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Sp Theol Home Notes B

Spiritual Theology B

III Man - the natural organism

The Scale of Being

God is an infinite spirit with intellect and will. He is three persons though perfectly
one in being.

Angels are finite spirits, persons, having intellect and will but no body.

Man is a “being composed of soul and body and made by God in His own image and
likeness”. School Catechism of Trent. Man is in the image of God principally because
of his intellect or rational soul. The soul is the form of the body. Council of Vienne
1313. Nonetheless, the soul is a subsistent form. It communicates its own act of
existence to the body but it can survive the body after the separation which is death.
Man was made male and female with a natural God-given complementarity in both
body and soul. So he is a social animal with the family as his first natural community.

Man is the lowest being of creatures which have intellect and will but below man
there are
Animals which have sense knowledge and self movement,
Plants which have life that enables them to grow but without self movement,
Dead matter with no life at all and at the bottom: water, minerals, earth.

Within Man there is a hierarchy of powers, intellect and will being the highest with
the senses and the appetites being the lower.
Higher Powers: The intellect can be divided into understanding and reason and into
speculative and practical, all of which are one power. There is the active intellect
which abstracts concepts from the images presented to it by the senses and there is the
possible intellect which receives or stores these concepts.
The will is the appetite of the intellect: it follows, goes for, the good presented to it by
the intellect.

Lower Powers: There are five external senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.
And there are four internal senses: the sensus communis, sense memory, imagination
and the estimative sense. The sense appetite follows the good presented to it by the
senses – the dog goes for the bone, the child for the chocolate. Sense appetite, in turn,
can be divided into the concupiscible and the irascible. The concupiscible goes after
the easy good, the nearby ice cream, whereas the irascible goes after the difficult
good, the ice cream that has just been snatched away from him.

The Organs: All these powers have their roots in the soul but operate through the
organs of the body: e.g., the power of sight operates through the eye; hearing, through
the ear. Touch is in every part of the body.
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The Emotions: “Feelings or passions are emotions or movements of the sensitive

appetite that incline us to act or not to act in regard to something felt of imagined to
be good or evil”.Cf CCC 1763 ff.

Each of the powers has its proper object, eg the object of sight is colour; of hearing,
sound; of the intellect, truth; of the will, the good. When the power achieves its
object there follows the emotion of contentment or satisfaction or happiness. When it
fails there is sorrow. The two root emotions are love of what is perceived to be good
and hatred for what is perceived to be evil for ourselves.

More precisely: in the concupiscible appetite which goes for the sensible good there
are three emotions: a simple awareness of a sensible good arouses love; if it is a future
good not yet possessed it arouses desire; when it is a good already possessed it causes
pleasure. Then if it is the sight of something evil it causes hatred in the same
concupiscible power; if it is an impending evil it cause flight or aversion, but if the
evil is already present and has overtaken a person it causes sadness.

Then in the irascible appetite a good, absent now, but attainable causes hope; if it is
impossible of attainment, despair. If it is a difficult absent evil, if it can be avoided, it
causes courage; but if it is an evil that is absent but likely to be unavoidable it arouses
fear. Finally the presence of a difficult evil produces anger.

Virtue – natural, acquired.

I assure you if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and the Pharisees…
Mt 5:20.

He did all things well. Mk 7:37.

It is “a habit that makes its possessor good and what he does good”. Aristotle

“Virtue is a quality of inner goodness through which one lives well, through which
one avoids acting badly”. St. Augustine. Retractions 1,9. PL 32, 597.

“ ...every virtue is a principle of good activity..” “Human virtue is that which makes a
human act and the man himself good”. St. Thomas, S.Theologiae II-II, 58,1 & 3.

“Virtue is a morally good, operative habit….an interior quality or disposition by

which the human faculties are perfected in their operations”. Aumann P231
Comment:

1 Virtue makes good actions easy to do with the ease of second nature.

2 Virtues are acquired by frequent repetition, by practice, by training.

3 Virtus in media stat. Virtue stands in the middle between defect and excess.
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4 The rule of virtue is reason, the highest power in man, which determines
what is proper for the will and for the lower powers in accordance with human
nature.

5 There are intellectual virtues which perfect the intellect –eg, metaphysics
and physics. Then there are moral virtues which perfect the will and the lower
powers. The four most important moral virtues are prudence, justice, fortitude
and temperance, called also the “cardinal” virtues because so many other
virtues hinge on them or come under them.

6 A vice is a bad habit which makes its possessor bad and what he does bad.

Lesson for spirituality:

The importance of forming virtues while still young and of training the young in
virtue. Good character cannot develop otherwise and vices formed when young are
difficult to eradicate later – the alcoholic’s struggle to give up drink.

Temperament: “The pattern of inclinations and reactions that proceed from the
physiological constitution of the individual”. Aumann, Spiritual Theology p140. Four
principal kinds:
Sanguine – such people are quick to respond but for short periods, cheerful, generous,
compassionate, enthusiastic, serene, common sense, optimistic. But they are also
superficial, inconstant, sensual.

Melancholic – such people are slow to arose but their impressions are long lasting, a
tendency to solitude, deep thinkers who give careful thought to things, introverted.
They tend towards sadness, to magnify difficulties and so to lose confidence in self.
Choleric – such people are easily and strongly aroused, energetic, sharp intellect,
good powers of concentration, practical. But they can be obstinate, hot tempered,
insensible and proud.
Phlegmatic – such people are rarely aroused, slow, steady workers, not easily upset by
insults or misfortune or sickness, tranquil, sober. But they can be too slow and calm
and let opportunities pass.

Character: - personality as the patterns formed by certain ethical values and habits. It
is formed by upbringing, education, environment and personal effort.

Both temperament and character and even physical build to some extent have a
bearing on one’s moral development and hence on one’s growth in holiness. There
should be a harmony between all the powers of the human being: the higher ruling
over the lower. But this is not always so due to original sin and its effects in us.

The Fall. Due to the sin of Adam man revolted from God and this gave rise to a
revolt of his lower powers against his higher powers so that the good which he knows
he should do he often fails to do and that which he knows he should not do is often
the very thing he does do. Trent: due to the sin of Adam our will is weakened, our
intellect is darkened and our passions incline us towards evil.

Concupiscience: To sin is to turn away from God and to desire material and bodily
things inordinately. Lust is an obvious example and the excessive desire for food.
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Spirituality tries, with the help of grace, to correct this disorder by asceticism, prayer
and other spiritual exercises so that we can turn back to God again and love Him as
we should, ie putting Him before all other things.

Conscience: the judgement of our intellect on the right or wrong of our actions in
accordance with the law of God planted within us. It is God’s voice in the sanctuary
of the soul. It may be dulled but never completely silenced.

Conclusion:

Man is a complex being midway in the scale of being, uniting in himself all
the other levels of being. He is to be understood primarily in reference to what
is above him, in reference to God in whose image and likeness he is made.
Like the angels above him he has intellect and will but of a weaker kind which
need the help of the senses, like the animals below him. Because he is a
complex being, made up of higher and lower powers, there needs to be
harmony between all these powers, the higher ruling the lower. But due to the
Fall there was an original rebellion and, as a result, this harmony was largely
lost. His will was weakened, his intellect was darkened and, as a result, his
appetites and emotions all too easily go to excess and lead him into sin.

Lesson for Spirituality:

We should marvel at God’s work of art in man and praise Him for it. But we should
take note of man’ fallen state and realize how prone to sin we are and therefore how
much we are in need of self control and, more than that, of the help of God’s grace
because without it we can do nothing to advance our salvation.

Man is called to union with God by a sheer gift of God. He cannot do so by his own efforts nor
does he have any merits of his own by which God might owe him such a reward. He needs to
be sanctified by grace – a saving grace also because of his sin – and be endowed with virtues,
charisms and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These perfect the natural organism of man, so we can
call them the supernatural organism. We will look at these next.

Man in Grace – the Spiritual Organism

The grace and peace of Almighty God be with you all. The mass.

My grace is sufficient for you. St Paul.

Where sin abounded there grace did more abound. St Paul.

Grace and Charisms :

1996 “Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favour, the free and
undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God,
adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life”. Catechim of the
Cathlic Church.
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Grace is favour but not just in the sense that we are in God’s good books though
still sinful in ourselves. This is the protestant position. It is more than that. It also
makes us really and truly partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life

1997 “Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of
Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head
of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with
the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who
forms the Church”. CCC

Grace as participation in the life of God, in the Trinity and what that entails.

1998 “ This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's

gratuitous initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power
of human intellect and will, as that of every other creature”. CCC

God made us with a capacity for grace, for His divine life, like a jug open for
wine to be poured into it from above. But that capacity by no means gives us a
right to grace at all. Grace is sheer gift from God which we do not deserve and
which we could not merit by our own efforts. He takes the first initiative. He
gives us the first grace. But then, with the help of that grace, we can merit more
grace by our good works. This again is a point of difference with the reformers.

1999 “The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life,
infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the
sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of
sanctification”. CCC

Note the word deification here.

2000 “ Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that
perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by His love. Habitual grace,
the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call, is distinguished
from actual graces which refer to God’s intervention, whether at the beginning of
conversion or in the course of the work

Divisions of Grace, 1st division:

Uncreated grace – God Himself in so far as He has communicated Himself to us in

the incarnation and now indwells in the souls of the justified.

Created grace – a supernatural gift or operation really distinct from God which
prepares for or accompanies His presence in the soul. It is a quality which elevates the
soul.

2nd Division:
The grace of God the Creator – when He created the angels and our first parents in
paradise.
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The grace of Christ the Redeemer – this results from the incarnation when Christ
came on earth to redeem us from sin.

3rd Division:
External grace – any benevolent deed of God for man’s salvation eg revelation,
Christ’s teaching, the liturgy, good sermons, the example of the saints. These dispose
a person for internal grace.
Internal grace – affects the soul internally, sanctifying grace, the infused virtues,
actual grace.

4th Division:
Special graces to certain people for the salvation of others (gratia gratis data) –
extraordinary gifts such as charisms (prophecy, gift of miracles, tongues, jurisdiction
in the church). It is to prepare men for the grace of sanctification.
Grace of sanctification for all (Gratia gratum faciens) – the personal sanctification of
the recipient – sanctifying grace and actual grace.

5th Division:
Sanctifying grace which is habitual (gratia habitualis sanctificans) – a constant
supernatural quality of the soul which sanctifies man intrinsically and makes him just
and pleasing to God.
Actual grace or helping grace – a temporary supernatural intervention by God by
which the powers of the soul are stirred up to perform a salutary act which is directed
to the attaining or preservation or increase of Sanctifying grace. It is sanctifying grace
directed more perfectly to the special purpose of a particular sacrament on a particular
occasion when such help is needed.

6th Division:
1 Enlightening grace, (Gratia illuminationis) – which enlightens the intellect and
Strengthening grace, (Gratia inspirationis) – which strengthens the will.

2 Prevenient grace (gratia praeveniens) – which precedes and affects a deliberate act
of will and
Accompanying or Subsequent grace - which supports or accompanies good acts.

3 Sufficient grace (gratia sufficiens) – which gives the capability of performing a

salutary act, and
Efficacious grace (gratia efficax) - which secures its accomplishment.

Conclusions:

1 Sanctifying grace is is not a mere bestowal of favour or an imputating of

justification (as the reformers would claim). It is an infused created gift, a
supernatural quality in the soul’s essence, healing and elevating it
ontologically.

2 Grace, as prevenient, prepares us for the indwelling of the Trinity in our

souls. That indwelling is always accompanied by sanctifying grace. It joins us
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to Christ and his paschal mystery. It makes us his members of His mystical
body in the church.

3 Grace is God’s free initiative, not something we work up for ourselves. But
we must co-operate with it by our free will, even though this co-operation too
is a gift from God which does not take away free will.

4 Actual grace flows into the powers of the soul to perfect them and help them
to act in ways pleasing to God. There is also a grace of state – a grace helping
a person in a particular state in life, priesthood, religious, married, to live out
the duties of that state in ways pleasing to God.

5 Charisms are special gifts given to some for others for the building up of the
body of Christ. For example there are charisms such as prophecy and healing.

6 The sacraments are the primary means to grace but there is also the practice
of virtue when good actions result from charity.

7 Merit: God begins His good work of sanctifying us by giving us His grace.
But if we co-operate with His grace we can merit more grace again.

Lesson for Spirituality:

Since grace of any kind is a gift from God we should be thankful for it, co-operate
with it, ask for an increase of it and never do anything that would rob us of it such as
to commit a mortal sin, or even a venial sin which weakens it. We should pray
especially for the blessing of being in the grace of God when we are dying.

Virtues – infused, supernatural, Theological.

Faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love. St Paul.

In addition to the natural virtues there are infused supernatural virtues of the same
names as the natural but they are infused into us, literally meaning “poured into us by
God” even in the case of infants at baptism. They expand on the natural virtues by
directing them to God.

“A good quality of mind by which one lives righteously, of which no one can make
bad use, which God works in us without us”. St Augustine, cf Aumann p231.

The best examples of infused virtue are faith, hope and charity known as the
theological virtues because their object is God; they direct us to Him. These do not
stand in a half way position between excess and defect because one can never believe
in or hope in or love God too much. But people can go to excess in the means they use
to exercise these virtues, eg a mother spending all day in prayer when her children
have need of her to be fed.

“Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has
said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is
truth itself. By faith ‘man freely commits his entire self to God’” CCC 1814
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Faith is primarily in the intellect but also in the will in the sense that the person
who is in grace has charity and the will, informed by charity, moves the intellect
to say Yes to Christ and assent to His teachings, all His teachings, as we find
them in the scriptures and in the teachings of the church. Faith in a wider sense
is trust in God. Faith has us look to God but as seeing in a mirror darkly.

Without charity a person can still have faith. But it is now an unformed faith, a
kind of faith that is cut down to its roots as it were. But still this faith has the
sinner believe that forgiveness is available in confession and then with the
impulse of an actual prevenient grace he does go to confession and receives
sanctifying grace again and charity and then has a fully formed faith again.

One can sin directly against faith by apostasy and deliberately reading books
that will destroy faith. That makes conversion much less likely.

“Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of heaven and eternal
life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our
own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. CCC 1817.

Hope has us reach forward with trust towards God so as to possess Him as our
perfect goal of happiness. The two sins against hope are despair and
presumption. Story of Voltaire.

“Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own
sake, and our neighbour as ourselves for love of God.” CCC 1822.

Charity, Christian love, is one virtue with one object: God. But its object is also
ourselves (in a right way) and our neighbour. But we love our neighbour for the
sake of God – seeing His image and likeness in him and a son or daughter in
Christ. We love him/her as ourselves – as we would like to be loved ourselves.
Charity is gift of self JPII, the willingness to make sacrifices for another at the
expense of self. It extends to all beginning with those near to us, especially the
needy, and reaching even to our enemies. It is not mere sentiment or infatuation,
eros. Yet these emotions can lead on to charity. Benedict XVI Deus Caritas Est.
Charity is at the core of the spiritual life. It is on charity that we will be judged at
the end of life. “When I was hungry….” Charity is the virtue which is the form
of all the other virtues. It “binds them together” as St Paul says. Charity is the
source of merit of actions done with the help of grace. It endures into the next
life. It is the law of heaven.

Comment:

1 Faith is the first virtue because one cannot draw near to God without
believing in Him. Humility is foundational because God gives His gifts most
generously to the humble. But charity is the highest of the virtues. It supplies
the motive for good acts that are salvific and which merit an increase in grace.
It is the form of all the other virtues, binding all together. It is what we will be
judged on when we die and at the general judgement “When I was hungry you
gave me to eat…” Mt 25. It endures into the next life of glory when faith and
hope will be no longer needed.
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2 Faith is a theological, infused virtue which informs the intellect so that it

assents to what Christ teaches through His church. The intellect is moved by
the will to do so, a will informed by charity. There is unformed faith when one
assents but not due to charity in the will.

3 Hope is a theological, infused virtue which informs the will, moved again by
charity, causing it to reach forward towards God trusting in His promises
because we believe Him to be faithful and trustworthy.

4 Charity is also theological, infused virtue in the will moving us to love God
as our supreme good so that it unites us to Him because He calls us “friends”.
It moves us to love ourselves and our neighbour as ourselves, not in any
selfish way, but for His sake, in a sincere and caring way to the point of being
willing to make sacrifices for others. The gift of counsel helps charity.

5 As well as these three infused theological virtues there are also infused
moral virtues such as prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. These
perfect the same powers as do the acquired virtues but with a view to directing
the entire person to God as his last end.

Infused Moral Virtues:

Prudence: it informs the practical intellect to point out the just mean or measure in
regard to human action but it is informed by charity also. It is helped by gift of
counsel.

As an infused supernatural virtue prudence indicates the means, the day to day
practical steps, to be taken on the path of holiness, and the practical means that a
superior must take to guide her flock to holiness.

Justice informs the will and disposes a person to render to others what is their due and
to do so always and consistently. It divides into legal, distributive and commutative
justice. Religion, by which we give God His due, is a part of justice, so also are piety,
observance, obedience, gratitude, veracity, affability and equity. The gift of piety
helps it.

As an infused supernatural virtue justice is concerned with the Christian being

at rights with God first of all and then with others.

Fortitude informs the irascible power so that we will be courageous but not reckless
in face of dangers pertaining to our faith. Parts of fortitude are magnanimity,
patience, perseverance and constancy. It is helped by the gift of fortitude.

As an infused supernatural virtue fortitude is evident in all those who witness

openly to the faith in face of dangers and most of all in the martyrs with the
endurance they show for love of Christ.

Temperance moderates all the passions generally. More specifically it informs sense
desire so that it moderates sense pleasures, keeping them within the limits of reason
illumined by faith. It parts are abstinence, sobriety, chastity, purity, virginity,
continence, meekness, clemency, humility, modesty, eutrapelia, It is helped by the gift
of fear.
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Temperance tells the big man to eat four potatoes and his small son to eat only
one. The excess is gluttony. The defect is self starvation. As an infused
supernatural virtue it has the Christian give up entirely pleasures that are lawful
for other Christians and live lives of complete continence.

Comment:

“Only charity alone unites us entirely with God as the ultimate

supernatural. The other virtues prepare or initiate that union, but they
cannot complete it. The moral virtues bring us to God only indirectly, by
establishing the proper order in the means that lead to God”. J. Aumann
p105.

Lesson for spirituality:

An infused virtue, given at baptism, is present in the soul but will be hampered in its
effectiveness while the powers of the soul are still undeveloped and also if there is an
opposing vice in the powers due to bad early formation. Hence the importance of
early baptism and of good formation for the young.

The child gets the supernatural virtues of eg temperance at baptism but if he

grows up drinking or eating too much then that supernatural virtue is there but
hampered. If he goes to excess entirely by getting drunk then the supernatural
virtue is destroyed, till he regains grace in confession.

The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

“The moral life of Christians is sustained by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These are
permanent dispositions which make man more docile in following the promptings of
the Holy Spirit…..They complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them.”
CCC 1830 -31.

They are wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and the fear of
the Lord.

“The gifts are supernatural not only in their essence but even in their manner or mode
of operation. They are not subject to the movement and control of human reason as
the infused virtues are, for the Holy Spirit himself directly and immediately moves the
gifts to operation. In this respect they are superior to all the infused virtues.” Aumann
p125.

The example of the boat being rowed but has a number of sails up also. The
example from the car is that the driver is now outside the car.

“They are infused permanent dispositions, distinct from the [theological] virtues and
conferring on the Christian a special aptitude for receiving light and impulses from on
high. By this influence of the Holy Spirit it becomes possible for the children of God
to act under the movement of a superior instinct and in a manner which excels the
rational exercise which is normal for the virtues. The impulses are not opposed to
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reason but are not determined by it, the psychological process is super discursive. It is
the outcome of a superior divine motion”. Marmion C., Christ the Ideal of the Priest.
p263.

The examples of Caherciveen hospital, the lamb for finding the church; monks
with the funeral of St Fursey.

St. Thomas on why we need them:

“But in matters directed to the supernatural end, to which man's reason
moves him, according as it is, in a manner, and imperfectly, informed by the
theological virtues, the motion of reason does not suffice, unless it receive in addition
the prompting or motion of the Holy Ghost….”, S. Th. I-II 68, art2.

Good as reason is, and more so when perfected by the theological virtues, it is
still human, and prone to error in many ways. While man is in the driving seat
he can still go astray. So the gifts enable the Holy Spirit to take over and
supplement at a level higher than reason but not contradicting reason.

“Whether we consider human reason as perfected in its natural perfection, or as

perfected by the theological virtues, it does not know all things, nor all possible
things. Consequently it is unable to avoid folly and other like things mentioned in the
objection. God, however, to Whose knowledge and power all things are subject, by
His motion safeguards us from all folly, ignorance, dullness of mind and hardness of
heart, and the rest. Consequently the gifts of the Holy Ghost, which make us
amenable to His promptings, are said to be given as remedies to these defects”. S. Th.
I-II 68, art2, ad3.

There is need for discernment in the matter of the gifts because a person can be
blinded by his own selfish desires or even by Satan. Hence the importance of
prayer and a good advisor.

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self control, chastity.

Comment:
1 The gifts of the Holy Spirit perfect the intellect and will in a higher way
even than the theological virtues. They make one docile to the promptings of
the Holy Spirit.

2 Wisdom, understanding, counsel and knowledge perfect both the intellectual

and the moral virtues. The remaining three, fortitude, piety and the fear of the
Lord, perfect mostly the moral virtues. But there is a cross influence between
all of them.

3 Certain gifts can be linked to certain virtues as perfecting them more

suitably. The gifts of understanding and knowledge perfects faith. The gift of
fear of the Lord perfects hope. The gift of wisdom perfects charity.
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Table of infused theological Virtues and corresponding Gifts

Infused Faith Hope Charity

Theological
Virtue

Power/faculty Intellect Will Will

Gift of Holy Understanding Knowledge (to Wisdom (to

Spirit (for the judge created judge divine
penetration of things). things).
truth).

Power/faculty Intellect Intellect Intellect

It helps the faith hope Charity

virtue of

Table of infused moral Virtues and corresponding Gifts

Infused Moral Prudence Justice Fortitude Temperance

Virtue

Power/faculty Intellect/will Will irascible Concucpisible

Parts/hinge Knowledge, Religion, piety, Magnanimity, Abstinence,

virtues observance, patience, sobriety,
firmness, obedience, humility, chastity,
gratitude, perseverance purity,
gentleness, veracity, and constancy virginity,
affability and continence,
docility. equity. meekness,
clemency,
modesty,
eutrapelia,

Gift of Holy Counsel Piety fortitude. Fear of the

Spirit Lord
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The Beatitudes

Blessed are the poor in spirit, etc…… Mt (Lk).

“The beatitudes take up and fulfil God’s promises from Abraham on by ordering them
to the kingdom of heaven. They respond to the desire for happiness that God has
placed in the human heart.” CCC 1725 ff.

St Thomas relates them to the virtues and the gifts as actions which flow from them
rather than calling them virtues or gifts in themselves. We can also say that they are a
set of attitudes which were in the mind of Christ Himself and which should also be in
His followers. They speak of a happiness which will be perfect only in the next
life but which has its beginnings in this life in those who hope. Cf Summa
Theologiae I-II, q 69.

He gives the example of children who are happy because they naturally have
hope and prisoners who are always sad, even when out on parole.

Lesson for spirituality:

1 By acquiring the natural and by receiving the infused virtues in baptism we make
ourselves more ready for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. A truly spiritual person is one
who is led by the Holy Spirit similar to the way Christ, Mary and the saints were, one
who has the attitudes of Christ. In the life of such a person we can say that it is the
Holy Spirit is the “driver” of his actions in ways that are above reason, even reason
informed by the theological virtues, but not in ways that are contrary to reason. Such a
person might be given mystical experiences should God so will. In heaven his/her
beatitude will be permanent and full.

St Francis of Assisi as an example of one led by the Spirit. He was a like the
wind, a live wire.

2 The task of the spiritual director is to discern the true workings of the Holy Spirit,
by His gifts, in the soul of his student.

Reading:
CCC Part Three, Life in Christ, Section One, Article 7; J. Aumann chs 10, 11; St
Thomas, Summa Theologiae I-II, q 69; R Garrigou-Legrange,Vol One, Part I, sect
IIIff

Having looked at man first with his natural powers and then as elevated by grace, the infused
virtues and the gifts we can see him as equipped for the road of his ascent to God. We will now
look at the stages of that road.
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IV The Spiritual Journey - the Ascent,

Stages: The purgative, the illuminative, the unitive.

The Purgative:
Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Mt 3:2.
If we say we have no sin we, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. 1Jn 1:8-9.
Come follow me.

“But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on
us ‘righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’”. CCC 1484.

The spiritual life is a turning away from sin and a turning towards God by progressive
steps, with the help of His grace, until we are united with Him to the degree that He
grants to us in this life and perfectly in the next.
It is a delusion to think that we can rise to God if we are still attached to sin. And
the boat will not sail out if tied by even one remaining rope.

Sin:
“Sin is an offense against reason, truth and right conscience; it is failure in genuine
love for God and neighbour caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It
wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an
utterance, a deed or a desire contrary to the eternal law’”. CCC 1849

It is contrary to reason. Perverse attachment to certain goods. The things God

created are all good – despite the Manichaens and Platonists – but we can have a
wrong, excessive attachment to them, even to the point of making a false god of
somethings. The problem is not in the things themselves but in our wrong
attachment to them. The monk with the rusty nail. The honest, wealthy man who
is generous.

Law:
Eternal law, natural law, divine law, canon law, civil law.
The natural law is discoverable by reason, even by the illiterate, at least in its basic
tenets. Nonetheless the magisterium helps to interpret it. With the divine law of the
ten commandments God spells out for us the basic tenets of the natural law again and,
again, the magisterium interprets it for us.
Law is an ordinance of reason promulgated by the competent authority for the
common good.
Explain these laws and the natural law as a participation in the eternal law.

Categories of Sin:
Original sin, actual sin, sins of thought, word, deed and omission.
social sin, mortal sin and venial sin. Imperfections.

Temptations to Sin:
The world, the flesh and the devil.
The devil can put suggestions into our minds but cannot know our thoughts or
force our will. He can use the world and the flesh but they are temptations in
 15

themselves anyhow. The world stands for power, wealth, fame etc. The flesh: the
body.

Remedies:
Avoid the occasion of sin, keep custody of the senses, pray, go to confession
frequently and regularly and practice self denial, not only of things that are unlawful
but of some things which are lawful also.

Occasions of sin: if you put your hand into the fire etc. The alcoholic and the
pub. Beat off the enemy while he is far away. Don’t dally with the temptation or
debate with Satan. See how Christ beat him off in the desert.
The senses – even half a minute of indulgence of the senses will feed the
imagination for a whole day and even longer when the scene is stored in memory.
Pray lest you enter into temptation…. An old rule. You cannot pray and sin at
the same time. Prayer to Our Lady of Perpetual help.
Confession …..gains more grace for the next battle. Satan hates the confessional.
Self denial: if not of thing lawful at times soon we will be indulging in the
unlawful.

Kinds of Sinners:
A. The invincibly ignorant; B. The changeable ignorant; C. The weak willed; D The
hardened. E. The sinner of final impenitence. He who blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit.

Purgations:
Active and passive, of the senses and of the intellect. St John of the Cross. The Dark
Night. We must actively try to purify ourselves both our lower and higher powers, but
that will not be enough. So God purifies us by trials and sufferings which we did not
choose so that we are passive before them.

The passive purification of the senses usually comes at the end of the beginner
stage, the purgative, and at the beginning of the proficient, illuminative stage.
Prayer is no longer full of sweetness and consolation. The challenge is to keep
praying nonetheless – to follow Christ in the dark when the lamp of His love
seems to be turned off. The game of hide and go seek between the soul and
Christ.
The passive purification of the intellect/spirit comes later, at the end of the
proficient stage, the illuminative, and at the beginning of the unitive stage. More
painful because even our ideas, our faith in God, is tested. He seems absent.

Lesson for Spirituality:

To keep the ten commandments is a fundamental necessity if one is serious about
breaking with sin. They are “precepts” i.e., obligatory laws given to us by God. One
cannot claim to be advancing in the spiritual life if one is deliberately and habitually
breaking any one of them. To keep the commandments one needs to know what is
commanded and forbidden by each of them.
Catholics on contraception. We fool them if we let them believe they can rise to
God while practising such a sinful thing.
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Reading:
CCC Part Three, Life in Christ, Ch 1,Art 8; Ch 2 art 1. See the first two mansions of
St Teresa of Avila’s, Interior Castle.

The Illuminative Stage

Here the Christian makes progress in prayer, purgations, the virtues, knowledge of the
faith and the carrying of the cross. It is not easy to fix hard boundaries between the
different purifications and to say whether one or other of them occurs at the purgative
stage or the illuminative stage. And it is difficult to make fix boundaries between
these stages also.
Here too one progresses from initial virtues to more solid virtues; the gifts of the
Holy Spirit come to play a bigger part in the Christians life. There is the passive
purification of the senses and there is progress from discursive mediation to the
beginning of infused contemplation. In St Teresas’ Interior Castle it would
correspond to the third and fourth mansions.
Christians at this level are called proficients. St Thomas parallels the beginner,
at the purgative stage, with the deacon; the proficient at the illuminative stage
with the priest; and the perfected Christians at the stage of perfection with the
bishop.
Reading:
See the middle mansions of St Teresa of Avila’s, Interior Castle.
See also Garrigou-Legrange Three Ages of the Interior Life Vol 1 p 245.

The Unitive Stage or Stage of Perfection

Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. Mt 5:48.
Love is the fulfilment of the law. Rom 13:10.

“The Lord Jesus, divine teacher and model of all perfection, preached holiness of life,
of which he is the author and maker, to each and every one of his disciples without
distinction……They must therefore hold on to and perfect in their lives that
sanctification which they have received from God….” LG #40.

Very important here is that the call to perfection is addressed to everyone, not
just to priests or religious; the universal call to holiness.

Different kinds of perfection:

Absolute perfection – to be found only in God because He is pure act, the fullness of
being and infinite.

Relative perfection – as in found in creatures. It is

Essential when a being lacks nothing due to its nature.
Operative – when there is no defect or excess in its operations.
Final – when it has attained its proper goal or end.

Christian perfection – It is essential when there is sanctifying grace in the soul.

- It is operative when there is charity “which binds all
together”.
- It is final when the Christian reaches his final goal of unity
with God in the beatific vision.
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Charity, when it provides the motive for the other virtues, makes their acts
meritorious. It is the form of all the virtues. It can continue to increase in this life but
not in the next. Its level at the time of our death determines our level of glory in
heaven. God and neighbour are the objects of our charity. We love our neighbour for
the sake of God. The angels are also our neighbours and we should love them too.

Given the different kinds of perfection above can a person be perfect in this life ? Is
Christ’s call to perfection realizable at all ? Christ does not command the impossible,
so it must be possible. But in what sense ? St Thomas says that it is in the negative
sense that we remove all that is an obstacle to God’s work in us:
“First by the removal from man’s affections of all that is contrary to charity,
such as mortal sin; and since there can be no charity apart from this perfection,
it is necessary for salvation. Secondly by the removal from man’s affections,
not only of whatever is contrary to charity, but also whatever hinders the
mind’s affections from tending wholly to God. Charity is possible apart from
this perfection, for instance in those who are beginners and in those who are
proficient.” S. Theol. II-II, q 184, art 2.

Comment:
Doing this may sound easy. But try it !!!
One could say that perfection in this life, as described by St Thomas here, is
negative in the sense that it means removing whatever is opposed to charity. If he
said other wise, if he said it was something we could achieve by ourselves, by
certain steps, it would be Pelegianism. It is God who makes us holy. It is
primarily His doing. But we must do our part at least by removing the obstacles,
mortal sin, venial sin and bad habits and whatever would hinder the working of
the Holy Spirit and His gifts in us.

Reading:
J. Aumann, Spiritual Theology ch 5.

Mystical Experience
I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up – whether still in the
body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows – right into the third heaven. 2
Cor 12:2.

“Mystical experience signifies the experience of the divine passively received. (from
Dionysius). As a psychological fact, mysticism is an awareness of the divine activity
on the soul……..The constitutive element of mystical experience is the actuation of
the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the divine or supernatural mode……” Aumann p123.

What God is doing in the soul, in particular the Holy Spirit, is passively received.
He is in the driving seat, as we saw. But can this be experienced ? Grace by itself
cannot be experienced because it is super natural. Nonetheless, the effects of
grace and the workings of the Holy Spirit can be experienced. We could all see
the effects of grace in the life of Mother Teresea, her immense energy, for
example. The saintly person caught up in a mystical experience does experience
something new and out of the ordinary, something truly wonderful, so much so
that they have great difficulty describing it. The onlookers can see something of
 18

it also – those peeping in the key hole at St Gemma when in mystical

conversations with those in heaven.

“On the other hand, in the midst of the sufferings of the passive purgations, which
cause a feeling of the total absence of God, the soul continues to practice the virtues
to a heroic degree and in a manner that is more divine than ever. Its faith is most
vivid, its hope is superior to all hope, and its charity is above all measure”.

Here is a great paradox: when undergoing the purgations, especially the second
one, the purgation of the spirit (soul), the person experiences at terrible
darkness, a terrible absence of God which you might think would cause one to
get depressed or give up. But NO: the opposite, they then practice the virtues to a
heroic degree – in all of that darkness. Again, Mother Teresa and Paul of the
Cross. Fr Murray chat: it is miraculous. But a tepid soul would give up. So, stay
firm in such trials.

“The description written by mystics reveal that a psychological passivity of love

dominates their life. They have the impression, more or less sensible, of an
intervention from outside themselves that rises from the depths of their being to unite
them to God and to enjoy a certain fruition of God. We are referring, of course, to a
relative passivity; that is, the principal agent is the Holy Spirit, but the soul reacts in a
vital manner to his movements. As St Teresa says ‘the will consents’ by co-operating
with the divine action in a free and voluntary manner. And thus liberty and merit are
preserved under the activity of the gifts.” Aumann p 124.

This is God’s doing in the soul, the working of the Holy Spirit snatching up the
soul so that He is active and the soul is passive. It is not something we can work
up for ourselves. But the soul is only relatively passive. All this action by the
Holy Spirit does not destroy the natural functioning of the intellect and the will.
They still have their part to play. Grace does not destroy or supplant what is in
nature. It destroys what is bad but then uplifts nature. But nature, in this case
the soul, still has the powers of intellect and will and they have their part to play
in co-operating with God.

Mystical State
“The mystical act is a simple actuation, more or less intense, of a gift of the Holy
Spirit operating in a divine manner. The mystical state is a manifest predominance of
the activity of the gifts, operating in a divine manner, over the simple exercise of the
infused virtues, operating in a human manner.” Aumann p 131. “This is always
relative, of course, since the gifts never operate, even in the great mystics, in a manner
that is absolutely continuous and uninterrupted”. Aumann p123.

There are mystical experiences now and then when the person is “caught up”
into the divine. But there is also the mystical state which means everyday life but
with a predominance of the activity of the gifts in one’s life. Hopefully, in most
Christians lives, if they are in the state of grace, the theological virtues are
operating and perhaps they receive inspirations from the Holy Spirit at times.
But in the mystical state the operation of the gifts predominate. But this is still
relative in the sense that not even in the great mystics are they at all times caught
 19

up and carried along by the Holy Spirit. They have their ordinary hum drum
days too like the rest of us.

Comment:

1 In mystical experience there is some awareness, slight at first, of the

presence of the divine in the soul because of the operation of the gifts of the
Holy Spirit. In the dark nights of purgation this operation is presence but the
soul experiences a great absence. This is a trial for the sake of purging the
soul, the intellect or the sense, of all impurities.

2 When these operations and experiences, resulting from the actions of the
Holy Spirit through His gifts, predominate habitually – though never
continuously – in the soul, we say that she is in the mystical state.

3 Even if relatively few Christians report having such experiences it is

still to be regarded as a normal part of growth in holiness. That is because
all Christians are called to perfection and all receive the gifts of the Holy
Spirit in baptism, of which mystical experience is an effect.

4 The highest stage of perfection is what is called “transforming union” or

“mystical marriage” when the soul is united to God as much as is possible in
this life. This is still short of the beatific vision which the soul enjoys in
heaven.

Lesson for Spirituality:

1 Since mystical experience is the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul and not
something we can “work up” for ourselves we must leave it to the Holy Spirit as to
whom He will give these experiences. But since all are called to perfection and all
receive the gifts at baptism, along with sanctifying grace, we should all live by faith,
hope and love, carrying our cross each day, doing God’s will as made known to us in
our daily duties in a spirit of openness to the Holy Spirit and what He may want to do
in us. Mary is the great example.
We from our side must do all we can to rid ourselves of sin and co-operate with
whatever God is doing in our lives. Here I am Lord, I come to do your will. But
these mystical experiences are His doing. St Theresa of Avila uses the example of
watering the garden. We do more, actively, at the beginning; He as we near the
end. There is also the rule that if the soul (or any living thing) is not going
forward that it is then going backwards; and the rule that the nearer to the end
the faster the progress, like the stone falling.

2 We should be aware of false reports of mysticism which amount to deception

or self delusion even by religious people of good will who have over fertile
imaginations. Good morals, a life of virtue and faithfulness to ordinary duties
are good indicators of what is genuine rather than the spectacular.

Reading: J. Aumann, Spiritual Theology ch 6.

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V The Means for the Journey 23/5/19

Prayer, Carrying the Cross, Self denial, Spiritual reading, Spiritual direction.

Lord teach us how to pray as John taught his disciples.

Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find…….
Pray lest you enter into temptation.
Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Eph 6:18.

Prayer – Definitions:
“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God”. CCC 2559

“Prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for
Him”. CCC 2560
“Prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good
beyond measure, with His Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit”. CCC 2565
“Even when it is lived out ‘in secret’, prayer is always prayer of the church; it is
communion with the Holy Trinity.” CCC 2656.

Note there are four main parts to the CCC and prayer is given one whole part,
the last. That shows its importance. Be sure to read it.

Comment:
These different definitions bring out the points that prayer is very personal but
also very social – being that of the whole church. It is covenantal in that it
happens in the context of our relationship to God and who took the first step in
coming to seek us, which is why our thirst for Him is but the response to His
thirst for us.

The Object of Prayer:

Our prayer is directed to the entire Trinity, primarily to God the Father, through Christ
His Son in the Holy Spirit. But we also pray to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as
distinct persons. We pray also to Our Lady, the angels and the saints, not as ends in
the themselves but to honour them and to ask them to intercede to God for us.

Protestants believe in going directly to God and cut out the intercession of Our
Lady and the saints. But there are references in scripture to their intercession:
Our Lady at the foot of the cross and Rev with the angel and the bowl of
incense.

The Subject of Prayer:

The subject of prayer is a rational being – angels and human beings. The lower
animals and lesser creatures praise God and do His will unknowingly by acting
according to the instincts He has implanted in them.
The locus of prayer in the human being is said to be the heart according to many
references in scripture. The organ of the heart signifies the inner sanctuary of man’s
soul. For St Thomas the specific faculty of prayer is the intellect because it is a kind
of speech and all speech expresses the thoughts of the intellect. To be more exact it is
the practical intellect because it seeks to do something – to ask God that certain things
be done. Other writers would place prayer primarily in the will because with prayer
we love God. St Thomas would give a role to the will as moving the intellect to pray
 21

and as enjoying the fruition that comes from prayer but he would say that the will of
itself is blind.

Objections to Prayer:
Wrong ideas about prayer – that it is merely a psychological game; that it leads to
some kind of void (nirvana); that it takes up too much time; that in this age of science
prayer is all too spiritual, up in the clouds; that it does not bring direct tangible profits;
that it is a form of escapism; that prayers are not answered, so why try. CCC 2726ff.
Comment:
1 One can see in these objections an over influence of Eastern thinking and of
the secularist mentality which accepts only what it can see, measure and value
in earthly terms. Also there is the influence of a false psychology which
measures everything by the nice feeling it gives.
But the age that has given up prayer is the age that goes in for drugs like
never before. Drug abusive is fundamentally a spiritual problem – the
search for a substitute for God and prayer.

2 We are commanded to pray because God is infinitely good and deserving of

our praise for His own sake, also because we should thank Him for sharing
His goodness with us; also because we are finite, weak, dependent on God and
sinful so that we need Him to save us.

3 Christ Himself taught us how to pray and gave us the example of prayer
on the many occasions when He prayed Himself, sometimes for the whole
night.

4 One’s level of prayer will determine one’s level of charity – St Teresa of

Avila. And one’s level of charity will determine one’s level of happiness in
heaven because charity is the motive and measure of holiness. Also the saying:
as a man prays so shall he live and as a man lives so shall he pray.
And we might add, as a man prays so shall he live and as a man lives so
shall he die and as a man dies so shall he have his level of happiness in
heaven. So prayer is fundamental.

Difficulties in Prayer:
Distractions – they come like flies but the Cure D’Ars used to say “there are no flies
on boiling water” ! Story of St Bernard and the white horse.

Dryness – when the taste for prayer has left us. But perseverance is the answer.
This is part of the purgation of the senses, which is part of the game of hide and
go seek of God and the good soul He is purifying and bringing along.

Lack of Faith – when we begin to pray other things have to be done first. This
indicates that God is not always our first priority.

Accedia – a kind of spiritual sloth, because we are lax, which makes it difficult to
raise the mind above the visible and material to the invisible and things of the spirit.
Our way of knowing has the material for its ordinary object and we find it hard
to raise our minds above that even though deep down we are tired of the
material and thirst for something higher.
 22

Seemingly no results – we give up because our prayers seem to be not answered or not
the way we would have liked. CCC 2729 ff.
That is lack of trust in God. He delays in order to expand our hearts for what He
wants to give us – St Augustine; to test the sincerity of our desires, to see if they
are good and holy, like MM weeping at the tomb – Pope Leo the Great; to train
us in endurance and perseverance – St Monica praying for her son.

The Necessity of Prayer:

Whatever the difficulties, prayer is necessary. Every saint has practiced prayer
to great lengths and every spiritual writer insists on its necessity, some to the
point of saying that those does who do not pray are on the road to
damnation. “Those who pray are certainly saved: those who do not pray are
certainly damned”. St Alfphonsus. CCC 2744. Not to pray is to be like a man
trying to swim against the current with only one hand. St John of Avila.
Teresa of Avila claimed that the level of one’s prayer is the measure of one’s
charity and charity is essential to the spiritual life. It is also that on which we
will be judged cf Mt 25.

The Time and Place for Prayer

“We should pray every morning, every night, in all dangers, temptations and
afflictions”. School Catechism of Trent.

St Paul tells us that we should pray at all times, which means that we should have our
hearts set on doing God’s will at all times whatever we do. But he who does not pray
at some set time during the day will end up not praying at all for long periods.
So also one can pray just about anywhere, and mystics can be caught up into prayer
even in busy places. But again, unless one makes a deliberate choice of a quiet
place such as a church or one’s room one will end up praying nowhere.

Kinds of Prayer:
1 Blessing and Adoration – we bless God for having first blessed us with so many
good things and we adore Him as the Holy and Infinite One, supreme Being.

2 Prayer of Petition – when we ask God for the things we need, spiritual and
temporal.
Note the petitions of the Our Father. They are normative for all our petitions.

3 Prayer of Intecession – when we ask God for graces and favours for others.
We should pray especially for the grace of conversion for sinners, most of all for
hardened sinners who are dying today.

4 Prayer of Thanksgiving – for all His gifts to us. The mass, the centre of our liturgy,
is a prayer of thanksgiving.
Always be thankful – St Paul. Tis a fact that we spend much more time in
petitioning.

5 Prayer of Praise – for His goodness in Himself and towards us. CCC 2626ff.
Why not ? Are we blind to the wonders of creation ? And then of grace ?
 23

Expressions of Prayer:

Vocal Prayer – “any form of prayer expressed in words, whether written or

spoken….vocal prayer as the public liturgical prayer of the people of God gives
greater glory to God than does private prayer and has a greater efficiency because it is
the prayer of the Christian community.” Aumann p317.
Compared to meditative prayer and contemplative prayer vocal prayer is
usually put at the bottom. But in another sense it is at the top because it is the
kind of prayer the church uses when people gather to pray together. Cure D’Ars
re the single straws being brought together. If vocal prayer is one’s level stay
with it. Even from that level the Holy Spirit can catch one up into mysticism.
Comment:
The best example is the Our Father, the Hail Mary etc. Here the person is

Meditation,
a) Discursive – “a reasoned application of the mind to some supernatural truth in
order to penetrate its meaning, love it, and carry it into practice with the
assistance of grace”. Aumann p318. “The most important element in
meditation is the act of love aroused in the will on the presentation of some
supernatural truth by the intellect.” “Any meditation that is properly made
should terminate in a practical resolution for the future.” Aumann p319.
So a bit of work, preparation, is needed here to pick a scene from the gospels or a
truth from catholic teaching, analyze it with the intellect and then make it a
springboard of love for God by the will. Settle the mind first. The rosary
combines vocal and meditative prayer.

b) Prayer of simplicity – “a simple, loving gaze upon some divine object, whether on
God Himself or one of his perfections, on Christ or on one of his mysteries, or on
some other Christian truth.” Aumann p319.
Story of Cure D’Ars and the man before the tabernacle.
Comment:

In the foregoing kinds of prayer the person is “doing work” of praying by

himself, but, of course, with the help of grace. Thus it is called “ascetical”. But
in the prayer of simplicity there is less “work” in the sense of less reasoning
(discursus), just a simple gaze of the intellect. For that reason it can be seen as
a bridge to contemplative prayer.

Contemplative Prayer,

a) Infused contemplation – it is experiential knowledge of God which requires

grace, the theological virtues of faith, hope and especially charity and the
operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, particularly wisdom and
understanding. This is mysticism.
Infused, poured in from above. God is doing most of the work now and the gifts
are more in play. We should make time for God to do this in us.

b) Prayer of Quiet – this is also infused contemplation but it affects the will primarily.
“The will is completely captivated and absorbed in God” even though the intellect is
 24

aware of what is happening and the other faculties can get on with everyday life.
Aumann p329ff.

Comment:
In infused contemplation God catches up the soul on His own doing. So it is
He who is “doing the work” though, of course, the Christian must freely give
him/herself over to God and enjoy Him. Its subject is primarily the intellect.
In the prayer of quiet it is again God who is taking the initiative but this time
the subject is the will so that it leads to “contemplative silence and repose”.
Aumann p337ff. One cannot produce these kinds of contemplative prayer by
one’s own effort. God is now doing “all the work” of “watering the garden” of
the soul in the example used by St Teresa of Avila.

Prayer of Union

Now the soul experiences herself as being united to God and as having an experience
of God. There are three levels to this kind of prayer corresponding to the degrees of
union: prayer of union, prayer of betrothal and prayer of marriage union. These
kinds of prayer are mystical experiences which those whose recipients find difficult to
describe because they are experiences of God Himself (though not the beatific vision).
All the faculties of the body are captivated at these levels and there are accompanying
bodily changes of a kind, such as ecstasy, that baffle the medical people. Note that the
highest level of mystical prayer, and hence of union with God, is referred to as a
“marriage” of the soul with God. The human soul (of man or woman) is feminine in
relation to God. These levels of prayer and of union are described by St Teresa of
Avila in her Interior Castle at the fifth, sixth and seventh mansions. The soul has
reached perfection, as much as that can be attained in this life, so that there now
awaits only the glory of the beatific vision in the next life.

Lesson for Spirituality:

1 We should never give up on prayer, even if we fall into serious sin. With the help of
the grace that comes from prayer we can rise again. Without it we sink deeper into
sin. This is a crucial bit of advice.
2 The rosary is a beautiful prayer, given to us by Mary herself, and it combines
both vocal prayer and contemplative prayer in itself.
3 Mystical union, even if not frequent, is a possibility for all, even for those whose
level of prayer is simply the vocal, because it is a matter of God taking up a faithful
soul into union with Himself whenever He so chooses.

Other Helps in the Spiritual Life

Carrying the cross – this is central. It comes to us in various ways under God’s
providence and she who rebels against the cross ends up making more trouble for
herself than she would have had to endure if she had just picked it up and got on with
it.

Self denial – we must deny the self at various levels: the self of selfish physical
desires; the self of vanity and pride; the self that puts itself at the centre rather than
God.
 25

This is active purification of the senses and of the spirit. The idea is not to
destroy our human powers – because they are given to us by God – but to purify,
control and subdue them so that they will be instruments of the soul and subject
to grace and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. God will then give the passive
purifications His own way.

Spiritual reading – a good spiritual book such as, first of all, the scriptures or the lives
or the writings of the saints is a great help to provide fuel for meditation and also to
pick up the soul that is beginning to go lax and tired. But in reading the lives of the
saints we should imitate them as to their general principles and virtues, especially
their faith, hope and charity, but not as to exact detail of practice for the simple reason
that they lived in different times and circumstances to us today. Cf G Lagrange on
this in the the Three Ages.

Spiritual director – a great help if he/she is learned, experienced and holy.

One should pray for a good director and be open and honest with him. Exposing
temptations to him puts them to flight. Cf Aumann or Lagrange on this.

Examination of conscience – if business people in the secular world do regular

reviews on their profits and losses, purely earthly things, how foolish then is the
Christian if he/she does not do the same on the progress of the soul towards God, a far
more important matter because it concerns our lot in eternity.
One can use the commandments or the virtues or the circles as methods. See this
examination as a rehersal for your particular judgement.

Retreats, days of recollection, pilgrimages, devotions, regular confessions, the

feast days as stepping stones.

The Evangelical Counsels:

Poverty, chastity and obience.

Reading:
On prayer see The CCC Part IV; Aumann, Spritual Theology ch 12; also St Thomas,
Summa Theologiae, II-II, Q 83; St Teresa of Avila, The Interior Castle.
On other helps to spiritual growth see Aumann, Spritual Theology ch 13.