De modo vivendi in activa vita; item auctoritas Bernardi bona
Returning to the Way of Life
The author transitions from prior discussions of contemplative life to address how one should live in the active life, emphasizing that community life speeds progress.
Since we have already considered the practice of both ways of life — the active and the contemplative — and the different forms the contemplative life can take, it remains for us to examine which path we should follow so that we may enter the contemplative life more easily and attain it more effectively. So understand this: the first part, the active life, requires engaging with other people, just as the contemplative life requires solitude. And so in the active life a person must live among others, because it is through community that one more easily and quickly reaches the state one is striving for.
The Discipline of Community Life
Living in community fosters correction through shame and the imitation of others' virtues, and the reader is urged to observe and avoid faults carefully.
For when you live among others, you are ashamed of the faults you have and of the virtues you lack, and so you correct yourself in both areas: in solitude this does not happen, because there you would never notice your own faults, there would be no one to correct you, and there would be no one before whom to feel ashamed. That is why a person grows in self-correction and in the character of others when living in a community: one tries to avoid the failings for which others are reproved and disapproved, and to pursue the virtues for which others are praised and esteemed. This is what you should do as long as you are in the active life: carefully observe and avoid both your own faults and those of others, following the approach described above in many places, especially in the practice of the active life. Carefully consider what has been said there about virtues and vices, and strive to live according to them — how you should examine yourself, how you should look toward the virtues of others in order to imitate them, and how from that you should humble yourself and always remain in reverent fear, since you do not possess the same virtues they have.
Bernard's Weariness of Soul
Bernard is introduced as an authority, confessing a weariness of soul and dulling of mind that befalls those running in the spiritual path.
This is how Bernard teaches, not without reason: 'Since yesterday and the day before, a weariness of soul has come upon me, and a dulling of mind, an unusual sluggishness of spirit.'
A Soul in Desolation
Drawing on Bernard's lament, the text describes a soul experiencing spiritual dryness, loss of devotion, hardness of heart, and the painful absence of God's nearness.
I was running well; but behold, a stone — [corrupt passage]. [Abbreviation; possibly 'chalk' or similar — uncertain expansion.] [Abbreviation; possibly 'edifice' or 'edification' — uncertain expansion.] We are strengthened. [Unanalyzed; source text appears corrupt.] There was a stumbling block on the path: I stumbled and fell. Pride was found in me, and the Lord turned away in anger from his servant. Hence this barrenness of my soul, and the lack of devotion that I suffer. How is it that my heart has dried up like this, curdled like milk, become like a land without water?✦ Nor can I be pierced to tears — so great is the hardness of my heart! I do not find my usual devotions. Where is that intoxication of the spirit? Where is the serenity of mind, the peace, the joy in the Holy Spirit?✦ And so I am lazy for manual work, drowsy for the vigils, headlong toward anger, stubborn in hatred, all the more indulgent toward gluttony and appetite, more sluggish and more dull when it comes to preaching. Alas! The Lord visits all the mountains around me, but he does not draw near to me.
The Mountains of the Saints and the Hill of Gilboa
The saints are described as spiritual mountains visited by the Bridegroom, while the humble soul, seeing its own nothingness, curbs pride and wins grace through self-accusation and holy awe.
"And after: "For I look upon one person remarkable for singular abstinence, another for patience beyond admiration, another for the deepest humility and gentleness, another for great mercy and loving kindness: this one I often see going beyond himself in contemplation, that one pounding at and piercing heaven by the urgency of his prayers, and others excelling in other virtues. These, I say — I consider them all fervent, all devout, all united in Christ, all overflowing with heavenly gifts and grace — as truly spiritual mountains, visited by the Lord, and frequently receiving the Bridegroom springing up within them. But I, who find myself to be nothing among these — what else am I to think of myself than as one of the hills of Gilboa, passed over in his wrath and indignation by that most kindly visitor of all the rest? *Children, this thought curbs the swelling of the eyes' pride, wins grace, and prepares the way of the Bridegroom with leaps.* "And within: "I do not want you to spare yourselves, but to accuse yourselves, whenever you detect that grace is cooling in you in any way, even a little, or that virtue is growing weak. "And after: "This is what a person does who is a curious inspector of himself, a searcher out of his own ways and pursuits, and in everything always suspects the vice of arrogance creeping in. In truth I have learned that nothing is equally effective for winning back, retaining, and recovering grace than this: that at all times before God you be found not thinking highly of yourself, but standing in awe. ^Blessed is the person who is always filled with awe. "Idem 3: "Learn to be the one who presides over yourself, and to set your life in order.
Authorities for the Interior Life
Citations from various authorities introduce the practice of rigorous self-examination, urging the reader to judge themselves, accuse their own conscience, and maintain constant vigilance.
XVIIII (or XLIX), 14. loio Guill. from S. Theod., nd frnlres, On the Mount of God, ch. X, u. 28, iuter spuria 'Id.' , from Divers. , seroi. XX. 16. On depth. and Hurniiit. of the heart, 5. 2. to swim, to compose your manners, to judge yourself, and to accuse yourself before yourself — often even to condemn yourself — and not to let anger go unpunished. Let justice sit judging, let the accused stand, and let conscience accuse yourself. No one loves you more, no one will judge you more faithfully. In the morning, make an examination of yourself for the night past, and declare caution to yourself for the day to come.
The Order of Daily Discipline
Strict daily discipline is prescribed: evening and morning self-examination, hourly ordering of duties, and accountability for spiritual and temporal obligations.
In the evening, take stock of the day that has passed, and for the night ahead, make your accounting. This way, under strict discipline, there will never be room to drift from what is right. At each hour, following the rule of the common institute, distribute your exercises: to the one in charge of spiritual matters, assign spiritual duties; to the one in charge of temporal matters, assign temporal duties. In these things, may each one thus discharge every debt — the spirit to God, the body to the spirit — so that if anything has been omitted, if anything neglected, if anything left imperfect, each in its own way, in its own place, in its own time, it may not go unpunished or unmade-good.
Holy Emulation and Humility
The reader is urged to choose more fervent souls as models, to count others' virtues against one's own defects, and to find the fruit of humility in always esteeming others higher.
"The same author: 'How much, do you think, I admire those people — and how much I fear for them in my heart — how much I embrace them with the affection of love! They act as though they do not even know those they see daily around them. Perhaps one, or two, or even more — those they have seen burning with greater fervor of spirit — they choose for themselves from among all. And even though they themselves may perhaps be better, they always set those others before themselves as their model, placing their holy pursuits in the Lord first — both bodily exercises and spiritual ones.' "And further below: 'Woe to me,' he says — speaking of our own people — 'because I considered one monk in his vigils, and in him I counted thirty virtues, of which I scarcely find one in myself, and perhaps none at all.' That one had only so much as this — the humility born of holy emulation of the religious life. Let this, then, be the fruit of this discourse: that each one always attend to the higher things of others, because in this consists the fullness of humility.
The Fruit of Humility and Bernard's Witness
Through holy emulation one can judge oneself lower even when naturally gifted, and Bernard's teaching shows the great value of examining oneself and others for spiritual profit.
For if perhaps in some matter a grace seems greater to you in another brother, but among many, if you are a good emulator, you can judge yourself lower. What if perhaps you can labor or fast more than he, yet he surpasses you in patience, goes before you in humility, towers above you in love? How you are engaged all day long, around the very thing you have seen you lack, with foolish thought! Be more careful, so that you may know what is lacking in you. For this is better. Thus far Bernard. You see how great a thing it is to look around and examine yourself, and also others, so that you may turn their ways to your own advantage. Therefore exercise yourself greatly in this, while you are in the active life, always holding fast to the rule of life.
Purification Through Christ and Prayer
The chapter concludes by urging meditation on Christ's life and Passion and devoted prayer as the chief means to purity of soul, enlightenment in virtue, and progress toward contemplation.
He had no splendor at all—how much, then? How much, indeed? …of truth, humility, and piety. Above all else, hold fast to meditations on the life of Christ. Both of these—meditations on the life of Christ and prayer—for in both you will be wonderfully enlightened about your faults and your virtues, and more than any other spiritual exercise, you will advance in them toward purity of soul, which you must pursue with all your strength, because it contains all the virtues, as I said above in the section on the Lord's Supper. And if you have rightly understood the authorities cited above on contemplation, the more purely a person ought to prepare themselves, the more earnestly they desire to rise to a higher contemplation. Now the soul is purified by meditations on the life of Christ, and especially on His Passion, as you have already seen above in the general contemplations drawn from Bernard's seventy-second sermon on the Song of Songs. The soul is also purified through prayer, which is close to and near neighbor to contemplation; and what prayer obtains through laborious effort, contemplation savors in sweet repose.
Conclusion
A brief closing statement marks the end of the discourse on the manner of the active life.
And let these things concerning the manner of the active life suffice.
Read the original Latin
Postquam vidimus de exercitio utriusque vitae, sciUcet primae partis activae, et etiam contemplativae, et de generibus ipsius contemplativae: restat videre quem modum tenere valeamus,utin ipsam possimus facilius introduci, et eara efficacius adipisci. Scire ergo debes, quod prima pars activee requirit socialem inier alios conversationem, sicut contemplatio solitudinem. Ideo autem in activa conversandum est inter ahos, quia meUus et citius quis pro- versat positum suum consequetur. Erubescit enim in- °^' ter alios de vitiis quae habet, et de virtutibus quas non halDcl, et ideo in utrisquc se corrigit: quod in soUtudine non conUngit, quia in ea nec ipse quandoque perpenderet, nec esset qui corrigeret, nec coram quo erubesceret. Propterea proficit in correctionibus et moribus aliorum, cum est in congregatione: conatur enim vitare defectus, de quibus alii corripiuntur et displicent, et adipisci virtutes, in quibus alii commendantur et placent. Sic ergo te facere oportet, donec fueris in acUva, et caute observes et vites tua et aliorum viUa, secundum modum supra dictum in pluribus locis, maxime in exercitio activae. Considera diligenter quoB ibi dicta sunt de virtuUbus et vitiis, et secundum ea vivere stude, quomodo teipsam examinare et ad virtutes aliorum aspicere debeas, et imitari, et exinde humiliari, ct in timore semper manere, quia tu similes vivtutes non habes. Sic ergo docet Bernardus "^: " Non sine causa ab heri et nudiusterUus invasit me languor animi, et mentis hebetudo, insolita quaedam inertia spiritus.
Currebam bene; sed ecce lapis Irausioriuauiur. Cal. edif. coufirmamur. Iteni fuuclut. offensionis in via: impegi et corrui. Siiperbia inventa est in me, ct Dominus dcclinavil in ira a servo suo. Hinc ista sterilitas animfe me", et devolionis inopia, quam patior.
Quomodo ita exaruit cor meum, coagulatum est sicut lac, factum estsicut terra sine aqua? nec compungi ad lacrymas queo; tanta est duritia cordis! Moditaliones solitas non invenio. Ubi illa inebriatio spiritus? ubi mentis screnitas, et pa::, et gaudium in Spiritu sancto? Ideo ad opus manuum piger, ad vigilias somnolentus, ad iram praeceps, ad odium pertinax, linguffi et gulas indulgentior, segnior, et obtusior ad prjedicationem. Heu! omnes montes iu circuitu meo visitat Dominus; ad me autem non appropinquat.
" Et post: " Nam alium quidem intueor singularis abstinentice, alium vero patientics admirandae, alium autem summae humilitatis et mansuetudinis, alium multae misericordiae et pietatis: illum in contemplatione frequenter excedei^e, hunc pulsare et penetrare coelos orationum instantia, aliosque in aliis praeeminere virlutibus. Hos, inquam, considero omnes ferventes, omnes devotos, omnes in Christo unanimes, omnes in donis coelestibus et gratia affluentes, tanquam spirituales revera montes, qui a Domino visitantur, et sponsum in se salientem frequenter recipiunt. Ego autem, qui horumin me invenio nihil, quid me aliud putem, quam unura e monlibus Gelboe, quem pra;terit in ira et in indignalione sua ille caeterorum omnium bcnignissimus visitator? * Fiiioli, hoic cogitatio follit extollenliam oculorum, conciliat gratiam, viam sponsi saltibus prseparat. " Et intra: " Volo vos non parcere vobis, sed accusare vosmetipsos, quoties forte in vobis vel ad modicum tepere gratiam, virtutem languescere deprehenditis. " Et post: " Hoc facere hominis est, qui curiosus circumspector cst sui, et scrutator viarum suarum ac studiorum, atque in omnibus semper suspectum habet arrogantire vitium, ne surrepat, In veritate didici, nil aeque eflicax esse ad gratiam promerendam, retinendam et recuperandam, quam si omni tempore coram Deo inveniaris non altum sapere, sed timere. ^ Beatus liomo qui semper est pavidus. " Idem 3: " Discito tibi preeesse, et vitam ordi.
\Xvlii, 14. loio Guill. a S. Theod, nd frnlres de Monte Dei, c. X, u. 28, iuter spuria " Id. , de Divers. , seroi. xx.
xvi, de altitud. et Hurniiit. cordis, u. 2. nare, mores componere, temelipsum judicare, et teipsum apud teipsum accusare, saepe etiam condemnare, nec irapunitum dimittere. Sedeat judicans justitia, stet rea, et temetipsum accusans conscientia. Nemo te plus diligit, nemo te fidelius j udicabit. * Mane praeteritae noctis fac a temetipso exactionem, et venturae diei tu tibi indicito cautionem.
Vespere, prseteritae diei rationem exige, et supervenientis noctisfac indictionem. Sic districto nunquam aliunde lascivire vacabit. Singulis horis secundum communis instituti canonem sua distribue exercitia:cui spirituaha, spiritualia; cui temporalia, temporalia. In quibus sic exolvat omne debitum spiritus Deo, corpus spiritui, ut si qiiid fuerit intermissum, si quid neglectum, si quid imperfectum, suo modo, suo loco, suo tempore, non abeat impunitum sive irrecompensatum. " Idem ^: "Quantum, putas, ego illos admiror, quantum vereor in corde meo, quanto amplector charitatis affectu, qui velut nescientes eos quos secum quotidie vident, unum forte, aut duos, vel etiam plures, quos in majori fervore spiritus viderint, sibi ex omnibus eligunt, et cum ipsi fortasse meliores sint, semper tamen illorum sibi proponunt et praeponunt sancta in Domino studia, et exercitia corporalia, seu etiam spirituaiia? " Et infra ®: " Vae mihi, inquit ex nostris), quia monachum in vigiliis unum consideravi, in quo triginta virtutes numeravi, quarum vix unam in me invenio, et forlasse nullam. Ule tantum habebat, quantum haec ipsareligiosaeaemulationis humilitas. Hic itaque fructus sit luei sermonis, ut aliorum quisque altiora semper atlendat, quia in eo constat pleniludo humilitatis.
Nam si forte in re aliqua major tibi fratre aliquo gratia coUata videtur, sed iu multis, si bonus aemulator fueris, judicare te poteris inferiorem. Quid si forte laborare, aut jejunare plus isto potes, et ille patientia superat, humiiitate praecedit, supereminet charitate? quomodo tota die circa illud quod videris habere insipienti cogitatione versaris! Esto magis soUicitus, ut scias quid desit tibi. Hoc enim melius. " Hucusque Bernardus. Vides quam magnum est circumspicere et examinare seipsum, et eliam alios, ut in suam utilitatem mores eorum convertat. In hoc igitur te multum exerceas, dum fueris in activa, semper tenendo chaMabill.
; nullam ille lautam habebat, quanta. Ucm quid enini. ritatis, humilitatis etpietatis obsequia. Super omnia vero teneas meditationes vitee. Christi, et orationem,quia in utrisque miro modo illuminaberis circa vitia et virtutes, et super omnia alia exercitia in eis ad puritatem animi proficies, ad quae totis viribus te intendere oportet, quia omnes virtutes continet, utdixi supra S dejeju^iio Domini. Et si bene auctoritates supra ^ de contemplatione positas intellexisti, tanto quis majori puritate se munire debet, quanto ad celsiorem contemplationem ascendere cupit. Depuratur autem anima in meditationibus vit£e Christi, et maxime passionis ipsius, ut habuisti supra in generalibus contemplatiohibus ex sermone septuagesimo secundo Bernardi super Cantica. Depuratur etiam in oratione quae vicina et proxima est contemplationi; et quod oratio laboriosis sudoribus impetrat, contemplatio amoene quiescendo degustat.
Et heec de modo vitee activae sufficiant
Scripture echoes
- ↩Ps.106.33 — For they rebelled against his Spirit, and he spoke rashly with his lips.
- ↩Rom.14.17;Gal.5.22 — For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Gal.5.22 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
A scene a day, for life
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