CHAPITRE VIII.
Living the Mysteries
True contemplation involves experiencing the states of Christ within the soul rather than merely reflecting upon them.
1. On the Mysteries: God provides them here in reality.1 2. 3. You must let yourself be applied and unapplied by God as He pleases, in loving attention.2 1. People will object that by this way you will not imprint the mysteries upon yourself. It is actually the opposite; they are given in reality to the soul. Jesus Christ, to whom we abandon ourselves, and whom we follow (a) as the way, whom we listen to as the truth, and who animates us as life, imprinting himself on the soul, makes it bear all his states.3 (a) John 14. v. 6. Bearing the states of Jesus Christ is far greater than merely considering them. St. Paul bore the states of Jesus Christ on his own body: (a) "I bear," he says, "on my body the marks of Jesus Christ." But he does not say that he reasoned about them. (a) Gal. 6. v. 17.
Abandonment in All Dispositions
The soul must remain indifferent to all interior states, whether light or darkness, by focusing solely on union with God.
2. Often, in this state of abandonment, Jesus Christ gives insights into his own states in a very particular way.4 We must receive them and let ourselves be applied to whatever He chooses, accepting every state He places us in equally. We should not choose any of these for ourselves, except to remain near Him, attach our hearts to Him, and annihilate ourselves before Him. We must accept everything He gives us—light or darkness, ease or barrenness, strength or weakness, sweetness or bitterness, temptation or distraction, pain, weariness, or uncertainty—and none of it should stop us.5
The Simplicity of Loving Attention
Loving attention to God encompasses all particular devotions and mysteries, freeing the soul from the anxiety of needing to meditate on specific themes.
3. There are people whom God occupies for entire years in tasting one of His Mysteries. The mere sight or thought of this Mystery draws them inward; let them be faithful to it. But when God takes it from them, let them allow themselves to be stripped of it. Others trouble themselves because they cannot think of a Mystery: there is no reason for it, since loving attention to God contains every particular devotion, and whoever is united to God alone by resting in Him is applied, in a more excellent way, to all the mysteries. Whoever loves God loves everything that belongs to Him.
Read the original French
1. Des Mysteres : Dieu les donne ici en réalité.
2. 3. Il faut se laisser appliquer & des-appliquer par Dieu comme il lui plait, en attention amoureuse.
1. ON m’objectera, que par cette voie on ne s’imprimera pas les mysteres. C’est tout le contraire ; ils sont donnés en réalité à l’ame. Jésus-Christ, à qui l’on s’abandonne, & que l’on suit (a) comme voie, que l’on écoute comme vérité, & qui nous anime comme vie, s’imprimant lui-même en l’ame, lui fait porter tous ses états.
(a) Jean 14. v. 6.
Porter les états de Jésus-Christ, c’est quelque chose de bien plus grand que de considérer seulement les états de Jésus-Christ. S. Paul portoit sur son corps les états de Jésus-Christ : (a) Je porte, dit-il, sur mon corps les marques de Jésus-Christ. Mais il ne dit pas qu’il raisonnoit dessus.
(a) Gal. 6. v. 17.
2. Souvent Jésus-Christ donne dans cet état d’abandon des vues de ses états d’une maniere bien particuliere.
Il faut les recevoir & se laisser appliquer à tout ce qui lui plaira, recevant également toutes les dispositions où il lui plaira de nous mettre, & n’en choisissant aucune par nous-mêmes que celle de demeurer auprès de lui, de nous affectionner, de nous anéantir devant lui ; mais recevant également tout ce qu’il nous donne, lumieres, ou ténèbres ; facilité, ou stérilité, force, ou foiblesse ; douceur, ou amertume ; tentation, ou distraction ; peines, ennuis, incertitude, rien de tout cela ne nous doit arrêter.
3. Il y a des personnes que Dieu applique durant des années entieres à goûter un de ses Mysteres. La seule vue ou pensée de ce Mystere les recueille au-dedans : qu’ils y soient fideles. Mais lorsque Dieu le leur ôte, qu’ils s’en laissent dépouiller.
D’autres se font de la peine de ne pouvoir penser à un Mystere : c’est sans sujet, puisque l’attention amoureuse à Dieu renferme toute dévotion particuliere, & que qui est uni à Dieu seul par son repos en lui, est appliqué d’une maniere plus excellente à tous les mysteres. Qui aime Dieu, aime tout ce qui est de lui.
Notes
- 1 ↩en réalité: not as a mere idea or meditation, but as an actual gift in the soul.
- 2 ↩appliquer / des-appliquer: God attaches the soul to a mystery or state and then withdraws it; the pair is kept as apply / unapply rather than softened to attach / detach.
- 3 ↩états: the successive conditions of Christ's life (his 'states'), which the soul is made to bear, not merely to consider.
- 4 ↩"His own states" (ses états) are the conditions of Christ's life and Passion; "insights" (vues) are interior lights given in the state of abandonment.
- 5 ↩"Annihilating ourselves" renders nous anéantir, Guyon's term for self-emptying before God, not physical destruction.
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