Vigils Reading

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.