Chapter Four

The Consideration of God in His Image Reformed through the Gifts of Grace


1. Since we contemplate the First Principle not only through us on our way, but also in us, and since this kind of consideration is more excellent than the former, therefore it holds the fourth step in contemplation. It seems strange indeed that after what has been shown of God's closeness to our souls there are so few concerned about perceiving the First Principle within themselves. Distracted by many cares, the human mind does not enter into itself through the memory; beclouded by sense images, it does not come back to itself through the intelligence; and drawn away by the concupiscences, it does not return to itself through the desire for interior sweetness and spiritual joy. Therefore, completely immersed in things of sense, the soul cannot re-enter into itself as the image of God.

2. And just as, when one has fallen, he must lie where he is unless another is at hand to raise him up, so our soul could not be perfectly lifted up out of these things of sense to see itself and the eternal Truth in itself had not Truth, taking human form in Christ, become a ladder restoring the first ladder that had been broken in Adam.
Thus it is that, no matter how enlightened one may be by the light coming from nature and from acquired knowledge, he cannot enter into himself to delight in the Lord except through the mediation of Christ, Who says, I am the door. If anyone enter by me he shall be safe, and shall go in and out, and shall find pastures. But we do not come to this door unless we believe in Him, hope in Him, and love Him. Therefore, if we wish to enter again into the enjoyment of Truth as into Paradise, we must go in through faith and hope in, and love for the Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, Who is like the Tree of life in the midst of Paradise.

3. The image of our soul, therefore, must be clothed over with the three theological virtues, by which the soul is purified, enlightened, and perfected. In this way the image is reformed and made conformable to the heavenly Jerusalem, and a part of the Church Militant, which, according to the Apostle, is the offspring of the heavenly Jerusalem. For he says That Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. The soul, therefore, now believes and hopes in Jesus Christ and loves Him, Who is the incarnate, uncreated, and inspired Word - the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When the soul by faith believes in Christ as in the uncreated Word, Who is the Word and the brightness of the Father, she recovers her spiritual hearing and sight, hearing to receive the words of Christ, and sight to view the splendors of that Light. When the soul longs with hope to receive the inspired word, she recovers, because of her desire and affection, the spiritual sense of smell. When she embraces with love the Incarnate Word, inasmuch as she receives delight from Him and passes over to Him in ecstatic love, she recovers her sense of taste and touch. Having recovered the spiritual senses, the soul now sees, hears, smells, tastes, and embraces her beloved, and can sing as a bride the Canticle of Canticles, which was composed for the exercise of contemplation proper to the fourth step. No one reaches this except him who receives it, for it consists more in the experience of the affections than in the considerations of the mind. It is at this step, where the interior senses have been restored to see what is most beautiful, to hear what is most harmonious, to smell what is most fragrant, to taste what is most sweet, and to embrace what is most delightful, that the soul is prepared for spiritual transports through devotion, admiration, and exultation, corresponding to the three exclamations uttered in the Canticle of Canticles. The first of these is uttered out of the abundance of devotion, by which the soul becomes as a pillar of smoke of aromatic spices, of myrrh and frankincense. The second is uttered out of the exuberance of admiration by which the soul becomes as the dawn, the moon, and the sun, according to the degree of enlightenment that lifts up the soul to admire the Bridegroom whom she contemplates. The third is uttered out of the superabundance of exultation, because of which the soul is made to overflow with delights of most sweet pleasure, leaning wholly upon her beloved.

4. These things attained, our spirit, inasmuch as it is in conformity with the heavenly Jerusalem, is made hierarchic in order to mount upward. For into this heavenly Jerusalem no one enters unless it first comes down into his heart by grace, as St. John beheld in the Apocalypse. It comes down into our heart when, by the reformation of the image, the theological virtues, the delights of the spiritual senses, and uplifting transports, our spirit becomes hierarchic, that is, purified, enlightened, and perfected. Thus our spirit is sealed with the nine degrees of orders, when in its inner depths the following are arranged in due order announcing, dictating, guiding, ordering, strengthening, commanding, receiving, revealing, and anointing, and these correspond, step by step, to the nine orders of angels. In the human mind the first three degrees of the aforementioned orders concerm nature; the following three, activity; and the last three, grace. Having obtained these, the soul, entering into itself, enters into the celestial Jerusalem, where, considering the order of the angels, it sees in them God, who dwells in them and performs all their works. That is why St. Bernard says in his letter to Pope Eugene IV that "God loves in the Seraphim as charity, knows in the Cherubim as truth, resides in the Thrones as equity, is lord in the Dominations as majesty, rules in the Principalities as prince, guards in the Powers as salvation, acts in the Virtues as strength, reveals in the Archangels as light, and assists in the Angels as kmdness." From all this, God is seen as all in all when we contemplate Him in our minds where He dwells through the gifts of the most bountiful love.

5. On this level of contemplation the study of the divinely committed Sacred Scriptures is most especially helpful, as philosophy was on the preceding step. For Sacred Scripture is concerned principally with the work of reparation. Hence it treats mainly of faith, hope, and charity, by which the soul must be reformed, and most especially of charity. The Apostle says that charity is the end of the commandment, imasmuch as it stems from a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. It is the fullfilment of the Law, the same Apostle says. And our Savior asserts that the whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments, the love of God and of our neighbor. These two are signified by the one Spouse of the Church, Jesus Christ, Who is at one and the same time our Neighbor and our God, our Brother and our Lord, our King and our Friend, Word incarnate and uncreated Word, our Maker and our Re-maker, the Alpha and the Omega, Who is also the supreme Hierarch, Who purifies, enlightens, and perfects His spouse, that is, the whole Church and every sanctified soul.

6. All Sacred Scripture, therefore, treats of this Hierarch and of the hierarchy of the Church. By it we are taught how to be purified, enlightened, and perfected according to the threefold law handed down: the law of nature, the law of Scriptures, and the law of grace. Or rather, they correspond to its three prmcipal parts, the Law of Moses which purifies, the Prophetic Revelation which enlightens, and the Evangelical doctrine which perfects. Or more especially, they correspond to its three spiritnal meanings: the tropological which purifies for righteousness of life, the allegorical which enlightens for clearness of understandmg; and the anagogical which perfects through sprtitual transports and most sweet perceptions of wisdom. All this takes place in keeping with the three aforementioned theological virtues, the reformed spiritual senses, the three spiritual transports. and the hierarchical acts of the mind by which it turns back to its interior there to see God in the brightness of His Saints; and there as in her resting place she sleeps in peace and rests while the bridegroom beseeches that the spouse may not be awakened until she pleases to come forth.

7. Thus by these two intermediate steps through which we enter into the contemplation of God within us as in mirrors of created images, like the two middle wings of the Seraph spread for flight, we can understand how we are guided to things divine through the rational soul itself and its naturally implanted faculties, considered in their activities, their relationships, and their possession of sciences. This is apparent from the explanation of the third step. We are also guided by the reformed faculties of the soul itself. This takes place with the help of freely-given virtues, spiritual senses, and spiritual transports. And this becomes clear in the fourth step. Moreover we are guided by the hierarchical activities of the human soul, its purification, enlightenment, and perfection, and by the hierarchical revelations of Sacred Scripture given to us by the angels, according to the word of the Apostle that the Law was given by angels through a mediator. And finally, we are led through the hierarchies and the hierarchic orders which must be arranged in our mind as they are in the heavenly Jerusalem.

8. Filled with all these intellectual lights, our mind like the house of God is inhabited by Divine Wisdom; it is made a daughter, a spouse, and a friend of God; it is made a member, a sister, a co-heir of Christ the Head; it is made the temple of the Holy Spirit, faith laying the foundation, hope building it up, and sanctity of soul and body dedicating it to God. All this is accomplished by a most sincere love of Christ, which is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us, without Whom we cannot know the mysteries of God. For no one can know the things of a man save the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, the things of God no one knows but the Spirit of God. Let us therefore, be rooted and grounded in charity that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length of the eternity, the breadth of the liberality, the height of the majesty, and the depth of the discerning wisdom of God.