Ecce Verbum
Communio personarum as God's plan for man and woman and its distortion by original sin "Recent years have seen new approaches to women's issues. A first tendency is to emphasize strongly conditions of subordination in order to give rise to antagonism: women…
On the meaning of Eser kenegdo (a helper) in the book of Genesis
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
source: Essays on Woman, chapter II - The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace, pages 61-62 🔗
*The Hebrew word ezer which is translated as “helpmate” indicates the assistance which only a person can render to another. It carries no implication of inferiority or exploitation if we remember that God too is at times called ezer with regard to human beings (cf. Ex 18:4; Ps10:14).- Benedict XVI 🔗
#marriage #women
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
source: Essays on Woman, chapter II - The Separate Vocations of Man and Woman According to Nature and Grace, pages 61-62 🔗
*The Hebrew word ezer which is translated as “helpmate” indicates the assistance which only a person can render to another. It carries no implication of inferiority or exploitation if we remember that God too is at times called ezer with regard to human beings (cf. Ex 18:4; Ps10:14).- Benedict XVI 🔗
#marriage #women
Ecce Verbum
Our Lord Jesus is the example for serving in humbleness "And having risen from supper, and laid aside His garments, He began to wash the disciples' feet." John 13:4-5 "What was it that urged our Lord Jesus Christ to, “take a towel and gird Himself and then…
Humility corrects false religiosity
In Introduction to the Devout Life, St Francis De Sales warns of a kind of false religiosity that can convince both others and ourselves that we’re right with God, when we’re not. Specifically, he warned of our tendency to “colour devotion according to our own likings and disposition”:
''One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness;–and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbour’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although at the same time he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors. This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him; while that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts save under pressure. Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout.”
St Thomas A Kempis, in Imitation of Christ, warns of a similar false security, that of thinking that knowing the Faith well is the same as living the Faith:
''What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it.'''
''For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.''
"Learn to love humility, for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repulsive before God, but the most repulsive of all is pride of the heart. Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise, all your efforts will be destroyed, and your boat will reach the harbor empty. ”
St Anthony the Great
When we grow in virtue, let us be thankful, admitting that victory comes from God because it is He Who grew it in us. Humility is the treasure that protects all
virtues.
St Basil
Examine yourself everyday and determine which struggle you have won without exalting yourself but say, “Mercy and help come from God,” and do not think that you have done any good until you reach your last breath.''
St Moses the Black
“Once humility is acquired, charity will come to life like a burning flame devouring the corruption of vice and filling the heart so full, that there is no place for vanity.”
St Vincent Ferrer
#humility
In Introduction to the Devout Life, St Francis De Sales warns of a kind of false religiosity that can convince both others and ourselves that we’re right with God, when we’re not. Specifically, he warned of our tendency to “colour devotion according to our own likings and disposition”:
''One man sets great value on fasting, and believes himself to be leading a very devout life, so long as he fasts rigorously, although the while his heart is full of bitterness;–and while he will not moisten his lips with wine, perhaps not even with water, in his great abstinence, he does not scruple to steep them in his neighbour’s blood, through slander and detraction. Another man reckons himself as devout because he repeats many prayers daily, although at the same time he does not refrain from all manner of angry, irritating, conceited or insulting speeches among his family and neighbors. This man freely opens his purse in almsgiving, but closes his heart to all gentle and forgiving feelings towards those who are opposed to him; while that one is ready enough to forgive his enemies, but will never pay his rightful debts save under pressure. Meanwhile all these people are conventionally called religious, but nevertheless they are in no true sense really devout.”
St Thomas A Kempis, in Imitation of Christ, warns of a similar false security, that of thinking that knowing the Faith well is the same as living the Faith:
''What good does it do to speak learnedly about the Trinity if, lacking humility, you displease the Trinity? Indeed it is not learning that makes a man holy and just, but a virtuous life makes him pleasing to God. I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it.'''
''For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God? Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, except to love God and serve Him alone.''
"Learn to love humility, for it will cover all your sins. All sins are repulsive before God, but the most repulsive of all is pride of the heart. Do not consider yourself learned and wise; otherwise, all your efforts will be destroyed, and your boat will reach the harbor empty. ”
St Anthony the Great
When we grow in virtue, let us be thankful, admitting that victory comes from God because it is He Who grew it in us. Humility is the treasure that protects all
virtues.
St Basil
Examine yourself everyday and determine which struggle you have won without exalting yourself but say, “Mercy and help come from God,” and do not think that you have done any good until you reach your last breath.''
St Moses the Black
“Once humility is acquired, charity will come to life like a burning flame devouring the corruption of vice and filling the heart so full, that there is no place for vanity.”
St Vincent Ferrer
#humility
Ecce Verbum
Absolute monarch Pope Pius IX (presiding over Vat I) provided clarity to the objections of German Chancellor Bismarck in 1875: "The application of the term 'absolute monarch' to the pope in reference to ecclesiastical affairs is not correct because he is…
Benedict XVI on Bonaventure's theology of history and historical continuity
*Benedict XVI drew much inspiration from the Augustinian theological tradition and had a special affection for Saint Bonaventure, writing his doctoral dissertation on his theology of history. Benedict emphasizes Bonaventure’s profound conviction that the life of the Church develops and grows even as it remains rooted in Jesus Christ and His Gospel as handed on from the Apostles.
*Saint Bonaventure saw that the charism of his teacher Saint Francis of Assisi represented a new “moment” in the history of the Church. Nevertheless, it did not represent a break with the past, but rather a coherent unfolding of Christian faith. Bonaventure viewed the rise of the mendicant orders as a deepening of the Church’s own understanding of the “inexhaustible riches” of the revelation of God’s love given in Christ and handed on in the Church’s living tradition. The works of Christ “do not fail but progress” in the Church’s earthly pilgrimage through history in union with His fullness.
Benedict summarized the Saint’s approach to the conflicts he faced as Minister General of the growing Franciscan order in its still-early days:
“Jesus Christ is God's last word—in him God said all, giving and expressing himself. More than himself, God cannot express or give. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. Christ himself says of the Holy Spirit: ‘He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you’ (John 14:26), and ‘he will take what is mine and declare it to you’ (John 16:15). Thus there is no loftier Gospel, there is no other Church to await. Therefore the Order of St Francis too must fit into this Church, into her faith and into her hierarchical order.
“This does not mean that the Church is stationary, fixed in the past, or that there can be no newness within her. ‘Opera Christi non deficiunt, sed proficiunt’: Christ's works do not go backwards, they do not fail but progress, the Saint said in his letter De Tribus Quaestionibus. Thus St Bonaventure explicitly formulates the idea of progress and this is an innovation in comparison with the Fathers of the Church and the majority of his contemporaries.
“The Franciscan Order of course as he emphasized belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ, to the apostolic Church, and cannot be built on utopian spiritualism. Yet, at the same time, the newness of this Order in comparison with classical monasticism was valid and St Bonaventure…defended this newness against the attacks of the secular clergy of Paris: the Franciscans have no fixed monastery, they may go everywhere to proclaim the Gospel. It was precisely the break with stability, the characteristic of monasticism, for the sake of a new flexibility that restored to the Church her missionary dynamism.”
General Audience, March 10, 2010
#churchhistory
*Benedict XVI drew much inspiration from the Augustinian theological tradition and had a special affection for Saint Bonaventure, writing his doctoral dissertation on his theology of history. Benedict emphasizes Bonaventure’s profound conviction that the life of the Church develops and grows even as it remains rooted in Jesus Christ and His Gospel as handed on from the Apostles.
*Saint Bonaventure saw that the charism of his teacher Saint Francis of Assisi represented a new “moment” in the history of the Church. Nevertheless, it did not represent a break with the past, but rather a coherent unfolding of Christian faith. Bonaventure viewed the rise of the mendicant orders as a deepening of the Church’s own understanding of the “inexhaustible riches” of the revelation of God’s love given in Christ and handed on in the Church’s living tradition. The works of Christ “do not fail but progress” in the Church’s earthly pilgrimage through history in union with His fullness.
Benedict summarized the Saint’s approach to the conflicts he faced as Minister General of the growing Franciscan order in its still-early days:
“Jesus Christ is God's last word—in him God said all, giving and expressing himself. More than himself, God cannot express or give. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. Christ himself says of the Holy Spirit: ‘He will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you’ (John 14:26), and ‘he will take what is mine and declare it to you’ (John 16:15). Thus there is no loftier Gospel, there is no other Church to await. Therefore the Order of St Francis too must fit into this Church, into her faith and into her hierarchical order.
“This does not mean that the Church is stationary, fixed in the past, or that there can be no newness within her. ‘Opera Christi non deficiunt, sed proficiunt’: Christ's works do not go backwards, they do not fail but progress, the Saint said in his letter De Tribus Quaestionibus. Thus St Bonaventure explicitly formulates the idea of progress and this is an innovation in comparison with the Fathers of the Church and the majority of his contemporaries.
“The Franciscan Order of course as he emphasized belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ, to the apostolic Church, and cannot be built on utopian spiritualism. Yet, at the same time, the newness of this Order in comparison with classical monasticism was valid and St Bonaventure…defended this newness against the attacks of the secular clergy of Paris: the Franciscans have no fixed monastery, they may go everywhere to proclaim the Gospel. It was precisely the break with stability, the characteristic of monasticism, for the sake of a new flexibility that restored to the Church her missionary dynamism.”
General Audience, March 10, 2010
#churchhistory
Freemasonry 🧵
Interview with fr. Francis Ricossa for the magazine "Rivarol", 15.11.2017
*(You can get this issue online or by post: Editions des Tuileries, 19 avenue d'Italie, 75013 Paris, France)
*The editor-in-chief of the magazine Sodalitium, Italian priest x. Francis Ricossa has been giving a series of high-level lectures in Paris every year for the past decade on some important current topic concerning religion or Catholic doctrine.
*This interview raises some interesting issues. For it is difficult to find an organisation or milieu which, even if it is not infiltrated by people of shady backgrounds, does not invoke the principles or methods of Freemasonry.
R.: How do you respond to those who claim that Freemasonry no longer has the influence today that it had in the past?
F.R.: Let me laugh at such claims. A former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy in the 1960s said that Freemasonry would win the party when everyone thought like Freemasonry, that is, when the values of Freemasonry became the way of thinking of the whole world. This is what has already happened. It is true that Freemasonry used to be in the governments of the main countries, and it still is, in one form or another, but there was a reaction then. There were those who defended the values of Freemasonry and those who opposed them, the authorities of the Catholic Church and a certain section of the people. Today, even those who verbally oppose Freemasonry, which very few people really do, very often, unknowingly, share the same principles as the sect. They do not even realise that they are approving and spreading in reality the ideas of Freemasonry. This is the best sign of the victory of the apron brothers.
R.: Aren't the radical right movements in Europe themselves infiltrated by Freemasonry?
F.R.: Yes, and this infiltration exists from two points of view: from the point of view of people and from the point of view of ideas. There are movements in which Freemasons are welcomed and even promoted. Overtly or covertly. There is also the problem of ideas: people who are not initiated share the most important principles of Freemasonry. I am not just talking about the principles that have unfortunately become the common thought of all those taught in school, preached in the "parish", freedom, equality, fraternity, etc., but I am talking about esotericism. In 'our' circles, which often sincerely oppose the revolutionary triad and the modern world, this is often done in the name of esoteric doctrine, which is the very essence of Freemasonry. One error is abandoned, only to fall into another no less serious one.
R: Do you mean the masonic influence in radical right circles and thinkers like René Guénon or Julius Evola ?
F.R.: These two thinkers, Guénon and Evola, were able to say something true, especially when it comes to the rejection and condemnation of the modern world, among many things false, and that is why there are many to whom it seems that they oppose the present world, while they adhere to all the principles of Freemasonry. This is obvious in the case of René Guénon, for he himself was an initiate. In the case of Evola, his membership of Freemasonry is far from proven, but he was an intellectual whose Masonic acquaintance is obvious and his esoteric doctrine, which he never concealed, is objectively similar to the doctrine of Freemasonry.
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Interview with fr. Francis Ricossa for the magazine "Rivarol", 15.11.2017
*(You can get this issue online or by post: Editions des Tuileries, 19 avenue d'Italie, 75013 Paris, France)
*The editor-in-chief of the magazine Sodalitium, Italian priest x. Francis Ricossa has been giving a series of high-level lectures in Paris every year for the past decade on some important current topic concerning religion or Catholic doctrine.
*This interview raises some interesting issues. For it is difficult to find an organisation or milieu which, even if it is not infiltrated by people of shady backgrounds, does not invoke the principles or methods of Freemasonry.
R.: How do you respond to those who claim that Freemasonry no longer has the influence today that it had in the past?
F.R.: Let me laugh at such claims. A former Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy in the 1960s said that Freemasonry would win the party when everyone thought like Freemasonry, that is, when the values of Freemasonry became the way of thinking of the whole world. This is what has already happened. It is true that Freemasonry used to be in the governments of the main countries, and it still is, in one form or another, but there was a reaction then. There were those who defended the values of Freemasonry and those who opposed them, the authorities of the Catholic Church and a certain section of the people. Today, even those who verbally oppose Freemasonry, which very few people really do, very often, unknowingly, share the same principles as the sect. They do not even realise that they are approving and spreading in reality the ideas of Freemasonry. This is the best sign of the victory of the apron brothers.
R.: Aren't the radical right movements in Europe themselves infiltrated by Freemasonry?
F.R.: Yes, and this infiltration exists from two points of view: from the point of view of people and from the point of view of ideas. There are movements in which Freemasons are welcomed and even promoted. Overtly or covertly. There is also the problem of ideas: people who are not initiated share the most important principles of Freemasonry. I am not just talking about the principles that have unfortunately become the common thought of all those taught in school, preached in the "parish", freedom, equality, fraternity, etc., but I am talking about esotericism. In 'our' circles, which often sincerely oppose the revolutionary triad and the modern world, this is often done in the name of esoteric doctrine, which is the very essence of Freemasonry. One error is abandoned, only to fall into another no less serious one.
R: Do you mean the masonic influence in radical right circles and thinkers like René Guénon or Julius Evola ?
F.R.: These two thinkers, Guénon and Evola, were able to say something true, especially when it comes to the rejection and condemnation of the modern world, among many things false, and that is why there are many to whom it seems that they oppose the present world, while they adhere to all the principles of Freemasonry. This is obvious in the case of René Guénon, for he himself was an initiate. In the case of Evola, his membership of Freemasonry is far from proven, but he was an intellectual whose Masonic acquaintance is obvious and his esoteric doctrine, which he never concealed, is objectively similar to the doctrine of Freemasonry.
p.2 🔗
p.3 🔗
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Telegram
Ecce Verbum chat
R.: What was the relationship between Italian fascism and Freemasonry?
F.R.: Italian fascism was first and foremost a pragmatism led by Mussolini's political instinct, which changed many times, adapting to practice. It is certain that in the early days of…
F.R.: Italian fascism was first and foremost a pragmatism led by Mussolini's political instinct, which changed many times, adapting to practice. It is certain that in the early days of…
Ecce Verbum
Fear encourages evil Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko "Overcoming fear is fundamental to personal and national freedom. After all, fear is born of the sense of danger. We fear that we are threatened by suffering, loss of some good, loss of freedom, health or position.…
On freedom
Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko
*fragments of selected sermons
"We ask God for hope, because only people who are strong in hope are capable of surviving all difficulties. We ask for inner joy, for it is the most dangerous weapon against Satan, who is sad by birth. We ask for freedom from revenge and hatred, that freedom which is the fruit of love. (26 September 1982)"
"To remain a spiritually free person, one must live in the truth. To live in the truth is to bear witness to it outwardly, it is to acknowledge it and to claim it in every situation. Truth is unchangeable. Truth cannot be destroyed by one decision or another, by one law or another. This is basically our slavery, that we submit to the dominion of the lie, that we do not expose it and do not protest against it on a daily basis. We do not straighten it out, we remain silent or pretend to believe it. We then live in hypocrisy. The courageous witnessing to the truth is the path that leads directly to freedom. The man who bears witness to the truth is a free man even under conditions of external enslavement, even in a camp or prison. If the majority of Poles in the present situation would embark on the path of truth, if this majority would not forget what was true for them less than a year ago, we would become a spiritually free nation right now. (31 October 1982)"
"Only he can overcome evil who is himself rich in goodness, who cares to develop and enrich himself with the values which constitute the human dignity of the child of God. To multiply good and overcome evil is to care for one's own human dignity. Life must be lived with dignity, because there is only one life! It is necessary today to talk a great deal about human dignity in order to understand that man surpasses everything that can exist in the world except God. He surpasses the wisdom of the whole world. To preserve dignity in order to be able to magnify good and overcome evil is to remain inwardly free, even under conditions of external enslavement. To overcome evil with good is to remain faithful to the truth. (19 October 1984 - last sermon)"
"In order to overcome evil with good, the virtue of fortitude must be nurtured. The virtue of fortitude is overcoming human weakness, especially anxiety and fear. The Christian must remember that... "to fear is only to betray Christ for a few pieces of silver of idle peace". The Christian cannot be satisfied with mere condemnation of evil, lies, cowardice, enslavement, hatred, violence, but must himself be a true witness, spokesman and defender of justice, goodness and truth, freedom and love. For these values he must courageously fight, for himself and for others."(last sermon)
* Fr Jerzy's sermons, preached in the specific socio-political and cultural context of Poland at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, were a voice of opposition, but also of truth, to the situation of Poland under communist rule at the time, and to the Poles, especially from workers' circles, persecuted and interned by the communist authorities. They were also a voice of great hope and strengthening for many people, and even a source of numerous conversions. Fr. Jerzy was repeatedly vilified, threatened ,accused of organising "séances of hatred", until he suffered martyrdom for the truth that he preached. He lived the words of St Paul to the end: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good." (Rom 12:21).
Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko
*fragments of selected sermons
"We ask God for hope, because only people who are strong in hope are capable of surviving all difficulties. We ask for inner joy, for it is the most dangerous weapon against Satan, who is sad by birth. We ask for freedom from revenge and hatred, that freedom which is the fruit of love. (26 September 1982)"
"To remain a spiritually free person, one must live in the truth. To live in the truth is to bear witness to it outwardly, it is to acknowledge it and to claim it in every situation. Truth is unchangeable. Truth cannot be destroyed by one decision or another, by one law or another. This is basically our slavery, that we submit to the dominion of the lie, that we do not expose it and do not protest against it on a daily basis. We do not straighten it out, we remain silent or pretend to believe it. We then live in hypocrisy. The courageous witnessing to the truth is the path that leads directly to freedom. The man who bears witness to the truth is a free man even under conditions of external enslavement, even in a camp or prison. If the majority of Poles in the present situation would embark on the path of truth, if this majority would not forget what was true for them less than a year ago, we would become a spiritually free nation right now. (31 October 1982)"
"Only he can overcome evil who is himself rich in goodness, who cares to develop and enrich himself with the values which constitute the human dignity of the child of God. To multiply good and overcome evil is to care for one's own human dignity. Life must be lived with dignity, because there is only one life! It is necessary today to talk a great deal about human dignity in order to understand that man surpasses everything that can exist in the world except God. He surpasses the wisdom of the whole world. To preserve dignity in order to be able to magnify good and overcome evil is to remain inwardly free, even under conditions of external enslavement. To overcome evil with good is to remain faithful to the truth. (19 October 1984 - last sermon)"
"In order to overcome evil with good, the virtue of fortitude must be nurtured. The virtue of fortitude is overcoming human weakness, especially anxiety and fear. The Christian must remember that... "to fear is only to betray Christ for a few pieces of silver of idle peace". The Christian cannot be satisfied with mere condemnation of evil, lies, cowardice, enslavement, hatred, violence, but must himself be a true witness, spokesman and defender of justice, goodness and truth, freedom and love. For these values he must courageously fight, for himself and for others."(last sermon)
* Fr Jerzy's sermons, preached in the specific socio-political and cultural context of Poland at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, were a voice of opposition, but also of truth, to the situation of Poland under communist rule at the time, and to the Poles, especially from workers' circles, persecuted and interned by the communist authorities. They were also a voice of great hope and strengthening for many people, and even a source of numerous conversions. Fr. Jerzy was repeatedly vilified, threatened ,accused of organising "séances of hatred", until he suffered martyrdom for the truth that he preached. He lived the words of St Paul to the end: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good, Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good." (Rom 12:21).
Ecce Verbum
Melchizedek and Eucharist *Melchizedek is notable in a number of ways; for instance, he is the first person in the Bible who is explicitly called a priest. Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he…
The priesthood of Christ is derived from sacrifice
"In what was done by Melchisedech the priest we recognize a type of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sacrifice. For thus it is written in the writings of God: And Melchisedech, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham. Concerning the fact that Melchisedech was a type of Christ, the Holy Ghost himself doth testify in the Psalms, where the First Person of the Holy Trinity (that is, the Father) is set before us as saying unto the Second Person (that is, the Son): Before the day-star have I begotten thee: Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedech. And doubtless the sameness of order in the priesthood of Christ and of Melchisedech is derived from sacrifice, and proceedeth from this, namely; that Melchisedech was the priest of the Most High God; that he offered bread and wine; and that he blessed Abraham.
For who is so truly the priest of the Most High God as is our Lord Jesus Christ? And he it is that hath made an offering unto God the Father, and the same offering that Melchisedech made, Bread and Wine, that is to say, his own Flesh and his own Blood. And so far as Abraham is concerned, the blessing which Melchisedech gave him so long ago belongeth also to us. For if Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, verily then, whosoever believeth God and liveth by faith, the same is found righteous, and is made manifest unto us as one who hath thereby attained the blessing given faithful Abraham; which same is also justified as the Apostle Paul proveth, where he saith: Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness; know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham; and the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
To the end therefore, that this blessing of Abraham by Melchisedech the priest might be duly solemnized, it was preceded (as we are told in Genesis) by a symbolic sacrifice consisting of bread and wine. Completing and fulfilling this sacrifice, our Lord Jesus Christ offered up bread, and a cup of wine mingled with water. And thus he who came, (not to destroy, but to fulfil, the Law and the Prophets,) utterly satisfied all the implications prefigured in the oblation made by Melchisedech. Through Solomon's Proverbs also did the Holy Ghost clearly foreshadow, as it were in a parable, the Lord's Sacrifice, saying: Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out seven pillars: referring thus to the Church. In the same passage he pointeth to the victim slain, and the bread and wine, saying: She hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine. He pointeth to the altar in the words: She hath also furnished her table. And to the apostolic priesthood in the words: She hath sent forth her servants, she crieth upon the highest places of the city, saying, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither unto me; as for them that want understanding, she saith to them, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you."
From the letter to Caecilius by St. Cyprian
#eucharist #priesthood
"In what was done by Melchisedech the priest we recognize a type of the Sacrament of the Lord's Sacrifice. For thus it is written in the writings of God: And Melchisedech, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the Most High God, and he blessed Abraham. Concerning the fact that Melchisedech was a type of Christ, the Holy Ghost himself doth testify in the Psalms, where the First Person of the Holy Trinity (that is, the Father) is set before us as saying unto the Second Person (that is, the Son): Before the day-star have I begotten thee: Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedech. And doubtless the sameness of order in the priesthood of Christ and of Melchisedech is derived from sacrifice, and proceedeth from this, namely; that Melchisedech was the priest of the Most High God; that he offered bread and wine; and that he blessed Abraham.
For who is so truly the priest of the Most High God as is our Lord Jesus Christ? And he it is that hath made an offering unto God the Father, and the same offering that Melchisedech made, Bread and Wine, that is to say, his own Flesh and his own Blood. And so far as Abraham is concerned, the blessing which Melchisedech gave him so long ago belongeth also to us. For if Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, verily then, whosoever believeth God and liveth by faith, the same is found righteous, and is made manifest unto us as one who hath thereby attained the blessing given faithful Abraham; which same is also justified as the Apostle Paul proveth, where he saith: Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness; know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham; and the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
To the end therefore, that this blessing of Abraham by Melchisedech the priest might be duly solemnized, it was preceded (as we are told in Genesis) by a symbolic sacrifice consisting of bread and wine. Completing and fulfilling this sacrifice, our Lord Jesus Christ offered up bread, and a cup of wine mingled with water. And thus he who came, (not to destroy, but to fulfil, the Law and the Prophets,) utterly satisfied all the implications prefigured in the oblation made by Melchisedech. Through Solomon's Proverbs also did the Holy Ghost clearly foreshadow, as it were in a parable, the Lord's Sacrifice, saying: Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out seven pillars: referring thus to the Church. In the same passage he pointeth to the victim slain, and the bread and wine, saying: She hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine. He pointeth to the altar in the words: She hath also furnished her table. And to the apostolic priesthood in the words: She hath sent forth her servants, she crieth upon the highest places of the city, saying, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither unto me; as for them that want understanding, she saith to them, Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled for you."
From the letter to Caecilius by St. Cyprian
#eucharist #priesthood
Ecce Verbum
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The Light of Faith
Fr. Józef Pelczar
I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12), I am the truth (Jn 14:6), so says Christ the Lord to all mankind. Before his coming, darkness reigned on earth because man, in the feeble light of reason, could know neither God nor himself well, and the remaining rays of the original revelation were almost lost in the darkness of error. But now, "in the fullness of the ages", the Light comes to earth. It is the Word who from all eternity has been with God as the only-begotten Son of God, who in time became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14). This Word Incarnate, that is, Jesus Christ, is - in the words of St Bonaventure - like a lamp suspended over the world and constantly burning, whose oil is his divinity and whose vessel is his humanity; for he has brought to men the light of revelation, that is, supernatural truth which he has placed under the guardianship of the teaching Church.
This truth is truly divine and infallible, because it came from the mouth of the Supreme Wisdom, because it is proclaimed by the Church, which is "the pillar and confirmation of the truth". This truth is perfect and immutable, so that nothing can be taken from it, nothing can be added to it. It is a universal and all-embracing truth that, like the sun, enlightens valleys and peaks, the simple and the wise. This truth, as far as its content is concerned, is half light and half dark, like that cloud which led Israel through the wilderness; it gives as much light as the human spirit cannot even grasp, but it also has mysteries inaccessible to geniuses, because it is impossible for a small stream to contain an infinite ocean. This truth, accepted by faith, widens the scope of reason in a strange way; and just as an astronomer, standing on a high mountain, sees stars through a telescope, which the naked eye cannot see, so the believing Christian, in the light of faith, learns what the wisdom of all philosophers has not been able to discover. No wonder, then, that for this light the great prince of philosophy himself, Plato, sighed, and looked forward to Revelation as if it were a safe ship that would carry us across the sea of error. O, if he were now to rise from the grave and read our catechism, how deeply he would honour Him who alone could say, I am the light of the world.
The doctrine of this Light, proclaimed by the Church, has enlightened all the minds that have accepted it, has brought to earth a new body of truths, has civilised dark and savage peoples, has given a mighty increase to the sciences, has opened up rich sources of Christian education from which mankind still draws. It is only in the last hundred years that false sages, with greater audacity than before, have attempted to extinguish the light of Revelation, replacing it with the light of reason and science. Worse still, secret or overt associations have sprung up with the sole aim of fighting the Catholic religion, which they call darkness and superstition. Unfortunately, their work is not fruitless. With the help of bad laws, bad schools, bad books and journals, they have succeeded in extinguishing or dimming the light of the faith in many minds, with which they have been delighted to advise the eradication of God's truth from legislation, from politics, from public upbringing and from family life, in order thus to de-Christianise, as they say, society and to set it backwards into paganism.
But also for this, the world is growing darker and darker, because not only is there less faith, but also less common sense, and instead there is more and more monstrous error or gloomy doubt. [...] My dearest friends. There is still, thank God, a rich store of faith in society [...]. However, since the evil currents of the age are pressing in everywhere, one can also find people among us who disregard the light of Revelation, thinking that for them the light of reason and science is enough. [...]
Józef Sebastian Pelczar, Speeches and Sermons, 1877-1899, Krakow 1998, pp. 352-354.
p.2 🔗
#fidesetratio
Fr. Józef Pelczar
I am the light of the world (Jn 8:12), I am the truth (Jn 14:6), so says Christ the Lord to all mankind. Before his coming, darkness reigned on earth because man, in the feeble light of reason, could know neither God nor himself well, and the remaining rays of the original revelation were almost lost in the darkness of error. But now, "in the fullness of the ages", the Light comes to earth. It is the Word who from all eternity has been with God as the only-begotten Son of God, who in time became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth (Jn 1:14). This Word Incarnate, that is, Jesus Christ, is - in the words of St Bonaventure - like a lamp suspended over the world and constantly burning, whose oil is his divinity and whose vessel is his humanity; for he has brought to men the light of revelation, that is, supernatural truth which he has placed under the guardianship of the teaching Church.
This truth is truly divine and infallible, because it came from the mouth of the Supreme Wisdom, because it is proclaimed by the Church, which is "the pillar and confirmation of the truth". This truth is perfect and immutable, so that nothing can be taken from it, nothing can be added to it. It is a universal and all-embracing truth that, like the sun, enlightens valleys and peaks, the simple and the wise. This truth, as far as its content is concerned, is half light and half dark, like that cloud which led Israel through the wilderness; it gives as much light as the human spirit cannot even grasp, but it also has mysteries inaccessible to geniuses, because it is impossible for a small stream to contain an infinite ocean. This truth, accepted by faith, widens the scope of reason in a strange way; and just as an astronomer, standing on a high mountain, sees stars through a telescope, which the naked eye cannot see, so the believing Christian, in the light of faith, learns what the wisdom of all philosophers has not been able to discover. No wonder, then, that for this light the great prince of philosophy himself, Plato, sighed, and looked forward to Revelation as if it were a safe ship that would carry us across the sea of error. O, if he were now to rise from the grave and read our catechism, how deeply he would honour Him who alone could say, I am the light of the world.
The doctrine of this Light, proclaimed by the Church, has enlightened all the minds that have accepted it, has brought to earth a new body of truths, has civilised dark and savage peoples, has given a mighty increase to the sciences, has opened up rich sources of Christian education from which mankind still draws. It is only in the last hundred years that false sages, with greater audacity than before, have attempted to extinguish the light of Revelation, replacing it with the light of reason and science. Worse still, secret or overt associations have sprung up with the sole aim of fighting the Catholic religion, which they call darkness and superstition. Unfortunately, their work is not fruitless. With the help of bad laws, bad schools, bad books and journals, they have succeeded in extinguishing or dimming the light of the faith in many minds, with which they have been delighted to advise the eradication of God's truth from legislation, from politics, from public upbringing and from family life, in order thus to de-Christianise, as they say, society and to set it backwards into paganism.
But also for this, the world is growing darker and darker, because not only is there less faith, but also less common sense, and instead there is more and more monstrous error or gloomy doubt. [...] My dearest friends. There is still, thank God, a rich store of faith in society [...]. However, since the evil currents of the age are pressing in everywhere, one can also find people among us who disregard the light of Revelation, thinking that for them the light of reason and science is enough. [...]
Józef Sebastian Pelczar, Speeches and Sermons, 1877-1899, Krakow 1998, pp. 352-354.
p.2 🔗
#fidesetratio
Ecce Verbum
St. Basil and correctio fraterna "Be strict without anger or flaccidity. When reprimanding someone for negligence, we have to be careful to do it in the appropriate measure, keeping in mind God’s ways. A criminal uses a knife to cut members out of the body…
On kindness 🧵
1.The Necessity of Kind Listening
“Many persons whose manners will stand the test of speaking, break down under the trial of listening. But all these things ought to be brought under the sweet influences of religion. Kind listening is often an act of the most delicate interior mortification, and is a great assistance towards kind speaking.” Moreover, “those who govern others must take care to be kind listeners, or else they will soon offend God and fall into secret sins.”
“Weak and full of wants as we are ourselves, we must make up our minds, or rather take heart, to do some little good to this poor world while we are in it. Kind words are our chief implements for this work. A kind-worded man is a genial man; and geniality is power. Nothing sets wrong right so soon as geniality. There are a thousand things to be reformed, and no reform succeeds unless it be genial. No one was ever corrected by a sarcasm, crushed, perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever enough, but drawn nearer to God, never.”
“Men want to advocate changes, it may be in politics, or in science, or in philosophy, or in literature, or perhaps in the working of the Church. They give lectures, they write books, they start reviews, they found schools to propagate their views, they coalesce in associations, they collect money, they move reforms in public meetings, and all to further their peculiar ideas. They are unsuccessful. From being unsuccessful themselves, they become unsympathetic with others. From this comes narrowness of mind; their very talents are deteriorated. The next step is to be snappish, then bitter, then eccentric, then rude, after that they abuse people for not taking their advice; and, last of all, their impotence, like that of all angry prophets, ends in the shrillness of a scream..Without geniality no solid reform was ever made yet.. Nothing can be done for God without geniality. More plans fail for want of that than for the want of anything else. A genial man is both an apostle and an evangelist—an apostle because he brings men to Christ; an evangelist because he portrays Christ to men.”
“The more humble we are, the more kindly we shall talk; the more kindly we talk, the more humble we shall grow. An air of superiority is foreign to the genius of kindness.”
🔗 Frederick William Faber, Kindness (London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901).
2. The effects of kind actions 🔗
3. The effects of kind words 🔗
3.1 The effects of kind words 2 🔗
4. Judging others 🔗
5. Thoughts 🔗
6. Kindness makes life more bearable 🔗
7. Suffering well
#speech #charity
1.The Necessity of Kind Listening
“Many persons whose manners will stand the test of speaking, break down under the trial of listening. But all these things ought to be brought under the sweet influences of religion. Kind listening is often an act of the most delicate interior mortification, and is a great assistance towards kind speaking.” Moreover, “those who govern others must take care to be kind listeners, or else they will soon offend God and fall into secret sins.”
“Weak and full of wants as we are ourselves, we must make up our minds, or rather take heart, to do some little good to this poor world while we are in it. Kind words are our chief implements for this work. A kind-worded man is a genial man; and geniality is power. Nothing sets wrong right so soon as geniality. There are a thousand things to be reformed, and no reform succeeds unless it be genial. No one was ever corrected by a sarcasm, crushed, perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever enough, but drawn nearer to God, never.”
“Men want to advocate changes, it may be in politics, or in science, or in philosophy, or in literature, or perhaps in the working of the Church. They give lectures, they write books, they start reviews, they found schools to propagate their views, they coalesce in associations, they collect money, they move reforms in public meetings, and all to further their peculiar ideas. They are unsuccessful. From being unsuccessful themselves, they become unsympathetic with others. From this comes narrowness of mind; their very talents are deteriorated. The next step is to be snappish, then bitter, then eccentric, then rude, after that they abuse people for not taking their advice; and, last of all, their impotence, like that of all angry prophets, ends in the shrillness of a scream..Without geniality no solid reform was ever made yet.. Nothing can be done for God without geniality. More plans fail for want of that than for the want of anything else. A genial man is both an apostle and an evangelist—an apostle because he brings men to Christ; an evangelist because he portrays Christ to men.”
“The more humble we are, the more kindly we shall talk; the more kindly we talk, the more humble we shall grow. An air of superiority is foreign to the genius of kindness.”
🔗 Frederick William Faber, Kindness (London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901).
2. The effects of kind actions 🔗
3. The effects of kind words 🔗
3.1 The effects of kind words 2 🔗
4. Judging others 🔗
5. Thoughts 🔗
6. Kindness makes life more bearable 🔗
7. Suffering well
#speech #charity
Internet Archive
Kindness : Father Frederick William Faber : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Father Faber discusses the nature of true kindness, and how to live a kinder life.
Ecce Verbum
The authority of Church's interpretation of Scripture St. Vincent of Lerins "But here some one perhaps will ask, Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it…
St. Thomas Aquinas on faith vs. individualism
"Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith."
"The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Holy Writ and the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth. Consequently whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Holy Writ, has not the habit of faith, but holds that which is of faith otherwise than by faith. Even so, it is evident that a man whose mind holds a conclusion without knowing how it is proved, has not scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it. Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things; but if he is not obstinate, he is no longer in heresy but only in error. Therefore it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will."
Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q. v, art. 3
"Neither living nor lifeless faith remains in a heretic who disbelieves one article of faith."
"The reason of this is that the species of every habit depends on the formal aspect of the object, without which the species of the habit cannot remain. Now the formal object of faith is the First Truth, as manifested in Holy Writ and the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth. Consequently whoever does not adhere, as to an infallible and Divine rule, to the teaching of the Church, which proceeds from the First Truth manifested in Holy Writ, has not the habit of faith, but holds that which is of faith otherwise than by faith. Even so, it is evident that a man whose mind holds a conclusion without knowing how it is proved, has not scientific knowledge, but merely an opinion about it. Now it is manifest that he who adheres to the teaching of the Church, as to an infallible rule, assents to whatever the Church teaches; otherwise, if, of the things taught by the Church, he holds what he chooses to hold, and rejects what he chooses to reject, he no longer adheres to the teaching of the Church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will. Hence it is evident that a heretic who obstinately disbelieves one article of faith, is not prepared to follow the teaching of the Church in all things; but if he is not obstinate, he is no longer in heresy but only in error. Therefore it is clear that such a heretic with regard to one article has no faith in the other articles, but only a kind of opinion in accordance with his own will."
Summa Theologica IIa-IIae, q. v, art. 3
www.newadvent.org
SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: Those who have faith (Secunda Secundae Partis, Q. 5)
Was there faith in the angels, or in man, in their original state? Do the demons have faith? Do those heretics who err in one article, have faith in others? Among those who have faith, does one have it more than another?
Ecce Verbum
Beauty as orderliness of the soul "The need for beauty, which manifests itself in the child when it seeks light and in the wild man when he craves shine, can be developed and guided so that it becomes a lever in life. Such is the mission of literature and…
Augustine on Beauty
From his Confessions
"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace."
•Augustine ponders this perennial question of “what is beauty” and comes to conclude that that which is beautiful is something that cannot be seen with our eyes, but rather it is the knowledge of the very source and Creator of all beauty, God Himself through light of faith and virtue.
“How can we love anything but the beautiful? What, then, is a beautiful thing, or beauty itself? Can anything compel us that is not beautiful and fitting?”(p.75)
•As such, beauty has its place, beauty temporarily exists to attract and raise its perceiver to a higher order of being, to reflect the beauty of its originator, the Creator of all beauty, God Himself.
•Augustine reflects on his discovery of true beauty in persons who are virtuous. He says,
“I was drawn to the peace I found in virtue, and repelled by the rancor I found in vice, attributing the former to unity, the latter to division.”
•Virtuous people just seem easier to be friends with; they tend to put others first and themselves last. Whereas, the person who lacks virtue is often difficult to be friends with, hard to be around, cynical, critical and a source of division. He continues,
“Unity was the sphere of the ordered mind, of real truth and the highest good, while in division I thought I saw some status of the disordered mind, of the highest evil as a reality, having not only a state of its own but a life as well…I called unity the Monad, pure mind without gender, and division I called the Dyad, pure anger to hurt and lust to despoil. It was my ignorance speaking, since I had not grasped or been told that evil has no reality of its own and mind is not the highest and changeless good.”
•It is much easier to destroy than to create, to divide than to unite, to criticise than to praise, to create chaos than to maintain order, so too in our own lives. Our minds can change. This is a great thing, but the fact that our mind can change itself is also a sign of our inherent lack of unity of the mind, with our body and soul, all of which yearn for balance, order, the ideal, and the truth in order to achieve interior peace of person, overall. We need to start with peace in our soul in order to have order in our mind and body. Augustine says,
“You, Lord my God, ‘light a lamp for me to bring light into my darkness.’ For ‘we all partake of your fullness,’ since you are ‘the true light, giving light to every man who comes into this world. In you ‘there is no alteration or dimming by time.’ (p.78)
•Physical beauty is subject to time, experiencing deterioration. That which is not altered by time is holiness. Holy people reflect eternal beauty by virtue.
#beauty
From his Confessions
"Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace."
•Augustine ponders this perennial question of “what is beauty” and comes to conclude that that which is beautiful is something that cannot be seen with our eyes, but rather it is the knowledge of the very source and Creator of all beauty, God Himself through light of faith and virtue.
“How can we love anything but the beautiful? What, then, is a beautiful thing, or beauty itself? Can anything compel us that is not beautiful and fitting?”(p.75)
•As such, beauty has its place, beauty temporarily exists to attract and raise its perceiver to a higher order of being, to reflect the beauty of its originator, the Creator of all beauty, God Himself.
•Augustine reflects on his discovery of true beauty in persons who are virtuous. He says,
“I was drawn to the peace I found in virtue, and repelled by the rancor I found in vice, attributing the former to unity, the latter to division.”
•Virtuous people just seem easier to be friends with; they tend to put others first and themselves last. Whereas, the person who lacks virtue is often difficult to be friends with, hard to be around, cynical, critical and a source of division. He continues,
“Unity was the sphere of the ordered mind, of real truth and the highest good, while in division I thought I saw some status of the disordered mind, of the highest evil as a reality, having not only a state of its own but a life as well…I called unity the Monad, pure mind without gender, and division I called the Dyad, pure anger to hurt and lust to despoil. It was my ignorance speaking, since I had not grasped or been told that evil has no reality of its own and mind is not the highest and changeless good.”
•It is much easier to destroy than to create, to divide than to unite, to criticise than to praise, to create chaos than to maintain order, so too in our own lives. Our minds can change. This is a great thing, but the fact that our mind can change itself is also a sign of our inherent lack of unity of the mind, with our body and soul, all of which yearn for balance, order, the ideal, and the truth in order to achieve interior peace of person, overall. We need to start with peace in our soul in order to have order in our mind and body. Augustine says,
“You, Lord my God, ‘light a lamp for me to bring light into my darkness.’ For ‘we all partake of your fullness,’ since you are ‘the true light, giving light to every man who comes into this world. In you ‘there is no alteration or dimming by time.’ (p.78)
•Physical beauty is subject to time, experiencing deterioration. That which is not altered by time is holiness. Holy people reflect eternal beauty by virtue.
#beauty
www.newadvent.org
CHURCH FATHERS: Confessions (St. Augustine)
Visit New Advent for the Summa Theologica, Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia and more.
Ecce Verbum
Augustine on Beauty From his Confessions "Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which…
The beauty of humility
St. Gregory I, Moralia in Iob, Part VI, Book XXXV
"All human wisdom, however powerful in acuteness, is foolishness, when compared with Divine wisdom. For all human deeds which are just and beautiful are, when compared with the justice and beauty of God, neither just nor beautiful, nor have any existence at all.
Blessed Job therefore would believe that he had said wisely what he had said, if he did not hear the words of superior wisdom. In comparison with which all our wisdom is folly. And he who had spoken wisely to men, on hearing the Divine sayings, discourses more wisely that he is not wise. Hence it is that Abraham saw, when God was addressing him, that he was nothing but dust, saying; I speak unto my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. [Gen. 18, 27] Hence it is that Moses, though instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as soon as he heard the Lord speaking, discovered that he was a person of more hesitating and slower speech, saying; I beseech Thee, O Lord, I am not eloquent; for from yesterday, and the day before, since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant, I am of a more hesitating and slower tongue. [Ex. 4, 10]
Hence Ezekiel speaking concerning the four animals, says; When there was a voice above the firmament, which was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings. [Ez. 1, 25] For what is designated by the flying of the animals but the sublimity of evangelists and doctors? Or what are the wings of the animals, but the contemplations of saints raising them up to heavenly things? But when a voice is uttered above the firmament which is over their heads, they stand, and let down their wings, because when they hear within the voice of heavenly wisdom, they drop down, as it were, the wings of their flight. For they discern, in truth, that they are not able to contemplate the loftiness itself of truth.
To drop down their wings then at the voice which comes from above, is, on learning the power of God, to bring down our own virtues, and from contemplating the Creator, to think but humbly of ourselves.
When holy men, therefore, hear the words of God, the more they advance in contemplation, the more they despise what they are, and know themselves to be either nothing, or next to nothing."
#humility
St. Gregory I, Moralia in Iob, Part VI, Book XXXV
"All human wisdom, however powerful in acuteness, is foolishness, when compared with Divine wisdom. For all human deeds which are just and beautiful are, when compared with the justice and beauty of God, neither just nor beautiful, nor have any existence at all.
Blessed Job therefore would believe that he had said wisely what he had said, if he did not hear the words of superior wisdom. In comparison with which all our wisdom is folly. And he who had spoken wisely to men, on hearing the Divine sayings, discourses more wisely that he is not wise. Hence it is that Abraham saw, when God was addressing him, that he was nothing but dust, saying; I speak unto my Lord, though I am dust and ashes. [Gen. 18, 27] Hence it is that Moses, though instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, as soon as he heard the Lord speaking, discovered that he was a person of more hesitating and slower speech, saying; I beseech Thee, O Lord, I am not eloquent; for from yesterday, and the day before, since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant, I am of a more hesitating and slower tongue. [Ex. 4, 10]
Hence Ezekiel speaking concerning the four animals, says; When there was a voice above the firmament, which was over their heads, they stood, and let down their wings. [Ez. 1, 25] For what is designated by the flying of the animals but the sublimity of evangelists and doctors? Or what are the wings of the animals, but the contemplations of saints raising them up to heavenly things? But when a voice is uttered above the firmament which is over their heads, they stand, and let down their wings, because when they hear within the voice of heavenly wisdom, they drop down, as it were, the wings of their flight. For they discern, in truth, that they are not able to contemplate the loftiness itself of truth.
To drop down their wings then at the voice which comes from above, is, on learning the power of God, to bring down our own virtues, and from contemplating the Creator, to think but humbly of ourselves.
When holy men, therefore, hear the words of God, the more they advance in contemplation, the more they despise what they are, and know themselves to be either nothing, or next to nothing."
#humility
Ecce Verbum
The wisdom of silence "..I do not think that we are far wrong in saying that, on the whole, men are not too appreciative of the virtue of silence. Most of our conversation has no more merit or effect than to stir the air around us. We could all say so very…
The value of solitude
🔗 The Sounding Solitude by Francis M. Drouin, OP
pages 39-44
"If persons enter into solitude and taste its fruits, one certain effect is that they will no longer see as they saw before, no longer behold themselves, others, or God as they did formerly. Solitude provides another way of seeing. We will be given new lenses to in-sight. Our eyes will have been purified by the mystery of solitude changing the heart and therefore changing the vision. The obvious is always to be discovered anew! The mystery of solitude purifies the sight, the seeing, the beholding of each person, when we are open to discovering and to receiving. When solitude brings us to God, God brings us into new vision. 'Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things..." (Ps 119:18)"
Sounding Solitude, Sr Mary Paul Cutri 🔗, ocd
#spirituallife
🔗 The Sounding Solitude by Francis M. Drouin, OP
pages 39-44
"If persons enter into solitude and taste its fruits, one certain effect is that they will no longer see as they saw before, no longer behold themselves, others, or God as they did formerly. Solitude provides another way of seeing. We will be given new lenses to in-sight. Our eyes will have been purified by the mystery of solitude changing the heart and therefore changing the vision. The obvious is always to be discovered anew! The mystery of solitude purifies the sight, the seeing, the beholding of each person, when we are open to discovering and to receiving. When solitude brings us to God, God brings us into new vision. 'Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things..." (Ps 119:18)"
Sounding Solitude, Sr Mary Paul Cutri 🔗, ocd
#spirituallife
Ecce Verbum
St. John of the Cross on vices of converts p.IV Spiritual immaturity Dark Night of the Soul (Book I, Chapter VI) "These persons have the same defect as regards the practice of prayer, for they think that all the business of prayer consists in experiencing…
Fr. Faber on the mistakes of converts and beginners
“When we read the lives of the saints, or ponder on the teaching of mystical books, we shall surely have no difficulty in admitting that we ourselves are but beginners.” And beginners on the road to spiritual perfection are especially prone to make two mistakes.
The first mistake is this: “Beginners like to turn their eye away from outward conduct to the more hidden processes of their own spiritual experiences. If we allow a beginner to choose his own subject for particular examen of conscience, he will generally choose some very delicate and imperceptible fault, the theatre of which is almost wholly within, or some refined form of self-love whose metamorphoses are exceedingly difficult either to detect or to control. He will not choose his temper, or his tongue, or his love of nice dishes, or some unworthy habit which is disagreeable to those around him. This leads to hardness of heart, to spiritual pride, and to self-righteousness. It has a peculiar power to neutralize the operations of grace, and to reduce our spirituality to a matter of words and feelings.”
“The second mistake is very like the first, though there is a difference in it. It consists in giving way to an attraction which is too high for us. It is not that we divide things into outward and inward, and exaggerate the latter. But we divide them into high and commonplace, and are inclined almost to despise the latter. We fasten with a sort of diseased eagerness upon the exceptional practices of the saints. Peculiarities have a kind of charm for us. We try to force ourselves to thirst for suffering, when we have hardly grace enough for the quiet endurance of a headache. We ask leave to pray for calumny, when a jocose retort puts us in a passion. We traffic with exceptions rather than with rules. Hence the common moral virtues, the ordinary motives of religion, the duties of our state of life, our responsibilities toward others, the usual teaching of sermons and spiritual books, are kept in the background. We are too well instructed to speak evil of them, or to show them contempt, but we treat them with a respectful neglect. Thus our spiritual life becomes a sort of elegant selfish solitude, a temple reared to dainty delusions, a mere fastidious and exclusive worship of self whose refinement is only an aggravation of its dishonesty. No saint ever went along this road. The grace to be indistinguishable from the good people round us is a greater grace than that which visibly marks us off from their practices or their attainments.”
Frederick William Faber, Kindness (London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901) 🔗
#converts
“When we read the lives of the saints, or ponder on the teaching of mystical books, we shall surely have no difficulty in admitting that we ourselves are but beginners.” And beginners on the road to spiritual perfection are especially prone to make two mistakes.
The first mistake is this: “Beginners like to turn their eye away from outward conduct to the more hidden processes of their own spiritual experiences. If we allow a beginner to choose his own subject for particular examen of conscience, he will generally choose some very delicate and imperceptible fault, the theatre of which is almost wholly within, or some refined form of self-love whose metamorphoses are exceedingly difficult either to detect or to control. He will not choose his temper, or his tongue, or his love of nice dishes, or some unworthy habit which is disagreeable to those around him. This leads to hardness of heart, to spiritual pride, and to self-righteousness. It has a peculiar power to neutralize the operations of grace, and to reduce our spirituality to a matter of words and feelings.”
“The second mistake is very like the first, though there is a difference in it. It consists in giving way to an attraction which is too high for us. It is not that we divide things into outward and inward, and exaggerate the latter. But we divide them into high and commonplace, and are inclined almost to despise the latter. We fasten with a sort of diseased eagerness upon the exceptional practices of the saints. Peculiarities have a kind of charm for us. We try to force ourselves to thirst for suffering, when we have hardly grace enough for the quiet endurance of a headache. We ask leave to pray for calumny, when a jocose retort puts us in a passion. We traffic with exceptions rather than with rules. Hence the common moral virtues, the ordinary motives of religion, the duties of our state of life, our responsibilities toward others, the usual teaching of sermons and spiritual books, are kept in the background. We are too well instructed to speak evil of them, or to show them contempt, but we treat them with a respectful neglect. Thus our spiritual life becomes a sort of elegant selfish solitude, a temple reared to dainty delusions, a mere fastidious and exclusive worship of self whose refinement is only an aggravation of its dishonesty. No saint ever went along this road. The grace to be indistinguishable from the good people round us is a greater grace than that which visibly marks us off from their practices or their attainments.”
Frederick William Faber, Kindness (London: R. & T. Washbourne, 1901) 🔗
#converts
Ecce Verbum
Fr. Faber on the mistakes of converts and beginners “When we read the lives of the saints, or ponder on the teaching of mystical books, we shall surely have no difficulty in admitting that we ourselves are but beginners.” And beginners on the road to spiritual…
Fr. Faber on the signs of spiritual progress
Frederick William Faber, "Growth in Holiness, or the progress of the spiritual life" 🔗
pages 25-28
#converts
Frederick William Faber, "Growth in Holiness, or the progress of the spiritual life" 🔗
pages 25-28
#converts