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Chapter 51MedVC.1.51

De contemplatione humanitatis Christi

Two Things to Be Purified

Drawing on Bernard of Clairvaux, the meditator is taught that both the intellect and the affections must be purified, since Christ alone illuminates the mind and purifies the heart, and the vast wonders of His works draw the soul beyond all worldly distractions into the darkness where truth is sought.

He says, therefore, on this first point: "There are two things in us that must be purified — namely, the intellect and the affections: the intellect, so that it may come to know; the affections, so that they may be carried along." "And a little earlier: "The intellect, he says, is weighed down when it thinks about many things, when it does not gather itself around one single meditation — the one that is conceived about that city whose participation is in the thing itself."✦ "And he soon adds: "But the affections, which in our corrupted body are tossed about by various passions, can never be calmed — I won't say healed — until the will seeks one thing and stretches toward the One." "And below: "But Christ illuminates the intellect; Christ purifies the affections." For the Son of God came, and worked so many and such great wonders in the world, that not without reason did he call our intellect away from all worldly things — so that we might always think about them and never think enough, because he worked wonders.✦ Truly he left behind for us the broadest fields for the understanding to roam, and the torrent of these thoughts is the deepest. For who could ever think enough about how God anticipated us in all things, came to us, came to our aid, and his singular majesty chose to die so that we might live, to serve so that we might reign, to be exiled so that we might return home — and to bow down even to the most servile tasks, so that he might set us over all that is his?✦ "Hence: "Whence comes truth to us in these darknesses?"

The Bundle of Myrrh

The author takes up the Song of Songs image of the beloved as a bundle of myrrh, gathering Christ's sufferings—from the helplessness of infancy to the labors, temptations, persecutions, and the cross—as a remedy that yields both bitter healing and sweet consolation, guiding the soul safely through the ups and downs of the present life.

So where is love in this age — or rather, in this world, which is completely under the power of the evil one?✦ Do you suppose there will be anyone to enlighten the understanding, anyone to set the heart on fire? There will be — if we turn to Christ, so that the veil can be lifted from our hearts.✦ As the same text says: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me; he shall dwell between my breasts."✦ And I, brothers, from the beginning of my conversion — knowing that this was no pile of merits to my credit — took care to gather this bundle for myself and to place it between my breasts, collecting it from all the anxieties and bitternesses that come from my God. First, let him consider the helplessness of those little ones and their many needs; then the labors he endured in preaching, the weariness of running about, the long nights in prayer, the temptations in fasting, the tears in suffering with others, the snares in putting up with them; and finally the dangers from false brothers — the insults, the spitting, the beatings, the mockery, the reproaches, the nails, and everything like that — which the forest of the gospel is known to have produced in abundance for the salvation of our race.✦ And below that passage: "I have declared that these things are wisdom; in them I have established perfection for myself; in them, the fullness of knowledge; in them, the riches of salvation; in them, an abundance of merits." From these things I sometimes drink a healing cup of bitterness, and from these same things, again, a sweet anointing of consolation.

My Deepest Philosophy

Meditation on Christ's humanity raises the soul in adversity, restrains it in prosperity, and portrays the Judge of the world as both humble and approachable; this is the author's deepest and most interior philosophy: to know Jesus and Him crucified.

These things lift me up in adversity, hold me back in prosperity, and along the royal road as I walk between the joys and sorrows of this present life, they offer safe guidance on every side, driving off evils that threaten from every direction. These things stir up the Judge of the world within me: they portray Him as gentle and humble before the powers, tremendous though He is; and they present Him as not only approachable but truly friendly — He who is unapproachable by princes, terrible among the kings of the earth. For this reason these things are often on my lips, as you know; these things are always in my heart, as God knows; these things are thoroughly familiar to my pen, as is evident — for this is my deepest and most interior philosophy: to know Jesus, and Him crucified.✦ Thus far Bernard. And let these things concerning the contemplation of His humanity suffice, because you have this entire book about Him. You should know, however, that this contemplation does not require that the active life come first — the Ascension. Lord. — Serai.

Editorial Notes and Fragments

A series of editorial notes, source references, and fragmentary citations on the affections, bodily corruption, and the Holy Spirit's role in guiding the soul back to its homeland.

3,500. 2. — "The same. , on the title Caution. , I, 12. 12. I say. thus indeed the affections — in the body … corruption. , divine passion. are afflicted, which. The Holy Spirit. we might return to our homeland. meanwhile.

Meditation on the Humanity of Christ

The contemplation of Christ's humanity is set forth as accessible to all, running together with the active life and cleansing the soul of vices; yet it is more properly called meditation than contemplation, and the chapter closes by turning to the authorities of Bernard on these two matters.

because it concerns bodily matters — namely, the actions of Christ according to his humanity. So it is set forth to be contemplated as something more approachable — not only by the more perfect, but also by the untrained: both because in it, as in the active life, we are cleansed from vices and filled with virtues, and because this contemplation runs together with the active life. So when it is said that the ascent ought to come before the contemplative life, that's true of the other lower orders — namely, the heavenly court and the majesty of God, which are reserved for the perfect alone.12 And so meditation on Christ's humanity should more rightly and more properly be called meditation than contemplation.3 Now let us look at these two matters also through the authorities of Bernard.

Read the original Latin

Dicit crgo circa hoc primum -: " Duo sunt quae in nobis purganda sunt, scilicet intellectus et affectus: intellectus, ut noverit; afTectus, ut veht. " Et paulo ante ^: " Intellectus, dicit, tunc deprimitur, cum multa cogitat, cum non colligit se circa unam et unicam meditationem quee concipitur de civitate illa, cujus participatio cjus in idipsum. " Et mox subdit: " Affectiones vero, quee corpore corrupto diversis passionibus afficiuntur mitigari nunquam possunt, ne dicam sanari, donec voluntas unum quferat, et tendat ad unum. " Et infra ^: " Sed Christus intellectum illuminat; Chrislus affectum purgat. Venit enim Filius Dei, et tot et tanta mirabiha in mundo operatus est, ut non immerito intellectum nostrum ab omnibus mundanis rebus evocaverit, ut semper cogitemus, et nunquam cogitare sufficiamus, quia mirabilia fecit. Vere latissimos nobis ad spatiandum intelligentiee campos dereliquit, et torrens istarum cogitationumprofundissimusest. Quis enim cogitare sufficiat, qualiter rerum Deus preevenerit nos, venerit ad nos, subvenerit nobis, et singularis majestas voluerit mori ut viveremus, servire ut regnaremus, exulare ut repatriaremur et usque ad servilissima opera inclinari, nt constitueret nos super omnia sua? " Idein '^: " Unde nobis in his tenobris veritas?

Unde charitas in hoc saeculo ncquam, in hoc mundo, qui totus positus est in maligno? Putas, erit qui intellectum illuminet, qui inflammet affectum? Erit, si convertamur ad Christum, ut velamen de cordibus auferatur. " Idem ": Fasciculus myrrhce dilectus meus mihi ^, inter ubera mea commorabitur. * Et ego, fratres, ab ineunte mea conversione, pro acervo meritorum, quromihideesse sciebam,hunc mihi fasciculum colhgare, et inter ubera mea coUocare curavi, colleclum ex omnibus anxietatibus et amaritudinibus Dei mei. Primum videhcet infantihum illarum necessiiatum; deinde laborum quos pertuht in prasdicando, faligationum in discurrendo, vigiharum in orando, tentationum in jejunando, lacrymarum in compatiendo, insidiarum in cohoquendo, postremo periculorum in falsis fratribus, convitiorum, sputorum, colaphorum, subsannationum, exprobrationum, clavorumque horum similium, quae in salutem nostri generis sylva evangehca copiosissime noscitur protuUsse. " Et infra ": " Haec meditari dixi sapientiam; in his justitiae mihi perfectionem constitui; in his plenitudinem scientiae, in his divitias salutis, in his copias meritorum. Ex his mihi interdum potus salutaris amaritudinis, ex his rursum suavis unctio consolationis.

Haec me erigunt ia adversis, in prosperis reprimunt, et inter laeta tristiaque vitae praesentis via regia incedenti, tutum praebent utrobique ducatum, hinc inde mala imminentia propulsando. Haec mihi mundi judicem concihant, dum tremendum potestatibus mitem humilemque figurant; dum non solum placabilem, sed amicabilem repraesentant eum, qui inaccessibihs est principibus, terribihs apud reges terrae. Propterea haec mihi in ore frequenter, sicut vos scitis: haec in corde semper, sicut Deus scit: haec stylo meo admodum famiharia, sicut apparet; haec mea subtihor interiorque philosophia, scire Jesum, et hunc crucifixum. " Hucusque Bernardus. Et haec de contemplatione humanitatis sufficiant, quia totum hunc hbrum de ipso habes. Scire tamen debes, quod hanc contemplationem non oportet quod praecedat vita activa, Ascens. Dom. , serai.

iii, d. 2. — ^ " Id. , super T Caut. , I, 12. XII. dico. sic affectiones vero, corpore corr.

, div. pass. afliciunlur, qufe. Spiritus sanclus. repatriaremus. interim. quia de rebus corporalibus est, scilicet de actionibus Christi secundum humanitatem. Unde tanquam familiarior non tantum perfectioribus, sed etiam rudibus proponitur intuenda: tum quia iu ea, sicut in activa, et a vitiis purgamur, et virtutibus imbuimur; unde hasc cum activa concurrit.

Cum igitur dicitur, quod acliva debet praecedere contemplativam; verum est in aliis subhmioribus suis generibus, scilicet coelestis curiaej et majestatis Dei, quae tantum perfectis reservantur. Et ideo ista de humanitate Christi rectius et proprius meditalio, quam contemplatio nominari debet. De praedictis autem duabus etiam per auctoritates Bernardi videamus

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Heb.12.22;Rev.21.2 — But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, Rev.21.2 — And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
  2. ↩Ps.9.1 — To the choirmaster: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
  3. ↩Phil.2.7-Phil.2.9 — but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and appearing as a human being. Phil.2.8 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Phil.2.9 — Therefore God also exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name,
  4. ↩1John.5.19 — We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one.
  5. ↩2Cor.3.14-2Cor.3.16 — But their minds were hardened. For to this day the same veil remains over the reading of the old covenant, not being lifted, because it is in Christ that it is set aside. 2Cor.3.15 — But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. 2Cor.3.16 — But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
  6. ↩Song.1.13 — A sachet of myrrh is my beloved to me; between my breasts he will lie.
  7. ↩1Cor.4.11-1Cor.4.13;2Cor.11.23-2Cor.11.28 — To this very hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly clothed, we are beaten, and we are homeless, 1Cor.4.12 — and we toil, working with our own hands; when reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 1Cor.4.13 — when slandered, we speak gently; we have become like the world's refuse, the scum of everything, even to this moment. 2Cor.11.23 — Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking as one beside myself—I am more: in labors far more, in prisons far more, in beatings beyond measure, in deaths often. 2Cor.11.24 — Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one. 2Cor.11.25 — Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I spent in the deep. 2Cor.11.26 — In dangers from rivers, dangers from bandits, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; 2Cor.11.27 — in toil and hardship, in sleepless nights many times, in hunger and thirst, in fastings many times, in cold and nakedness 2Cor.11.28 — Apart from what is external, there is the daily pressure on me—the anxiety for all the churches.
  8. ↩1Cor.2.2 — For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩'acliva' (the ascent/ascending path) is a rare or possibly corrupt form; the sense is that the active, upward journey must precede contemplation in certain lower 'genera' or orders of spiritual life, but not in the case of meditating on Christ's humanity.
  2. 2 ↩'subhmioribus' appears to be a scribal corruption, possibly for 'subterioribus' (lower); translated as 'lower' based on context.
  3. 3 ↩'meditalio' is a rare or unattested form, likely a variant of 'meditatio'; translated as 'meditation' based on context.

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