Christ

Mar032015

Imitation of Christ: Humiliation Invitation

When you strive to do the very best you know how and then, because of this, you receive from people words of scorn and contemptuous shrugs, and when they consider you in their hearts as nothing at all and think that you neither know how to nor dare to seek revenge–and if you not only stand firm and unshaken by all this but also pray lovingly to the heavenly Father for them and pardon them before him out of love–as often as you thus die to yourself out of love, just so often does my death turn green and bloom in you. When you keep yourself pure and innocent and yet your good actions are so suppressed that you are counted among the evil doers and your heart is joyful at this, and when you are so ready to forgive completely those who caused you anguish or seek your pardon for all the misery they ever caused you, as though it never happened, and, in addition, are ready to help them and render them service in word and deed in imitation of me forgiving those who crucified me, then you truly stand next to your crucified Love. When you withdraw from human advantage and comfort, except for the bare minimum you need, then your renunciation of these joys and pleasures makes up for all those who then deserted me.

When you are so free of attachments to your friends for my sake, as though they did not concern you in all things where an obstacle can occur, then I have a disciple and brother standing beneath the cross who helps me bear my suffering. The undisturbed freedom of your heart clothes and adorns my nakedness. When, in all the adversity that befalls you because of your neighbor, you are overcome for my sake and you accept the chaotic anger of all men as meekly as a silent lamb–no matter where it comes from or how quickly it arises or whether it is your fault or not–and when you thus overcome the evil of others with a good disposition, mild speech and a kind expression on your face, then the true image of my death is being fashioned in you. Truly, when I find this likeness, what pleasure and joy my heavenly Father and I experience!

Bear my bitter death in the ground of your heart, in your prayers and in the manifestation of your actions. Then you experience fully the suffering and loyal love of my pure Mother and my dear disciple.

–Henry Suso ‘Little Book of Eternal Wisdom’

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Mar022015

Mortification and Bearing my Cross

Jesus told his disciples,
“If any man would come after me,

let him deny himself

and take up his cross and follow me.

If any man would come after me,

let him deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

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–Matthew 16:24

–Luke 9:23

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Mar012015

Catechism contemplation

I. The Beatitudes

1716 The Beatitudes are at the heart of Jesus’ preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham. The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward is great in heaven.

1717 The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the faithful associated with the glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blessings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ’s disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

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Feb222015

‘…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…’

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Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was hungry. –Matthew

The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. –Mark

And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. –Luke

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Pelican: The Pelican is a symbol of the atonement and the Redeemer and is often found in Christian murals, frescos, paintings and stained glass. The pelican was believed to wound itself in order to feed its young with its own blood. In the hymn “Adoro Te,” St. Thomas Aquinas addresses the Savior with, “Pelican of Mercy, cleanse me in Thy Precious Blood.” Allusion is even made to this belief in “Hamlet” (act iv): “To his good friend thus wide I’ll ope my arms And, like the kind, life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood.”

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Feb102015

Subterfuge Impossible

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‘contemplation is the soul’s free and clear dwelling upon the object of its gaze’. (Aquinas)

Three things are required for contemplation. First, the ordering of the corrupt affections, which ordering is a certain disposition towards contemplation, and this is had through the moral virtues. So the wings are moral virtues, such as patience and humility etc…Another wing is charity which greatly helps one to fly to contemplation…Another wing is wisdom, and by the wings of wisdom, truth is contemplated, for without these wings, one is easily taken into errors if divine things are contemplated…(Aquinas)

…Super Psalmos, the image of ‘wings’ occurs a number of times and most memorably, perhaps, when Thomas is referring to the power of Christ’s protection. Thus, commenting on the phrase Protect me under the shadow of your wings, he writes: ‘The two wings are the two arms of Christ extended on the cross’….

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Now shade protects us from heat, just as God’s care refreshes us with safety. Like wise a hen protects her chicks in her wings against a bird of prey, just as God defends the just from the rapacity of the demons in his wings, which are charity and mercy. How often I wanted to gather you just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not. Mt. 23.37…

The actual life of contemplation, evoked by the phrase ‘contemplata aliis tradere’, is a way of life that can hope to survive and flourish only if it is able enjoy a serene, meditative environment….Those who ‘take flight’ in contemplation, and in particular those who make great progress in prayer, are not men and women of a complacent and self-satisfied disposition. No, the opposite is the case. Commenting on the text, This poor man called and the Lord heard him, (Psalm 33), Thomas (Aquinas) observes that the individual, in this case, was manifestly ‘poor in spirit (anawim), or poor in that way, or poor in earthly desires’. And it is men and women who are poor in that way, Thomas insists, whose prayer has real merit in the end, and who, because they cry out ‘with the intensity of interior desire’ find their prayers answered by God.

To me, poor wretch,
Come quickly, Lord!
My helper, my savior, my God,
Come and do not delay!

These lines of manifest poverty of spirit, and intense longing, comprise the short stanza which concludes Psalm 39. The Dominican Master, instead of simply commenting on the lines, expresses something of their meaning in his own direct and simple prose:

I am asking everything because by myself I am not able to do anything since I am a beggar…A beggar is someone who seeks from another what he needs to live, while a poor man is someone who has not enough for himself…I must out of necessity, therefore, beg God for the help of his grace.  I am also a poor man, and what I possess is not enough for me.  Because I recognize this, the Lord takes care of me.  And, because I am needy, You, Lord, are my help.  And, because of danger, Do not delay!  Lord, come to my aid!

–Paul Murray OP ‘Aquinas at Prayer: The Bible, Mysticism and Poetry’

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Jan302015

St Thomas provides spiritual direction

For Ordering a Life Wisely

O merciful God, grant that I may desire ardently, search prudently, recognize truly, and bring to perfect completion whatever is pleasing to You for the praise and glory of Your name.
Put my life in good order, O my God.
Grant that I may know what You require me to do.
Bestow upon me the power to accomplish Your will, as is necessary and fitting for the salvation of my soul.

Grant to me, O Lord my God, that I may not falter in times of prosperity or adversity, so that I may not be exalted in the former, nor dejected in the latter.
May I not rejoice in anything unless it leads me to You; may I not be saddened by anything unless it turns me from You.
May I desire to please no one, nor fear to displease anyone, but You.

May all transitory things, O Lord, be worthless to me and may all things eternal be ever cherished by me.
May any joy without You be burdensome for me and may I not desire anything else besides You.
May all work, O Lord, delight me when done for Your sake and may all repose not centered in You be ever wearisome for me.

Grant unto me, my God, that I may direct my heart to You and that in my failures I may ever feel remorse for my sins and never lose the resolve to change.

O Lord my God, make me submissive without protest, poor without discouragement, chaste without regret, patient without complaint, humble without posturing, cheerful without frivolity, mature without gloom, and quick-witted without flippancy.
O Lord my God, let me fear You without losing hope, be truthful without guile, do good works without presumption, rebuke my neighbor without haughtiness, and—without hypocrisy—strengthen him by word and example.

Give to me, O Lord God, a watchful heart, which no capricious thought can lure away from You.
Give to me a noble heart, which no unworthy desire can debase.
Give to me a resolute heart, which no evil intention can divert.
Give to me a stalwart heart, which no tribulation can overcome.
Give to me a temperate heart, which no violent passion can enslave.
Give to me, O Lord my God, understanding of You, diligence in seeking You, wisdom in finding You, discourse ever pleasing to You, perseverance in waiting for You, and confidence in finally embracing You. Grant that with Your hardships I may be burdened in reparation here, that Your benefits I may use in gratitude upon the way, that in Your joys I may delight by glorifying You in the Kingdom of Heaven. You Who live and reign, God, world without end.

Amen.

Saint Thomas Aquinas

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