Page 17 - FLIPBOOK - Life of Saint Gerard Majella - Vassall-Phillips

LIFE OF SAINT GERARD MAJELLA

once more the sceptre of unfallen Adam over the animal creation; in
these lives we perceive the gift of prophecy in fullest use; we see a
Saint like St. Antony beholding in vision the soul of Amnon
ascending into Heaven at what was afterwards discovered to be the
very moment of his death, at a distance represented by thirteen days'
journey; we find the discernment of spirits insisted on by St. Paul of
old — the wiles of Satan discovered, and the ways of God recognized
to His greater Glory; we learn how some of these holy men passed
their days, as is related of St. Macarius of Egypt, in almost continual
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ecstasy. Thus of the Abbot Sisois, it is told that he was ravished in
ecstasy as soon as he lifted his hands in prayer. Therefore, when he
prayed in company with his brethren, in his humility he would never
raise his arms at all lest he should be suddenly rapt out of himself
unawares. Again we read that a disciple of the Anchorite Sylvanus, on
coming to visit him one day, found him in an ecstasy. He returned six
hours, nine hours, and ten hours afterwards, always to find him in
this same state. When at last Sylvanus came back to earthly life, he
said that he had seen the Glory of God revealed to his enraptured
gaze.
We need hardly say that we quote these examples, taken out of a
multitude, not as though we wished to claim credence for any one
particular fact, but simply with the desire to show that the Church of
God is always the same in her mysterious life on earth. Visions,
prophecies, miracles, are no new things in her wondrous story. In her
Saints, the Redeemer's promise will be ever verified, that they should
do even greater works than it had pleased Him to accomplish while
he was dwelling as the Son of Man, visibly, in the midst of His
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people.
She is the city set upon a hill — visible to all who will recognize
her Divine Credentials. Surely, then, one of the signs that mark out
the true Church of Christ from all beside her is her identity in every
period of the world's history. Here is true continuity. The continuity

7 An ecstasy is a state of contemplation in which the soul is in a passive state,
while the use of the senses is suspended, so that the sight and hearing are for
the time lost, while neither incisions nor burning are felt (vide St. Alphonsus,
“Homo Apostolicus”; Appendix I., “Directio Anim. sp.,” § 2, no. 17).

8 St. John xiv. 12.

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