Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange - Knowing the Love of God

KNOWING THE
LOVE OF GOD

Lessons from a Spiritual Master

Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.

Lighthouse Catholic Media

Originally published under the title The Last Writings of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange by New City Press, 1969. Originally translated by Raymond Smith, O.P., and Rod Gorton. In this 2015 edition, there have been minor improvements to the translation. A new foreword and introduction have also been added.

NIHIL OBSTAT: MARTINUS S. RUSHFORP, PHD.
CENSOR LIBRORUM

IMPRIMATUR: FRANCISCUS IOANNES MUGAVERO, D.D.
EPISCOPUS BRUKLYNIENSIS
BRUKLYNI DIE 7 MAII 1969

Cover art: Return of the Prodigal Son
by Bartolome Esteban Murillo (16171682)
Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Cover Design by Geoff Butz and Christopher Murphy
Layout and Design by Denise Fath

Lighthouse Catholic Media
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission from Lighthouse Catholic Media.

ISBN Number: 978-1-942759-01-0

Printed in the United States of America

Special Acknowledgment

Special thanks to Dr. Scott Hahn for enabling us to rescue this masterpiece from obscurity. This book would not be available without his tremendous help. Please remember Dr. Hahn, his family, and their intentions in your prayers.

Dedication

We entrust the fruitfulness of this book to the

Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph.

St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Foreword

On the day of my ordination to the holy priesthood, my seminarian friend Michael Hendershott gave me a book as an ordination gift. On the first page Michael wrote: May this book by our mutual friend serve to increase charity and truth as a token of gratitude for your help in increasing these in me. The book was The Last Writings of Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange , and the author was the man named in the title. Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., was a French Dominican priest who lived from 1877 to 1964. A most faithful commentator on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and a staunch defender of the Angelic Doctors teachings, Garrigou-Lagrange was one of the greatest philosophers and theologians of the 20th century. In my seminary years, the many works of Garrigou-Lagrange brilliantly illuminated my philosophical and theological studies. Michael had this same experience, and, thus, could truly call Garrigou-Lagrange our mutual friend.

Despite my familiarity with Garrigou-Lagranges many writings, the book Michael gave me was one I had never seen before, largely due to its having been out of print for many years. The Last Writings (now titled Knowing the Love of God ) is a collection of Garrigou-Lagranges retreat conferences as he preached them to his fellow Dominicans. Each chapter consists of one of these conferences, making this book a retreat in written form and the rich fruit of many decades of preaching, teaching, and profound prayer. Although I already had a plethora of books on my personal reading list, Knowing the Love of God was the first book I chose to read after my priestly ordination. What I discovered therein was a precious gem of spiritual theology put forward in an intellectually engaging and widely accessible form. Garrigou-Lagrange is, perhaps, best known for his two-volume masterpiece on spiritual theology, The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Prelude of Eternal Life , at the end of which he offers an outline for preaching a retreat on progress in the spiritual life. Knowing the Love of God follows this outline almost exactly, treating the spiritual life in a theologically scientific manner which both enlightens the trained theologian and inspires the simple soul.

In Knowing the Love of God , Garrigou-Lagrange treats first the goal or aim of our spiritual life, namely, attaining supernatural happiness with God in Heaven. Next, he speaks of sin and its consequences as the obstacles to this goal and the impediments to our spiritual progress. He then considers Our Lord Jesus and His redemptive power as the source of our spiritual growth, a growth demanding death to sin and configuration to Christ. After discussing at length the various means for achieving this growth, he explains, finally, the union with God attainable in this life, a veritable foretaste of eternal beatitude.

Since reading Knowing the Love of God , I have been blessed to draw from its insights not only for my own spiritual life, but also for preaching, giving retreat talks, and providing spiritual direction. When I offered a copy of it to Mark Middendorf, President of Lighthouse Catholic Media, he found it so spiritually valuable that he wanted to have it reprinted. Due to the timeless clarity of his doctrine, Garrigou-Lagrange provides in these pages both an enduring contribution to spiritual theology and concrete spiritual guidance to clergy and laity alike. In an age when the duties of daily life make it difficult, if not impossible, for so many to spend several days away from family or work for a retreat, Knowing the Love of God affords the opportunity to make that retreat from home and thereby grow in the knowledge and love of Our Lord. It is my hope and prayer that this work of spiritual wisdom, prepared on the fiftieth anniversary of Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagranges passing from earthly life, will reap an abundant harvest in the hearts of many Catholics and aid them in obtaining life everlasting.

Rev. Timothy J. Draper

Holy Cross Catholic Church

Batavia, IL

Feast of St. Dominic

Introduction

When Catholics of the twenty-first century consider the life and legacy of St. John Paul II, they may be inclined to ask: what type of formation and instruction contributed to this great mans spiritual legacy? While one could list numerous significant influences, one thing is certain: St. Thomas Aquinas and those spiritual masters who studied and commented on the writings of the Angelic Doctor served as the robust foundation of John Paul IIs Catholic formation.

Writing on the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination, Pope John Paul II fondly remembered the volumes of Saint Thomas with commentaries that guided his priestly formation. I was learning my theology, so to speak, from the center of a great theological tradition. This sacred learning was not merely intellectual. Indeed, it greatly shaped his spiritual life and inspired within the seminarian Karol Wojtyla many hours of meditation.

After his ordination, love for the truth led the twenty-six-year-old priest to travel the great distance from Poland to the Pontifical Athenaeum (now University) of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He explained that he enrolled at the Angelicum in order to deepen my knowledge of the teaching of the Common Doctor.

The Pope would later explain that his choice of mentor was not based on passing sentiment. Three decades latera little over a year after he ascended to the Chair of St. PeterJohn Paul II returned to his Roman alma mater . On November 17, 1979, as he revisited the Angelicum classrooms of his youth, the Pope recalled with great fondness: Every Saturday we came to hear the lectures of Pre Garrigou-Lagrange: a great theologian, a man expert in the spiritual sciences, who at over seventy years of age kept alive a surprising vivacity! He was a professor who showed by his living that he was always teaching. In the saints estimation, Garrigou-Lagrange was not one teacher among many. He was a true master of the spiritual life.