Flos Carmeli

Shameless Plugs Don't forget to

Shameless Plugs

Don't forget to stop by and participate in the Catholic Book Discussion blog. (The adjective Catholic here largely refers to them as is doing the discussing--although there is the usual smattering of writing BY Catholics that gets discussed as well.)

We (the keepers of the Chapel--Kathy, Melissa, and Steven) also invite you to stop by Our Lady of Loretto Carmelite Chapel and join us in prayers for the needs of St. Blog's Parish and the world at large.

Two Samuel Stories As much

Two Samuel Stories

As much as I wanted to, it looks like home-schooling is not a viable option for us for any number of reasons, so I have sought out a private school where Samuel could be prepared to enter Kindergarten. Okay, now you may all gasp with horror when you hear that I finally decided on a rather strict and, it appears, wonderful Baptist preschool. It was all that we could afford and the only thing that was local. In addition, unlike the Catholic Schools near here, they have a uniform (so too the Catholic Schools) but extremely strict restrictions on other things that may be brought to school--No Barbies, G.I. Joes, Pokemons, Digimons, Scooby Doos, Bratz, etc. In addition, they DO NOT celebrate hallowe'en but they do observe individually the President's Birthdays, Martin Luther King Jr. day, Good Friday, and Columbus Day. Any way, enough of my defensiveness--this is what we needed to do and after much prayer and soul-searching, what we ended up with.

Samuel came home the first day of school with a picture representing Jesus in Heaven looking down on St. Stephen. When I asked him to tell me about the picture this was the story he told--"Some bad people threw rocks at Peter Pan and when he died he went up to heaven where Jesus was with Peter Pan." Yesterday he came home with a picture of Jesus healing the Leper. When asked what the story was there he said, "There was this man with sores and Jesus hit him and his sores were better." And finally, today, he came home with a picture of Jesus and the woman at the well. When we inquired as to what piece of wisdom he derived from this he said, "This is a man Jesus, and this is a lady Jesus." We asked about the Samaritan woman, and he said that she was not a Samaritan woman but just a regular lady Jesus.

In addition to this remarkable education, apparently they teach prayer at school. All afternoon he persuaded his mom and me to fold our hands, close our eyes and repeat after him, "Dear God, thank you for our school. Thank you for this day. Thank you for our friends. Amen." So all you out there in blogland have the sincere and beautiful prayers of a four-year old to tide you over.

The Proper End of Knowledge

The Proper End of Knowledge

The as-always perceptive and incisive John da Fiesole (direct link not working, scroll down and look for "Entr'acte") is studying and asking questions about "necessary universalism." More interesting than the particular question is some of the issues raised when the method of study is questioned.

I wanted to address some of these issues at greater length than a comment box permits, so I drew out a comment on which I will digress for a bit.

And why was Scripture given to us, if not for us to engage in "the monumental task of completely exploring scripture for the truth"? What, the truth in this matter of universal salvation? Yes -- albeit not directly -- since this matter is intimately bound up in the questions of Who God is and who we are, the answers to which are the purpose of Revelation.

This is a most excellent question and seems to point to a key difference in the charism of the Carmelite and Dominican Orders, or perhaps to key personality differences in an approach to God. My answer to the question of "why was Scripture give to us, if not for us to engage in 'the monumental task of completely exploring scripture for the truth'?" is very simple. It was given to us to teach us to love. For many long ages a great majority of people could not read the Scriptures. What they knew of them came in the Liturgy of the Word and perhaps at various Catecheses; however, they did not sit and study scripture to discern great truths. They listened to scripture as a lover listens to a letter from the beloved. Incarnate Love came, not to lead us into the paths of speculation and theory, but to teach us to love. Anything that does not lead directly or indirectly to this goal is a waste of our energy and resources, and very possible quite dangerous. Thomas a Kempis points out several times the dangers of seeking to know for the purposes of knowing.

So my answer is that we were given Scripture so that we would know God, not know about Him, nor know about various doctrines and dogmas related to Him, but so that we would know Him as Father and as Lover of humankind. That said, pursuit of the highest truth in doctrine and dogma is one of the paths whereby we come to know and understand Him. However, it is not the only path, nor is it necessarily the highest road. It fell to Bernadette, a unlettered, nearly ignorant French peasant girl to confirm the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, but this did not come from tremendous study and insight, but through obedience and love. St. Thomas Aquinas wrested great truths from the storehouse of divine Scripture, but in the end, he recognized that his efforts were as nothing. (Obviously they are not, but they are to one who is rapt in the motion of Divine Love.)

The key word, as you suggest, is "beginning." The process of understanding is unending, at least in this life (and possibly in the life to come); there is a rhythm to it, as our temporal intellects look first there, then there, then back here, all the time (ideally) growing in the wisdom and knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

"The process of understanding is unending,"--good so far as it goes. But understanding is not the highest goal--love is. Perhaps understanding leads to love--but again there are other routes. As St. John of the Cross points out--"To understand everything, desire to understand nothing." The via negativa the provides a poignant counterthrust to our attempts to grapple with God intellectually. We must grapple with God at the level of the heart, and for many that intellectual grappling is a fortification that keeps God away from the territory He must claim if we are to be transformed.

It is these gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the personal encounter with the Word of God that is possible when we read (or pray) Scripture, that puts a limit on your point that "no matter what you arrive at by reason, reason can readily contradict." I'm not particularly interested in arriving anywhere just by reason, but by reason enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Yes, even such reasoning can be readily contradicted by human reasoning -- and it's not always easy to tell which is which -- but that's no reason to give up on it.

These are indeed great gifts of the Holy Spirit. But I go back to La Madre and say with her--we are not called to know much but to love much. And I find it ironic that I can write those words. A few years ago I was at a meeting of the formation directors of the local Carmelite chapters and I was provoked to something akin to wrath by someone else saying almost precisely the same thing to me. I was incensed at the perceived "anti-intellectualism" that was rearing its ugly head. So perhaps my presence in the order is gradually reforming my heart to realize that it isn't anti-intellectualism, but a very careful placement of the intellect as a support function, not as the primary function in our approach to God. Will is first, and love is an act of will and more. Love may be fed by knowledge and wisdom, but we look to Solomon's case and we see that it may also be destroyed by much knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom tend to puff us up with pride. The Figure hung upon the crucifix, arms wide open, beckoning and summoning, call us to the true Wisdom which is love of the Lord.

We could say it was providential that some things were not revealed to St. Thomas until after he had written so many of his strawlike words.

I must quickly retreat and apologize if I have given the impression that I have anything other than respect (with a good deal of puzzlement) for the words of St. Thomas Aquinas. I do not consider his words straw--it was his own statement. And I am beginning to form a picture of what he meant by it. Obviously, that picture will become a good deal clearer when I stand face-to-face with God; however, my use of his words should not be taken to mean that I consider his work futile or useless. Obviously, it could not have been because it led him to such tremendous love of God. However, that same path could just as easily lead one to the perdition of self and self-importance.

My conclusion--searching the Scriptures for doctrines, ideas, notions, and proofs can be a wonderful way to come to know God more intimately and more completely. Surely many have followed this path to divine union. On the other hand, it can be a superb path to tangling merely with the self and protecting one's intimate being from true connection with God. Meditating on the word, listening carefully to what Jesus says to each of us today, and applying that with the appropriate corrective of Spiritual Guidance and Church teaching (the result of countless years of effort searching the scripture to the greater glory of God) is also a viable and noble path toward union--laced with its own dangers of pride, self-righteousness, superciliousness, and any number of other difficulties.

But when asked, "Why were the Scriptures given us?" my answer is now and shall continue to be--"To teach us to Love God as He loves us."

I Know, Another Quiz I

I Know, Another Quiz

I found this at Fructus Ventris and really liked the entire intent of it:

The kingdom of God is within you!


What Bible verse is your life's theme song?
brought to you by Quizilla

I hope and pray this is true. I truly love the hope and joy in that verse as well as: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" and "Rejoice in the Lord, always, again, I say rejoice." (Gotta love that letter to the Philippians).

The Outer Limits Of my

The Outer Limits

Of my ability to comment intelligibly upon the present conflict in Iraq:

"Lord, bless them all and keep them from all harm. Be with them throughout the trials that they will suffer. Comfort the wounded and the frightened, accept into your arms those who are taken from us. May this conflict end quickly with the just goals designated for it. May the Iraqi people experience freedom, and may their liberation be a light to the nations around them. "

Expect little more as it weighs so heavily. Some have implied that I should rejoice in this just endeavor, but I must admit that while I see the grim necessity, I rejoice only in God's will being done and pray that it may be accomplished swiftly and perfectly.

Why I Am Not Green

Why I Am Not Green

In many ways I find the Green Party very appealing (I know, save your rotten fruit for the end, please.) There are some obvious places that we part company (embracing abortion and the homosexual agenda); however, given the infinitely mutable nature of the party, I could simply form a splinter and make and new "National Catholic Green Party" or some such (you know, a "Popular Front of Judea").

But I find that impossible for one reason. Despite the emphasis on "small is beautiful" in politics, and the very healthy sense of home rule, the planks on which the party is erected are termite ridden. They have been sense their spiritual founder, Jean-Jacques Rousseau first articulated them. Ultimately the reforms and the goals the Green Party really wishes to obtain depend upon the belief in the perfectibility of humankind.

Now, naturally, I do believe this in the religious sense and in the individual sense. Through the grace of God individuals may be led to "perfect" lives. We are "perfected" in Christ our head, but few of us live in that perfection--there are a few, and they are notable exceptions recognized almost immediately in ever age. But the harsh reality is that, for the most part, humankind lives consistently in its fallen nature. Not only do we live there, but we nearly revel in it.

We think of excuses to justify nearly every vice, corruption, or misdeed you can conceive of. And we do it with aplomb and panache. We are all Dives, to some extent or another, simply by living in this country. (Yes, again there are some exceptions). But we dine at our wealthy tables (relatively speaking) and a third of the world goes hungry. Admittedly due to the corrupt politics in some parts of the world, we sometimes cannot relieve the suffering of the people there--consider the debacle in Somalia. But there are tremendous numbers we can help, and yet, only a handful actually make sure that food gets to where it is needed. Because that number is so small, food does not always arrive where it is most desperately required. This is only one of the sins sitting on our collective heads--and it is a result of the fallenness of humanity.

The Greens seem to think that we can fix this in an Animal Farm collective kind of redistribution of the wealth. And what happened in the book will happen also to any who try such an economic system on a national scale. Yes, small clusters can live as the apostles or as monks and nuns, sharing all they have in common, giving to those in need--and yet even in these places resentments and harshness creep in.

During Lent, we should remember these things about ourselves, and we should hold ourselves responsible for each act that has contributed to this overall attitude on our part. Do we need to buy those books, those clothes, that new DVD player. Must we drive a Lexus or Mercedes or BMW. Does our fiance or wife really need a diamond that is the equivalent of six month's salary.

We need to be redeemed, and our redemption has a price--divorce from the world to which we are too firmly attached. We must live in the world, but not be of it. And by that, we must not allow ourselves to contribute to things as they are. In this case, we must follow Wallace Stevens's "Man with the Blue Guitar" (amazing that an avowed Atheist could produce poetry that so explicitly spells out the Christian message). who when told that he did not "play things as they are" responded with "Things as they are/are changed upon the blue guitar." In Christ, we are a new creation--it's about time we acted it.

ISP Out of Service Again

ISP Out of Service Again

Construction cut a major cable and killed our service yet again. Amazing. But I hope to have more for tomorrow. I'm thinking about honor and integrity and how these are differently valued and differently shown in various cultures.