p239:

I 9. The soul's salvation is the consummation of faith ( cf. I Pet.

I : 9). This consummation is the revelation of what has been believed. Revelatio
n is the inexpressible interpenetration of the believer with the object of belie
f and takes place according to each
believer's degree of faith (cf. Rom . I 2 : 6). Through that interpenetration th
e believer finally returns to his origin. This return is the fulfilment of desir
e. Fulfilment of desire is ever-active repose in the object of desire. Such repo
se is eternal uninterrupted enjoyment of this object. Enjoyment of this kind ent
ails participation in supranatural divine realities. This participation consists
in the participant becoming like that in which he participates. Such likeness i
nvolves, so far as this is possible, an identity with respect to energy between
the participant and that in which he participates by virtue of the likeness. Thi
s identity with respect to energy constitutes the deification of the saints. Dei
fication, briefly, is the encompassing and fulfilment of all times and ages, and
of all that exists in either. This
encompassing and fulfilment is the union, in the person granted
salvation, of his real authentic origin with his real authentic consummation.
This union presupposes a transcending of all that by nature is essentially limit
ed by an origin and a consummation. Such
transcendence is effected by the almighty and more than powerful
energy of God, acting in a direct and infinite manner in the person
found worthy of this transcendence. The action of this divine energy
bestows a more than ineffable pleasure and joy on him in whom the
unutterable and unfathomable union with the divine is accomplished.
This, in the nature of things, cannot be perceived, conceived
or expressed.
2o . Nature does not contain the inner principles of what is beyond
nature any more than it contains the laws of what is contrary
to nature. By what is beyond nature I mean the divine and inconceivable pleasure
which God naturally produces in those found
worthy of being united with Him through grace. By what is contrary
to nature I mean the indescribable pain brought about by the
privation of such pleasure. This pain God naturally produces in the
unworthy when He is united to them in a manner contrary to grace.
For God is united with all men according to the underlying quality
of their inner state ; and, at the creation of each person, He provides each per
son with the capacity to perceive and sense Him when He is united in one way or
another with all men at the end of the ages.
(20=this is THUNDER)
21 . The Holy Spirit leads those who seek the spiritual principles
and qualities of salvation to an understanding of them ; for He does
not allow the power with which they naturally seek divine things to
remain inactive and unproductive in them.
22 . First a man seeks to make his will dead to sin and sin dead to
his will, and to this end he investigates how and by what means he
should make these two dead to one another. when that has been
done, he seeks to make his will alive in virtue and virtue alive in his will ; a
nd to this end he investigates how and by what means he
should vivify each in the other. To seek is to have an appetite for
some object of desire ; to investigate is to employ effective means by which the
appetite can attain that object.
23 . He who is to be saved must make not only sin dead to his
will but also his will dead to sin. He must resurrect not only his
will by means of virtue but also virtue by means of his will. In this way the wi
ll, being put to death and entirely disjoined from the totality of sin, which li

kewise has been put to death, becomes impervious to sin, while as revivified it
becomes wholly conscious,
through its unbroken union with it, of the totality of virtue, which
itself has been revivified. For he who has made his will dead to sin
has been united with the likeness of the death of Christ ; and he who has given
his will new life through righteousness has also become one with His resurrectio
n (cf. Rom. 6 : s) .
24-. When sin and will become dead to each other they become
mutually impervious to each other ; and when righteousness and
will have life in each other they become mutually conscious of each
other.
25. Christ is by nature both God and man. In an ineffable and
supranatural manner we participate by grace in Him as God, while
He in His incomprehensible love for men shares as man in our lot
for our sake by making Himself one with us with a form like ours.
The saints foresaw Him mystically in the Spirit and were taught that
the glory to be revealed in Christ in the future because of His virtue must be p
receded by the sufferings which He would endure for the sake of virtue ( cf. I P
et. I : I I ).
26 . When the intellect in its longing is drawn in a manner beyond
its understanding towards the source of created beings, it simply
seeks ; when the intelligence explores in various ways the true
essences in created beings, it investigates.
27. Seeking is the intellect's first, simple, fervent movement towards its own c
ause. Investigating is the intelligence's first, simple discernment of its own c
ause with the help of some concept. Again, seeking occurs when the intellect, sp
urred on by intense longing, moves spiritually, and in cognitive awareness, towa
rds its own cause. Investigating occurs when the intelligence, through the opera
tion of the virtues, discerns its own cause with the help of some wise and profo
und concept.
28 . While the holy and divine prophets were seeking out and
investigating all that is connected with the salvation of souls, the
movement of their intellects towards God was spurred on by their
longing and kept fervent with cognitive insight and spiritual knowledge; and the
discriminative power of their intelligence, in its active discernment of divine
realities, was full of understanding and wisdom. Those who imitate them will al
so seek the salvation of souls with cognitive insight and spiritual knowledge ;
and by investigating with understanding and wisdom they will be able to discern
the works of God.
29. The intelligence recognizes two kinds of knowledge of divine
realities. The first is relative, because it is confined to the intelligence and
its intellections, and does not entail any real perception, through actual expe
rience, of what is known. In our present life we are governed by this kind of kn
owledge. The second is true and authentic knowledge. Through experience alone an
d through grace it brings about, by means of participation and without the help
of the intelligence and its intellections, a total and active perception of what
is known. It is through this second kind of knowledge that, when we come into o
ur inheritance, we receive supranatural and ever-activated deification. The rela
tive knowledge that resides in the intelligence and its intellections is said to
stimulate our longing for the real knowledge attained by participation. This re
al knowledge, which through experience and participation brings about a percepti
on of what is known, superseds the knowledge that resides in the intelligence an
dthe intellections.

30 . Knowledge, that is to say, is of two kinds. The first resides in the intell
igence and its divine intellections, and does not include, in terms of actual vi
sion, a perception of what is known. The second consists solely in the actual- e
njoyment of divine realities through direct vision, without the help of the inte
lligence and its intellections. But the intelligence is capable of giving us an
intimation of what can be known through true knowledge and so of arousing in us
a longing for such knowledge.
31. According to the wise, we cannot use our intelligence to
think about God at the same time as we experience Him, or have an
intellection of Him while we are perceiving Him directly. By 'think
about God' I mean speculate about Him on the basis of an analogy
between Him and created beings. By 'perceiving Him directly' I
mean experiencing divine or supranatural realities through participation.
By 'an intellection of Him' I mean the simple and unitary knowledge of God which
is derived from created beings. What we have said is confirmed by the fact that
, in general , our experience of a thing puts a stop to our thinking about it, a
nd our direct perception
of it supersedes our intellection of it. By 'experience' I mean
spiritual knowledge actualized on a level that transcends all thought ; and by '
direct perception' I mean a supra-intellective participation in what is known. P
erhaps this is what St Paul mystically teaches when he says, 'As for prophecies,
they will pass away ; as for speaking in tongues, this will cease ; as for know
ledge, it too will vanish' (I Cor. 1 3 : 8) ; for he is clearly referring here t
o the knowledge gained by the intelligence through thought and intellection.