SUSTAIN yet awhile Thy poor little servant that he may speak with Thee, his God! He hath no wit save what Thou grantest him.
I behold in the face of the picture a figure of infinity, for its gaze is not limited to one object or place, and is thus infinite, seeing that it is not more turned to one than to another of them that look upon it. Yet, albeit its gaze is infinite in itself, it seemeth to one regarding it to be limited, since it looketh so fixedly on any beholding it as if it looked on him alone and on naught else. Wherefore Thou ’ appearest unto me, Lord, as a being potentially absolute and infinite, that can be formed and determined by every form. For we say that the determinable potentiality of matter is infinite, seeing that ’tis never utterly exhausted.
But Thou, O infinite Light, makest answer within me that absolute potentiality is infinity itself, which is beyond the wall of coincidence, where potential becoming is one with potential
creating, where potentiality is one with act.” Matter, although it exist potentially in relation to infinite forms, can yet not possess them in act, but the potentiality is determined by one form, or, if this be removed, by some other. If the potential being of matter were one with the act, it would itself be in the same sense potentiality and act; and just as it was potentiality in relation to infinite forms, so in act it would be infinitely clothed with form. But infinity in act is without otherness, and cannot be infinity unless it be unity. There cannot, then, be an infinite number of forms in act, for actual infinity is unity.
Thou, God, who art Very Infinity, art that one Very God in whom I see all potential being to be actual being. For potency wholly freed from all potentiality limited to matter or to any passive potentiality, is absolute being, for all that existeth in infinite being is itself infinite being pure and simple. Thus, in infinite being, the potential being of all things is infinite being itself. In like manner, in infinity, the actual being of all is infinite being itself. And so in Thee, my God, absolute potential being and absolute actual being could not exist wert Thou not, my God, infinite. My God, Thou art all potential being.
The potential being of matter is material, and thus limited and not absolute; in like manner, the potential being of sense and reason is limited, but that which cannot in any way be limited is one with the Absolute pure and simple, to wit, with infinity. Accordingly, when Thou, my God, appearest unto me as matter that may be formed, in that Thou receivest the form of whosoever looketh on Thee, Thou dost raise me up that I may perceive how he who looketh on Thee doth not give Thee form, but seeth himself in Thee, because from Thee he receiveth that which he is. And so that which Thou appearest to receive from him that looketh on Thee is truly Thy gift to him, Thou being as it were a living mirror of eternity, which is the Form of forms. While any looketh in this mirror, he seeth his own form in the Form of forms, to wit, in the mirror, and he judgeth the form which he seeth in that mirror to be a figure of his own form because ’tis so with a polished material mirror. Yet ’tis the contrary which is true, for in that mirror of eternity what he seeth is not a figure, but the truth, whereof the beholder himself is a figure. Wherefore, in Thee, my God, the figure is the truth, and the exemplar of all things that exist or can exist, and of each of them.
O God, who art marvellous to every mind, at times Thou seemest to be shadow, Thou who art light! While I perceive how the glance of Thine icon seemeth to change in accord with my changing, and Thy face seemeth to be changed—because of this change, Thou appearest to me like the shadow following the movement of one that walketh; but ’tis because I am a living shadow and Thou the truth that I judge from the change of the shadow that the truth changeth also. Wherefore, my God, Thou art alike shadow and truth, Thou art alike the image and exemplar of myself and of all men.
O Lord God, who enlightenest men’s hearts, my face is a true face because Thou, who art truth, hast given it unto me. My face is also an image, since ’tis not the truth itself, but an image of absolute truth. Thus in my thought I embrace both truth and the image of my face, and I perceive that therein the image is one with facial truth so that, in the measure it is an image, it is true. Then, Lord, Thou showest me how, in accord with the movement of my face, Thy face is alike moved and unmoved; ’tis moved because it quitteth not the truth of my face, ’tis unmoved, because it . followeth not the change of the image. Whence,
even as Thy face quitteth not the truth of my face, so also it followeth not the movement of a variable image, for absolute truth is unalterable. The truth of my face is changeable, seeing that it is truth equally with image, while Thine is unchangeable, seeing that it is image equally with truth. Absolute truth cannot abandon the truth of my face, for, did it do so, my face, being as it is changeable truth, could no longer subsist. Thus, O God, Thine infinite goodness maketh Thee seem subject to mutability, since Thou dost never desert Thy creatures, which are subject to mutability; howbeit, because Thou art absolute goodness, Thou art not changeable, inasmuch as Thou followest not mutability. O the unplumbed depths of Thee, my God, who dost not abandon Thy creatures, and followest them not withal!
O Lovingkindness beyond unfolding, Thou dost offer Thyself to him that beholdeth Thee as though Thou receivest being from him, and dost conform Thyself unto him that he may love Thee the more the more Thou seemest like unto himself! We cannot hate ourselves, hence we love that which partaketh of our being and goeth along with it; we embrace our likeness, because we are pictured in the image, and we love ourselves therein. In the
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humility of Thine infinite goodness, O God, Thou dost show Thyself as though Thou wert our creature, that thus Thou mayest draw us unto Thee. For Thou dost draw us unto Thee by every possible means whereby a free and~ rational creature may be drawn. In Thee, God, being created is one with creating, since, the image which seemeth to be created by me is the Truth which createth me. So that thus I may at least comprehend how closely I ought to be knit unto Thee, since in Thee being loved is one with loving. For if I ought to love myself in ‘Thee who art my likeness, I am most especially constrained thereto when I see that Thou lovest me as Thy creature and Thine image. How can a father not love a son who is alike father and son? And if he be right loveworthy who is esteemed as a son and - known as a father, art not Thou most chiefly so, who art more esteemed than any son, and better known than any father? Thou, my God, hast willed that filial love should be stablished in esteem, and Thou willest to be more esteemed than any son, and to be known more intimately than any father, because Thou art Love, embracing alike filial and paternal affection. Be Thou then blessed for evermore, Thou who art my most sweet Love, my God!
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