|
This word is much used in the holy Scriptures, and
means simply an attentive and reiterated thought,
proper to produce good or evil affections.
In the first Psalm, the man is said to be blessed:
Whose will is in the way of the Lord, and who in his
law shall meditate day and night. But in the second
Psalm: Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people
meditate vain things?
Meditation therefore is made as well for evil as
for good. Yet whereas in the holy Scripture, the word
meditation is ordinarily applied to the attention
which we have to divine things to stir us up to love
them, it has, as one might say, been canonized by the
common consent of theologians, like the name, angel,
and, zeal; as on the contrary the words, craft (dol),
and, demons have been stigmatized: so that now when
we say, meditation, we mean that which is holy, and
that by which we begin mystical theology.
Every meditation is a thought, but every thought
is not meditation. For we have thoughts to which our
mind is carried without any design or aim, by way of
simple musing, as we see common flies flying from
from one flower to another, without drawing anything
from them. And be this kind of thought as attentive
as it may, it can never bear the name of meditation,
but should simply be called thought.
Sometimes we consider a thing attentively to learn
its causes, its effects, its qualities, and this
thought is named study; in which the mind acts as
locusts do, which promiscuously fly upon flowers and
leaves, to eat them and nourish themselves therewith.
But when we think of divine things, not to learn, but
to make ourselves love them, this is called
meditating, and this exercise, Meditation; in which
our spirit, not as a fly for simple amusement, nor as
a locust to eat and be filled, but as a sacred bee,
moves over the flowers of holy mysteries, to extract
from them the honey of divine love.
Thus many persons are always dreaming, and engaged in
unprofitable thoughts, almost without knowing what
they are thinking about; and, which is noteworthy,
they are only attentive to these thoughts
inadvertently, and would wish not to have them;
witness him who said: My thoughts are dissipated,
tormenting my heart:(1) many also study, and by a
most laborious occupation fill themselves with
vanity, not being able to resist curiosity: but there
are few who meditate to inflame their heart with holy
heavenly love.
In fine, thoughts and study may be upon any
subject, but meditation, in our present sense, has
reference only to those objects whose consideration
tends to make us good and devout. So that meditation
is no other thing than an attentive thought,
voluntarily reiterated or entertained in the mind, to
excite the will to holy and salutary affections and
resolutions.
The holy Word explains in a truly admirable
manner, and by an excellent similitude, in what holy
meditation consists. Ezechias wishing to express in
his canticle the attentive consideration which he
makes of his evil: I will cry, says he, like a young
swallow, I will meditate like a dove.(2)
For, my dear Theotimus, if ever you took notice of
it, the young swallows open their beaks very wide in
their chirping, and, on the contrary, doves, above
all birds, make their murmuring with
their beaks close shut up, keeping their voices in
their throat and breast, nothing passing outward but
a certain resonant, echo-like sound; and this little
murmuring equally serves them to express their griefs
and to declare their loves.
Ezechias, then, to show that in his calamity he
made many vocal prayers, says: I will cry like a
young swallow, opening my mouth, to utter before God
many lamentable cries; and to testify also that he
made use of holy mental prayer, he adds: I will
meditate like a dove, turning and doubling my
thoughts within my heart by an attentive
consideration, to excite myself to bless and praise
the sovereign mercy of my God, who has brought me
back from death's gate, taking compassion on my
misery.
So Isaias says: We shall roar all of us like
bears, and shall lament, meditating like doves,(3)
where the roaring of bears refers to the exclamations
which we utter in vocal prayer, and the mourning of
doves to holy meditation. But to make it appear that
doves use their cooing on occasions not only of grief
but also of love and joy, the sacred lover,
describing the natural spring-time in order to
express the beauties of the spiritual springtime,
says: The voice of the turtle is heard in our
land,(4) because in the spring the turtle begins to
glow with love, which she testifies by her more
frequent song; and presently after: My dove, shew me
thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy
voice is sweet, and thy face comely.(5)
He means, Theotimus, that the devout soul is very
agreeable unto him when she presents herself before
him, and meditates to inflame herself with holy
spiritual love. So he who had said, I will meditate
like a dove: putting his conception into other words:
I will think over again for thee, said he, all my
years in the bitterness of my soul.(6)
For to meditate, and to think over again in order
to move the affections, is the same thing. Hence
Moses, exhorting the people to recall to mind the
benefits received of God, adds this reason: That thou
shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God,
and walk in his ways, and fear him.(7) And Our Lord
himself gave this command to Josue: Let not the book
of this law depart from thy mouth: but thou shalt
meditate on it day and night, that thou mayest
observe and do all things that are written in it.(8)
What in one of the passages is expressed by the
word, meditate, is declared in the other by, think
over again, and to show that reiterated thought and
meditation tend to move us to affections, resolutions
and actions, it is said, as well in the one as the
other passage, that we must think over again, and
meditate in, the law, to observe and practise it.
In this sense the apostle exhorts us thus: Think
diligently upon him that endured such opposition from
sinners against himself; that you be not wearied,
fainting in your minds.(9) When he says think
diligently, it is as though he said meditate. But why
would he have us to meditate the holy passion? Not
that we should become learned, but that we should
become patient and constant in the way of heaven. O
how have I loved thy law, O Lord! says David: It is
my meditation all the day.(1)0 He meditates on the
law because he loves it, and he loves it because he
meditates on it.
Meditation is the mystical rumination(11) required
for not being unclean, to which one of the devout
shepherdesses who followed the sacred Sulamitess
invites us: for she assures us that holy writ is as a
precious wine, worthy not only to be drunk, by
pastors and doctors, but also to be diligently
relished, and, so to speak, ruminated and turned over
and over. Thy throat, says she (in which the holy
words are formed) is like the best wine, worthy for
my beloved to drink, and for his lips and his teeth
to ruminate.(12) So the blessed Isaac, as a chaste
and pure lamb, went forth into the field, the day
being now well spent, to make his retirement, his
conference, and his exercise of spirit with God, that
is, to pray and to meditate.(13)
The bee flies from flower to flower in the
spring-time, not at hazard but of set purpose, not
only to be recreated in the verdant diapering of the
meadows, but to gather honey; which having found, she
sucks it up, and loads herself with it; then carrying
it to her hive, she treats it skilfully, separating
from it the wax, of which she makes comb, to store
the honey for the ensuing winter.
Such is the devout soul in meditation. She passes
from mystery to mystery, not at random, or only to
solace herself in viewing the admirable beauty of
those divine objects, but deliberately and of set
purpose, to find out motives of love or of some
heavenly affection; and having found them she draws
them to her, she relishes them, she loads herself
with them, and having brought them back and put them
within her heart, she lays up what she sees most
useful for her advancement, by finally making
resolutions suitable for the time of temptation.
Thus in the Canticle of Canticles the heavenly
spouse, as a mystical bee, settles, now on the eyes,
now on the lips, on the cheeks, on the hair of her
beloved, to draw thence the sweetness of a thousand
passions of love, noting in particular whatever she
finds best for this.
So that, inflamed with holy love, she speaks with
him, she questions him, she listens to him, sighs,
aspires, admires him, as he on his part fills her
with delight, inspiring her, touching and opening her
heart, and pouring into it brightness, lights and
sweetnesses without end, but in so secret a manner
that one may rightly say of this holy conversation of
the soul with God, what the holy text says of God's
with Moses: that Moses being alone upon the top of
the mountain spoke to God, and God answered him.(14)
|