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What is the spiritual state of the perfect after this purgation,
which has been like a third conversion for them? They know God
with a knowledge which is quasi-experimental and almost
continuous; not merely during times of prayer or the divine
office, but in the midst of external occupations, they have a
constant sense of the presence of God. Whereas at the beginning
man had been selfish, thinking constantly of himself and,
unconsciously, directing all things to himself, the perfect soul
thinks constantly of God, of His glory, of the salvation of souls
and, as though instinctively, causes all things to converge upon
that end. The reason of this is that he no longer contemplates God
merely in the mirror of the things of sense, no longer merely in
parables or even in the mirror of the mysteries of the life of
Christ, for this cannot continue throughout the whole day, but he
contemplates the divine goodness in itself, very much in the way
in which we constantly see light diffused about us and
illuminating all things from on high. In the terminology of
Dionysius, employed also by St. Thomas, it is a movement of
contemplation, no longer straight nor spiral, but circular, like
the flight of the eagle which, after rising to a great height,
circles round and round, and hovers to view the horizon.
This simple contemplation removes those imperfections that arise
from natural eagerness, from unconscious self-seeking and from the
lack of habitual recollection.
The perfect know themselves no longer merely in themselves, but in
God, their source and their end, they examine themselves,
pondering what is written of their existence in the book of life,
and they never cease to see the infinite distance that separates
them from their Creator. Hence their humility. This quasi-
experimental contemplation of God proceeds from the gift of
wisdom, and, by reason of its simplicity, it can be almost
continuous; it can persist in the midst of intellectual work,
conversation, external occupations, such continuity being
impossible in the case of a knowledge of God which uses the mirror
of parables or that of the mysteries of Christ.
Finally, whereas the egoist, thinking always of himself, wrongly
loves himself in all things, the perfect, thinking nearly always
of God, loves Him constantly, and loves Him, not merely by
avoiding sin and by imitating the virtues of our Lord, but
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'by
adhering to Him, enjoying Him, desiring, as St. Paul said, to be
dissolved and to be with Christ.' [158]
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It is the pure love of God
and the love of souls in God; it is apostolic zeal, zealous beyond
measure; but humble, patient and gentle. This is to love God, no
longer merely
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'with the whole heart, with the whole soul, with the
whole strength,'
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but continuing up the scale,
For he that is perfect is no longer merely rising gradually
to this highest region in himself; he is established there; he is
spiritualized and supernaturalized; he has now become truly 'an
adorer in spirit and in truth.' These souls preserve peace almost
constantly amidst even the most distressful and unforeseen
circumstances, and they communicate it to others who are troubled.
This is why St. Augustine says that the beatitude of the
peacemakers corresponds to the gift of wisdom, which, together
with charity, holds dominion over these souls. The great model of
such souls, after the holy soul of Christ, is the Blessed Virgin
Mary.
All this, so it seems to us, shows the legitimacy of the
traditional division of the three periods of the spiritual life,
as understood by a St. Thomas, a St. Catherine of Siena, a Tauler,
and a St. John of the Cross. The transition from one stage to
another is explained by the need of a purgation which in actual
fact is more or less manifest. These are not schemes artificially
constructed and placed mechanically side by side; it is the
description of a vital development in which each stage has its own
raison d'etre. If there is sometimes a misunderstanding of the
division, it is because sufficient account is not taken of the
defects even of generous beginners or of proficients; it is
because the necessity of a second and even a third conversion is
forgotten; it is because it is sometimes overlooked that each of
the purgations necessary may be more or less satisfactorily
undergone, and may thus introduce more or less perfectly into the
illuminative or the unitive way. [159]
Unless due attention is paid to the necessity of these
purifications it is impossible to form a just idea of what the
spiritual condition of proficients and perfect must be. It is of
the necessity of a new conversion that St. Paul was speaking when
he wrote to the Colossians: [160]
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'Lie not one to another;
stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on
the new, who is renewed unto knowledge according to the image of
him who created him.... But above all these things have charity,
which is the bond of perfection.'
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