Quis sit fructus in singulis, et quare quidam secundae visitationis consolatione priventur.
The Three Fruits of Divine Visitation
The first visitation yields true conversion, the second mortification of disordered will, and the third perfect blessedness.
Furthermore, the fruit of the first visitation is true conversion to God; the fruit of the second is the mortification of one's own will and of all disordered passions; the fruit of the third is perfect blessedness.
Sweetness Earned Through Trial
Divine sweetness is not granted without preceding or accompanying labor and temptation, and is given not as merit but to sustain weakness.
And so, once the fruit of the first compunction has been received, in the excellence of perfect consolation — those things which have, so to speak, fulfilled their purpose now cease — and immediately there follows the testing of temptations and labors, so that deservedly there may succeed that devotion which is sweet toward God.1 For the affection of this sweetness is not easily granted without preceding labor or temptation, or at least labor or temptation immediately following; it is granted not at all for the merit of one's life, but for sustaining weakness, or for relieving temptation.2
Those Who Turn Back at the Hard Saying
Those scandalized by the Lord's hard saying shrink from communion in his Passion, look back, and shut themselves out from divine consolation.
And so those who recoil at the very first temptations and labors, and like some of the Lord's disciples are scandalized, shrink from communion in the Lord's Body and Blood — that is, from imitating his Passion — saying, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?"✦3 6)?✦ And so they look back, less fit for the kingdom of God, or at the very least admit those most abject earthly and human consolations. These people, I say, shut themselves out from the sweetness of this consolation, and are wretched everywhere; they do not ascend to that lofty kind of visitation, and they disdain the exercises of the virtues without any consolation of this sort. Yet they do not presume to return to their former ways, their conscience resisting.4
The Unworthiness of Self-Promotion
Those who have not truly renounced their will or mortified earthly desires have no right to complain of divine abandonment, especially when they ambitiously usurp honors and presume to teach before learning.
They would have good reason to complain about being forsaken by divine consolation, if only they had perfectly renounced their former ways and fully mortified their own will, and did not prefer the vile and abject consolations of the world to the consolation of God. But now, when they have entered the way of a stricter purpose, they immediately begin to dream of I know not what badges of rank, and with the most vain presumption to usurp a freedom for themselves — and the wretched ones do not wait until it is said to them, "Friend, come up higher" —✦5 xiv); but they themselves, as much as they can, shamelessly push themselves toward higher things, and they crave — to borrow the language of the Gospel — the chief seats in the synagogues, the first places at banquets, the first greetings in the marketplace, and to be called by people, "Rabbi" (Matt.✦ xxiii), striving to be teachers when they haven't learned to be disciples in even a single day. Since they are therefore aware of their own foolishness, I wonder with what face, with what irreverence, they judge that divine sweetness should be imparted to them, and that a soul defiled by earthly passions should be cherished in the sweetest and purest embraces of Jesus.
Degrees of Falling and the Rarity of Grace
Heavenly sweetness given to the weak is a merciful awakening, but grace is scarce for the willfully sinful or sluggishly inert, and one must distinguish between distraction, falling, consent, and unwilling burden.
To these people, if any drop of heavenly sweetness has flowed forth, it is not on account of holiness earned or labor rewarded, but as if placed before the weak, meant to stir them toward a certain awakening — although after receiving a knowledge of the truth and taking up the way of perfect purity, to those who sin willingly, or who are sluggish through inertia, such grace is bestowed either scarcely or never. This much must be said: one thing is to be merely distracted by earthly passions; another, for such a thing to fall upon someone — and that very rarely; another, to fall and to consent, or to surrender oneself to them completely; and another still, if any such burden is imposed, to take it up unwillingly.
Read the original Latin
Porro fructus primae visitationis vera est ad Deum conversio; fructus secundae propriae voluntatis et omnium passionum mortificatio, fructus tertiae perfecta est beatitudo. Denique accepto fructu primae compunctionis in excellentia perfectae consolationis; cessant jam illa, quae suum, ut ita dixerim, explevit negotium, statim sequitur tentationum et laborum probatio: ut merito succedat illa, quae est dulcis in Deum devotio. Non enim facile dulcedinis hujus affectus sine praecedente vel comitante, vel certe statim subsequente labore, aut tentatione donatur; quae nequaquam pro vitae merito, sed pro infirmitate sustentanda, vel tentatione allevianda donatur. Ideoque hi qui ad primas mox tentationes et labores resiliunt, et instar quorumdam discipulorum Domini scandalizati, communicationem Dominici corporis et sanguinis, id est passionis illius imitationem abhorrent, dicentes: Durus est hic sermo, et quis potest eum audire (Joan. vi)? ac sic regno Dei minus apti retro respiciunt, vel certe abjectissimas illas terrenas, et humanas consolationes admittunt: hi, inquam, ab hujus consolationis dulcedine semetipsos excludunt, et ubique miseri, nec ad sublime illud visitationis genus ascendunt, et virtutum exercitia sine hujusmodi consolatione fastidiunt: ad pristina vero redire, conscientia resistente, non praesumunt. Qui merito forte de divinae consolationis desertione causarentur si perfecte pristinis abrenuntiantes, ac propriam voluntatem plene mortificantes, nequaquam viles et abjectas mundi consolationes Dei consolationi praeponerent. Nunc vero, cum ingressi arctioris propositi viam, statim incipiant nescio, quas dignitatum infulas somniare, ac vanissima praesumptione sui libertatem usurpare, nec exspectent miseri donec dicatur eis: Amice ascende superius (Luc.
xiv); sed ipsi se quantum possunt, ad altiora impudenter impingant, appetantque, ut evangelicis sermonibus utar, primas cathedras in synagogis, primos discubitus in coenis, primas salutationes in foro, et vocari ab hominibus Rabbi (Matth. xxiii), affectantes nimirum esse magistri, qui ne una quidem die didicerunt esse discipuli: cum ergo talium ineptiarum ipsi sibi conscii sint, miror qua fronte, quave irreverentia divinam sibi dulcedinem impertiendam, ac animam terrenis affectibus constupratam, suavissimis ac purissimis amplexibus Jesu aestiment confovendam. Quibus profecto si qua coelestis dulcedinis gutta profluxerit, non ob sanctitatis meritum, nec laboris solatium, sed quasi in infirmis positis, ad excitationem certum sit provenire, quanquam post acceptam notitiam veritatis, ac arreptam viam perfectae puritatis, voluntarie peccantibus, vel inertia torpentibus, aut vix aut nunquam hujusmodi gratia largiatur. Hoc sane dicendum, aliud esse terrenis illis affectibus attentari solum; aliud vix in aliquem rarissime cadere, aliud cadere et consentire, vel se eis ex toto dedere; aliud si quid hujusmodi occupationum imponatur, invitum suscipere.
Scripture echoes
- ↩John.6.60 — Therefore, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This saying is hard. Who can listen to it?'
- ↩John.6.60 — Therefore, when many of his disciples heard it, they said, 'This saying is hard. Who can listen to it?'
- ↩Luke.14.10 — But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will have glory before all who are reclining at table with you.
- ↩Matt.23.6-Matt.23.7 — And they love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, Matt.23.7 — and greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by others.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'ut ita dixerim' is a parenthetical hedge ('so to speak') softening the claim that compunction 'fulfills its task.'
- 2 ↩The triple disjunction 'praecedente vel comitante, vel certe statim subsequente' is rendered as 'without preceding labor or temptation, or at least labor or temptation immediately following' to preserve the logical force of the alternatives.
- 3 ↩The quotation 'Durus est hic sermo, et quis potest eum audire' is a direct biblical citation from John 6:60, rendered in its familiar English form.
- 4 ↩'Retro respiciunt' (look back) echoes the biblical motif of looking back (cf. Lot's wife, Genesis 19:26; Luke 9:62), rendered here as a general spiritual turning back rather than a specific citation.
- 5 ↩The quotation 'Amice ascende superius' is from Luke 14:10, rendered in its familiar English form.
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