Article II. Meaning of “Contemplation,” “Ordinary,” “Extraordinary”

I. SO-CALLED ACQUIRED CONTEMPLATION AND INFUSED CONTEMPLATION

Contemplation in general, such as may exist in a non- Christian philosopher, for example, in Plato or Aristotle, is a simple, intellectual view of the truth, superior to rea soning and accompanied by admiration, simplex intuitus veritatis, as St. Thomas says.¹ An example of this contempla tion is the admiring knowledge of that supreme truth of philosophy, namely, that at the summit of all composite and changeable beings there exists absolutely simple and im mutable being itself, the principle and end of all things. It has not received existence; it is of itself existence, truth, wis- dom, goodness, love, just as, in the physical order, light of itself is light and has no need to be illumined; just as heat of itself is heat. Reason by its own strength, with the natural help of God, may rise to this contemplation.

The contemplation of the faithful is, on the contrary, founded on divine revelation received through faith. Although faith is an infused gift of God received at baptism, several theologians admit in the faithful a so-called “acquired” contemplation. They generally define it as a simple and loving knowledge of God and of His works which is the fruit of our personal activity aided by grace. They usually agree that this so-called “acquired” contemplation exists in a theologian at the end of his research, in the synthetic view which he reaches; or in a preacher who sees his entire sermon in one thought, and in the faithful who listen attentively to this sermon, grasp its order, admire its unity and, as a result, taste the great truth of faith which they see in its radiation.

In these cases we have a certain contemplation which is, with the help of grace, the fruit of human activity, of our reflection, or of the meditation of the author we are reading or the preacher we are listening to. Grace and the theological virtues certainly enter in. Even the gifts of the Holy Ghost exercise a latent influence. But if well ordered human activity were lacking, the soul would not reach this contemplation, which is therefore called “acquired.” A poorly prepared sermon, lacking order, vigor, or unction, will produce the contrary effect and will weary most of the hearers. In an order quite superior to philosophical speculation, many of the faithful can by reading and meditation experience the deep meaning of these words of God: “I am who am . . . God is a spirit, and they that adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth. . . . God is charity: and he that abideth in charity, abideth in God, and God in him.”

Since the loving contemplation of God is not the fruit of human activity aided by grace, it cannot be called acquired.

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION” 223 but rather must be called infused. For example, in a poorly arranged, lifeless sermon, that merely tires most of the lis teners, the preacher may, however, quote an expression of our Lord which profoundly seizes a soul, captivates it, and absorbs it for an hour.² That is an example of contemplation which is not the fruit of the preacher’s human activity or of personal reflection; it springs from a manifest divine in spiration. It is called infused. Why? Not only because it springs from infused virtues; this was the case also with socalled “acquired” contemplation. Nor is it called “infused” in this sense, that the very act of contemplation is infused or directly produced by God alone in us; it would then no longer be a vital, free, and meritorious act. It is called infused and also passive in this sense, that it is not in our power to produce this act at will, like an ordinary act of faith. We can only receive the divine inspiration with docility, and dispose ourselves to it by pious recollection. “This infused or passive contemplation is in us without our deliberation, though not indeed without our consent.” 8

This infused contemplation is also called supernatural because it is so by its very nature (reduplicative ut sic) not only as regards the substance of the act, like the act of infused faith, but as regards the mode, which in this case is the superhuman mode of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, a mode no longer latent, but manifest. This essentially infused contemplation begins with what St. Teresa calls the prayer of passive recollection, 4 and what St. John of the Cross calls the passive night of the senses; in other words, at the beginning of the mystical life, strictly so called. Whence it follows that essentially mystical contemplation is that which is manifestly passive, in the sense s See what St. Thomas says about operating grace, la Ilae, q.111, a.2.

4 St. Teresa, The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. 3.

we have indicated, 5 if it lasts and becomes frequent as in the mystical state.

All we have just said about the meaning of the words “acquired contemplation” and “infused contemplation” is rather generally accepted. But the expression “acquired contemplation” is not found in the writings of the great masters. According to them contemplation, properly so called, is infused, and they simply call it contemplation. St. John of the Cross says: “Contemplation is a science of love; it is an infused, loving knowledge of God.” 6 St. Teresa, 7 St. Francis de Sales, 8 and St. Jane de Chantal hold the same opinion.

Canon Saudreau 9 observes that Thomas of Jesus (1564- 1627), i* 1 his book De contemplatione divina/° was the first Carmelite to speak of an acquired contemplation as a degree of prayer intermediate between affective meditation and infused contemplation. He adds: “The same author, in the prologue of his first work, 11 divided prayer into two classes: acquired prayer (meditation) and infused prayer (contemplation). This division is correct and entirely conformable to the doctrine of St. Teresa. This prologue, found in the editions of 1610, 1613, 1616, and 1623, was suppressed in the later editions of 1665 and 1725, undoubtedly because the doctrine exposed therein does not conform to that which recognizes a non-mystical contemplation.”

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, glosses were introduced into the works of St. John of the Cross to defend

5 Dom Vital Lehodey, Les voies de Voraison mentale, 5th ed., p. 205.

6 The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. II, chap. 18. It is infused contemplation which is discussed at the beginning of The Dark Night of the Soul, Bk. I, chap. 1, and also in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 13.

7 The Interior Castle, fifth mansion, chap. 1; seventh mansion, chap. 4. The Way of Perfection, chaps. 17,19, 20, 21, 25, 27, 31. See infra in this chapter, art. 3.

s Traits de Vamour de Dieu, Bk. VI, chap. 7.

9 Etat mystique, 2d ed., pp. 109, 357.

10 Published in 1620.

11 Grados de oracion, 1609.

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION”

them against unjust charges of illuminism. These glosses often attenuated the meaning of the terms. 12 Indeed certain authors maintained that the saint had treated only of acquired contemplation, which is inferior to the infused contemplation spoken of by St. Teresa. The meaning of these terms was not clearly fixed at this time. 18 Some even claimed that acquired contemplation is the summit or the term of the normal development of the interior life, and that infused contemplation is absolutely extraordinary, like graces gratis datae, and that consequently it could not be desired without presumption. This was in particular the teaching of Anthony of the Annunciation, C.D.; 14 but on this point he was not followed by the Carmelite theologians, as may be clearly seen from what another well-known Discalced Carmelite, Joseph of the Holy Ghost, 15 says of him.

These difficulties and divergences explain the reservations of certain authors. In their eagerness to preserve St. Teresa's teaching, they are reluctant to admit a degree of prayer which she probably did not mention. And in fact we would be creating a degree of prayer not referred to by St. Teresa and would be opposing her explicit teaching, if by acquired contemplation we meant a prayer distinct from simplified affective prayer, a prayer in which the intelligence would be completely absorbed by its object, and which the soul would attain by the suppression of all rational activity. As a matter of fact, the saint repeatedly opposes the total suppression of rea-

12 Father Andrew of the Incarnation, C.D., undertook in 1574 to restore the true text of the saint’s writings, but he did not publish his work. Only recently Father Girard, C.D., gave us a critical edition which contains 55 corrections in Book I, 207 in Book II, and 71 in Book III. Several problems of textual criticism remain to be solved. Cf. La vie spirituelle , March, 1923, p. 154.

is At this time the expression infused or supernatural contemplation was not yet clearly understood by all. By these terms some apparently indicated contemplation united to certain graces gratis datae which St. Teresa received abundantly and which she often mentioned.

14 Disceptatio mystica, tr. 2, q.4, a. 8, no. 34.

15 Cursus theol. scol.-mysticae (1721), II, 224, 236.

2156 CHRISTIAN PERFECTION soning and thought as long as one has not received infused contemplation. 18

Such is not, however, the Carmelite theologians’ conception of acquired contemplation. Their detailed descriptions of it show that the prayer they have in mind corresponds to what St. Teresa in The Way of Perfection (chap. 28) calls “the (acquired) prayer of recollection,” a prayer in which intellectual activity is simplified, but not suppressed. These theologians call this prayer contemplation because the act of simple intellectual intuition is frequent and predominant in it, and meditation, on the other hand, is reduced. This conception removes the substance of the difficulty, and the question becomes one of terminology.

As a rule the Carmelite theologians who admit the existence of acquired contemplation have been right in refusing to see in it the normal term of spiritual progress on this earth. According to them, in generous souls truly faithful to the Holy Ghost, it is a proximate disposition to receive infused contemplation normally. 17 Different opinions have been brought forward as to the time when infused contemplation begins; certain authors link quiet, and even spiritual intoxication, with acquired contemplation. But anyone who reads carefully the third chapter of the fourth mansion, 18 will see that contemplation begins with the prayer of supernatural recollection, which we cannot obtain for ourselves by our own activity aided by grace and which almost always precedes the supernatural prayer of quiet. This supernatural recollection is quite different from the acquired prayer of recollection, which is the fruit of our activity, and which St. Teresa

16 Life, chap. 12, p. 81; The Interior Castle, fourth mansion, chap. a, pp.

108 f. * 9

17 This is the teaching of Thomas of Jesus, Philip of the Holy Ghost, Anthony of the Holy Ghost, Dominic of Jesus, and Joseph of the Holy Ghost. They agreed on this point with the Dominicans, John of St. Thomas (cf. his Catechism) and Vallgornera.

is St. Teresa, The Interior Castle,

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION”

speaks of. 18 It is altogether untenable to say that acquired contemplation is that in which we can place ourselves by our own industry, and to include in it supernatural recollection, quiet, spiritual intoxication, and mystical sleep. And if the expression “acquired contemplation” is applied to what St. Teresa, when treating of acquired prayer, calls “the prayer of recollection,” 20 her doctrine is kept without preserving her terms; because in her writings, as we shall see later on, the word “contemplation” designates infused contemplation.

It would be difficult to improve on St. Teresa’s description of the essential difference separating the last acquired prayer from the first infused prayer, and the passage from one to the other. Speaking of “the (acquired) prayer of recollection,” which has often since been called “affective prayer,” she says: “This kind of prayer has many advantages. It is called ‘recollection,’ because by its means the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself to be with God. 21 The divine Master thus comes more speedily than He otherwise would to teach it and to grant it the prayer of quiet. . . . Those who are able thus to enclose themselves within the little heaven of their souls where dwells the Creator of both heaven and earth, and who can accustom themselves not to look at anything nor to remain in any place which would preoccupy their exterior senses, may feel sure that they are travelling by an excellent way and that they will certainly attain to drink of the water from the fountain, 22 for they will journey far in a

10 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

20 Ibid.

21 The words "by its means the soul collects together all the faculties and enters within itself," denote manifestly an acquired prayer. Everyone agrees on this point.

22 St. Teresa does not mean that, without going beyond this acquired prayer of recollection, a person will slake his thirst at the fountain of living water, which she always proposes to her daughters as the goal of their course. For she has declared clearly in The Way of Perfection (chap. 19): "I do not call prayer made by thinking over a subject, ‘living water/ ” From what is said in The Way of Perfection (chap. 19), evidently the living water is the image of contemplation, which is given to us by the Holy Ghost.

short time. They resemble a man who goes by sea and who, if the weather is favorable, 28 gets in a few days to the end of a voyage which would have taken far longer by land. 24 These souls may be said to have already put out to sea, and though they have not quite lost sight of terra firma, still they do their best to get away from it by collecting their faculties.” 25

In the following chapter St. Teresa states clearly the nature of this last acquired prayer and shows in it a disposition to receive infused contemplation. She says: “I advise whoever wishes to acquire this habit (which, as I said, we have the power to gain) not to grow tired of persevering in trying gradually to obtain the mastery over herself. ... I know that, with His help, if you practise it for a year, or perhaps for only six months, you will gain it. Think what a short time that is for so great an advantage as laying this firm foundation, so that if our Lord wishes to raise you to a high degree of prayer. He will find you prepared for it, since you keep close to Him. May His Majesty never allow us to withdraw from His presence. Amen.” Speaking of this acquired prayer of recollection, she says: ‘‘You must understand that this is not a supernatural state, but something which, with the grace of God, we can desire and obtain for ourselves. 26 This ‘grace’ is always implied whenever I say, in this book, that we are able to do anything, for without it we can do nothing—nothing— nor could we, by any strength of our own, think a single good thought. This is not what is called silence of the powers; it is a recollection within the soul itself.” 27

On the contrary, the supernatural recollection described in The Interior Castle, 23 is not in our power with the help of God, and does not depend on our will. St. Teresa says it is a

28 This is the symbol of the Holy Ghost, who breathes where He will.

24 Symbol of prayer which remains discursive.

25 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

2« Father Banez noted on the original: “By supernatural she means that which is not left to our choice with the ordinary grace of God.”

27 The Way of Perfection, chap. 29.

28 Fourth mansion, chap. 3.

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION”

prayer which almost always precedes the supernatural prayer of quiet: “This is a recollection which also seems supernatural to me. It neither consists in placing oneself in a dark corner nor in closing one’s eyes; it in no way depends on exterior things. And yet, without wishing to do so, one closes one’s eyes and desires solitude. Then the palace of prayer of which I have just spoken is built, so it seems to me, but without the labor of human art. . . . The King, who holds His court within it, seeing their good will, out of His great mercy is kind enough to recall them to Him (the senses and the powers). Like a good Shepherd, He makes them hear His voice, and He plays so sweetly on His pipe, that they scarcely hear it. He invites them to desist from their wanderings and return to their former dwelling. This piping of the Shepherd has such power over them, that forsaking the exterior things which captivated them, they re-enter the castle. I think I never put this matter so clearly before.

“When God bestows this grace, it helps greatly to seek God in oneself. . . . But do not fancy that this recollection can be obtained by the work of the understanding, by forcing yourself to think of God dwelling within you, or by that of the imagination by picturing Him as present in your soul. This is a good practice and a very excellent kind of meditation because it is founded on the indisputable truth that God dwells within us. It is not, however, the prayer of recollection, for by the divine assistance everyone can practice it. What I mean is quite a different thing. Sometimes even before they have begun to think of God, the powers of the soul find themselves within the castle. . . . Here this act does not depend on our will; it takes place only when God sees fit to give us this grace. In my opinion His Majesty only bestows this favor on those who have renounced the world. . . . He thus specially calls them to devote themselves to spiritual things. Moreover, I am convinced that if they allow Him power to act freely, He will bestow still greater graces on those whom

He thus evidently calls to a higher life.” The saint adds that if God has not yet granted this grace, she cannot well understand “how we are to stop thinking, without doing ourselves more harm than good.” 29

Supernatural recollection is manifestly a mystical prayer, the beginning of infused contemplation. It would be difficult to show more definitely how it differs from the acquired prayer of recollection, often called simplified affective prayer. St. Teresa also clearly indicates how the transition is made from one to the other. 30

This transition is also described by Bossuet, but he does not show so plainly the distinction between the last acquired prayer and the first infused prayer. 81

29 Life, chap. 12. The saint expresses the same opinion in this earlier work.

so La vie spirituelle, October, 1922, contains an excellent article entitled “La doctrine de sainte Th6r£se; les oraisons communes/’ by a Carmelite nun. But in the Etudes Carmelitaines (1920-22), the author of several articles on acquired contemplation gives this name to the prayers of supernatural recollection, quiet, mystical sleep, and spiritual intoxication. Without intending to do so, he strays from the thought of St. Teresa and forgets that she expressly declared that these supernatural prayers are not within our power; they cannot, therefore, be called acquired. The saint’s text is very clear on this point. If these prayers are called acquired because they are often preceded by a preparation which disposes us to receive them, then it would be necessary to admit an acquired rapture, for this grace is often given “at the end of a long mental prayer” (Life of St. Teresa, chap. 18). To avoid all confusion on this point, it will suffice to note the difference established by St. Teresa between supernatural recollection (fourth mansion, chap. 3) and the acquired prayer of recollection ( The Way of Perfection, chap. 28).

si The prayer of simplicity, described by Bossuet in his famous work on the subject, seems to be acquired in its first phase and infused in its second; it is clearly the transition from one to the other. “The soul, leaving off reasoning, makes use of a sweet contemplation which holds it peaceful, attentive, and susceptible to the divine operations and impressions which the Holy Ghost communicates to it. (It is here with this communication that the prayer becomes infused.) It does little and receives much; its work is sweet and nevertheless more fruitful. As it more nearly approaches the source of all light, grace, and virtue, its capacity is greatly increased. . . . God becomes the sole Master of its interior, and He operates therein more particularly than is usual; the less the creature works, the more powerfully God operates. Since the operation of God is a repose, the soul becomes in a certain way like to Him in this prayer, and also receives marvelous effects from it . . . the divine influences which enrich it with every virtue. . . . This same light of faith, which keeps us attentive to God, will cause us to discover our slightest imperfections and to conceive a great

MEANING OF "CONTEMPLATION" 231

If the phrase "acquired contemplation" is applied to the last of the acquired prayers, called by St. Teresa "the prayer of recollection," 32 the saint’s doctrine is kept, but not her terms; for, like all great mystics, by the word "contemplation" she means infused contemplation. We can easily become convinced of this by reading the sections of her works where she begins to use this word. 83 Evidently also St. John of the Cross is speaking of infused contemplation in The Dark Night of the Soul 34 when he describes God’s action and our passivity. The contemplation he describes in his earlier work, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, is not specifically different. In this study he sets forth the part we can take in it and shows that, though we cannot procure infused contemplation by our efforts, we can place obstacles in its way, or, on the contrary, dispose ourselves for it and favor its exercise. The Discalced Carmelite, Nicholas of Jesus Mary, 35 was quite right in his opinion that, beginning with Part I, Bk. II, chapter 13, of The Ascent of Mount Carmel, infused contemplation is clearly meant. 30 St. Francis de Sales, 87 the Carmelites, John of Jesus Mary, C.D., 38 and Michael de la Fuente 89 also place sorrow and regret for them.” Maniire courte et facile pour faire Voraison en foi et de simple presence de Dieu.

32 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

33 The Way of Perfection, chaps. 18-21, 25, 27, 33. The Interior Castle, fourth and fifth mansions. These texts will be quoted later in the present chapter (art. 2).

34 Bk. II, chap. 18: “Contemplation is a science of love; it is an infused loving knowledge of God.” Cf. Bk. I, chap. 1.

35 Elucidatio phrasium mysticarum operum Joannis a Cruce, Part II, chap. 4.

36 The Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. II, chap. 15: “In this state God communicates himself to the soul remaining passive, as the light to one who keeps his eyes open and does nothing to receive it. For the soul which thus receives supernaturally infused light understands all while remaining passive.”

37 Treatise on the Love of God, Bk. VI, chap. 7. Immediately after having discussed meditation, without speaking of acquired contemplation, St. Francis de Sales describes the different degrees of infused contemplation, as St. Teresa does, beginning with supernatural recollection which is not in our power. And he considers this transition normal: “Contemplation is the term to which all these means are directed” (Bk. VI, chap. 6).

88 Theologia mystica, chap. 3.³

infused contemplation immediately after meditation, without mentioning acquired contemplation as a special degree of prayer.

Spiritual writers of the Middle Ages expressed the same teaching. We find in particular that St. Bonaventure, 40 Tauler, and Louis de Blois 41 mean infused contemplation by the words contemplatio divina , or quite simply contemplation Moreover, authors on all sides who are anxious to return to traditional terminology think that contemplation, properly so called, is infused. 42

If by the expression “acquired contemplation* * something other than simplified affective prayer, called by St. Teresa the “(acquired) prayer of recollection,** 43 is meant, and if the supernatural prayers that are beyond our power (which she describes in the fourth and fifth mansions) are classed in this group, then violence is offered to her words and opposition to the authorities we have just quoted. Moreover, numerous difficulties, the chief of which we shall point out, would be encountered.

1. It is explicable that there may be a certain acquired contemplation at the end of a captivating study or reading when the soul is suspended in admiration of the divine truths which it discovers or which are proposed to it. Thus the philosopher and the theologian have it as the fruit of their study. It may also exist in a simple Christian while he is listening to a good sermon, or at the end of meditation. During the psalmody or during mass and the liturgical chant it may exist in souls that are accustomed to meditation on divine things but that have not yet received the grace of infused contemplation. The variety of the divine office favors a certain activity of the superior and inferior faculties, inclining us to taste the word of God. But in the prayer of the simple

40 La thdol. myst. de S. Bonaventure, by Lompr 6 , O.F.M., 1921.

42 Saudreau, itat mystique (2d ed.), pp. 103, 357.

43 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28.

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION"

*33 presence of God, where the object known is almost always the same, if the soul is really captivated in its superior faculties, this state is no longer the fruit of human activity, for one is not captivated at will. It is the result of a special grace of light and attraction which is the germ of infused contemplation.

2. It may be said that the soul remains captivated by the intensity of its love, without anything new in the consideration of the object attracting it. But this intense love normally supposes a lively and penetrating knowledge of the goodness of God and is a proximate and immediate disposition to receive the grace of infused contemplation. This consideration leads Father Arintero to think that so-called acquired contemplation is rare in prayer, or at least that it lasts but a short time in generous souls; for when the soul reaches this stage, God, finding it disposed to receive the action of the Holy Ghost, gives it a beginning of infused contemplation. 44

3. Acquired contemplation excludes distractions, or ceases when they begin. This is what happens to a philosopher or theologian. As the great mystical writers commonly teach, initial contemplation is often accompanied by distractions of the imagination, yet it lasts in spite of these ramblings. St. Teresa explains this at length when she speaks of quiet. 45 This initial contemplation is not, therefore, the fruit of the activity of our intellect directing the imagination, but the effect of a special inspiration of the Holy Ghost fixing our mind in spite of the movement of the inferior faculties.

4. Those who admit acquired contemplation as a special state of prayer between simplified affective prayer and infused contemplation say there is in acquired contemplation an influence of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, latent as yet, but more marked than in discursive meditation. It seems difficult to distinguish this influence from that which produces initial infused contemplation, or incompletely passive prayer, called by

4 *Cuestiones mislicas (2d ed.), pp. 291-311.

45 The Interior Castle , fourth mansion.⁴

St. Teresa 46 supernatural recollection and quiet. Since the latter is not in our power, it cannot be called acquired.

5. Finally, St. Teresa observes with great insistence in the same passage, when speaking of supernatural recollection, which is the beginning of infused contemplation, that as long as anyone has not received this gift, he must “be careful not to check the movement of the mind . . . and to remain there like a dolt.” 47 If she admitted acquired contemplation as an intermediate state of prayer between simplified affective meditation 48 and initial infused contemplation, she would grant that the soul can “stop the deliberation of the mind” before receiving “supernatural” or passive “recollection.” If anyone were to do this, in St. Teresa’s opinion he would be guilty of thrusting himself into the mystical ways, as do the quietists, who in reality remain there “like dolts.”

To acquired contemplation, which the quietists continually recommended to everybody, they applied what- the saints say about infused contemplation. This mistake was one of their principal errors. They presumptuously thrust themselves into the mystical or passive ways and they “remained there like dolts,” to use St. Teresa’s expression. 49 In the twenty-third proposition of Molinos, which has been condemned, it is evident that he applied the term contemplatio acquisita to that which he continually recommended and which, according to his teaching, precedes infused contemplation, which he considered a very special favor. At any rate, he simulated the passive state before the hour willed by God.

As Father Dudon, S.J., has justly observed, 60 Molinos be-

46 The Interior Castle, fourth mansion.

47 Idem., fourth mansion, chap. 3.

48 The saint called this the (acquired) prayer of recollection.

49 Cf. Denzinger, no. 1243, 23d proposition of Molinos.

so Le quietisme espagnol, Michel de Molinos, 1921, p. 260: “There is no contemplation worthy of this name other than passive contemplation . . . and God in His common providence favors with it those who, by the heroic generosity of their virtue, show that they are worthy to be treated as privileged friends. 0 “Certain doctors of the twentieth century teach, as Molinos did, a

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION' lieved that St. John of the Cross, in The Ascent of Mount Carmel, spoke only of acquired contemplation. From this contemplation, wrongly termed acquired, he took the rule of passivity and made from it an acquired passivity also. By applying this passivity to a prayer which in reality was ascetical, he introduced it into all of asceticism, which thereafter was, so to speak, suppressed.

In consideration of all these reasons, we do not believe that so-called acquired contemplation is a special state of prayer, distinct from simplified affective prayer, called by St. Teresa “the (acquired) prayer of recollection.” 51 What the great mystics understand by “contemplation” is undoubtedly infused contemplation.

II. THE ORDINARY AND THE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE SUPERNATURAL LIFE

In order to learn whether infused or characteristically mystical contemplation is extraordinary or whether it is ordinarily granted to the perfect, we must clearly define these terms. 62

In the supernatural life whatever is outside the normal way of sanctity and not at all necessary to attain it, is, strictly speaking, essentially, or by its nature, extraordinary. 68 For example, graces gratis datae, such as the gift of prophecy, of tongues, of miracles, the gift of expressing the loftiest mysteries of religion (sermo sapientiae), 64 are in no way necessary contemplation intermediate between meditation and passive contemplation.

. . . One can and must prove this fact without instituting against the writers in question the slightest prosecution of tendency” (p. 265).

52 It would be suitable to define ordinary first, if the present difficulties did not bear exactly on this word.

68 This is true at least of the holiness generally required for entrance into heaven immediately after death; for no one goes to purgatory except through his own fault, by reason of negligences which could have been avoided.

54 This is the meaning which St. Thomas gives to the grace gratis data called sermo sapientiae, the highest degree of the gift of wisdom. This degree not only makes one contemplate the loftiest mysteries, but renders the recipient of it⁵ for personal holiness. They are granted primarily for the good of others, although they may secondarily help in the sanctification of him who receives them, if he uses them with charity. The beatific vision, received in a transitory manner before death, as St. Paul seems to have received it (according to the opinion of St. Augustine and St. Thomas), is with even greater reason essentially extraordinary. A miraculous conversion, which without any previous preparation instantly purifies the soul and introduces it immediately into the mystical life, such as the conversion of St. Paul, is also essentially extraordinary. Likewise the grace of the transforming union or of the spiritual marriage granted from childhood, that is, at the age of six or seven, to certain saints, is manifestly extraordinary. Less elevated mystical graces bestowed on souls still very imperfect, before they have the dispositions ordinarily required, 55 are extraordinary in a lesser degree.

On the contrary, in the supernatural life whatever belongs to the normal way of sanctity and in the majority of cases is absolutely or morally necessary to attain it, is essentially ordinary. 56 In other words, whatever in the supernatural life is accomplished in accordance with even the superior laws of its full development, is ordinary in itself, though these laws are infinitely more elevated than those of our nature. This is why the beatific vision after death, although entirely supernatural, is not an extraordinary gift; it is the normal crowning of the life of grace, such as God has gratuitously willed it for us all. But we are not to conclude that the majority of men will reach this very high end. “Many are called, but few are capable of manifesting them to others and of directing his neighbor. Cf. Ila Ilae, q.45, a.5.

55 Among extraordinary graces we may place interior words and visions, even if they are directly ordered to the sanctification of the soul that receives them. They are not then graces gratis datae, but concomitant phenomena of the mystical life; accessory and passing phenomena which in the majority of cases are not necessary to reach sanctity.

00 This definition is given by Father Arintero in his Cuestiones misticas, 2d ed., p. 45.

MEANING OF “CONTEMPLATION**

*37 chosen/’ The elect in heaven will evidently be an £lite, as the name indicates, but an elite chosen from men of all classes, to which we should all eagerly desire to belong. 57

Likewise here on earth, the summit in the normal development of the life of grace, no matter how elevated, should not be called essentially extraordinary (per se), although it may be rare or extraordinary in fact, like the perfect generosity which it supposes. This summit is called sanctity, even lofty sanctity, which implies heroic virtues. Before reaching it, we can have a certain perfection, but it is not yet the full perfection to which the life of grace is essentially ordained. Just as a distinction is made between beginners, proficients, and the perfect, so among the latter a distinction 58 must be drawn between those who have just entered upon the unitive way, those who are more advanced in it, and finally those who have reached the plenitude of perfection, lofty sanctity, which alone deserves to be called the culminating point in the development of the life of grace.

It follows, then, that whatever in the majority of cases is either absolutely or morally necessary to attain this summit is not essentially extraordinary. On the contrary, these things belong to and make up the plenitude of the normal order willed by God. In studying this point, we must take care not to confound what is eminently useful for reaching sanctity in the majority of cases with what is observed in the majority of pious souls, with what is common among them; for many of them are still far from the goal. Consequently, without admitting that the mystical prayers are essentially extraordinary, we can

57 St. Thomas observes on this subject (la, q.23, a. 7 ad gum): “Since eternal happiness, consisting in the vision of God, exceeds the common state of nature, and especially in so far as it is deprived of grace through the corruption of original sin, the fewer will be saved. In this, however, appears the mercy of God that He has chosen some for salvation, from which very many in accordance with the common cause and tendency of nature fall short/*

es This is particularly the teaching of St. John of the Cross, as Joseph of the Holy Ghost observes several times in his great Cursus theologiae mystieoscolasticae. Cf. supra, chap. 4, art. 4.

distinguish them from the common forms of prayer, because the former suppose in fact an eminent or superior grace . 58

The passive purifications of the senses and of the spirit (a mystical state) and infused contemplation, even in its highest degree, which is realized in the transforming union, are, as St. John of the Cross teaches , 60 generally necessary to the perfect purification and sanctification of the soul. Therefore they should not be called essentially extraordinary, although in fact they may be quite rare because of the common mediocrity of souls. These passive purifications seem extraordinary to us because they are so painful and take our nature by surprise; they are an anticipated purgatory. Very generous souls ought normally to suffer their purgatory on earth while meriting, rather than after death without meriting. If we go to purgatory after death, it will be our own fault, it will be because we have neglected graces that were granted us or offered us during life. Purgatory after death, frequent though it may be, is not according to the order arranged by God for the full development of the supernatural life, since immediately after death it is radical to the order established by Him that the soul should possess God by the beatific vision. Hence the precise reason why the soul suffers so greatly in purgatory is because it does not see God. We will consider, by a study of the writings of the saints, what in their opinion is the normal way to holiness here on earth.

Footnotes

1. Summa, Ila Ilae, q. 180, a. 1, 6. ↩

2. We suppose that this absorption does not spring from the fact that the soul has on previous occasions often meditated on these words of our Lord. Infused contemplation, however, is not always received unexpectedly; we can dispose ourselves to receive it. ↩

3. ® Las tres vidas. Introduction, and III, 4. ↩

4. 1 Institutio spirituals, chap. 12. ↩

5. 1 The Way of Perfection, chap. 28. ↩