part from the different en-

« In the Ascent of Ml. Carmel, Bk. II, chaps. 18, 19, 20, 26, 27, St. John of the Cross puts much insistence on the mistake imprudent directors make by concerning themselves through curiosity with souls favored by visions and revelations. We can find nothing stronger than these passages in their condemnation of the desire for revelations and at the same time in the encouragement of a desire for the perfect spirit of faith found in infused contemplation of the mysteries of salvation, the way to divine union.

vironment in which they made their influence felt. St. Alphonsus wrote in an age suffering from the aberrations of the quietists and, as Fadier Keusch says, he had in mind two classes of readers : one, young confessors, to whom he directed his scientific works particularly; the otiier, a circle of men and women readers made up of average pious persons for whom he intended his works on spirituality. St. John of the Cross says himself at die end of the prologue to the Ascent of Mount Carmel that he was speaking principally to the men and women religious of his own Order, at whose request he wrote; then he adds the remark that the solid and substantial doctrine given was addressed to all, provided that they had made up their minds to pass through the detachment of soul which he preached.

The difference of method seems, therefore, more apparent than real, if we compare the praedcal direction given by St. Alphonsus not with the speculative teaching founded on the principles of St. Thomas and St. John of the Cross, but with the practical direction inspired by these principles and instrumental in applying them with prudence and according to different circumstances.

Comparison of method: a path to comparison of doctrine

Without trying to make their teaching identical, we seem justified in recognizing agreement and accord in doctrinal matters between these doctors of die Church. St. Alphonsus, having told souls that they can desire contemplation properly so called, redoubles his insistence that they must first solidly establish the life of ordinary virtue. Father Keusch

, 44 THE LOVE OF GOD points this out in the first of the three propositions with which he summarizes the teaching of his master.

This rule of direction in no way runs counter to the doctrine which we have set forth here, if by an "ordinary virtuous life" is meant the virtues which ought to be commonly practiced in the way usually called purgative: self-imposed mortification, both exterior and interior, patience, meekness, humility, obedience, and the rest. But does St. Alphonsus consider that these virtues reach a notably higher degree without the soul passing through the interior trials remarked by St. Augustine, 28 St. Gregory the Great, 29 St. Bernard, 30 Hugh of St. Victor, 31 and St. Thomas? 32

It seems that in the crucible of purgation infused contemplation begins in aridity and with the realization of the emptiness of all things created. The Holy Ghost opens our minds to this view through the gift of knowledge, 33 giving us, by contrast, a glimpse of the infinite greatness of God. This "seeing," distinctly different from discursive meditation, serves, according to St. Alphonsus, as the principle of perfect detachment in the practice of solid virtue. All this sounds remarkably like St. Teresa's reflections on the indifference demanded by some spiritual reading books. To their requirement that we be indifferent to the evil said of us, that we rejoice even more than if something good were said, that we care nothing for honor and become quite detached from our

28 De quantitate animac, c.33, a description of the difficult work of purification; De sermone Domini in monte, Bk. I, c.3, 4. on the beatitudes and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

relatives and a whole host of other things, she observes that in her opinion all this is a pure gift of God, a supernatural good. 3 ' 1 She warns us, too, that, even after years of prayer, or better, of meditation, we shall not advance much if we cling to love of honor and of temporal goods; whereas perfect prayer frees us from these faults. 36

St. Alphonsus evidently thinks no differendy when, treating of love of solitude, he says:

God does not speak to us in the midst of the talk and transactions of the world; or if He does speak, we do not hear Him. God's words are the inspirations, lights, and secret invitations by which saints are enlightened and encompassed by divine love; but whoever has no love for solitude cannot hear the sound of God's voice. . . . When He desires to lift a soul to an eminent degree of perfection, He leads it to withdraw into some place of solitude and there He speaks to it, not through the ears of the body but of the soul; and in this way He enlightens it and encompasses it with His divine love. "Ducam earn ad solitudinem et loquar ad cor ejus." I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart (Osee 2: 14). ... At least let us try as far as possible to secure some place of retreat where we can be alone with God and thus obtain the strength to overcome the disadvantages of our necessary dealings with the world. . . . 3B Those whose position obliges them to live in the world may have to carry on its business, walk its streets, appear in its public places, but they can have, nevertheless, solitude of heart and union with God, provided that they keep their hearts detached from worldly things. . . . "Be still and see that I am God" (Ps. 45: 11). To be enlightened with divine light and so to realize and love God's goodness, we must put a check upon our-

84 St. Teresa, Life, chap. 31. 35 Way of Perfection, chap. 12. 38 Opere, cd. cit., II, 295.

24 6 THE LOVE OF GOD selves, that is, we must rid ourselves of earthly attachments, for they prevent us from knowing God. 37

All these pages compose a discreet invitation to desire contemplation under a title which runs no risk of exciting flights of imagination: "Love of solitude; solitude of heart." 38 In the beautiful chapter on aridity of soul in the same "Reflections" 39 the saint shows the dawning of contemplation which, though ignorant of its own existence, instinctively leads us byond and above our own miseries to God. We come to know true humility, learning from ourselves yet taught by God. St. Alphonsus cites the example of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, who remained a long time in this arid quiet, telling us that she imagined herself to have neither love of God nor hope nor faidi, yet kept her gaze always on God and sought her rest in the arms of the divine will. St. Francis de Sales observed that her soul reminded him of a deaf person gifted with a beautiful voice but unable to enjoy her own singing. In the Praxis conjessarii 40 St. Alphonsus says that the soul often has (infused) prayer of quiet without any sensible sweetness.

When we meditate on the "Reflections" written for souls desiring to advance in God's love and deeply lived by the saint himself, we see how closely St. Alphonsus approaches what St. John of the Cross has to say about the necessity of those periods of aridity which he calls the night of the senses and die night of the soul. St. Alphonsus encouraged young confessors to read The Dar\ Night of the Soul and would

St Mmijs Hospital Sisters.

PLACE OF THE UNITIVE LIFE 247 never deny the two following propositions contained in its pages. The first reads: "The passive purification of the senses is common and occurs in a great number of beginners." 41 Under the illumination of the Holy Ghost, those starting to live the interior life recognize the emptiness of created things much better than they ever could have done by meditating from many books. The second reads: "The proficient or advanced belong in the illuminative way, wherein God nourishes and strengthens their souls by infused contemplation." 42 God accomplishes this through the gifts of understanding and wisdom, generally given according to the measure of our charity. 43 Yet often, let us not forget it, passive prayer is marked by aridity and provides no sensible consolation.

The spirit of prayer ordinarily develops together widi the virtues, especially the love of God. St. Alphonsus, like the other saints, recognizes this. Without solitude of heart, in which the lights of the Holy Ghost are received, we can have only a certain degree of virtue but not generally those deep and solid virtues of the illuminative and the unitive way — humility without fear of contempt, and padence almost without any shadow of change, one of the marks of true perfection. We do not, then, see that any serious difference exists between die doctrine of St. Alphonsus as summarized by Father Keusch in his first proposition and the doctrine generally taught in La vie spirituelle.

We come then to the second proposition: "A life of virtue being realized, St. Alphonsus excludes from his plan of per-

24 8 THE LOVE OF GOD fection and the ends that he would seek neither passive transitory graces nor more lasting passive states. Although he upholds the latter as more perfect in themselves than the works of the active life, he does not believe them necessary for sanctity." 44

From the way Father Keusch expresses the thought of St. Alphonsus, it seems that he has a better grasp of it than some of his predecessors. He has labored long and arduously over it, made it a scholarly work, apparently a work of conscience. This would seem clear from many passages treating of the agreement between the doctrine expounded by St. Alphonsus and that generally taught in La vie spirituelle. 46 Like Father Keusch, we too believe such a reconciliation possible; and the doctrines seem even closer akin to one another than Father Keusch states in his second proposition. Passive purifications, even those of the senses, are already in fact, because of their aridity, a passive state lasting some time, and we believe that St. Alphonsus judges them no less necessary for sanctity than does St. John of the Cross, aldrough his terminology may be different. He notes in the Praxis conjessarii: 48

Before leading the soul into the prayer of contemplation, God generally purifies it by supernatural aridity called the purgatio spirituals, a spiritual purgation intended to free it from those imperfections which hinder contemplation. . . . When aridity is supernatural, it throws the soul into profound darkness, lasts longer than natural aridity, and increases daily. Placed in this state {in tali statu constituta), the soul feels itself separated from

« Die Aszelik. des hi. Alfons Maria von Liguori, 3rd ed., p. 290. °M- 48 Praxis, c.ix, no. 128.

creatures and its gaze remains fixed on God and it has an ardent desire and a firm purpose to love Him perfectly; yet it discovers itself powerless to do so because of its imperfections, which seem to make it detestable in God's eyes. However, it continues practicing virtue. . . .

This trying aridity is an effect of grace, of a supernatural light, a light bringing suffering and, through its brilliance, darkness. Grace would communicate itself to the soul but finds the soul incapable because its powers are not sufficiently detached from sensible consolations, are still too material and full of sensible forms, images, and symbols; then this supernatural light produces in the soul an effect of darkness, a trying but profitable night. Through it, in fact, the soul comes to detach itself from all earthly pleasures and from the sensible consolations of the life of piety. Moreover, it acquires in this way a deep knowledge of its miseries and its impotence for good without the help of grace, and at the same time a great reverence for God, manifest to it in all His strength and majesty. 47 . . . After the purification of the senses, God usually accords the gift of contemplation, that is, supernatural recollection, and then quiet and union, which we shall speak of later. But before union, after passive recollection and quiet, God generally makes the soul undergo the passive purification of the spirit, willing it to experience a sort of death. 48 . . . Divine light makes the soul recognize its own nothingness and leads it into a real agony. . . . Sometimes

47 If close attention is given to these words of St. Alphonsus, which well summarize the teaching of St. John of the Cross, it will be seen that external trials cannot produce the same effect as that infused light which penetrates to the depth of the faculties in order to detach them from things created and to make them bear in a supernatural way the exterior crosses so often borne with little profit.

48 A little farther on, no. 137, St. Alphonsus speaks precisely and in conformity with St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa, who places the night of the soul at the beginning of the Sixth Mansion before spiritual betrothals, after the simple union of the Fifth Mansion. This passage shows that for him, as well as for St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa, the night of the soul is a high passive state, since it comes after the prayer of quiet and simple passive union and prepares for transforming union, the fullness of the unitivc way.

25 o THE LOVE OF GOD

God allows this state of desolation to be accompanied by temptations to impurity, anger, blasphemy, incredulity, and despair.

The saint's words tell us plainly that he is talking about purifications proper to the mystical state.

In all causes considered for beatification and in almost all the lives of the saints, the question of these purifications comes up under the title of "interior trials" and during the discussion of the heroic character of their faith and hope. Can anyone think that St. Alphonsus judged these passive purifications unnecessary for sanctity or that he rejected the teaching of St. John of the Cross on the subject? The essential lines of St. John's teaching are well known: 49 Exterior trials cannot suffice to accomplish purgation of soul without this purifying interior light, which alone teaches us how to bear them with resignation, thankfulness, and love.

In the "Reflections" already quoted, St. Alphonsus aptly remarks: "Naturally all suffering repels us, but when divine love reigns in the heart, it makes it pleasing." 60 In the eleventh chapter, explaining our Savior's words, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me," he says: "To carry the cross that we must carry is not enough. Sinners carry theirs but without merit. To carry it meritoriously we must embrace it with love. . . . Since God wills that we keep on bearing it patiently, should we not carry it until death ? . . . Those who love the Lord disinterestedly never abandon prayer, no matter what aridity and boredom they may experience. . . . Their actions have but one end, to please God; if He wills

See the present work, Parts I, B, an d HI, chap. II. Reflections, chap. 10.

it, they are ready to suffer aridity until death and even for all eternity."

This goes beyond the bounds of asceticism and pertains to tlie mystical life, necessitating a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost and manifesting a suprahuman mode of the gifts of piety, fortitude, understanding, and wisdom, all growing together with charity. And if this abandonment to God endures in the midst of such sufferings as have been alluded to, then it comprises a state and presupposes the continual inspiration of the Holy Ghost. We can dispose ourselves for this or we can fail and lose it, but no personal efforts of ours can acquire abandonment of such a sort; it is infused. For this reason St. Alphonsus adds in the same passage: "O how dear to God is a soul who suffers and loves like this ! O ineffable gift! O gift above all gifts! to love while suffering and to suffer while loving. . . . Give me, Lord, Thy love, which will bring me strength to suffer everything for love of Thee. Take everything from me, deprive me of all that I possess, parents, friends, health of body, indeed life itself, but leave me Thy love."

A little later in the same "Reflections" addressed to all generous interior souls, St. Alphonsus gives an explanation of St. Teresa's words: "Detach your heart from creatures, then seek God and you will find Him." He says: "You will not always obtain spiritual sweetness, 81 for our Lord does not always give it to those who love Him during their life, only from time to time bestowing it upon them to make them

61 Here wc really have the sense in which we must understand the proposition so commonly accepted: 'Infused contemplation is not always accorded to the perfect." There arc moments when they do not actually have it, especially when they do not have it in a consoling form; but it remains as if latent within them and they also preserve that peace quae exsuperat omncm senium.

2 52 THE LOVE OF GOD desire heaven more ardently ; but He makes them experience an inner peace which is such that no sense pleasure can be compared with it: Pax Dei, quae exsuperat omnem sensum. . . . Divine love despoils us of everything else. . . . Lose all rather than be despoiled of God's love."

In the fourteenth chapter, which treats of the necessity of mental prayer, St. Alphonsus also writes: "Let us hear what St. John of the Cross has to say on the subject: 'Now it is that God teaches me His heavenly wisdom, enlightens my mind, and gives me His heart.' St. Louis Gonzaga also tells us that none of us can reach a high degree of perfection without much prayer, giving ourselves to it, continuing it, never quitting it, no matter what weariness may come to us. "We must pray to obtain the lights of the Holy Ghost . . . not to taste spiritual consolations, but to learn of God what He expects of us. . . . When we find ourselves powerless, let us humble ourselves; such prayer will profit us more than any other." 63

St. Alphonsus realizes that a purifying light is at work in these times of trial and that is why he adds: "Happy are those who in times of desolation cleave to prayer! God will overwhelm them with His graces." 84 Later he adds: "God lovingly contemplates acts of trust and resignation made in the midst of darkness." 65 This and other references throughout the same chapter certainly relate to obscure infused contemplation, such as that experienced for some time by St. Jane Frances de Chantal. It consists in nothing extraordinary, like visions and revelations, but in something eminent

yet normal in the development of sanctity; and that is the reason why St. Alphonsus talks about it in his reflections for the use of those who desire to advance in God's love.

Many similar texts could be quoted; these suffice, we believe, to show diat St. Alphonsus does not reject the doctrine of St. John of the Cross that passive states of infused arid prayer — in other words, passive purification — are necessary for sanctity. Anyone familiar with the doctrine will grasp die cogency of this argument.

An examination of some difficulties

Perhaps it will be objected that in die Praxis confessarii, when St. Alphonsus comes to speak of passive union, having already described the passive purifications, the infused prayer of recollection and of quiet, infused negative and obscure contemplation, he says it is not necessary for perfection and that, as Cardinal Petrucci says, active union suffices. 00 By way of corroboration he cites a text of St. Teresa as quoted by Bernardo del Castelvetere to the effect that perfection consists not in ecstasy but in the union of our will with the divine will. He even remarks in passing that in the passive state of contemplation the soul gains no merit. 87 On this subject something further should be said: (1) In a new edition of the Praxis confessarii, published at Rome, 1912, by Father G.-M. Blanc, C.SS.R., a footnote 88 points out that St. Alphonsus here quotes St. Teresa as given by Bernardo del Castelvetere and that the exact text is not found in the saint's writings. The editor notes that St. Teresa,

when referring to people whom she knew, does not say that few souls are led by supernatural paths but rather just the opposite. 59 The fact that she says that perfection does not consist in ecstasy creates no difficulty for us, since ecstasy is only a concomitant phenomenon of passive union, which can, of course, exist widiout it. 00 Further, in this passage of the Praxis, St. Alphonsus expressly says that he understands by "passive union" a state higher than the passive purification of the senses, passive recollecdon, and the prayer of quiet. Therefore, even if passive union thus understood were not necessary for perfection, it would not follow that the passive states below it were also unnecessary, especially since the

»» In these texts of St. Teresa and in others like them we must be careful to distinguish between those which relate to the general and remote call to contemplation ami those dealing with the individual and proximate call. See what has been said on this subject in Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 337-45-

(0 We have shown elsewhere. Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 250-53, from St. Teresa"s texts in the Fifth Mansion, chap. 3, and her Life, chap. 17, that simple passive union often occurs without suspension of the imagination and the memory, which sometimes even make war on the intellect and will. St. Teresa speaks of this incomplete mystical union in the Interior Castle, Fifth Mansion, chap. 3, saying that for the union in question suspension of the faculties is not necessary because the Lord can give His bounties in different ways and can lead souls to these mansions without bringing them by the "short cut" which she had pointed out.

This "short cut" and die delights to be found there have often been insufficiently understood. Some theologians— and this seems to be the interpretation given by Cardinal Petrucci and Bernardo de Castelvetere— have believed that this "short cut" is infused or mystical contemplation and have stated that therefore, according to St. Teresa, mystical contemplation is not required for the full perfection of Christian life. Actually, as the context shows, this "short cut" is only the suspension of the imagination and the memory or the beginning of ecstasy, which sometimes accompanies and forwards passive union, although it constitutes no part of it.

When St. Alphonsus, without referring to Cardinal Petrucci or Bernardo de Castelvetere, speaks personally and spontaneously about St. Teresa's mansions, he draws better distinctions than they do— because he himself experienced such things —between what essentially and formally constitutes the prayer of quiet and of union and what is merely concomitant and forms only secondary and accidental phenomena. In a way this distinction is indicated in The Great Means of Prayer, chap. 3, § 1 (II, 542), where St. Alphonsus takes up the commentary of Monsignor Palafox on the eighteenth letter of St. Teresa, a passage quoted by Father Keusch in his article in La vie spirituelle, June, 1927, pp. [200] ff.

saint previously remarked 61 diat die passive prayer of quiet often takes place without any sensible sweetness. How could it be proven that such prayer does not exist in the prolonged aridities through which perfect souls pass without abandoning prayer ?

We notice, too, that when St. Alphonsus describes transforming union 62 as St. Teresa presents it in her seventh mansions, he really gives such a complete description of the full perfection of Christian life that it seems unrealizable before this summit. He recalls diat in this higher state a suspension of die powers no longer occurs and that they, being purified, thereafter are capable of divine union. But for them to have die capacity for union, they must pass through the passive purification of the senses and of die soul, a purification which ought, St. John of the Cross says, 03 to free us from the necessity of passing through purgatory. We pass through purgatory in fact only to expiate without meriting faults which we should have avoided or should have atoned for in this life while meriting. What St. Alphonsus describes surely seems to be the normal earthly prelude to the beatific vision, that is, a perfect proximate disposition to receive it immediately after death. The radical order of grace, let us not forget, would require that we receive the beatific vision as soon as we have drawn our last breath. This is why the separated soul suffers so much at being deprived of the vision of God in purgatory. 64 A careful reading of St. Alphonsus' text reveals that his description of transforming union follows St. Teresa's and presents it not as a grace in itself extraordinary, like prophedc

64 This point is developed in Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 362 ft.

25 6 THE LOVE OF GOD revelations or miracles, but the summit, the high and rarely attained but normal development, of die life of grace. In other words, just as the saints achieve that high perfection in which sanctity consists while on earth, so do they enter into that union with God which serves in this life as the normal prelude to the life of heaven. 65

When spontaneously expressing his own thought and not quoting from the theologians of his own day like Cardinal Petrucci or Bernardo del Castelvetere, St. Alphonsus far outdistances them and overtakes St. John of the Cross, whose thought and audiority, needless to add, far surpasses theirs. He says, in agreement with the author of The Dar/{ Night, that true Christian perfection cannot exist without great docility to the lights and inspirations of the Holy Ghost, characteristic of the illuminative and unidve ways. However short a time they may last, they introduce the soul into a passive

so Conformity 10 the Will of God, chap. I.³

state, at least for a few minutes, whether it is a state of aridity and purgation or of consolation. To obtain a clear idea of St. Alphonsus' position, we need only read his novena to the Holy Ghost. 67

These texts and others like them show that, according to the mind of the saint, the full perfection of Christian life demands a stronger unifying principle dian acquired union can supply. The reason why is pointed out by St. Thomas when showing the necessity for the gifts of the Holy Ghost and their connection widi charity:

But in matters directed to the supernatural end, to which man's reason moves him, according as it is, in a manner, and imperfectly, informed by the theological virtues, the motion of reason does not suffice, unless it receive in addition the prompting or motion of the Holy Ghost, according to Rom. 8:14, 17: "Whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God . . . and if sons, heirs also": and Ps. 142: "Thy good Spirit shall lead me into the right land," because, to wit, none can receive the inheritance of that land of the Blessed, except he be moved and led thither by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, in order to accomplish this end, it is necessary for man to have the gift of the Holy Ghost. 08

"Whether we consider human reason as perfected in its natural perfection, or as perfected by the theological virtues, it does not know all things. Consequently it is unable to avoid folly and other like things mentioned in the objection. God, however, to whose knowledge and power all things are subject, by His motion safeguards us from all folly, ignorance, dullness of mind, and hardness of heart, and the rest. Con-

68 Cf. Ia Ilae, q.68, a. 2. The doctrine is developed in Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 278-80.

sequently the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which make us amenable to His promptings, are said to be given as remedies to these defects." 69 The gifts are necessary for salvation as habitual dispositions to receive God's inspirations readily and docilely, just as die moral virtues serve to render the sensuous appetency and the will docile to the direction of prudence.

Because the seven gifts are connected with charity, which unites us to the Holy Ghost, 70 they form part of the spiritual organism and grow together with it, as the five fingers and the hand develop together. 71 It would be inconceivable for a just man to have a high degree of charity without having a corresponding degree of the gifts of wisdom and understanding connected widi this virtue. Now die Holy Ghost usually moves souls according to their supernatural dispositions, unless some accidental obstacle prevents it. Every soul with a high degree of charity therefore normally receives contemplation of the mysteries of faith. The form it takes may be evident and sometimes striking or diffuse but very real, giving a truly supernatural tone to the life of the soul and manifesting the soul as indeed the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Without contemplation saints dedicated to the active life, such as St. Vincent de Paul, would not have continually beheld the sick poor and abandoned children as suffering members of Christ. Without it we cannot begin to fathom the infinite value of the Sacrifice of the Mass or live sufficiently by the solemn moment of Eucharistic consecration. Now all

Christians are called to live, and live deeply, by it, that they may have life more abundantly, even as all men are called to the beatific vision of the very essence of God, although many woefully neglect their salvation. St. Alphonsus certainly denies none of diese Thomistic principles but, as we see from his ndvena to the Holy Ghost, teaches them to all interior souls, thus far surpassing certain mystical theologians of his own time, whom he found useful to quote but whom our own dmes no longer remember.

72 No. 127. Likewise Haeresum hisloria el cenjutatio, Conful. XIV, De Michaclis Moimos haeresi, no. 3.

74 Interior Castle, Fifth Mansion, chap. 1.

2 6o THE LOVE OF GOD torious, and, when they last some time, are called passive states. 75

We see then that, when St. Alphonsus denies merit to passive states and holds passive union unnecessary for perfection, he utters the opinion of certain theologians of his own time rather than his own deep thought, so much more like that of St. Thomas and of St. John of the Cross. He would certainly not deny the statement from the Ascent of Mount Carmel that "the more intense charity a soul has, the more the Holy Ghost enlightens it and communicates His gifts to it," 78 These gifts are, in fact, as St. Thomas says, 77 connected with charity, and all the infused habitus, like the different parts of a spiritual organism, grow together. 78 Nothing in St. Alphonsus' writings contradicts these principles; rather, everything that he tells us of the Holy Ghost and of die increase of charity repeatedly confirms diem.

The objection still arises that Benedict XIV, using the words of Cardinal de Laurea, has written: "Many servants of God have been canonized without any mention, in their process of canonization, of infused contemplation ; it is sufficient to prove the heroism of their virtues, confirmed by miracles." 79 The objection is easily met, for Benedict XIV was not talking from a theological point of view with the intention of describing what normally belongs to the full

75 The subicct has been developed elsewhere at length, Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 281 f., for the continual necessity of greater and greater docility to the Holy Ghost; pp. 285-98, for a comparison of the special inspiration of the Holy Ghost with common actual grace.

perfecdon of Christian life; he was speaking rather from a juridical point of view, stating that in the process of beatification nothing need be examined but the heroic character of the virtues and the miracles confirming it: that is certain. However, can heroic virtue exist widiout the activity of the gifts of the Holy Ghost ? We know St. Thomas' response to the question and what St. John of the Cross has to say when reproducing the teaching of St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great. 80 Now the activity of the gifts of understanding, of wisdom, and of piety takes place chiefly in prayer, which, when dominated by their influence, is called infused.

Besides, in almost every process of canonization, when the demonstration of the saints' heroic faith and hope makes reference to their interior trials, these are nothing else but die passive purifications so clearly analyzed by St. John of the Cross in The Dar\ Night. They are certainly not graces gratis datae, extraordinary gifts like prophecy, but they constitute a grievous passive state, marked by a high degree of contemplation of God's infinite majesty together with a deep recognition of our misery, knowledge such as only the Holy Ghost can give. For example, when we read the chapter in the life of the Cure of Ars about his interior trials, we find expressed in terms within die reach of all, what St. John of the Cross has to say of the night of the soul.

Finally, Benedict XIV, when speaking of mystical questions, reproduces word for word Cardinal de Laurea's work, De oratione Christiana. This author, when speaking not from a juridical but from a theological point of view, tells us: "It is permissible to desire mystical union, usually given by God

to the perfect with infused contemplation." 81 His presentation here belongs to traditional teaching as commonly formulated by Dominican and Carmelite Thomists. 82

Father Keusch, at the end of his article, is kind enough to say of La vie sptrituelle: "We believe that it correctly outlines the theory of the sublime ways to heaven" and adds that practically "the shortness and difficulty of life, the vehemence of concupiscence, and original sin widi all its consequences . . . these are the facts that struck St. Alphonsus." 83 Original sin and its results certainly make die realization of the ideal difficult. St. Augustine is the first to say so when combating the Pelagians. Nevertheless, in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount he speaks to all Christians about what the full development of charity and of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost should be in them. Opposed as the evangelical beatitudes are to all the maxims of human wisdom, our Lord preached them to all.

If the founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer has taken full account of the consequences of original sin, he also bears as his motto the words Copiosa apud eum redemptio and he loved to quote St. Paul to the Romans 5: 20: "And where sin abounded, grace did more abound," a passage he explains in the same way as St. Thomas does in his beautiful commentary in the Summa. Si St. Paul also told the Ephesians: "Wherefore I also . . . cease not to give thanks for you, making commemoration of you in my prayers, that

81 Laurcntius Brancati, Card. Dc Laurea, De oratione christians, Opusc. VII, chap. 10; Opusc. VIII, chap. 9.

82 Vallgomcra, Myslica l/ieologia S. T/iomae, q.3, d.3, a. 3, no. 430; Philip of the Blessed Trinity, Summa theol. myst., cd. 1874, fii 299; M> 43-

the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, die Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know what the hope is of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us, who believe according to the operation of the might of His power." 85 Such is indeed the great doctrine preserved by St. Alphonsus in his treatment of the triumph of charity in souls. 86

If our wounded nature falls far below the perfection which our nature had when it was gifted with integrity, as it existed in the state of innocence, yet the Son of God made man, the new Adam, is infinitely above the first Adam; and Mary, the new Eve, is incomparably more perfect than the first Eve. The Eucharistic worship taking place in the smallest country church, especially at the moment of consecration, infinitely surpasses the worship that went on in the Garden of Paradise. Really faithful and generous souls never lack for graces but continually receive more. Jesus Christ our Mediator and Mary our mediatrix will lead them, through increasingly fervent Communions, to a union with God no less intimate than that which man knew in the state of original justice, although now diis union is often accompanied by hard purgation, which serves, moreover, as a means of increased merit. With this in mind, St. Paul tells us, "I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation." 87

If St. Alphonsus in no way disparages the results of original

2 6 4 THE LOVE OF GOD sin, he believes no less in baptismal regeneration and in everything which it contains in germ: gratia, semen gloriae. Like his guide, St. Thomas, he teaches that the grace of the virtues and of the gifts develops in such a way as to dispose the soul through purgation for the beatific vision, being wholly ordered to that end. Through the power of the Redeemer then practice catches up with the great doctrinal principles, and the real rises by degrees to the level of the ideal, once glimpsed from afar off. We believe that St. Alphonsus subscribed entirely to the assertion of the author of The Imitation that: "If there are few contemplatives, the reason lies in the fact that few know how to detach themselves wholly from creatures and from all temporal things." 88

St. Alphonsus tells us this earlier in die "Reflections" 89 when explaining St. Teresa's statement: "Detach your heart from creatures, then seek God, and you will find Him." He says, "You will not always obtain spiritual consolations, for the Lord does not give them continually to those who love Him. ... But He does make them experience an interior peace that surpasses all understanding, quae exsuperat omnem sensum. O how good God is to those who seek Him only!" 80

The peace that He gives, quae exsuperat omnem sensum, constitutes the blessedness of peacemakers promised by our Lord to all generous souls; and, as both St. Augustine 91 and St. Thomas 92 show, this beatitude corresponds to the gift of wisdom, which makes us in some way see all the events of

life through God's eyes rather than with our own, whether these events are pleasant or unpleasant and even if they surprise and baffle us. A practical and lofty contemplation gives deep direction to the activity of life just because it comes to us from on high; in the words of St. Thomas, "Wisdom as a gift is not merely speculative but practical." 93 Just because it outdistances natural wisdom, the gift of wisdom extends to conduct and directs action. "The higher a virtue is, the greater the number of things to which it extends." 94

A very interesting work remains to be done, we think, one that should tempt Father Keusch to complete his work on the ascetical doctrine of St. Alphonsus. It would consist in doing research on the saint's spiritual work to bring out his ideas on the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity, the increase of charity, the seven gifts, and the perfect divine union attained by complete detachment from creatures.

Far from denying the connection between charity and the gifts of the Holy Ghost so plainly asserted by St. Thomas, 05 St. Alphonsus expresses what is equivalent to the same thing in different places in his works, for example, in the novena to die Holy Ghost. 96 There he shows that the love of charity is not simply a fire but also a light that illumines, a living water that refreshes, a power that grows, an unction that consecrates our souls as temples for the increasingly intimate abiding of the Holy Ghost. 97 On this subject he quotes the scriptural texts in which St. Augustine and St. Thomas found

97 We should note however that from the moment of justiBcation or conversion the act of loving God precedes the act of hating sin, since sin is hated because it is displeasing to God.

the doctrine of the seven gifts and of their relationship with charity.

A work of this kind would be a useful contribution to mystical studies. It would show, we believe, that the spirituality of St. Alphonsus in no way runs counter to the doctrine here set forth according to Thomistic principles. It would make it possible for people to see that die saint's great prudence led him in no way whatever to reduce the height of the end to which all interior souls should aspire, but reminds us that, although this end is first in the order of intention it is last in the order of execution, and we must begin our spiritual edifice with a foundation of humility, mortification, and obedience, and by the practice of solid virtue. Although men never begin cathedrals with the arches, an architect must have from the very beginning a plan for the whole building, arches and all, since the foundation must be made with its height in mind.

Not only do we believe in a real harmony between the doctrine of La vie spirituelle and St. Alphonsus' spirituality, but we consider the reading of his works very useful as a practical completion to the great speculative views to which St. Thomas accustoms us. St. Alphonsus shows how these should be reflected in the details of daily life; in the order of execution, he directs our steps toward the high ideal proposed to us all in the beatitudes preached by Christ at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount. 88 The beatitudes are nothing but the highest acts of the virtues and the gifts, the beginning, as it were, of eternal life in time, the end

98 St. Thomas begins moral theology, la Ilae, q.i, by a study of our last end or the beatitude of heaven.

glimpsed while we are as yet afar off." "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God": in a way pure hearts begin to see God in the penumbra of faith while still on earth 100 and the more the light of life makes Him known to them the more they love Him, completely fulfilling the demands of the great commandment to love God "with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind." 101

Footnotes

1. Author's note: The reading of the present chapter is not at all necessary to follow the thought developed throughout the whole work. It serves as a sort of appendix to the preceding chapter. ' « ↩

2. Elsewhere, in Christian Perfection and Contemplation, pp. 178, 235-38. =59 U 2 68 ff., we have shown the accord of the masters concerning the normal although eminent character of infused contemplation. ↩

3. If we grant this as true, how does it happen that St. Alphonsus says a little previously in no. 136 of the Praxis diat passive union forms no necessary requirement for perfection and that active union suffices for it? He reproduces here, as he expressly states, Cardinal Petrucci's ideas, and, as a matter of fact, active union is sufficient for a certain degree of perfection. But is it enough to bring us to perfect detachment from creatures and from self? Is it enough to lead us to the end which St. Alphonsus holds out to us all saying: "The sum of perfecdon lies in conformity to God's will: it must be entire and without reserve, unwavering and irrevocable. All our perfection consists in this; I repeat it, all our actions, desires, and prayers must tend to this end." 60 ↩