THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CHAPTER.

A prayer for enlightenment.

O Jesus, Mirror of eternal truth! Light that enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world; Light that shinest in the darkness; Light in which there is no darkness at all; Light to which no other light can add; Light before which every other light is as it were not; Light that givest increase to all light; Light from which all things receive light; Light that createst all light, preservest all light, rulest all light! O Light, which Tobias saw, when, with closed eyes, he taught his son the way of life! Light, which Isaac inwardly saw, when, with misty eyes, he told his son the things which were to be! Light, by which all the prophets were enlightened, that they might know the secret things which were to come to pass long afterwards, and prophecy of hidden sacraments and mysteries! Light, that saidst: “Let there be light, and there was light.” Behold! darkness covereth the face of my heart, so that I cannot see the light of heaven. Say, therefore, to my soul: “Let there be light, and there shall be light.” For straightway in glittering splendour 214there shall beam forth shining rays from Thee, the true and fontal light, into the abyss of my heart, into the depths of my soul, and my night shall be turned into clear day.

O Light above all understanding! So light me up with Thy brightness, that I may contemplate Thee, my God, in Thyself, and myself in Thee, and all things beneath Thyself. O Light that canst not deceive, and canst not be deceived, to Whom nothing is hid, to Whom alone the hearts of all the sons of men lie open and clear; enlighten, I beseech Thee, the secret recesses of my heart, that I may find out my secret sins, which lie hidden within them; and not those sins alone, which have been conceived of the enemy’s vicious seed, but also those propensities and hidden roots of the soul, which have generated within me, and caused to spring up anew the enemy’s hurtful seed, whereby Thy work in me is hindered and delayed, virtues are kept under, and the little garden of my heart, which is tilled for Thy consolation, is given up to shameful weeds, and becometh untilled and rough.

O most luminous Truth! who can rightly understand his own sins? Who can clearly discern what is pleasing or unpleasing to Thee, what is suggested by Thy Spirit, or advised by our own spirit of sensuality? Of a truth without Thee 215all things are vicious, frail, and unclean; without Thee, all is darkness to me; without Thee, there is for me no truth, no judgment, no knowledge, no discernment. As long as Thy light is absent, vanity seemeth to be truth, and wickedness justice, and vice virtue. For with my growth, ignorance hath grown; my iniquities are multiplied more than the hairs of my head; 1 have tried to see, and could not. The mist of impure thoughts hath so darkened my heart, that I cannot gaze at the light of Thy grace. Blind, I am led down to hell. All! my God! grant that I may see; enlighten my inward eyes, lest ever I should sleep in death, and the enemy should say: “I have prevailed against him?” Tear asunder the great veil, which hath obtruded itself between Thee, my God, and me, Thy servant. Open my blindfolded eyes, that I may know the way of truth, and keep to Thy sacred foot-prints. O Jesus, bright Sun of Justice, exceeding bright, enlighten me who sit in darkness, and who dwell in the shadow of death; direct my feet into the way of peace, by which I may come to the place of Thy wonderful tabernacle, to Thy great dwelling-place, with the prayer of compassion, and the song of rejoicing. O well-spring of exhaustless loving-kindness, from which flow all grace and goodness; let there flow forth, I beseech Thee, the 216rich dew of Thy bounty on my parched and withered soul, before it die; for my virtue is dried up like a potsherd. Help Thy wretched creature, that Thine Almighty Goodness hath made. O source of my being! Thou hast made me out of nothing, and behold I return into nothing, unless Thou govern and preserve me. When I had perished, Thou didst redeem me; but again I perish, unless Thou succour me. For Thou art the Word of God, by Whom all things are made, and without Whom nothing is made, and behold! without Thee, I am nothing. O tender Jesus, Who shrinkest not from coming down from heaven, to build up again what had become ruined, come down even to my wretched soul, corrupted though it he, and dead in sins, that by Thee I may be born again. Without Thee we have no life in us. Let me hear Thy sweet voice, at which the dead come to life, and the wicked spirits are put to flight, and all sicknesses are healed, that my spirit also may be healed by Thee, and stirred up, and that it may rejoice with joy beyond all measure, in worthy praise and thanksgiving.

O, mirror of divine brightness, purify my inward eyes, that they may be male fit to contemplate Thee. For it was for this that Thy loving face was made foul with spittle and blood, and was buffeted 217 and smitten. It was for this that Thou Thyself wert left without any beauty; because Thou wouldst cleanse the face of my heart, and make it pure from every stain in Thy precious Blood. It was for this, too, that T1iiae outward eyes were veiled and covered during Thy Passion, because Thou wouldst uncover the inward gaze of my understanding, and strip it naked of all distractions, and images, and multiplicity of objects, and of all that can come between Thee and it; so that with a naked understanding and a clear gaze, I might look on Thy eternal Godhead, and on Thee, the source of my being, and that I might ever have my spirit naked and uncovered, a living and brilliant mirror, as it were, wherein I might catch the outward likeness of Thy divine image; and that I might set no other object before the eye of my heart, than that bleeding Body of Thine, and Thy disfigured Face, and Thy thorn-crowned Head; and that at the same time, by means of this Thy pitiable and painful image, I might vigorously despise all pride and vanity of this world, and the applause and favour of men.

O most merciful God, grant me so much knowledge of Thyself as is necessary for me, in order to obtain a true love for Thee; for, indeed, I love Thee, and long more and more to love Thee. Wound 218my heart with the dart of Thy love, and grant that I may love Thee with such ardour as that with which Thou wishest to be loved by me. For nothing is sweeter to me than to love Thee, my God; and nothing more bitter, than to be held back from and kept a stranger to Thy love by anything whatsoever. For all that is beneath Thee is to me a cause of great want, and an affliction; nay more, it is a deadly enemy that desireth to tear me from Thy sweet and beloved Heart. Moreover; without Thee, I am a heavy cross to myself, and an intolerable hell.

O unquenchable fire of love, Thou love that ever burnest, and never canst be put out, set me also on fire, burn into my whole being, that in myself I may wholly fall away, and be wholly transformed by Thy love; melt my whole being, that I may wholly lose myself in Thee. Consume me wholly, O my God, in the fire of Thy burning love, that utterly forgetful of my own self and of all that is in the world, I may, with the arms of love, embrace Thee, the highest and most excellent Good. I pray Thee, Lord, by Thy loving-kindness, to graft me into Thyself, and unite me to Thee, that I may become one with Thee, and rest for ever in Thee, the one Eternal. Amen.