Chapter VIII — Marvelous Effects of Eternal Wisdom in the Souls of Those Who Possess Her

90. This sovereign beauty, being by nature a lover of good — amans bonum — especially the good of man, takes her greatest delight in communicating herself. That is why the Holy Spirit says that she seeks, among the nations, persons worthy of her, and that she pours herself out and passes into holy souls: in animas sanctas se transfert, Wis 7; and it is this communication of Eternal Wisdom that has formed the friends of God and the prophets.

She once entered the soul of the servant of God, Moses, and communicated to him an abundant light to see great things, and a marvelous strength to work miracles and win victories: Intravit in animam servi Dei, et stetit contra reges horrendos, in portentis et signis, Wis 10:16.

When divine Wisdom enters a soul, she brings with her every kind of good and communicates innumerable riches: Omnia bona mihi venerunt cum illa et innumerabilis honestas per manus illius, Wis 11. This is the testimony that Solomon bears to the truth, after having received Wisdom.

91. Among the infinity of operations that Wisdom performs in souls, often in a manner so secret that the soul itself is unaware of them, here are some of the most common:

92. 1. Eternal Wisdom communicates her spirit, all light, to the soul that possesses her: Optavi et datus est mihi sensus; et invocavi, et venit in me spiritus Sapientiae: I desired, and understanding was given to me; I called upon God, and the spirit of Wisdom came upon me. It is this subtle and penetrating spirit that enables a man, following Solomon's example, to judge all things with great discernment and keen penetration: Acutus inveniar in judicio et in conspectu potentium admirabilis ero, Wis 8: [Wis 8:11] Because of the Wisdom who has communicated her spirit to me, the penetration of my mind in judgment will be recognized; the most powerful will be astonished when they see me.

93. She communicates to man the great knowledge of the saints and other natural sciences, even the most hidden, when they are fitting for him: Si multitudinem scientiae desiderat quis, scit praeterita et de futuris aestimat, scit versutias sermonum, et dissolutiones argumentorum, Wis 8. [Wis 8:8]

She gave Jacob the knowledge of the saints: Dedit illi scientiam sanctorum, Wis 10. [Wis 10:10]

She gave Solomon the true knowledge of all nature: Dedit mihi horum quae sunt scientiam veram, Wis 7:17.

She revealed to him an infinity of secrets that no one before him had known: Quaecumque sunt absconsa et improvisa didici, Wis 7. [Wis 7:21]

94. It is from this infinite source of light that the greatest doctors of the Church, among others St. Thomas Aquinas, as he himself acknowledged, drew those admirable insights that made them renowned. And you will note that the lights and knowledge that Wisdom gives are not dry, sterile, and undevout insights, but luminous, unctuous, effective, and pious insights that touch and satisfy the heart while enlightening the mind.

95. 2. Wisdom not only gives man her light to know the truth, but also a marvelous capacity for making it known to others: Scientiam habet vocis: Wisdom has the knowledge of what is said, and she communicates the skill to say it well, because it is she who opened the mouths of the mute and made eloquent the tongues of children: Quoniam Sapientia aperuit os mutorum, et linguas infantium fecit disertas. Wis 10:21.

She loosed the tongue of Moses, which was impeded. She gave her words to the prophets to uproot, to destroy, to scatter, to build, and to plant: Dedi verba mea in ore tuo... ut evellas, et destruas, et disperdas, et dissipes, et aedifices et plantes, Jer 1:10, although they confessed that of themselves they could speak no better than children.

It was Wisdom who gave the Apostles the facility to preach the Gospel everywhere and proclaim the wonders of God: Locuentes... magnalia Dei. Sermone ditans guttura: She made their mouths a treasury of words.

Since divine Wisdom is the Word in eternity and in time, she has always spoken, and at her word all things were made and all things were restored. She spoke through the prophets, through the Apostles, and she will speak until the end of the ages through the mouths of those to whom she gives herself.

96. But the words that divine Wisdom communicates are not common, natural, or human words; they are divine words: vere verbum Dei. They are strong, touching, penetrating words: penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti; that come from the heart of the one through whom she speaks and that go to the heart of the one who listens. It is this gift of Wisdom that Solomon had received when he said that God had granted him the grace of speaking as he felt in his heart: Mihi autem dedit Deus dicere ex sententia. [Wis 7:15]

97. These are the words that Our Lord promised to his Apostles: "Dabo vobis os et Sapientiam cui non poterunt resistere...: [Lk 21:15] I will give you such a facility of speech, such Wisdom and power in your words, that all your enemies will be unable to resist them."

Oh! how few preachers there are in these times who have this ineffable gift of the word, and who can say with St. Paul: Loquimur Dei Sapientiam: we speak the Wisdom of God." [1 Cor 2:7] Most of them speak according to the natural lights of their minds, or according to what they have drawn from books, but not ex sententia, according to what divine Wisdom makes them feel, or ex abundantia cordis, from the divine abundance that Wisdom communicates to them. That is why we see so few conversions produced by preaching nowadays. If a preacher had truly received from Wisdom this gift of speech, his hearers could scarcely resist his words, as in former times: non poterant resistere Sapientiae et Spiritui qui loquebatur: those who listened could not resist the Wisdom and the Spirit who spoke. Such a preacher would speak with both sweetness and authority — quasi potestatem habens — so that his word would not return to him void and without effect.

98. 3. Eternal Wisdom, being the object of the felicity and the delight of the Eternal Father, the joy of the angels, is for the man who possesses her the source of the purest sweetness and consolations. She gives him a taste for everything that is of God and takes away his taste for creatures. She gladdens his spirit with the brilliance of her light; she pours into his heart a joy, a sweetness, and a peace beyond words, even amid the bitterest and harshest tribulations, as St. Paul testified when he cried out: "In omni superabundo gaudio tribulatione nostra." 2 Cor.

Entering my house, though I am all alone, says Solomon, I shall find a sweet rest with her, for her conversation has nothing disagreeable, nor her company anything tedious; but in them one finds only satisfaction and joy; and not only in my house and in her conversation did I find joy, but even in all places and in all things, because she walked before me: Intrans in domum meam, conquiescam cum illa: quoniam non habet amaritudinem conversatio illius, nec taedium convictus illius, sed laetitiam et gaudium... Et laetatus sum in omnibus, quoniam antecedebat me ista Sapientia, Wis. [Wis 7:12] There is a holy and true delight in her friendship: Et in amicitia illius delectatio bona, Wis 8; whereas the joys and pleasures that one can take in creatures are only an appearance of pleasure and affliction of spirit.

99. 4. When Eternal Wisdom communicates herself to a soul, she gives her all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and all the great virtues in an eminent degree, namely: the theological virtues — a lively faith, a firm hope, an ardent charity; the cardinal virtues — a well-ordered temperance, a consummate prudence, a perfect justice, and an invincible fortitude; the moral virtues — a perfect religion, a profound humility, a charming gentleness, a blind obedience, a universal detachment, a continual mortification, a sublime prayer, etc. These are the admirable virtues and the heavenly gifts that the Holy Spirit expresses divinely in a few words when he says: "Si justitiam quis diligit, labores hujus magnas habent virtutes: sobrietatem utilius nihil est in vita hominibus." Wis 8.

100. 5. Finally, since there is nothing more active than Wisdom — omnibus enim mobilibus mobilior est — she does not allow those who enjoy her friendship to stagnate in lukewarmness and negligence. She sets them all aflame; she inspires in them great undertakings for the glory of God and the salvation of souls; and to test them and make them more worthy of her, she arranges great battles for them and reserves contradictions and obstacles in almost everything they undertake.

She permits now the devil to tempt them, now the world to calumniate and despise them, now their enemies to overcome and cast them down, now their friends and relatives to abandon and betray them. Here she arranges a loss of goods, there a sickness; here an insult, there a sadness and a dejection of heart. In a word, she tests them in every way in the crucible of tribulation, as gold in the furnace.

"But their affliction," says the Holy Spirit, "has been light, and their reward shall be great, because God has tested them and found them worthy of himself. He has tried them as gold in the furnace; he has received them as a burnt offering, and he will look upon them favorably when their time has come: Et si coram hominibus tormenta passi sunt, spes illorum immortalitate plena est. In paucis vexati, in multis bene disponentur: quoniam Deus tentavit eos, et invenit illos dignos se. Tanquam aurum in fornace probavit illos, et quasi holocausti hostiam accepit illos, et in tempore erit respectus illorum." Wis 3. [Wis 3:4-6]

It is Wisdom who enriched the just man in his labors and made him reap their fruit; it is she who helped him against those who tried to deceive him by their treachery and who made him rich. She protected him against his enemies; she defended him from seducers and engaged him in a hard combat, so that he might remain victorious and so that he might know that Wisdom is more powerful than all things: Honestavit illum in laboribus et complevit labores illius; in fraude circumvenientium illum affuit illi, et honestum fecit illum. Custodivit illum ab inimicis, et a seductoribus tutavit illum et certamen forte dedit illi, ut vinceret, et sciret quoniam omnium potentior est Sapientia. Wis 10. [Wis 10:10-12]

101. It is reported in the life of Blessed Henry Suso, a religious of St. Dominic, that in the ardent desires he had to possess Eternal Wisdom, he offered himself to her several times to suffer every kind of torment, provided he might have her good graces. "What!" he said to himself one day, "do you not know that lovers endure a thousand and one sufferings for the one who is the object of their love? Vigils are sweet to them; fatigues are pleasant, and toil is rest, once they are assured that the person they love will be grateful and satisfied. If men do such things to please a putrid corpse, are you not ashamed to waver in your resolution to possess Wisdom? No, O Eternal Wisdom, I will never retreat from your love, even if I must plunge through thickets and thorns over my head to reach the place of your dwelling; even if I must become the theater of a thousand cruelties in body and soul, I shall prize your friendship above all things, and you shall reign absolutely over all my affections."

102. A few days later, while on a journey, he fell into the hands of robbers, who beat him and left him in so pitiful a state that they themselves had pity on him. Then Henry Suso, seeing himself in that condition, abandoned by every help, fell into a dark melancholy, forgot his resolution to be courageous in afflictions, and began to weep and wonder why God afflicted him so. Sleep overcame him in this state, and toward daybreak he heard a voice that addressed this reproof to him: "So here is our soldier who levels mountains, climbs rocks, storms citadels, kills and cuts to pieces all his enemies when he is in prosperity, and then has neither courage, nor arms, nor legs in adversity. He is a lion in the time of consolation, and a timid deer in tribulation: Wisdom does not give her friendship to such cowards and weaklings."

Blessed Henry, upon hearing this reproof, confessed the fault he had committed in grieving to excess, and at the same time begged Wisdom to allow him to weep and relieve his oppressed heart through his eyes. "No, no," replied that voice, "none of the inhabitants of heaven would have any esteem for you if, like a child and a woman, you abandoned yourself to tears; dry your eyes and show a serene face."

103. Thus the cross is the portion and the reward of those who desire or possess Eternal Wisdom. But this lovable sovereign, who does all things with number, weight, and measure, gives crosses to her friends only in proportion to their strength, and she spreads upon those crosses the unction of her sweetness so abundantly that they find in them their delight.