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Scripture
10 My lover said to me,
“Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
11 Look, the winter is past,
and the rains are over and gone.
12 The flowers are springing up,
the season of singing birds has come,
and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.
13 The fig trees are forming young fruit,
and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.
Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!”
*Song of Songs 2.10-13 (NLT)
Wisdom Saying
For the complete arrangement of a marriage there must be three acts that relate to the lady a man wishes to marry. First, the other party is proposed to her; secondly, she approves the proposal; thirdly, she accepts him. In like manner, when God wishes to do some great act of charity in us, by us, or with us, he first proposes it to us by inspiration, secondly, we approve it, and thirdly, we consent to it.
*Francis De Sales. Introduction to the Devout Life. Trans. and Ed. John K. Ryan.
Comments
St. Francis De Sales (1567-1622) observes three forms in which inspiration arises within us to act in loving response to Grace, for Grace always precedes our loving response. The entire life of the spiritual Christian is responsive to divine inspiration working inwardly on the heart, the heart in Christian spirituality being the center of loving and willing.
What are the forms of inspiration? These appear in three general forms, according to De Sales. First, God seeks to do something within us. Second, God seeks to do something by us. Third, God seeks to do something with us. Avoiding the difficult differentiation between the latter two, which is unclear, the inspirations can be summarized as two operations of Grace: internal and instrumental. That is, Grace, which is the energizing of Divine Presence, evokes a loving change or growth of internal life or an outward behavior or act of true piety.
De Sales clarifies "to find joy in inspiration" is a "great advance" to God's honor and by such we are already pleasing God. However, this "delectation" is prior to "complete consent." The joy of the operation of Grace on the heart is still only a "predisposition" to consent.
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