Pensées

This is a brief, intense meditation or prayer that Pascal wrote down after his “Night of Fire,” the mystical experience he had during the night of November 23, 1654.

Like many of the Pensées, Pascal’s vision is conveyed in fragments of thought. Pascal proclaims his belief in God as revealed in the Scriptures and known through faith in Jesus Christ rather than as discovered by the reasoning of “philosophers and scholars.” This faith creates an assurance of “certainty” in Pascal, along with an emotionally overwhelming “joy” and “peace.” Aware of his moral failings, Pascal laments that he has been “cut off” from God and “denied” and “crucified” Jesus, but prays to be united with the divinity forever. This is achieved through a “sweet and total renunciation” (286), in which Pascal abandons himself to the will of Jesus and listens to the counsels of his spiritual director or priest.

The Recueil Original refers to the original collection of Pascal’s papers from which most of the Pensées were drawn. Fragments 914-918 consist of reflections on Pascal’s disputes with the Jesuits. He insists that his own theological positions, despite being “condemned” by ecclesiastical authorities, have been correct and will be vindicated in heaven.