Hello dear reader and welcome to this article on the state of being a contemplative while living in the world.
This post is from a document titled “All But Hidden.”
Farrell Brothers Correspondence (F.B.C.) 07-02-22
My Brother,
The focus of this document will be to tackle the perhaps rather elusive subject of contemplative souls living externally ordinary lives in the environment of the modern world.
In doing so it is my hope that some accurate and useful light will be thrown on some of the key questions surrounding this topic. Questions such as; ‘does a contemplative have to fake it to make it? How open should the contemplative be about his Religion and spirituality?
What is the distinction between humouring our fellow man, acting so as to fit into a group and exercising charity, which I also will call the love of God or spiritual love, or Love with a capital ‘L.’
And perhaps the most important questions are ‘what is the best way for a contemplative to conduct himself in the world and why?’
But how do we find sound information on these things? Is it down to personal vibes and opinion? Sentiment? Inspirations we ascribe to the Holy Spirit? Guess work, albeit educated guess work?
No. While a full discussion or treatise on such things would be beyond the ambit of this article, it is my intention to present a summary of the topic that has solid enough basis to withstand more than a little blast from potential critics.
The body of knowledge I have built and put together for the purpose of this summary on the contemplative soul in the world, in the society of common, secular man, is drawn from solid principles of theology, most if not all of which is Thomistic.
Among the many eminent writers and Doctors of the Church, no theologian is held in higher regard by the Church Herself as St. T. Aquinas, O.P.
With that said, let’s get into the meat of this article.
Table of Contents
Past and Present Contemplatives Considered
As you will recall from our phone calls, we have been sharing observations about being the true and authentic self; how do we do this?
Are we masking ourselves out of human respect? What is it that we are presenting to the world when it sees and interreacts with us?
Are we torchbearers who are hiding our light under a bushel? Or are we at risk of casting our pearls before swine? Have we not tried to communicate sacred things before, only to be put to scorn or given a strange or indifferent response?
We have also observed that our outward lives appear to others to be incompatible with a life of contemplation and for this reason we are hardly taken seriously and should perhaps keep it more discreet than it already is – practically invisible to the secular eye.
Indeed, we read of St. Ann C. Emmerich that as a young girl she was already favoured with most rare and precious favours from heaven and in her innocence and ignorance she assumed the other girls in her life at the time must also be experiencing similar things.
So she spoke freely about the great wonders in her soul and the visions she saw, but sadly, only to be met with laughter from her companions and labelled as a little fool.
She noticed everyone reacted in this way and at length learned her lesson that it was her and not them who were being favoured in that way.
Likewise, it is said in the Biography of St. Gemma Galgani, written by her Confessor, that in some of her dialogues with Christ she genuinely wanted Him to explain to her how the average Christian soul dealt so well with the vehemence of Divine Love in the soul while she sometimes found it so overwhelming that on occasion she would exclaim ‘Enough Lord!’ or feared falling into an ecstasy.
Thus, she thought that the average Christian was quite literally burning inside with the holy love of God.
These saintly women however, exhibited external signs of holiness and many of the marvellous effects of contemplation. Eventually, it was virtually undeniable that God was present and at work in them.
But let’s take a step back from that and fast forward to our own time in the history of the operations of grace where we do not find the marks of obvious sanctity or crystal-clear signs of the graces of contemplation.
The most recent example perhaps, of manifest holiness was in the 1900s when S. Pio of Pietrelcina walked the earth; thaumaturge, mystic, stigmatist. When he spoke, you listened! When he entered the room, you showed respect, reverence, veneration.
But since roughly the time of a “Family of Saints,” in Normandy, France, Sts. Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin, (commonly called Zélie, wife of Louis Martin and mother of S. Thérèse) in the late 19th century, we find a new expression of sanctity that only really came to light after the passing of Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, “The Little Flower.”
Ironically, this new expression or manifestation of holiness and contemplation (if we can really call it manifest) is marked precisely by the fact that it is not manifest, not outwardly perceptible, except by another contemplative or learned spiritual director or theologian. And even a theologian or pious but not particularly holy director today would not discern it easily. That is why we have titled this article, ‘All But Hidden.’
Another clear example of this nonmanifest, hidden contemplation and holiness is found in another French girl, Élisabeth Catez, later a Carmelite, author and mystic who is believed to have reached the highest level of mental prayer/perfection – the Transforming Union, at the age of 26.
Name in Religion: Sr. Élisabeth de la Trinité. Later Canonised – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. No exterior marks of holiness, no miracles, no visions or elaborate revelations, no raptures and ecstasies in choir or while walking in the garden.
No unmistakably Divine tone in her voice or behaviour, etc. Just a pious girl, familiar with the piano and dance parties who became an obedient and dutiful Nun in a convent, wrote some sublime documents and then died. And again, one whose mission, Doctrine and great holiness was really only discovered well after her departure from this world.
Now today, contemplative souls who have a more than ordinary degree of love for God do exist and it is safe to assume that most of these souls are Consecrated or in the process of entering Religious Life.
Souls like Sts. Therese and Elizabeth, while living lives of non-manifest sanctity were still for the greater part of their earthly sojourn handmaidens of the Lord, in Religious attire.
So they were at least regarded as objectively contemplative and aspirants to high perfection but not subjectively so, necessarily. That is, their profession was that of Nuns, not secular women.
Initial Reflections on the State of Hidden and Lay Contemplatives
But what about the life of similar souls who are for whatever reasons not called to the sacred house of a Religious Order, Institute or Congregation?
Such souls are not only going to be widely regarded as ‘run-of-the-mill’ Catholics, but not even as Consecrated or aspirants to Religious Life.
Moreover, they may even be regarded by some or many as secular to the point of being considered “of the world,” non-practising, perhaps even dead to religion altogether – atheist.
It all depends on how much they reveal. The point is that any assumption is possible with non-manifest holiness.
I may have no idea what’s going on with the man in the queue at the bank or post office with whom I exchange a few words and perhaps later have a casual coffee with and speak about a common hobby or interest which in no way relates to religion.
Let’s face it, I could hear him crack a few random jokes and come away thinking “this fellow probably hasn’t got much religion going on in his life, let alone living immersed in the Divine and in a state of habitual recollection and infused, yet deep and obscure contemplation that is not visible outwardly.”
And he may think the same thing of me subconsciously. Judging by what we observe is an automatic process.
If you step onto the road and hear something you judge that there is potential danger and so you hurry to the other side but without consciously thinking about it.
Your subconscious mind made a risk assessment and had a program in place which was “danger! Move!” And you just comply automatically.
Likewise if a man of the world sees another man who works at the same place as himself and exchanges similar small talk, similar activity, dress code and humour, he’s never going to think to himself, “Ah-haa! That guy is a hidden contemplative!”
Toward a Theological Grasp of the Contemplative
And now we may want to get into some of the theology of contemplation and look at some further analogies so that we can nail down with more clarity what’s really going on and draw various conclusions from the facts and principles of basic theology.
Don’t worry, we’re not going to make this complicated; that is why we are also going to use analogies from nature, things close to us that we are all well familiar with: goodness, love and justice.
So we have God and we are starting with His attribute of goodness. Note however, that theologically or strictly speaking the Supreme Being is not composed of parts, even in the sense of attributes. Nor does He “have” any of these attributes. Nor can we even say (again being strictly accurate/correct) “God is such and such.”
Let’s just quickly expound and unpack this somewhat to clear up any confusion.
Firstly, God is not part this and part that even though we speak of Him in human terms like when we say His goodness and His greatness, His Mercy vs His Justice, etc. The principle of the Divine Simplicity tells us that there is no division of any kind in God whereas with us there is an abundance of it. Even in angels there is division. But don’t get the wrong sense of the term “division” in this context. What it means here is distinction, or a unity of different things.
So with angels we find division if we get theological about it. For example, an angel’s essence is distinct from his existence. His knowledge is distinct from his love, his name is distinct from his thoughts. His thoughts are distinct from himself, and so on.
And with humans there are even more divisions and distinct attributes, all making up a composite creature; body and soul, matter added to spiritual nature, thus making man inferior in nature (not necessarily in grace) to angels. For angels are closer by nature to the Divine. (Mary for example is inferior to the nature of the angelic but not inferior when it comes to grace/the supernatural order). Hence, creatures always come with composition, division, distinction of attributes and obviously, limitation. Not so however with God.
While we “have” goodness, God “is” goodness. Earlier we said that we cannot really say God is this or that, since as soon as we say He is something we have already reduced Him and pinned Him down to a specific. Correctly speaking, all we can say is that God IS. However, we are allowed to speak in human terms when referring to God since it is easier for us. Therefore, we can say things like ‘God is both good and loving, both wise and powerful, both just and merciful,’ etc.
So, let’s get back on track here.
One of the properties of goodness is that it is diffusive of itself. It communicates itself by the very fact that it is good.
This is what God has done in creating the universe. The entire cosmos and everything within it are an effect of goodness, kindness, love.
You and I and everything in the world are all participants in Goodness Itself. We are therefore participated good, deriving all good qualities from the Divine Bounty.
Men and Angels Considered
But God wanted more than simply to give out of His infinite goodness in a way that no creature could resist. He wanted to manifest Justice, Mercy, Reward and Punishment and many other things.
He wanted a creature that could be on His own level in terms of intelligence and love, and who could actually merit for himself the ultimate possible good – eternal life with God Himself; everlasting contemplation.
The greatest creatures came with the potential to turn against God. If they can lovingly obey God of their own choosing, and without yet being in the beatified state, it follows that they can also choose not to.
Evil is derived from good, strange as it may sound. Because, you can’t have evil if there is no good. Hence evil is a deviation from good, or a departure from the way things ought to be.
And because God is goodness itself, and did not choose to be God, but just is God, therefore, God Himself cannot do evil. It is simply against His nature.
But let’s take a quick look at evil in rational creatures. This is help us understand contemplation better when we get to it.
God produced two kinds of rational creatures; the spiritual creature, and the semi-spiritual creature. He created the Angel and the Man. The angel is a purely spiritual creature while man is a highly dignified animal.
An angel is incapable of making a mistake in the sphere of nature. It also never goes back on any decision it makes. It can make a mistake in the sphere of grace but because of its natural perfection, it also knows perfectly well that it is in the wrong.
Essentially, an angel doesn’t do something wrong and then turn around and say ‘sorry.’ But a man, due to his less perfect nature, can sin with some reluctance and can later repent. He can sin with the help of some deception, a touch of darkness, but an angel sins in the broad daylight which is more malicious and more damning.
So now we’re going to talk about the kind of contemplation that a man can be given in this life.
Now, really, all that’s happening in contemplation is the communication of the Divine Life in a limited yet real way to a soul.
Now this life of God is of course already given through sanctifying grace, but in contemplation, the seed of sanctifying grace is no longer just a seed, but is branching out and producing flowers and fruits – it can be experienced and enjoyed. Ultimately, contemplation is the prelude to eternal life.
The Challenging Road to the Contemplative Experience
Let’s talk about the journey to contemplation. As we’ve said, it starts with sanctifying grace being present in the soul. But what does this really mean? What’s going on?
Well, we start out in life infected with a poison, like the bite of the Serpent, a force opposed to good, a virus of the soul, the law of sin. To get all that out of the way so we can be contemplatives, we need a lot more than just sanctifying grace. Because what will happen is that although we are given sanctifying grace at Baptism, the poison is still there and active. If we let it sit there, it will cause us to destroy ourselves spiritually.
To sin we use the faculties, essentially the will, but aided by the intellect. Now sanctifying grace is sent into the essence of the soul, but not the faculties. So, the intellect is still wounded by darkness and the will is still wounded by malice, not to mention the flesh which is wounded with concupiscence. Therefore, with a mind, heart and body all geared up to sin, is it any wonder that innocence is quickly lost in so many and sin reigns?
Therefore, we need to train ourselves in the opposite direction. The tool for this is actual grace. Actual grace is that other lower from of grace that helps us protect sanctifying grace and acquire virtues.
Virtues are in the faculties, in the will, such as with temperance, fortitude and Charity, and in the intellect, such as knowledge, understanding and wisdom. You also have humility which can be both intellectual and moral, or of the heart as well as of the mind.
Humility is opposed to the biggest source of trouble in the soul – pride. Hence it is called the foundation of all the virtues.
Then you have the first stages of payer, actively raising mind and heart to God with the tool of actual grace and helped on by the other acquired virtues.
Then you have spiritual reading, directly feeding the mind through something external – the written word, to attract and bring in spiritual light and the consequence of this is the strengthening of the will in good. This is true because if you see something good (in this case we mean seeing with the mind’s eye but also with the imagination) you will instinctively start to love it, or at least be more inclined to love it. Or you could read about Divine punishment and provoke servile fear.
However, if you are unwilling to be moved, well you probably wouldn’t be doing spiritual reading in the first place. But perhaps someone else made you read, as in the case of a Catholic child or a tepid monk. Which brings us to another point, which is sermons, lectures, conferences; the spoken word. Here a lot may depend on the preacher. He may be practical and boring or fervent. And you may be attentive or not attentive.
And of course, you also have the Sacraments and the ultimate prayer which is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
You also have the Liturgy, imbued with Scripture and you have the Divine Office or the reading of the psalms. Sacred Scripture is the highest form of spiritual reading since it is the inspired word of God. However, depending on the individual and where they are on their spiritual journey, some may benefit more from other books. Also, the Scriptures don’t speak much of the Blessed Mother or the Saints or go into detail (in ordinary lay man’s language) concerning the multitude of aspects of the spiritual life.
Of course, there is going to be a big battle, or war, especially in the beginning of a spiritual because the virus of sin is fighting for survival and saying ‘do your own will! Indulge! Be the version of you that you want.’ But that version, if not whom God means you to be, is nothing more than a child of Satan. And the empire of grace is trying to get you on its side. ‘Follow God! It’s in your best interest! Listen to grace and do your part! Take action, lest you be wounded even further, and blinded and lost!’
We use all these tools for two ends: to defend ourselves from falling further and further into evil and to become strong in good to the point of being fit for contemplation and eternal life.
The Question of a Universal Call to Contemplation
From the research I have done, such as from The Theology of Christian Perfection by Antonio Royo, O.P. and other sources including St. Thomas, I have come to the conclusion that all souls are called to contemplation.
I do not agree with those who say that God gives it to some but withholds it from others, even if they are ready for it. I say that God is longing to give the gift of contemplation to the soul, but that He won’t do so until that soul is sufficiently prepared for so high a gift.
There comes a point in the spiritual life where God needs to intervene and where man can do no more in an active sense, but only in a passive sense. That is, to go any higher in the spiritual life beyond a certain point, would require man not only to be given help, but in a sense lifted and carried by God towards the destination. But this begins to happen gradually, secretly and almost imperceptibly. It could be a long time before a soul realises that it is actually contemplating God by a superior and gratuitous gift. Such is the subtlety of this quiet and hidden work in the depths of the soul.
Let’s face it. If we really tried to contemplate God using the tool of actual grace and our own faculties, what is the best we could come up with? No more than an elaborate meditation which is only the 2nd level of prayer.
Actual grace could help us meditate on Divine virtues and attributes to quite an impressive degree and the imagination could help quite a bit as well. But all that would fall very far short of real contemplation. Its too limited, too human, too ignorant and too confined to our feeble human nature.
We can help things along to an extent, but we can’t cause anything of ourselves. We can do a lot in the early stages of the spiritual life, such as take massive action and put in consistent effort. But all that is no more than simply preparing the ground work for the real thing.
Contemplation can take many forms and can at times be Cherubic and other times Seraphic, or sometimes both together. But it also takes a form that is not felt much except for a sweet calm peace and a sense of something going on interiorly, yet being so high, it cannot be spoken about without doing it injustice. A bit like a baby seeing something amazing that soon vanishes from sight and it’s too little and dumb to talk about it. It can only point and make baby noises and that’s it.
Then someone comes along and tries to get the baby to draw a picture of what it saw and the baby starts scribbling away on the paper and for some reason it ends up looking like some random form of modern art and someone else is actually impressed by it and sells it for millions and customers actually buy it. Then an adult finally comes along who saw the same thing and compares it to the baby’s picture and says “what?! It looks nothing like that! It was a tractor with a crane and bucket lifting hey bails and there was a sheep giving birth nearby.” Even if the baby could accurately draw all that, it would still only resemble meditation. Creating a picture based on nature of the Divinity. Because of course, God is better than a tractor or the sight of a lamb being born. Similarly, He is incomprehensibly greater than any idea or image we can come up with ourselves because all our knowledge and ideas are derived from creatures, not directly infused by God as in the case of contemplation.
Now let’s apply some of this to our original questions.
The Contemplative Living in the World
So we have a contemplative living in the world. No elaborate external signs of virtue are needed since they are in a state of contemplation and while they do the ordinary things, the people they meet do not see the likes of a Padre Pio or a Vincent Ferrer.
Like God, they also possess great goodness and want to share it. They love their fellow man, but it is spiritual love.
It could be said that it is not a natural way to live – that of being a true lover of God but not being able to share this deep interior treasure with others. At least not with much facility.
Some things can be done such as launching an online Apostolate which again is going to be relatively easy for some but more difficult for others. And it may lack a lot of in-person interaction.
So it is somewhat of a lonely path, that of the way of infused contemplation. But not lonely in the sense of needing authentic human friendship and company. The Divine presence makes up for the lack of human intimacy. “God alone suffices” – St. Teresa of Avila. However, it can be lonely in the sense that while it is natural to man to be part of “others” and to share with them his thoughts, his affections, his values, his benefits (to a degree) and ultimately himself, in some cases he cannot do this, or at least not nearly as much as he is naturally inclined to.
Such a case is that of a contemplative soul living in the society of those who love the world. He is of God and of the spirit to a significant degree but they are of the flesh and operate through worldly wisdom and the dictates of self-love and self-interest.
When I say self-love you will understand that I mean inordinate self-love, the kind that is not ordered according to reason and grace. The love that one is left with if the love of God is either cold or entirely absent in the soul. And self-interest in this context means that the end in view is the benefit of oneself regardless of whether this pleases God. Real self-interest means interest in the Divine Will. To follow this is to act in our true best interest.
There are two problems with connecting with others in the world in the capacity of a contemplative.
Number one from what we’ve talked about above, contemplation is too high and too spiritual to express in words. You could write a library of books on it without succeeding in communicating it to someone else. Aside from that it’s not meant for those who are not spiritually prepared, nor can it ever be a gift of one man to another.
Number two, as we’ve also spoken about above, many people are indisposed to listen to the things of God, even to the point of reacting with sarcasm, or contempt. Or they are just too indifferent to care at all. Moreover if you are talking to them as one of their mates, and there seems to be nothing much extraordinary or special about you, they won’t see much to be inspired by. People who are far from God tend to need something external that inspires them before they really turn within to the interior.
But if they only hear words from someone who seems like them externally it is difficult for them to get excited or moved. And their habit of living according self may cause them to feel annoyed and/or threatened. So they will likely close off their interior ears and only listen with the ears of the body.
And now it can be asked, well what about talking about more basic things like heaven and hell and the importance of getting into a good state (in preparation for contemplation and salvation).
Again, the chances of engaging the interest of a lover of the world is slim. As we said above, contemplatives and Saints in the past had an impressive exterior and many of them had a powerful charisma which is now virtually non-existent, even in the most authentic modern-day contemplatives and true lovers of God.
Here is the principle that should be well considered: if one is not disposed to listen to the truth about God and the soul, it is not only useless but morally reprehensible to attempt to instruct and correct them.
Questions and Positive Aspects of Being a Contemplative in the World
All this considered, it seems that among the best ways for a contemplative to live in the world would be to find some common ground with others and leave out what cannot or should not be communicated except to those who show signs of openness to grace and readiness to listen to words of spiritual wisdom. And there will be good people out there who will benefit greatly from being with or around a contemplative. Contemplation has a way of very subtly affecting those around the individual, provide they themselves are also striving to lead good Catholic lives.
The contemplative will still find many, many opportunities to edify and exercise charity to those who are in his life.
As for the question of does the contemplative need to be very open about the faith? That could be asked of any Catholic and there is no single, correct answer. Some feel drawn to be more open and it works to varying extents, while others may find from experience that it is better to be more discreet and only be open if good may come of it. Sometimes a soul will only approach someone who doesn’t seem to be waving religion in their face and when they do, they may begin to like the Catholic person and from there get into a productive conversation that they may not have had otherwise.
If a contemplative is generally hidden and unknown in the world, does that mean he has to be fake? No! He can still find some common ground and be to others whatever charity dictates, but without trying to ask too much of them and without expecting too much of themselves. If you are a contemplative, you can still be yourself to the extent that it is observable to others. They will see a part of you, but certainly not all of you. Mary of Nazareth was known among her Jewish friends, but only to the extent that was possible for them to perceive. They were indeed impressed and charmed by her virtue, but they had no idea how deep her interior life was. And we have a line in Scripture speaking about how all the beauty of the King’s daughter is within. This is often referred to Mary’s interior beauty. Something known to God alone, and not even to Mary Herself.
Even though others will see but the tip of the iceberg when they interact with a contemplative, it will still benefit them if they themselves are of good will. They just won’t know that grace is flowing out of the contemplative onto them because it’s so subtle, hidden and sublime. But a contemplative can secretly radiate all sorts of good things, such as a sense of peace in the room, calmness, positivity, gentle joy, love and ultimately, grace. But again, some may be receptive to this and others may not. Or some may be partly receptive to it and partly not. It largely depends on the individual. What the true contemplative has to offer is beyond words because it is so spiritual. And the more spiritual a thing is, the less appropriate it becomes to communicate it through word of mouth or other human contrivances and methods.
Therefore, the contemplative in the world is all but hidden, yet he can be very likable, with few or no enemies and appeal to the good in all who cross his path. He is of God, but he is very human at the same time, very down to earth and always ready to share a hearty laugh and take part in the simple pleasures of life. Everything is imbued with a charity that resides deep in the soul. And all who cross the path of a contemplative are offered grace from a new and hidden source. They are fortunate people, but may never know why until the last day.
The contemplative person will not be distracted by the world because as we observe in the sphere of human love, no amount of external distraction can significantly dislodge the focus of a true lover from the object of his or her affection.
The contemplative sees the world as it really is, through the Divine lens and can never see it a different way again, so long as he remains in this high estate of wondering, silent love. Therefore, the world does not intimidate or tempt him much because he already sees it as it will be hereafter – nothing. All that will remain are souls and their good and evil works. He looks habitually with an eternal eye, not a temporal one. Therefore, his hopes are placed higher than any earthly hopes. His hopes are for spiritual goods, for the things of eternal life. And although he could be said to want certain things here in this life, it is usually in order to serve God better somehow or for the sake of someone else.
A contemplative is a little like the Blessed Sacrament on earth. Available, yet hidden. Always there with great love for men, but ignored by most. Yet still there for those of good will and still of great benefit to the Church on a spiritual level. Not there for self, but there for the glory and Kingdom of God and the benefit and salvation of his brethren.
Lastly, I want to address the question of humouring other people. Is it a good thing? I certainly think it is permissible if it is done with the right intention or in the right way which is with honesty and genuine charity. You can humour someone on their good points but not to the point of exaggeration. But the idea is to highlight their virtues, whether these are natural or spiritual. You can humour someone in a bad way of course, but I firmly believe that you can also do it in a good way.
Here is an example. You could say to someone ‘Ah, you’re always up for a good, lively chat and I can really express myself openly when we’re having a conversation. I love that about you! You’re actually doing pretty well in your challenging job; do keep it up! You’ll be able to afford a nice place for you and your wife! And it will be well deserved!’ Or, ‘it was great seeing you at after Mass the other day. Do you like our parish? You seem to be a valued member of it. I should do more for it like you.’ And so on.
I believe this kind of humour is not only permissible, but is an aspect of real charity and could almost be called a duty of charity, but not to the point where you should ever get scrupulous about it or go overboard. This kind of humour is far from the type where you are trying to fit into their circle and be like them, or get them to like you. Humour that proceeds from charity is not about you but about praising God in them, loving them for His sake. They just don’t know that but so what? God knows it and it is the truth. People are generally very good on a lot of points and there’s no harm in expressing your appreciation of that and thereby encouraging them in the way of goodness and virtue. I mean, what else are you going to do? Make them feel awkward because they don’t fulfil all their duties, because they aren’t more like you? That will usually get you nowhere and it’s not just unnecessary but I would even venture to say it is against charity, unless of course, as we’ve mentioned above, it is a part of fraternal correction and you believe they are going to listen and amend themselves, but generally, that’s not going to be the case with the average person you meet or spend time with on the regular.
Christ opened His sermon on the Mount telling everyone how blessed they are and how dear to God if they are poor in spirit, pure in heart, meek, etc. This is a way of attracting them. He didn’t say ‘well you’re all sinners and should be trying harder.’ Even though that is also the truth. Rather He took a more charming approach. Always saying ‘blessed is he…’ Blessed is the man who…’ Or ‘your faith hath made thee whole.’ ‘As you have believed, so be it done to you.’ Always praising the good in others and rewarding them for their faith and other virtues. And honouring His mother by her humble and charitable request to save the wedding party from disgrace, thus giving the servants an occasion of exercising faith and then gaining merit, followed by reward.
The happiness of a contemplative consists in contemplation and doing good. That’s it. Loving and causing love and joy in others is one of the things he enjoys most. He considers them as spiritual children of the Good Father – his delight is to be with the sons of men.