It is action then, but an action so noble, so peaceful, [p53] so tranquil, that it seems to the soul as though it were not acting at all; because it rests, as it were, naturally. When a wheel is only turning with a moderate speed, it can easily be distinguished; but when it goes quickly, no part of it can be distinctly seen. So the soul which remains at rest in God has an action infinitely noble and exalted, yet very peaceful. The greater its peace, the greater is its velocity, because it is abandoned to the Spirit, who moves it and makes it act. This Spirit is God Himself, who draws us, and in drawing makes us run to Him, as the Bride well knew when she said, “Draw me, we will run” (Cant. i. 4). Draw me, O my Divine Centre, by my inmost heart: my powers and my sensibilities will run at Thy attraction! This attraction alone is a balm which heals me, and a perfume which draws. “We will run,” she says, “because of the savour of Thy good ointments.” This attracting virtue is very strong but the soul follows it very gladly; and as it is equally strong and sweet, it attracts by its strength and delights by its sweetness.
The Bride says, “Draw me, we will run.” She speaks of herself, and to herself: “Draw me;” there [p54] is the unity of the object which is attracted: “We will run;” there is the correspondence of all the powers and sensibilities which follow in the train of the centre of the heart.
It is not then a question of remaining in idleness, but of acting in dependence upon the Spirit of God, who animates us, since it is in Him that “we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts xvii. 23). This calm dependence upon the Spirit of God is absolutely necessary, and causes the soul in a short time to attain the simplicity and unity in which it was created. It was created one and simple, like God. In order, then, to answer the end of our creation, we must quit the multiplicity of our own actions, to enter into the simplicity and unity of God, in whose image we were created (Gen. i. 27). The Spirit of God is “one only,” “yet manifold” (Wisdom of Solomon vii. 22), and its unity does not prevent its multiplicity. We enter into God’s unity when we are united to His Spirit, because then we have the same Spirit that He has; and we are multiplied outwardly, as regards His dispositions, without leaving the unity.
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So that, as God acts infinitely, and we are of one spirit with Him, we act much more than we could do by our own action. We must suffer ourselves to be guided by Wisdom. This “Wisdom” is more moving than any motion (Wisdom of Solomon vii. 24). Let us, then, remain in dependence upon His action, and our action will be vigorous indeed.
“All things were made by (the Word); and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John i. 3). God, in creating us, created us in His image, after His likeness (Gen. i. 26). He gave to us the Spirit of the Word by the breath of life (Gen. ii. 7), which He breathed into us when we were created in the image of God, by the participation of the life of the Word, who is the image of His Father. Now this life is one, simple, pure, intimate, and fruitful.
The devil having disfigured this beautiful image, it became necessary that this same Word, whose breath had been breathed into us at our creation, should come to restore it. It was necessary that it should be He, because He is the image of the Father; and a defaced image cannot be repaired by [p56] its own action, but by the action of him who seeks to restore it. Our action then should be, to put ourselves into a position to suffer the action of God, and to allow the Word to retrace His image in us. An image, if it could move, would by its movement prevent the sculptor’s perfecting it. Every movement of our own hinders the work of the Heavenly Sculptor, and produces false features.
We must then remain silent, and only move as He moves us. Jesus Christ has life in Himself (John v. 26), and He must communicate life to all who live.
That this action is the most noble cannot be denied. Things are only of value as the principle in which they originate is noble, grand, and elevated. Actions committed by a divine principle are divine actions; whereas the actions of the creature, however good they may appear, are human actions or at best they are virtuous actions, if they are done with the help of grace.
Jesus says that He has life in Himself; all other beings have but a borrowed life, but the Word has life in Himself; and as He is communicative, He [p57] desires to communicate this life to men. We must then give place to this life, that it may flow in us, which can only be done by evacuation, and the loss of the life of Adam and of our own action, as St Paul assures us: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (2 Cor. v. 17). This can only be brought about by the death of ourselves and of our own action, that the action of God may be substituted for it. We do not profess, then, to be without action, but only to act in dependence upon the Spirit of God, suffering His action to take the place of our own. Jesus shows us this in the gospel. Martha did good things, but because she did them of her own spirit, Christ reproved her for them. The spirit of man is turbulent and boisterous; therefore it does little, though it appears to do much. “Martha, Martha,” said Jesus, “thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke x. 41, 42).
What had she chosen, this Magdalene? Peace, [p58] tranquillity, and repose. She apparently ceased to act, that she might be moved by the Spirit of God; she ceased to live, that Christ might live in her.