the christian life and the spiritual life

Front matter

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Setpeeteeates

Introduction To The Study Of Ascetical And Mystical Theology

BY

Neehe De OSUON, -©.P.

TRANSLATED BY Sr. M. HYACINTH, O.P.

BT. MICHAEL'S SEMINARY & NOVITIATE OF THE NORBERTINE FATHERS 1042 STAR ROUTE, ORANGE, CALIFORNIA 9264

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EDIMBURGI, die 13 Sep., 1930.

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Preface

Mucu has been written during recent years on the subject we are about to approach. The spiritual life, under its many aspects, has been set forth, both in general outlines and in detailed studies and in discussions which have caused some stir. Theologians of note have been obliged to throw light on certain corners which writers of a past day left in the shade.

The pages which we offer the readers of the ““ Catholic Library of Religious Knowledge ’’ have no such aim. This is not a work of controversy; on the contrary it seeks to preserve and to reflect the peace and tranquillity of that spiritual life of which it treats.

Nor is this a new treatise on ascetical and mystical theology; the limitations of space would not permit ‘us to attempt so great a task. Our aim is more modest; it is merely to give a short and simple ‘‘ Introduction.’’ We have tried to group together by way of synthesis those questions of which some knowledge is necessary if we are to undertake with any profit the study of ascetical and mystical theology.

In every science it is necessary to begin with v

PREFACE definitions. The end of ascetical and mystical theology is to treat of the spiritual life and of perfection. What is this life? What are its laws and the normal cause of its development? The soul itself is evidently the worker, but not the only or even the principal one. Left to herself she is powerless in that supernatural world where everything hides itself from her search and eludes her grasp. Who shall guide her thither and keep her there? Thence arises the whole question of divine co-operation in the origin and growth of our spiritual life.

We have thought it best to group together a number of answers to all these questions, for they form a sort of general theory of the spiritual life. The ideas we are about to enlarge upon are usually dealt with very briefly in ascetical and mystical treatises, so that it is dificult to grasp their connection one with another. Placed side by side, or better still, arranged in logical sequence, they stand out more clearly, hold the attention more firmly and are more easily impressed on the memory.

It is clear from this, however, that nothing new or original is to be expected here. Most of these questions have already attracted the attention of theologians, who have given us complete and often very learned treatises on them. We have made free use of these studies and have endeavoured to reproduce them faithfully, and to present a synthesis of the doctrines most usually accepted. The numerous references we have given indicate to the vi

PREFACE reader the sources from which fuller information on the various subjects may be obtained.

The spiritual life being the perfection of the Christian life, we shall first deal with this latter and consider its general plan. We shall then set forth the exact idea of the spiritual life, of which we shall study the laws and development. (Part I.)

Then, under the general title of workers in the spiritual life, we shall examine successively the place held in it by God—by Jesus Christ—by the Blessed Virgin—by the Holy Ghost; and we shall end by a few remarks on the subject of direction as the principal aid to the soul in its progress towards perfection.

Contents

PAGE

PREFACE

Object and end of this work. Its division : : Vv

Part I

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND THE SPIRITUAL. LIFE OR PERFECTION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

PRELIMINARY Ascetical and mystical theology . : é : 3 CHAPTER I

I. Nature of the Christian life: communication of the divine life: eternal life already begun. II. Structure of the Christian life: (a) its principle, grace; (b) its faculties, the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost 5 ; . : .

Chapter II

Its nature. JI. False ideas: (a) unbelievers, (b) sceptics and the worldly-minded, (c) incomplete or inaccurate ideas. II. The true solution; perfection consists essentially in charity: (1) the authority of Holy Scripture; (2) theological demonstration; (3) objections of the intellectuals. Conclusion ‘ 4 Bal 1X

CONTENTS

FAGE

Chapter III Perfection And The Precept Of The Love Of God

I. The precepts and the counsels. II. Extent of the precept of the love of God. III. Consequences: (1) perfection and (a) mortal sin, (b) venial sin, (c) imperfect actions; (2) the law of the continual growth of charity; (3) the search after perfection the sure road to sanctity. Conclusion : : - 45

Chapter IV The Development Of The Spiritual Life

I. Stages of the spiritual life: (a) the purgative way; (b) the illuminative way; (c) the unitive way. II. Unity of the spiritual life: the mystical life the normal development of the ascetical life. JII. The limit of perfection here below . 67

PART

WORKERS AND HELPERS IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

Chapter 1 God The Chief Worker In Our Spiritual Life

I. The dwelling of the Holy Trinity in us: (1) presence of God in all His creatures; (2) His dwelling in the soul of the just; (a) reality of this indwelling; (b) its manner: God found there as a guest and a friend, as an object of knowledge and love. II. Actual grace: (1) its manner; (2) its mode of action; (3) its necessity . : . ; 4 65

m4

CONTENTS

FACE

Chapter II Jesus Christ The Foundation Of Our Spiritual Life

I. Jesus Christ the model of our supernatural life: (1) as Son of God; (2) in the activity of His Humanity; (3) in His entire dependence on His Divinity. II. Jesus Christ the cause of our sanctification by His merits and satisfaction: (1) the satisfaction of Christ; (2) the merit of Christ. III. Jesus Christ the efficient cause of our supernatural life: (1) during His life on earth by His Humanity, instrument of His Divinity; (2) since His Ascension; (a) by the Sacraments; (b) by the spiritual contact of Faith . 132

Chapter III

THE MOST BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. MOTHER OF GRACE AND UNIVERSAL MEDIATRIX

1. Mary’s causality by way of example: (a) model of all virtues; (b) a model easy of imitation. IJ. Her causality by way of merit and satisfaction; her co-operation in the acquisition of graces: (a) her causality by way of merit; idea of merit; Mary has merited for us; extension of her merits; (b) causality of the Blessed Virgin Mary by way of satisfaction. III. Power of Mary’s intercession; her universal mediation in the distribution of graces: (a) exposition of this thesis; (b) demonstration and theological value. (1) Authority of the Fathers and Doctors; (2) authority of Sovereign Pontiffs; (3) witness of the Liturgy; (4) theological reasons. Conclusion . 158

Chapter IV

THE HOLY SPIRIT. MOVER IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE

I. Dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the just soul. II. The Holy Spirit the mover in the Spiritual life: (1) by justification; (2) by sanctification. MI. The gifts

x1

CONTENTS

PAGE of the Holy Ghost: (a) distinction between the virtues and the gifts; (3) the respective réle of the virtues and the gifts in the economy of the spiritual life; (b) necessity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; (c) excellence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; (d) their culture: negative and positive means . 190

Chapter V

AIDS TO THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. DIRECTION

I. Principal aids. Direction has a _ place apart. II. Nature of direction: rdle of the director. III. Importance of direction. Usefulness or necessity. Qualities of direction on the part of the subject: respect, confidence, docility and constancy . 5220

CONCLUSION Greatness of the spiritual life. Importance of the study of spirituality . 5 : : : «24a BIBLIOGRAPHY . c : : : - 249 xii

PART I @ib CHRISTIAN .LIFE.AND Dibooriki Tua. CIEE OR

PEEP ERFECTION -OF THE ChinlsttiaNn LIFE

PRELIMINARY OBJECT OF ASCETICAL AND MYSTICAL THEOLOGY

In a general sense, theology is the science which treats of God: in its wider meaning it includes all that relates to God.

It is called Natural Theology, or Theodicy, if it seeks to know God by the sole light of human reason; it is called Supernatural when it is founded on revelation and by an examination of its nature draws thence conclusions regarding the truths of faith.

Supernatural theology is, in its turn, divided into dogmatic and moral theology. The first treats of revealed mysteries, of the sacraments and of the future life; the second of human acts, of the precepts, of the counsels, of grace, of the Christian virtues, of the gifts of the Holy Ghost; in a word, of all the principles tending to that supernatural end made known to us by faith.

These two, however, are not distinct sciences, independent of one another, without relation or bond of union. Theology, or the sacred science, is absolutely one, eminently speculative and practical —but more speculative than practical—even as the science of God from whom it is derived.’

1Human theology does not contain within itself its own principles. It borrows them from the theology in heaven, that is from the knowledge that God has of Himself and which the

It is clear that in moral theology such as we have defined it are found the principles necessary to guide souls to the highest perfection, and that ascetical and mystical theology are nothing more than the application of this great moral theology to the direction of souls towards closer union with God. It takes for granted all that the sacred science teaches regarding the nature and properties of the Christian virtues and of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and it studies the laws and conditions of their growth in view of perfection.

On this study, therefore, converges all the light of dogmatic and moral theology, of which it (ascetical and mystical theology) is the crown and highest application. And thus is completed the cycle formed by the different parts of theology, whose perfect unity becomes more and more apparent.?

This idea perfectly corresponds both with the ordinary and the etymological sense of the words ascetical and mystical.

Ascetical theology or the science of the ascése (from a Greek word employed by the Fathers of the first centuries to signify the struggles and efforts of the Christian soul against all which is opposed to the practice of virtue or of perfection both within and around her) is nothing else but that theological science which has for its aim the direction of souls in the struggle against sin and in the progress towards virtue. blessed have of God. These principles are given to human theology by revelation. This is why human theology in relation to the theology in heaven is said to be a subalternate science. No one better than S. Thomas has shown the organic unity of theological science. Cf. P. Péques, La Somme en Forme de Catéchisme pour tous les Fidéles, p. xix sqq.

2P. Garrigou-Lagrange, Perfection Chrétienne et Contemplation, Yol. I, p. 3, Ist edition.

PRELIMINARY

Mystical theology, as its name indicates, treats of more hidden and mysterious subjects; of the intimate union of the soul with God; of the transitory phenomena which accompany certain degrees of this union, such as ecstasy, and lastly of those graces which are extraordinary, such as visions and private revelations.

By the aid of these definitions it is easy to determine exactly the object of ascetical and mystical theology: it is Christian perfection, union with God, the contemplation which this supposes, the ordinary means which lead to it and the extraordinary helps which accompany it. It is, in fact, the science which has for its aim the leading of the soul in the way of perfection unto the union with God enjoyed by the perfect.®

But when we speak of perfection and the perfect, we must first suppose something which is capable of being perfected; and in the present matter it is that state of soul which serves, in a certain way, as a point of departure for that perfecting progress which is the ascetical and mystical life, or in one word the spiritual life.

This point of departure, this primitive state of the soul is the Christian life of which the spiritual life is only a more perfect form. But the Christian life is essentially based on sacrifice: ‘‘ Whoso doth not carry his cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.’’ It would be useless to dream of a Christian life which was only vaguely inspired by the thought of Christ, without imitating His example.

The perfection of the Christian life, that is, the

3 Cf. P. Garrigou-Lagrange, op. cit., pp. 1-6. 5

THE CHRISTIANS AND SPIRITUAL LIBRE spiritual life, consists in the closeness of this imitation.

Is this impossible? No. Is it difficult? No, although it may appear so at first sight. For it is what God wills for our souls, and God does not command the impossible, or what comes to much the same thing, the very difficult. ‘‘ You have received of us,’’ writes S. Paul to the Thessalonians, ‘‘ how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk that you may abound the more. For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.’? (1 Thess. iv. 1-3.)

Our sanctification then is the will of our Lord, and the apostle bids all to progress more and more in this way of sanctity. Therefore it is clear that this is not a height only to be attained by a few privileged souls. The Lord stands on this height and to all the world He calls: ‘‘ Come ye all unto Me.”’ And we can apply to this call what S. Teresa says of contemplation: ‘‘ Behold the Lord invites everyone. That is the very truth, therefore the matter is beyond doubt. If the feast were not for all, He would not call all. Yet He says without restriction: ‘Come all ye.’’? (Chem. de la Perfect, Ch. XX, trad. Bouix.)

‘“ The spiritual life is perfectly homogeneous. It begins, it increases and develops, and in its various stages it manifests doubtless distinctive characters, but nevertheless within them all is to be found the same seed of divine grace. At the beginning, the supernatural seed fecundates the soul, introducing therein the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit; thence the soul is more ready to receive and to profit by the divine illuminations and inspirations,

PRELIMINARY for she begins to bring forth fruit spiritual and savoury such as is most acceptable to God; thus is the soul lead on to the enjoyment of divine delights in mystical contemplation.’’4

* Meynard-Gerest, Traité de la Vie Intérieure, preface, VII.

CHAPTERs!

I. Nature of the Christian life: communication of the divine life: eternal life already begun. II. Plan of the Christian life: (a) its principle, grace; (b) its faculties, the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.

I. Nature of the Christian Life

Tue Christian life may be defined as the life of God within us. This definition is exact, provided all trace of Pantheism is excluded.

The Christian life, says P. Gardeil,1 is the divine life; that is to say, the life which God Himself lives, communicated to man, adapted to his powers, and as such, namely as divine, lived by man. But what is this intimate life of God which is communicated to us? Although all is one in God, except the distinction which arises from the relations of the Persons, we who are incapable of grasping and of expressing the perfect unity of God, can nevertheless consider His life under various aspects. Thus there is the life of God as Creator, the life of God as Preserver and Legislator. Clearly it is none of these lives which are communicated to us, but

1 Vie Spirituelle, November, 1919, for all this chapter. 9 one still more intimate and profound, the life of God as He is in Himself, the life which is His beatitude, His life of perfect being. In Him perfection attains its perfect end. He possesses in Himself as in its source the Supreme Good. In order to be happy He has but to contemplate Himself with a perfect vision, and to love Himself with an infinite love. This life of God consists in the beatitude of contemplation and love of Himself.

But this is not His whole life; because, in God, knowledge and love are fruitful, and the term of this fruitfulness is the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, or the mystery of the intimate life of God as revealed to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. God contemplates from all eternity His own sovereign perfection, and in contemplating Himself He begets His Son; from all eternity the Son contemplates the perfection of the Father. The Father and Son love one another infinitely and eternally; and in this mutual act of love, according to the law of fecundity, which is the law of perfect life, springs forth, as its fruit, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also contemplates the Father and the Son; and in this union of knowledge and of love of the infinitely Perfect, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are infinitely happy.

Such is the profound and intimate life of God.

Communication of the Divine Life.—This life God deigns to communicate to the creature ready to receive it; that is, the creature endowed with knowledge and love capable of knowing the Infinitely

2S. Thomas defines beatitude or happiness: ‘“‘ the perfect good of an intellectual nature.’’ (Summ. Theol., I, q. 26, art. I.)

10,

Perfect and of loving the Sovereign Good; therefore to angels and to men.

But He makes this communication in some sort gradually, for it is accomplished in two stages. In the superior degree, it is the life of beatitude, or eternal life in its full development; in the inferior degree, it is the Christian life.

The Christian life is, in short, nothing but the apprenticeship for the life of the blessed, eternal life already commenced, though in an imperfect way. “ He that believeth in the Son hath life everlasting ”’ (John xxxvi; v. 24; vi. 40-47; vi. 55): not merely will have it later on if he perseveres, but he has it already in a certain sense, because the life of grace here below is the beginning of eternal life, inchoatio vite @eterne. This is the teaching of S. Thomas in his commentary on S. John vi. 47:% “‘ Christ is in us in a twofold way: in our intelligence by faith, and in our heart by charity which informs faith. He, then, who believes in Christ in such wise that he draws near to Him, possesses Him already in his heart and his intelligence. If we add that Christ ts eternal life (1 John v. 20; i. 4) we may conclude that whosoever believes in Christ has eternal life; he possesses it already in its principle, and in hope.”’

Again S. Thomas, speaking of grace, says: ““ Grace is nothing else but a certain beginning of glory in us.”’* And as the seed can only be known by the plant which springs from it, or the dawn by the day which succeeds it, so we can only fully know

3 Comm. S. John vi. 47: ‘‘ Amen, amen, I say unto you: he that believeth in Me hath everlasting life.’ 4Summ. Theol., Ila, Ilae, q. 24, a. 3, ad. 2m; Ia, Lae, q. 69a, 2ae. Veritate, q. 14, a. 2. a

THE GHRISTIAN: AND’ SPIRITUAL LIFE the life of grace by considering first the glory of which it is the germ: gratia est semen glorie.®

For this reason, before speaking of the Christian life, we must consider in what consists that eternal beatitude of which it is the prelude.

A. Beatitude, i.e., eternal life in its fullness.

S. John describes it thus: ‘‘ Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is ”’ (1 John iii. 2). S. Paul adds: ‘‘ We see (God) now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known ”’ (1 Cor xiii. 12). Which means that we shall see God immediately, as He is in Himself, without veil or intermediary, ‘‘ Who inhabiteth light inaccessible ’’ (1 Tim. vi. 16).

In view of these very clear texts from the Holy Scripture, Pope Benedict XII has laid down that ““in heaven the souls of the blessed enjoy an intuitive and face-to-face vision of the Divine Essence, without the intermediary of any creature heretofore known: the Divine Essence reveals itself unveiled, in perfect light, and these blessed souls enjoy it always and for all eternity.”’® This shows that the object of the intimate life of God becomes the object also of the life of the blessed; they know and love God even as He knows and loves Himself just as He is. They see Him, and by this vision are assimilated to His essence and therefore to His

5 Garrigou-Lagrange, op. cit., I, 132. ® Constit., Benedictus Deus, January 29th, 1336, Denz. LXVII. No. 530.

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THEOGHRISTIAN: LIFE essence in its perfection; and also to the intimate life of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Of course these souls do not fully comprehend God, because the Infinite alone can comprehend the Infinite; moreover their intelligence, though beatified, always remains finite; but they see Him as the Church has defined it, without any intermediary, even more clearly than, here on earth, we see with our bodily eyes the person to whom we are speaking. So clearly that the horizon of this intellectual life is exactly the same as that of God in His beatitude.

This power of penetration and extent of view on the part of the blessed is explained by the light of glory, which is nothing else than the participation, or the communication made by God to His elect of His own intellectual light: ‘‘In Thy light we shall see light.”"7 So much for the vision.

Love demands union, and given love, joy follows. Already we are ravished with the divine perfections which we see in creatures; what will it be like when we shall see God Himself, the perfect exemplar of all perfection? How can we express the love and joy which will thrill the beatified soul at such a vision? TJ shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear (Ps. xvi. 15). It will be a love composed of admiration, reverence, gratitude, and above all of friendship, with a simplicity and a depth of intimacy such as no human love can ever attain.

But whilst for this vision God must intervene to enlighten the sight of the blessed by His own light, on earth this intervention is not necessary for love of Him. Already here on earth the just man possesses divine love, and this love will accompany

7C£. On the Perfection and Privileges of the Beatific Vision of Garrigou-Lagrange, op. cit., pp. 134-135.

THE CHRISTIAN (AND SPIRTDUAL LIFE:

him even to heaven, a love identically the same, because charity never dies. But there it becomes more intense, more beautiful, it is true, but that is the only difference.

Nor is this all. Likened unto God, the beatified soul sees Him and loves Him, and enters into His intimacy; but it penetrates even farther still: it participates in the very life of the Blessed Trinity Itself, and becomes in some sort actively associated with this mystery. By its vision of the Divine Essence, it is vitally associated to the generation of the Word, because the object of its act of knowledge is God Himself. By its love it associates itself closely to the procession of the Holy Spirit, because the reality which its act of love enfolds is the Sovereign Good, that is to say, God Himself, but God as the end of love. This means that in the blessed the Father begets His Word, the Father and the Son together breathe forth Love. Charity unites them to the Holy Ghost, the Beatific Vision renders them like to the Word, and unites them to the Father Whose Image He is. In each one of them the whole Trinity dwells, known and loved as in a living tabernacle: so that the elect belong truly to the family of God, and, absorbed in Him, they live, in very truth, though in the plane of creatures, the Divine life.

It is evident that this life is only possible if God, in some way, deifies the beatified soul. In the natural order, man is only capable of intellectual knowledge and of an enlightened love, superior to sensible love, because he has received a spiritual soul; in the same way we shall be capable of a Divine knowledge and a supernatural love only if we have received some participation of the very nature of

God; if our soul has been in a sense deified, or transformed in God;-even as iron plunged into the fire becomes, so to speak, fire, without ceasing to be iron.

What has happened in fact is this. Out of pure goodness God has made us His adopted children by a very real filiation, which makes us truly participate in His Divine nature, and in His inmost life. ‘‘ This filiation,’? as S. Thomas teaches, “‘ is thus really a likeness, a shared resemblance to the eternal filiation of the Word.’’® ‘‘ Behold,’’ says S. John, ‘‘ what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God” (1 John iii. 1). We are ‘“‘ born of God ’’ (John i. 28), ‘‘ partakers of the divine nature ”’ (2 Peter i. 4), ‘“‘ for whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son; that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren ”’ (Rom. viii. 29).

Such is the essence of that glory which God reserves for His children: ‘‘ Eye hath not seen nor ear heard: neither hath it entered into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him ”’ (1 Cor. ii. 9).

B. The Christian life, or the beginning of life eternal.

‘In order to comprehend this it is sufficient to consider the opposite of what we have just said. To see face to face—facie ad faciem—there is the beatific life; to see from afar—aspicientes a longe ;— and in an indistinct vision—in speculo, in enigmate, —there is the Christian life. But fundamentally the

8 Summ. Theol., III, q. 3, art. 1; Epist. to Rom. viii. 29. Cf. Garrigou-Lagrange, op. cit., p. 137; Vie Spirituelle, April, LQ20,0p. 21 life is the same: the Christian life is truly eternal life begun; even here below it is a divine life. Hence the counsel of S. Paul to his disciple Timothy: “Lay hold on eternal life’’ (apprehende vitam @ternam) (1 Tim. vi. 12).

It is, in fact, death alone which separates these two forms of life, and we must not think of death as a great gulf fixed between earth and eternity, between life here and life hereafter. For the Christian, death is but a passage, the passing from an imperfect supernatural life to its full perfection. In this sense we must interpret those words of our Lord: ‘‘ Amen, amen, I say unto you, whosoever shall keep my word shall never see death’’ (John vili. 51). ‘‘ I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live: And everyone that liveth and believeth in me shall not die for ever’”’ (John xi. 25-26). And those other words to the Jews: ‘‘ Your fathers did eat manna in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven: that if any man eat of it he may not die’’ (John vi. 49-50).

Death is not then a break, a rough and complete rupture, separating two forms of existence which no ties can ever bind together again; it is an open door, opening on to a wider, fuller and more perfect life. Itis a change, as the Catholic Liturgy teaches : ‘For Thy faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away” (tuis enim fidelibus, Domine, vita mutatur non tollitur) (Preface of the Mass for the dead).

II. Structure of the Christian Life

If the Christian life is a divine life, it is certainly not that divine life which the blessed enjoy in heaven. In us it is necessarily limited and adapts itself to the exigences of our condition of wayfarers (viatores), or pilgrims on our way to the state of perfection.

It is indeed true that ‘‘ we are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be ”’ (1 John iii. 2). We have not, yet arrived at the goal where the veil is torn aside and lifted; we are on the steep road which leads to it. We are awaiting our new birth (Rom. viii. 22-23) ‘‘ for we are saved by hope ’”’ (Rom. viii. 24) and God ‘‘ hath begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of His creature’’ (definitely) (James i. 18).

In all these texts our progress towards eternal life is represented not as a journey towards some new end, but as a growth. The life we shall find at the end is the same now in course of development; planned out at first, then realized; adapted at first to our imperfect condition, later on released from its bonds, and expanding in heaven in the plenitude of divine sonship (Rom. viii. 28-29). Everything harmonizes, everything holds together, without let or hindrance, in the life of the just, in unison with the infallible prevision of God. In heaven fullness and complete development; here below, the beginning; the seed germinated and for ever increasing in growth and perfection.