Thursday, 10 July 2014

The Three "Churches" in Providence

This journey through Providence must come to an end. I shall refer to two ideas and then move on.

The first is that the love of the Church Militant, the Church Suffering and the Church Triumphant reaches up to heaven in a great peal of love to God. This insight of Garrigou-Lagrange is so powerful and so obvious,  yet hidden from most of us daily.

This love is not only answered by God, but He, in His Divine Providence, begins and continues His love in us.

The up and down motion of love ties us to the Trinity, and holds together the three parts of the Church. How beautiful, how sublime.

The second idea for today is from an unnamed contemplative the author quotes:

"Though inseparable, heaven and the Church on earth are nevertheless distinct. Although there is enough heat in a single star to melt every particle of ice on the earth, yet we have still to submit to the rigors of winter. To raise a heavy weight with a powerful lever, we still need a fulcrum. Similarly, it is God's will that every action exerted from heaven on this world shall have its fulcrum here below. That fulcrum is to be found in the saints who are still pursuing their pilgrimage in this life. The incomprehensible might of heaven will not have its full efficacy on earth except through one who is really in communion with Christ, through one who is in immediate contact with Calvary and the cross."

Goodbye to Garrigou-Lagrange for now....