In the EF, February 11th is
the Feast of The Apparition of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, or
Our Lady of Lourdes. The
Introit of this feast refers to the “holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned or
her husband” a quotation from the book of Revelation.
Our Protestant
brethren, when they came to America, confused the Kingdom of God,
this bride of Christ, with a worldly kingdom, because they had thrown
out the Kingdom of God on earth as manifested in the one, holy,
Catholic and apostolic Church.
Over the centuries,
the working for the Kingdom of God or the City of God became confused
even more with the political structures of American government and
the political system. Monarchies were seen as totally evil and
democracies as God-given. We can argue about this at another time, on
another post but the main emphasis here is that there was a
purposeful confusion, replacing a spiritual city with an earthly one.
Communism and
socialism do the same thing-create so-called communities on earth but
not based on God.
Today, in the
Monastic Diunal at Lauds, one prayed Psalm 89 which includes a
haunting verse on remembering suffering after one lives in
prosperity.
“Then shall we be
glad for the days of our humiliation for the years when we saw
misfortune.”
Why? Why be glad of
hardships which lead to humiliation, the humbling of the spirit?
Without suffering,
one thinks that the things one has are one's own. Own has a skewed
idea of material goods as belonging to one's self instead of God. As
I noted in the perfection series so long ago, detachment or
objectivity marks the saint. When one is no longer attached to things
or even persons, one is ready for the Illuminative and Unitive
States.
That the psalmist
rightly encourages remembering past suffering indicates that he had
found detachment, knowing fully who actually gives prosperity as a
gift. Both riches and poverty are gifts from God to be used according
to His Plan.
The years of
misfortune create a humble heart, a receptive mind, and an open,
loving soul.
The
bride in the Song of Songs
leaves all to follow the Bridegroom into the desert, seeking him,
leaving all to find Him among the rock and sand. She seeks Him until
she finds Him.
Remembering her
days of loneliness and the pangs of unfulfilled love, the bride
rejoices even more in the discovery of her Beloved. In yesterday's
Gradual, this book is quoted: “Show me thy face, let they voice
sound in mine ears, for thy voice is sweet and they face comely.”
The Song of Songs
is also part of Vespers for the day, revisiting the theme of the
dove, and combining the bridal imagery with those passages in the New
Testament which include brides and virgins at the wedding feast,
ready with their lamps lit.
Those who have
grateful hearts and have sensed the call of the Bridegroom never look
back, but continue to seek Him even in the dry places.
This
year, the Church is celebrating the 500th
anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Teresa was aware
that the Kingdom of God on earth had been neglected, even by the
Carmelites, who needed renewal. She understood that the City of God
had to be built through sacrifice and suffering, so that when
prosperity, in the form of vocations, renewed the order, all could
rejoice at the time of hardships, her time, which built up the order.
Americans have
forgotten to thank God for the hard times of their immigrant pasts.
One old couple told me recently that America was a better place when
all the people were poorer, were working hard together and looking
out for each other. Those days are long gone.
To desire to build
the Kingdom of God, the City on the Hill means focusing on God and
His ways, not the way of men. To desire to see the City of God means
that one thinks like a Catholic, like Teresa of Avila, knowing that a
life of prayer is essential and not an option.
I heard a terrible
sermon on the East Coast, in the Northeast Corridor, wherein the
deacon concentrated on the worldly life and mentioned that people
needed to pray at least a half hour a day. The deacon did admit that
he went days without prayer. And this, an ordained minister of the
Church! Mediocrity in spiritual matters can never build the Kingdom
of God, the City of God. Mediocrity kills zeal and fervor for the
Lord and His People.
Gratitude, prayer,
meditation....building communities are the block of the buildings in
the City of God.
We ignore these at
our own peril.