The Ascent of Mount CarmelChapter XLI. Of the three kinds of devotional places. How the will is to regulate itself in the matter

There are three kinds of places by means of which God is wont to move the will to devotion. The first is a certain disposition of the ground and the situation, which because of the agreeable variety of views, the arrangement of the grounds, or of the trees, or because of its quiet loneliness, which naturally tend to quicken devotion. It is profitable to make use of this, provided the will ascends upwards to God, and the circumstances of place be at once forgotten. For in order to secure the end we must not dwell on the means, nor on the motives, longer than necessary. If we set about to refresh our senses, and seek for sensible sweetness, what we shall find will be spiritual dryness and distractions; for spiritual satisfaction and sweetness are to be found only in interior recollection. Therefore, when we are in such a place, we should forget it, and strive to converse inwardly with God, as if we were not there. If we give way to the sweetness of the spot, searching for it in every way, that will be, as I said before,¹ a seeking after sensible refreshment, and instability of purpose, rather than spiritual rest. This was the way of the hermits, and other holy solitaries, who in the widest and most pleasing deserts chose the smallest spot that would do, making cells and caves for themselves, and shutting themselves up in them. In such an one remained St. Benedict for three years, and another bound himself with a rope, that he might not step beyond its length. Many others also, too numerous to mention, have imposed similar restraints upon themselves. Those holy men well knew that if they did not mortify the desire and longing for spiritual sweetness they never would be able to attain to it, and become spiritual themselves.

2. The second kind is something special, for there are some places, no matter whether desert or not, where God is wont to bestow spiritual graces of exceeding sweetness on some persons in particular, so that in general the hearts of those who have received such graces are attracted to that place, and they feel at times a great and anxious desire to return; though when they do, they do not find what they found there before; for it is not in their power. God bestows these graces when, how, and where He wills; He is not tied to time or place, neither is He subject to any man’s will.

3. Nevertheless it is well to return to such a place, provided all attachment to it be wanting, and to pray there sometimes. There are three reasons for this. First, it appears that God, though not bound to place, wills that He should be glorified there by that soul to which He gave that grace. The second, by going there the soul is the more reminded of its duty of thanksgiving for the graces there received. The third is, that remembrance of past graces quickens devotion. It is for these reasons that men ought to revisit such places, and not because they think that God has obliged Himself to bestow His graces there in such a way as not to bestow them elsewhere; for in the eyes of God the human soul is a more becoming place than any earthly spot. built an altar in the place where God appeared to him, and there called upon His name, and that he visited the place again on his return from Egypt, and called upon God again there at ‘the altar which he had made before.’³ Jacob also consecrated the place where he saw ‘the Lord leaning upon the ladder;’ for he ‘took the stone which he had laid under his head, and set it up for a title, pouring oil upon the top of it. Agar, too, in reverence, gave a name to the place where the Angel appeared to her, saying, ‘Verily here have I seen the hinder parts of Him that seeth me.’⁴

5. The third kind are certain special places which God has chosen that men may there call upon Him and serve Him. Such a place was Mount Sinai where He gave His law unto Moses.⁵ Such also was that place which He showed unto Abraham, where the patriarch was to sacrifice his son.⁶ And such too was Mount Horeb, whither He commanded our father Elias to go, and where He was to show Himself unto him.⁷ Of this kind also is Mount Garganus which St. Michael, appearing there to the bishop of Siponto, marked out for his own service, saying: ‘I am the guardian of this place, let an oratory here be dedicated to God in honour of the angels.’⁸ The most glorious Virgin by a miraculous sign—snow in summer—chose a site in Rome for a church in her honour, which Joannes Patricius was to build. God knoweth why He chose these places for Himself. All we need know is that all is for our good, and that He will hear our prayers there, and wherever else we pray in perfect faith. Though there is far greater reason why we should be heard in these places, dedicated to His service, because the Church has consecrated them for that special end.