THE CENOBITIC LIFE
From the writing of Baldwin of Ford.1
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The common life of the angels is a sort of copy of that common life which
is in God, of God, and is God. It is united in perfect peace by the Holy Spirit,
who is its love, its bond, and its communion. ‘By the word of the Lord the
heavens were established, and all their virtue by the spirit of his mouth.’ The
heavens are the angels in whom God dwells as their common life and common
blessedness, and in his love they live in concord and happiness. Each of them
loves all the others, and all of them love each; they all want the same things and
all are averse to the same things; what pleases one is displeasing to none, and
what one wants, they all want. There is one purpose and one will for all; all feel
the same thing, and all sense the same thing.
There is no one here puffed up with pride, no one consumed with envy,
no outbursts of anger, no quarrels or discord, no murmurs of impatience, and
no one is defamed by treacherous tongues. Here all is at peace, all is calm, all is
tranquil. There is nothing disordered, nothing undisciplined, nothing contrary
to order or obedience, nothing secretly put away with the intention of keeping
it for oneself. Everything is open and aboveboard, everything is plain, and
things which are proper to each individual are common to all through the
sharing of love and the love of sharing. They are all [assembled] in one temple
and raise their shouts of joy to God in common; all at the same time read and
meditate and contemplate in the book of life; and they all refresh themselves
communally at one and the same table. They take their rest together in the place
of eternal repose, and there is no one who does anything on his own which can
disturb or damage their common peace, obedience, or order.
Such is the fellowship— the happiest and most joyous [of fellowships] —
of the citizens of the realms above who live the common life, and we who are
still upon earth should follow their way of life by [living] the common life after
their example. Thus, we might deserve to be joined with them in intimate
companionship, a companionship which will be the more intimate the more it
is granted us from above to imitate their life, through the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the charity of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.