Page:Thecompleteascet01grimuoft.djvu/493

 from all  things— seek  God,  and  then  you  will  find  him." God  can  neither  be  sought  nor  found  if  he  is  not  first known;  but  how  can  a  soul  attached  to  creatures  comprehend God  and  his  divine  beauty?  The  light  of  the sun  cannot  enter  a  crystal  vessel  filled  with  earth;  and in  a  heart  occupied  with  affections  to  pleasures,  to  wealth, and  to  honors,  the  divine  light  cannot  shine.  Hence the  Lord  says:  Be  still,  and  sec  that  I  am  God.  The  soul, then,  that  wishes  to  see  God  must  remove  the  world from  her  heart,  and  keep  it  shut  against  all  earthly affections.  This  is  precisely  what  Jesus  Christ  gave  us to  understand  under  the  figure  of  a  closed  chamber, when  he  said:  But  when  thou  shalt  pray,  enter  into  thy chamber,  and  having  shut  the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  in  secret. That is,  the  soul,  in  order  to  unite  itself  with  God  in prayer,  must  retire  into  its  heart  (which,  according  to St.  Augustine,  is  the  chamber  of  which  our  Lord  speaks), and shut  the  door  against  all  earthly  affections.

This is  also  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  Jeremiah: He shall  sit  solitary,  and  hold  his  peace;  because  he  hath taken  it  upon  himself.  The  solitary  soul,  that  is,  the soul that  is  free  from  all  attachments,  and  in  which earthly affections  are  silent,  will  unite  itself  with  God in mental  prayer  by  holy  desires,  by  oblations  of  itself, and  by  acts  of  love:  and  then  it  will  find  itself raised above  all  created  objects,  so  that  it  will  smile  at the  worldling  who  sets  so  high  a  value  on  the  goods  of this  earth,  and  submits  to  so  many  toils  in  order  to secure  their  enjoyment,  while  it  regards  them  as  trifles, and utterly  unworthy  of  the  love  of  a  heart  created  to