The Living Flame of Love

^14. O Infinite greatness, in all things showing Thyself omnipotent. Who, O Lord, can cause sweetness in the midst of bitterness, and pleasure in the midst of pain? O delicious wound, the greater the delight the deeper the wound. But when the wound is within the soul, and not communicated to the body without, it is then much more intense and keen. As the flesh is bridle to the spirit, so, when the graces of the latter overflow into the former, the flesh draws in and restrains the swift steed of the spirit and checks its course; ‘for the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things.’^[40:*] He, therefore, who shall trust much to the bodily senses will never become a very spiritual man.

15. This I say for the sake of those who think they can ascend to the heights and power of the spirit, by the mere energy and action of the senses, which are mean and vile. We cannot become spiritual unless the bodily sense be restrained. It is a state of things wholly different from this, when the spirit overflows into the senses, for there may be great spirituality in this; as in the case of St. Paul, whose deep sense of the sufferings of Christ overflowed into his body, so that he said; ‘I bear the marks of our Lord Jesus in my body.’^[40:†] Thus, as the wound and the burn, so the hand that inflicted it; and as the touch, so He who touched. ‘O tender hand, O gentle touch.’

‘O tender hand, O gentle touch.’

16. O hand, as generous as Thou art powerful and rich, giving me gifts with power. O gentle hand! laid so gently upon me, and yet, if Thou wert to press at all, the whole world must perish; for only at the sight of Thee the earth trembles,^[41:*] the nations melt, and the mountains are crushed in pieces.^[41:†] O gentle hand, I say it again, for him thou didst touch so sharply. Upon me Thou art laid so softly, so lovingly, and so tenderly; Thou art the more gentle and sweet for me than thou wert hard for him; the loving sweetness with which Thou art laid upon me is greater than the severity with which he was touched. Thou killest, and Thou givest life, and there is no one who shall escape out of Thy hand.

17. But Thou, O divine life, never killest but to give life, as Thou never woundest but to heal. Thou hast wounded me, O divine hand! that Thou mayest heal me. Thou hast slain in me that which made me dead, and without the life of God which I now live. This Thou hast wrought in the liberality of Thy gracious generosity, through that touch, wherewith Thou dost touch me, of the brightness of Thy glory and the figure of Thy substance,^[41:‡] Thine only begotten Son, in Whom being Thy Wisdom, Thou reachest 'from end to end mightily.'^[41:§]

18. O gentle, subtile touch, the Word, the Son of God, Who, because of the pureness of Thy divine nature, dost penetrate subtilely the very substance of my soul, and, touching it gently, absorbest it wholly in divine ways of sweetness not 'heard of in the land of Canaan,' nor 'seen in Teman.'^[42:*] O touch of the Word, so gentle, so wonderfully gentle to me; and yet Thou wert 'overthrowing mountains, and breaking rocks in Horeb,' by the shadow of Thy power going before, when Thou didst announce Thy presence to the prophet in 'the whisper of a gentle air.'^[42:†] O soft air, how is it that Thou touchest so softly when Thou art so terrible and so strong? O blessed soul, most blessed, which Thou, who art so terrible and so strong, touchest so gently. Proclaim it to the world, O my soul—no, proclaim it not, for the world knoweth not the 'gentle air,' neither will it listen to it, because it cannot comprehend matters so deep.

19. O my God and my life, they shall know Thee^[42:‡] and behold Thee when Thou touchest them, who, making themselves strangers upon earth, shall purify themselves, because purity corresponds with purity. The more gently Thou touchest, the more Thou art hidden in the purified soul of those who have made themselves strangers here, hidden from the face of all creatures, and whom 'Thou shalt hide in the secret of Thy face from the disturbance of men.'^[43:*]

20. O, again and again, gentle touch, which by the power of its tenderness, undoest the soul, removest it far away from every touch whatever, and makest it Thine own; Thou which leavest behind Thee effects and impressions so pure, that the touch of everything else seems vile and low, the very sight offensive, and all relations therewith a deep affliction. The more subtile any matter is, the more it spreads and fills, and the more it diffuses itself the more subtile is it. O gentle touch, the more subtile the more infused. And now the vessel of my soul, because Thou hast touched it, is pure and clean and able to receive Thee.

21. O gentle touch! as in Thee there is nothing material, so Thy touch is the more penetrating, changing what in me is human into divine, for Thy Divine essence, wherewith Thou touchest me, is wholly unaffected by modes and manner, free from the husks of form and figure. Finally then, O gentle touch, and most gentle, for Thou touchest me with Thy most simple and pure essence, which being infinite is infinitely gentle; therefore it is that this touch is so subtile, so loving, so deep, and so delicious.

‘Savouring of everlasting life.’

22. What the soul tastes now in this touch of God, is, in truth, though not perfectly, a certain foretaste of everlasting life, as I said before.^[44:*] It is not incredible that it should be so when we believe, as we do believe, that this touch is most substantial, and that the substance of God touches the substance of the soul. Many Saints have experienced it in this life. The sweetness of delight which this touch occasions baffles all description.

Neither will I speak of it, lest men should suppose that it is nothing beyond what my words imply, for there are no terms by which we can designate or explain the deep things of God transacted in perfect souls. The proper way to speak of them is for him who has been favoured with them to understand them, feel them, and enjoy them, and be silent.

23. For the soul now sees that they are in some measure like the white counter of which it is written 'To him that overcometh I will give... a white counter, and in the counter a new name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it.'^[44:†] Thus it may be truly said, 'savouring of everlasting life.' For though the fruition of it is not perfect in this life as it will be in glory; nevertheless the touch, being of God, savoureth of everlasting life, and accordingly the soul tastes in a marvellous manner, and by participation, of all the things of God; fortitude, wisdom, love, beauty, grace, and goodness being communicated unto it.

24. Now as God is all this, the soul tastes of all in one single touch of God in a certain eminent way. And from this good bestowed upon the soul, some of the unction of the Spirit overflows at times into the body itself, penetrating into the very bones, as it is written, 'All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like unto Thee?'^[45:*] But as all I can say falls short of the subject, it is enough to repeat, 'savouring of everlasting life.'

'And paying the whole debt.'

25. But what debts are they to which the soul here refers, and which it declares to be paid or satisfied? We should know that souls which attain to this high state, to the kingdom of the spiritual betrothal, have in general passed through many tribulations and trials, because it is 'through many tribulations that we enter into the kingdom of heaven.'^[45:†] And these tribulations are now passed.

26. What they have to suffer who are to attain unto union with God are divers afflictions and temptations of sense, trials, tribulations, temptations, darkness, and distress of mind, so that both the flesh and the spirit may be purified together, as I said in the Dark Night in my treatise of the Ascent of Mount Carmel. The reason is that the joy and knowledge of God cannot be established in the soul, if the flesh and spirit are not perfectly purified and spiritualised, and as trials and penances purify and refine the senses, as tribulations, temptations, darkness and distress spiritualise and prepare the spirit, so they must undergo them who would be transformed in God—as the souls in purgatory who through that trial attain to the beatific vision—some more intensely than others, some for a longer, others for a shorter time, according to those degrees of union to which God intends to raise them, and according to their need of purification.

27. It is by these trials to which God subjects the spirit and the flesh that the soul, in bitterness, acquires virtues and fortitude and perfection, as the Apostle writes, 'Power is made perfect in infirmity;'^[46:*] for virtue is made perfect in weakness, and refined by sufferings. Iron cannot be fashioned according to the pattern of the artificer but by fire and the hammer, and during the process its previous condition is injured. This is the way in which God taught Jeremias, 'From on high He hath cast a fire in my bones and hath taught me.'^[46:†] The prophet speaks of the hammer also when he saith, 'Thou hast chastised me, and I am taught.'^[46:‡] So, too, the Wise Man asks, 'He that hath not been proved, what knoweth he?'^[47:*]

28. Here comes the question, why is it that so few ever attain to this state? The reason is that, in this marvellous work which God Himself begins, so many are weak, shrinking from trouble, and unwilling to endure the least discomfort or mortification, or to labour with constant patience. Hence it is that God, not finding them diligent in cultivating the graces He has given them when He began to try them, proceeds no further with their purification, neither does He lift them up out of the dust of the earth, because it required greater courage and resolution for this than they possessed.

[40:*] Wisd. ix. 15.

[40:†] Gal. vi. 17.

[41:*] Ps. ciii. 32.

[41:†] Hab. iii. 6.

[41:‡] Heb. i. 3.

[41:§] Wisd. viii. 1.

[42:*] Bar. iii. 22.

[42:†] 3 Kings xix. 11, 12.

[42:‡] St. John xiv. 17.

[43:*] Ps. xxx. 21.

[44:*] Stanza i. 7.

[44:†] Apoc. ii. 17.

[45:*] Ps. xxxiv. 10.

[45:†] Acts xiv. 21.

[46:*] 2 Cor. xii. 9.

[46:†] Lam. i. 13.

[46:‡] Jerem. xxxi. 18.

[47:*] Ecclus. xxxiv. 11.