ON UNION WITH GOD
| Nihil Obstat. F. THOS. BERGH, O.S.B., Censor Deputatus. Imprimatur. EDM. CAN. SURMONT, Vicarius Generalis. Westmonasterii, Die 7 Decembris, 1911. |
[All rights reserved]
The Angelus Series
On Union with God
BY BLESSED
ALBERT THE GREAT, O.P.
WITH NOTES BY
REV. P. J. BERTHIER, O.P.
TRANSLATED BY
A BENEDICTINE OF PRINCETHORPE PRIORY
R.& T. WASHBOURNE, LTD.
PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
AND AT MANCHESTER, BIRMINGHAM, AND GLASGOW
PREFACE
Surely the most deeply-rooted need of the human soul, its purestaspiration, is for the closest possible union with God. As one turnsover the pages of this little work, written by Blessed Albert theGreat[1] towards the end of his life, when that great soul had ripenedand matured, one feels that here indeed is the ideal of one's hopes.
Simply and clearly the great principles are laid down, the way is madeplain which leads to the highest spiritual life. It seems as[6] though,while one reads, the mists of earth vanish and the snowy summits appearof the mountains of God. We breathe only the pure atmosphere of prayer,peace, and love, and the one great fact of the universe, the DivinePresence, is felt and realized without effort.
But is such a life possible amid the whirl of the twentieth century? Tofaith and love all things are possible, and our author shows us theloving Father, ever ready to give as much and more than we can ask. Thespirit of such a work is ever true; the application may vary withcircumstances, but the guidance of the Holy Spirit will never be wantingto those souls who crave for closer union with their Divine Master.
This little treatise has been very aptly called the "Metaphysics of theImitation," and it is in the[7] hope that it may be of use to souls thatit has been translated into English.
Blessed Albert the Great is too well known for it to be necessary for usto give more than the briefest outline of his life.
The eldest son of the Count of Bollstädt, he was born at Lauingen inSwabia in 1205 or 1206, though some historians give it as 1193. As ayouth he was sent to the University of Padua, where he had specialfacilities for the study of the liberal a