Ongoing Translation Series: The Threefold Way of St. Bonaventure, Part IV

Donald P. Goodman III

The great saint Bonaventure wrote many powerful works, but one that I have seen rarely examined, and even more rarely (if ever) translated, is The Threefold Way, subtitled incendium amoris, The Fire of Love. This short work (only twenty-five pages in the Latin, much less with footnotes removed) explores the threefold spiritual life: the purgative, the illuminative, and the contemplative ways. This series will be an ongoing translation project, in which we will English the saint's nobly simple Latin, for the benefit of all.

It is ongoing, and thus is necessarily a draft; if something sounds funny, please consult the Latin! And then let me know if I've gotten something wrong.

This installment: the conclusion of the second chapter: the six steps to the love of God.

If this is new to you, start with Part I, Part II, and Part III, then proceed to Part V.

§ 4 On the six steps of the love of God

9. And therefore, it must be known for continuing understanding in the love of God, that there are six steps, by which, little by little and in order, one proceeds, that one might come through to the perfect love.

The first is sweetness, that man learns to taste, and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. 33:9). And this indeed happens to him by emptying himself and keeping the Sabbath through holy meditations, because, according to what is said in the Psalm, the remainders of the thought shall keep holiday to thee (Ps 75:11), which happens indeed, when the meditations concerning the love of God bear sweetness in the heart.

The second step is passion, when the soul begins to be habituated concerning this sweetness; such a hunger is born in it, that nothing can refresh it except it perfectly possess Him Whom it loves; which, because it cannot touch this in the present, because it is far off, it continually withdraws and steps outside through an exalted love, crying and speaking the words of the blessed Job: my soul rather chooseth hanging, and my bones death (Job 7:15), because [a]s the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God (Ps 41:2).

10. The third step is fullness, which rises from passion itself. For because he most vehemently desires God and bears on high, already he turns in loathing to everything he has which is below. Whence, as if filled, he is not able to find refreshment in anything short of his beloved Himself; and just as the full man, if he takes food, incurs more detestation than refreshment by eating, so in this level of love the soul views all earthly things.

The fourth step is intoxication, which rises from fullness. Intoxication consists in this, that he loves God with such a love that he not only disdains comfort, but even delights in and seeks torment for comfort, and in the love which he loves delights in penalties, reproaches, and scourges, as the Apostle did. When just as the drunk strips himself without shame and sustains blows without pain, so also must be understood in this.

11. The fifth step is security, which rises from intoxication. For from this, because the soul feels that it loves only God, because it willingly sustains because of Him every loss and every reproach; already fear is sent away, and the soul conceives such a hope in the divine help that it supposes that in no way can it be separated from God. And in this level was the Apostle, when he said: Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ?, etc. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, etc., shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35–39).

The sixth step is true and full stillness, in which there is such peace and rest that the soul in a certain way is in silence and in sleep, and as if gathered in the ark of Noah, where it can be disturbed in no way. For who can disturb the mind which no spur of desire troubles, no point of fear harasses? In such a mind there is peace and a last state, and quiet, and there the true Solomon rests, for his place is in peace (Ps. 75:3). Therefore, very suitably these steps are signified by those six steps by which one ascended to the throne of Solomon (III Reg. 10:18). And therefore it is said in the Canticle: the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity (Cant. 3:10), for it is impossible to reach this stillness except through charity. But this having been acquired, to do everything which is of perfection is most easy for man, whether to do or to suffer or to live or to die. Therefore, one must be eager to progress in charity, since one's progress leads to the perfection of all goods, which He sees fit to grant to us, Who liveth and reigneth in the ages of the ages. Amen.

§ 5 Restatement

12. Therefore, that the aforesaid distinctions might be at hand, note that he who wishes to progress to this pefection, must turn himself through meditation to the spur of the conscience by roughening, sharpening, and directing; to the ray of understanding by stretching himself forth, widening, and turning back; and to the spark of wisdom, by gathering it, setting it aflame, and raising it up.

And thus: let him first, through prayer, deplore his misery with sorrow because of punishment, with shame because of reproach, and with fear because of danger. — Second, let him beg mercy with vehemence of desire through the Holy Spirit, with trust of hope through Christ crucified, and with assistence of protection, through the judgment of the saints. — Third, let him show worship, by showing God reverence, by showing good will, and by showing pleasingness; that the divine admiration might proceed from the part of God, as the major premise; the consideration follow from our part, as the minor; and so the full show of worship may occur, as the conclusion. And he who thus stirs himself up continually and attentively will progress in charity according to the aforesaid six steps, by which he comes to the perfection of stillness, where there is a multitude of peace even as, indeed, the end of the quiet which the Lord left to the Apostles. When note, that the Apostle in any greeting chose grace and peace: grace just as at the first beginning, and peace just as its completion; and to Timothy he inserted mercy, which is the principle of both.