St. Bernard and the Four Steps of the Cloister Stair-Contemplation Continued

I am writing to encourage the laity to a personal relationship with Christ which will lead each lay person to union with Christ. This is not only possible, but God's Will.

The reason I encourage reading is that is the first step on the chair to Contemplation as taught by St. Bernard of Clairvaux.

We must read the right books, however. Some people get bogged down in conversion stories. That is only a beginning. Let me encourage the daily reading of Scripture, or the Lectio Divina.

Here is what Suarez states about Bernard's first step, which overlaps with what St. Thomas Aquinas writes, is important on the life of those seeking contemplation.

Reading...is the first elevation of the mind to God, for by reading we learn and receive that which by meditation we preserve and digest, and so by degrees the soul is inflamed towards God; or, to quote St. Bernard, it is the first step of the four steps of the cloister stair, which are reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. ...Reading seeks, meditation finds, prayer begs, and contemplation relishes.

Yesterday, I had a fairly long conversation with a holy young man who is seeking God daily. He was defending those in his generation who do not know their faith, nor take, or "have" time for the Catechism, or other reading, such as the Scriptures. They will be lost. A priority for finding out the faith is essential for every Catholic adult. And, one over 18 is an adult. Whether someone decides to be in the psychological state of a child and not take responsibility for spiritual growth or not, each one of us is responsible. The graces of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, aid us on our way.

I pointed out that without a philosophical grounding in Catholic thought and an understanding of their faith, these young people will not make good decisions for their lives. Without discernment based on reading and the moral framework of the Catholic Church, these youth will flounder.

St. Bernard writes, Reading without meditation is arid, meditation without reading is exposed to error, prayer without meditation is tepid, meditation without prayer is unfruitful; prayer with the devotion of contemplation is  acquisitive, while the attainment of contemplation without prayer is either rare, or it is miraculous.

Suarez in good logical form states these are the beginning, the middle and the end of contemplation. This is why I list books on this blog. I shall continue later with the other three steps.