Volume I, Treatise V, Chapter V
An Explanation of Two Sorts of Prayer, Taken from Holy Scripture
Tue two sorts of prayer, we are at present to take notice of, are clearly marked out by the Holy Scripture, when it says, that ‘‘ the wise,” that is, “the just man, will from break of day deliver up his heart to watch to our Lord who has made him, and will pray in the presence of the most High.” (Ecclesiasticus 39:6) The Scripture first speaks of the ordinary sort of prayer, and mentions the morning, as a time most proper for prayer; which it takes notice of in divers other places. “I will present myself before you in the morning” (Psalms 5:5); “I made haste and I cried.” (Ibid. 118:147) “My eyes have prevented the sun, that I might meditate upon your words.” (Ibid. 148) “IT sought you from the dawn of the day.” (Psalms 62:1) The Scripture says, that “the just man gave up his heart to watch;” to shew that we must not be drowsy in prayer, or be present in body only, whilst our heart is wholly employed, or intent upon other things. It is this that the saints call “sleepiness, or drowsiness of heart;” which is a very great obstacle to prayer; for when the heart is thus heavy, it cannot remain in that respect it should have, while conversing with God. But what is it, that imprints this respect in the mind of the just? Itis the reflection it makes, “that they are in the presence of our Lord who has made them, and that they pray before the most High!” And this reflection causes them to recollect themselves, and to have a most particular attention to all that he says. See from what has been said, with what preparation and attention we must apply ourselves to prayer. Let us now see also, what that prayer is, which the just man makes, when, as the Scripture says, “He will open his mouth in prayer, he will pray to obtain pardon of bis sins.” (Ecclesiasticus 39:7) That is to say, he will be confounded for his sins; he will repent of them; and will make a firm purpose to fall no more into them. This is properly the prayer we must make, to deplore our sins and imperfections, and implore God’s mercy, It is not sufficient to say, I have made a general confession in the beginning of my conversion,,and then employed many days in lamenting, and weeping bitterly for my sins, and repenting of them. For it is not just, that because we have confessed them, we should forget them; on the contrary, we must endeavour to set them always before our eyes, as the Royal Prophet did, according to his own words: “My sin is always against me” (Psalms 1:5); that is to say, always before me, and continually present in my mind.
St. Bernard, in his comments on those words of the Canticles, “Our bed is all covered with flowers” (Bern. Ser. lvi. Sup. (Canticle of Canticles 1:15)): Your bed, says he, which is your heart, is still very foul; it is still infected with the stench of vice, and the bad habits you brought with you from the world; and notwithstanding this, you venture to invite your spouse to lodge m it, you pretend to raise yourself to contemplation, and to the most sublime exercises of union with God; as if you had already acquired the highest degree of Christian perfection. Let your first study be to cleanse and wash your bed with your tears, as the Psalmist tells us he did, “I will every night wash my bed with my tears.” (Psalms 6:7) Think also how to adorn it with the flowers of all sorts of virtues; and then you may, like the spouse, invite your beloved to come and repose himself therein. Employ yourself, in the mean lime, in kissing his feet; in humbling yourself, by true repentance for your sins; in kissing his hands, and offering to him all the good you can do; and in endeavouring to receive from him the grace of solid and true virtue. But as for approaching his mouth, to wit, this sublime and perfect union, attend and wait till God himself vouchsafes to elevate you thereunto. An ancient religious of the society of Jesus, very much esteemed for his piety, and very well versed in spirituality, remained, as it is said, for twenty years in the purgative way; and shall we, who have scarce begun, presently grow weary of it, and desire to pass to the exercises of the love of God? The foundations ought to be very deep and strong before we venture to raise so high a building. But that which is very particular in the exercise of the knowledge and sorrow for our faults is, that besides divers others advantages we draw from thence, of which we shall speak hereafter, there is not a more special remedy, nor a better preservative to keep us from falling into sin than this. For he who continually employs himself in detesting his sins; who is always covered with a holy confusion for those he has committed; and who continually exercises himself in a profound sorrow for having offended God, will be far from committing any new offence. On the contrary, the saints take notice that the fall of some who seemed much devoted to contemplation and a spiritual life, has happened from a bare neglect of reflecting upon their past sins and imperfections, that they might give themselves to more sublime and pleasing exercises, and from the confidence they had in their own strength; so that in not accustoming themselves to stand upon their guard, as they should have done, it caused them in the end miserably to run into disorders; for by forgetting too soon their own baseness, they were on a sudden precipitated from the height of perfection, to which they thought themselves arrived. Wherefore we must for a long time reduce our prayer to a sorrow for our sins; and this must be our only exercise, till our Lord pleases to take us by the hand, and say unto us: “Friend, ascend higher.” (Luke 14:10) But let us at present take notice, what that so sublime and particular prayer is, of which God bestows the grace when he pleases. The Holy Scripture informs us what it is in these terms: “If our Lord pleases, he will fill him with the spirit of understanding.” (Ecc. xxxix. 8.) It says, “if our Lord pleases;” because it is not anything that is due unto us, or that he has any obligation to give us, but is a pure grace, and 4 pure effect of his liberality. ‘If he pleases,” then, when you are in prayer, that a sudden light from heaven should come ‘upon you, and as it were a flash of lightning should strike upon the eyes of your understanding—you will then in a moment conceive that which you could not before comprehend. Behold here what properly that gift of prayer is, of which we speak. For how many times might the same thing have represented itself unto you, without your being touched, or at all struck with itr The reason, therefore, why the Holy Scripture calls this ‘the spirit of understanding,” is, because it gives us a knowledge of things, by a simple apprehension, without any assistance of the imagination, or any pains at all of the understanding. It is in this manner, that a man who loves painting, meeting with an excellent piece, stops on a sudden, and fixes his eyes on it, without speaking a word; and takes so much pleasure in viewing it, that he can scarce take off his eyes. But to say better, this state in which a soul finds itself resembles that of the blessed in heaven. Beatitude consists in beholding and contemplating God; and when we shall be placed in glory, we shall be entirely absorbed in this sole view of him for an eternity; and thereby enjoy an everlasting felicity, without the least assistance from our reason, or without ever having any regard to ourselves. On the contrary, we shall continually be transported’ with a new joy—we shall find every moment a new relish in this heavenly manna; and it will seem to us, that we continually enjoy a new subject of admiration. The same thing happens in this kind of sublime and perfect prayer, which they call contemplation. When God pleases to elevate a soul thereunto, it never ceases to contemplate; and without helping itself by discourse, or ever suffering any irksomeness, it perpetually has its sight fixed upon God. But the Scripture takes notice, that God will not only bestow this grace upon the just, but that he will also fill them with it; because this grace is so abounding, that not being able to contain itself within so narrow a vessel, as the heart of man is, it necessarily overflows; and, therefore, the Scripture presently adds, “‘ That the discourses of him who is replenished with wisdom, will fall like showers from his mouth, and in prayer he will confess and praise our Lord.” (Ecclesiasticus 39:9) It is then that colloquies are made with God—when the soul is thus illuminated by this heavenly light, and elevated above its own force, then is the proper time to converse and entertain itself with God. Wherefore St. Ignatius admonishes us to “enter into these colloquies, when we find ourselves moved thereunto by an interior impulse of grace.” (Lib. Exer. Spir. in Repet. 1 & 2.) These words deserve to-be very well taken notice of, and do in substance inform us, that when we have applied all the powers of our soul to meditation, when our heart begins to be inflamed, and we feel ourselves secretly incited to treat familiarly with God; it is then that we must have a very great trust and confidence in him; since this is the proper time to ask and obtain all things. For the prayer that proceeds from the heart touched and inflamed by God, in this manner, is that which he hearkens unto; because, as St, Austin says, when he himself moves us to ask anything of him, it is a sign that he intends to grant it. Behold then that kind of prayer that is so sublime, which God gives to whom he pleases, according to these words: “If our Lord pleases, he will fill him with the spirit of knowledge and understanding.”
But if our Lord is not pleased to favour us with such a singular grace as this is, we must not therefore, as St. Bernard says, afflict ourselves, and lose courage; but rest contented with the practice of virtue, and believe ourselves happy, as long as God is pleased to keep us in his grace, and preserve us from falling into sin. “God grant,” says this great saint, “that I may enjoy peace of soul, the sweetness and repose of a good conscience, the spirit of mercy, simplicity, and charity towards my neighbour, the gift of rejoicing with those that rejoice, and of weeping with those that weep, and I desire nothing else. All the rest I leave to the apostles and to men truly apostolical.” (Bern. ser, xlviii. sup Cant.) ‘The tops of the mountains serve for a retreat to stags, but the holes of the rocks for the irchens.” (Psalms 103:18) Let therefore these mountains of contemplation, that are so high and elevated, serve for a fit refuge to such as with an extraordinary facility run towards perfection; as for me, who am a sinner, and covered with the thorns of my sins, I will retire into the corner-stone of the rock, which is Jesus Christ; I will hide myselfin his wounds; I Will] wash away my faults with his precious blood; and this shall be my prayer. If then so great a saint as St. Bernard contented himself with the practice of virtues, and a lively sorrow for his sins; and leaves this other kind of more sublime prayer for apostolical men, to whom it shall please God to communicate so signal a favour; it is very just that we also should content ourselves with the same—that we should apply ourselves to prayer, only to bewail our sins; to mortify our passions; to root out all our evil habits; and overcome and surmount all those obstacles and impediments that check us in the way of virtue. And as to this other kind of prayer, which is so much above our reach, we must leave it entirely to God, to call and elevate us to it, whenever he himself pleases. Moreover, it will be very advantageous diligently to stand upon our guard, when he seems to call us to it; because there are often great abuses herein, We sometimes imagine that we are called to contemplation, because we find a certain sweetness and facility therein; yet, nevertheless, we deceive ourselves, for this is not a call from God, but an enterprise of man; it is an illusion of the devil, who carries you to contemplative life, thereby to withdraw you from the obligations of the active, and to occasion hereby that you fail in the performance both of the one and the other. A great master of a spiritual life says very well: as it would be a great boldness and an extreme imprudence, that a man whom a king had commanded to serve at his table, should presume to sit down with-
a out his invitation or permission; so it is also avery great indiscretion to abandon ourselves entirely to the sweet repose of contemplation, if we be not called thereunto by God himself. St. Bonaventure hereupon gives most excellent counsel, and says, that we must exercise ourselves in that which is for our assured profit; such as to get rid of our vicious habits and bad inclinations, and to gain solid virtues. And in this no abuse can be feared; because it is infallibly true, that the more we endeavour to mortify and humble ourselves, or to be resigned to the will of God, the more pleasing we shall be to him, and we shall increase our merit in this world, and glory in the next. But the other sublime exercises, and matters so elevated, says the saint, may be deceits and illusions of the devil; because we often think that to come from God, which does not; and we count that a very great matter, which in effect is less than nothing. Wherefore, in a spiritual life, we ought rather to choose and apply ourselves to those exercises that are most profitable, and not be carried away by the sweetness we find in them; but esteem them for the profit and advancement we receive thereby; and this opinion is entirely conformable to the general doctrine of saints, as we shall see in the following chapter.
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