THE CONTEMPLATION OF GOD IS TO BE PREFERRED ABOVE ALL OTHER EXERCISES
Whatever exists outside of God is the work of His hands. Every creature
is, therefore, a blending together of the actual and the possible, and
as such is in its nature limited. Born of nothing, it is surrounded by
nothingness, and tends to nothingness.[40]
Of necessity the creature depends each moment upon God, the supreme
Artist, for its existence, preservation, power of action, and all that
it possesses.
It is utterly unable to accomplish its own work, either for itself or
for another, and is impotent as a thing which is not before that which
is, the finite before the infinite. It follows, therefore, that our
life, thoughts, and works should be in Him, of Him, for Him, and
directed to Him, Who by the least sign of His will could produce
creatures unspeakably more perfect than any which now exist.
It is impossible that there should be in the mind or heart a thought or
a love more profitable, more perfect or more blessed than those which
rest upon God, the Almighty Creator, of Whom, in Whom, by Whom, towards
Whom all tend.
He suffices infinitely for Himself and for others, since from all
eternity He contains within Himself the perfections of all things. There
is nothing within Him which is not Himself. In Him and by Him exist the
causes of all transitory things; in Him are the immutable origins of all
things that change, whether rational or irrational.
All that happens in time has in Him its eternal principle.
He fills all; He is in all things by His essence, by which He is more
present and more near to them than they are to themselves.[41]
In Him all things are united and live eternally.[42] It is true that the
weakness of our understanding or our want of experience[43] may oblige
us to make use of creatures in our contemplation, yet there is a kind of
contemplation which is very fruitful, good, and real, which seems
possible to all. Whether he meditates on the creature or the Creator,
every man may reach the point at which he finds all his joy in His
Creator, God, One in Trinity, and kindles the fire of Divine love in
himself or in others, so as to merit eternal life.
We should notice here the difference which exists between the
contemplation of Christians and that of pagan philosophers. The latter
sought only their own perfection, and hence their contemplation affected
their intellect only; they desired only to enrich their minds with
knowledge. But the contemplation of Saints, which is that of
Christians, seeks as its end the love of the God Whom they contemplate.
Hence it is not content to find fruit for the intelligence, but
penetrates beyond to the will that it may there enkindle love.
The Saints desired above all in their contemplation the increase of
charity.
It is better to know Jesus Christ and possess Him spiritually by grace,
than, without grace, to have Him in the body, or even in His essence.
The more pure a soul becomes and the deeper her recollection, the
clearer will be her inward vision. She now prepares, as it were, a
ladder upon which she may ascend to the contemplation of God. This
contemplation will set her on fire with love for all that is heavenly,
Divine, eternal, and will cause her to despise as utter nothing all
that is of time.
When we seek to arrive at the knowledge of God by the method of
negation, we first remove from our conception of Him all that pertains
to the body, the senses, the imagination. Then we reject even that which
belongs to the reason, and the idea of being as it is found in
creatures.[44] This, according to St. Denis, is the best means of
attaining to the knowledge of God,[45] as far as it is possible in this
world.
This is the darkness in which God dwells and into which Moses entered
that he might reach the light inaccessible.[46]
But we must begin, not with the mind, but with the body. We must observe
the accustomed order, and pass from the labour of action to the repose
of contemplation, from the moral virtues to those of sublime
contemplation.[47]
Why, O my soul, dost thou vainly wear thyself out in such multiplicity
of things? Thou findest in them but poverty.
Seek and love only that perfect good which includes in itself all good,
and it will suffice thee. Unhappy art thou if thou knowest and
possessest all, and art ignorant of this. If thou knewest at the same
time both this good and all other things, this alone would render thee
the happier. Therefore St. John has written: "This is eternal life: that
they may know thee,"[48] and the Prophet: "I shall be satisfied when thy
glory shall appear."[49]