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1. To begin with, the first principle from Whom all illumination
descends as from the Father of Light, by Whom are given all the
best and perfect gifts [James, 1, 17], the eternal Father do I
call upon through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that by the
intercession of the most holy Virgin Mary, mother of God Himself
and of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and of the blessed Francis, our
father and leader, He may enlighten the eyes of our mind to guide
our feet into the way of that peace "which surpasses all
understanding" [Eph., 1, 17; Luke, 1, 79; Phil., 4, 7], which
peace our Lord Jesus Christ has announced and given to us; which
lesson our father Francis always taught, in all of whose preaching
was the annunciation of peace both in the beginning and in the
end, wishing for peace in every greeting, yearning for ecstatic
peace in every moment of contemplation, as a citizen of that
Jerusalem of which that man of peace said, with those that hated
peace he was peaceable [Ps., 119, 7], "Pray ye for the things that
are for the peace of Jerusalem" [Ps., 121, 6]. For he knew that
the throne of Solomon was nowise save in peace, since it is
written, "His place is in peace and His abode in Sion" [Ps., 75,
3].
2. Since, then, following the example of the most blessed father
Francis, I breathlessly sought this peace, I, a sinner, who have
succeeded to the place of that most blessed father after his
death, the seventh Minister General of the brothers, though in all
ways unworthy--it happened that by the divine will in the
thirty-third year after the death of that blessed man I ascended
to Mount Alverna as to a quiet place, with the desire of seeking
spiritual peace; and staying there, while I meditated on the
ascent of the mind to God, amongst other things there occurred
that miracle which happened in the same place to the blessed
Francis himself, the vision namely of the winged Seraph in the
likeness of the Crucified. While looking upon this vision, I
immediately saw that it signified the suspension of our father
himself in contemplation and the way by which he came to it.
3. For by those six wings are rightly to be understood the six
stages of illumination by which the soul, as if by steps or progressive
movements, was disposed to pass into peace by ecstatic elevations
of Christian wisdom. The way, however, is only through the most
burning love of the Crucified, Who so transformed Paul, "caught up
into the third heaven" [II Cor., 12, 2], into Christ, that he
said, "With Christ I am nailed to the cross, yet I live, now not
I, but Christ liveth in me" [Gal., 2, 19]; who therefore so
absorbed the mind of Francis that his soul was manifest in his
flesh and he bore the most holy stigmata of the Passion in his
body for two years before his death.
Therefore the symbol of the
six-winged Seraph signifies the six stages of illumination, which
begin with God's creatures and lead up to God, to Whom no one can
enter properly save through the Crucified. For he who does not
enter by the door but otherwise, he is a thief and a robber [John,
10, 1]. But if anyone does enter by this door, he shall go in and
go out and shall find pastures [John, 9]. Because of this John
says in his Apocalypse [22, 14], "Blessed are they that wash their
robes in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have a right to the
Tree of Life and may enter in by the gates into the City"; as if
he were to say that one cannot enter into the heavenly Jerusalem
through contemplation unless one enter through the blood of the
Lamb as through a gate.
For one is not disposed to contemplation
which leads to mental elevation unless one be with Daniel a man of
desires [Dan., 9, 23]. But desires are kindled in us in two ways:
by the cry of prayer, which makes one groan with the murmuring of
one's heart, and by a flash of apprehension by which the mind
turns most directly and intensely to the rays of light [Ps., 37,
9].
4. Therefore to the cry of prayer through Christ crucified, by
Whose blood we are purged of the filth of vice, do I first invite
the reader, lest perchance he should believe that it suffices to
read without unction, speculate without devotion, investigate
without wonder, examine without exultation, work without piety,
know without love, understand without humility, be zealous without
divine grace, see without wisdom divinely inspired.
Therefore to
those predisposed by divine grace, to the humble and the pious, to
those filled with compunction and devotion, anointed with the oil
of gladness [Ps., 44, 8], to the lovers of divine wisdom, inflamed
with desire for it, to those wishing to give themselves over to
praising God, to wondering over Him and to delighting in Him, do I
propose the following reflections, hinting that little or nothing
is the outer mirror unless the mirror of the mind be clear and
polished.
Bestir yourself then, O man of God, you who previously resisted
the pricks of conscience, before you raise your eyes to the rays
of wisdom shining in that mirror, lest by chance you fall into the
lower pit of shadows from the contemplation of those rays.
5. I have decided to divide my treatise into seven chapters,
heading them with titles so that their contents may be the more
easily understood. I ask therefore that one think rather of the
intention of the writer than of his work, of the sense of the
words rather than the rude speech, of truth rather than beauty, of
the exercise of the affections rather than the erudition of the
intellect. That such may come about, the progress of these
thoughts must not be perused lightly, but should be meditated upon
in greatest deliberation.
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