On Prayer and The Contemplative Life Part 22

But dispositively the moral virtues do belong to the contemplative life.

For actual contemplation, in which the contemplative life essentially consists, is impeded both by the vehemence of the pa.s.sions which distract the soul from occupation with the things of the intellect, and divert it to the things of sense, and also by external disturbances. The moral virtues, however, keep down the vehemence of the pa.s.sions, and check the disturbance that might arise from external occupations.

Consequently the moral virtues do pertain to the contemplative life, but by way of disposition thereto.

But some maintain that the moral virtues do pertain to the contemplative life, thus:

1. S. Gregory says[327]: "The contemplative life means keeping charity towards G.o.d and our neighbour with our whole soul." But all the moral virtues--acts of which fall under precept--are reduced to love of G.o.d and of our neighbour; for _Love is the fulfilling of the Law_.[328]

Consequently it would seem that the moral virtues do pertain to the contemplative life.

But, as we have already said, the contemplative life is motived by the affective faculties, and consequently love of G.o.d and of our neighbour are required for the contemplative life. Impelling causes, however, do not enter into the essence of a thing, but prepare for it and perfect it. Hence it does not follow that the moral virtues essentially pertain to the contemplative life.

2. Again; the contemplative life is especially directed towards the contemplation of G.o.d, as S. Gregory says: "The soul, trampling all cares underfoot, ardently yearns to see its Creator's face." But no one can attain to this without that cleanness of heart which the moral virtues procure: _Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see G.o.d_,[329]

and again: _Follow peace with all men with holiness, without which no man shall see G.o.d_.[330]

But holiness--that is, cleanness of heart--is produced by those virtues which have to do with those pa.s.sions 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 partic.i.p.ation--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 chast.i.ty 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d_, 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 p.r.o.ne 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d: prayer is necessary, according to the words: _I called upon G.o.d, 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 n.o.bis 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 just.i.tiae 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 Beat.i.tude is what we have to seek; this we have to ask for from the Lord G.o.d. And what Beat.i.tude 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 G.o.d's Scripture: _Happy is that people whose G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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._ cx.x.x.

_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 G.o.d of my heart; and the G.o.d 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 G.o.d, to put my hope in the Lord G.o.d: 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 G.o.d, or in the Consideration of other Truths as well?

S. Gregory says[355]: "In contemplation it is the Principle--namely, G.o.d--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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 gla.s.s and in a dark manner_; it causes in us now a certain commencement of beat.i.tude, 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 G.o.d by the consideration of His Divine works--_The invisible things of G.o.d ... 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 G.o.d. For this reason S. Augustine says[359]: "In the study of created things we must not exercise a mere idle and pa.s.sing 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 G.o.d but is extended to the consideration of any truth whatsoever, thus:

1. In Ps. cx.x.xviii. 14 we read: _Wonderful are Thy works! My soul knoweth right well!_ But the knowledge of the works of G.o.d 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 G.o.d's works that he might thereby be led to G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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.