Monthly Archives: January 2015

Jan042015

Mary’s Unknowing

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“How shall this happen, since I do not know man?”. Luke 1:34

So often God performs his greatest work in silence. Mary is alone. As the Holy Spirit comes upon her, and the power of the Most High covers her with its shadow (Luke 1:35-36), she conceives the Holy One to be called Son of God. The whole world was to be affected by this event which God worked in seclusion and silence. So, too, does His grace work in one’s soul. Mary’s was a secret joy until God willed to reveal it to others.

Mother Mary, pray for us that we may always allow God’s grace to work silently in our soul

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Jan042015

Simplicity Regress

One
Two
Three
The thurible swings
Lord God
Almighty King
Have mercy on me

One
Two
Three
The thurible swings
Lord God
Almighty King
Crush me

One
Two
Three
The thurible swings
Lord God
Almighty King
Have mercy on me

Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea sicut incensum in conspectu tuo: elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum. Pone, Domine, custodiam ori meo, et ostium circumstantiae labiis meis : ut non declinet cor meum in verba malitiae, ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis.

Let my prayer, O Lord, come like incense before You; the lifting up of my hands, like the evening sacrifice. O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, a guard at the door of my lips. Let not my heart incline to the evil of engaging in deeds of wickedness.

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Jan042015

Thoughts on Apophatic Theology

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Negative theology, also known as Apophatic theology, is a theological approach that describes God by negation, speaking of God only in terms of what He is not (apophasis) rather than presuming to describe what God is.

In negative theology, it is maintained that we can never truly define God in words. In the end, the student must transcend words to understand the nature of the Divine. In this sense, negative theology is not a denial. Rather, it is an assertion that whatever the Divine may be, when we attempt to capture it in human words, we will inevitably fall short.

In contrast, making positive statements about the nature of God, which occurs in most other forms of Christian theology, is sometimes called cataphatic theology.

Negative theology played an important role early in the history of Christianity. Three theologians who emphasized the importance of negative theology to an orthodox understanding of God, were Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, and Basil the Great. It was employed by John of Damascus when he wrote that positive statements about God reveal “not the nature, but the things around the nature.” It continues to be prominent in Eastern Orthodoxy (see Gregory Palamas) where apophatic statements are crucial to much of their theology, and is used to balance cataphatic theology
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Apophatic theology is another name for “theology by way of negation,” according to which God is is known by negating concepts that might be applied to him, stressing the inadequacy of human language and concepts used to describe God. Philo and Plotinus influenced the Christian apophatic tradition, which is founds in the works of Gregory of Nyssa and Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite; it is characteristic of mystic theology and Eastern Orthodox; and shows parallels with Indian Advaita Vedanta. –Bowker, John, The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 81
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Kataphatic or Apophatic Prayer? by Jim Manney. Did you know that Ignatian prayer is kataphatic as opposed to apophatic? Actually, these fancy words point to a useful distinction. Kataphatic prayer has content; it uses words, images, symbols, ideas. Apophatic prayer has no content. It means emptying the mind of words and ideas and simply resting in the presence of God.
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For those who have never heard of apophatic mysticism, it’s a kind of mysticism that focuses on knowing God through negation, elimination, forgetting, unknowing, without images or symbols or signs. All such thoughts and symbols are to be eliminated. This is opposed to kataphatic mysticism which underscores finding God in all things and reaching God through creatures, images, symbols, etc -This is an IMPORTANT link. Heed the warnings expressed by this wise woman! Though aimed at women it is for all. – See more at: Women of Grace EWTN
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“God is a dark night to man in this life.” (St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, I, 2, 1)

“If you comprehend, it is not God. If you are able to comprehend, it is because you mistook something else for God. If you almost comprehend, it is again because you allowed your own thoughts to deceive you.” (St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 52, 16; see also Sermon 117, 5)

“In the end, we know God as unknown.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, In Boetium de Trinitate, 1, 2, ad 1)

“For, by its immensity, the divine substance surpasses every form that our intellect reaches. Thus we are unable to apprehend it by knowing what it is. Yet we are able to have some kind of knowledge of it by knowing what it is not.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 14, 2)

“We cannot grasp what God is, but only what He is not and how other things are related to Him.” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, I, 30, 4)

“Because we are not capable of knowing what God is but only what He is not, we cannot contemplate how God is but only how He is not” (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, 3, Prologue)

“But if you wish to know how these things [the ascent to God] come about, ask grace not instruction, desire not understanding, the groaning of prayer not diligent reading, the Spouse not the teacher, God not man, darkness not clarity, not light but the fire that totally inflames and carries us into God. . . .” (St. Bonaventure, The Soul’s Journey Into God, 7, 6)

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Jan032015

Dionysius the Areopagite (post 1)

St Dionysius

THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGY

CHAPTER I

What is the Divine Darkness?

Supernal Triad, Deity above all essence, knowledge and goodness; Guide of Christians to Divine Wisdom; direct our path to the ultimate summit of your mystical knowledge, most incomprehensible, most luminous and most exalted, where the pure, absolute and immutable mysteries of theology are veiled in the dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the intensity of their Darkness, and surcharging our blinded intellects with the utterly impalpable and invisible fairness of glories surpassing all beauty.

Let this be my prayer; but do, dear Timothy, in the diligent exercise of mystical contemplation, leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and nonbeing, that you may arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is attainable, with it that transcends all being and all knowledge.(1) For by the unceasing and absolute renunciation of yourself and of all things you may be borne on high, through pure and entire self-abnegation, into the superessential Radiance of the Divine Darkness

Post 1.  I will post throughout the upcoming weeks the entirety of the work.

New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia on Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite:

The works of Dionysius, thus introduced into Western literature, were readily accepted by the medieval Scholastics. The great masters of Saint-Victor at Paris, foremost among them the much admired Hugh, based their teaching on the doctrine of Dionysius. Peter Lombard and the great Dominican and Franciscan scholars, Alexander of Hales, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, adopted his theses and arguments. Master poets, e.g. Dante, and historians, e.g. Otto of Freising, built on his foundations. Scholars as renowned as Robert Grosseteste of Lincoln and Vincent of Beauvais drew upon him freely. Popular religious books, such as the “Legenda aurea” of Giacomo da Voragine and the “Life of Mary” by Brother Philip, gave him a cordial welcome. The great mystics, Eckhardt, Tauler, Suso, and others, entered the mysterious obscurity of Dionysius with holy reverence. In rapid succession there appeared a number of translations: Latin translations by Joannes Sarrazenus (1170), Robert Grosseteste (about 1220), Thomas Vercellensis (1400), Ambrosius Camaldulensis (1436), Marsilius Ficinus (1492); in the sixteenth century those of Faber Stapulensis, Perionius, etc. Among the commentaries that of Hugh of Saint-Victor is notable for its warmth, that of Albertus Magnus for its extent, that of St. Thomas for its accuracy, that of Denys the Carthusian for its pious spirit and its masterly inclusion of all previous commentaries.

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Jan022015

Another of my mother’s countrymen

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Interior life. We need it, if we are to answer the call that the Master has made to each and every one of us. We have to become saints…’down to the last whisker,’*….

Some of you might think I am referring only to a select few. Don’t let the promptings of cowardice or easygoing ways deceive you so easily. Feel, instead, God urging each one of you on, to become another Christ, ipse Christus, Christ himself. To put it simply, God is urging us to make our actions consistent with the demands of our faith….

Certainly our goal is both lofty and difficult to attain. But please do not forget that people are not born holy. Holiness is forged through a constant interplay of God’s grace and the correspondence of man….

Thinking of those of you who, despite years of experience, still go about dreaming — with vain and childish dreams…imagining they are hunting lions in the corridors of their homes, where the most they will find are mice…I can only remind you how great a thing it is to be accompanying God through the faithful fulfilment of your ordinary daily duties, coming through struggles which fill Our Lord with joy….

Rest assured that you will usually find few opportunities for dazzling deeds, one reason being that they seldom occur. On the other hand, you will not lack opportunities, in the small and ordinary things around you, of showing your love for Christ.

—Jose Maria Escriva, Opus Dei founder.

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Jan022015

Resolve

Hasidic

I stood in amazement watching the elderly Hasidic master, the renowned Kabbalah scholar, alone, silent in prayer.  Now reposed within the sanctity of Jerusalem, he appeared holy.  I expected any moment his body would take flight, yet it was my fancy.  In truth, it appeared he may never rise from the collapsed position of prayer he had assumed.  His body was feeble and weak, too near death.  How could I forget when I had least seen him as we ventured away from the Ukraine, bound for pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The wise one possessed an enigmatic esteemed reputation.  During initial travel, the only thing I saw of him was a polite old man, one pleased with silence, the company of his wife and grandson, content amongst others, yet not the focal point.  I knew his reputation, his revered academic accomplishments, the whispers of holy works of miraculous nature, the pension for profound prayer.  I attempted to engage him in subtle, weighty conversation.  He responded with apologies for his poor health, expressing an inability to recall much of anything.  He could not even recall titles of his books.  I thought he was playing a clever game.  I kept my eye on him, yet his rescinded nature remained throughout the trip.  Others knew of his work and teachings, also attempting to engross him in conversation.  Nothing proved successful.  Word spread that his wife begged for everyone to leave him alone.  We all subsisted in effort to bring him forth in conversation.

Resting in a large city upon our way, a startling event transpired.  Word spread of the master’s presence, a miracle and prophesy being attached to him.  A substantial crowd gathered outside our hotel, the boisterous bunch becoming loud in their intent to see the holy man.  Throughout the day, and into the night nothing happen.  The one thing that did happen was his wife going amongst the people weeping, telling them to go away or something awful was going to happen.  She expressed desperate need for the people to disperse.

The following morning as I made my way to breakfast, laughter and a crowd outside the entrance drew my attention.  Investigating, the most startling of sites presented itself.  There was the master covered in his own feces, crawling upon his hands and knees like a dog, barking hysterically at the people mocking him.  His barking only interrupted by efforts of licking the sidewalk.  A gang of ruffians began kicking at the old man, verbally abusing him.  The young toughs ordered the old man to lick their feet.  Remarkably the old man obliged, cleansing the filthy feet with his tongue.  The toughest of the toughs, progressed matters to the grotesque, pissing upon the back of the old man. The entire time, more and more people were gathering, again creating a bustling atmosphere, an intended apotheosis of the religious teacher. Weeping, screaming absurdities, his wife had to be restrained by friends and family.  Finally, one of the family members, a young boy of about fourteen, the grandson, managed to haul his grandfather to his feet and carry him into the hotel.

The pilgrims gathered their luggage departing the hotel that day, leaving the old man, his wife, and grandson behind.  All were disappointed their wise old man had lost his mind.

Now weeks later, his tranquil wife at his side, his reading handsome grandson also, the old man appeared content, serene, at peace in prayer.  Noticing me witnessing, another family member approached.

“Look at him alone with God.  God be so good to me, that I can attain such grace.  They pushed him too far.  The bastards had to try and force him to be a spectacle, to be an entertaining public holy man   They had no idea how far, and willing, he was committed to go in order to advance, to what extremes he would endure in order to diminish his reputation before arriving in the Holy Land,  You know what he said before going out into the street the day of his shame?  His wife came in, suggesting he should say something to the people for they desired to hear him speak.  He paced back and forth in our hotel room, before making a stern announcement: Today this nonsense of my reputation comes to an end”.

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Jan022015

Challenge

young lady

It is good to be spiritually challenged.  To have everything about my approach to God put into question.  My humility smacked in the face, the core of my prayer life called arrogant.  Not a moment of rest for the weary for within that moment of rest, idleness creeps in whispering words of pride, seducing with thoughts of being a holy man.  My tongue is a wicked thing seeking to inflict venom upon those I care for.  It must be mastered.  Never for a moment relax the need to put myself into check.  Watch the pride, protect the soul from the self-consciousness, envy and ambition of the ego.  Today during mass, I found it beneficial to have a young lady denouncing me with her loud knowledgeable voice,  She sensed something about me that disturbed her, so she let me know through tone and inflection her seriousness of faith.  I appreciated her authenticity, humbled by her youthful effort to take her faith so intensely.  If only the Church possessed many more powerfully youthful souls.  In unification, we come together as one voice, individually opening our hearts, while harmonizing, blending, surrendering together, yet this young voice righteously rang out.  During the offering of peace, the extending of salutations, we met eyes, myself bowing before her intelligence.  She quieted her tone, touched by my submission, the sincere tilt of my head, the naturally blossoming smile.  Absorbing the Eucharist, I felt proper in the pleasure of an abrasive mind so close.  I felt proud God comprehended the need to place the young lady behind me.

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