Volume I, Treatise III, Chapter XIV

Of Three Degrees of Perfection, by Which We May Elevate Ourselves to a Great Purity of Intention, and a Most Perfect Love of God

From the doctrine of the holy fathers, and chiefly from that of St. Bernard, we infer that there are three degrees of perfection, by which we can elevate ourselves to a very great purity of intention, and to a most perfect love of God. The first is to seek nothing but the glory of God; so that in all we do, we must keep the mind absolutely detached from all earthly things, and fixing our content on God alone, we must confine our thoughts to the accomplishment of the divine will. Do you desire, says St. Bernard, to have an excellent mark to know, as far as it is possible in this life, whether or not you love God perfectly? See if there be anything out of God that can give you joy and satisfaction; and thereby you will perceive the progress you have made in loving God. Certainly as long as I am capable of receiving any comfort or satisfaction elsewhere, says he, I dare not affirm that God exclusively possesses the tender affection of my heart. St. Austin is of the same opinion when he says: “‘ Lord, he loves you less, who loves anything with you, which he loves not for you” (Lib. x. Conf.) This sort of love is far from the excellence and purity of the love of that great queen, who, in the midst of the pomp and glory of her royal majesty, said to God: “You know, O Lord, that from the time I was brought hither, to this very day, your servant has taken no satisfaction but in you, O Lord, the God of Abraham.” (Esther 14:18) Behold here, without doubt, a most perfect and pure manner of loving God.

Writing on these words of Job, “who build themselves solitudes” (Job 3:14), St. Gregory asks, what it is to build a solitude? He answers, that whatsoever is so detached from all creatures, and has put off all affection to earthly things so absolutely, that even amidst the greatest amusements he ceases not to feel himself alone; such a one, he says, has built a solitude; because he is not affected by any of these things. For having placed all his satisfaction in God, he can find amusement or consolation in nothing else. We daily experience, that when our affection is placed on any person, if we happen to lose him, either by absence or death, we are then in a mournful solitude, even amidst the best company; because we have not him in whose company we felt so much pleasure. The same happens to him who has entirely banished all creatures from his heart, to fill it only with God. Amidst the greatest pleasures, and greatest assemblies, he feels himself alone, because he takes no pleasure in the things of the world, and because there is nothing, save the object of his love, which can yield him pleasure. Persons, says St. Gregory, arrived at this point of perfection, énjoy a most perfect tranquillity and peace of soul. Nothing disquiets or troubles them—they are not cast down by adversity, nor are they puffed up by prosperity. For as they have no attachment to this life, all the changes occurring therein produce no change in them; and framing to themselves an happiness which depends not on events, they feel superior to vicissitudes. Do you know, says he, who was raised to this height of this perfection, and who built himself such a solitude as this? He who said, “One thing Tasked of our Lord, which I will never cease to ask till I have obtained it, which is to live all the days of my life in the house of our Lord.” (Psalms 26:4) For after all, what else is there either in heaven or earth worth our desiring or seeking? “And what is at present my expectation but God °” (Ibid. 38:8) The holy abbot, Sylvanus, likewise attained this degree of happiness: for they relate of him, that on rising from prayer all earthly things seemed so contemptible to him, that putting his hands before his eyes, he said: “Shut yourselves, O my eyes, shut yourselves, for there is nothing that is worth your beholding.” We read in like manner of St. Ignatius, that sometimes lifting up his eyes to heaven, and his heart to God, he cried out, ‘“‘Alas! how contemptible does the earth appear, whilst I contemplate heaven.”

The second degree by which we may ascend to the perfection we speak of is suggested to us by St. Bernard, in his Treatise on the Love of God. It is, not only to forget all things of this world, but even to forget ourselves, and not to love ourselves but in God and for God. For if we wish to be truly perfect, we ought to be wholly and entirely forgetful of ourselves, and of everything regarding ourselves or our interest—we ought to love God in so pure and elevated a manner, that in all the gifts we receive from his hands, whether those of grace or those of glory, it is not the advantage we derive from them, but the accomplishment of his divine will in us, that ought to constitute our content and our joy. This is the practice of the blessed saints in heaven. They rejoice more at the will of God accomplished in them, than at the height of glory they are placed on; and love God in so sublime a manner, and are so transformed into him, and united to his divine will, that amidst the ineffable delights they abound in, it is more for God’s sake than their own, that they love the felicity they possess. It is in this manner we ought to love God, says St. Bernard, and it was in that. the Royal Prophet loved him, when he said, “Bless our Lord, because he is good.” He says not, “because he is good to me,” but only, “because he is good” (Ibid. 117:1): he does not love or praise him upon his own account, and for self-interest, as he did of whom he speaks in another place, “‘ He will bless you because you have done him good:” but he loves and praises him, because he is good in himself: because God is God, and because his goodness is infinite.

The third and last degree of perfection, says St. Bernard, is to do our actions not only to please God, but because God is pleasing to us, and pleased with what we do. So that without thinking any more upon ourselves than if we were not in the world, we should look only upon the sole contentment and satisfaction of God. Behold here a most pure and perfect manner of loving. “This love,” says the saint, “is truly the mountain of our Lord, a high mountain, very fat and fertile.” (Ps. Ixvii. 16.) For this expression of the mountain of God, in Scripture, means nothing else than the aggregate of all sorts of excellency and perfection.

“Who, O Lord, shall ascend this mountain?” (Ibid. 23:3), and liv. 7.) ‘ Who will give me the wings of a dove, that I may fly thither, and there take my repose?” But, alas! says this great saint, the very worst of all is, that, in this land of exile, I can never be so happy as entirely to forget myself; “Miserable man that Iam, who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) ‘Lord, I suffer violence, answer you for me.” (Is. xxvili. 14.) When shall I die entirely to myself, that I mav live only to you? “Why must my banishment be prolonged?” (Psalms 119:5) ‘“‘ When shall I come and present myself before the face of God?” (Ibid. 41:2) When, O Lord! will it come to pass, that I shall be totally united to thee, and transformed by love into thee, and be so entirely disengaged from myself, that [ may become one spirit with thee; that, in fine, I may love nothing in myself nor for myself, but love all in you and for you? For not to seek, nor find ourselves in what we do, any more than if we were, as I may say, lost in ourselves; or if as one were not in being; nor even feel ourselves at all, but be as it were altogether perfectly annihilated; is the effect of that love the blessed saints enjoy, and which has no mixture of human or terrene affections. It is for this reason the Royal Prophet said, “TI shall enter into glory, and into the power of our Lord, and then I will remember, O Lord, nothing else but your justice.” (Ib. Ixx. 16.) When we shall have thus acted like faithful servants, we shall enter into the joy of our Lord, and shall be inebriated with the abundance of his love, and transformed into him, that we shall think upon, or remember nothing at all that belongs to ourselves,

“Then we shall be like to him, for then we shall see him as he is in himself.” (1 John 3:2) Then the creature shall entirely transform itself into its Creator; “and as he made all things for himself” (Proverbs 16:4), as the Scripture testifies; so also we shall love nothing but him—we shall not even love ourselves, but in him, and for him. So that neither the misery from which we shall be freed, nor the happiness which we possess, but the will of God accomplished in us, shall be the only object of our joy. Behold here the manner of entering into the joy of our Lord.

O holy and chaste love! cries out St. Bernard in this place, sweet and tender affection! O pure and upright intention of the will! Intention so much the more upright and pure, by how much it is purified from any mixture of self-interest! Affection so much the more tender and sweet, by how much it is moved or touched by nothing but what is divine; and to be moved and affected after this manner, is to be deified. (Bern. de Dilig. Deo.) And the saint, desirous to explain to us how afterwards we shall be deified and transformed into God, makes use of three comparisons, and says; as a drop of water loses all its properties, when it is cast into a great vessel of wine; or as a red-hot iron in the furnace has no appearance of iron but only of fire; or in fine, as the air, enlightened by a ray of the sun, becomes so bright as though it were the light itself; so when we shall be in glory, we shall wholly lose our first qualities, we shall be deified and transformed into God, and then we shall love nothing but him, and in him. Otherwise how will it come to pass, “that God shall be all things in us;” should there remain anything of man in us? Wherefore there shall then be nothing in us that shall be ours. (1 Corinthians 15:28) The joy and glory we shall possess shall be the joy and glory of God, and not our own, according to the words of the Psalmist; “Youare my glory, it is you that have exalted me.” (Psalms 3:4) And in fine, we shall not place our satisfaction in our own happiness, but it will be in God alone, in whom we shall place all our content and comfort. But though in this world we can never arrive at so high a degree of perfection, yet we ought often to endeavour to have our eyes continually fixed upon it; because the nearer we approach to this end, the closer shall our union be with God. Wherefore let us conclude with this great saint, and say: O Lord! it is only in this union that the will of your Son does consist, and live in us; it is this he asked of you in that prayer he made for us when he said: “Grant, that as you and I are one, so they may be one in us.” That is to say, that they love you for yourself; and that they love not themselves but in you. It is this which is truly the end, consummation, and perfection of all things; this is the peace, this is the joy of the Lord, this is the joy of the Holy Ghost, the calm and ropose of the blessed saints in heaven.

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