CAPUT LXXXIV. Quomodo mens se ad interiora colligere debeat, quae in coelestium contemplationem anhelat

CAPUT LXXXIV. Quomodo mens se ad interiora colligere debeat, quae in coelestium contemplationem anhelat

So let the one who longs for the contemplation of heavenly things, who sighs for knowledge of the divine, learn to gather the scatterings of Israel, work to rein in the mind's wanderings, grow used to lingering in his inmost depths, and forget all exterior things. Let him make a Church not only of desires but also of thoughts, so that he may learn to love the true good alone, and to think of that alone without ceasing: "In the churches," it says, "bless God."¹ For in this twin Church—namely of thoughts and of desires—in this twin unanimity of pursuits and of wills, Benjamin is caught up on high, and the mind, breathed on by God, is raised into the things above: "There," it says, "is Benjamin, a young man, in an ecstasy of mind."² Where do you think—if not in the churches? In the churches, bless God, the Lord, from the fountains of Israel. There is Benjamin, a young man, in an ecstasy of mind.³ Still, each person must first make a Synagogue of his thoughts or desires before he makes a Church of them.⁴ You know well enough that Synagogue means congregation, and Church means convocation.⁵ It's one thing to force some things into one without the will, or even against the will; and it's another for them to come forward freely of themselves, at the nod of the one who commands. Things without sense and brute animals can be gathered together, but they cannot be summoned.⁶ But even among rational beings themselves, their coming together happens by free assent, so that it can rightly be called a convocation. So you see how great the difference is between a convocation and a congregation, and between Church and Synagogue. So if you sense that your desires are being drawn toward outward pleasures, and that your thoughts are constantly busy with them, compel them with great care to come in, so that you can at least for now make a Synagogue out of them. For whenever we gather the mind's wanderings into one, and fix every movement of the heart in one desire for eternity, what else are we doing but making a Synagogue of that interior household? But when that throng of our desires and thoughts, drawn by a taste of that interior sweetness, has already learned to come forward freely at reason's nod and to stand fixed in the inmost places, then it can certainly be judged worthy of the further name of Church. So let us learn to love only the interior goods; let us learn to think more often of those alone; and of such goods as we know Benjamin loves, without a doubt we make Churches.⁷