The Ascent of Mount CarmelChapter XXX. The evils resulting from the will’s rejoicing in this kind of goods

He who rejoices in supernatural goods falls, in my opinion, into three principal evils. Deceit and self-deceit, loss of faith, vain glory, and other vanities.

2. As to the first, it is very easy to deceive oneself and others by rejoicing in these supernatural operations. The reason of that is this: in order to ascertain whether they are true or false, how and when they are to be exerted, great deliberation and great light from God are necessary. Now our rejoicing in, and esteeming, these operations, are a great hindrance to this, partly because the joy in question dulls and obscures the judgment, and partly also because it makes us not only covet these operations extremely, but also inclines us to an unseasonable manifestation of them. Admitting even that these operations and powers be real, yet these two defects are enough to delude us: either we do not comprehend them as they ought to be comprehended, or we do not profit by them and employ them at the right time and in the right way. For though it be true that God, when He distributes these gifts and graces, gives also the light to see them, and the inward movement to manifest them at the right time and in the right way; still those who receive them, because of their self-seeking or some imperfection or other in the matter, may fall into great errors, by not using their gifts with that perfectness which God requires with respect to time and manner. We have an example in Balaam, who, contrary to the will of God, undertook to curse the people of Israel. God was therefore angry with him, and sought to kill him.¹ Again, in St. James and St. John, who, carried away by their zeal, would have fire descend from heaven upon the Samaritans, because they refused to receive our Lord. For this He rebuked them.

3. It is clear from this that imperfect persons, of whom I am speaking, may be influenced by certain imperfect feelings involved in the joy and esteem of these gifts, to manifest them at an improper time. For when they are free from the like imperfections, they are moved to manifest them only as, and when, God wills; in no other way is the manifestation of them right. This is the meaning of that complaint which God makes by the mouth of Jeremias against certain prophets, saying: ‘I did not send prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.’ * And again: They cause my people to err by their lying, and by their wonders; when I sent them not, nor commanded them.’t It is said in the same place also that they prophesied the delusions of their own heart, which they would not have done had they not attached themselves in this abominable way to their gifts, using them as their own.

4. All this shows us that the evil of such rejoicing not only leads men to make an impious and perverse usage of the gifts of God, like Balaam and those prophets who, by the wonders which they wrought, deceived the people; but even to make use of them without having received them from God, like those who uttered their own fancies for prophecies, and published visions which themselves invented, or which the devil represented to them. For when Satan sees men with such dispositions as these, he opens for them a wide field, and supplies them with abundant materia‘s, intruding himself in diverse ways: whereupon such men spread their sails to the wind, become shamelessly presumptuous, and prodigal in the usage of their great gifts.

5. The evil does not stop here, for joy in supernatural gifts, and the desire of them, reach so far that, if men have entered into a secret compact with Satan—it is such a compact that enables many to do what they are doing—they venture still further, and enter into an open and avowed compact, making themselves his disciples and allies by an express stipulation. Hence come wizards, enchanters, magicians, soothsayers, and sorcerers. This joy leads men so far, that they seek to purchase with money, not only these gifts and graces, as did Simon Magus, that they may serve the devil, but holy things also, and—I cannot write it without trembling —things divine. May God here show His great mercy. How hurtful to themselves, and ruinous to Christendom are such men, any one may easily perceive. All those magicians and soothsayers among the people of Israel, whom Saul destroyed out of the land,⁴ had fallen into these great abominations and delusions, because they would imitate the true prophets of God.

6. He who is supernaturally endowed ought, therefore, to cleanse himself from all desire of, and from all joy in, the exercise of his supernatural gifts; and God, Who gives them supernaturally for the edification of the Church, in general, or of its members, in particular, will also supernaturally direct him in the use of them, in the right way and at the right time. As He commanded His disciples to take no thought beforehand how or what they should speak,f that being a supernatural act of faith, so also is it His will—the use of these gifts being of not less importance—that man should bide His time, because the exercise of these gifts is to depend upon His will. Thus the disciples, in whom these gifts and graces were infused, prayed God, nevertheless, to put forth His hand, that they might work miracles and heal the sick and thereby plant the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord in the hearts of men: ‘Grant unto Thy servants that with all confidence they may speak Thy Word, by stretching forth Thy hand to cures; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of Thy Holy Son Jesus.’⁶

7. The second evil, loss of faith, may come from the first, and this in two ways. The first concern others; for when a man undertakes to perform a miracle, out of season, and without necessity—over and above that this is to tempt God, which is a great sin—he may not succeed, and so the faith will lose credit and reverence among men. Though sometimes men may succeed in what they thus attempt, because God wills it for some reason or other, as in the case of the witch of Endor— if it be true that it was Samuel himself who then appeared—they shall not always succeed; and when they do succeed, they are not the less in error and blameable, because they use their gifts when they ought not.

8. The second concerns him who uses these gifts when he ought not; he injures himself because he loses the merit of faith. For when men attach so much importance to miracles, they depart from the substantial exercise of faith, which is an obscure habit; and thus where signs and miracles abound, there is the less merit in believing. ‘Faith has no merit,’ saith S. Gregory the Great, ‘where human reason supplies proof.’t God works miracles when they are necessary for the faith, or for other ends of His glory, and of His saints. For this reason did God work many signs, before He showed Himself to His disciples; that they might believe without seeing, and so not lose the merit of faith in His resurrection, which they would have done had they seen Him first. He showed to Mary Magdalene first the empty sepulchre, and then the angels, at His bidding, announced His rising again;⁸ for ‘Faith cometh by hearing, t so that having heard, she might believe before she saw. And when He showed Himself unto her, it was as the gardener,⁹ that He might thoroughly edify her in the faith, which was failing her in the warmth of His presence. He sent the women to tell His disciples that He had risen; and afterwards they came to see the sepulchre.¹⁰ He set on fire the hearts of the disciples. on the road to Emmaus before they knew Him; for He was with them in disguise. And finally, He rebuked them all because they did not believe those who told them of His resurrection ;¹¹ and in particular, St. Thomas—because he would have palpable proof of His resurrection—saying ‘Blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed.’ (od is not pleased when miracles are sought, for He rebuked the Pharisees because they would not believe without them, saying: ‘Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.’¹² Those, therefore, who will rejoice in these supernatural gifts, inflict upon themselves a grievous loss in the matter of faith.

9. The third evil is that men, because of their rejoicing in supernatural gifts, fall into vain-glory or some other vanity. The mere act of rejoicing in them, if not purely in and for God, is vanity. This is evident from the fact that our Lord rebuked His disciples, because they rejoiced in that the evil spirits were subject unto them.¹⁴ If that joy had not been vanity, our Lord would never have rebuked them for it.