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Whether, therefore, the union of our soul with God be
made perceptibly or imperceptibly, God is always the
author thereof; for none can be united to him, but by
going unto him, nor can any one go unto him, unless
he be drawn by him, as the heavenly lover testifies,
saying: No man can come to me, except the Father, who
hath sent me, draw him.(1) Which his holy spouse also
protests, saying: Draw me; we will run after thee to
the odour of thy ointments.(2)
Now the perfection of this union consists in two
points; in being pure, and in being strong. May I not
approach a person to speak to him, to see him better,
to obtain something of him, to smell the perfumes
which are about him, to lean on him? And then I
certainly go towards him and join myself unto him:
yet the approach and union is not my principal
intention, and I only make this a means and way to
the obtaining of another thing. But if I approach and
join myself to him for no other end than to be near
him, and to enjoy this proximity and union, it is
then an approach of pure and simple union.
Thus many approach our Saviour: some to hear him
as Magdalen; some to be cured by him, as she that had
the issue of blood; others to adore him, as the three
kings; others to serve him, as Martha; others to
overcome their unbelief, as S. Thomas; others to
embalm him, as Magdalen, Joseph, Nicodemus; but his
divine Sulamitess seeks him to find him, and having
found him, desires no other thing than to hold him
fast, and holding him, never to quit him. I held him,
says she, and will not let him go.(3)
Jacob, says S. Bernard, having fast hold of God,
will let him go, provided he receive his benediction;
but the Sulamitess will not let him depart for all
the benedictions he can give her; for she wills not
the benedictions of God, but the God of benedictions,
saying with David: What have I in heaven, and besides
thee what do I desire upon earth? Thou art the God of
my heart, and the God that is my portion for ever.(4)
Thus was the glorious Mother at the foot of her
Son's cross. Ah! what dost thou seek, O Mother of
life, on this mount of Calvary, in this place of
death? I am seeking, would she have said, my child,
who is the life of my life. And why dost thou seek
him? To be close by him. But now he is amidst the
sorrows of death. Ah! it is not joy I seek, it is
himself, and my heart, full of love, makes me seek
always to be united to that amiable child, my
tenderly beloved one. In a word, the intention of the
soul in this union is nothing, save to be with her
lover.
But when the union of the soul with God is most
specially strict and close, it is called by
theologians inhesion or adhesion, because by it the
soul is caught up, fastened, glued and affixed to the
divine majesty, so that she cannot easily loose or
draw herself back again.
Regard, I pray you, that man caught and pressed by
attention to the delight of an harmonious music, or
mayhap (which is extravagant) to the folly of a game
at cards: you would draw him from it, but cannot;
what business soever is waiting for him at home,
there is no forcing him thence; even meat and drink
are forgotten for it.
O God! Theotimus, how much more ought the soul
which is in love with its God to be held and fast
locked, being united to the divinity of the infinite
sweetness, and taken and wholly possessed by this
object of incomparable perfections? Such was the soul
of the great vessel of election who cried out: That I
may live to God, with Christ I am nailed to the
Cross:(5) and he protests that nothing, no not death
itself can separate him from his master. This effect
of love was also produced between David and Jonathan,
for it is said that: The soul of Jonathan was knit
with the soul of David.(6) And it is an axiom
celebrated amongst the ancient Fathers, that
friendship which can end was never true friendship,
as I have said elsewhere.
See, I beseech you, Theotimus, this little child
cleaving to the breast and neck of his mother; if one
offer to take him thence to lay him in his cradle, it
being high time, he struggles and disputes as far as
he is able, in order not to leave that beloved bosom,
and if he is made to let go with one hand, with the
other he grapples, and if he is carried quite off, he
falls a weeping; and keeping his heart and his eyes
where he cannot keep his body, he continues crying
out for his dear mother, till by rocking he is
brought to sleep.
So the soul who by the exercise of union has come
as far as to be taken and fastened to the divine
goodness, can hardly be drawn from it save by force
and with much pain. It is not possible to make her
loose hold; if one divert her imagination she ceases
not to keep hold by her understanding, and if one
loose her understanding she cleaves by the will; or
if by some violent distraction one make her abandon
it with her will, she turns back every instant
towards her dear object, from which she cannot be
entirely untied, but, striving all she can to link
together again the sweet bonds of her union with him
by the frequent returns which she makes, as by
stealth, she experiences S. Paul's distress:(7) for
she is pressed with two desires; to be freed from all
exterior employment in order to remain with Jesus
Christ in her interior, and yet to proceed to the
work of obedience which the very union with Jesus
Christ teaches her to be necessary.
Now the Blessed Mother (S.) Teresa says excellently,
that when union arrives at this perfection of keeping
us held by and fastened to our Saviour, it is not
distinguished from a rapture, trance, or suspension
of the spirit; but that it is called only union,
trance or suspension, when it is short; and when it
is long, ecstasy or rapture, because the soul which
is so firmly and closely united to her God that she
cannot easily be drawn from him, is actually no
longer in herself but in God; as a crucified body
belongs not to itself but to the cross, and as ivy
which grasps a wall, is no longer its own, but of the
wall.
But to avoid all ambiguity, know, Theotimus, that
charity is a bond, and a bond of perfection;(8) and
he that has more charity is more closely united and
fastened unto God. But we have not been speaking of
that union which is permanent in us by manner of
habit, whether we be sleeping or waking, but of the
union made by action, and which is one of the
exercises of love and charity.
Imagine then that S. Paul, S. Denis, S. Augustine,
S. Bernard, S. Francis, SS. Catharine of Genoa and
Siena, are again in this world, and have fallen
asleep, wearied with their many labours, undertaken
for the love of God. Represent to yourself on the
other side some good soul, yet not so holy as they
are, who is in the prayer of union at the same time:
I ask you, Theotimus, who is more united, clasped and
fastened to God, is it these great saints who sleep,
or that soul who prays?
Without doubt, these admirable lovers; for they
have more charity, and their affections, though in
some sort asleep, are so engaged and tied to their
master that they cannot be separated from him. But,
you will say to me, how can it be, that a soul in the
prayer of union, even unto ecstasy, should be less
united unto God than such as sleep, be they never so
saintly?
Mark what I tell you, Theotimus; that soul is more
advanced in the exercise of union, those in the union
itself: these are united, they are not being united,
as they are asleep: and that one is being united,
that is, she is in the actual practice and exercise
of union.
For the rest, this exercise of union with God may
even be practised by short and passing, yet frequent,
movements of our heart to God, by way of ejaculatory
prayer made for this intention.
Ah Jesus! Who will give me the grace to be one
spirit with thee! At last, Lord, rejecting the
multiplicity of creatures, I desire thine only unity!
O God, thou art the only one and only unity necessary
for my soul! Alas! dear love of my heart, unite my
poor one soul, to thy one singular goodness! Ah! thou
art wholly mine, when shall I be wholly thine? The
adamant draws and unites iron unto it; O Lord, my
lover, be my draw-heart, clasp, press and unite my
heart for ever unto thy fatherly breast! Ah! since I
am made for thee, why am I not in thee? Swallow up,
as a single drop, this spirit which thou hast
bestowed upon me, into the sea of thy goodness from
whence it proceeds. Ah Lord! seeing that thy heart
loves me, why does it not force me to itself, since I
truly will it? Draw me, and I will run after thy
drawings, to cast myself into thy fatherly arms, to
leave them no more for ever and ever. Amen.
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