THE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE OF THE SAVIOR
AND HIS CONTEMPLATION

Taken from Our Savior and His Love for Us
by
Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O. P.

"Never did man speak like this man."-----John 7:46

We must now consider the supernatural riches of the Savior's intelligence, will, and heart. We shall speak first of His human intelligence, for there can be no doubt that Jesus has a human intelligence, the property of His human nature, as well as a Divine intelligence, the property of His Divine nature. This point has been defined by the Church in opposition to Apollinarianism. To maintain that He has only a Divine intelligence is to claim that He has no soul and that the Word takes its place. If this were the case, Jesus would not be truly a man, since He would possess only the least important part of human nature, namely, the body.

To gain some insight into the spiritual riches of Jesus' human intelligence, let us first of all consider Him in His actual role as teacher, and then inquire into the nature of His contemplation of the truths which He taught.

What Kind of Teacher Was Jesus?

Modern rationalists are willing to see in Him a profound moralist of great delicacy and charm, who translated into figurative and highly popular language the maxims of ancient Judaic wisdom, giving them a new life by filtering them through His impressionable soul," as one of these rationalists puts it. [To a believer, this word "impressionable" seems to have been chosen in order to denature as much as possible the lofty inspiration here in question. This word robs it of all that it is, while apparently conceding to it a certain poetic grandeur of the order of the imagination and of sensibility. To think that such words have been spoken with regard to Him who is "the way, the truth, and the life"] But they are generally agreed that Jesus never had any doctrine; that He never taught a body of truths or of dogmas that no one could knowingly and willfully reject without turning away from God and losing his soul. According to them, it was only much later, by a slow process of elaboration, by the union of the Christian religion with Greek philosophy, that Catholic dogma was constituted.

To make Jesus seem more like one of us, liberal Protestants and modernists have held that He was ignorant of many matters relative to the kingdom of God and that He did not have from the beginning of His life the consciousness of His Messiahship. Both groups admit that He bore within Himself a ferment that brought forth a new religious movement, but they hold that He did not teach a doctrine and a truth which no one can refuse to believe without turning away from the way of salvation.

What on the other hand do we see in the Gospel? In St. Luke [2:46-49], we read that when Jesus was twelve years old He was found by Mary and Joseph "in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His wisdom and His answers . . . And He said to them [Mary and Joseph]: How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know, that I must be about My Father's business?"  [Luke 2:46-49.]

Thus, long before His public ministry, Jesus knew His mission. During this ministry He spoke repeatedly of His doctrine, of the truths to which He came to bear witness, of the light He was bringing into the world, of the faith to be given to His words. As St. Mark reports, He began His ministry by preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God and saying: "The time is accomplished, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the Gospel." [Mark 1:15.] St. Matthew says that "when Jesus had fully ended these words [ the Sermon on the Mount], the people were in admiration at His doctrine. For He was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes and Pharisees." [Matt. 7:28 ff.] St. Matthew also reports that Jesus said to His Apostles before leaving them: " All power is given Me in Heaven and in earth. Going therefore teach ye all nations: Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world." [Matt. 28:18-20.]  St. Mark reports these words even more fully: "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is Baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned." [John 13:12-17.]  This is indeed the doctrine necessary for salvation.

In the Gospel, Jesus continually appears as the Master and continually speaks of His doctrine. On Holy Thursday, having washed His Apostles' feet, He said to them: "Know you what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If then I, being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet . . . I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also . . . If you know these things, you shall be blessed if you do them." [lbid. 7:16 ff.]

Jesus often said: "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If any man will do the will of Him, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself." [John 3:15, 36; 5:24; 6:47; 7:38; 11:25 ff.] In the Gospel of St. John, Jesus says as many as six times: "He that believeth in Me [with a faith quickened with love] , hath everlasting life." [Ibid. 12:36.] And to the Pharisees, He said: "If I do [ the works of My Father] , though you will not believe Me, believe the works: that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father." [Mark 16:15 ff.] And: "Whilst you have the light, believe in the light." [Ibid. I0:38.]

The Apostles also preached everywhere that Jesus' word was Divine. St. Paul declared that he had received his doctrine from Jesus Himself, when he wrote to the Galatians: "I give you to understand, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For neither did I receive it of man, nor did I learn it; but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." [Gal. 1:11 ff.]  At this point St. Paul calls to mind his conversion and the fact that his doctrine conforms with that of the other Apostles, and that it was approved in a conference with them at Jerusalem. It is by this evangelical doctrine that the entire primitive Church lived, without any concern at all about reconciling it with Greek philosophy. We see, therefore, that Jesus presented a unified doctrine, whatever the rationalists may say to the contrary.

Far more than this, the sublimity of Jesus' doctrine is apparent the moment one hears it preached, especially when one compares what it tells us of God and of human life with what the philosophers or even Moses and the prophets have said. A person easily finds in Jesus' teaching the loftiest dogmas and the purest morality. And the more it is put into practice, the more does its grandeur impress itself upon us. The more anyone lives by it the more he loves it, the more he sees its eternal timeliness, whereas the works of even the greatest geniuses always grow old in some particular.

The most eminent philosophers of antiquity, Plato and Aristotle, had certainly risen above the materialism and skepticism of their predecessors. Indeed, they had affirmed the existence of God, the Supreme Intelligence and the Sovereign Good. But they had not been able to attain the explicit idea of creation ex nihilo, which presupposed no pre-existing subject to be transformed. Especially they had not been able to grasp the idea of a free creation; the idea of the creative Fiat expressed in the first lines of Genesis. They could not arrive at an understanding of the extent to which this world's beings depend upon God. In consequence their idea of Providence remained very timid. They dared not affirm that Divine Providence can extend to the smallest details of the lives of each of us. They spoke with even greater timidity of the life to come; of its rewards and punishments. When they did affirm it, their affirmation, as they said, was in terms of a beautiful possibility. [Life to come was thus presented even in the Phaedo.] Their moral teaching, beautiful in certain respects, remained marred by some rather gross errors. They did not even think it was possible to abolish slavery, and their personal lives  were far below the level of their teaching; in fact, their lives sometimes were the negation of their teaching.

How different is the Gospel, in which Jesus speaks with absolute certainty of God, His Father and ours, of Providence, and of eternal life! Did He train Himself naturally, as has been claimed, by the simple meditative reading of the Old Testament, of Moses and the Prophets?

Moses and the Prophets certainly far surpassed the ancient philosophers inasmuch as they affirmed, through the light of revelation and with absolute certainty, that God is the One Who is, that everything has been created from nothing, that God made man holy and good in the beginning, and that after our fall He labored mercifully for the restoration of His people, to whom He had promised a Savior.

Yet, in the teaching of Moses and the Prophets the intimate life of God, the Blessed Trinity, remained hidden, and the omnipotence of the Creator inspired especially fear, the beginning of wisdom. The Lord's commandments had taken into account the imperfection of men's souls, which were going through the hard experience of being in need of redemption, and which had to be slowly guided toward the new era of the promised Savior.

Jesus, on the other hand, taught with the most absolute certitude, without any timidity whatever, not only the truths of creation and of the soul's immortality, but the dogma of eternal life which was far beyond any conception of the life to come that the philosophers talked about. And He made eternal life known not merely by symbols like that of the promised land, which were used in the Old Testament; but even in His first words on the beatitudes, He declared: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill . . . Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God . . . Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven . . . Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in Heaven." [Matt. 5:6-12.]  In the parable of the talents the faithful servant was told: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." [lbid. 15:21, 23.] That is to say: See God as He sees Himself, and love Him as He loves Himself.

From the start of His ministry, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus did not merely tell us, as Moses did, that God is the Creator and Master of all things, but that He is our Father. Accordingly Jesus taught us to pray thus: "Our Father Who are in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." [Ibid. 6:9 ff.] What loftier idea of God can be given to men, and what more sanctifying power for their lives? This is the essence of the whole of Christian dogma and morality.

This eternal Father, Jesus continued, has an only Son, begotten from all eternity, and "God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting." [John 3:16.] Jesus increasingly manifested Himself to be this only-begotten Son, come to save us, to redeem us by His mission and by His death: "The Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many" [Matt. 20:28].

He declared that He would rise from the dead, ascend into Heaven, but that He would still be present in the Church until the end of time in the form of the Eucharist, [Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19.]  and through the Holy Ghost Whom He would send and  Who would dwell in us in order to make us grasp the meaning of the Gospel and thus lead other souls to eternal life. [John 14:16; 26; 15:26; 16:7; Acts 1:8.] Thenceforth eternal life is seen to be indissoluble union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in the radiance of the Beatific Vision: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God."

Can we fail to endure patiently anything that is said untruly about us when we remember that it has been said of Him Who is the Teacher of teachers, Who is "the truth and the life," that He never had a doctrine?

His teaching includes not only the dogma of creation which had been so clearly enunciated in the Old Testament, but also those of the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Eucharist, and eternal life. These are all, of course, unfathomable supernatural mysteries, but mysteries which answer our most deep-seated natural aspirations and which arouse in us nobler ones. They are mysteries which harmonize admirably with one another, and it is in vain that the incredulous seek to find any contradiction in them. How superior is this doctrine to the timid affirmations of the philosophers and to the often obscure predictions of the prophets!

In its simplicity this doctrine is sublime in the true sense of the word. The sublime is indeed what is most elevated, most extraordinary in the order of the beautiful. And as the beautiful is a splendid harmony, the splendor of unity in diversity, so the sublime is the loftiest and most intimate harmony of most diverse and separated elements, in appearance irreconcilable. The sublime is particularly the intimate union of supreme goodness and the deepest wretchedness. When Divine mercy bows to this extent, gratitude must find expression not merely in words but in tears: the sign of a relationship that is so profound that it is beyond expression in human terms. Now the mysteries of the Incarnation, the Redemption, the Eucharist, are the union of the infinite riches of Divine mercy with the universal wretchedness of man, the union of man's poverty with the infinite grandeur of God.

The wise men of antiquity said with pride: "The strong man grappling with adversity is a Divine spectacle." Jesus said with humility, simplicity, and depth: "Blessed are they that mourn [their sins], Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven," it is already realized within them. Such words had never been heard. So lofty are they that even believers are often slow to understand when persecution comes to them. They are astonishing words, and yet so simple when spoken by our Savior.

There is no affinity between the highest moral teaching of the pagans and that of Jesus. The philosophers spoke of acquired virtues, which are often unstable. The virtues our Savior spoke of are the infused virtues which must grow with merit until the supernatural life of eternity. The new law of the Gospel, which is a law of love, is likewise far superior to the law of fear promulgated by Moses: "You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill . . . But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment." [Ibid. 5:21 ff.] "You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: that you may be the children of your Father Who is in Heaven, Who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love [only] them that love you . . . do not even the publicans this? . . . Be you therefore perfect, as also your Heavenly Father is perfect." [Ibid. 5:43-48.]  These words summarize the entire Sermon on the Mount, spoken at the beginning of our Savior's ministry.

As we have said before, Jesus substituted for the petty nobility of the human virtues the highest nobility of sanctity. He preached hunger and thirst for the justice of God, that is, for union with God. [Ibid. 5:6. Before curing the man sick of the palsy, Jesus said to the Pharisees: "Why do you think evil in your hearts?" On several occasions He showed that He knew the heart's most intimate secrets.]

It is difficult to know what in this doctrine is most to be admired: its loftiness, its depth, its scope, its intimate understanding of the heart's secrets, [Ibid. 9:4.]  its infallible views on the future. All these supernatural splendors harmonize wonderfully with the most complete naturalness in expression and with the most astute practical sense.

 Nowhere can there be found a more perfect harmony between nature and grace. Here natural aspirations are not merely filled but surpassed, and the word of Christ inspires far superior aspirations which are united in the efficacious and powerful desire for the supernatural life of eternity, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. These were words completely ignored by the pagan sages, and the Old Testament prophets could only lisp them.

Here indeed the plenitude of Divine revelation is given to us here on earth in a still obscure manner, in order to lead us to the definitive and dazzling revelation of eternity.

By its sublimity and its conformity with our highest aspirations, the doctrine of Jesus so far surpasses all other doctrines, even that which the chosen people rightly gloried in having received from God, that we cannot fail to recognize in it a powerful and superhuman originality. But this is not the originality of an innovator Who is breaking with the past. Jesus said: "Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill."  [Matt. 5:17.]

We can well understand that the astonished Jews asked: "How doth this man know letters, having never learned?" [John 7:15.]  And the messengers of the Pharisees, daring not to lay hands on Him, admitted: "Never did man speak like this man." [Ibid. 7:46.]

It cannot be maintained, therefore, that Jesus merely bore within Himself a ferment which became the principle of a new religious movement, but that He did not have a doctrine. The entire Credo is to be found in His teaching and can be expressed in His own words, not only in the words reported by St. John, but in those of the first three Gospels, words which are bound up with the whole fabric of the story, with all the facts of His life, His passion and death.

How Jesus Taught

The manner in which Jesus taught is no less sublime in its simplicity than the object of His doctrine. It has been said that "A man's style is the man." Christ Jesus has indeed His own style. In order to have even a vague notion of His ascendancy over souls, it would be necessary to have heard the sermons of great Saints like St. Bernard, St. Dominic, and the holy Cure of Ars.

St. Thomas tells us that the Apostle [IIa IIae, q. 177. a. 1.] must express himself in such a manner that the word of God may enlighten the intelligence, stir the heart, and arouse the will to the accomplishment of the Commandments. The apostle, therefore, must speak with authority, in the name of God, with simplicity so as to be understood by every soul, with supernatural unction to stir hearts, and with power to turn wills toward God.

Jesus' method of teaching reveals a sovereign authority which is equaled only by the simplicity and unction with which He communicates the loftiest truths; whence the power of the Gospel and the profound influence it has exerted for almost two thousand years, in spite of its austerity and its demands.

The incomparable authority of Jesus is manifested through His power in affirmation and through the influence of His sanctity. How did He affirm? He did not make use of the procedures of human eloquence which flatter the hearer, seeking to please him and to gain his admiration rather than enlighten him. There is not the least bit of oratorical artificiality in the sermons of the Master. He also avoided the abstract considerations of the philosophers and the scriptural discussions of the scribes, who scrutinized the sacred texts without bringing out their true meaning. Jesus did not argue. He spoke in brief, clear, penetrating formulas: "If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out; . . . and if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off." [Matt. 5:29 ff.]  "Love your enemies: . . . and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." These are formulas that jostle unruly passions, amaze the reason, but that address themselves directly to souls of good will, and arouse this good will in those who are seeking the truth. As for unreasonable and rebellious spirits, these formulas sink deep into them like streaks of light and condemnations.

Jesus affirms with the authority of the supreme Master: "You call Me Master and Lord; and you say well, for so I am." [John 13:13.] He considers Himself above any human judgment, above any cross-examination, any criticism, any contradiction. No one else has ever used His formulas: "For this was I born, and for this came I into the world; that I should give testimony to the truth. Everyone that is of the truth, heareth My voice." [Ibid. 18:37.] "Amen, amen I say unto you: . . . I speak that which I have seen with My Father."  [Ibid. 8:34, 38.] "You believe in God, believe also in Me." [Ibid. 14:1.] "I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life . . . Although I give testimony of Myself, My testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go." [Ibid. 8:12-14] "I am the way and the truth, and the life." [Ibid. 14:6.] There is no loftier doctrinal authority.

The authority of His life confirmed that of His intelligence. As for the philosophers, their conduct was often in contradiction to their moral teaching. Even Moses was not as perfect as the Lord demanded of him, and because of this he did not enter the Promised Land.  [Deut. 32:51.] Jesus, on the other hand, began by practicing in all perfection everything that He taught: "Jesus began to do and to teach." [Acts 1:1.]  Because He had accomplished perfectly all the commandments and counsels, without the slightest flaw, He was able to say: "Which of you shall convince Me of sin?" [John 8:46.]  "For I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you do also." [Ibid.13:15.] "If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love; as I also have kept My Father's commandments, and do abide in His love." [Ibid.15:10.] His teaching was but the reflection of His conduct, and He asks incomparably less from us than what He Himself has done for us: "He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the Cross." [Phil. 2:8.] The authority of a man's life has never so well confirmed the authority of His doctrine.

What is no less remarkable is the fact that this sovereign authority was coupled with the greatest simplicity. Among many human teachers simplicity is destroyed by pompousness born of pride, which is in reality foolishness. Jesus is too great to feel the least pride in His intelligence and in His life. In His greatness, He is the model of humility: "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me."
[John 7: 16.]  He cares neither for titles nor honors, nor for the role of learned doctor. Of the scribes and Pharisees He said: "They love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and salutations in the marketplace, and to be called by men, Rabbi. But be not you called Rabbi. For one is your master; and all you are brethren." [Matt. 23: 6-8.]

And while the Pharisees loved to sit in the chair of Moses, to whom did He choose to preach the Gospel? The poor, the poor who were so despised by the pagan sages. This, together with the miracles, is actually a sign of His Messiahship: "The poor have the Gospel preached to them."
[Matt. 11: 5.]  Isaias had declared that He would "preach to the meek" and "heal the contrite of heart." [Isa. 61: 1.]  Thus it was that Jesus preached throughout the countryside, on the shores of Lake Genesareth, in Solomon's portico, always in a simple unstudied manner. There was nothing about Him that bespoke artistic or human effort. As He told His listeners, "the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life." [John 6:64.]

One of the most extraordinary things about our Lord's preaching is that the more sublime the object He spoke of, the calmer was His language. There was never the slightest tinge of exaltation in His words. As Bossuet has well said: "Who can fail to admire the condescension with which He tempered the loftiness of His doctrine? It is at once milk for infants and bread for the strong. One can see that He is filled with God's secrets, but it is evident that He is not astonished by them as are other mortals to whom God reveals Himself:

He speaks about them naturally, as one being born into these secrets and into this glory. And what He possesses beyond measure, [Ibid. 3: 34.]  He pours forth by measure, so that our weakness may be able to bear it." [Discours sur l'histoire universelle, Part II, chap. 19.]

After the Last Supper, He said to the Apostles: "I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will teach you all truth." [John 16:1 f.] Finally, it was with the utmost simplicity that He recommended humility to His Apostles: " . . . calling unto Him a little child, [He] set him in the midst of them. And said: Amen I say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. [Clearly the reference here is to the second conversion, for the Apostles were in the state of grace, three had been on Mount Tabor, and all of them were to receive Communion before the Passion. Peter's second conversion took place at the end of the Passion, immediately after his denials. It was then that he began to enter into the intimacy of the kingdom of God, and even more so on Pentecost.]

 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of Heaven." [Matt. 18:2-4.] For such a man enters into intimacy with God through mental prayer and through love. Thus are admirably reconciled in Jesus' manner of teaching the highest authority, along with simplicity and humility. How complicated does the abstract doctrine of the philosophers seem beside this eminent simplicity!

Lastly, Jesus spoke with an unction that was truly Divine, despite the austerity of His counsels. His own words were realized within Himself: "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." [Ibid. 12:34.] He preached continually of the love with which God first loved us, when we were still sinners. One could feel that He Himself was overflowing with charity and wished ardently for our salvation. He said: "I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly."

[John 10:10.] His preaching was one of glad tidings: "Come to Me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you." [Matt. 11:28.]

This unction, the expression of His mercy, was particularly palpable in His conversation with the Samaritan woman: "If thou didst know the gift of God, and who He is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink; thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water."

[John 4: 10.] This unction was also noticeable in His preaching of the beatitudes and in His last conversation with the disciples before the Passion. During His last discourses it was as if sheets of light, luminous waves, descended from Heaven to become diffused in ever wider circles upon the generations to come.

This Divine unction, which was the effect of grace, gave foreknowledge of the Holy Ghost of Whom it has been said: "His unction teacheth you of all things." [1 John 2: 27.] There is no romantic sentimentalism about it. It is accompanied by renunciation, it fights against sin, against the spirit of the world and the spirit of evil: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." [Matt. 16: 24; Luke 9: 23; 14: 27.] While Jesus tells us often that He brings us peace, union with God, He also says that in order to attain this peace we must know how to fight against all within us that would lead us to evil. It is with this in mind that He said: "I came not to send peace, but the sword." [Matt. 10:34; Luke 12:51.] Those most beloved of God have been called on to suffer most cruelly from the persecution of those who would not hear the joyful tidings of the Gospel.

In St. Luke we read: "The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter.' [Luke 12: 53.] And in St. Matthew: "And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of Me." [Matt. 10:36 ff.] These family rifts were frequent during the three centuries of the persecutions. One can sense here the exigencies of the Divine law.

It is this Saintly austerity united to humility which demonstrates the wholly supernatural origin of the Savior's unction. He has sometimes told His Saints: "Do not lay too much store on the favorable judgments of men, for I love thee with a perfect love. I spent My earthly existence in humiliations and scorn and in a hidden life. It was thus that I glorified My Father, laid the foundations of My Church, and remedied the evils of pride. This is the path that thou must follow."  This is truly Christ's own style, His own manner . . .

These are the reasons why the Gospel has such power and such a profound attraction upon our souls. It both jostles and captivates them. It jostles our unruly passions and captivates our good will. And yet this book was not written directly by our Lord. As St. Thomas says: [IIIa, q. 42, a. 4.] "It was fitting that Christ as the most excellent of teachers should adopt that manner of teaching whereby His doctrine is imprinted on the hearts of His hearers," by the grace of light and strength which He granted them. This is the highest magisterium, the living magisterium. And this is why, as St. Thomas also remarks, [Ia IIae, q. 106, a. 1.] the new law of the Gospel is first of all written spiritually in the hearts of the faithful by the grace of the Holy Ghost, before being materially written on stone or parchment. Jesus was content to write in the souls of His Apostles a living letter that they have made known to the world: "Going therefore teach ye all nations." And in actual fact, His doctrine spread, in spite of innumerable obstacles, to the limits of the world known to the ancient peoples.

Today, after twenty centuries, this power of communication continues to exert its influence, thus verifying the affirmation: "Heaven and earth shall pass, but My words shall not pass." [Matt. 24:35.] As St. Peter said, these are "the words of eternal life." [John 6:69.] Until the end of the worId our Savior will raise up new priestly vocations so that the Gospel may ever be preached for the salvation of souls.

While the books of the Greek philosophers stay on library shelves, consulted by a handful of scholars, the Gospel has been for twenty centuries the spiritual food of millions of souls. Even the modern societies which reject the Gospel are none the less impregnated with it in spite of themselves. Whereas the more sincere among the philosophers admit that they are powerless to change the interior dispositions of men, Jesus, with but a few poor Galilean fishermen and in spite of three centuries of persecutions succeeded in changing the moral ideas of humanity. [Cf. St. Thomas Contra Gentes, Bk. I, chap. 6.] Through His grace He gave to multitudes of souls the love of goodness, to many He gave a supernatural ardor for sacrifice, and He dispersed among all peoples marvelous flowers of sanctity. The Christian martyrology which is read daily in the Office after Lauds is a great motive of credibility, a notable sign of the Divine origin of Jesus' doctrine.

N o one else has been able to keep a doctrine ever living down the centuries through an immortal race of disciples, so that after two thousand years we still accept it as "the words of eternal life."
When we read the Gospel in a recollected manner we wonder how our Savior was able to unite in His teaching and in His manner of preaching such diverse qualities: the supreme authority of His doctrine and of His life together with such perfect simplicity and humility, an unction which moves men's hearts together with an austerity which makes heavy demands on human nature. The intimate union of such different qualities cannot be explained naturally. Our temperaments are in a sense determined by nature, and must be completed by virtue. The profound union in Jesus of such diverse qualities can be the effect only of very high virtue and of very lofty contemplation, in other words, the effect of the most extraordinary grace.

Our Savior's Contemplation Superior to All Others according to the Gospel of St. John

In what light did Jesus contemplate the things He taught? In an effort to understand this, let us raise our minds progressively toward Him, starting with a less sublime teaching. Then we shall see what
 Jesus has Himself told us in the Gospel of St. John concerning his vision of Divine things.

The greatest geniuses of the pagan world, such as Plato and Aristotle, contemplated their doctrine in the natural light of the intelligence, in the light of first principles abstracted from sensible things, and in the mirror of these things the power of their vision discovered a reflection of Divine perfections. Thus they taught that God is the primary Being, the supreme Intelligence Who ordained all things and Who is the sovereign Good. Yet there remained in their affirmations much obscurity and uncertainty.

The prophets of the Old Testament contemplated the doctrine that they announced in the light of prophecy united to the supernatural light of faith. This light was incomparably superior to the natural light of the intelligence with which the greatest Greek philosophers were endowed. Thus Isaias foresaw the promised Savior: "A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called, Wonderful, Counselor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace." [Isa. 9:6.]

However, the light of prophecy and that of infused faith are still obscure in the sense that they do not give us the evidence of the supernatural mysteries. They merely lead us to adhere to the infallible testimony of God. Just as the most distant stars cannot manifest to us the outermost limits of the firmament, so the infused light of prophecy and that of faith do not suffice to shed light on what St. Paul calls "the deep things of God," [1 Cor. 2:10.] namely, His intimate life which we shall clearly understand only in Heaven. Beyond doubt the gifts of the Holy Ghost, gifts of knowledge and wisdom, give us a living, quasi-experimental knowledge of the supernatural mysteries, helping us to penetrate and enjoy them. Yet these gifts do not bring us out of the obscurity of faith.

The Apostles, as had the prophets before them, received the light of prophecy and that of infused faith in a high degree. One of them, St. Paul, in view of his exceptional ministry, received even a special and extraordinary grace of light which he described as follows: "I know a man in Christ above fourteen years ago [whether in the body, I know not, or out of the body, I know not; God knoweth], such a one caught up to the third Heaven. And I know . . . that he was caught up into paradise, and heard secret words, which it is not granted to man to utter." [2 Cor. 12: 2-4.]  In this passage St. Paul seems to be recalling the ravishment mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, where these words of the great convert are recorded: "And it came to pass, when I was come again to Jerusalem, and was praying in the Temple, that I was in a trance, and saw Him saying unto me: Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; because they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me." [Acts 22:17 ff.]

When St. Paul says that he was ravished to the third Heaven he meant, as did the Hebrews, the spiritual Heaven where God dwells, the empyrean above the heaven of the air [the atmosphere] and even above the heaven of the stars [the ether]. It is therefore probable that, in accordance with the thought of St. Augustine [De Genesi ad litteram, 12, 28, etc.] and of St. Thomas, [IIa IIae, q. 175, a. 3, 4, 5.] St. Paul means that for a short moment he was raised up to the Beatific Vision of the Divine essence. These great doctors, who had themselves received extraordinary graces of contemplation, [The authority of those who reject this opinion is very slight compared to that of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.] say it seems that in that brief moment Paul contemplated what "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . what things God hath prepared for them that love Him." [1 Cor. 2:9.]

After this ravishment the great Apostle was so profoundly convinced of the truth of the Divine doctrine which he was preaching that his conviction was always far beyond even the loftiest words that came to his lips. Sublime words flowed from his pen, sometimes pouring forth like a torrent rushing down a mountainside, and yet they cannot express what he saw. His noblest words are but the inadequate means of expressing, in terms suited to our intelligence, an intuition far above us. Sometimes, alas, a preacher may have more on his lips than exists in the faith of his own heart, and then his preaching becomes theatrical, affected, and bombastic. St. Paul, on the contrary, knew far more than he could tell. There was always much more within his soul than on his lips; the spirit dominated the letter and vivified it.

St. Paul spoke of what he had contemplated in God. St. Thomas says that "preaching must derive from the fullness of contemplation" [IIa IIae, q. 188, a. 6.] if it is to be living and sanctifying and in any way resemble the words of fire that are referred to in the Psalms [118:140].  We cannot hope to describe the magnificence of a mountain view unless we have actually been up there ourselves. It will not suffice merely to page through a travel guide. That Paul might speak with the greatest possible light and vigor concerning God and the redemptive Incarnation, he had been raised at least for an instant to the summit of Divine contemplation. That is why he was the great Doctor of the Gentiles, charged with transmitting to them for the first time the teaching of the Master.

But if Paul was raised for at least one moment to the contemplation of the Divine essence, what are we to say of Jesus Himself?

It is true of course that through His Divine intelligence Jesus never ceased seeing God. Far more than this, His Divine intelligence which is common to the three persons, is identical without any real distinction whatever with the Divine essence known from all eternity; and the person of the Word is "the brightness of eternal light," [Wisd. 7:26.] "the brightness of His [the Father's] glory." [Heb. 1:3.]

However, with respect to His human intelligence, was it only in the obscurity of faith that Jesus ordinarily attained the supernatural mysteries of which He spoke, the deep things of God which He teaches us to know dimly? Did Jesus have but a few moments of ecstasy, as St. Paul did, remaining ignorant of many things relating to the kingdom of God?

The infallible magisterium of the Church has given a partial answer to this question. It has been defined, in refutation of the heresy of the Agnoetes, that Jesus as man was not ignorant of anything whatever relating to the kingdom of God, [Cf. Denzinger, Enchiridion, no. 248. Declaration of Gregory I (A.D. 600).] that will be consummated in Heaven and that includes all the elect, both Angels and men. Can He who even as man is the head of the kingdom of God be ignorant of anything that relates to His function? Can He be ignorant of the day of judgment and the number of the elect for whom He is meriting salvation? The Church tells us that such ignorance could not have been in Him.

But in what light did Christ's human intelligence know here below everything concerning the kingdom of God? Was it only in the light of prophecy united to the light of faith? Or was it in a higher light? Was the sacred soul of our Savior deprived during His life on earth of the light of glory by which the Saints in Heaven see God face to face? If it is probable that St. Paul while here on earth received this light for at least one instant, what are we to say of the sacred soul of Christ?

The theologians answer in unison: Jesus saw what He taught in the light of the Beatific vision. Jesus possessed throughout His earthly life and in a far higher degree the contemplation which St. Paul seems to have attained for an instant during an ecstasy. The contemplation of Jesus even here on earth was not inferior to that which the Saints enjoy in Heaven. This has been the common teaching of theologians particularly since the twelfth century, and the Church has declared that it would be rash to deny it. [Cf. Denzinger, Enchiridion, nos. 2183 ff.]

What is the foundation for this doctrine which is commonly accepted in the Church? It is founded first of all on several of Jesus' statements. In St. John He said to Nicodemus with regard to spiritual regeneration: "Amen, amen I say to thee, that we speak what we know, and we testify what we have seen, and you receive not our testimony. If I have spoken to you earthly things, and you believe not; how will you believe, if I shall speak to you Heavenly things? And no man hath ascended into Heaven, but He that descended from Heaven, the Son of man Who is in Heaven." [John 3:11 ff.]

The words "what we know" in this passage are synonymous with "what we have seen," as is said immediately afterward. Now, Jesus spoke as a man. It was therefore as a man that He saw God and the things of Heaven. Must not testimony correspond to the knowledge from which it derives?

And as at the particular moment when Jesus was saying these words the souls of the deceased just were awaiting their entry into Heaven, He said as we have just seen: "No man hath ascended into Heaven but He that descended from Heaven, the Son of man who is in Heaven." Thus Jesus was already in Heaven not only as the Son of God, by reason of His Divinity and of His Divine intelligence, but as the Son of man, by reason of His human intelligence. Not only was He to be in Heaven after His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, but He was there already at that moment. This was the same as saying that as of that instant through His human intelligence He already saw God face to face, without any intermediary whatever. For what is Heaven if not the spiritual homeland where the blessed enjoy the immediate vision of God or of eternal life, which consists in seeing God as He sees Himself and in loving Him as He loves Himself?

Tradition commonly holds, therefore, that Jesus even while here on earth was at once 'Viator et comprehensor, that is, He was a wayfarer toward eternity and a comprehensor or blessed, already in possession of eternal life. [Cf. St. Thomas, IIIa, q. 15, a. 10.]

Jesus also said in St. John: "Everyone that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to Me. Not that any man hath seen the Father; but He who is of God, He hath seen the Father. Amen, amen I say unto you: He that believeth in Me, hath everlasting life." [John 6: 45 ff.] Jesus was here saying that the believers have heard the Father, His word, but have not seen Him; whereas He, Jesus, "Who is of God, He hath seen the Father." Therefore this can mean only that He was more than a believer, that He was not reduced to believing in God, to believing in His Own Divinity and in His Own Divine personality. For He had more than faith; He had the vision that the blessed possess in Heaven. [It follows from this that the loftiest faith that ever existed was Mary's, especially when she stood at the foot of the Cross. It was a faith superior to that which the Angels had during their short journey toward eternity.] There is an immense difference between believing and seeing.

Likewise, in His priestly prayer, Jesus in praying for His disciples said again: "Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me; that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me, because Thou hast loved Me before the creation of the world."
[John 17:24.]

These last words are singularly expressive: "I will that where I am [that is to say, in Heaven], they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me." The Apostles already had supernatural faith. Jesus was asking for them the Beatific Vision, the vision of the Divine essence and of the glory which had been given to Him as man, and which derives from the uncreated glory or essential beatitude which He enjoys as God. He asked for His Apostles the perfect grace which He Himself already had, that is, eternal life, which consists in seeing God and Him Whom God has sent. [Cf. John 17:3.]

This is how St. John the Baptist and after him St. John the Evangelist understood the testimony of the Master. St. John the Baptist said to Jesus' disciples: "I am not Christ, but . . . I am sent before Him. . . . He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. ["He that is of the earth, of the earth he is," is the principle of contradiction or of identity applied to the order of spiritual things, to show how much they differ from the things of earth. Flesh is flesh, spirit is spirit. They must not be confused.] He that cometh from Heaven, is above all. And what He hath seen and heard, is above all. And what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth: and no man receiveth His testimony . . . For He whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God: for God doth not give the Spirit by measure. [God would have given Him the Spirit with measure if here on earth Jesus as man had had only the obscure and limited knowledge of infused faith, and not the knowledge of vision.] The Father loveth the Son: and He hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth in the Son, hath life everlasting," that is, he has entered upon eternal life. [John 3:28-36.]

The testimony of St. John the Baptist given above is as lofty as that of St. John the Evangelist in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel: "No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." [Ibid. 1:18.]  Is this not saying that in contrast to the prophets who had not seen God, the only- begotten Son had seen Him, and that He had seen Him as man, for it was as man that Jesus made God known? This vision is the source of His testimony, infinitely superior to all those that preceded . . .

The Savior's Contemplation According to Theology

Can theology make even more explicit the meaning of the scriptural passages that we have just quoted? It can and does indeed by means of highly fitting arguments which St. Thomas has admirably presented. [IIIa, q. 10, a. 4.]

St. Thomas says that Jesus must have possessed even here on earth the vision which thousands of blessed Souls have in Heaven. Every intelligent being must have the knowledge fitting to his state. This is true of the physician, the magistrate, and the priest. Too often incapable and improvident persons occupy high posts, to the detriment of those whom they are guiding. However, this cannot be the case of those directly chosen by God to be His extraordinary ministers in the transmission of revelation. Thus Providence owed it to itself to give Jesus the science or knowledge proportionate to His mission.

Jesus' mission is that of the Teacher of humanity, charged with leading it to eternal life. He was constituted for all time as the Teacher of teachers, the Master of the Apostles, the doctors, the greatest contemplatives. After Him no one will come who is more enlightened or Who will teach us better the way that leads to eternal blessedness. Must not the perfect Master, then, possess the evidence of what He is teaching, especially if He is Himself "the way, the truth, and the life?"

The great Sower of truth, charged with telling all human generations until the end of time "the words of eternal life," must have known this eternal life even while He was still on earth. He knew theDdivine essence not "through a glass in a dark manner" but "face to face" according to St. Paul's words. [1 Cor. 13:12.]

The Divine essence that St. Paul probably saw for a brief moment in an ecstasy, Jesus saw continually here on earth through His human intelligence, without needing to interrupt His conversation with His Apostles. He was above ecstasy, and His words were so luminous precisely because His intelligence was perpetually illumined by this spiritual sun which never suffered eclipse even while He slept, even during the dark hour of His passion.

Millions of souls in Heaven enjoy this contemplation, and they have attained it only through the merits of Jesus Christ. Could He, then, have been deprived of that which He gave to others through His merits? The Master of all humanity must have had the vision of the goal toward which He was leading it. This is the principal reason given by St. Thomas.

There is a second reason. It was fitting that He should have this vision so that He might possess a clear knowledge of His Own Divinity and not merely believe in it obscurely. We do not yet fully grasp the immense difference between believing and seeing. We shall have a clear knowledge of this difference the moment we enter Heaven.

Finally, the third reason is that Jesus is the natural heir of God, as St. Paul tells us. [Heb. 1:12.] Even as man, Jesus is the Son of God by nature, and not by adoption as we are. But the natural heir enjoys his heritage from the start. Jesus has therefore had eternal life as a birthright. The fullness of grace which He received at the moment of His conception must have blossomed forth at that very instant, otherwise Jesus would have become more perfect afterward. This, as we have seen, is contrary to the Second Council of Constantinople. [Cf. Denzinger, no. 224.] For had this been the case, His charity, His love of God, would have increased later on when He emerged from the obscurity of faith and received the light of glory.

The fact that the upper reaches of Christ's soul enjoyed the Beatific Vision even here on earth is not irreconcilable with the fact that Jesus was still in a sense a wayfarer toward eternity. He was proceeding toward eternal life in His mortal body which was still subject to suffering and in His soul as well, inasmuch as it too was still capable of suffering and like ourselves knew through acquired knowledge, which is the fruit of experience and reflection. Thus Jesus was at once wayfarer and comprehensor. He enjoyed beatitude in the highest reaches of His soul, and He was a voyager in its less elevated parts which were in contact with the hardships of His life as Savior and victim.

Even during His passion He did not lose the Beatific Vision, but He freely prevented the irradiation of the light of glory upon His lower reason and sense faculties. He did not wish this light and the joy that proceeds from it to lessen in any way by their radiance the sorrow which was invading Him from all sides. He completely yielded Himself up to suffering, so that the holocaust might be perfect. Thus, although in a much less perfect manner, did the Martyrs in the midst of their sufferings rejoice, as they gave their blood in testimony of their faith in Christ.

What did Jesus' human intelligence contemplate under the light of glory? The Divine essence, the Blessed Trinity, which He already knew in a more perfect manner than did the Angels inasmuch as His sacred soul through its personal union with the Word was nearer to God than they. He also contemplated in the Divine essence everything that related to His universal mission as head of the kingdom of God, as leader of men and of Angels, as judge of the living and of the dead. This is to say that in God He already knew all creatures, all souls, all that they have done, are doing, and will do. He knew the number of the elect, on what day and at what hour this number will be complete: in other words, at what hour the world will come to an end. Nor is there anything about the Angelic world that He did not know, for the Angels are His ministers in the kingdom of His Father, and He has said that they are "His Angels" Whom He will send on judgment day to gather the elect. [Mark 13:27: "And then shall He [the Son of man] send His Angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of Heaven."]

We can now understand what St. John of the Cross wrote for contemplatives in his Ascent of Mount Carmel [Bk. II, chap. 22]: "In the law of Scripture the inquiries that were made of God were lawful . . . But now that the faith is founded in Christ, and, in this era of grace, the evangelical law has been made manifest, there is no reason to inquire of Him in that manner. . . For, in giving us, as He did, His Son, which is His Word-----and He has no other-----He spoke to us all together, once and for all. And this is the sense of that passage with which St. Paul begins . . . 'God, Who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by His Son [Heb. 1:1.]' Wherefore he that would now inquire of God, or seek any vision or revelation, would not only be acting foolishly, but would be committing an offense against God, by not setting his eyes altogether upon Christ, and seeking no new thing or aught beside . . .  set thine eyes on Him alone, for in Him I have spoken and revealed to thee all things, and in Him thou shalt find yet more than that which thou askest and desirest. For thou askest locutions and revelations, which are the part; but if thou set thine eyes upon Him, thou shalt find the whole; for He is My complete locution and answer, and He is all My vision and all My revelation; so that I have spoken to thee, answered thee, declared to thee and revealed to thee, in giving Him to thee as thy brother, companion and master, as ransom and as reward. For since that day when I descended upon Him with My Spirit on Mount Tabor, saying: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him [Matt. 17:5.],' I have left off all these manners of teaching and answering, and I have entrusted this to Him. Hear Him; for I have no more faith to reveal, neither have I any more things to declare." [The Complete Works of St. John of the Cross, I, 173 f.]

Jesus is the Master of teachers, the Master of the greatest contemplatives. He saw immediately in the Divine essence what He taught. That is why the more souls advance the more they forsake all other books and seek nourishment only in the Gospel or in the words of our Savior.

In an order inferior to the Beatific Vision, Jesus also had the infused knowledge which is possessed by the Angels and which is sometimes granted in a measure to the Saints, as when, for example, the Apostles after Pentecost preached in foreign languages without having learned them. Jesus also knew the various dialects better than did the Apostles through the grace of Pentecost. [According to several theologians, it was this infused knowledge which made it possible for Christ to merit from the first moment of His life when He did not yet have any acquired knowledge, and also later on to merit while He slept, for this infused knowledge does not necessarily require the participation of the imagination (IlIa, q. 11, a. 2).

As said by John of St. Thomas (De incarn., d. 17, a. 3, n. 14) and the Salmanticenses (De incarn., disp. 27, dub. 3, 55), Jesus was able to merit even by acts of love which were the immediate consequence of the Beatific Vision. For the Beatific Vision allows the liberty to love God, if not in Himself and for Himself, at least inasmuch as He is the reason for loving creatures. Thus God necessarily loves Himself and freely wills to create in order to manifest His goodness. Thus, too, the blessed in necessarily loving God whom they see face to face freely pray for us.]

Finally, Christ Jesus, like all other men, had the knowledge of experience which He rapidly gained through the exercise of His senses and of His intelligence. This was one more of His perfections, which was not made useless by reason of His superior knowledge, for even though experience taught Him the same things He already knew by  other means, it taught Him to know them in a different way. He foresaw far in advance and infallibly that He would be crucified at a given hour on a certain day. Yet when the moment of the Crucifixion came, the experience of pain taught Him in a way something new that no prevision could reveal to Him in the same degree. Thus, St. Paul tells us: "And whereas indeed He [Jesus] was the Son of God, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered: and being consummated, He became, to all that obey Him, the cause of eternal salvation." [Heb. 5:8 ff.]

Thus did Christ's human intelligence contemplate even here on earth, under the illumination of His Divine intelligence. Let us meditate on the light of His sacred soul, and the supernatural riches which it possessed from the very first moment of His life. He knew us beforehand and He knows our entire existence as it is in the book of life. He knew then and He knows now all the hereditary influences that have contributed to form our temperaments. He knows all our natural aptitudes, all the supernatural graces we have received and those we have refused. He sees all our acts, past, present, and future. He sees the state of our souls thirty years from now, three hundred years and three thousand years from now. He knows our faults much better than we do; and what deep humility this should inspire in us! He knows the exact moment and the circumstances of our death, and what will follow for each one of us.

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