Twelfth Meditation

(Ascent of Mount Carmel, book II: chapter 6)

"Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen." (23)

"For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance." (24)

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails...So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (25)


Cleansing The Faculties

The intellect, by faith alone,
Will proceed through the active night.
This darkening of mind will hone
Faith's strength and purity of light.

The memory, emptied by hope,
Will discard old notions it drags.
Freed from the past, the soul can cope
Through the night -- it no longer lags.

The will, through charity, lets go
Of all the lesser loves it grips.
God's will alone begins to flow --
His love she only tastes in sips.

This night cleanses each faculty
Through faith, new hope, and charity.

23. Hebrews 11:1
24. Romans 8:24-25
25. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8,13

(c) Paul Buis, 2003