This morning, as I have been typing these posts, my thoughts
keep running back to Christoper Hitchens. I cannot help but think of him and
his refusal to use the intellect which God granted him for finding the great
love which could have comforted him.
He could have been a saint. Both Cardinal Manning and Fr.
Chad Ripperger have told us of the greatest value of study and prayer.
It is very interesting to me that both St.
Angela of Foligno and Cardinal Manning, writing 700 years apart or so, tell us
about the first Book which must study.
Cardinal Manning states that the first book we must study is God. St. Angela tells us the Book of Christ is the beginning
of our study and meditation on the road to perfection.
Cardinal Manning writes that the second most important book
we can study is that of Jesus Christ Himself.
The third book is your own self. Manning says this: “When
you have the light of God and the vision of the perfections of Jesus Christ in
your intellect, then look into your own hearts. See what is your own state, and
shape, and colour in the sight of God.”
Self-knowledge is essential for purgation and the attainment
of perfection. Would that the great mind of Christopher Hitchens could have
studied these three books? May God grant him mercy.
Manning sorrowfully writes that the 19th century
has created the “greatest intellectual monster which the world has ever seen—an
atheist, a man who denies the existence of God. And why does he deny his
existence/ Because he has no perception of purity, of sanctity, of justice, of
mercy, of truth—that is, of the moral perfections which constitute the
character of the law as the transcript of the Lawgiver.”
Such are the men of the 21st century as well, and
many call themselves “Catholic”…
Manning states that the highest act of reason is to believe
in the Divine Teacher, and, to submit one’s intellect to the Catholic Church.
The action which follows is most noble-to share with others
what has been given freely.
“Nothing can be compared to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Give it freely. Spread abroad this knowledge by word and deed; spread it right
and left. Break the Bread you have received to all who stand in need of it.
‘Cast your bread upon the water, and you shall find it after many days.’ ‘In
the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening hold not they hand, for thou
knowest not which shall prosper.’ You shall find it in the great harvest home
upon the eternal hills. ‘They that are learned [that is, with the science of
God and of salvation] shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they
that have instructed many unto justice as the stars to all eternity.’’
May God have mercy on me for attempting to do my little bit…
To be continued…