virtues which have to do with those passions which hinder the
purity of the reason. And peace is produced by justice--the
moral virtue which is concerned with our works: _The work of
justice shall be peace_[331] inasmuch, that is, as a man, by
refraining from injuring others, removes occasions of strife and
disturbance.
3. Lastly, S. Gregory says[332]: "The contemplative life is something
beautiful in the soul," and it is for this reason that it is said to be
typified by Rachel, for _She was well-favoured and of a beautiful
countenance_.[333] But the beauty of the soul, as S. Ambrose remarks,
depends upon the moral virtues and especially on that of
temperance.[334]
But beauty consists in a certain splendour combined with a
becoming harmony. Both of these points are radically to be
referred to the reason, for to it belongs both the light which
manifests beauty, and the establishment of due proportion in
others. Consequently in the contemplative life--which consists
in the act of the reason--beauty is necessarily and essentially
to be found; thus of the contemplation of Wisdom it is said:
_And I became a lover of her beauty_.[335] But in the moral
virtues beauty is only found by a certain participation--in
proportion, namely, as they share in the harmony of reason; and
this is especially the case with the virtue of temperance whose
function it is to repress those desires which particularly
obscure the light of reason. Hence it is, too, that the virtue
of chastity especially renders a man fit for contemplation, for
venereal pleasures are precisely those which, as S. Augustine
points out, most drag down the mind to the things of sense.[336]
* * * * *
_S. Augustine:_ While it is true that any one of these three kinds of
life--the leisurely, the busy, and the life commingled of them both--may
be embraced by anybody without prejudice to his faith, and may be the
means of leading him to his eternal reward, it is yet important that a
man should take note of what it is that he holds to through love of the
truth, and should reflect on the nature of the work to which he devotes
himself at the demand of charity. For no man should be so addicted to
leisure as for its sake to neglect his neighbour's profit; neither
should any man be so devoted to the active life as to forget the thought
of God. For in our leisured life we are not to find delight in mere idle
repose, but the seeking and finding of the truth must be our aim; each
must strive to advance in that, to hold fast what he finds, and yet not
to grudge it to his neighbour. Similarly, in the life of action: we must
not love honour in this life, nor power; for _all things are vain under
the sun_. But we must love the toil itself which comes to us together
with such honour or power if it be rightly and profitably used--as
tending, that is, to the salvation under God of those under us.... Love
of truth, then, seeks for a holy leisure; the calls of charity compel us
to undertake the labours of justice. If no one lays on us this burden,
then must we devote our leisure to the search after and the study of the
truth; but if such burden be imposed upon us, we must shoulder it at the
call of charity; yet withal we must not wholly abandon the delights of
the truth, lest while the latter's sweetness is withdrawn from us, the
burden we have taken up overwhelm us (_Of the City of God_, xix. 19).
"O expectation of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of
trouble: why wilt Thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a
wayfaring man turning in to lodge? Why wilt Thou be as a
wandering man, as a mighty man that cannot save? but Thou, O
Lord, art among us, and Thy Name is called upon us, forsake us
not."[337]
III
Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts?
By "life" is here meant any work to which a man principally devotes
himself. Hence if there were many acts or works in the contemplative
life, it would not be one life, but several.
It must be understood that we are speaking of the contemplative life as
it concerns man. And between men and Angels there is, as S. Denis
says,[338] this difference--that whereas an Angel knows the truth by one
simple act of intelligence, man, on the contrary, only arrives at a
knowledge of the simple truth by arguing from many premises. Hence the
contemplative life has only a single act in which it finds its final
perfection--namely, the contemplation of the truth--and from this one
act it derives its oneness. But at the same time it has many acts by
means of which it arrives at this final act. Of these various acts, some
are concerned with the establishment of principles from which the mind
proceeds to the contemplation of truth; others, again, are concerned
with deducing from these principles that truth the knowledge of which is
sought. But the ultimate act, the complement of the foregoing, is the
contemplation of truth.
Some, however, maintain that many acts pertain to the contemplative
life, thus:
1. Richard of S. Victor[339] distinguishes between contemplation,
meditation, and thought. But these all seem to belong to the
contemplative life.
But _thought_, according to Richard of S. Victor, seems to
signify the consideration of many things from which a man
intends to gather some single truth. Consequently, under the
term _thought_ may be comprised perceptions by the senses,
whereby we know certain effects--imaginations, too, as well as
investigation of different phenomena by the reason; in a word,
all those things which conduce to a knowledge of the truth we
are in search of. At the same time, according to S.
Augustine,[340] every operation of the intellect may be termed
_thought_. _Meditation_, again, seems to refer to the process of
reasoning from principles which have to do with the truth we
desire to contemplate. And _contemplation_, according to S.
Bernard,[341] means the same thing, although, according to the
Philosopher,[342] every operation of the intellect may be termed
"consideration." But _contemplation_ is concerned with the
simple dwelling upon the truth itself. Hence Richard of S.
Victor says[343]: "_Contemplation_ is the soul's clear, free,
and attentive dwelling upon the truth to be perceived;
_meditation_ is the outlook of the soul occupied in searching
for the truth; _thought _ is the soul's glance, ever prone to
distraction."
2. Further, the Apostle says: _But we all, beholding the glory of the
Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to
glory._[344] But this refers to the contemplative life; therefore,
besides the three things already mentioned--namely, contemplation,
meditation and thought,--_speculation_, too, enters into the
contemplative life.
But _speculation_, as S. Augustine's Gloss has it,[345] "is
derived from _speculum_, a 'mirror,' not from _specula_, a
'watch-tower.'" To see a thing in a mirror, however, is to see a
cause by an effect in which its likeness is shown; thus
_speculation_ seems reducible to _meditation_.
3. Again, S. Bernard says[346]: "The first and chiefest contemplation is
the marvelling at God's Majesty." But to "marvel" is, according to S.
John Damascene,[347] a species of fear. Consequently it seems that many
acts belong to contemplation.
But wonderment is a species of fear arising from our learning
something which it is beyond our powers to understand. Hence
wonderment is an act subsequent to the contemplation of sublime
truth, whereas contemplation reaches its goal in the affective
powers.
4. Lastly, prayer, reading, and meditation seem to belong to the
contemplative life. Devout hearing, too, belongs to it, for it is said
of Mary, who is the type of the contemplative life, that _sitting at the
Lord's feet, she heard His word_.[348]
Man, however, arrives at the knowledge of truth in two ways:
first of all, by receiving things from others; as regards, then,
the things a man receives from God: prayer is necessary,
according to the words: _I called upon God, and the spirit of
Wisdom came upon me_.[349] And as for the things he receives
from men: hearing is necessary if he receive them from one who
speaks, reading is necessary if it be question of what is handed
down in Holy Scripture. And secondly, a man arrives at the
knowledge of truth by his own personal study, and for this is
required meditation.
"Uni trinoque Domino
Sit sempiterna gloria!
Qui vitam sine termino
Nobis donet in Patria!"
* * * * *
_S. Augustine:_ As long, then, as _we are absent from the Lord, we walk
by faith and not by sight_,[350] whence it is said: _The just man shall
live in his faith._[351] And this is our justice as long as we are on
our pilgrimage--namely, that here now by the uprightness and perfection
with which we walk we strive after that perfection and fulness of
justice where, in all the glory of its beauty, will be full and perfect
charity. Here we chastise our body and bring it into subjection; here we
give alms by conferring benefits and forgiving offences against
ourselves; and we do this with joy and from the heart, and are ever
instant in prayer; and all this we do in the light of that sound
doctrine by which is built up right faith, solid hope, and pure charity.
This, then, is our present justice whereby we run hungering and
thirsting after the perfection and fulness of justice, so that hereafter
we may be filled therewith (_De Perfectione justitiae Hominis_, viii.
18).
* * * * *
_S. Augustine:_ You know, then, I think, not only how you ought to pray,
but what you ought to pray for; and this not because I teach you, but
because He teaches you Who has deigned to teach us all. The Life of
Beatitude is what we have to seek; this we have to ask for from the Lord
God. And what Beatitude means is, with many, a source of much dispute.
But why should we appeal to the many and their many opinions? For
pithily and truly it is said in God's Scripture: _Happy is that people
whose God is the Lord!_[352] Oh, that we may be counted amongst _that
people_! Oh, that we may be enabled to contemplate Him, and may come one
day to live with Him unendingly! _The end of the commandment is charity
from a pure heart and a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith._[353]
And among these three, hope stands for _a good conscience_. Faith,
therefore, with hope and charity, leads to God the man who prays--that
is, the man who believes, who hopes, and who desires, and who in the
_Lord's Prayer_ meditates what he should ask from the Lord (_Ep._ cxxx.
_ad probam_).
"For my heart hath been inflamed, and my reins have been
changed: and I am brought to nothing, and I knew not. I am
become as a beast before Thee; and I am always with Thee. Thou
hast held me by my right hand; and by Thy will Thou hast
conducted me; and with glory Thou hast received me. For what
have I in Heaven? and besides Thee what do I desire upon earth?
For Thee my flesh and my heart hath fainted away; Thou art the
God of my heart; and the God that is my portion for ever. For
behold they that go far from Thee shall perish; Thou hast
destroyed all them that are disloyal to Thee. But it is good for
me to adhere to my God, to put my hope in the Lord God: that I
may declare all Thy praises, in the gates of the daughter of
Sion."[354]
IV
Does the Contemplative Life consist solely in the Contemplation of God,
or in the Consideration of other Truths as well?
S. Gregory says[355]: "In contemplation it is the Principle--namely,
God--which is sought."
A thing may come under the contemplative life in two ways: either
primarily, or secondarily--that is, dispositively. Now primarily the
contemplation of Divine Truth belongs to the contemplative life, since
such contemplation is the goal of all human life. Hence S. Augustine
says[356]: "The contemplation of God is promised to us as the goal of
all our acts and the eternal consummation of all our joys." And this
will be perfect in the future life when we shall see God face to
face--when, consequently, it will render us perfectly blessed. But in
our present state the contemplation of Divine Truth belongs to us only
imperfectly--namely, _through a glass and in a dark manner_; it causes
in us now a certain commencement of beatitude, which begins here, to be
continued in the future. Hence even the Philosopher[357] makes the
ultimate happiness of man consist in the contemplation of the highest
intelligible truths.
But since we are led to a contemplation of God by the consideration of
His Divine works--_The invisible things of God ... are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made_[358]--it follows also that
the contemplation of the Divine works belongs in a secondary sense to
the contemplative life--according, namely, as by it we are led to the
knowledge of God. For this reason S. Augustine says[359]: "In the study
of created things we must not exercise a mere idle and passing
curiosity, but must make them a stepping-stone to things that are
immortal and that abide for ever."
Thus from what we have said it is clear that four things belong, and
that in a certain sequence, to the contemplative life: firstly, the
moral virtues; secondly, other acts apart from that of contemplation;
thirdly, the contemplation of the Divine works; and fourthly--and this
is the crown of them all--the actual contemplation of the Divine Truth.
Some, however, say that the contemplative life is not merely confined to
the contemplation of God but is extended to the consideration of any
truth whatsoever, thus:
1. In Ps. cxxxviii. 14 we read: _Wonderful are Thy works! My soul
knoweth right well!_ But the knowledge of the works of God is derived
from a certain contemplation of the truth. Whence it would seem that it
belongs to the contemplative life to contemplate not only the Divine
Truth, but also any other truth we please.
But David sought the knowledge of God's works that he might
thereby be led to God Himself, as he says elsewhere: _I
meditated on all Thy works, I mused upon the works of Thy hands;
I stretched forth my hands to Thee._[360]
2. Again, S. Bernard says[361]: "The first point in contemplation is to
marvel at God's majesty; the second, at His judgments; the third, at His
benefits; the fourth, at His promises." But of these only the first
comes under the Divine Truth--the rest are effects of it.
But from the consideration of the Divine judgments a man is led
to the contemplation of the Divine justice; and from a
consideration of the Divine benefits and promises a man is led
to a knowledge of the Divine mercy and goodness, as it were by
effects either already shown or to be shown.
3. Once more, Richard of S. Victor[362] distinguishes six kinds of
contemplation; the first is according to the imagination simply, when,
namely, we consider corporeal things; the second is in the imagination
directed by the reason, as when we consider the harmony and arrangement
of the things of the senses; the third is in the reason, but based on
the imagination, as when by the consideration of visible things we are
uplifted to the invisible; the fourth is in the reason working on the
things of the reason, as when the soul occupies itself with invisible
things unknown to the imagination; the fifth is above the reason, but
not beyond its grasp, when, for instance, we know by Divine Revelation
things which cannot be comprehended by the human reason; and the sixth
is above the reason and beyond its grasp, as when by Divine illumination
we know things which are apparently repugnant to human reason--for
example, the things we are told concerning the mystery of the Holy
Trinity.
And only the last named of these seems to come under Divine Truth;
consequently contemplation of the truth is not limited to Divine Truth,
but extends also to those truths which we consider in created things.
But by these six are signified the steps by which we ascend
through created things to the contemplation of God. For in the
first we have the perception of the things of sense; in the
second, the progress from the things of sense to the things of
the intellect; in the third judgment upon the things of sense
according to intellectual principles; in the fourth, the simple
consideration of intellectual truths at which we have arrived by
means of the things of sense; in the fifth, the contemplation of
intellectual truths to which we could not attain by the things
of sense, but which can be grasped by reason; in the sixth, the
contemplation of intellectual truths such as the reason can
neither find nor grasp--truths, namely, which belong to the
sublime contemplation of the Divine Truth, in which
contemplation is finally perfected.
4. Lastly, in the contemplative life the contemplation of truth is
sought as being man's perfection. But any truth whatsoever is a
perfection of the human intellect. Consequently the contemplative life
consists in the contemplation of any kind of truth whatsoever.
But the ultimate perfection of the human intellect is the Divine
Truth; other truths perfect the intellect by way of preparation
for the Divine Truth.
* * * * *
_S. Augustine:_ Martha, Martha, thou hast chosen a good part, but Mary
hath chosen the better. Yours is good--for it is good to busy oneself
with waiting on the Saints--but hers is better. What you have chosen
will pass away at length. You minister to the hungry, you minister to
the thirsty, you make the beds for them that would sleep, you find
house-room for them that need it--but all these things will pass away!
For there will come a time when none will hunger, when none will thirst,
when none will sleep. And then thy care will be taken from thee. But
Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall never be taken from her!
It shall not be taken away, for she chose to live the life of
contemplation, she chose to live by the Word. What kind of life will
that be that flows from the Word without spoken word? Here on earth she
drew life from the Word, but through the medium of the spoken word. Then
will be life, from the Word indeed, but with no spoken word. For the
Word Himself is life. _We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is_[363] (_Sermon_, CLXIX., xiv. 17).
* * * * *
_S. Augustine: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek
after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life!_[364]
Whosoever asks for This One Thing and seeks after It prays with sure and
certain confidence; nor need he fear lest, when he shall have obtained
It, he shall find It disagreeable to him, for without It naught that he
prays for as he ought, and obtains, is of any avail. For this is the
one, true, and only Blessed Life--to contemplate the delights of the
Lord for eternity, in immortality and incorruptibility of body as well
as soul. For the sake of This One Thing are all other things to be
sought after, and only thus our petitions for them are rendered not
unbecoming. Whosoever hath this One Thing will have all that he wishes
for, nor indeed will he be able to wish there for anything which is
unfitting. For there is the Fountain of Life, for which we must now
thirst in prayer as long as we live by hope--as long, too, as we see not
What we hope for. For we dwell 'neath the shadow of His wings before
Whom is all our desire, that so we _may be inebriated with the plenty
of_ His _house, and may drink of the torrent of_ His _pleasure: for
with_ Him _is the Fountain of Life, and in_ His _light we shall see
light._[365] Then shall our desire be sated with all good things, then
will there be naught for us to seek for with groanings, but only What we
shall cling to with joy. Yet none the less, since this is _the peace
that surpasseth all understanding_, even when praying for it _we know
not what we should pray for as we ought_[366] (_Ep._ cxxx. _ad probam_).
"He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God
shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His
people He shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord
hath spoken it. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our
God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the
Lord, we have patiently waited for Him, we shall rejoice and be
joyful in His salvation."[367]
V
Can the Contemplative Life attain, according to the State of this
Present Life, to the Contemplation of the Divine Essence?
S. Gregory says[368]: "As long as we live in this mortal flesh none of
us can make such progress in the virtue of contemplation as to fix his
mind's gaze on that Infinite Light."
S. Augustine also says[369]: "No one who looks on God lives with that
life with which we mortals live in the bodily senses; but unless he be
in some sort dead to this life, whether as having wholly departed from
the body, or as rapt away from the bodily senses, he is not uplifted to
that vision."
A man, then, can be "in this life" in two ways: he can be in it
actually--that is, as actually using his bodily senses--and when he is
thus "in the body" no contemplation such as belongs to this present life
can attain to the vision of the Essence of God; or a man may be "in this
life" potentially, and not actually; that is, his soul may be joined to
his body as its informing principle, but in such fashion that it neither
makes use of the bodily senses nor even of the imagination, and this is
what takes place when a man is rapt in ecstasy: in this sense
contemplation such as belongs to this life can attain to the vision of
the Divine Essence.
Consequently the highest degree of contemplation which is compatible
with the present life is that which S. Paul had when he was rapt in
ecstasy and stood midway between the state of this present life and the
next.
Some, however, say that the contemplative life can, even according to
our present state of life, attain to the vision of the Divine Essence,
thus:
1. Jacob said: _I have seen God face to face, and my soul hath been
saved._[370] But the vision of the face of God is the vision of the
Divine Essence. Whence it would seem that a man may by contemplation
actually reach, even during this present life, to the vision of the
Essence of God.
But S. Denis says[371]: "If anyone saw God and understood what
he saw, then it was not God he saw, but something belonging to
Him." And similarly S. Gregory says[372]: "Almighty God is never
seen in His Glory, but the soul gazes at something derived from
It, and thus refreshed, makes advance, and so ultimately arrives
at the glory of vision." Hence when Jacob said, _I saw God face
to face_, we are not to understand that he saw the Essence of
God, but that he saw some appearance--that is, some imaginary
appearance--in which God spoke to him; or, as the Gloss of S.
Gregory[373] has it, "Since we know people by the face, Jacob
called knowledge of God His face."
2. Further, S. Gregory says[374]: "Contemplative men turn back within
upon themselves in that they search into spiritual things, and do not
carry with them the shadows of things corporeal; or if perchance they
touch them, they drive them away with discreet hands. But when they
would look upon the Infinite Light, they put aside all images which
limit It, and in striving to arrive at a height superior to themselves,
they become conquerors of their nature." But a man is only withheld from
the vision of the Divine Essence, which is Infinite Light, by the
necessity he is under of turning to corporeal images. From this it would
seem that contemplation can, even in this present life, arrive at the
sight of the Infinite Essential Light.