ink of the torrent of_ His _pleasure: for
with_ Him _is the Fountain of Life, and in_ His _light we shall see
light._[365] Then shall our desire be sated with all good things, then
will there be naught for us to seek for with groanings, but only What we
shall cling to with joy. Yet none the less, since this is _the peace
that surpasseth all understanding_, even when praying for it _we know
not what we should pray for as we ought_[366] (_Ep._ cxxx. _ad probam_).

"He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God
shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of His
people He shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord
hath spoken it. And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our
God, we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the
Lord, we have patiently waited for Him, we shall rejoice and be
joyful in His salvation."[367]

V

Can the Contemplative Life attain, according to the State of this
Present Life, to the Contemplation of the Divine Essence?

S. Gregory says[368]: "As long as we live in this mortal flesh none of
us can make such progress in the virtue of contemplation as to fix his
mind's gaze on that Infinite Light."

S. Augustine also says[369]: "No one who looks on God lives with that
life with which we mortals live in the bodily senses; but unless he be
in some sort dead to this life, whether as having wholly departed from
the body, or as rapt away from the bodily senses, he is not uplifted to
that vision."

A man, then, can be "in this life" in two ways: he can be in it
actually--that is, as actually using his bodily senses--and when he is
thus "in the body" no contemplation such as belongs to this present life
can attain to the vision of the Essence of God; or a man may be "in this
life" potentially, and not actually; that is, his soul may be joined to
his body as its informing principle, but in such fashion that it neither
makes use of the bodily senses nor even of the imagination, and this is
what takes place when a man is rapt in ecstasy: in this sense
contemplation such as belongs to this life can attain to the vision of
the Divine Essence.

Consequently the highest degree of contemplation which is compatible
with the present life is that which S. Paul had when he was rapt in
ecstasy and stood midway between the state of this present life and the
next.

Some, however, say that the contemplative life can, even according to