Part 97: DoC and Perfection: Cyril of Alexandria

More excellent Cyril...

And, do not think that these Doctors of the Church just sat around and prayed and thought all day.

They cut wood, drew water, harvested fields, travelled around Europe and Asia, reformed seminaries and monasteries, created dioceses and churches, had their own parishes. wrote lots of pastoral letters and sermons, advised Popes. ran around Europe and Asia some more stomping out heresies, some went into exile or were imprisoned or both, taught, .....and what do you do?

Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that to those who choose to love Him and to those who do His commandments the promise of His revelation is given.

To them,… and not to those who are otherwise minded and who do the contrary, He has conveyed this useful lesson in the words: He that hath My commandments and keepil eth them, he it is that loveth Me. 

This may sound repetitious, but one FIRST must be both orthodox and obedient. 

And a man has His commands when he has received the faith, and, laying it to heart, has let into his inmost soul the unpolluted and unmistakeable teaching of the Gospel commandments. 

What we lost in Original Sin is redeemed by grace. Natural law becomes supernaturalized.

And he fulfils them by carrying them out into actuality, and by making haste to distinguish himself by the light of his actions.Such a man then is perfect and wholly wedded to righteousness, a shining light by his faith and conduct, who has witness borne him of his holiness after the pattern of Christ.

Now, we are seeing a description of the perfect man, as we have in the past looking at Abraham.

Notice that Cyril uses the word "light". This is the enlightenment state, following purgation.

[...] A man of this sort again, God the Father will surely love, and no less also the Son will love him. For as He is of the same Substance, so also has He the same Will as His Father.[...] To those who are thought worthy of the Divine love He promises that He will give a glorious reward and that He will crown them with exceeding great blessings.I will manifest Myself unto him, He says.

God loves this person as He Loves Himself. The promised reward is the Beatific Vision.

To the pure in heart the mystery of the Godhead will be clearly revealed, and Christ gives them light, illuminating the path of every duty by His Spirit, and unveiling Himself and making Himself visible as it were by the ineffable torchlight of the soul.

All the Doctors of the Church refer to the same process. Purity of heart then illumination.

God becomes more visible and can reveal Himself more directly to the person who is illuminated and free from the habits of sin.

And those who have made their choice once for all are blessed and worthy of all admiration.And I think the prophet David was a man after this sort when he says, I will hear what the Lord God will say in me. 

Obviously, David was not always perfect and had to go through purgation. That he was in a state of illumination is clear by the psalms. He is a man the Church states, by quoting Scripture, has the heart of God. This statement has a two-fold meaning: one is that God possesses his heart and two, that his heart is like that of God's, full of love.

But, again, notice, a choice is involved. To be made perfect one must choose the hard way-out of one's comfort zone.

And so is also St Paul when he exhorts us, saying, If ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me; For Christ speaks of things concerning Himself in His Saints by His Spirit, and reveals other mysteries besides.

In this Illuminative state, God opens up Himself to us in new way. It is as if the two were lovers, trusting each other, talking about their own selves, dreams, and loving by just being in the presence of the other. The more we love, the more we get love in return.

Therefore it is true that knowing these things well, the Saints sometimes say, Unto us God revealed them through the Spirit.And they sometimes say, But we have the mind of Christ, meaning, by His mind, His Spirit.

So many people doubt or question Garrigou-Lagrange's idea that God wants all of us to seek perfection. His ideas are validated by the Doctors of the Church. And, here, in this last section, we see that those who are perfected have the mind of Christ, and finally, union.

To be continued....

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444): Commentary on John, book 10. Thanks to Mark for the link.