chapter xiii. is entitled 'The prayer of faith [loving attention] a

common grace. 3 He says:
The grace of contemplation is granted with truly divine generosity to souls who devote themselves generously to prayer. It is not a miraculous gift; it is not an indication of a perfect life; it is a means of raising the soul to sanctity. 'Nearly all generous souls who remain faithful to prayer receive, sooner or later, the grace of obscure con- templation [i.e. prayer of faith]. As soon as these souls have acquired the power of discerning and corresponding with this grace they can practise at will the prayer of faith, which is an ordinary mystic prayer.* 1
Poulain and de Besse, while differing as to whether prayer of faith, or of simplicity, should be classed as mystical and infused, are agreed that it is the term of ordinary prayer, and that higher kinds, as St Teresa's prayers of quiet or of union, are extraordinary, or even miraculous. Fr Baker extends upwards the range of ordinary contemplation he does not, I think, ever use the term 'acquired' :
Mystic contemplation or union is of two sorts: (i) Active and ordinary, being indeed an habitual state of perfect souls by which they are enabled, whensoever fit occasion shall be, to unite them- selves actively and actually to God by efficacious, fervent, amorous, and constant, yet withal silent and quiet, elevations of the spirit. (2) Passive and extraordinary; the which is not a state but an actual grace and favour from God, by which He is pleased at certain times, according to His free good pleasure, to communicate a glimpse of His majesty to the spirits of His servants, after a secret and wonderful manner. 2
The most recent writers of the Dominican school carry the thing still further. They say that the epithet 'extraordinary 9 belongs only to such phenomena as visions, auditions, revelations, raptures, ecstasies, and the other psycho-physical phenomena, which, though
1 Op. cit. p. 181. * San$ta Sophia, p. 505.
XXXll AFTERTHOUGHTS
frequent concomitants of contemplation and mystical states, still are not of its essence, but only accidental adjuncts. These, being of the nature of gratiae gratis datae^ like the charismata of the Corinthians, are properly 'extraordinary' gifts, and are never legitimate objects of desire or prayer. But contemplation in itself, and apart from such manifestations, is in the normal course of God's providence and of the workings of the Holy Spirit, by sanctifying grace and by the sevenfold gifts, in the hearts and souls of the regenerate. Even the highest degrees of contemplation and mystical union, such as we hear the great mystics describe in the pages of this book, are held to be but the prolongation and culmination of the supernatural life of the soul coming to its fullest fructification in this life, an advanced glimpse or taste of the union of heaven. Thus, though extraordinary in fact, in that few reach the higher states of mystic union, such union is not extraordinary in itself or in its nature , but the growth of ordinary sanctifying grace working, so to say, intensively in con- genial and well-prepared soil. And so these higher mystic experi- ences, apart from rapture and ecstasy, etc., ajre not to be called * extraordinary* , but 'eminent': that they are so rare is to be attri- buted to the same sorts of reasons that make perfection and heroic sanctity so rare. This is the theory propounded by the Dominicans as being that of St Thomas, or at least the outcome of his teaching. It finds its most vigorous exponent in Pere Garrigou-Lagrange. It is in fact part of a larger theory to which we shall revert presently.
8. Mixed Contemplation
It may seem that these 'afterthoughts' have been labouring inter- minably abstract questions of theory; nay, even only of definition and terminology: yet it is not so: they are intimately bound up with those issues of practical personal devotion and religion that were a principal motive of the writing of this book (pp. 131-132, 222-223). And so I call attention to a letter, really a tractate, by a Carmelite theologian, printed by P. Garrigou-Lagrange in Perfection Ckritume et Contemplation (pp. 745-769). We have seen that, whether the idea goes further back or not, the name 'acquired 3 contemplation was devised by Carmelite theologians at the beginning of the seventeenth century in view of St Teresa's very rigid conception of 'supernatural' contemplation. The letter is an explanation of the teaching of these Carmelites on acquired contemplation. It shows that by it they mean hardly more than affective prayer or the simpler kind of recollection spoken of by St Teresa in c. xxviii. of the Way (see abpve, pp, xvu-xviii) JBut between mere acquired contemplation and
AFTERTHOUGHTS XXX111
that which, is fully passive St Teresa's 'supernatural' they recog- nize a 'mixed contemplation', which is in a measure acquired, and yet is really infused, the initiative of the soul joining itself to the divine motion, and the acts of acquired contemplation alternating with those of infused. This is the initial kind of contemplation; and to it this Carmelite theologian explicitly says belong St John's prayer of loving attention (of faith or of simplicity) in the Night of Sense and the oft cited section of the Living Flame, and also St Teresa's 'interior recollection' of the Fourth Mansion (above, pp. xviii-xix,). 1 This may be illustrated by a useful passage from St John himself, Ascent of Mount Carmel, Bk. n. c. xv:
It may be asked, whether proficients, those whom God has begun to lead into the supernatural knowledge of contemplation [i.e. the prayer of loving attention (see c. xiv.)] are, in virtue of this com- mencement, never again to return to the way of meditation, re- flections, and natural forms [phantasmata, concepts, etc.]? To this I answer, that it is not to be supposed that those who have begun to have this pure and loving knowledge are never to meditate again or attempt it. For in the beginning of their advancement the habit of this is not so perfect as that they should be able at pleasure to perform the acts of it. 2 Neither are they so far advanced beyond the state of meditation as to be unable to meditate and make their reflections as before and to find therein something new. Yea, rather, at first, when we see that our soul is not occupied in this quiet or knowledge, it will be necessary to have recourse to reflections, until we attain to the habit of it in some degree of perfection. Such will be the case when, as often as we apply ourselves to meditation, the soul reposes in this peaceful knowledge, without the power or the inclination to meditate; because, until we arrive at this, sometimes one, sometimes the other, occurs in this time of proficiency in such a way that often the soul finds itself in this loving or peaceful attendance upon God, with all its faculties in repose; and very often also will find it necessary, for that end, to have recourse to medita- tion, calmly and with moderation. But when this state is attained to, meditation ceases, and the faculties labour no more; for then we may rather say that intelligence and sweetness are wrought in the soul, and that it itself abstains from every effort, except only that it attends lovingly upon God, without any desire to feel or see anything further than to be in the hands of God, who now com- municates Himself to the soul thus passive, as the light of the sun to him whose eyes are open. Only, we must take care that no other lights of knowledge, or forms, or figures of meditation, of a more palpable kind intervene.
1 Op. cit. p. 763, note.
8 This seems of first importance: it implies that when the state of loving attention grows more perfect and more habitual, the acts of it may be performed at will.
XXXIV AFTERTHOUGHTS
This passage seems to speak the language of practical experience and of good sense. On similar lines Mgr Farges, while maintaining the propriety and reality of the distinction between acquired and infused or mystical contemplation, taking the latter in St Teresa's full sense of 'supernatural', still Is prepared to grant that there is an intermediate prayer between infused or mystical contemplation and ordinary or ascetic prayer, such that the highest degree of the prayer of simplicity would border on the lowest degree of the prayer of quiet, such a contemplation being partly infused and partly acquired; and to the rest in God which would result from it, has been given the name of quasi-quiet, for it would not entail any real suspension of the working of the powers of the soul. It is a mistake to recognize only a single form of contemplation, or only two, while in fact there are several. 1
After so much abstract discussion a concrete example will per- haps help to clear ideas. The following is a description of a kind or state of prayer that is fairly common among devout souls whose profession it is to cultivate the interior life and prayer as a set exercise:
One sets oneself to pray, say for the regulation half-hour;
empties the mind of all images, ideas, concepts this is commonly done without much difficulty;
fixes the soul In loving attention on God, without express or distinct idea of Him,, beyond the vague incomprehensible idea of His Godhead;
makes no particular acts, but a general actuation of love, without sensible devotion or emotional feeling: a sort of blind and dumb act of the "will or of the soul itself.
This lasts a few minutes, then fades away, and either a blank or distractions supervene: when recognized, the will again fixes the mind in loving attention' for a time. The period of prayer is thus passed in such alternations, a few minutes each, the bouts of loving attention being, in favourable conditions, more prolonged than the bouts of distraction.
Such prayer, on the one hand, seems to fall within the limits of Bishop Hedley's 'contemplation*, 'gazing and loving*; and certainly to be St John's loving attention*, and therefore initial 'infused con- templation'; on the other hand, it is 'acquired 5 by the act of the will, in again and again directing and fixing the mind in loving attention on God.
In view of the foregoing discussions I do not feel any need of 1 Mystical Phenomena, pp. 81-3.
AFTERTHOUGHTS XXXV
changing what is written on pp. 216-217; only I would now avoid the sharp contrast between acquired and infused contemplation, because they often overlap; and I would wish the last paragraph on p. 217 to be understood of 'mixed' contemplation. With St Teresa's prayer of quiet, and still more with the prayer of union, a change comes in, a new element the element which she designates 'supernatural', in her peculiar sense of the word. This change Pere Joret explains theologically by saying that up to this point the prayer is made in virtue of co-operating grace, but afterwards by operating grace. 1 Above this line lie the various manifestations of the mystical experience spoken of by the mystics passive union, experimental perception of God, substantial divine touches, intellectual vision, transforming love, spiritual marriage. Whether such experiences are to be termed extraordinary or ordinary (in whatever sense), I range myself with those who hold that there is a difference in kind between them and those lowlier contemplations that have so far mostly been occupying our attention.
9. Practical Agreements
Meantime, while the controversy on questions of theory is work- ing itself out, we may be thankful that fairly general agreement has been arrived at concerning certain points affecting the practice, alike of devout souls embarked on a spiritual course of self-discipline and prayer, and of those that direct them. These points of agreement may be summed up under three heads.
i. It seems to be a practically acquired result that discoursive meditation is no longer looked on as the normal lifelong mental prayer of devout souls. It has become recognized that if things be allowed to run their natural course, meditation will in due time (probably no very long time) pass into affective prayer, and this again into prayer of loving attention or of simplicity, i.e. contempla- tion; and that souls, as soon as they show the signs of ripeness for the change, should be instructed and encouraged to respond to the leading of the Holy Ghost. This, of course, is the burden of the teaching of St John of the Cross in the outburst on 'direction', printed as appendix by de Besse. 2 It was also the universal tradi- tional teaching of the first sixteen centuries. How the change came about towards the close of the sixteenth century is set forth by Saudreau in an interesting section of the book La Vie d? Union a Dieu,
1 Contemplation Mystique, p. 102.
2 It is taken from The Living Flame of Divine Love, stanza iii., ed. 1864, pp. 265-88; ed. 1891, pp. 463-89; ed. 1912, pp. 75-106: de Besse gives only summary of some portions; but the piece is well worth studying in its entirety.
XXXVi AFTERTHOUGHTS
entitled 'Deviation de la doctrine traditionnelle. 5 The older Orders have always, on the whole* naturally clung to the old ideas, and gladly welcome the return to the old ways. And it seems that in the Society of Jesus Pere Poulain's book has brought it about, that the line of mystic teachers, beginning with St Ignatius himself, which has at all times existed alongside of another current, is now in fair way to become predominant. This conclusion seems to be justified in regard to the French Jesuits by the whole tenor of Pere BainveFs Introduction to the latest edition of Poulain; and in regard to those of English-speaking countries, by the closing words of the altogether admirable final chapter of Fr Henry Browne's book, Darkness or Light:
If we look at our own time, we shall find that Jesuit writers have been and are in the forefront of those who are working for the revival of mysticism and for the abandonment of that mechanical spirit of meditation, which, however it may have been called for by special circumstances in the past, can hardly be thought suited to the exigencies of our generation. 1
2. It follows that not only the prayer of loving attention, but the higher, and even highest, grades of contemplation and mystical prayer, are, in the same way as perfection or heroic sanctity, a lawful object of desire, aspiration, and humble prayer on the part of all. This means, of course, contemplation and mystical prayer in itself, as distinguished from elements properly extraordinary, as
1 The whole thoughtful chapter will well repay reading, as will the whole book.
Quite recently Fr Robert Steuart, S.J., has published a small Map of Prayer (Burns, Oates and Washbourne, Bd.) 9 which gives a clear and excellent summary of the steps in prayer, up to and including the prayer of loving attention. He is in full agreement with Fr Browne as to the propriety and desirability of encouraging all souls that show tie signs of such invitation, to pass out of meditation and on to such contemplation. He points out that the term 'contemplation' as used by St Ignatius in the Exercises, has a meaning quite different from the ordinary traditional one. . .
The fact that St Ignatius in the Exercises is silent concerning contemplation and contemplative prayer has been, probably, the principal reason why so many of the spiritual writers of the Society have looked on meditation as the normal life- long mental prayer of devout souls. But if Pere Poulain's account of the Exercises be correct, this difficulty vanishes. He says: 'This book is intended for a thirty days* retreat, and presupposes a man with a certain desire to be generous towards God, but kept back either by ignorance with regard to the means to be taken, or by his weakness. The Exercises are skilfully combined for his gradual development in generosity, and, if he is capable of it, his being led on to heroism' (op. cit. c. ii. 51; Prayer of Simplicity, p. 70). But a month is, ordinarily speaking, all too short a time to pass in meditation for the mind to be attuned to contemplation; and so St Ignatius, naturally, does not speak of it in his great retreat. But Poulain seems to make quite clear what the Saint's mind was, that after the retreat his disciples should pursue the traditional courses of prayer, as he did very eminently himself (op. cit. c. ii., 68, 73).
AFTERTHOUGHTS XXXV11
visions, revelations, prophecy, rapture, and so forth; these by universal consent never are lawful objects of prayer or desire. Poulain, who, by force of his definition,, makes all mystical prayer 'extraordinary', 'supernatural* in St Teresa's sense, yet agrees with the others that the mystic union is a lawful and good object of desire and prayer, and shows that this is the traditional teaching (op. cit. c. xviii-xix.).
3. The third point on which there has come about general agree- ment is the sharp distinction between contemplation or even mystic union in itself, and the accidental accessories that often accompany it visions, locutions, raptures, trances, and so forth. This is im- portant, for in recent times the tendency has been to throw more and more emphasis on this the non-essential and, it may be added, undesirable side of mysticism, and indeed in great measure to identify mysticism with it. I have been at pains to show that this was not the mind of SS, Augustine, Gregory, Bernard; and it was not the mind of St John of the Cross, who relentlessly rules out all such things. The depreciation of such manifestations reaches its highest pitch in the Dominican writers. Pere Garrigou-Lagrange lays down the position that the simplest prayer made by the force of sanctifying grace, is of a higher supernatural grade than such miraculous gifts as prophesying future events, giving sight to the blind, or raising the dead to life: the reason being that the first is supernatural by its very nature, the others supernatural only in their mode sight and life being natural things (pp. 9-10, 42). In this he has St Paul with him, who says that charity is more excellent than the gifts of prophecy or healing or miracles. All such charismata, as visions, locutions, revelations, are intrinsically of less worth than sanctifying grace and the Gifts of the Holy Ghost, the highest work of which in the soul is mystic prayer and union.
10. General Call to Mystic Union
Up to this point it is possible to rejoice wholeheartedly in the movement that is carrying practical teaching on spiritual prayer back to the old ways of Christian tradition. We can agree with Pere de Besse that the prayer of faith, contemplation, 'is a much more common grace than is supposed. If every soul to whom it is offered corresponded faithfully, contemplatives [that is, those fre- quently and easily exercising acts of contemplation] would be innumerable, both in convents and even in the world' (p. 55): I would add, and especially in the ranks of the clergy, pastoral and other, according to the teaching of St Gregory. But the Dominican
XXXViii AFTERTHOUGHTS
theologians carry the matter of theory much further, and the well- known Jesuit, Pere de la Taille, goes at any rate a long way with them, though more guardedly. 1 The theory is enunciated in the following statement, printed on the title-page as the motto of Pere Garrigou-Lagrange's book: The normal prelude of the vision of heaven, infused contemplation, like heaven, is by docility to the Holy Spirit, by prayer and the Gross, accessible to all.' This idea was put forward, in its clearest expression, by a Spanish Dominican, Padre Arintero, in a book whereof the sub-title was The heights (las alturas) of contemplation accessible to all.' 2 He thus sums up the position: 3
Perfection lies in the full development of baptismal grace. All baptized receive the seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, with which we can, by being faithful and docile, arrive at fulness of life and intelligence, therefore at the fruitive or mystic union. And^short of that we shall ever be children, never reaching the age of discretion or of the perfect man: indeed we shall be the slothful servants of the Gospel, for not having cultivated the gifts received at baptism.
Garrigou-Lagrange formulates the theory thus: 4
There are not two ways of perfection, the ordinary (intended^for all), and an extraordinary (by way of contemplation and mystical life), a special vocation, to which not all fervent souls may aspire. There is only one unitive way, which by docility to the Holy Spirit, growing ever more and more perfect, leads to a mystic union, more and more intimate. This is not of itself or by its nature extra- ordinary, but the perfect order, the full development of charity, realized actually in souls truly generous, at least towards the end of life, if they live long enough. It may well be that owing to lack of proper guidance, or of favourable surroundings, or as the result of a nature strongly carried to exterior activities, some generous souls may not arrive at the mystic life until after a time longer than the usual span of life. But this is accidental and does not touch the essential law of the full development of the life of grace. This sum- mit is not reached without infused contemplation.
Garrigou-Lagrange gives some two hundred pages of explana- tions of this thesis (pp. 419-627). He seems to fluctuate between
1 His study, L'Qraison contemplative, a review article, was reprinted as a little tract of 40 pp. (Paris, Beauchesne, 192 1 ; in English, Burns, Gates and Washbourne, 1926, is.). It is of highest quality and should be read by all interested in these matters. P. Bainvel in the Introduction to Poulain makes an analysis with some criticisms and hesitations, and prints two letters of de la Taille in response (lv.
* The sub-title was withdrawn in the latest edition of Cuestiones misticas (Farges,
' 8 Cited by Bainvel, 'Introduction,' p. L, from letter of Arintero to Farges. 4 Perfection et Contemplation, pp.
AFTERTHOUGHTS XXXIX
substantial mitigations and reassertions of the extreme features of the theory. Thus he explains 'all* as 'all the just, 5 'all in the state of grace/ even 'all living interior lives.' That it can be said of these last, that infused contemplation is accessible to them, by infused contemplation meaning the initial stages, St John's prayer of loving attention, is a proposition that might easily be accepted as sub- stantially true; and on p. 409 he does recognize 'simple amorous attention to God' as being the mystic state. It is also laid down that there may be an active form as well as the contemplative form of the mystic life (pp. 381, 417). Such explanations, were they firmly offered, would go a long way towards rendering the theory accept- able. But the premises are such that, when directly faced, they press on inexorably to the most extreme positions of Arintero. Thus we meet such propositions as these: 'The/uZ/ perfection of charity in this life cannot exist without mystic contemplation 9 (p. 209); 'With- out having passed through the twofold purifications of the Night of Sense and the Night of the Spirit (treated of by St John in the Dark Night of the Soul), 1 one cannot attain to (on ne saurait atteindre) the full perfection of Christian life' (p. 428); 'All the just are called, at any rate in a general and remote way, to the transforming union of St Teresa's Seventh and highest Mansion that is, to the Spiritual Marriage of St John of the Gross, and such mystic experiences as he speaks of in the extracts in text, pp. 149-154; and if they be faithful to this remote call they will have another call, individual and more immediate and pressing' (pp. 321, 457).
This last pronouncement means that there has been some in- fidelity in the case of every baptized person, of everyone who has been in the state of justification, who does not attain to the very- highest kinds of mystical experience; this is substantially the same as Arintero's classing all such as among the 'slothful servants 9 . Such doctrine gives rise to many questionings. It has been combated by Farges and by Bainvel, and in a long letter to La Vie Spirituelle, printed by Garrigou-Lagrange, pp. [58] -[7 9]. Any set discussion would require a long article; but certain thoughts may find utter- ance here. And first, Is this the teaching of Our Lord? There is no trace of anything of the kind in the synoptic gospels, surely, nor even in St John. 2 I do not perceive it in the teachings of SS.
'Night of the Spirit' is the 'Great Desolation' of Fr Baker's Sancta Sophia. 2 St Teresa interprets the petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom come', and also the 'living water* of John vii. 37, 38, and elsewhere, as meaning mystical contemplation. Such interpretations or applications of texts have their place in sermons and discourses and spiritual books; but no exegete of Holy Scripture would say that that is the real meaning of the texts, what our Lord had in mind; no more than he would accept St Augustine's interpretation of the hundred and fifty-three great fishes of John xxi. 1 1 as having any exegetical value.
X AFTERTHOUGHTS
Augustine, Gregory, or Bernard St Gregory seems even counter to it (text, pp. 173-174, 1 88); nor do I perceive it explicitly, or even implicitly, in the many pieces cited from St Thomas by Garrigou- Lagrange and Joret.
The case of St Gregory comes naturally to mind. His laments are well known, that by becoming Pope he had lost the gift of contem- plation which he had enjoyed in the monastery, because of the troubles, anxieties, responsibilities, and constant flood of distractive business inherent in the Papacy. 1 Yet was he without doubt ful- filling God's will; nor can it be supposed that the change implied any lessening in perfection of charity, any falling away in sanctity. Surely it must be thought that the devoted performance of the trying duties of his state of life effected in his soul a purification as thorough as if he passed through the mystical Night of the Spirit.
This example of St Gregory brings out the obvious fact that there are states of life, some of them even the holiest, the conditions of which render practically impossible, even for a saint, the higher grades of contemplation and mystical experience: and yet surely is such a one doing God's will in being in these conditions. It is agreed that personal perfection, sanctity, lies in the perfection of charity, in the perfection with which the commandment, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,' is carried out. It is agreed that it is possible and open to man to love God perfectly, and so attain to the highest perfection and sanctity, in any path or condition of life. Also, the manner of exercising this perfect love of God will be different in different conditions: the perfection of the pastoral priest is different in mode from the perfection of the Carthusian; the perfection of a married person in some calling in the world is different from the perfection of a bishop: there are endless modes of perfection, forms in which sanctity may be attained. In any state of life there is no limit to the degree of personal perfection that may be reached 3 even unto heroic sanctity and not in spite of, but by means of, the duties of that state of life. This is God's will in regard to each one, and by the faithful and religious performance of the duties of our state of life we are doing God's will and obeying His commandment, which, so the Best Authority has assured us, is the supreme test of love of God; and he who does this perfectly has, so far forth, attained to perfect love of God and to perfection. This is possible, is open, in any condition of life, even the busiest and most distractive.
But the mystical state and the higher grades of contemplation ordinarily are the issue and the culmination of a prolonged system-
1 Preface to Dialogues, and Ep. L 5, ad Theoctistam, cited text, p. 182.
AFTERTHOUGHTS xli
atic course of prayer, demanding an amount of time and a con- centration that is hardly compatible with the duties of a busy life in the world; hardly compatible with the life of a pastoral priest in a large modern town parish. Far be it from me to say that such may not receive, as the reward of devoted zeal in the ministry, real mystical consolations; and surely all such may exercise the con- templation of the prayer of loving attention: still the faithful per- formance of the duties of the pastoral office in such conditions must, as St Gregory experienced in the Papacy, make practically im- possible that tranquillity of mind and those long hours of prayer that are the normal conditions of the higher mystical experiences. Yet, without any doubt at all, may such a faithful pastor be a saint, and in the fullest sense of the word. And so I find it difficult to accept the theory that perfection of charity, or even heroic sanctity, are, in the individual, necessarily connected with the higher mystical experiences. P. Garrigou-Lagrange admits that in the active life, without the gifts of contemplation, there may be a great generosity that may merit the name of perfection, but is not the full perfection of the Christian life. 1 He has here in view a piece of academic theological theory; for he admits, too, that many of these souls, whose perfection is of the inferior grade, may be more advanced in virtue and in true charity than others who have received the highest kinds of infused contemplation. Words of St Alphonsus Liguori bear on the points under discussion: 2
After the earlier stages of prayer [up to and including St Teresa's prayer of quiet], God makes the soul pass on to union, and union with God should now be the one object of the soul. But that the soul should attain to perfection, passive union is not necessary, it is enough for it to arrive at active union. Active union is perfect uniformity with the Will of God, wherein certainly consists the whole perfection of divine love. This union is necessary, but not a passive union [i.e. the mystical union of St Teresa's Fifth Mansion, which he refers to]. In heaven we shall see very many who without this sort of supernatural graces will be more glorious than those who have received such graces.
The above passage is somewhat abridged, but in the full text, and throughout the tractate, St Alphonsus claims to be giving St Teresa's teaching. And therefore it will be very much to our purpose to cite a piece from St Teresa wherein this same doctrine is very unmistakably set forth. It comes in the Castle, chapter iii. of
* Op. cit p. [77].
2 Instruction on the 'Direction of Spiritual Souls', appendix to Homo Aposto- licus, 1 6.
xlii AFTERTHOUGHTS
the Fifth Mansion. In the first two chapters has been described the prayer of Union. This is for St Teresa true and perfect con- templation, a fully supernatural state, the psychological side of which is a suspension or absorption in God of all the faculties and powers of the soul, yet so far without physical rapture: it seems to be the same as Fr Baker's 'passive union purely intellectual.' Then in chapter iii. she goes on:
The advantage of entering this fifth mansion is so great that it is well that none should despair of doing so because God does not give them the supernatural gifts described above. With the help of divine grace true union can always be attained, by forcing ourselves to renounce our own will and by following the will of God in all things. If this be our case I can only declare that we have already obtained this grace from God. There is, then, no need to wish for that other delightful union described above, for its chief value lies in the resignation of our will to that of God, without which it could not be reached. Oh how desirable is this union [i.e. of will] ...
Is it necessary, in order to attain to this kind of divine union, for the powers of the soul to be suspended? [for St Teresa the charac- teristic feature of the mystical prayer of union.] No; God has many ways of enriching the soul and bringing it to these mansions besides what might be called 'a short cut'. I own that the work will be much harder; but then it will be of higher value, so that your reward will be greater if you come forth victorious; yet there is no doubt it is possible for you to attain this true union with the will of God. This is the union I have longed for all my life, and that I beg Our Lord to grant me; it is the most certain and the safest. But alas, how few of us ever obtain it !
The whole chapter is well worth reading; it is very striking, working round to love of others as the practical test of the 'true union of our will with the will of God,' St Teresa, as she often insists, was no theologian, and she may be mistaken in the above passage; but she had a great gift of thinking and writing clearly of saying what she meant, and meaning what she said; and the plain meaning of this passage, when read as a whole, has been truly grasped by St Alphonsus in the distinction he draws between the 'active union 3 of the will with God's Will, and the 'passive union' of the mystical states; and the French Carmelites in their translation rightly interpret it as meaning that St Teresa recognizes two ways of arriving at union, a mystic way and a non-mystic. This, of course, is quite counter to the theory of Saudreau and the Dominican writers, and Garrigou-Lagrange more than once tries to come to grips with St Teresa's words 1 unsuccessfully, it seems to me. He 1 Op. cit. pp. 307, 308, 313, 586.
AFTERTHOUGHTS xliii
cites only small fragments that give no proper idea of the force of the chapter as a whole; and by treating the prayer of union described by St Teresa in the Fifth Mansion as ecstatic, he makes it fall in the category of 'extraordinary' states, according to his own definition, and therefore outside of the 'normal' development of the spiritual life, and a thing not to be desired or prayed for. To say that the suspension of the powers of the mind is not for St Teresa an essential feature of the prayer of union of her Fifth Mansion, is counter to her language and to her thought. But Garrigou-Lagrange does not seem to reflect how this ruling out of the prayer of union, of the passive union of St Alphonsus or of Fr Baker (text, pp. 11-12), and of the mystical experience properly so called, shakes his general theory, and indeed makes it rock.
I will only add that St Benedict seems to be of the same mind as St Teresa; for he gives the assurance that any one who mounts his Twelve Degrees of Humility, in which there is nothing of mystic contemplation, but much of the renunciation of one's own will, will come straightway to the perfect love of God.
Great discussion goes on whether there be two 'unitive ways' or only one. There is much to be said for the view that they are not one nor two, but many, just as there are many mansions in our Father's House.
ii. The Mystic Experience and Theology
These 'afterthoughts' have so far been concerned mainly with the practical side of the theme of this book, that dealt with in