Tuesday, 6 May 2014
An Anxiety Put Down
Using Newman these past few days for meditation and devotional reading, I was delighted to read his own comment that he meditated better with a pen in his hand.
I was greatly relieved after reading this, as I meditate better when typing. Many of my blog posts are meditations on the Scriptures or, recently, a combination of study and contemplation on the Attributes of God. Writing helps me pray and prayer helps me write.
Why this is so, I do not know. Perhaps it is the way some minds work; in other words, writing out something is part of the process of meditation or active contemplation.
I have been worried about this for a long time, but as this was true for a saint, I can relax, as one who is aspiring to be a saint, I have found a model in writing. I am so glad Newman wrote this for me and others to ponder.
Twice I started theses on Newman and have not, for good reasons, not sloth, not been able to finish these. I have been studying him off and on for over 30 years, but only really read this phrase today.
Amazing how when one is ready for certain knowledge, it can just leap off the page of a book one has read before.....
The second idea I want to share from Newman is the thought of his that all sin is actually blasphemy. This point stunned me today.
Here he is on this point: "O my God, can I sin when Thou art so intimately with me? Can I forget who is with me, who is in me?" The fact that we Catholics through baptism have the Indwelling of the Trinity means that when we sin, we sin against God within us.
Think on that....
This great man needs another miracle in order to be canonized. Please pray for one and pray for me to be included in his intercessions before the Throne of God.
