which this Holy Spirit is the cause, that she could begin to receive, from her divine Head Jesus, movement and life. Were the Union transient, were it to fail for a single instant, the incomparable Bride of the Son of God would be separated from that Spouse of hers; and thus forfeiting the principle and reason of her existence, she would cease to be. From all this, it follows that not only the Purgative and the Illuminative Ways were needed as preparations, and were provided by the Liturgy from Advent till the Ascension inclusively, but over and above this, and as the sequel to this, the Unitive Way was essential to the Church, and is achieved by the Holy Ghost's guiding her through it, in what is called the Time after Pentecost. That highest Way, the Unitive, is not only essential to the Church, but it belongs to her alone, for it is her privilege and her secret, as Bride of the Incarnate Word. Consequently, it is only by the Christian's uniting himself with the Church, it is only by his being a member of this one1 Bride of Christ Jesus,-that he can, by thus hiding himself with Christ in God, reach those high degrees of divine charity, where Jesus so masters the powers of mortal man, that, even here below, they derive from Him their whole movement and life. And again, there is not a single one among the baptised, who, by the mere fact of his being thereby incorporated in the Church of Christ, may not be led to a greater or lesser degree of that inner life of Union. As to the fact of there being few who enjoy the privilege offered them, it comes from the fault of the majority's inconstant or feeble correspondence with grace. 3 And here, we are not expressly speaking of those exceptional favours, which form the special object of MYSTIC THEOLOGY. Favours of that kind produce those extraordinary states, which are of heaven, 1 Cantic. vi. 8. 2 Coloss. iii. 3. 3 Gal. ii. 20. rather than of earth. In such states, the Spirit of God is not merely treating the favoured souls as the Scripture describes, where it speaks of the eagle enticing its young ones to fly to the mountain-top,' He seems impatient of the tedious exile; suddenly carries off the astonished and passive soul, and leads her, through unknown paths, right up to the throne of God. There, standing on the shore of the crystal sea of light which inundates the Blessed, she is ravished with the music of heaven.3 At times, there is something more exquisite than that, granted to such a privileged soul; God takes her to himself, and speaks to her mysterious words, and ineffable secrets; and, when she returns to herself, she is all inebriated with love, and impressed with the divine communications wherewith she has been intrusted, and which human language is too poor to hold or utter. By far the noblest and sublimest pages of the Church's history are those which relate the lives of the Saints; and they abound with instances of favours like these; they manifest to us creatures, that the great Creator is Master to prove, when it pleases him, the independence and the power of his love. And yet, he has not promised any mortal such marvellous favours as these. Though they are not so rare as the world supposes, they are, nevertheless, beyond and above the normal and ordinary development of the Christian Life. Whilst thus recognising these extraordinary results of Union produced by the Spirit of God in some few of the Church's children, let us reverently pass them by, to speak on that perfection which constitutes the very essence of the Unitive Way. What, then, is that perfection? It is divine charity, reigning as master in the soul of one that has been baptised. 1 Deut. xxxii. 11. 3 Ibid. xv. 2. 2 Cor. xii. 4. Let us recal to mind, how, in the presence of the crowds that had come together to hear his words,1 our Lord Jesus proclaimed, from the Mount, the supernatural vocation of all to perfection and holiness.3 Did henot distinctly tell us, by that, that the way which leads to divine Union, understood in this its true meaning, was open to all? for it is divine Union, thus understood, that alone produces perfect holiness. Sex, or age, or condition, are not obstacles to this divine Union, provided the soul in question is really desirous of developing the heavenly germ that is in her, and is faithful to grace. There is no Christian, who, if thus rightly disposed, may not ascend from the lower degrees, where hope and fear are in the ascendency, and reach the perfect love of God. And what is this, but Union? What is it, but an assimilation with Him, whom our faith tells us should be, now, at once, even in this life, the One object of our desires and thoughts? If such a soul as that be taught, by Faith alone, the glorious relations which grace is meant to produce between her and her God,-those relations, though not perhaps felt and relished as is the case in those mysterious communications of which we were just now speaking, are none the less real, and may even be more substantially intimate, than those others. The higher or lower degree of divine Union does not depend on the various and always incomplete manifestations, which God may vouchsafe to grant a soul in this world; no, it results from the more or less perfect, and constant unification of the soul with the divine will; and this is brought about by the progressive possession of justice, and by the exercise of the christian virtues. Thus God sometimes withholds those mystical favours from his most faithful and dearest servants; and it is not difficult to imagine a generous soul, that has never trodden any but the 1 St. Matth. iv. 25. 2 Ibid. v. 48. ' Rom. i. 7. ordinary paths, and yet may be found dearer to the heart of the Man-God, in the next world, than many others who, in the days of their mortal life, may have been considered as his special favourites, by reason of the exceptional favours bestowed upon them. As to these, then, whose Union with Christ is that of devoted love kept up by Faith, alone, they have all the greater need of keeping close to the Church, from the very fact of their not enjoying the direct light and caresses of their Lord. Let them go on courageously, taking comfort from the thought, that if the Way they are pursuing is more fatiguing, it is also more secure. The Church, alone has had the promise made to her of not going wrong whilst journeying along the paths, where precipices abound, and on which the spirit of darkness is ever busily setting snares. Let us, then, keep hold of our Mother's hand, as we proceed in the Unitive Way of this Time after Pentecost; for, many a soul has been allured into misery by the deceitful appearance of a spirituality, which promised things far above the common. Wo to the soul, that pretends to extraordinary results of divine Union by systems which alienate her from the Church! She talks of having special lights from heaven, whereas she is but the dupe of Satan who can put on the appearance of a bright angel. Let her retrace her steps, and recover the beaten path; let her return to her Mother; let her learn from the seraphic St. Teresa, that the essential condition of a Christian's winning favours from Christ is the being a true Daughter of the Church,-a title so dear to the Saint, that, when on the point of death, she made it the subject of her warmest thanks to God." If our holy Mother the Church has sometimes to lament over souls, that would have been models of generosity had they but followed her guidance, but 2 Ribera, lib. iii. c. 15. 1 2 Cor. xi. 13-15. who, allowing themselves to be led astray, as Eve was by the serpent, have taken false views, and fallen from the simplicity that is in Christ,'-what a much more frequent cause of her grief is the sight of those countless Christians who utterly disdain the divine call to Union? some from tepidity, some from sloth, some from false humility? and all saying, that the low standard of Christian life which they take, is all that God has any right to expect from them! God has put into the Church's heart those two deepest and strongest affections which he has created, he has given her the tenderness of a Mother and the vehement love of a Bride. Imagine, then, what must be her zeal, and how intense her desire, to win over the whole world to her Jesus, and teach them how to attain Union with him! Like St. Paul, she is jealous with divine jealousy, as she thinks of all those millions of Christians, who undervalue the sublime vocation to which they are all created; on those children of hers whom she cannot induce to rise above earthly goods, and yet these Christians are her own members by Baptism! She grieves at seeing how her Jesus is treated by the indifference or the half-hearted love of these sluggish members, who yet make up some part of that Body, which she was told to present as a chaste virgin to Christ. O holy Church of Christ, thou art a model for thy children Thou art the valiant Woman of the Scripture, for it is thy Faith alone that keeps up thy Union with thy Divine Spouse; and this glorious Lamp of thine shall not be put out, dark as is the night of the world. Like ourselves, thou hast to love without seeing. It is now ten days since our Emmanuel disappeared in a cloud; he has sent from heaven the Spirit, who was to animate the Bride he 1 2 Cor. xi. 13. 2 Ibid. 2. Ibid. |