THE LIVING FLAME.

Already here on earth the divine awakening produces in the soul of the perfect a flame of love which is a participation of that living flame which is the Holy Spirit Himself.

'This flame the soul feels within it, not only as a fire that has consumed and transformed it in sweet love, but also as a fire which burns within it and sends out flame.... And this is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the soul that is transformed in love, that His interior actions cause it to send out flames.... And thus these acts of the soul are most precious, and even one of them is of greater merit and worth than all that the soul may have done in this life apart from this transformation, however much this may be;... it is the same difference as that between the log of wood that is enkindled and the flame which it sends forth.... In this state, therefore, the soul can perform no acts, but it is the Holy Spirit that moves it to perform them.... Hence it seems to the soul that whensoever this flame breaks forth... it is granting it eternal life... it teaches the soul what is the savour of eternal life... it causes the soul to experience the life of God, even as David says: My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God.'[166]

This flame wounds the soul as it is given, but the wound is tender, salutary and, instead of causing death, it increases life; for the soul is holiest that is most wounded by love. Thus St. John of the Cross says that

'this wound is delectable,'

and he adds that this

'came to pass when the seraph wounded the soul of St. Francis (of Assisi) with love.' [167]

When the heart is thus burning with love for its God, the soul is contemplating lamps of fire which enlighten all things from on high. These are the divine perfections: Wisdom, Goodness, Mercy, Justice, Providence, Omnipotence. They are, so to speak, the colours of the divine rainbow which, without destroying one another, are identified in the intimate life of God, in the Deity, as the seven colours of the rainbow are united in the one white light from which they proceed.

'All these are one lamp, which is the Word.... This lamp is all these lamps, since it gives light and burns in all these ways.' [168]

The powers of the soul are then as though melted in the splendour of the divine lamps ;[169] it is truly a prelude to eternal life.

' The soul is completely absorbed in these delicate flames, and wounded subtly in each of them, and in all of them more deeply and subtly wounded in love of life, so that it can see quite clearly that that love belongs to life eternal, which is the union of all blessings. So that the soul in that state knows well the truth of those words of the Spouse in the Songs, where He says that the lamps of love were lamps of fire and flame.'[170]

The flame which the wise virgins must tend in their lamps is a participation of this flame. [171]

The following lines from a recent commentary on the Canticle of Canticles are worth pondering:

'The divine love is a consuming fire. It penetrates the soul to its depth. It burns and consumes, but it does not destroy; it transforms into itself. Material fire which burns wood to its innermost fibres and iron to its last molecules, is an image of that fire, but how feeble an image! At times, under the influence of a specially powerful grace, the soul that is on fire with divine love sends forth flames. They ascend straight to God. He is their principle as He is their end; and it is for His sake that the soul is consumed with love. The charity that elevates the soul to God is only a created, finite, analogical participation of uncreated charity; but it is nevertheless a real, positive and formal participation of the substantial flame of Jehovah.' [172]

We can understand, therefore, why St. John of the Cross often compares the soul that is penetrated by God with the union of air and fire in a flame, which is nothing else but air on fire. Doubtless there is always an infinite distance between the Creator and the creature, but God by His action enters so intimately into the purified soul that He deifies it, giving it an increase of sanctifying grace. And sanctifying grace is a real and formal participation of His inner life, His own nature, which is Deity.

Unitive love then becomes in the soul like a sea of fire that

'reaches to the farthest heights and depths, filling it wholly with love.' [173]

This love, hardly perceptible at first, grows more and more until the soul experiences an ever-increasing hunger for God and a burning thirst, of which the Psalmist says: 'For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O, how many ways!' [174] This is truly the beatitude of those that hunger and thirst after justice; this is truly the prelude to the life of heaven, truly a beginning of eternal life,

'quaedam inchoatio vitae aeternae,'

as St. Thomas has said. This is the supreme, but normal, development of the life of grace on earth, the seed of glory, semen gloriae.

What are we to conclude from this doctrine, which may appear too sublime for us poor mortals?

It would certainly be too sublime for us if we had not received in baptism that life of grace which, in us too, must develop into eternal life; if we had not often received Holy Communion, the precise effect of which is to increase that grace within us. Let us remind ourselves that each of our Communions ought to be substantially more fervent than the preceding, since each of them ought to increase the love of God in us, and thus dispose us to receive our Lord with a greater fervour of will on the following day.

As St. John of the Cross says, [175] spiritual souls that desire this union would attain it if they did not flee from those trials which God sends them for their purification.

Exactly the same doctrine is found in the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, where we are given the explanation of those words of Christ:

'If any man thirst let him come to me and drink.... Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.'

'You were all invited, generally and in particular, by My Truth when He cried in the Temple, saying: "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink...."So that you are invited to the fountain of living water of Grace, and it is right for you, with perseverance to keep by Him who is become for you a bridge, not being turned back by any contrary winds that may arise, either of prosperity or adversity, and to persevere until you find Me, Who give the water of Life, by means of this sweet Word of love, my only-begotten Son.... ' [176]

'But you must have thirst, because only those that thirst are invited. "If any man thirst," He says, "let him come to me and drink." He who has no thirst will not persevere, for either fatigue causes him to stop, or pleasure distracts him... he turns back at the smallest persecution, for he likes it not... The intellect must gaze into the ineffable love which I have shown thee by means of My only-begotten Son.... A man who is full of My love and the love of his neighbour finds himself the companion of many real virtues; and then the soul is disposed to thirst: it thirsts for virtue, and the honour of My name and the salvation of souls, every other thirst in him is spent and dead. The soul then walks securely... being stripped of self-love; it is raised above itself and above transitory things.... It contemplates the deep love that I have manifested to you in Christ crucified.... The heart, emptied of the things that pass away, becomes filled with heavenly love which gives access to the waters of grace. Having arrived there, the soul passes through the door of Christ crucified and tastes the water of life, slaking his thirst in Me, who am the Ocean of Peace.'

What practical conclusion are we to draw from all this? We ought to say and repeat this prayer to our Blessed Lord.

' Lord, teach me to know the obstacles that, consciously or unconsciously, I am placing in the way of Thy grace in me. Give me the strength to put them aside, and if I am negligent therein, vouchsafe Thyself to remove them, howsoever I may suffer thereby. What wouldst Thou have me to do for Thee this day, my God? Show me what it is in me that displeaseth Thee. Teach me rightly to value the Precious Blood which Thou didst shed for me, of the sacramental or spiritual communion by which we are enabled to drink that Blood from the wound of Thy most loving Heart.

' Make me, O Lord, to grow in love of Thee. Grant that our inner conversation may never cease; that I may never separate myself from Thee; that I may receive all that Thou dost deign to give me; and that I may not stand in the way of the grace which through me should be poured out upon other souls to give them light and life.'