Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Londoners, do you know about St. Joseph's Garden?
A visit today may be appropriate... and I have given you directions from a great map of gardens in London, so you can see several in one go...I recommend Charterhouse, which is only about a ten minute walk from St. Joseph's Garden
Images of the Great St. Joseph
Artists have been intrigued by the Foster-Father of Our Lord. Here are a few depictions.
for meditation on his feast day, today...............
I like the younger Joseph interpretations....
Part 93: DoC and Perfection: Athanasius "The Apostle"
I hate to leave the great Athanasius, but I must move on to the last two groups of the Doctors.
We owe Athanasius honor above many saints, as he upheld and explained the Truth in an age of confusion.
He understood the need for catechesis, which is so lacking in our parishes, (to the point where most Catholics no longer know the Faith). There is no excuse for this problem.
If one does not know the Faith, one cannot begin to know Christ. Here is Athanasius again, in Chapter Three.
(16) When, then, the minds of men had fallen finally to the level of sensible things, the Word submitted to appear in a body, in order that He, as Man, might center their senses on Himself, and convince them through His human acts that He Himself is not man only but also God, the Word and Wisdom of the true God. This is what Paul wants to tell us when he says: "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth, and to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge, so that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God."[6] The Self- revealing of the Word is in every dimension—above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.
We are surrounded by atheists and skeptics, cynics, and those fallen into grave depravity.
We are also surrounded by the knowledge of God, as the entire world has been redeemed by Christ.
God is, as Athanasius notes here, "Self-revealing". He wants us to know Him. He is not a hidden God, or a God who has not clarified the type of relationship He desires for us.
He wants to be known and He woes us, like a lover, who want to be known and understood by his beloved.
Do not turn away from the love.
On to another Doctor tomorrow...I hope you are as excited as I am about these writings.
We owe Athanasius honor above many saints, as he upheld and explained the Truth in an age of confusion.
If one does not know the Faith, one cannot begin to know Christ. Here is Athanasius again, in Chapter Three.
(16) When, then, the minds of men had fallen finally to the level of sensible things, the Word submitted to appear in a body, in order that He, as Man, might center their senses on Himself, and convince them through His human acts that He Himself is not man only but also God, the Word and Wisdom of the true God. This is what Paul wants to tell us when he says: "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the length and breadth and height and depth, and to know the love of God that surpasses knowledge, so that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God."[6] The Self- revealing of the Word is in every dimension—above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.We are surrounded by atheists and skeptics, cynics, and those fallen into grave depravity.
We are also surrounded by the knowledge of God, as the entire world has been redeemed by Christ.
He wants to be known and He woes us, like a lover, who want to be known and understood by his beloved.
Do not turn away from the love.
On to another Doctor tomorrow...I hope you are as excited as I am about these writings.
Part 92: DoC and Perfection: Athanasius the Great
From Chapter Nine of On the Incarnation.
For that Day we have one of His own sayings to prepare us, "Get ready and watch, for ye know not the hour in which He cometh"[2] And blessed Paul says, "We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according as he practiced in the body, whether good or ill."[3]
(57) But for the searching and right understanding of the Scriptures there is need of a good life and a pure soul, and for Christian virtue to guide the mind to grasp, so far as human nature can, the truth concerning God the Word. One cannot possibly understand the teaching of the saints unless one has a pure mind and is trying to imitate their life. Anyone who wants to look at sunlight naturally wipes his eye clear first, in order to make, at any rate, some approximation to the purity of that on which he looks; and a person wishing to see a city or country goes to the place in order to do so. Similarly, anyone who wishes to understand the mind of the sacred writers must first cleanse his own life, and approach the saints by copying their deeds. Firstly, the purification state; then, the illuminative state, wherein good deeds flow from purity of heart and mind. After this state, is the unitive state, where the person is one with God at various levels, until after Death, one is united with the Beatific Vision in love and praise.
Thus united to them in the fellowship of life, he will both understand the things revealed to them by God and, thenceforth escaping the peril that threatens sinners in the judgment, will receive that which is laid up for the saints in the kingdom of heaven. Of that reward it is written: "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared"[4] for them that live a godly life and love the God and Father in Christ Jesus our Lord, through Whom and with Whom be to the Father Himself, with the Son Himself, in the Holy Spirit, honor and might and glory to ages of ages. Amen.
This unitive state begins here, if we allow God to purify us and if we die to self.
Those who get stuck must pray for perseverance and the grace to continue.
To be continued...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)