Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 6:19-20
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 10:13
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And convince some, who doubt; save some, by snatching them out of the fire; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the
Benediction
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
Chapter 17-25
Durtal sat down on a stump that had once supported a bench, and tried to look into his own soul; but he found within, look where he might, only a spiritual Beauce; it seemed to him to mirror the cold and monotonous landscape; only it was not a mighty wind that blew through his being; but a sharp, drying little blast. He knew that he was cross-grained and could not make his observations calmly; his conscience harassed him and insisted on vexatious argument.
“Pride! Ah, how is it to be kept under till the day shall come when it shall be quelled? It insinuates itself so stealthily, so noiselessly, that it has ensnared and bound me before I can suspect its presence; and my case too is somewhat peculiar, and hard to cure by the religious treatment commonly prescribed in such cases. For in fact,” said he to himself, “my pride is not of the artless and overweening kind, elated, audacious, boldly displaying, and proclaiming itself to the world; no, mine is in a latent state, what was called vain-glory in the simplicity of the Middle Ages, an essence of pride diluted with vanity and evaporating within me in transient thoughts and unexpressed conceit. I have not even the opportunity afforded by swaggering pride for being on my guard and compelling myself to keep silence. Yes, that is very true; talk leads to specious boasting and invites subtle praise; one is presently aware of it, and then, with patience and determination, it is in one’s power to check and muzzle oneself. But my vice of pride is wordless and underground; it does not come forth. I neither see nor hear it. It wriggles and creeps in without a sound, and clutches me without my having heard its approach!
“And the good Abbé answers: ‘Be watchful and pray;’ well, I am more than willing, but the remedy is ineffectual, for aridity and outside influences deprive it of its efficacy!
“As for outside suggestions, they never seem to come to me but in prayer. It is enough that I kneel down and try to collect my thoughts, they are at once dissipated. The mere purpose of prayer is like a stone flung into a pool; everything is stirred up and comes to the top!” J.K. Huysmans “The Cathedral”
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor. Gospel of Matthew
The devil’s aim here must not be made light of, for he is trying to bring about a cooling of charity and love among the sisters, and if he could do this he would be working a great deal of harm. Let us realize, my daughters, that true perfection consists in the love of God and of our neighbour, and the more nearly perfect is our observance of these two commandments, the nearer to perfection we shall be. Our entire Rule and Constitutions are nothing but means which enable us to do this the more perfectly. Let us refrain from indiscreet zeal, which may do us great harm: let each one of you look to herself. As I have said a great deal to you about this elsewhere, I will not enlarge on it further.
This mutual love is so important for us that I should like you never to forget it; for if the soul goes about looking for trifling faults in others (which sometimes may not be imperfections at all, though perhaps our ignorance may lead us to make the worst of them) it may lose its own peace of mind and perhaps disturb that of others. See, then, how dearly perfection can be bought. The devil might also use this temptation in the case of a prioress, and then it would be more dangerous still. Much discretion is necessary here; for, if it were a question of her contravening the Rule and Constitutions, it would not always do to take a lenient view of the matter—she would have to be spoken to about it; and, if she did not then amend, the prelate would have to be told: to do this would be a charity. This would also apply to the sisters, where the fault was a grave one: to say nothing through fear that taking the matter up would be yielding to temptation would itself be to yield to temptation. However, to prevent deception by the devil, it should be strongly stressed that no sister must discuss such things with any other, for from this practice the devil can pluck great advantage and start habits of slander; these matters must be discussed, as I have said, only with the person whose concern they are. Here, glory be to God, we keep almost continuous silence, so that the opportunity does not arise; none the less, it is well that we should be on our guard. –St Teresa of Avila ‘Interior Castle’
“From the heart come forth evil thoughts that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands doth not defile a man (Matt. 15:19). A good man out of a good treasure bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matt. 12:35).”
“No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62). Yea, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:7). God sent not His Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by Him (John 3:17).” —Saint Louis De Montfort ‘The Love of Eternal Wisdom’
I was recently gifted a painting, a larger painting 36” wide by 30” tall. I hung the image on a bedroom wall, at the foot of my bed, across a short distance. The image coalesces nicely with a series of smaller personal photos I had matted—no frames. The larger painting has come to represent the idea of purity: flowers in abundance, sunshine with shadows, a white door, cleanliness, order, and a blue (Marian) shuttered paned window–crosses–looking out to the exterior. The idea of an interior—a home, and an exterior purely harmonizing; a door, a throughway establishing a point of demarcation allowing passage, a brick path for walking. The battle of the flesh has always been an intense confrontation for myself. There is no escaping the matter, a humbling accepting of a vulnerability to sin. Reality, letting go of delusions of grandeur, embracing the spiritual life not for self-glorification or achievement, rather a desperate game of salvation. So much at stake and a sinner at heart–not the words of a winner, the pleas of a man scared of himself, afraid of his past, afraid of tendencies, afraid not of things of the world, rather fearful of himself. The man who once owned the painting, a recognized saint by a living reminder, struggled with similar difficulties as myself. His devotion, at times, I feel, as well as his love, and a sense he has identified me, assisting. It is not important, nor nothing to concentrate up, at worst a false nice idea, at best a gift from God. Either way, I am pleased with the image.
By faith we affirm the truth of the divine life that has been promised to us. Through love we possess it. Hope gives us the certainty that with the help of grace we will grow in this life and finally possess it perfectly and unendingly in heaven.
In this activity of the three theological virtues is the substance of every deep and sincere prayer. We can carry on a conversation directly with God in the innocence and simplicity of our souls. “In simplicitate cordis quaerite illum” “Seek him with simplicity of heart” (Wis 1:1). Why should we direct our first to this, then to that and thus split it up? Why should we philosophize about God, tiring intellect, will, and imagination through tedious presentations of pictures and scenes, when we can remain, through simple meditation in the spirit of faith and love, close to the source of life and thus connect ourselves directly with God?
Our divine Savior himself demands this simplicity of us: “Be as simple as doves” (Mt 10:16). God himself is, after all, also simplicity. The more innocent and simple we are, the more is our gaze directed upon him and so much <span;>the nearer we come to him; while on the contrary, the more complicated we are, the more we distance ourselves from him.
Simplicity is the atmosphere of God. We know that God, our Father, is present in us. Does a child, if it wants to speak with its Father, consult a book to see what subject of conversation it should choose, what forms of speech it should use? No, the child speaks directly and simply… –a Carthusian
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