12. How Ignorance Leads to Wisdom — Second Sermon for the Feast of the Epiphany

Synopsis — Row men mistake the light of human reason for the light of grace — Shown by persistence in sinfulness — The right way is the preparation of self-denial — The darkness of suffering goes before the dawn of God's light — Outward activity, how regulated in view of God's inner activity and the coming of His light.

THIRD SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY. Arise and be enlightened, O Jerusalem. — Isaias lx, 1.

God desires nothing upon earth but one thing, and that He has set His heart upon — that He may find the deep abyss that He has created in man's spirit empty and read}7 for the perfect work He will do there. In all earth and Heaven He has full power; one thing alone is lacking Him. the accomplishment of His all holy will in man's soul. And what is man's part, that God may light up and take possession of his inmost soul ? He should arise, says Holy Writ : Arise, O Jerusalem ! This is as much as to say, that a man has his own part to play in the Divine work, and that it is to arise from all things whatsoever that are not God — from all creatures, including himself. It is in this rising up thai the soul's depths are quickly stirred with longing for God. The more all inordinate desires are shaken off, the stronger and stronger grows the yearning for God, until it seems to pierce flesh and blood and bones and marrow, and enter into the soul's verv essence.

This movement toward God is managed in two different ways. One class of men work with their natural activity of mind, using the images and high thoughts of reason, with the result that they confuse the soul's inner life and stifle its yearnings, substituting their own efforts at under standing things for the longing after God. They imagine that by reason's activity they have made their souls God's city of peace. Others. men of the same class, think that they can prepare their souls by arrangements and methods of their own selection in prayers and meditations and the like, and thereby secure tranquillity. That this is a false peace is proved by their continuing in their defects, their pride, their sensuality and self-indulgence, in suspicions and rash judgments; they arc Irritated by reproof; easily moved to excuses, to hatred and to oilier wilful faults. From all this it is plain, that in taking in hand their own preparation for God's work they have hindered Him from doing ii ; that they have not arisen to be enlightened in the right way. Let iheni not fancy that their soul has been made God's holv citv of Jerusalem, the abode of peace. They should rather resolve to overcome their vices, follow our Lord's pattern in their daily lives, do humble works of holy charity, die to themselves in all things; that is their way to learn how to arise and be enlightened.

Uut the others, they who in very truth arise and are enlightened, yield to God the task of preparing their souls' depths. These renounce themselves in everything. They are attached to neither words, methods or acts, totally content in joy or in sorrow. To them all things are acceptable as coming from God, and are received in humble fear. They stand before Him in entire self-abandonment, bowed down in willing submission. Whatever may be God's good pleasure is welcome. Be it peaceful or the reverse, it is all one to them, for all things are from God. To them may be applied our Lord's words to His disciples when they asked Him to go to Jerusalem to the festival day: "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready" (John vii, 6). These men's time is all the time, for waiting and suffering is always ready for them ; but God's time is not yet. When and how He will act and enlighten them they leave wholly to Him, in entire self-renunciation and the spirit of long suffering. It is thus peculiar to these men that to God is given over the preparation of their souls, and by no means do they assume the task themselves. Doubtless they occasionally feel the first movements of vice within them, from which, indeed, no one is exempt. But at the first evil suggestion, whether of pride or lust, or worldliness, anger or hatred, they immediately and most humbly turn to God, and give themselves up to Him for protection. Such souls do most certainly arise, passing upward above all things, including self; they are, indeed, a city of peace, a real Jerusalem, enjoying tranquillity in the midst of unrest, and happiness in the midst of pain, having relish only for God's will in all happenings. The whole world is powerless to deprive them of their peace, nor could all men and devils together disturb it. They are assuredly enlightened by God, who shines in their souls brightly and powerfully, even more brightly and powerfully amid seeming darkness.

O, these are gentle souls, supernaturally guided by God, without Whose will they do nothing whatsoever. And, if we dared say so, they are in a kind of a way nothing of themselves, but God is all in all within them. O, it is these beautiful souls who are the pillars of the world ! Blessed is he who is so fortunate as to be one of them.

These, then, are the two different classes. One class presumes to get their souls ready for God by their own efforts rather than His. with tin-result that they remain fettered by their sins, powerless to free themselves; or they sink into self-content and self-will. The other class are blessed souls, full of utter self-detachment, elevated in spirit, watching their lightest defects, and at once flying to God for pardon, and receiving from Him a Divine freedom of spirit.

It may be asked : Shall not these men whom God is thus preparing do any outward works ? Is it not, indeed, a necessity for them ? because the command is : Arise, O Jerusalem ! and to arise is itself to do something. I answer : Yes ; one work is theirs to do, and that they ought to be engaged in as long as life lasts, if they would come to perfection. They must rise up constantly ; they must be constantly lifting up their souls in God and in a spirit of entire detachment, asking, in holy fear, Where is He that is born King? They must be ever searching what God's will is for them in their outward conduct or inward, and what they should do to please Him. Does God require them to be quietly passive, they rest still; does He bid them be active, they set to work; does He grant them contemplation, they enjoy its privileges. Their own inmost soul bears witness what He wills them to do, for His light is shining there, and that is God's chosen abode, which He will not share with any creature. And of those other men, those overactive and self-guided spirits of whom we have before spoken, it must be said that God works within them also, but not directly and without means and images, as He does in the nobler and really detached spirits. In these last God's influence is felt without figures and images, and, as far as they can perceive, immediately upon the essence of their souls. And it is not possible to describe or explain His work in them, nor does anyone understand it except one who has himself experienced it, and such a one can only say that God has taken possession of the center of his spirit. He soon finds himself freed from being absorbed by external activity, and at the same time his realization of God's life in his soul grows ever stronger. When, finally, by his own great earnestness and God's blessed graces, he has attained to the highest perfection, his self-renunciation is complete according to our blessed Lord's words: "When you shall have done all these things that are commanded of you, say: We are unprofitable siivants" (Luke xvii, 10). This shows that, however perfect a man becomes, he should, nevertheless, stand in humble awe and fear of God. Yea, if he reaches the very highest point of holiness, he should say to God with deepest sincerity: "Thy will be done!" (Matt, vi, 10). He ought to maintain a sleepless watch over himself, examining whether he clings to even one single earthly thing, whether God finds in the interior of His soul, even the very least hindrance to His immediate influence upon his spiritual life.

May God help us all thus to arise and be enlightened and to experience His Divine action within us. Amen.