DESCRIPTION OF CONTEMPLATION. FIRST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IT AND MEDITATION
Theotimus, Contemplation is simply a loving, simple, lasting concentration of the spirit on divine mysteries.[1] You will easily understand it by a comparison between meditation and contemplation.
The pupae of the bees are called nymphs or schadons till they make honey. Then we call them avettes or bees. Similarly, prayer is called meditation till it forms the honey of devotion. After that it changes itself into contemplation. The bees fly over the landscape of the country here and there in search of honey and collect it. Once they have gathered honey they work over it because of the pleasure they take in its sweetness. In the same way, we meditate to gather the love of God. Once we have obtained it we contemplate God. We are often attentive to his goodness because of the delight which love enables us to find in it. The desire of obtaining divine love makes us meditate. The love that is obtained causes us to contemplate. For love makes us discover a very pleasant sweetness in the thing loved so that we can never satisfy our spirits in seeing and pondering over it.
Theotimus, look at the queen of Sheba. She reflects in detail on the wisdom of Solomon. She sees his wisdom in his answers, in the beauty of his house, in the magnificence of his table, in the lodgings ofhis servants, in the order which the courtiers followed, in the exercise of their duties, in their dress and bearing, in the number of holocausts offered in the house of the Lord (1 Kings 10:4-8). Then she remained taken up by a fervent love which changed her meditation into contemplation. By it she was entirely carried off out of herself and uttered many words of extreme satisfaction. The sight of so many wonders caused in her heart an extreme love. This love caused new desire always to see more and enjoy the presence of him who possessed them and with whom she saw them. Hence she cries out: Happy are these your servants who continually attend you and hear your wisdom (1Kings 10:8). Thus, sometimes we begin to eat to stimulate our hunger. Hunger once aroused, we continue to eat to satisfy the hunger. In the beginning we reflect on the goodness of God to awaken our will to love. Once love is formed in our hearts, we meditate on the same goodness to satisfy our love. This love can never be satisfied by always seeing what it loves. In short, meditation is the mother of love. Contemplation is her daughter. That is why I said that contemplation is a loving attention. For we call children by the name of their fathers and not fathers by the name of their children.
It is true, Theotimus, that Joseph of old was the crown and glory of his father. Joseph increased greatly his honours and contentment. He made him feel young in his old age. Similarly, contemplation crowns its father, that is love, perfects it and gives it the fullness of excellence. Love awakens in us contemplative attention. This attention in turn gives birth to a great and fervent love. Finally, this love is crowned with perfection when it enjoys what it loves. Love delights us at the sight of our Beloved. The sight of our Beloved makes us delight in his divine love. Thus there is this mutual movement from love to sight and from sight to love as love renders the beauty of the object loved more beautiful. So the sight of beauty makes love more loving and delightful. Love, by an unseen power, makes the beauty we love appear more beautiful. The sight equally refines love to make it discover beauty more lovable. Love urges the eyes always to look more attentively at the well-beloved beauty. Sight forces the heart to love it always more ardently.
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[1] Choses divines We preferred to translate it as divine mysteries or realities because contemplation is always on divine mysteries. Things are used for anything.