Who Except God Can Give You Peace? Has the World Ever Been Able to Satisfy the Heart? --My Journal

Okay, I'm back...again.

I've been trying to do spiritual reading every day and I guess I wanted to create this journal to be a form of accountability, and to share things I read along the way.

 

I'm currently reading " The Story of a Soul" by St. Therese. Regarding mental prayer (meditation) she writes:

I should have liked at this time to practice meditation, but Marie, finding me sufficiently devout, only let me say my vocal prayers. A mistress at the Abbey asked me once what I did on holidays, when I stayed at home. I answered timidly: “I often hide myself in a corner of my room where I can shut myself in with the bed curtains, and then I think.” “But what do you think about?” said the good nun, laughing. “I think about the Good God, about the shortness of life, and about eternity: in a word, I think.” My mistress did not forget this, and later on she used to remind me of the time when I thought, asking me if I still thought. . . . Now, I know that I was really meditating, while my Divine Master gently instructed me.

 

I've started reading the Summa. In the first part, Nature of Sacred Doctrine, eighth article, Whether Sacred Doctrine is a Matter of Argument, St. Thomas Aquinas, writing in support that it is, says:

Since faith rests upon infallible truth, and since the contrary of a truth can never be demonstrated, it is clear that arguments brought against faith cannot be demonstrations, but are difficulties that can be answered.

Mic drop, Thomas.

 

This is taken from "Divine Intimacy" and is one of the mediations for the week of Septuagesima. I plan posting the others as they go into the topic of detachment and what it entails.

THE NECESSITY FOR INTERIOR PURIFICATION

Presence of God -- Purify my soul, O Lord, so that it may be filled completely with Your light and Your love.

Meditation:

1. St. John of the Cross compares the soul to a glass window with a ray of sunlight shining on it. If the galss is dirty, "they ray cannot illuminate it, nor transform it completely into its light; its illumination will be in proportion to its clearness. If, on the other hand, it is absolutely clean and spotless, it will be illuminated and transformed in such a way as to appear to be the luminous ray itself, and to give the same light"(AS II, 5,6). God is the divine Sun shining upon our souls, desiring to invade them and penetrate them, completely transforming them into His light and love. Before He does this, however, He waits until the soul resolves to free itself from every "creature stain," that is, the stains of sin and inordinate attachments. As soon as God finds that a soul is free from mortal sin, He immediately fills it with His grace. This precious gift is the first step in the great transformation which the Lord desires to bring about in us. The more we become purified of all sin and imperfection, and of even the slightest attachment; that is , in proportion as we conform our will to the will of God, not only in serious matters of obligation but even in the least details of perfection, the more capable we become of being entirely penetrated and tranformed by divine Grace.

Grace, the gift of God which makes the soul a participant in the divine nature, is poured forth into the soul in proportion to its degree of interior purity, which always corresponds to its degree of conformity with God's will. Therefore, the soul that wishes to be totally possessed and transformed by divine Grace, must in practice strive to conform fully to the will of God, according to the teaching of St. John of the Cross, "so that there may be nothing in the soul that is contrary to the will of God, but that in all and through all its movement may be that of the will of God alone. (AS I, 11,2).

2. God not only illumines our soul with the rays of His divine Grace, but He Himself, Unity and Trinity, takes up His abode within us, according to the promise of Jesus: "If anyone love Me...We will come to him, nd will make our abode with him" (John 14; 23). Even if we posses a single degree of grace, God dwells in us and invites us to live in real union with Him; nevertheless, He does not give Himself completely to us; He does not consumate us in His unity nor transform us compeltely in Himself as long as He finds in us the slightest thing contrary to His will. The smallest imperfection is opposed to the will of God because God cannot desire the slightest imperfection and, a fortiori, He cannot admit to perfect union with Himself a soul who keeps any trace -- no matter how insignificant-- of opposition to His infinite perfection. The basis of all perfect union is total conformity of will and affection. As long as we love and desire, even in small details, anything that God cannot love or desire, our will is not fully conformed to the divine will, and these two wills, God's will and our own will, cannot become one, "that is, the will of God become also the will of the soul" (J.C. AS I, 11, 3).

As long as we do not attain this perfect union of wills, God, although He dwells in us, will not communicate Himself fully to our soul. Hence St. John of the Cross teaches that "the soul disposes itself for union...by purity and love, that is by renoucement and perfect detachment from all things for God's sake alone." When the soul is thus disposed, God bestows on it "that supernatural favor by which all the things of God and the soul are one in participant transformation, and the soul seems to be God rather than soul, and is indeed God by participation, although its natural being is as distinct from the Being of God as it was before...even as the window has a nature distinct from that of the ray by which it is illumined" (AS, II, 5, 8-7).

Colloquy:

O my God, for what great things have You created me! You have created me to know You, to love You, to serve You --and not as a slave, but as Your child, Your friend, living in intimacy with You, sitting at Your table, enjoying Your presence. O Jesus, You have said "I will not now call you servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends, because all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father, I have made known to you" (John 15;15).

You have revealed to me the great mystery of God who deigns to love me as His child, to establish His dwelling in my soul, to invite me to a more intimate friendship and union with Him. You Yourself asked for this union for me a the Last Supper: "As Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us" (ibid. 17, 21). To be one with God, to be consumed in the Unity of the Most Holy Trinity! O Jesus, how sublime is the ideal You propose to me, how wonderful the invitation you offer me! Yes, Your words apply also to me, a creature of sin and misery. Why should I delay, remaining among the base things and vanities of this earthly life? Why should I, like a reptile, be content to crawl on the ground, when You invite me to soar like an eagle and give me wings with which to do so? Alone I can do nothing and would struggle in vain to free myself from the bonds of sin, to detach myself from creatures and from myself; all my efforts would be usesless because my natural weakness constatly tends to drag me down. But your grace and love are the wings on which I can fly to perfect union with You. With such an ideal, how could I think it hard to undertake and carry out a work of profound purification and total detachment?

O God, make me understand clearly that "real love consists in detaching oneself from everything that is not You" (J.C. AS II, 5,7). From everything, not only from this thing or that, but from everything, for love is by nature totalitarian, and perfect union demands perfect harmony of wills, desires, and affections.

My God, what profound purificaiton I must undergo in order that You may be able to unite me to Yourself, who are infinite perfection!

 

Read this quote a couple days back and have decided to post it here and make it my personal journal title:

"Who Except God Can Give You Peace? Has the World Ever Been Able to Satisfy the Heart?" --Saint Gerard Majella.

 

From "Divine Intimacy"

VOLUNTARY ATTACHMENTS

Presence of God -- O Lord, I place myself in Your presence, begging You to enlighten my soul so that I may see what are the obstacles to my union with You.

Meditation:

1. "To be perfectly united to God by love and will, the soul must first be cleansed of all appetites of the will, even the smallest"(J.C. AS I, 11,3). In the language of St. John of the Cross, appetites are disordered inclinations or affections for oneself or creatures, tendencies which are, according to their seriousness, more or less contrary to the divine will. God wishes us to love ourselves, as well as all created things, in the measure assigned by Him, with a view to His pleasure and not to our own selfish satisfaction. These inclinations or appetites always give rise to venial sins, or at least to deliberate imperfections, when one willingly yields to them, even though it be only in matters of slight importance. The will of the soul which freely assents to these failings, slight though they be, is stained by this opposition to the will of God; for this reason a perfet union cannot exist between its will and God's. Moreover, if these imperfections become habitual and the soul does not try to correct them, they form a great obstacle to divine union; and according to St. John of the Cross, "they prevent not only divine union but also advancement in perfection" (ibid). He gives a few examples of these unmortified "habitual imperfections": the habit of talking too much, unrestrained curiosity, attachment to little things --whether persons or objects---such as food and so forth, which the soul refuses to give up. There is also the attachments to one's own comfort, to certain sensible satisfactions, little vanities, foolish self-complacency, attachment to one's own opinion or reputation. There is a real mushroom-bed of "appetites" and disordered inclinations from which the soul will not free itself, precisely becaues it is attached to the meager selfish satisfaction which it finds in these wretched things. It is "attached" completely. These are precisely the "habitual voluntary appetites" of which St. John of the Cross says, "One single unmortified appetite is sufficent to fetter the soul" (ibid).

On the other hand, when it is a question of imperfect inclinations arising solely from human weakness, of those which do not get beyond the state of "first movements" in which the will has no part, "either before or after," but rather tries to repress as soon as it noticies them, "these do not prevent one from attaining divine union" (ibid, 11,2). It is the will that counts and it must be completely free from the slightest attachment.


2. "The least of these imperfections to which the soul is attached or accustomed is more of a barrier to increasing and advancing in virtue than if one fell every day into several imperfections and isolated venial sins not the result of bad habits" (ibid.,11,4). It is not so much these "isolated falls," due to inadvertence or weakness, which hinder the soul's advancement, as it is the little venial faults and even simple imperfections caused by habitual voluntary attachments which the soul does not take the trouble to uproot. Even though they are slight, they nevertheless constitute bonds which attach it to earth. "For it comes to the same thing whether a bird be held by a slender cord or by a stout one, since, even if it be slender, the bird will be as well held as though it were stout for so long as it breaks it not and flies not away. It is true that the slender one is the easier to break; still, easy though it be, the bird will not fly away if it be not broken. And thus the soul that has attachment to anything, however great its virtue, will not attain to the liberty of divine union" (ibid.).

St. John of the Cross has only one thing to say about renouncement and detachment: renounce everything, be detached from everything. If this demand seems unreasonable, let us remember that it is pure evangelical doctrine, that it asks nothing more than what Jesus proposes to us when He says, "Renounce thyself." He asks us to renounce ourselves not only in this or that matter, but in everything that might prevent us from following Him: "For he that will save his life shall lose it, and he that shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it. If thy hand or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee" (Matthew 16; 25 - 18;8). Jesus teaches us in these words that, for the salvation and sanctification of our soul, we must give up everything that might become a stumbling block to us. It is precisely in this thorough renunciation, in this "losing" of self in everything --even in what is dearest to us and if it were necessary, even to the extent of sacrificing our life --that we find the road to salvation and sanctity.


Colloquy:

"Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved Thee. Thou wert within me, and I looked outside; I sought Thee, and miserable as I was I longed for creatures, I was detained by the wonderful works of Thy hands. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Thou hast called and cried to me in my deafness. Thou hast shone as lightning, brilliant enough to drive away my blindness. Thou hast scattered Thy perfume; I breathed it, and now I sigh for Thee. I have tasted Thee, and now I hunger and thirst for Thee. Thou has touched me , and I burn with desire for Thy peace" (St. Augustine).

My God, give me the light necessary to recognize in myself all that keeps me from union with You. Grant me the light to recognize all the attachments which still bind me to creatures, and especially those which are most displeasing to You because they proceed directly from pride and self-love. In the secrecy of my heart You teach me sweetly and gently, You show me clearly that I am still far from conforming my will to Yours, in all things and for all things. I love and desire so many trifles, so many imperfections which You neither love nor desire because they are contrary to Your infinite perfection. Give me strength to wage a constant and courageous battle against them. You know, O Lord, that I have great need of Your help, for I am too attached to myself to be capable of struggling against my disordered affections, of giving up so many little pleasures which feed my egotism. I love myself too much to sacrifice what separates me from You. Then, let me present myself to You, O Lord, as a sick person to a surgeon; plunge the knife into my soul, cut away and destroy all that displeases You and that is not in accord with Your will.

 

From "Divine Intimacy"

THE ESSENCE OF DETACHMENT

Presence of God -- Help me, O Lord, to understand the meaning of that total detachment which is the indispensable condition for perfect union with You.


1. "The soul has only one will, and if it occupies itself or encumbers itself with anything, it will not remain free, solitary, and pure, as is required for divine transformation" (AS I, 11,6). This teaching of St. John of the Cross is in perfect harmony with the fundamental precept of Jesus: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength and with all thy mind" (Luke 10;27). If the heart is occupied with inordinate attachments to self or creatures, it is clear that it cannot love God with all its strength, which is divided between God and self, between God and creatures. The precept of charity proposed to all Christians requires the radical renunciation of every attachment which is not conformable to the will of God, or which is not consistent with the love of God. Total detachment is the logical result of Jesus' commandment and the indispensable means of perfectly fulfilling it.

This is why St. John of the Cross insists that if the soul wishes to posses God, it must strip itself of all that is not God. This is why it must give up every statisfaction or attachment which does not lead to God. This is the meaning of his statements: "In order to enjoy everything (that is, to enjoy God, who is everything), do not seek to enjoy anything (do not seek any inordinate pleasure). In order to posses everything, do not desire to posses anything. When you stop at anything, you do not reach the all (AS I, 13,11,12). When the soul, through some disordered attachment, stops at any creature, it interrupts its progress toward God: the nothingness of the creature prevents it from reaching the all of God.


2. The essence of total detachment does not consist in effective material separation from creatures, a thing which, in its absolute form, would be impossible on this earth. Those who are cloistered, and even hermits, cannot escape certain dealings with their neighbors, nor get along without the necessities of life. Besides, wherever one is he carries with him his own person, his "self"; nevertheless, detachment from self is always the point of departure. It is clear, however, that it can never be a questions of complete material detachment, but only of affective, spiritual detachment.

The doctrine of total detachment does not require that everyone abandon all things materially, but that each one, in whatever surroundings he finds himself, know how to keep his heart free from all attachment. "In order to enter into this divine union, all the affections living in the soul must die, whether they are many or few, large or small; and the soul must remain free from them, and as detached as if it were not made for them, nor they for it (J.C. AS I, 11, 8).

However, it will be impossible to attain this affective detachment, that is , the death of all inordinate affection for self and creatures if, at least to a certain degree, we do not practice effective or material detachment. If we cannot give up all useless preoccupation with creatures, we shall never reach interior detachment. Likewise, the soul who, by consecrating itself to God, has separated itself materially from people dear to it or has already given up so many things, must not think that all is accomplished. It will always have to be vigilant in order to keep itself free from all attachments. Whether we live in the world or in solitude, whether we posses much or little, we must always strive for the essence of detachment, which is detachment of heart and mind.

This is the teaching of St. Paul: "Let those who have wives be as if they had none...those who buy, as though they possed not, and those who use this world, as if they used it not" (1 Cor 7; 29-31).


Colloquy:

O Lord, why should the idea of total detachment frighten me since it is the means of finally arriving at loving You with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength, since it is the path which leads me to union with You, infinite beauty and charity, Triune God, the beginning and end of all things?

"O blessed detachment from all that is mean and perishable, to what a sublime state will you not raise me? You love me, my God, and for thos who love You, Your love is no insignificant thing! Why, then, should I not return Your love with all my strength? It would really be a happy exchange, O my God, giving You my love and receiving Yours. I know indeed that You can do everything, and that I can do only what You enable me to do. But what do I do for You, my Lord and Creator? I make some feeble resolutions which really amount to nothing. But if You wish me to gain everything by this nothing, I shall not be so foolish as not to listen to You!" (T.J. Way, 16).

O Lord, with Your help I wish to set to work immediately to refuse no sacrifice, to spare no fiber of my heart in order to detach myself completely from everything that might tie me to earth. These sacrifices and detachments will pain my weak human nature, but You will enable me to see that, even though they make my heart bleed, it is nothing in comparison with the immense treasure which they purchase for me, which is the attainment of You, my God, You who are All.

O Lord, do not permit my cowardly heart to tarry amid earthly things; do not permit me to divide my affection, little as it is, between You who are All and creatures who are nothing, between You my God, and my egoism, which is nothing but sin and misery. Perhaps I think "it is a small favor to have the grace to consecrate myself wholly, without reservation, to You who are the All" (ibid,. 8)? Oh! how I long, O Lord, for this supreme favor of total detachment which will give me the liberty of loving You with all my strength.

If You, O Lord, have already granted me the grace to renounce earthly things, to abandon life in the world and to consecrate myself to Your service, what gratitude I owe You! Do not permit me, I beg of You, to be so blind as to believe that because I have left the world, I have nothing else to do. What a mistake it would be, after making such big sacrifices, to attach myself to miserable trifles, which are not worthy of a soul consecrated to You!

 

It's very difficult if we think it's all up to us to accomplish it. We must will it, and God will make it happen!

There is a story where some nuns invited St. Thomas Aquinas to a convent and they asked him to write down for them some direction on how to become a saint. From how the story goes, Thomas at the end of his stay handed the Mother Superior a book and inside he simply wrote "will it".

I deleted my old journal. I'm slowly but surely coming to the end of the line with online.


*In my best Braveheart impression*


FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDOOOOOOMMMMM!