human
And I should be quite content with this middle class joy. The price paid in advance for the exaltation described by Saint John disconcerts me.
gpt
But do you know that if it be so, replied Durtal,
human
It is made for lukewarm souls--that is to say, for almost all the pious souls which are about us; it lives in a moderate atmosphere, without too great suffering or too much joy; it only can be assimilated by the masses, and the priests are right to present it thus, since otherwise the faithful would cease to understand it, or would take flight in alarm.
gpt
But if God judge that a moderate religion is amply sufficient--for the masses believe that he demands the most painful efforts on the part of those whom he deigns to initiate into the supremely adorable mysteries of His Person--it is necessary and just that he should mortify them before allowing them to taste the essential intoxication of union with Him.
human
In fact, the end of Mysticism is to render visible, sensible, almost palpable, the God who remains silent and hidden from all.
gpt
And to throw us into His deep, into the silent abyss of joy! But in order to speak correctly, we must forget the ordinary use of expressions which have been degraded. In order to describe this mysterious love, we are obliged to draw our comparisons from human acts, and to inflict on the Lord the shame of our words. We have to employ such terms as 'union,' 'marriage,' 'wedding feast'; but it is impossible to speak of the inexpressible, and with the baseness of our language declare the ineffable immersion of the soul in God.
human
The fact is, murmured Durtal ...
gpt
She too, interrupted the abbé,
human
No doubt, but I prefer her to Saint John of the Cross, for she is not so discouraging as that inflexible saint. Admit that he belongs too much to the land of those large Christs who bleed in caverns.
gpt
Of what nationality then was Saint Teresa?
human
It is clear she was an admirable psychologist, but also how strange is in her the mixture of an ardent mystic and a cool woman of business. For, in fact, she has a double nature; she is a contemplative outside the world, and at the same time a statesman, a female Colbert of the cloister. In fact, never was woman so consummate a skilled artisan and so powerful an organizer. When we consider that, in spite of incredible difficulties, she founded thirty-two nunneries, that she put them all under obedience to a rule which is a model of wisdom, a rule which foresees and rectifies the most ignored mistakes of the heart, it is astonishing to hear her treated by strong-minded people as an hysterical madwoman.
gpt
One of the distinctive marks of the mystics, answered the abbé, with a smile,