3

The image of our mind must therefore be clothed also in the three

theological virtues by which the soul is purified, illuminated, and

perfected; and thus the image is repaired and is made like the heavenly

Jerusalem and part of the Church militant, which, according to the Apostle,

is the child of the heavenly Jerusalem. For he says: "But that Jerusalem

which is above is free, which is our mother" [Gal., 4, 26]. Therefore the

soul which believes in, hopes in, and loves Jesus Christ, Who is the Word

incarnate, uncreated, and spirated, that is, the way and the truth and the

life, where by faith he believes in Christ as in the uncreated Word, which

is the Word and the splendor of the Father, he recovers spiritual healing

and vision: hearing to receive the lessons of Christ, vision to look upon

the splendor of His light. When, however, he yearns with hope to receive

the spirated Word, through desire and affection he recovers spiritual

olfaction. When he embraces the incarnate Word in charity, as one receiving

from Him delight and passing into Him through ecstatic love, he recovers

taste and touch. When these senses are recovered, when he sees his spouse

and hears, smells, tastes, and embraces Him, he can sing like the Bride a

Canticle of Canticles, as was done on the occasion of this fourth stage of

contemplation, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it [Apoc., 2,

17]. For it occurs in affective experience rather than in rational

consideration. On this level, when the inner senses are renewed in order to

perceive the highest beauty, to hear the highest harmony, smell the highest

fragrance, taste the highest delicacy, apprehend the highest delights, the

soul is disposed to mental elevation through devotion, wonder, and

exultation, in accordance with those three exclamations which are in the

Canticle of Canticles. Of these the first arises from the abundance of

devotion, by which the soul becomes like a pillar of smoke of aromatic

spices, of myrrh and frankincense [Cant., 3, 6]; the second, from the

excellence of wonder, by which the soul becomes as the dawn, the moon, and

the sun, like the series of illuminations which suspend the soul in wonder

as it considers its spouse; the third, from the superabundance of

exultation, by which the soul, overflowing with the sweetest delight, leans

totally upon its beloved [Cant., 8, 5].