Light, Life, and Love: Selections from the German Mystics of the Middle Ages Part 10

THE incomprehensible wealth and sublimity, and the universal generosity which flow from the divine nature, bring a man into a state of amazement; and above all he admires the communication of G.o.d and His effluence above everything, for he sees the inconceivable essence, which is the common joy of G.o.d and all the saints. And he sees that the three divine Persons are a common effluence in works, in graces, and in glory, in nature and above nature, in all conditions and in all times, in the saints and in men, in heaven and on earth, in all reasonable and irrational creatures, according to each one's merits, needs, and powers of receiving. G.o.d is common to all, with all His gifts, the angels are common, the soul is common in all its faculties, in all life, in all the members, and all in each, for one cannot divide it, except by reason. For the higher and lower faculties, the spirit and the soul, are distinct according to reason, but one in nature. Thus G.o.d is entirely and specially present to each one, and nevertheless common to all the creatures, for by Him are all things, and on Him depend the heaven, the earth, and the whole of nature. When a man thus observes the astonis.h.i.+ng wealth and sublimity of the divine nature, and all the manifold gifts which He grants and offers to His creatures, he is lifted up internally by wonder at such manifold riches and sublimity; and from thence arises a singular inward joy of spirit, and a vast confidence in G.o.d; and this internal joy surrounds and penetrates all the faculties of the soul in inwardness of spirit.

HOW THE THIRD RIVER CONFIRMS THE WILL

FROM this joy and fullness of graces, and divine faithfulness, there is born and flows out the third river in this same unity of spirit.

This river, like a flame, lights up the spirit and absorbs all things in unity. And it causes to overflow and flood with rich gifts and singular n.o.bility, all the faculties of the soul, and it creates in the will a love without labour, spiritual and subtle. Now Christ says internally in the spirit by means of this flaming river: "Go forth by exercises according to the mode of these gifts and this coming." Thanks to the first river--that is to say, to a simple light, the memory is lifted up above the accidents of sense, and is established in the unity of spirit. Thanks to the second river-- that is to say, to the brightness spread abroad within, the intelligence and reason are enlightened, so as to recognise the diverse modes of the virtues and of exercises, and the mysteries of the Scriptures. Thanks to the third river--that is to say, to an inspired ardour, the sublime will is kindled into a more tranquil love, and adorned with greater riches. In this way a man becomes spiritually enlightened, for the grace of G.o.d abides, like a fountain in the unity of the spirit; and these rivers create in the faculties of the soul an effluence of all the virtues. And the fountain of grace always requires a reflux towards its source.

HOW CHRIST IS GIVEN TO ALL MEN IN THE SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR

THERE is a special benefit which Christ left in the Holy Church, to all good people, in this supper of the great Paschal feast, when He was about to pa.s.s from His sufferings to His Father after having eaten the Paschal lamb with His disciples, and when the ancient law was accomplished. At the end of the supper, He wished to give them a special meal, as He had long desired to do. And this is why He wished to finish the ancient law and to inaugurate the new law. He took bread in His sacred hands, and consecrated His holy body, and then His holy blood, and gave them to all His disciples, and left them to all the just, for their eternal good.

This gift and this special food rejoice and adorn all the great festivals and all the banquets in heaven and on earth. In this gift Christ gives Himself to us in three manners; He gives us His flesh and blood and His bodily life, glorified and full of joys and griefs. And He gives us His spirit with its highest faculties, and full of glory, of gifts, of truths and justifications. And He gives us His personality with the divine light which lifts up His spirit and all enlightened spirits, even to the sublime and joyous unity.

Now Christ wishes us to remember Him, whenever we consecrate, offer, and receive His body. Now observe how we should remember Him. We shall observe and consider how Christ bends towards us in loving affection, in great desire, in loving joy, and by flowing into our bodily nature. For He gives us that which He received from our humanity--that is to say, His flesh and blood and bodily nature. We shall contemplate this precious body pierced and wounded with love, by reason of His faithfulness to us. It is by it that we are adorned and nourished in the lower part of our human nature. He gives us also, in this sublime gift of the sacrament, His spirit full of glory, and the richest gifts of the virtues, and ineffable marvels of charity and n.o.bleness.

It is by this that we are nourished, adorned, and illuminated in the unity of our spirit and in our higher faculties, thanks to the indwelling of Christ with all His riches. He gives us also in the sacrament of the altar His sublime personality in incomprehensible light. And thanks to this, we are united to the Father, and so we reach our inheritance of divinity in eternal bliss. If a man meditate rightly on this, he will meet Christ in the same manner in which Christ comes to him. He will raise himself up to receive Christ, with all his faculties and in eager joy. It is not possible for our joy to be too great, for our nature receives His nature--that is to say the glorified humanity of Christ, full of joyfulness and full of merits. This is why I would that man, at the reception of this sacrament, should melt away with desire, joy, and pleasure, for he is receiving the fairest, the most gracious, the most lovable of the children of men, and is united to Him. In this union and in this joy great benefits often come to men, and many mysterious and marvellous secrets of divine treasures are manifested and disclosed.

When a man meditates, at this reception, on the martyrdom and sufferings of the precious body of Christ, whom he is receiving, he enters sometimes into so loving a devotion and so great a compa.s.sion, that he desires to be nailed with Christ to the cross, and to shed his heart's blood for the honour of Christ. And he presses himself to the wounds and open heart of Christ His Saviour.

In these exercises revelations and great benefits have often come to men.

ON THE UNITY OF THE DIVINE NATURE IN THE TRINITY OF PERSONS

THE sublime and superessential unity of the Divine nature, in which the Father and the Son possess their nature in the unity of the Holy Spirit, above the conception and comprehension of all our faculties, in the bare essence of our spirit, surpa.s.ses in this sublime calm all the creatures of created light. This sublime unity of the Divine nature is living and fruitful, for, from this same unity, the eternal Word is born from the Father without interruption. And by this birth the Father knows the Son, and all things in the Son. And the Son knows the Father, and all things in the Father, for their nature is simple. From this reciprocal vision of the Father and the Son in an eternal clearness, flow forth an eternal satisfaction and unfathomable love, which is the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit and the eternal Wisdom G.o.d inclines towards every creature severally, and loads every one of them with gifts and kindles it with love, according to its n.o.bility and according to the state wherein it is const.i.tuted and elected though its virtues and the eternal foresight of G.o.d. And it is by this that all just spirits, in heaven and on earth, are united in virtue and justice.

HOW G.o.d MOVES AND POSSESSES THE SOUL, NATURALLY AND SUPERNATURALLY

NOW be attentive: I am about to give you an example on this subject. G.o.d has made the upper heaven a pure and simple clearness encircling and enveloping all the heavens; and all the material world which G.o.d has created for it is the exterior abode and kingdom of G.o.d and His saints, full of glory and eternal joys. Now the heaven being an unmixed clearness, there is there neither time, nor state, nor temptation, nor change, for it is unchangeably fixed above all things. The sphere which approaches most nearly to it is called the primum mobile. All movement, by the power of G.o.d, emanates from the supreme heaven. This is the movement which carries with it the motions of the firmament and all the planets. It is by this same initial movement that all the creatures live and grow, according to their order. Now understand that the essence of the soul is like a spiritual kingdom of G.o.d, full of Divine clearness, surpa.s.sing all our faculties, unless these faculties are not transformed in a simple fas.h.i.+on, of which I do not wish to speak now. See; in this essence of the soul in which G.o.d reigns, the unity of our spirit is like the primum mobile; for in this unity the spirit is moved from above, by the power of G.o.d, naturally and supernaturally; for by ourselves we have nothing either in or above nature. And this motion of G.o.d, when it is supernatural, is the first and chief cause of all our virtue. And by this motion of G.o.d the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are granted to certain enlightened men, like the seven planets which illuminate all the lives of men. This is how G.o.d possesses the essential unity of our spirit, as His Kingdom.

ON THE ESSENTIAL MEETING WITH G.o.d, WITHOUT INTERMEDIARY

NOW attend carefully. The unity of our spirit has two modes, one essential and the other active. You should know that the spirit, according to its essential existence, receives the coming of Christ in its bare nature, without intermediary and without interruption.

For this essence and life which we are in G.o.d, in our eternal image, and which we have in ourselves, according to essential existence, are without intermediary and inseparable. This is why the spirit receives, in its highest and most intimate part, in its bare nature, the impression of its eternal image, and the divine brightness without interruption, and it is an eternal dwelling of G.o.d, which He occupies by a perpetual inhabitation, and which He visits always with a new coming, and a new effulgence from His eternal birth. For where He comes He is, and where He is He comes. And where He has never been, He will never come, for there is in Him neither accident nor change, and everything, where He is, is in Him, for He never goes out of Himself. And this is why the spirit possesses G.o.d essentially in its bare nature, and G.o.d the spirit, for the spirit lives in G.o.d, and G.o.d in the spirit. And it is capable, in its highest part, of receiving the brightness of G.o.d, and all that G.o.d may grant it, without intermediary. And by the brightness of its eternal image, which s.h.i.+nes essentially and personally in it, the spirit is plunged, as regards the highest part of its vitality, in the divine essence; and there enters into possession of its eternal bliss, and flowing out again by the eternal birth of the Son is placed in its created essence by the free will of the Holy Trinity, And here it is like the image of the sublime Trinity and Unity for which it is created. And in its created nature, it takes the impression of its eternal image without interruption, like an immaculate mirror in which every impression abides, and which renews the likeness in itself without interruption. This essential unity of our spirit in G.o.d, exists not in itself, but abides in G.o.d and flows out from G.o.d, and is immanent in G.o.d and returns to G.o.d, as to its eternal cause. It never separates itself from G.o.d, for this unity is a fact of bare nature, and if nature separated itself from G.o.d it would fall into nothingness. And this unity is above time and conditions, and works always without interruption according to the mode of G.o.d. This is the n.o.bleness which we have naturally according to the essential unity of our spirit, where it is united naturally to G.o.d.

This makes us neither saints nor blessed, for all men have it in them, the bad as well as the good; but it is the first cause of all holiness and bliss; and this is the meeting and unity of G.o.d in our spirit, in our base nature.

HOW MAN IS LIKE G.o.d BY GRACE, AND UNLIKE HIM BY MORTAL SIN

NOW examine this thought with care, for if you understand well what I wish to say to you, and what I have already said, you will understand all the divine truth which a creature can apprehend at present, and even things far more sublime. In the second mode, our spirit keeps itself actively in this same unity, and subsists by itself as in its personal created essence. This is the foundation and origin of the supreme faculties, and this is the beginning and end of all the works of a created nature, accomplished according to the mode of the creatures, both in nature and above nature.

Nevertheless this unity does not operate as unity; but all the faculties of the soul have their power entirely in their foundation--that is to say, in the unity of the spirit, where it resides in its personal essence. In this unity the spirit must always be like unto G.o.d, by grace and virtue, or unlike Him by mortal sin; for man is made in the likeness of G.o.d, which he must understand in the sense of grace; for grace is a deiform light which s.h.i.+nes through us and makes us like unto G.o.d; and without this light we cannot be united supernaturally to G.o.d, even though we can never lose the image of G.o.d, nor our natural unity in Him. If we lose this likeness--that is to say, grace, we are d.a.m.ned. And this is why, so soon as G.o.d finds in us something which is capable of receiving His grace, He wishes to enliven us by His goodness, and to make us like unto Himself by His gifts. And this happens whenever we turn towards Him with full purpose; for at the same moment Christ comes to us and in us, with and without intermediary--that is to say, by the virtues and above all the virtues. And He impresses His image and likeness upon us--that is to say, Himself and all His gifts, and He relieves us from sin and makes us like unto Himself.

By the same operation in which G.o.d relieves us from sin, and makes us like Him and free in charity, the spirit is plunged in joyous love. And here take place a meeting and a union, which are without intermediaries and supernatural, and wherein resides our supreme blessedness. Although all that He gives by love and pure goodness is natural to G.o.d, yet to us it is accidental and supernatural, according to our mode, since formerly we were strangers and unlike, and only subsequently have become like G.o.d and obtained union with Him.

ON THE SUPREME DEGREE OF THE INTERIOR LIFE

NOW understand. This incomprehensible light transforms and penetrates the joyous inclination of our spirit. In this light, the spirit is plunged in joyous repose; for this repose is without mode and without bottom, and we can only know it by itself--that is to say, by repose. For if we could know it and conceive it, it would fall into mode and measure, and so would not be able to satisfy us, and repose would become an eternal restlessness. And this is why the simple, loving, complete inclination of our spirit forms in us a joyous love, and joyous love is without bottom. And the abyss of G.o.d calls to abyss; so it is with all those whose spirits are united to G.o.d in joyous love. This calling is an irruption from His essential brightness; and this essential brightness in the embrace of His bottomless love, causes us to lose ourselves and escape from ourselves, in the lonely darkness of G.o.d. And thus united, without intermediary, to the spirit of G.o.d, we can meet G.o.d by G.o.d, and possess unchangeably, with Him and in Him, our eternal blessedness.

ON THE FIRST MODE OF THIS HIGHEST MEETING

THE most interior life is practised in three ways. Sometimes the interior man operates, above all activity and all virtue, by simple introspection in joyous love. And here he meets G.o.d without intermediary. And from the unity of G.o.d a simple light s.h.i.+nes in him, and this light shows him darkness, nakedness, and nothingness.

He is enveloped in darkness, and falls into the absence of mode as one who loses his way. He loses, in nakedness, the power of observing and distinguis.h.i.+ng all things, and he is transformed and penetrated by a simple brightness. He loses, in nothingness, all his works, for he is overcome in the work of the unlimited love of G.o.d; and in the joyous inclination of his spirit he triumphs in G.o.d and becomes one spirit with Him. This is the first mode, which is inactive; for it empties a man of all things, and lifts him up above works and virtues.

ON THE SECOND MODE

THERE are moments when the interior man turns desirously and actively towards G.o.d, to pay Him homage, and to offer up and annihilate, in the love of G.o.d, his being and all that he can give.

And here he meets G.o.d, through an intermediary. This intermediary is the gift of wisdom, which is the foundation and source of all the virtues, and excites the just to virtues in proportion to their love; and sometimes it touches and inflames the interior man with love so violently, that all the gifts of G.o.d, and all that G.o.d can give without giving Himself, seem to him too little and do not satisfy him, but only increase his impatience. For he has at the bottom of his being an interior perception or sensation, wherein all the virtues begin and end, and wherein he offers to G.o.d all the virtues, and wherein love lives. And thus the hunger and thirst of love become so great, that he is reduced to nothingness, and then touched anew, as it were for the first time, by the irradiation of G.o.d. Thus in living he dies and in dying he lives again. This is the second mode, and it is more useful and more glorious than the first; for none can enter into the repose that is above action unless he has first actively loved love. And this is why none will be inactive, who is master of himself and who is able to practise love.

ON THE THIRD MODE

FROM these two kinds is born the third, which is an interior life according to righteousness. Now understand. G.o.d comes to us without interruption, with and. without intermediary, He requires of us action and joy, in such a way that action may not hinder joy, nor joy action, but that each may help the other. This is why the interior man possesses his life in these two modes, repose and work.

And in each of them he is entire and undivided; for he is entirely in G.o.d, in his joyous repose, and he is entirely in himself, in his active love; and G.o.d warns him that He requires him to renew continually his repose and his work. The righteousness of the spirit wishes to pay, every hour, what G.o.d requires of us, and this is why, at every irradiation of G.o.d, the spirit turns inwards, actively and joyously, and so is renewed in all the virtues, and plunged more deeply in joyous love. For G.o.d at every gift gives Himself with all His gifts, and the spirit whenever it turns inwards, gives itself with all its works. The spirit is united to G.o.d, and transferred without interruption into repose. The man is hungry, for he sees the nourishment of angels and the food of heaven. He works actively in love, for he sees his repose. He is a pilgrim, and he sees his country. He fights, in love, for victory, for he sees his crown.

Consolation, peace, joy, beauty, and riches, and all that can rejoice the heart, are shown to the reason illuminated by G.o.d, in spiritual similitudes and without measure. And by this vision, at the touch of G.o.d, love remains active. For this just man has built up, in the spirit, a true life, which will last eternally, but after this life it will be transformed into a more sublime state. Thus the man is just, and he goes towards G.o.d by interior love in eternal work, and he goes in G.o.d by joyous inclination, in eternal repose.

And he abides in G.o.d, and yet he goes out towards all the creatures, in common love, in the virtues, and in the works of justice. This is the supreme summit of the inner life.

Note.--Here follow in Ruysbroek's treatise four chapters of warnings against the errors of Quietism, such as were exemplified in his time by many of the Brethren of the Free Spirit and similar sects.

BOOK III

THE THREE CONDITIONS BY WHICH WE MAY ATTAIN TO THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE

THE interior lover of G.o.d, who possesses G.o.d in joyous repose, and possesses himself in the unity of active love, and possesses all his life in the virtues, enters into the contemplative life, thanks to these three points and to the secret manifestation of G.o.d; yes, it is the internal and devout lover, whom G.o.d will choose freely and lift him up even to a superessential contemplation in divine light and according to the mode of G.o.d. This contemplation places us in a purity and brightness above all intelligence, for it is a singular ornament and a celestial crown, and at last the eternal recompense of all the virtues and of all life. And none can arrive there by knowledge or subtlety, nor by any exercise; but he whom G.o.d wills to unite to His own Spirit and to illuminate by Himself, can contemplate G.o.d, and none other can. To such an one the heavenly Father says, in the secret and submerged part of the spirit: "See, the Bridegroom cometh, go forth to meet Him."

I wish to a.n.a.lyse and explain these words, in their relation to superessential contemplation, which is the basis of all holiness and of the perfect life. Very few men attain to this divine contemplation, by reason of our incapacity, and the mystery of the light in which contemplation takes place. And this is why no one, by his own knowledge or by any subtle examination, will understand these ideas. For all words, and all that can be learned and understood according to the mode of the creatures, are strangers to the truth which I speak of, and far below it. But he who is united to G.o.d, and illuminated in this truth, can comprehend the truth by itself. For to conceive and understand G.o.d above all similitudes, as He is in Himself, is to be G.o.d in G.o.d, without intermediary and without any difference which might prove an obstacle. This is why I desire that every man who does not understand this, nor experience it in the joyous unity of his spirit, may not be wounded by my words, for what I say is true. And this is why he who wishes to understand this, must be dead to himself and alive to G.o.d, and he will turn his face to the eternal light, at the bottom of his spirit, where the hidden truth is manifested without intermediary.

For the heavenly Father wishes that we should be seeing; for He is the Father of Light, and this is why He says eternally, without interruption and without intermediary, one abysmal word and no other. In this word He proffers Himself and all things. The word is: "See." And it is the going forth and the birth of the Son of the eternal light, in whom we see and recognise all our blessedness.

HOW A MAN OUGHT TO EXERCISE HIMSELF, IN ORDER TO RECEIVE THE ETERNAL LIGHT AND TO CONTEMPLATE G.o.d

IN order that the spirit may contemplate G.o.d by G.o.d, without intermediary, in this Divine light, three things are necessary.

First, the man must be well governed externally in all the virtues, and without obstacles within, and as free from all external works as if he did them not; for if he is troubled within by any act of virtue, he has images, and so long as they remain in him he cannot contemplate. In the second place, he must adhere internally to G.o.d, by the combination of intention and of love, like a burning fire, which can never more be extinguished. At the moment when he feels himself in this state, he can contemplate. In the third place, he should be lost in an absence of mode, and in a darkness, in which all contemplatives wander joyously, and can never find themselves again according to the mode of the creatures. In the abyss of this darkness, where the loving spirit is dead to itself, begin the manifestation of G.o.d and of eternal life. For in this darkness is born and s.h.i.+nes an incomprehensible light, which is the Son of G.o.d, in whom we see eternal life. And in this light we become seeing; and this Divine light is given in the simple vision of the spirit, in which the spirit receives the clearness which is G.o.d Himself, without intermediary, and becomes without interruption this clearness which it receives. See; this dark clearness, in which we contemplate all that we desire, while the spirit is pa.s.sive,--this clearness is so great than the loving contemplative, in the depth where he reposes, sees and experiences nothing save an incomprehensible light, and according to the simple nudity which envelopes all things, he sees and apprehends the same light by which he sees, and nothing else. This is the first condition of becoming seeing in the Divine light. Happy are the eyes which thus see, for they have eternal life.

HOW THE ETERNAL BIRTH OF G.o.d IS RENEWED WITHOUT INTERRUPTION IN n.o.bLENESS OF SPIRIT

WHEN we have thus become seeing, we can contemplate in joy the eternal coming of the Bridegroom, and this is the second point on which I wish to speak. What is then this coming of the Bridegroom which is eternal? It is a new birth and a new illumination without interruption; for the foundation out of which the clearness s.h.i.+nes, and which is the clearness itself, is living and fruitful; and this is why the manifestation of the eternal light is renewed without interruption, in the most secret part of the spirit. See; every creaturely work, and every exercise of virtue must here submit themselves, for G.o.d works alone in the highest part of the spirit.

There is nought here but an eternal contemplation and fixity of light, by light, and in light. And the coming of the Bridegroom is so swift that He comes always, and is immanent with His unfathomable riches, and comes back ever anew, in person, with such new splendours that He seems never to have come before. For His coming consists in an eternal Now, transcending time, and He is always received with new desire and new joy. The delights and joy which this Bridegroom brings at His coming are without bottom and without limits, for they are Himself. This is why the eyes of the spirit, by which the lover contemplates the Bridegroom, are open so wide that they will never more be shut. For the contemplation and fixity of the spirit remain eternal in the hidden manifestation of G.o.d. And the contemplation of the spirit is so widely opened, while waiting for the coming of the Bridegroom, that the spirit itself acquires the amplitude of that which it comprehends. And in this way, G.o.d is seen and comprehended by G.o.d, in which all our salvation and blessedness consists. This is the second manner in which we receive, without interruption in our spirit, the eternal coming of our Bridegroom.

ON THE ETERNAL GOING FORTH WHICH WE POSSESS IN THE BIRTH OF THE SON

NOW the Spirit of G.o.d saith, in the secret depths of our spirit: "Go forth," in an eternal contemplation and joy, according to the mode of G.o.d. All the wealth which is in G.o.d naturally, we possess in Him by love; and G.o.d possesses it in us, by His boundless Love, which is the Holy Spirit. For in this love all is tasted that can be desired. And this is why, thanks to this love, we are dead to ourselves, and have gone forth in loving liquefaction or immersion, in the absence of mode and in darkness. There the spirit, enveloped by the Holy Trinity, is eternally immanent in the superessential unity, in repose and in joy. And in this same unity, according to the mode of generation, the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and every creature in them both. And this is above the distinction of Persons, for here we understand by reason the fatherhood and sons.h.i.+p in the lively fruitfulness of nature.

Here is born and begins an eternal going forth, and an eternal work without beginning, for there is here a beginning without beginning.

For by means of the eternal birth of the Son, the Word of the Father, all creatures have gone forth eternally, before they were created in time, and G.o.d has considered and recognised them distinctly in Himself, in lively reason, and in distinction from Himself: but not in another mode, for all that is in G.o.d is G.o.d.

This eternal going forth and this eternal life, which we have and are eternally in G.o.d, without ourselves, is the cause of our created essence in time. And our created essence is immanent in the eternal essence, and this eternal life, which we have and are in the eternal wisdom of G.o.d, is like unto G.o.d; for they have an eternal immanence, without distinction, in the divine essence. And they have an eternal effluence by the birth of the Son, in a difference with distinction, according to the eternal reason. And thanks to these two things, a man is in this way like unto G.o.d, that he recognises himself and reflects on himself without interruption, in this resemblance, according to essence and according to the Persons. For though here there is still distinction and difference, according to reason, this resemblance is nevertheless one with the very image of the Holy Trinity, which is the wisdom of G.o.d, and wherein G.o.d contemplates Himself and all things in an eternal Now, without before or after.

In simple vision He regards Himself as He regards all things. And this is the image and likeness of G.o.d, and our image and likeness, for in it G.o.d and all things are reflected. In this divine image, all the creatures, without themselves, have an eternal life, as in their eternal model, and the Holy Trinity has made us in this eternal image and likeness. And this is why G.o.d wishes that we should go out from ourselves, in this eternal light, and that we should pursue this image, which is our true life, supernaturally, and possess it with Him actively and joyously, in eternal blessedness.

For we know well that the bosom of the Father is our foundation and origin, wherein we begin our life and our being. And from our true foundation--that is to say, from the Father and from all that lives in Him, beams forth an eternal radiance, which is the birth of the Son. In this radiance, the Father manifests Himself, and all that lives in Himself, to Himself; for all that He is, and all that He has, He gives to the Son, except the prerogative of fatherhood, which resides in Himself. And this is why all that lives in the Father hidden in the Unity, lives also in the Son, and flows forth in His manifestation; but the simple foundation of our eternal image remains always without mode in the darkness. But the boundless radiance which s.h.i.+nes out thence manifests and reflects in the mode the mystery of G.o.d. And all men who are raised above their creatureliness into a contemplative life, are united to this divine splendour. And they are this splendour itself, and they see, experience, and find, thanks to this divine radiance, that they are this same simple foundation, according to their uncreated essence, from which s.h.i.+nes forth, in the divine mode, this immeasurable radiance, which, according to simplicity of essence, remains eternally within, and without mode. This is why interior men and contemplatives will go forth, according to the mode of contemplation, above distinction and above their created essence, by means of an eternal intuition. Thanks to this inborn light, they are transformed, and are united to this same light by which they see and which they see. In this manner contemplatives pursue the eternal image, after which they are made, and contemplate G.o.d and all things without distinction, by a pure vision in divine brightness. This is the most sublime and the most useful contemplation which we can attain in this life; for in this contemplation a man remains the best and freest master of himself, and at each loving introversion, above all that we can comprehend, he can advance in the sublimities of life, for he remains free and master of himself, in unity and in the virtues. And this contemplation in the divine light maintains him above all inwardness, above all virtue, above all merit, for it is the crown and recompense towards which we are striving, and which we already have and possess in this mode, for the contemplative life is a celestial life. But if we shall be drawn up out of this exile and this misery, we shall be, according to our created nature, more susceptible of this radiance, and then the glory of G.o.d would s.h.i.+ne through us better and more sublimely. This is the mode above all modes, according to which we go forth in a divine contemplation and in an eternal stability, and according to which we are transformed and reformed in the divine radiance. This going forth of the contemplative is also loving; for by joyous love he surpa.s.ses his created essence, and finds and tastes the riches and delights which are G.o.d, and which He causes to flow without interruption into the most secret part of the spirit, into the place where he is like the sublimity of G.o.d.

ON THE DIVINE MEETING, WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE MOST SECRET PART OF OUR SPIRIT

WHEN the interior man and contemplative has thus pursued his eternal image, and possessed in this purity the bosom of the Father by the Son, he is illuminated by the divine truth, and receives anew at each instant the eternal birth; and he goes forth according to the mode of light, in a divine contemplation. And here arises the fourth and last point--that is to say, the loving meeting, in which before all else resides our eternal blessedness.