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Chapter 10Dil.1.10

De quarto gradu amoris cum nec seipsum diligit homo nisi propter Deum.

The Fourth Degree of Love

The soul's ascent to the fourth degree of love is likened to climbing the mountain of God, where longing for rest in Zion is tempered by the weariness of earthly exile.

Happy the one who has earned the right to reach even the fourth degree, where a person loves not even himself except for God's sake. Your justice, O God, is like the mountains of God.✦ This love is a mountain, and a mountain of God on high. Truly, a thick mountain — a rich mountain.✦ Who will ascend the mountain of the Lord?✦ Who will give me wings like a dove's, and I will fly away and rest?✦ This place has become a place of peace, and this dwelling is in Zion.✦ Alas for me, that my sojourn has been prolonged!✦

Intoxicated with Divine Love

The soul, forgetting self and emptied by divine love, becomes one spirit with God, yet is swiftly driven back by the weight of the body and the world.

Flesh and blood, an earthen vessel, an earthly dwelling — when will it receive this?✦ When the soul experiences an affection of this kind — intoxicated with divine love, forgetting self, and made to be, as it were, a vessel lost to itself — it proceeds wholly into God, and cleaving to God becomes one spirit with him.✦1 And let him say: My flesh and my heart have failed — O God of my heart, and my portion, God forever! I would call that person blessed and holy, to whom something of this kind is granted — rarely, now and then, in this mortal life, perhaps only once, and even that in a flash, barely for the space of a single moment. To lose yourself in a certain way, as though you were not, and to not feel yourself at all, and to be emptied out from yourself, and to be well-nigh annihilated — this belongs to a heavenly way of life, not to human affection.2 And if someone from among mortals is admitted — now and then, in a flash, as was said, and for a single moment — the wicked world immediately envies it, the wickedness of the day disturbs it, the body of death weighs it down, the need of the flesh unsettles it, the decay of corruption cannot endure it, and what is more violent than all of these, brotherly love calls it back.3 Alas! He is compelled to return to himself, to fall back into his own concerns, and to cry out miserably: Lord, I suffer violence — answer for me! And that other cry: Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from the body of this death?✦

Alling to Will for God Alone

As God made all things for his own sake, the soul is called to transcend self and will all things solely for God, so that pure intention becomes a participation in divine love.

Since Scripture tells us that God made all things for his own sake, it will surely come about that creation itself will at some point be shaped to and brought into harmony with its Author. It is fitting, then, that we be moved into that same disposition whenever we pass beyond ourselves: so that just as God willed all things to exist for his own sake, we too may will that neither we ourselves nor anything else has ever been or is, except equally for his sake — for the sake of his will alone, clearly, and not for our own pleasure. What will truly delight us is not so much our own quieted necessity or our allotted good fortune, but rather that his will — concerning us and in us — will be seen fulfilled. This is what we ask for daily in prayer when we say, 'Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.'✦ O holy and chaste love! O sweet and gentle affection! O pure and cleansed intention of the will! The more purified and purer this intention becomes — by virtue of the fact that nothing of self-interest now remains mixed into it — the sweeter and more pleasant it is, by virtue of the fact that all that is felt is wholly divine. To be affected in this way is to be deified.

Dissolved into the Will of God

The saints' affections will be wholly transformed into God's will, as water vanishes into wine, iron becomes fire, and air becomes light, so that God may be all in all.

Just as a tiny drop of water poured into a large quantity of wine seems to vanish entirely, taking on the taste and color of the wine; and just as iron, once it is fired and glowing, becomes most like fire, stripped of its former and proper shape; and just as air, pervaded by the light of the sun, is transformed into that same brightness of light, so much that it seems not so much illuminated as to be light itself: in just this way, every human affection in the saints will then, by a certain ineffable means, necessarily melt away from itself and be poured entirely into the will of God. Otherwise, how will God be all things in all, if anything of man, concerning man, will remain in the human person?✦ The substance will indeed remain, but in another form, another glory, and another power. When will this be? Who will see this? Who will possess it? When shall I come and appear before the face of God?✦ Lord my God, my heart has spoken to you; my face has sought you. Your face, Lord, I will seek.✦

Longing to See God's Temple

The soul yearns to come before God's presence and behold his holy temple.

Do you think I shall see your holy temple?✦

The Body as Barrier to Perfect Love

Perfect love of God is hindered by the body's demands, and the soul hopes to attain the fourth degree only in a spiritual, immortal body, as even the martyrs' love was tested by pain.

I don't think the command "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength" will ever be truly and perfectly fulfilled until the heart itself is no longer compelled to think about the body, until the soul stops being pulled toward that same body in this present state — giving it life and sensation — and until its strength, freed from those burdens, is strengthened in the power of God.✦ For it is indeed impossible to gather all of these faculties wholly toward God and fix them on his divine countenance, so long as they must remain engaged in serving this frail and troubled body, stretched thin by its demands. Therefore, let the soul hope to attain the fourth degree of love — or rather, in that degree, to be seized by it — in a spiritual and immortal body, in a body that is whole, peaceful, pleasing, and in all things subject to the spirit. For this is a thing that belongs to the power of God, to give to whom he wills, not something that human effort can achieve. Then, I say, it will easily attain the highest degree — when the soul is hastening most readily and most eagerly into the joy of its Lord, and no allurement of the flesh holds it back any longer, no trouble disturbs it. Do we think, nevertheless, that the holy martyrs attained this grace — or at least part of it — while still established in those victorious bodies of theirs? A great force of love had seized those souls inwardly — a force by which they were able to expose their bodies outwardly and to despise torments. But the sensation of the sharpest pain could not help disturbing their inner calm — even if it did not overthrow it.

Read the original Latin

Felix qui meruit ad quartum usque pertingere, quatenus nec seipsum diligat homo nisi propter Deum. Justitia tua, Deus, sicut montes Dei. Amor iste mons est, et mons Dei excelsus. Revera mons coagulatus, mons pinguis. Quis ascendet in montem Domini? Quis dabit mihi pennas sicut columbae, et volabo et requiescam? Factus est in pace locus iste, et habitatio haec in Sion. Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est!

Caro et sanguis, vas luteum, terrena inhabitatio quando capit hoc? quando hujuscemodi experitur affectum, ut divino debriatus amore animus, oblitus sui, factusque sibi ipsi tanquam vas perditum, totus pergat in Deum, et adhaerens Deo unus cum eo spiritus fiat. et dicat: Defecit caro mea et cor meum, Deus cordis mei, et pars mea Deus in aeternum? Beatum dixerim et sanctum, cui tale aliquid in hac mortali vita raro interdum, aut vel semel, et hoc ipsum raptim, atque unius vix momenti spatio experiri donatum est. Te enim quodammodo perdere, tanquam qui non sis, et omnino non sentire teipsum, et a teipso exinaniri, et pene annullari, coelestis est conversationis, non humanae affectionis. Et si quidem e mortalibus quispiam ad illud raptim interdum (ut dictum est) et ad momentum admittitur, subito invidet saeculum nequam, perturbat diei malitia, corpus mortis aggravat, sollicitat carnis necessitas, defectus corruptionis non sustinet, quodque his violentius est, fraterna revocat charitas. Heu! redire in se, recidere in sua compellitur, et miserabiliter exclamare, Domine, vim patior, responde pro me: et illud, Infelix ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus?

Quoniam tamen Scriptura loquitur, Deum omnia fecisse propter semetipsum; erit profecto ut factura sese quandoque conformet et concordet Auctori. Oportet proinde in eumdem nos affectum quandocunque transire: ut quomodo Deus omnia esse voluit propter semetipsum, sic nos quoque nec nosipsos, nec aliud aliquid fuisse, vel esse velimus, nisi aeque propter ipsum, ob solam videlicet ipsius voluntatem, non nostram voluptatem. Delectabit sane non tam nostra, vel sopita necessitas, vel sortita felicitas, quam quod ejus in nobis, et de nobis voluntas adimpleta videbitur: quod et quotidie postulamus in oratione cum dicimus, Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in coelo, et in terra. O amor sanctus et castus! o dulcis et suavis affectio! o pura et defaecata intentio voluntatis! eo certe defaecatior et purior, quo in ea de proprio nil jam admistum relinquitur: eo suavior et dulcior, quo totum divinum est quod sentitur. Sic affici, deificari est.

Quomodo stilla aquae modica, multo infusa vino, deficere a se tota videtur, dum et saporem vini induit, et colorem; et quomodo ferrum ignitum et candens, igni simillimum fit, pristina propriaque forma exutum; et quomodo solis luce perfusus aer in eamdem transformatur luminis claritatem, adeo ut non tam illuminatus, quam ipsum lumen esse videatur: sic omnem tunc in sanctis humanam affectionem quodam ineffabili modo necesse erit a semetipsa liquescere, atque in Dei penitus transfundi voluntatem. Alioquin quomodo omnia in omnibus erit Deus, si in homine de homine quidquam supererit? Manebit quidem substantia, sed in alia forma, alia gloria, aliaque potentia. Quando hoc erit? quis hoc videbit? quis possidebit? Quando veniam, et apparebo ante faciem Dei? Domine Deus meus, tibi dixit cor meum, exquisivit te facies mea; faciem tuam, Domine, requiram.

Putas, videbo templum sanctum tuum?

Ego puto non ante sane perfecte impletum iri, Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota virtute tua; quousque ipsum cor cogitare jam non cogatur de corpore, et anima eidem in hoc statu vivificando et sensificando intendere desinat, et virtus ejusdem relevata molestiis, in Dei potentia roboretur. Impossibile namque est tota haec ex toto ad Deum colligere, et divino infigere vultui, quandiu ea huic fragili et aerumnoso corpori intenta et distenta necesse est subservire. Itaque in corpore spirituali et immortali, in corpore integro, placido, placitoque, et per omnia subjecto spiritui, speret se anima quartum apprehendere amoris gradum, vel potius in ipso apprehendi: quippe quod Dei potentiae est dare cui vult, non humanae industriae assequi. Tunc, inquam, summum obtinebit facile gradum, cum in gaudium Domini sui promptissime et avidissime festinantem nulla jam retardabit carnis illecebra, nulla molestia conturbabit. Putamusne tamen hanc gratiam vel ex parte sanctos martyres assecutos, in illis victoriosis corporibus adhuc constitutos? Magna vis prorsus amoris illas animas introrsum rapuerat, qua ita sua corpora foris exponere, et tormenta contemnere valuerunt. At profecto doloris acerrimi sensus non potuit non turbare serenum, etsi non perturbare.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.35.7 — For without cause they have hidden for me the pit of their net; without cause they have dug a pit for my life.
  2. ↩Ps.35.7 — For without cause they have hidden for me the pit of their net; without cause they have dug a pit for my life.
  3. ↩Ps.23.4 — Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me.
  4. ↩Ps.54.7 — He will turn evil back upon my enemies; in your faithfulness, put an end to them.
  5. ↩Ps.75.3 — For I will take the appointed time; I will judge with uprightness.
  6. ↩Ps.120.5 — Woe is me, for I have sojourned in Meshech; I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar.
  7. ↩1Cor.15.50 — Now I say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
  8. ↩1Cor.6.17 — But the one who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
  9. ↩Rom.7.24 — Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
  10. ↩Matt.6.10;Luke.11.2 — Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Luke.11.2 — He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come."
  11. ↩1Cor.15.28 — When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
  12. ↩Ps.26.8;Ps.28.8 — LORD, I love the dwelling place of your house, and the place where your glory dwells. Ps.28.8 — The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
  13. ↩Ps.26.8-Ps.26.9;Ps.28.8-Ps.28.9 — LORD, I love the dwelling place of your house, and the place where your glory dwells. Ps.26.9 — Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men. Ps.28.8 — The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving refuge of his anointed. Ps.28.9 — Save your people, and bless your inheritance; shepherd them, and carry them forever.
  14. ↩Ps.27.4 — One thing I have asked of the LORD, and this I will seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
  15. ↩Deut.6.5 — And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩animus rendered as 'soul' per lexeme policy (interior person before God); debriatus rendered 'intoxicated' to capture the overwhelming force of divine love.
  2. 2 ↩conversatio rendered as 'way of life' (not 'conversation'); affectio rendered as 'affection' in the negative/human sense per policy.
  3. 3 ↩fraterna revocat charitas — 'brotherly love calls it back' is striking: even the bond of charity among believers can pull the soul back from its momentary union with God. This is not a condemnation of charity but a recognition that even good human attachments interrupt the highest contemplation.

On Loving God companion

Fourteen days is a start. Love grows by daily practice.

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