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Mar302022

Comforting Lord

Thus says the LORD: “In a time of favor I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, `Come forth,’ to those who are in darkness, `Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be raised up. Lo, these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.” Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 

–Isaiah chp 49:8-15

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Mar292022

Untitled

There is no way to union with God without annihilating the memory as to all forms (i.e., items of knowledge). This union cannot be wrought without a complete separation of the memory from all forms that are not God. As we mentioned in the night of the intellect, God cannot be encompassed by any form or distinct knowledge…. Since the memory cannot at the same time be united with God and with forms and distinct knowledge, and since God has no form or image comprehensible to the memory, the memory is without form and without figure when united with God. Its imagination being lost in great forgetfulness without the remembrance of anything, it is absorbed in a supreme good. (Ascent of Mount Carmel–St John of the Cross).

An important understanding about deeper interior prayer is being conveyed here. Even though contemplation always has an element of passive receptivity to grace, as will be examined later more fully, it is nonetheless necessary that the faculties of the soul exercise a suitable effort of their own in denying and rejecting their inclination to seek easier satisfactions in prayer. These faculties play a key role by their own choice in accepting the purgative darkness that descends upon the faculty, particularly in a deeper prayer of contemplation. A spirit of surrender to effects that may be hard to manage, and difficult to understand at first as a benefit, is necessary for the contemplative path to God.

“Saint John of the Cross: Master of Contemplation” by Father Donald Haggerty

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Mar262022

One hidden

You do very well, O soul, to seek Him ever as one hidden, for you exalt God and approach very near Him when you consider Him higher and deeper than anything you can reach. Hence pay no attention, neither partially nor entirely, to anything your faculties can grasp. I mean that you should never seek satisfaction in what you understand about God, but in what you do not understand about Him. Never pause to love and delight in your understanding and experience of God, but love and delight in what you cannot understand or experience of Him. Such is the way, as we said, of seeking Him in faith. However surely it may seem that you find, experience, and understand God, because he is inaccessible and concealed you must always regard Him as hidden, and serve Him who is hidden in a secret way. –St John of the Cross ‘Spiritual Canticle’

St John of the Cross Adoring

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Mar262022

Self-awareness

I give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, who have been pleased to nourish me, a sinner and unworthy servant, with the precious Christ: this through no merits of mine, and Blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, this through no merits of mine, but due solely to the graciousness of your mercy. And I pray that this Holy Communion may not be for me an offense to be punished, but a saving plea for forgiveness. May it be for me the armor of faith, and the shield of good will. May it cancel faults, destroy concupiscence and carnal passion, increase charity and patience, humility and obedience and all the virtues, may it be a firm defense against the snares of all my enemies, both visible and invisible, the complete calming of my impulses, both of the flesh and of the spirit, a firm adherence to you, the one true God, and the joyful completion of my life’s course. And I beseech you to lead me, a sinner, to that banquet beyond all telling, where with your Son and the Holy Spirit you are the true light of your Saints, fullness of satisfied desire, eternal gladness, consummate delight and perfect happiness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Mar242022

Hidden

Since, then, your beloved Bridegroom is the treasure hidden in a field for which the wise merchant sold all his possessions, and that field is your soul, in order to find Him you should forget all your possessions and all creatures and hide in the secret inner room of your spirit and there, closing the door behind you (your will to all things), you should pray to your Father in secret. Remaining hidden with Him, you will experience Him in hiding, that is, in a way transcending all language and feeling lives hidden within your heart, strive to be really hidden with Him, and you will embrace Him within you and experience Him with loving affection.  –St John of the Cross ‘Spiritual Canticle’

 

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