Ending this section on the general call of all to
perfection, one can take a last look at St. Catherine’s Dialogue for help. I think
most people can understand the activity needed on our part in order to walk the
path to perfection, but what may be puzzling are the passive purifications.
Two signs, according the saint, indicate that one is going
through the passive purifications of the soul, which is the same as the Dark
Night of the soul. The first sign is
complete docility to the Holy Spirit. One no longer trusts in one’s self, but
in the movements of the Spirit. One is no longer rebellious but cooperative in
grace. The second sign is the receiving
of Divine inspirations through the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, and here, I
am reminded both of St. Angela and Cardinal
Manning in their repetition of the flowering of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
These seven gifts become “mature” after the passive
purifications, a point I made over the past several years in the perfection
series. That Garrigou-Lagrange reminds us of this fact corresponds with his
other works, and with the great saints of perfection-Teresa of Avila
The passive purgations, again, take away all the dross in our
hearts, minds, including the imagination, intellect, and memory. The senses
are, as noted before, purged first, and then the spirit.
Then, one enters into the Illuminative
State and finally, the State of Union
The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are, as a reminder:
Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, Fear of the Lord.
These gifts come to the fore only after we are purified,
which is hard for many people to understand. Sin blocks both gifts and virtues,
even repeated venial sins, or venial sins which are habitually done almost
automatically, revealing a need for healing as well as purgation.
Garrigou-Lagrange notes, that “while conforming ourselves to His expressed will, we must abandon ourselves
to His divine will of good pleasure, however mysterious it may be, for we are
certain beforehand that in its holiness it wills nothing, permits nothing,
unless for a good purpose.”
Another theme on this blog which is covered in this book as
well is that he who is faithful in little things will be faithful in big
things. I have written over the years that being obedient in the small things
is like a daily boot camp experience, wherein we make our wills stronger.
Garrigou-Lagrange notes that “If every
day we do what we can to be faithful to God in the ordinary routine of life, we
may be confident that He will give us grace to remain faithful in whatever
extremity we may find ourselves through His permission; and if we have to
suffer for Him, He will give us the grace to die a heroic death rather than be
shamed and betray Him.”
This book was published in 1937, when persecutions around
the world were ratcheting up. We must
not forget that the daily practice of virtue and the faithfulness in small
things helps us grow. The author states that, “Daily fidelity to the divine
will as expressed gives us a sort of right to abandon ourselves completely to
the divine will of good pleasure as yet not made known to us.”
We are faced with suffering daily, and if we do not shirk
from this suffering and if we do not complain or judge others, we are being
faithful to this daily fidelity.
Garrigou-Lagrange writes, “Daily
fidelity and trusting self-abandonment thus give the spiritual life its
balance, its stability and harmony. In this way we live our lives in almost
continuous recollection, in an ever-increasing self-abnegation, and these are
the conditions normally required for contemplation and union with God. This,
then, is the reason why our life should be one of self-abandonment to the
divine will as yet unknown to us and at the same time supported every moment by
that will as already made known to us.”
Garrigou-Lagrange states something interesting: “In this union of fidelity and
self-abandonment we have some idea of the way in which asceticism, insisting on
fidelity or conformity to the divine will, should be united with mysticism,
which emphasizes self-abandonment.”
Some things are just plain basics and on top of this we add
our act of complete trust in God, in Divine Providence. We give God our present
and our future. We also give God our past, which is very difficult for many of
us who have had tumultuous pasts and need to rely on Divine Mercy, as the
author points out, for the consequences.
There is no error, no misjudgment, no sin which God has not
forgiven in our past. There is no trial so difficult in our present which God
cannot overcome, and there is nothing in our future which we need to dread, as
we are in the Hands of God.
Romans is most likely my favorite epistle of St. Paul
Childlike confidence is key. One cannot be too childlike,
states the author, and I am glad he wrote that. He states, “Therefore, in abandoning ourselves to God, all we have to fear is that
our submission will not be wholehearted enough.”
Amen to that…to be continued…
