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Introduction

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The State of Souls More Advanced in the Spiritual Life

  1. Once the soul is purified from past faults by a long and arduous penance, in keeping with the number and gravity of those faults, once it has been grounded in virtue through the practice of meditation, of mortification, and resistance to the disordered inclinations and to temptations, then it enters into the illuminative way. This stage of the spiritual life is thus named because the great aim of the soul is now the imitation, the Mollowing of Christ, by the positive exercise of the Christian virtues; Jesus is the Light of the World, and whosoever follows Him walks not in darkness: “ He that followeth me walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” *

Before describing the virtues to be practiced by souls in the illuminative way, there are three questions that must be answered : 1° Which are the souls that belong in the illuminative way? 2° What is the program such souls are to follow? 3° What difference is there between devout and Jervent souls walking along this way?

I. Which are the souls that belong im the tlluminative way ?

  1. St. Theresa thus describes the inhabitants of the third mansion,3 that is to say, the souls that are more advanced in the spiritual life: “ They nave an intense desire of not offending the Divine Majesty: they avoid even venial sins; they love penitence; they have their hours of recol-

? PHIL. A SS. TRINITATE, Sam. Theol. myst., P. 11; LE GAUDIER, De perfect. vite spir., P. 114, sect. 114; ScHRAM, /msti¢ myst., § CII1; A. SAUDREAU, The Degrees of the Spiritual Life, Vol. 1, The Llluminative Way, p. 128-35; Cursus Asceticus, Vol. 11.

3 [ntertor Castle, Third Mansion, C. I.

BOOK II. — THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY. 455 lection ; they employ their time usefully ; they perform works of charity toward the neighbor. Everything about them is in perfect order: their words, their clothes, their homes. ”

From this description we can draw the following conclusions,

  1. 1° Since the illuminative way consists in the imitation of Our Lord, in order to enter therein we must fulfil the three following conditions which enable us to follow the Divine Master through the positive practice of those virtues of which He has given us the example.

A) We must have already acquired purity of heart in some measure, in order to aspire without rashness to that habitual union with Our Lord which the imitation of His virtues implies. So long as the soul remains exposed to fall from time to time into mortal sin, it must above all else avoid energetically the occasions of sin, combat the evil tendencies of nature and resist temptations. It is only after these obstacles have been overcome that the soul concerns itself with the positive side of virtue. The soul must likewise hold in abhorrence deliberate venial sin and strive to avoid it.

B) In the second place, we must have mortfied our passions. To follow Our Lord it is necessary to renounce not merely mortal sin but deliberate venial sin as well, especially such as we often cominit and to which we are attached. It is by a determined fight against the passions and the capital sins that we gain that self-control which enables us to practice the positive side of virtue and thus to gradually come nearer to the Divine Model. Then, indeed we can lead a well-regulated life, have moments in which to recollect ourselves and devote our time to the fulfilment of our duties of state.

  1. C) Lastly, it is necessary that through meditation we should have formed profound convictions on all the great truths, so that in our meditations we can give more time to devout affections and petitions, for it is by these that we attract to our heart Our Lord’s virtues, and that we are able to practice them without too much difficulty.

The souls, then, that are progressing in the life of perfection are recognized by these two principal signs: 1) They experience great difficulty in making their mental prayer in a purely adzscursive fashion; the Holy Ghost inspires them to give less time to considerations and more to affections and petitions. 2) They are habitually possessed

with a longing to be united to Our Lord, to know Him, love Him and imitate Him.

  1. 2° From what we have just said, we can see the principal differences between the purgative and the illuminative way.

A) In both we find effort and struggle; but degznners struggle against sin and its causes, whilst the sozw/s zm progress struggle to adorn themselves with Christ’s virtues. However, there is no opposition between these two ways; rather one leads into the other. By detaching oneself from sin and its causes in the purgative way, one already exercises oneself in the practice of the virtues, although in their lowest degree, which is predominantly negative. On the other hand, the positive virtues one practices in the illuminative way, perfect the detachment from self and from creatures. In the first instance it is the negative, in the second, the positive side that is emphasized. The one completes the other. By entering on the illuminative way one does not cease to practice penance and mortification, but one practices them with the view of becoming more like Our Lord.

B) The means used in the two ways remain substantially the same, but vary in the manner in which they are employed: meditation, which in the purgative way is dzscurstve, becomes affective in the illuminative way; thought which heretofore centered in God, now converges round the Person of Our Lord, to know, love and imitate Him. He becomes the real center of life.

Il. Program to be followed in the Iluminative Way

  1. This program follows from what has been heretofore said.

1° The direct object in view is so to assimilate ourselves to Our Lord that He becomes the center of our lives.

A) We make Him the center of our thoughts. We love to study His life and His mysteries. The Gospel presents to us new charms: we read it slowly and affectionately; the least details of Our Savior’s life, especially His virtues have a deep interest for us. We find in the Gospel an inexhaustible source of subjects for meditation. We love to ponder over the words of our Lord, to analyze them and to apply them to ourselves. When we wish to practice some virtue, it is zz Jesus that we study it first of all, recalling His teachings and His examples, and finding there the

THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY, 457 great motive for reproducing in ourselves His own dispositions and virtues. It is on Him that we focus our thoughts during Holy Mass and Holy Communion: the liturgical prayers become for us an excellent means of studying Our Saviour. Lastly, by devout readings we strive to gain a deeper knowledge of His doctrines, especially of His spiritual teachings. It is Jesus we seek in books, “ /Jesum guerens tn libris.”

  1. B) This knowledge leads to love, and Jesus becomes the center of our affections. a) How could any one, day after day, contemplate Him Who is the perfection of beauty and goodness itself, and not feel drawn to love Him! “Since I have known Jesus Christ,” said Lacordaire, “nothing has seemed to me beautiful enough that I should look upon it with desire.” t If the Apostles on Mt. Thabor were ravished at the sight of the Lord’s transfigured humanity and cried out in wonder and love: “ /¢ zs good for us to be here”, our rapture must be still greater as we gaze on the resplendent comeliness of the Risen Christ.

b) How can we help loving Him if we often ponder the earnest proofs of love He has given and continues to give us, the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Holy Eucharist? St. Thomas has marvelously grouped within a single strophe the great things the Saviour has done for us:

Se nascens dedit socium, Convescens tn edulium,

Se moriens in pretium,

Se regnans dat in premium. 3

His birth made Him our fellow, our friend, our brother, and He never departs from us. By instituting the Holy Eucharist He becomes our food and drink, replenishing our souls with His Body, His Blood, and His Divinity. Dying on the Cross He paid the price of our ransom, set us free from the slavery of sin, restored to us our supernatural life, and gave us the greatest proof of love that. friend can give to friend. In heaven, at

1 CHOCARNE, Vie du P. Lacordatre, t. Il, 119, 2 Matth., XVII, 4. 3 Hymn of Lauds: ‘“‘Born man, He makes Himself our kin, He gives His Body at the board, He dies and is the price of sin, He reigns and is our sweet reward. ”

(Translation from Donohue’s “‘ Zarly Christian Hymns.)

last, He gives Himself as a reward, to be possessed for all eternity; henceforth His glory and our happiness are one. For all this we shall never be able to thank Him nor to love Him enough.

  1. C) But love leads to imitation. By the very fact that we prize the qualities of a friend, that we are drawn to him by those qualities, we want to reproduce them in ourselves, so as to be but one with him in heart and soul; for we feel that our union will not be strong and deep unless we share in the thoughts and feelings and actions of our friend. We copy instinctively the one whom we love. And thus it is that Jesus becomes the center of our actions, of our whole existence. When we gray, we draw unto ourselves Our Lord with His spirit of religion to glorify the Father and effectively beg for the graces that we need. When we /ador, we unite ourselves to the Divine Artisan of Nazareth, to work as He did, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. When we want to acguzre some virtue, we draw to ourselves the perfect model of that virtue, Jesus, and with Him we strive to practice it. Even our recreations are taken in union with Him and in His spirit, with a view to labor later on for the great interests of God and of His Church,

  2. 2° To attain this end, however, means must be employed; these are, besides vocal prayers and affectzve mental prayer, a sustained effort to practice those Christian virtues which acquaint us better with Christ, increase our love for Him and enable us to follow closer in His footsteps, that is to say, the theological and the moral virtues. We aim at sold virtue, based not on emotions but on deeprooted convictions.

A) We practice these virtues along parallel lines: we cannot exercise ourselves in the practice of the moral virtues without practicing the theological virtues, and vice versa. Thus we cannot cultivate Christian prudence without being cuided by the light of faith, sustained by hope, and stimulated by the love of God; in like manner, fazth and hope presuppose prudence, fortitude and temperance, and so it is with the other virtues,

However, there are some virtues that harmonize better than others with one or other of the degrees of the illuminative way. Thus, those who have but entered into this way, concentrate their efforts on the exercise of some of the moral virtues, the need of which they feel

THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY. 459 more keenly in order to triumph over pride or sensuality. Later on, when these vices have been brought under control, such persons devote themselves more especially to the practice of the ¢heological virtues, which unite us more directly to God.

  1. 8B) The better to understand this teaching, we must briefly note here the difference between these two kinds of virtues.

a) The ¢heological virtues have God Himself as their direct object and some divine attribute as their motive. Thus, by Faith I believe in God, relying on His divine authority; by charity, I love Him because of His infinite goodness. On this very account these virtues umzte us directly to God; faith makes us share in His thought, charity in His love.

b) The a@rect object of moral virtues is some created good, and their mofzve some moral good. Thus the object of justice is the rendering unto each one what is due him, and the motive of this virtue is honesty. These virtues prepare for our union with God by removing obstacles, and they even initiate that union; for instance, by being just I become one with God, Who is justice itself. However, it is the theological virtues that directly constitute and perfect our union with God.

  1. C) From this it follows that if we study the virtues in the order of their excellence, we must begin with the theological virtues; but if we follow, as we do here, the psychological order, which proceeds from the less to the more perfect, then we must begin with the study of the sora/ virtues, without however losing sight of the aforesaid remark concerning the parallel development of all Christian virtues.

III. Two Classes of Souls in the Iluminative Way

In the illuminative way there are many classes of souls, two of which are of special interest : devout souls and Jervent souls.

  1. 1° Devout souls are those possessed of good-will, of ambition to do good, and who strive by serious efforts to avoid deliberate faults. But as yet, they are vain and presumptuous. Little inured to self-denial, they lack energy, steadiness of purpose, especially in the face of trials. Hence the frequent vacillation in their conduct: ready to suffer

460 BOOK II. — THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY.

when trials are far of, they lack patience when facing pain and desolation ; quick to form generous resolves, they carry them out but imperfectly in practice, especially if unforeseen obstacles arise. Therefore, their advance is slow, and they stand in need of cultivating the virtues of fortitude, of constancy and of humility.

  1. 2° Fervent souls are more humble and more generous. Distrustful of self and confident in God, and already habituated to the practice of Christian self-denial, they are more energetic and more constant. However, their abnegation is neither absolute nor universal. They long for perfection, but their virtue has not yet been solidified by trial.. When consolation and spiritual joy come, they welcome them and rest complacently in them. They have not as yet the love of the cross. The firm resolutions they take in the morning, they carry out but partially during the day, because they lack constancy. They have so far advanced in the love of God that they actually renounce what is dangerous, but they bestow their affections, at times overmuch, upon what God allows them to love: their parents, their friends, the consolations they find in their exercises of piety. They have still to detach themselves more perfectly from whatever hinders their union with God.

We shall not treat separately of these two classes of souls. The spiritual director will choose from among the virtues we describe the ones best suited to each individual.

DIVISION OF THE SECOND BOOK

  1. The azz of souls in the illuminative way being that of making Jesus the very center of their lives, 1° they must give themselves to the practice of affective prayer, in order to draw from it the knowledge, the love, and the imitation of their divine Model. 2° They must practice in a special though not exclusive manner, those moral virtues which, by removing the obstacles to union with God, initiate this union with Him, the Exemplar of all perfection. 3° Then the theological virtues which they practiced in the purgative way side by side with the moral virtues, develop in them and become the great motive power in their life. 4° But, since the warfare is far from being over, they. must

I We shall, therefore, not treat here, in the illuminative way, of the passive purification of the senses; nor of the prayer of quiet. These are the ‘beginnings of

CHAPTER I. — AFFECTIVE PRAYER. 46]

C. I, — AFFECTIVE PRAYER, THE DISTINCTIVE PRAYER : OF: THE ILLUMINATIVE WAY

Cl ile VIGRAL. VIRTUES C. LII. — THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES

C. IV. — STRUGGLE AGAINST THE NEW OFFENSIVES OF THE ENEMY.1

Footnotes

  1. John, VALI, x2. ↩

Chapter 13 of 24