From the Collection, by the R.-P. Jean-Joseph Surin
Extract from the SPIRITUAL CATECHISM OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION, VOLUME II, Composed by RPJJ SURIN, of the Society of Jesus:
Saint Catherine of Siena
Of Recollection
What does recollection consist of?
In three things, which are the union of the forces of the soul, attention to God, and solid occupation of the heart.
What does it mean to unite the forces of the soul?
To understand this clearly, it is necessary to know that man has a dominant inclination to spread himself outward over the objects which surround him, to stop there and to occupy himself with them. This effusion of the soul divides its faculties, and consequently weakens the interior forces. Hence comes this disastrous ease of allowing ourselves to be charmed by the false attractions of creatures, of obeying our passions, and of succumbing to the temptations and attacks delivered to us by the enemies of our salvation. What does grace do to combat this inclination of nature? It first inspires a man to withdraw from outside his powers which are going astray; so that united together, they can consider eternal objects, and fully penetrate them; which requires all the inner strength. The ease that one acquires in recalling the powers of the soul within is called recollection.
What is the practice of this meditation?
I suppose a worldly woman, who finds neither rest nor contentment except in brilliant companies, in pleasant conversations, in the magnificence of furniture and finery. If God comes to touch her with the desire to give herself to him, she will begin by renouncing all these frivolous occupations; she will do violence to no longer go to the comedy, to no longer appear in play gatherings, and in social visits: she will not even allow her mind to think of these vain entertainments. In this way she will release the powers of her soul, slaves to the outside, and unite them within, to apply them to the objects of salvation.
What does attention consist of, which is like the second part of meditation?
It must have two objects. The first is God: we must make a study of thinking about him ordinarily, and of representing to ourselves the things which maintain the memory of him, until the habit is formed, and the thought of God is become familiar. The second object of attention is ourselves. We must continually watch over our interior, to ensure that it does not disturb itself; that no external object causes dissipation; that no passion slips in; that no attachment is formed there; that no disorderly feeling, no lightness, no haste escapes; nothing that can defile the purity of the heart, or disturb the peace that the soul enjoys in the sweet thought of God. Anyone who has this attention to God and to themselves is truly collected.
What is the third thing that meditation requires?
It is to give the heart a solid occupation, capable of fixing it, and capable of serving it as nourishment. As the different objects which present themselves to the mind give occasion for its thoughts; it is the thoughts of the mind which furnish the heart with the subject of its affections. Vain objects can only produce vanity: objects that concern God and his service are solid food, which fills the soul with holy affections. To acquire the habit of meditation, it is therefore necessary to ensure that the heart is never preoccupied with the objects of the world, but always with those which look to the glory of God. There is an important reflection to make here. Everything that is in the heart does not do its job, because there are many things that are there only in passing, or occasionally, or in spite of itself. What occupies him is what he usually ruminates on, so to speak, when he is to himself, and when nothing worries him. For then the objects which satisfy it and which please it do not fail to present themselves, and it is properly only these objects which occupy the heart. Let's put it in an example. We can have, and we usually have when we are quiet, two occupations at the same time, which are very different from each other. A woman who applies herself to some work outside is not therefore idle inside; while his hands are engaged in work, his mind and heart are occupied with some object which is not the work which his hands are working on. To fully understand the character of this woman, we should see what her interior occupation is like. If she is a worldly woman, her mind will be devoted to trifles, vanities and finery. If she practices devotion, she will recall in her mind and in her heart what she has read in a good Book, what she has heard in a Sermon, or some other object of piety which is to her liking. Since interior occupation can be different from exterior occupation, the great secret to soon acquiring the habit of contemplation is to ensure, as soon as one is at one's own, that the mind and heart are always occupied with some object of piety. The sources from which we must draw the subject of this interior occupation are particularly these three. First, the life of JC, his Mysteries, his actions and his words. Secondly, everything that we have learned from the Sermon, from the conversations of piety, from the reading of good Books, and especially from the Book of Psalms. Thirdly, we can discuss with ourselves the matters that we are currently dealing with, and which concern the glory of God. For as it is impossible not to give some attention to sensitive objects, and as everyone willingly thinks about what touches him, those who work for the glory of God cannot do better, to keep their hearts collected, than to occupy myself with such holy work. Another very useful exercise, which would be enough to lead to the perfection of meditation, is to keep guard at the door of one's heart, to constantly close it to all the objects of the world. From what we have just said, it is easy to conclude that there is more than one kind of meditation. There is one where our industry and our care have a great part, when with the ordinary help of grace, we study to unite our forces, and to holy occupy our powers within. There is another which is a particular effect of the grace and the operation of the Holy Spirit, which prevents a soul, or which rewards the efforts it has made for a long time to collect itself, attracts within, unites his strengths and applies them to God; so that she only has to follow the attraction to find herself in the interior cabinet that Saint Catherine of Siena had built, she said, within herself, and from where exterior occupations, which it was loaded into the servant, were not able to pull it out. This Saint strongly advised her Confessor to create a similar retreat in her interior, using the means we have spoken of in this chapter. There are people who make their home in the sacred heart of Jesus Christ; and this is a way of practicing meditation, as holy as it is solid and full of gentleness. Moreover, when one has once become accustomed to this holy exercise, if it subsequently happens that attention relaxes through weakness, and the faculties of the soul go astray, one immediately hears the voice within of the Shepherd, which is like the signal he gives to his sheep to gather together and defend themselves from the wolf. This is the comparison that Saint Teresa uses to express the care that Our Lord takes to prevent the diversion of our powers, and to unite our forces within, so that we may occupy ourselves with his divine presence. As long as we respond to this care of Our Lord, we soon arrive at perfect contemplation which we can call the great spring of spiritual life,without which we progress very little, and we are hardly able to contribute to the advancement of others.
