In Christian theology, there are two fundamental and complementary ways to grasp something of the mystery of God – the positive way and the negative way – which can then be reconciled through the analogical way of eminence and transcendence (Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, Revised Edition: Baronius Press, 2018, Book One – “The Unity and Trinity of God,” Part One – “The Unity of God: His Existence and Nature,” Section Three – “The Nature of God,” Chapter I – “The Knowledge of the Nature of God”). Positive theology proceeds by way of the dogmatic affirmations which can made about God, while negative theology proceeds by way of the difference between God and created beings and emphasizes the ineffable knowledge that existential union with Christ by faith, hope, and love brings to the human heart. Think of the difference between Boethius and Pseudo-Dionysius, or between Peter Lombard and St Bernard of Clairvaux. These two ways are complementary and should be integrated. Integrations are offered by St Thomas Aquinas, Bl John Duns Scotus, St Edith Stein, and St John Paul II, for example. The abstract language of dogma and the mystical language of poetry are both valid means of knowing God and should never be set in false opposition. In the gradual ascent of our minds and hearts to the presence of God in our souls by nature and grace, the positive and negative modes of theology work together to help us to grow in holiness and to receive a higher knowledge of God through the transformation of our capacity to participate in his divine Wisdom and Love. This higher mystical knowledge is attained only when God begins to reveal his divine Presence to us in our souls through infused contemplation, which is a non-conceptual and non-propositional mode of cognition and affectivity.
In order to understand the nature of the infused gift of contemplation, we first need a definition of the essence of contemplation as such.
Many definitions have been given of contemplation. The following one is from Richard of Saint Victor: “Contemplatio est perspicuus et liber contuitus animi in res perspiciendas. Contemplation is an attentive synthetic view, penetrating and loving, which attaches the mind to the realities that it is beholding.”
Saint Thomas defines it: “Simplex intuitus veritatis. A simple gaze on truth.”
The Carmelite theologians of Salamanca, the Salmanticenses, commentators of Saint Thomas, added a word to that definition. They say: “Simplex intuitus veritatis sub influxu amoris. A simple gaze on truth, under the influence of love.” (Blessed Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, OCD, A Practical Synthesis of Carmelite Spirituality – Volume One: I Want to See God, FIDES Publishers, 1953, Part Three: “Mystical Life and Contemplation,” Chapter VII: “Contemplation”)
Thus contemplation is a kind of intellectual knowledge that is produced by love and terminates in love. The human gaze has often been subjected to philosophical analysis and both honored and condemned. Intellectual knowledge is here understood in the Aristotelian sense of a formal conceptual union between the knowing subject and the object known, which presupposes hylomorphism (matter-form metaphysics) and immediate realism. The specific difference about contemplation as a form of intellectual knowledge is that it is an act of understanding mediated by loving attention. As an attending to what is known and then comprehending it through love, contemplation is a reflexive and secondary form of intellectual knowledge, which is posterior to the will (the rational appetite for the good which is understood by the intellect). Philosophy (the love of wisdom) is the dialectical art of understanding clearly what we already know implicitly. This reflexive art, made possible by the natural power of the intellect and gradually perfected by grace, attends not merely to subjective ideas but also to things themselves present in cognition. Contemplation may be aesthetic (art), intellectual (science), theological (dogma), or supernatural (infused).
As emphasized by St Thomas Aquinas, “Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur. Everything received is received according to the mode of the receiver.” The purpose of Christian prayer under the effects of divine grace is to surrender completely to the difficult but delightful spiritual transformation of the mode of the receiver. Corresponding to the positive and negative modes of theology are the two fundamental modes of prayer: the effable kataphatic (Gk. “according to speaking”) way and the ineffable apophatic (Gk. “away from speaking”) way. Both ways are essential to the transforming union of the soul with God. Kataphatic prayer is active and proceeds by way of percepts, imaginations, concepts, memories, words, devotions, creation, truth, goodness, beauty, and discursive reason. Apophatic prayer is passive and proceeds simply by way of the loving wisdom that God infuses in our souls through Christ and the Holy Spirit. The integrated practice of the active and passive modes of prayer in union with Christ ordinarily gives rise to mystical prayer, which is fully contemplative and directly infused by God. The ultimate goal of Christian prayer is a continuous loving trinitarian communion with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. A transformation of the heart is required because in the conditions of sin and attachment to sensible goods we do not naturally or easily attend to God in loving communion with his Presence in the soul. The transformation of the heart is possible only by personal effort and the help of grace. The spiritual life of prayer is therefore a battle, for we must struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Spiritual marriage between Christ and the soul is the Biblical and analogical representation of the struggle to overcome temptations and vices, to acquire self-mastery and virtues, and to remain faithful and attentive to God and his inspirations. This is the supernatural goal of every true disciple of Christ. Ultimately it is Christ who makes this goal attainable, and he offers his help to everyone who sincerely seeks God above all things in every state and walk of life.
“When the soul is called the Bride of God, there is not only a relationship of similarity between two things which permits one to be designated by the other. There is, much more, such an intimate union between the image and the reality that it is almost impossible to speak of them any longer as a duality. Turned around: the meaning of the expression, being engaged [to be married] has nowhere as fitting and perfect a fulfillment as in the love relationship of God with the soul. That is the hallmark of a symbol-relationship in the strict and actual sense. The relationship of the soul to God as God foresaw it from all eternity as the goal of her creation, simply cannot be more fittingly designated than as a nuptial bond. Once one has grasped that, then the image and the reality directly exchange their roles: the divine bridal relationship is recognized as the original and actual bridal relationship, and all human nuptial relationships appear as imperfect copies of this archetype – just as the Fatherhood of God is the archetype of all fatherhood on earth. By reason of this copy-relationship, the human bridal relationship becomes useful as a symbolic expression of the divine, and in view of this function that which is a purely human relationship in actual life takes second place. Its actual reality has its highest reason for existence in that it can give expression to a divine mystery (Ephesians 5:23 ff).” – St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), OCD, The Science of the Cross, translated by Sr Josephine Koeppel, OCD, ICS Publications, 2018
“By this likeness of charity…the soul is wedded to the Word, when, namely, loving even as she is loved, she shows herself, in her will, likened to Him to Whom she is already likened in her nature. Therefore, if she loves Him perfectly, she has become His bride. What can be more sweet than such a likeness? What can be more desirable than this love, whereby thou art enabled of thyself to draw nigh with confidence to the Word, to cleave to Him steadfastly, to question Him familiarly, and to consult Him in all thy doubts, as daring in thy desires as thou art receptive in thy understanding? This is in truth the alliance of holy and spiritual wedlock. Nay, it is saying too little to call it an alliance: it is rather an embrace. Surely we have then a spiritual embrace when the same likes and the same dislikes make of two one spirit. Nor is there any occasion to fear lest the inequality of the persons should cause some defect in the harmony of wills, since love knows nothing of reverence. Love means an exercise of affection, not a showing of honor…. Love is all sufficient for itself. Whithersoever love comes, it keeps under and holds captive to itself all the other affections. Consequently, the soul that loves, simply loves and knows nothing else except to love.” – St Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist., Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles, LXXXIII, 3, Migne, P. L., CLXXXIII, 1182-c, d (quoted in Doctor Mellifluus, Encyclical of Pius XII, 1953, https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_24051953_doctor-mellifluus.html
© 2026, Lawain McNeil, Mission Surrender, LLC.