A Happy Seminarian at Lourdes

We need more happy sems. Please pray for vocations and for this young man. Thanks.

Because God Deserves Proper Worship

I was reminded of this architect because of another blog. Take a look. This is what we need for renewal in the liturgy.

http://www.stroik.com/portfolio/

Dark Night of The Soul Part 23

This  stripping of all attachments is painful. But, one must understand what is happening. It is not depression or sadness. The life of God is in the purification. If one is depressed, one is not experiencing the dark night, but something else, either physical or psychological. A good director must be found, or a confessor who understands the road to perfection. Here are more of St. John's words.


3. Therefore, since these proficients are still at a very low stage of progress, and follow their own nature closely in the intercourse and dealings which they have with God, because the gold of their spirit is not yet purified and refined, they still think of God as little children, and speak of God as little children, and feel and experience God as little children, even as Saint Paul says,106 because they have not reached perfection, which is the union of the soul with God. In the state of union, however, they will work great things in the spirit, even as grown men, and their works and faculties will then be Divine rather than human, as will afterwards be said. To this end God is pleased to strip them of this old man and clothe them with the new man, who is created according to God, as the Apostle says,107 in the newness of sense. He strips their faculties, affections and feelings, both spiritual and sensual, both outward and inward, leaving the understanding dark, the will dry, the memory empty and the affections in the deepest affliction, bitterness and constraint, taking from the soul the pleasure and experience of spiritual blessings which it had aforetime, in order to make of this privation one of the principles which are requisite in the spirit so that there may be introduced into it and united with it the spiritual form of the spirit, which is the union of love. All this the Lord works in the soul by means of a pure and dark contemplation, as the soul explains in the first stanza. This, although we originally interpreted it with reference to the first night of sense, is principally understood by the soul of this second night of the spirit, since this is the principal part of the purification of the soul. And thus we shall set it down and expound it here again in this sense.

In case you missed the psychological warfare posts...

Are you thinking like a Catholic?


http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/07/catholics-in-psywar.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/07/we-are-in-psywar-universal-and-absolute.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/07/catholics-in-psywar-part-three-psyop.html

The Dark Night of The Soul Part 22

The Dark Night of the Spirit is more exacting than the Dark Night of the Senses.  Here is John of the Cross and my comments in blue.

THESE proficients have two kinds of imperfection: the one kind is habitual; the other actual. The habitual imperfections are the imperfect habits and affections which have remained all the time in the spirit, and are like roots, to which the purgation of sense has been unable to penetrate. The difference between the purgation of these and that of this other kind is the difference between the root and the branch, or between the removing of a stain which is fresh and one which is old and of long standing. For, as we said, the purgation of sense is only the entrance and beginning of contemplation leading to the purgation of the spirit, which, as we have likewise said, serves rather to accommodate sense to spirit than to unite spirit with God. But there still remain in the spirit the stains of the old man, although the spirit thinks not that this is so, neither can it perceive them; if these stains be not removed with the soap and strong lye of the purgation of this night, the spirit will be unable to come to the purity of Divine union.

Again, if we do not cooperate with these graces on earth, this type of purgation will be done in purgatory, for only the perfect see God. The roots of all imperfections must be dug out of the mind, the heart, and the soul.

The most common nasty root is pride.

2. These souls have likewise the hebetudo mentis104 and the natural roughness which every man contracts through sin, and the distraction and outward clinging of the spirit, which must be enlightened, refined and recollected by the afflictions and perils of that night. These habitual imperfections belong to all those who have not passed beyond this state of the proficient; they cannot coexist, as we say, with the perfect state of union through love.

We have no clue as to the love that God has for us, and therefore, we shrink back, again and again, in to the petty knee-jerk reactions of the habits of sin. 

3. To actual imperfections all are not liable in the same way. Some, whose spiritual good is so superficial and so readily affected by sense, fall into greater difficulties and dangers, which we described at the beginning of this treatise. For, as they find so many and such abundant spiritual communications and apprehensions, both in sense and in spirit wherein they often times see imaginary and spiritual visions (for all these things, together with other delectable feelings, come to many souls in this state, wherein the devil and their own fancy very commonly practise deceptions on them), and, as the devil is apt to take such pleasure in impressing upon the soul and suggesting to it the said apprehensions and feelings, he fascinates and deludes it with great ease unless it takes the precaution of resigning itself to God, and of protecting itself strongly, by means of faith, from all these visions and feelings. For in this state the devil causes many to believe in vain visions and false prophecies; and strives to make them presume that God and the saints are speaking with them; and they often trust their own fancy. And the devil is also accustomed, in this state, to fill them with presumption and pride, so that they become attracted by vanity and arrogance, and allow themselves to be seen engaging in outward acts which appear holy, such as raptures and other manifestations. Thus they become bold with God, and lose holy fear, which is the key and the custodian of all the virtues; and in some of these souls so many are the falsehoods and deceits which tend to multiply, and so inveterate do they grow, that it is very doubtful if such souls will return to the pure road of virtue and true spirituality. Into these miseries they fall because they are beginning to give themselves over to spiritual feelings and apprehensions with too great security, when they were beginning to make some progress upon the way.

Where do I start? How many good Catholics have I seen fall into terrible new age and charismatic rivers of false visions and heresies? Such is the danger of spiritual pride and spiritual envy. The seeking after gifts is a dead-end of deceit, as real holiness lies in the denial of self and humility.

4. There is much more that I might say of these imperfections and of how they are the more incurable because such souls consider them to be more spiritual than the others, but I will leave this subject. I shall only add, in order to prove how necessary, for him that would go farther, is the night of the spirit, which is purgation, that none of these proficients, however strenuously he may have laboured, is free, at best, from many of those natural affections and imperfect habits, purification from which, we said, is necessary if a soul is to pass to Divine union.

To be cleansed in the spirit is necessary for why should God entrust Himself to those who are full of vanity and pride? He knows and will come to those who want Him for His own sake and not for their own selfishness. Is this not the mark of true love? I have made the mistake of confusing a man's love of himself for love of me. He wanted a lovely woman to grace his arm, make him look good in public, and generally feed his ego.

This is what we do to God if we are expecting Him to love us for our own selfish reasons, instead of loving Him for Him alone. This is why He allows us to be purified, so that we can love Him with His Own Love.

5. And over and above this (as we have said already), inasmuch as the lower part of the soul still has a share in these spiritual communications, they cannot be as intense, as pure and as strong as is needful for the aforesaid union; wherefore, in order to come to this union, the soul must needs enter into the second night of the spirit, wherein it must strip sense and spirit perfectly from all these apprehensions and from all sweetness, and be made to walk in dark and pure faith, which is the proper and adequate means whereby the soul is united with God, according as Osee says, in these words: ‘I will betroth thee—that is, I will unite thee—with Me through faith.’

This road of darkness is dark, indeed, but not without the consolation that one is walking in faith towards the Bridegroom.

As long as one walks, continues, in faith, one is like the Bride in the Song of Songs, looking for the One her soul seeks. And, if one seeks, God will let Himself be found.

May I give an example? I grew up on the Mississippi River. I also lived for some time near the Wapsipinicon River. At some times during the year, as in early January, the mist or fog is so deep and wide the rivers are hidden, completely. Yet, because I knew the territory, the terrain, I knew the rivers were there, under the fog and mist.

When the mist disappeared and the fog lifted, I could see both of these rivers again. Sometimes the lifting was slow and gradual. Sometimes, this clearing happened quickly, before one's eyes. One can be travelling towards the bluffs, the cliffs, the mighty waters and towering bridges and not see a thing until one is on the and over the river. One trusts, because one knows, and loves.

So, too, is the Presence of God in the Dark Night. One knows He is there, always, as before, constant, strong, true. But, one cannot see Him, until He desires that the mist and fog of my soul is lifted.

The Dark Night Part 21

One actually is able to rest in suffering and in the lack of consolations. The humble can rest in this place of affliction. Mother Teresa obviously had to do this in patience and in love, waiting on God all those years. Why God makes some wait and pulls some along quickly is a mystery of grace. The timing does not matter. A very young person can achieve this holiness. St. John states this, and over this weekend, I shall go on to the second part, the purification of the spirit-the Second Dark Night.

But the souls which are to pass on to that happy and high estate, the union of love, are wont as a rule to remain for a long time in these aridities and temptations, however quickly God may lead them, as has been seen by experience.

14. When the soul, then, knows that, in this arid purgation through which it has passed, it has derived and attained so many and such precious benefits as those which have here been described, it tarries not in crying, as in the stanza of which we are expounding the lines, ‘Oh, happy chance!—I went forth without being observed.’ That is, ‘I went forth’ from the bonds and subjection of the desires of sense and the affections, ‘without being observed’—that is to say, without the three enemies aforementioned being able to keep me from it. These enemies, as we have said, bind the soul as with bonds, in its desires and pleasures, and prevent it from going forth from itself to the liberty of the love of God; and without these desires and pleasures they cannot give battle to the soul, as has been said.

15. When, therefore, the four passions of the soul—which are joy, grief, hope and fear—are calmed through continual mortification; when the natural desires have been lulled to sleep, in the sensual nature of the soul, by means of habitual times of aridity; and when the harmony of the senses and the interior faculties causes a suspension of labour and a cessation from the work of meditation, as we have said (which is the dwelling and the household of the lower part of the soul), these enemies cannot obstruct this spiritual liberty, and the house remains at rest and quiet, as says the following line:

My house being now at rest.

 WHEN this house of sensuality was now at rest—that is, was mortified—its passions being quenched and its desires put to rest and lulled to sleep by means of this blessed night of the purgation of sense, the soul went forth, to set out upon the road and way of the spirit, which is that of progressives and proficients, and which, by another name, is called the way of illumination or of infused contemplation, wherein God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul, without meditation, or the soul’s active help. Such, as we have said, is the night and purgation of sense in the soul. In those who have afterwards to enter the other and more formidable night of the spirit, in order to pass to the Divine union of love of God (for not all pass habitually thereto, but only the smallest number), it is wont to be accompanied by formidable trials and temptations of sense, which last for a long time, albeit longer in some than in others. For to some the angel of Satan presents himself—namely, the spirit of fornication—that he may buffet their senses with abominable and violent temptations, and trouble their spirits with vile considerations and representations which are most visible to the imagination, which things at times are a greater affliction to them than death.

2. At other times in this night there is added to these things the spirit of blasphemy, which roams abroad, setting in the path of all the conceptions and thoughts of the soul intolerable blasphemies. These it sometimes suggests to the imagination with such violence that the soul almost utters them, which is a grave torment to it.

3. At other times another abominable spirit, which Isaias calls Spiritus vertiginis,95 is allowed to molest them, not in order that they may fall, but that it may try them. This spirit darkens their senses in such a way that it fills them with numerous scruples and perplexities, so confusing that, as they judge, they can never, by any means, be satisfied concerning them, neither can they find any help for their judgment in counsel or thought. This is one of the severest goads and horrors of this night, very closely akin to that which passes in the night of the spirit.

4. As a rule these storms and trials are sent by God in this night and purgation of sense to those whom afterwards He purposes to lead into the other night (though not all reach it), to the end that, when they have been chastened and buffeted, they may in this way continually exercise and prepare themselves, and continually accustom their senses and faculties to the union of wisdom which is to be bestowed upon them in that other night. For, if the soul be not tempted, exercised and proved with trials and temptations, it cannot quicken its sense of Wisdom. For this reason it is said in Ecclesiasticus: ‘He that has not been tempted, what does he know? And he that has not been proved, what are the things that he recognizes?’96 To this truth Jeremias bears good witness, saying: ‘Thou didst chastise me, Lord, and I was instructed.’97 And the most proper form of this chastisement, for one who will enter into Wisdom, is that of the interior trials which we are here describing, inasmuch as it is these which most effectively purge sense of all favours and consolations to which it was affected, with natural weakness, and by which the soul is truly humiliated in preparation for the exaltation which it is to experience.

The Dark Night of The Soul and The Virtues Part 20

John of the Cross writes here that the Four Cardinal virtues come into play at this time of the Dark Night. Again, St. David is his example. We receive all the virtues in Baptism and these are strengthened in Confirmation. The Illuminative State is the stage of the virtues finally being manifested in the soul. However, man through natural law, knows the Cardinal Virtues, as did the Greeks, noted in Plato. Aristotle and Cicero, for examples. However, just as we are supernaturalized, so are our virtues. As before, I direct you to Josef Pieper's The Four Cardinal Virtues, which I have used in teaching in the past.

5. There is another very great benefit for the soul in this night, which is that it practices several virtues together, as, for example, patience and longsuffering, which are often called upon in these times of emptiness and aridity, when the soul endures and perseveres in its spiritual exercises without consolation and without pleasure. It practises the charity of God, since it is not now moved by the pleasure of attraction and sweetness which it finds in its work, but only by God. It likewise practises here the virtue of fortitude, because, in these difficulties and insipidities which it finds in its work, it brings strength out of weakness and thus becomes strong. All the virtues, in short—the theological and also the cardinal and moral—both in body and in spirit, are practised by the soul in these times of aridity.

6. And that in this night the soul obtains these four benefits which we have here described (namely, delight of peace, habitual remembrance and thought of God, cleanness and purity of soul and the practice of the virtues which we have just described), David tells us, having experienced it himself when he was in this night, in these words: ‘My soul refused consolations, I had remembrance of God, I found consolation and was exercised and my spirit failed.’92 And he then says: ‘And I meditated by night with my heart and was exercised, and I swept and purified my spirit’—that is to say, from all the affections.93

7. With respect to the imperfections of the other three spiritual sins which we have described above, which are wrath, envy and sloth, the soul is purged hereof likewise in this aridity of the desire and acquires the virtues opposed to them; for, softened and humbled by these aridities and hardships and other temptations and trials wherein God exercises it during this night, it becomes meek with respect to God, and to itself, and likewise with respect to its neighbour. So that it is no longer disturbed and angry with itself because of its own faults, nor with its neighbour because of his, neither is it displeased with God, nor does it utter unseemly complaints because He does not quickly make it holy.

One finally accepts one\s self as a sinner and is not surprised by sins or imperfections.

The Puppet Show of Religious Activity

The Second Conversion Revisited and A Warning on Looking at The Correct Fruit

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/06/a-warning-on-latter-stages-of-spiritual.html

Continuing with the purification of the senses and spirit, here is Garrigou-Lagrange again.

The author warns us to be radically simple. But, this is not being stupid or childish. My comments in blue below.

The necessity of a second conversion arises from all that remains in us of often unconscious egoism which mingles in the greater number of our acts. In a number of people this necessity comes from their unwillingness to be considered naive and their failure to recognize sufficiently the naivete of a superior simplicity which should grow in them. As a result, they become less simple and true with God, their superiors, and themselves. They lose sight practically of the grandeur of the theological virtues, of the importance of humility; then they no longer understand Christ's words: "Unless you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Under the pretext of prudence, they begin to consider the little aspects of great things and to see less and less the great aspect of the daily duties of Christian life and the value of fidelity in little things. They forget that the day is composed of hours and the hour of minutes. They neglect a number of their obligations and gradually, in place of the radical simplicity of a gaze that was already lofty, a simplicity which should become that of contemplation, they find themselves in the quasi-learned complexity of a waning knowledge.

This situation of losing spiritual knowledge can happen if a person is pursuing God in the wrong ways. Careerists in diocesan offices, or schools, or even parishes lose spiritual knowledge when they think that what they are doing is who they are.

On this subject Father Lallemant says: "In religion (itself) there is a little world, the component parts of which are the esteem of human talents, of important employments, offices, and positions, the love and search for glory and applause, for rest and a calm life.

In the spiritual life, there is no such thing as retirement.

 These are the things the demon uses as a puppet show to amuse and deceive us. He sets it all in motion before our eyes in such a way that we dwell on it and let ourselves be seduced, preferring vain appearances to true and solid goods." (18)

To fall into the deceit of thinking we are on our way to holiness when in reality we are merely pleasing ourselves spiritually is a huge danger.

Human talents are indeed often preferred to the great supernatural virtues. The same author adds: "Only prayer can protect us from this delusion. Prayer it is that teaches us to judge of things in a holy manner, to look at them in the light of truth, which dissipates their false splendor and their spurious charms."

I have been and am still totally against these seminars in the States on talents and gifts. The presentations missed the entire point of holiness and make people look constantly at themselves instead of at Christ.

When these first came out years ago, I had a gut revulsion against the ideas and focus on me, me, me and my gifts. None of these gifts are worth anything if the person is not first purified. Only God's gifts can be used in a pure heart and pure mind and pure soul.

Elsewhere he says: "We commit more than a hundred acts of pride in a day without, so to speak, being aware of it." (19) The ruin of souls results from the multiplication of venial sins, which causes the diminution of divine lights or inspirations.(20) Nor is it sufficient to direct our attention toward God as an afterthought, if our act remains entirely natural and our heart is not truly offered to God. A superficial oblation of self does not suffice; there must be a genuine new conversion, a turning of the heart toward God.(21)

This second conversion is more dramatic than the first, as it demands a complete awareness of one's worthlessness. It demands humility.

The fruits of this second conversion are pointed out by the same author in the course of advice to preachers: "People kill themselves dying to produce fine sermons, and yet they reap scarcely any fruit. What is the reason? It is because preaching is just as much a supernatural function as the salvation of souls to which it is directed, and the instrument must be proportioned to the end. . . . The majority of preachers have sufficient learning, but they have not enough devotion or sanctity.

Here we have a priest telling us that priests are not as holy as they should be or not at all. Do we not see this today?

"The true means of acquiring the science of the saints. . . is to have recourse not so much to books as to interior humility, purity of heart, recollection, and prayer. . . . When a soul has attained to entire purity of heart, God Himself instructs it, at times by the unction of spiritual consolations and tastes, at other times by gentle and affectionate lights, which teach it better how to speak to the hearts of its auditors than study and other human means can. . . . But we cannot get rid of our own sufficiency, nor abandon ourselves to God.

I know people who are paying for information from groups which are not even orthodox-supposed gifting seminars and such. These are dangerous and have nothing to do with purity of heart.

If someone is charging you for spiritual direction or healing seminars, these people are careerists who have not abandoned themselves to God, Who always works freely and calls for humility, not spiritual pride.

The Second Conversion comes with a cost-complete devotion to God and His Will.

"Any American reader who wants to know where Obamification will lead should spend a week with me in the European Parliament. I’m working in your future and, believe me, you won’t like it.

 I am a great fan of Daniel Hannan, except we would disagree on drugs. Does anyone know his position on abortion?

And another interesting point of view from him....

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100227375/obamanomics-is-turning-america-into-detroit-ayn-rands-starnesville-come-to-life/

Dark Night of the Soul, Part 19

As mentioned before in the perfection series, St. David himself is an example of one who knew this movement of the Holy Spirit. John of the Cross makes here the distinction between the dark night of the senses-the purification of the senses, and the dark night of the spirit, the purification of the spirit.

John of the Cross' texts are all from the same site.  One can see the overlapping of ideas and experiences with St. Teresa of Avila. But, whereas Teresa is more descriptive, John is more systematic.

6. And in order to prove more completely how efficacious is this night of sense, with its aridity and its desolation, in bringing the soul that light which, as we say, it receives there from God, we shall quote that passage of David, wherein he clearly describes the great power which is in this night for bringing the soul this lofty knowledge of God. He says, then, thus: ‘In the desert land, waterless, dry and pathless, I appeared before Thee, that I might see Thy virtue and Thy glory.’90 It is a wondrous thing that David should say here that the means and the preparation for his knowledge of the glory of God were not the spiritual delights and the many pleasures which he had experienced, but the aridities and detachments of his sensual nature, which is here to be understood by the dry and desert land. No less wondrous is it that he should describe as the road to his perception and vision of the virtue of God, not the Divine meditations and conceptions of which he had often made use, but his being unable to form any conception of God or to walk by meditation produced by imaginary consideration, which is here to be understood by the pathless land. So that the means to a knowledge of God and of oneself is this dark night with its aridities and voids, although it leads not to a knowledge of Him of the same plenitude and abundance that comes from the other night of the spirit, since this is only, as it were, the beginning of that other.

7. Likewise, from the aridities and voids of this night of the desire, the soul draws spiritual humility, which is the contrary virtue to the first capital sin, which, as we said, is spiritual pride. Through this humility, which is acquired by the said knowledge of self, the soul is purged from all those imperfections whereinto it fell with respect to that sin of pride, in the time of its prosperity. For it sees itself so dry and miserable that the idea never even occurs to it that it is making better progress than others, or outstripping them, as it believed itself to be doing before. On the contrary, it recognizes that others are making better progress than itself.

8. And hence arises the love of its neighbours, for it esteems them, and judges them not as it was wont to do aforetime, when it saw that itself had great fervour and others not so. It is aware only of its own wretchedness, which it keeps before its eyes to such an extent that it never forgets it, nor takes occasion to set its eyes on anyone else. This was described wonderfully by David, when he was in this night, in these words: ‘I was dumb and was humbled and kept silence from good things and my sorrow was renewed.’91 This he says because it seemed to him that the good that was in his soul had so completely departed that not only did he neither speak nor find any language concerning it, but with respect to the good of others he was likewise dumb because of his grief at the knowledge of his misery.

Breaking News for Americans and English Update

Wall Street Journal ‏@WSJ

Breaking: State Department issues worldwide travel alert for U.S. citizens because of al Qaeda threat. http://wsj.com 

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/02/text-of-state-departments-travel-alert-on-terror-threat/?mod=e2tw


http://rt.com/news/uk-embassy-terror-threat-971/

Re-posting and reminder of June 6th chart and the Dark Night, Post 18

By request, a repetition...of the fruit of Garrigou-Lagrange...The Dark Night is part of the Illuminative State.

For those who love charts...on the way to perfection, start bottom up

SYNTHESIS OF THE TREATISE ON THE THREE AGES OF THE INTERIOR LIFE BY GARRIGOU-LAGRANGE

(To be read from the bottom up)

Unitive life of the perfect ◊ full ◊ extraordinary, e.g., with the vision of the Blessed Trinity ◊ weak ◊  ordinary • eminent contemplative form • apostolic form ◊ initial ◊ not very continual union, often interrupted

Illuminative life of proficients ◊ full infused contemplation ◊ extraordinary or accompanied by visions, revelations ◊ ordinary •clearly contemplative form • active form, or form ordained to action, e.g., gift of wisdom under practical form ◊ weak ◊ transitory acts of infused contemplation (d. The Dark Night, Bk. I, chap. 9) ◊ initial ◊ passive purification of the senses more or less well borne (initial infused contemplation)

Purgative life of beginners ◊ full or generous ◊ fervent souls pious and devout souls ◊ weak ◊ tepid or retarded souls, not without relapses ◊ initial ◊ first conversion or justification

The Dark Night, Part 17

One of the main reasons why God calls the Bride into the desert is for detachment. Now, one does not go around in sackcloth and ashes in this stage, but continues doing whatever work God is calling one to do. The cleansing is private, the detachment quiet. In fact, in the Dark Night, one needs more and more solitude in order to hear the very still, small voice of God, as He does not speak to one in thunder or lightening at this stage.

The great gift of the Dark Night is self-knowledge.

Many people fight God instead of entering into the Dark Night of the Soul. This merely delays the stage to purgatory.

4. And here we must note another excellent benefit which there is in this night and aridity of the desire of sense, since we have had occasion to speak of it. It is that, in this dark night of the desire (to the end that the words of the Prophet may be fulfilled, namely: ‘Thy light shall shine in the darkness’84), God will enlighten the soul, giving it knowledge, not only of its lowliness and wretchedness, as we have said, but likewise of the greatness and excellence of God. For, as well as quenching the desires and pleasures and attachments of sense, He cleanses and frees the understanding that it may understand the truth; for pleasure of sense and desire, even though it be for spiritual things, darkens and obstructs the spirit, and furthermore that straitness and aridity of sense enlightens and quickens the understanding, as says Isaias.85 Vexation makes us to understand how the soul that is empty and disencumbered, as is necessary for His Divine influence, is instructed supernaturally by God in His Divine wisdom, through this dark and arid night of contemplation,86 as we have said; and this instruction God gave not in those first sweetnesses and joys.

5. This is very well explained by the same prophet Isaias, where he says: ‘Whom shall God teach His knowledge, and whom shall He make to understand the hearing?’ To those, He says, that are weaned from the milk and drawn away from the breasts.87 Here it is shown that the first milk of spiritual sweetness is no preparation for this Divine influence, neither is there preparation in attachment to the breast of delectable meditations, belonging to the faculties of sense, which gave the soul pleasure; such preparation consists rather in the lack of the one and withdrawal from the other. Inasmuch as, in order to listen to God, the soul needs to stand upright and to be detached, with regard to affection and sense, even as the Prophet says concerning himself, in these words: I will stand upon my watch (this is that detachment of desire) and I will make firm my step (that is, I will not meditate with sense), in order to contemplate (that is, in order to understand that which may come to me from God).88 So we have now arrived at this, that from this arid night there first of all comes self-knowledge, whence, as from a foundation, rises this other knowledge of God. For which cause Saint Augustine said to God: ‘Let me know myself, Lord, and I shall know Thee.’89 For, as the philosophers say, one extreme can be well known by another.

The Dark Night, Part 16

Aridity and abandonment were the two words I wanted to highlight in the last post. In this one, the word is detachment. In the Dark Night, one has given all to God and is becoming more and more detached from things, people, places. No longer does it matter where one is or what one is doing. All is in the enveloping shadow of God's Will. One may not even know what to do, but follows daily, step by step.

In a nutshell, one can say, "I no longer care what happens to me, as long as I am in the Will of God."

3. In the first place, the soul learns to commune with God with more respect and more courtesy, such as a soul must ever observe in converse with the Most High. These it knew not in its prosperous times of comfort and consolation, for that comforting favour which it experienced made its craving for God somewhat bolder than was fitting, and discourteous and ill-considered. Even so did it happen to Moses, when he perceived that God was speaking to him; blinded by that pleasure and desire, without further consideration, he would have made bold to go to Him if God had not commanded him to stay and put off his shoes. By this incident we are shown the respect and discretion in detachment of desire wherewith a man is to commune with God. When Moses had obeyed in this matter, he became so discreet and so attentive that the Scripture says that not only did he not make bold to draw near to God, but that he dared not even look at Him. For, having taken off the shoes of his desires and pleasures, he became very conscious of his wretchedness in the sight of God, as befitted one about to hear the word of God. Even so likewise the preparation which God granted to Job in order that he might speak with Him consisted not in those delights and glories which Job himself reports that he was wont to have in his God, but in leaving him naked upon a dung-hill,82 abandoned and even persecuted by his friends, filled with anguish and bitterness, and the earth covered with worms. And then the Most High God, He that lifts up the poor man from the dunghill, was pleased to come down and speak with him there face to face, revealing to him the depths and heights83 of His wisdom, in a way that He had never done in the time of his prosperity.

On the Dark Night Again, Part 15

Mother Teresa was in the Dark Night for fifty years or so. One must understand this is a necessary step to perfection.

St. John of the Cross describes the Dark Night of the Soul better than most saints and invented the term. In the next few days, I shall cover some, not all, of his points. If I could distil his wisdom in a few words, it would be these points.

One, consolations are either completely absence or rare at this stage of purification.

Two, one rests in suffering rather than resting in consolation.

Three, God is Present, but veiled, as in the Eucharist. He surrounds the person with love, but a love which cannot be grasped or understood in any human terms. He is totally Other.

Four, a person cannot rush through this stage. In fact, for many saints, it is very long.

Five, the two keys words are aridity and abandonment. But, one is at peace in both.

2. This is the first and principal benefit caused by this arid and dark night of contemplation: the knowledge of oneself and of one’s misery. For, besides the fact that all the favours which God grants to the soul are habitually granted to them enwrapped in this knowledge, these aridities and this emptiness of the faculties, compared with the abundance which the soul experienced aforetime and the difficulty which it finds in good works, make it recognize its own lowliness and misery, which in the time of its prosperity it was unable to see. Of this there is a good illustration in the Book of Exodus, where God, wishing to humble the children of Israel and desiring that they should know themselves, commanded them to take away and strip off the festal garments and adornments wherewith they were accustomed to adorn themselves in the Wilderness, saying: ‘Now from henceforth strip yourselves of festal ornaments and put on everyday working dress, that ye may know what treatment ye deserve.’81 This is as though He had said: Inasmuch as the attire that ye wear, being proper to festival and rejoicing, causes you to feel less humble concerning yourselves than ye should, put off from you this attire, in order that henceforth, seeing yourselves clothed with vileness, ye may know that ye merit no more, and may know who ye are. Wherefore the soul knows the truth that it knew not at first, concerning its own misery; for, at the time when it was clad as for a festival and found in God much pleasure, consolation and support, it was somewhat more satisfied and contented, since it thought itself to some extent to be serving God. It is true that such souls may not have this idea explicitly in their minds; but some suggestion of it at least is implanted in them by the satisfaction which they find in their pleasant experiences. But, now that the soul has put on its other and working attire—that of aridity and abandonment—and now that its first lights have turned into darkness, it possesses these lights more truly in this virtue of self-knowledge, which is so excellent and so necessary, considering itself now as nothing and experiencing no satisfaction in itself; for it sees that it does nothing of itself neither can do anything. And the smallness of this self-satisfaction, together with the soul’s affliction at not serving God, is considered and esteemed by God as greater than all the consolations which the soul formerly experienced and the works which it wrought, however great they were, inasmuch as they were the occasion of many imperfections and ignorances. And from this attire of aridity proceed, as from their fount and source of self-knowledge, not only the things which we have described already, but also the benefits which we shall now describe and many more which will have to be omitted.

All sourcing will be from here. 

If you want to read the others posts, use the tags or just type in dark night in the search bar.

Highlighting a Reader

I want readers to take a look at the references in the comments over the past week written by Martina Katholik. The references she has provided are dynamite. If you do not know German, use a translator on line. She has a blog at http://derkatholikunddiewelt.blogspot.ie/2013/07/vom-nutzen-der-widerwartigkeiten.html

Her comments are based on theological articles and links.  I do not give out gold stars, as that is done on another blog by my superior (smile), but she deserves a look and a commendation.

On factions, rumours, quarrels, divisions and schisms

I did not want to post so much today, but this is necessary. The Church is imploding from within. There are so many enemies at the gate, that we must become aware of our sins in causing problems within the Church.

Some problems cannot be avoided and must be directly addressed, such as heresy or schism.

In Corinthians, Paul writes of factions, most likely connected to rumours, quarrels, and other types of slander. Some translations use the term divisions, some factions.

I have noticed this happening more and more. The lack of charity among those who care about the Faith is almost as horrendous as the absence of charity among those who hate it.

Let me define these groupings, ending with schisms, to encourage an examination of conscience.

All these definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary on line.

One, factions. This is usually a political term, and refers to groupings, such as those we see in Egypt-Morsi and non-Morsi followers. those who want a Muslim theocracy, those who want a secular state and so on.  

In the Church, factions could be ideologues, like those who have departed from the teachings of the true Church and want to change the Church's teachings on marriage, for example. If these people start acting politically, they become a faction. 

• a small organized dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics:

  the left-wing faction of the party
•  [mass noun] dissension within an organization:

  a council increasingly split by faction
  
  
  

Two, rumours. Rumours may  be true or false, and involve talking about other people. As you know, I am from the Midwest, where MYOB is the rule for all-Mind Your Own Business. To me, rumour does not have to be false to be undermining a parish or community. Rumours involve gossip, which is a sin


a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth:they were investigating rumours of a massacre

[mass noun]: rumour has it that he will take a year off

Three, quarrels. Now, there are some people who are confused about quarrels and arguments. That is because in the common language these mean the same thing. But, a quarrel involves anger, and subjectivity, as well as a lack of charity. A rational argument, as we see in Aquinas, or in debates, is an art being lost. This demands objectivity and the belief in objective truth.

Too many arguments, in the classical meaning, become quarrels, as people do not know how to argue points. I taught debate and logic, and when students finally learned to think objectively and avoid the fallacies. they understood the difference between formal argument and quarrels. For example, many Egyptians in the past three weeks have held up signs in Cairo stating they had no quarrel with the American people, but only Obama's policies. Arguments turn into quarrels when facts and objectivity are set aside.

• an angry argument or disagreement:he made the mistake of picking a quarrel with John
•  [usually with negative] a reason for disagreement with a person, group, or principle:we have no quarrel with the people of the country, only with the dictator
  
  

Four-divisions, which are much more serious, and here I take the second definition for my purposes here. Divisions are created when people take sides. Now, sometimes what we believe in and who we are as Catholics create divisions. Christ Himselft said He came to divide, and that is part of the truth of being in the world but not of the world. 

Divisions, however, can happen within the Church, and we can see that daily. The reason for divisions could be varied. 

2 difference or disagreement between two or more groups, typically producing tension:a growing sense of division between north and south

But, we may cause division just by being good, orthodox Catholics.

Luke 12:49-56

Douay-Rheims 

49 I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?

50 And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened until it be accomplished?

51 Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation.

52 For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three.

53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

54 And he said also to the multitudes: When you see a cloud rising from the west, presently you say: A shower is coming: and so it happeneth:

55 And when ye see the south wind blow, you say: There will be heat: and it cometh to pass.

56 You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of the heaven and of the earth: but how is it that you do not discern this time?

If we are truly salt to the Earth, we shall cause divisions if we are orthodox. It just happens. It happens in families  in parishes, in schools, in dioceses. Sadly, for those who love the Church, such divisions, usually lead to schism and even excommunication.

The last category today, as I could go on to heresies, is schism. Schism means that some people have decided to leave the Church either formally or informally. An individual who chooses disobedience may be in schism by being part of a schismatic group.  Some of the Protestants started off in schism but quickly fell into heresy.  One's immortal soul is in danger if one follows either a schismatic leader or a heretic.

 

• a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief: the widening schism between Church leaders and politicians[mass noun]:the persistence of this group could produce schism within society; the formal separation of a Church into two Churches or the secession of a group owing to doctrinal and other differences. 

St. Paul speaks to divisions in 1 Corinthians. Remember, the devil wants disruption. He is not only the Father of Lies, but the Father of Chaos and Confusion. Where there are factions, rumours, quarrels, divisions and schisms, you can be sure he and his minions are active. 

10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment.

11 For it hath been signified unto me, my brethren, of you, by them that are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith: I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I am of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I give God thanks, that I baptized none of you but Crispus and Caius;

15 Lest any should say that you were baptized in my name.

16 And I baptized also the household of Stephanus; besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not in wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made void.

18 For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God.