A Message from a Correspondent--On Detachment
The following message comes from a correspondent who may choose to reveal identity within the comments box, but who otherwise remains anonymous. This voice speaks for a great many, i think, of the problems of becoming truly detached. I felt so strongly about how beautifully it was expressed, I asked permission to use it. I hope you all will be as edified as I was.
I have also been thinking more about your posts on detachment. I think the biggest obstacle to a healthy detachment is taking that very frightening step of forming a true attachment, or love, for God. To set our own illusions, desires, prides, and prejudices aside and truly love Him requires a great confidence that He is there to be loved. We know our selves and the material world around us is there but we can't (or won't) be sure of Him in the same way. Attaching to Him requires tremendous dedication, commitment, and sacrifice. It is not a complacent thing. Attaching to Him means ultimately detaching from your self. Your self is a pretty concrete, tangible thing. God isn't. You can't get a hold of Him like you can of your self. To detach from your self to attach to God means letting go of something you can hold onto in favor of letting God hold onto you.When I was little, my siblings and I used to play Jumping Day with Daddy. When he came home from work, we would stand on a step and jump into his arms. We would jump off the stairs and he would catch us. Well, detaching from your self to attach to God is like jumping off the stair of Man. There is always a little voice in your head, whether the Devil or just your own fallen nature, telling you that maybe there's nobody there to catch you. Not many people have enough trust in God to believe He will absolutely be there.
The profound truth of this really knocked me over. It is rare that someone will state straight out that there is darkness and there is doubt. I think many have difficulty letting go of what they know for a leap into the unknown. And yet, we have seen throughout the ages, a great many who survived that leap and told the tale. The story of all the saints is the story of those who somehow managed to conquer self to make that leap into the Father's arms.
My great thanks to the correspondent who gave me, and I hope all of you so much to think about in this small reflection.
A Poem by St. Edith Stein
I really must get a copy of the Science of the Cross ASAP. Unfortunately, as those who have families and small children know, there is little left over for such indulgences.
from Drink of the Stream Compiled by Penny Hickey, O.C.D.S.
To God, the Father
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross--Edith SteinBless the mind deeply troubled
Of the sufferers,
The heavy loneliness of profound souls,
The restlessness of human beings,
The sorrow which no soul ever confides
To a sister soul.And bless the passage of moths at night,
Who do not shun spectres on paths unknown.
Bless the distress of men
Who die within the hour,
Grant them, loving God, a peaceful and blessed end.Bless all the hearts, the clouded ones, Lord, above all,
Bring healing to the sick.
To those in torture, peace.
Teach those who had to carry their beloved to the grave, to forget.
Leave none in agony of guilt on all the earth.Bless the joyous ones, O Lord, and keep them under Your Wing.--
My mourning clothes You never yet removed.
At times my tired shoulders bear a heavy burden.
But give me strength, and I'll bear it
In penitence to the grave.Then bless my sleep, the sleep of all the dead.
Remember what Your Son suffered for me in agony of death.
You great mercy for all human needs
Give rest to all the dead in Your eternal peace.
Notice
Due to a tragic and ill-timed hard disk crash, my computer at home is inoperable, so there will be no posting for the next several days and I will be effectively out of communication for computer contact. My apologies.
Yes, so quickly that time has rolled around again. After this little lesson, I'll probably ask my group to take a look at the first portion of Dark Night of the Soul because it very effectively lists the traps and pitfalls of beginners in prayer.
Ascent of Mount Carmel VII The Pane of Glass and the LightRead Book II Chapters 5-6 (pgs. 162-168)
Chapter 5
1-2. What does John of the Cross imply about the state of Union with God?
Read the footnote carefully. What are the chief distinctions of Union? (If you wish to understand this better, read pages 576-577, 641-642, and 713-715; however, it is not necessary to do so.)3. What is substantial union? Why is it important? What is the Union of Likeness? How does one achieve it?
4. What is the importance of ridding oneself of creatures?6. Explain what St. John of the Cross means by the Light and the pane of glass.
What does it imply about the necessity for detachment and purification?7. How do we best describe the transformation of the soul in union with God?
8-9. What is the necessary preparation for union? What does St. John mean by his example of the painting?
10-11. Are all states of union the same? On what is any degree of union based? What happens to those who do not reach the purity the are capable of?
Chapter 6
1-4 How are the three faculties related to the theological virtues? What does each virtue do to each faculty?6-8. What must we do to each of the faculties? Why?
Brief Reflection on a Line from a Hymn
At morning prayer a line from the suggested hymn stuck out in my mind and caused some rumination with respect to where we stand with Godl.
The particular line is:
"God's way is my way..."
I think all too often we think this line the other way round. "My way is God's way." That is certainly more convenient, as we do not have to alter our current orbits to adjust to such annoyances as the dictates of charity, the Great Commission, or other such things as might get in the way of leading a "normal" life in Millsian Materialist America.
But the truth is, regardless of what is convenient, we should be able to speak the line as written. We should be able to say very humbly, "God's way is my way, by His grace and through His power." Otherwise Christianity is meaningless and Christ's sacrifice is moot. Our center needs to be outside ourselves. We are not self-contained solar systems but rather planets that orbit around a glorious Son.
Reflecting this morning on God and His mysterious ways, I stumbled upon what is probably an ancient paradox, but I state it here again because it is so valuable. God wants us to be not in a place of comfort but in a place of peace. We are often willing to make very large concessions to remain in an oasis of physical, intellectual, and emotional comfort. We are creatures of entropy--we like things to run smoothly as they have always run.
But God does not want this for us. I'm sure that He has nothing against comfort, but comfort is not the highest good and the name of comfort is often used to mask a serious malady, a deep spiritual malaise. There is nothing wrong with having money, but a great deal wrong with betraying tens or hundreds of people to get that money. And money alone may buy comfort, but it does not buy true peace.
Soren Kierkegaard is quoted in a number of sources as saying that if you are comfortable around Jesus, then you don't know Him. Jesus is a constant challenge to our integrity, our image of self, and our complacency about our situation. If we think that we're really good pals with Jesus, then we are more likely to be Judas than John.
Jesus challenges us constantly to attack the unjust status quo. We are to fight for the oppressed and be a voice to the voiceless. Thus, I have seen an inclination in Christian circles to attack those who go out to save baby seals and rain forests; however, the real edge of that attack should not be the concern thereby expressed for the proper stewardship of Earth's resources, but the practical hypocrisy of those groups that then march in favor of abortion. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a strong sense of the sacredness and wonder of Nature, a strong affinity for what St. Francis and St. John of the Cross both loved. But if that comes uncoupled from an even stronger love for God and His Word, then it strays from the true.
Jesus challenges us to reevaluate our preconceptions, misconceptions, and viewpoints at all times. He forces us to examine motives, actions, and thoughts. And yet in all of this, while there may be no comfort, there can be great peace.
His Peace transcends words--even for St. Paul--and it doesn't come in complacency and comfort. His Peace comes when we truly love Him. It cannot come otherwise. It is rather like a married couple truly in love--where the spouse is, peace may be, even though the world all around them is in turmoil. There may be challenges to comfort, obstacles to resting in His peace, but in Love with Him, there is always peace. This is one of the great witnesses of the Martyrs. Truly they showed magnificent love of Jesus Christ, but equally they show amazing peace with all things around them.
So, part of our prayer time could profitably be spent examining whether we are resting in His peace, or relying upon creature comforts. If the latter, we might need to spend a bit of time discerning where God wants us to be and what He wants us to be doing because , "our hearts are restless until they rest in thee, O Lord."
For a Lengthy Discussion of Harry Potter
and the current controversy surrounding him, please see The Catholic Bookshelf. As a former children's librarian, a present parent and worker in the field of children's education, I finally felt the need to say something. And as that something is a bit more contentious than I would like to feature here, I set it over there so others can come and comment (assuming e-netation ever resurrects itself.)
The Magnificat Monthly Litany
I loved the Litany featured for the month of June. They called it "Blessing for the Wisdom of the Doctors of the Church" and each part of the litany featured a small quote from a Church Doctor and an appropriate response. Below I feature those for the Carmelite Doctors:
St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) (1582) "The Lord does not care so much for the importance of our works as for the love with which they are done." --For absolute purity of intention and unfailing love, St. Teresa of Avila, --Pray for us.St. John of the Cross (1591)"When once the will is touched by God himself, it cannot be satisfied except by God."
--For a conversion that orders all my longings, St. John of the Cross
--Pray for us.St. Thérèse of Lisieux (1897) "What pleases Jesus is that he sees me loving my littleness and my poverty, the blind hope I have in his mercy."
--For the grace of spiritual childhood, St. Thérèse of Lisieux
--Pray for us.
Good Blogging
It occurs to me that the best blogging, that which I most enjoy reading in the Catholic realm, is not distilled from the news of the day. Nor is comments on that same news. Nor is it in the form of scandals and hijinks and alarums and exuent omnes. No, rather that which I most like to read is the fruit of prayer, meditation, or at least thought about the Greater Things.
If what I have to say does not glorify God, it is better not to say it. If what I speak tears down creation and puts everyone in doubt, better that I have no voice. If I cast aspersions and wonder about motives, I move everyone to suspicion. If I ruminate over injustices and hurt without suggesting the Solution to all of these problems, I do no service.
One of the things about St. Blog's is that you can find blogs to suit every taste. I do enjoy reading some blogs that dip into controversy from time to time. In those places I comment sparingly and am thus relieved of the obligation to make a point of them here. But very little of that goes a long way. Better to stir about in the realms of those who are thinking--even of the news events, but thinking with the church, with the long line of magisterial teaching, and thus instructing me in my ignorance about how one approaches such a problem. I have learned a great deal from here, and I am deeply thankful for everyone I meet online. I can discuss books, prayer, and great philosophical problems in a forum that allows me to ask questions without feeling particularly threatened (although I do at times feel woefully inadequate to the task even of asking a question.) God has blessed us with a great good thing in St. Blogs, and we would do well to appreciate the gift for what it is, embrace it and thank Him in His goodness for this mercy.
I have nothing to offer this morning except the following refrain from one of the psalms:
Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good, His love endures forever.
And there is our hope--His Love, which endures forever. Praised be Jesus Christ, love incarnate, our brother, our teacher, our Lord. Give thanks to the Lord for He is Good, His love endures forever.
More on Lectio
A generous reader contributed this website which is from the Valyermo Benedictine on lectio It includes tips for private consideration of the prayer and for communal forms. Quite often our Carmelite group does this with great effect for everyone--it allows an exploration of the message of scripture in a way that is impossible for a single person. Also, it better helps tease out some of the applications one might make of the scripture. My thanks to the person who so generously sent me this link. (There are a great many links out there on lectio. This one is nice because it is succinct and yet pretty thorough, it seems.)
Yes, I know there is much clamor in the world regarding this, and I don't mean to stir up a wasp's nest, but I couldn't help share this as it occurs to me each time I read the book or see the film. (Several at this point.)
Toward the end of the first book Dumbledore asks Harry why it was that he was so damaging to the enemy. Harry, of course, doesn't have a clue and Dumbledore explains (I paraphrase here). When your mother gave her life it was for love of you. Love like that leaves a mark--no, not on the outside, but in here (touching the heart).
This is so true in merely human terms. We are transformed by this giving in a merely human way. So, what about the Love who gave Himself. Surely that should leave a mark, and surely by the size of the giving, the Mark must be greater. And yet, often when I speak with Christians, I see no sign of that mark. Too often people are so wrapped up in their agendas and in their complaints, that the sign of that great mark is too effaced to make a difference.
There are two quotes, and again I paraphrase, related to this. The first attributed to Mohandas Gandhi, "Christianity is a very fine religion. Too bad so few practice it." The second is Chesterton's, and the experts among us may correct me: " It is not that Christianity has been tried and been found wanting, but it has been found too difficult and not tried."
Again, because this is a morning of it, I accuse myself--too often wrapped up in personal problems, agendas that I don't even recognize, and things of the world, I give a very poor image of Christ to those who might seek Him if they had better examples. Surely the great love that led to the death of Love Incarnate is sufficient to make a mark that will do more than vaporize imaginary wizards. Surely it is a great fire that would consume all and make it Holy, if only I would fan the flames and take it out of the protective glass case I have placed it in. Isn't our mission to spread the light, not merely to preserve it? Good God, help me, I have failed so greatly in this commission.
Talk About DismayingIn my study of The Ascent of Mount Carmel I was sent by footnote to the first few chapters of Dark Night of the Soul The first chapter of this great work will require greater explication and discussion at another time, because right now I wish to make a public confession, hoping that it will help me amend my behavior. In the third chapter of the first book we have the following description:
from Dark Night of the Soul Book 1, Chapter 3 St. John of the CrossMANY of these beginners have also at times great spiritual avarice. They will be found to be discontented with the spirituality which God gives them; and they are very disconsolate and querulous because they find not in spiritual things the consolation that they would desire. Many can never have enough of listening to counsels and learning spiritual precepts, and of possessing and reading many books which treat of this matter, and they spend their time on all these things rather than on works of mortification and the perfecting of the inward poverty of spirit which should be theirs. Furthermore, they burden themselves with images and rosaries which are very curious; now they put down one, now take up another; now they change about, now change back again; now they want this kind of thing, now that, preferring one kind of cross to another, because it is more curious. And others you will see adorned with agnusdeis and relics and tokens, like children with trinkets. Here I condemn the attachment of the heart, and the affection which they have for the nature, multitude and curiosity of these things, inasmuch as it is quite contrary to poverty of spirit which considers only the substance of devotion, makes use only of what suffices for that end and grows weary of this other kind of multiplicity and curiosity. For true devotion must issue from the heart, and consist in the truth and substances alone of what is represented by spiritual things; all the rest is affection and attachment proceeding from imperfection; and in order that one may pass to any kind of perfection it is necessary for such desires to be killed.
[emphasis added]
from The Ascent of Mount Carmel Book 2, Chapter 5 St. John of the Cross6. In order that both these things may be the better understood, let us make a comparison. A ray of sunlight is striking a window. If the window is in any way stained or misty, the sun's ray will be unable to illumine it and transform it into its own light, totally, as it would if it were clean of all these things, and pure; but it will illumine it to a lesser degree, in proportion as it is less free from those mists and stains; and will do so to a greater degree, in proportion as it is cleaner from them, and this will not be because of the sun's ray, but because of itself; so much so that, if it be wholly pure and clean, the ray of sunlight will transform it and illumine it in such wise that it will itself seem to be a ray and will give the same light as the ray. Although in reality the window has a nature distinct from that of the ray itself, however much it may resemble it, yet we may say that that window is a ray of the sun or is light by participation. And the soul is like this window, whereupon is ever beating (or, to express it better, wherein is ever dwelling) this Divine light of the Being of God according to nature, which we have described.
7. In thus allowing God to work in it, the soul (having rid itself of every mist and stain of the creatures, which consists in having its will perfectly united with that of God, for to love is to labour to detach and strip itself for God's sake of all that is not God) is at once illumined and transformed in God, and God communicates to it His supernatural Being, in such wise that it appears to be God Himself, and has all that God Himself has. And this union comes to pass when God grants the soul this supernatural favour, that all the things of God and the soul are one in participant transformation; and the soul seems to be God rather than a soul, and is indeed God by participation; although it is true that its natural being, though thus transformed, is as distinct from the Being of God as it was before, even as the window has likewise a nature distinct from that of the ray, though the ray gives it brightness.
8. This makes it clearer that the preparation of the soul for this union, as we said, is not that it should understand or perceive or feel or imagine anything, concerning either God or aught else, but that it should have purity and love -- that is, perfect resignation and detachment from everything for God's sake alone; and, as there can be no perfect transformation if there be not perfect purity, and as the enlightenment, illumination and union of the soul with God will be according to the proportion of its purity, in greater or in less degree; yet the soul will not be perfect, as I say, if it be not wholly and perfectly bright and clean.
It is time again for me to issue a fairly standard disclaimer. I recognize the presumption inherent in giving advice to anyone about anything dealing with prayer considering the state both of my soul and my prayer life. However, if we waited for those who are perfect to hear advice, we would labor long and hard without hearing a word since the time of Christ. So please forgive me both the arrogance and the presumption and take these as intended--mere bread crumbs to help those who may profit from them--myself among them.
Now to meditation advice. Many are reluctant to start on the path of lectio because they see it as more demanding and difficult than they are up to. Many doubt their own ability to "think" of things to pray about. Many say they lack imaginations and so have difficulty getting into meditation. All of these I understand. And yet these same souls are the ones who pray fifteen or twenty decades of the Rosary each day--whatever in the world are they doing all that time. They are meditating--but they have worn that path so often and so long that it is second nature--the territory is familiar and so the meditation is a natural concommitant of the prayer.
So it will become with lectio, but it may take a while and you may need help at the start. In addition to innumerable books in print about meditation and how to do it (most of which have never been much help to me) there are some helps to get you started. One thing I would recommend is a good bible-study guide, such as those now being produced by Ignatius Press. At the back of each printed gospel are two sets of questions for each chapter of the book. The questions for application make excellent meditation starters. Look at the question and then read the passage associated with it. Read the passage listening for the answer to the question and for the other questions raised by the passage. Do not read looking for some literal answer, but read expectantly, knowing that if we knock it will be answered, and if we seek, we shall find. The presence of application questions indicates that at least one other person found something here worthy of your attention--worthy beyond the mere study of words or understanding of the text--worthy to the point of doing something about what is said. Thus you are offered simply a way into the text--a path for initial meditation.
I hope as we go along to post other helps along these lines, but I welcome the suggestions and the helps of all of those already engaged in these kinds of prayer. They will be of benefit to all.
Please pray for Katherine's mother. She was scheduled for some fairly serious surgery tomorrow, but was taken ill and taken to the hospital early this morning. As yet, no one is quite certain what is going on, so much prayer is needed.