The Last Manning Post for Now

Cardinal Manning writes that we can make reparation to the Holy Ghost in three ways. The first is through following His inspirations promptly. Look at the damsel fly, as I add, and see how this creature turns quickly over a stream and changes direction in its flight. So too, we must swiftly respond to grace.

Second, and this is more difficult as it demands a generous heart, we must respond according to the graces and inspirations given, not  with the burying of the talent, but with making more out of what is given.

Third, we must serve the Holy Ghost is complete purity of heart. Now, the Cardinal gives way to achieve this purity, some of which were pointed out to me long ago.

Firstly, “…hunt down and slay your little faults; he that is faithful in that which is the least is faithful also in that which is greater; and they who will hunt down, and slay, and exterminate their little faults, be sure of it, will never willingly commit greater sins.”

Secondly, Manning advises us to do all our “little duties”…”with great exactness”.

The last words from this book on this blog are on the horrible spiritual warfare we are experiencing now and which Manning saw in his day.

I shall end with the same prayer which ends his book.

“O God the Holy Ghost, Whom I have slighted, grieved, resisted from my childhood unto this day, reveal unto me they personality, Thy presence, Thy power. Make me know Thy sevenfold gifts: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, and of the fear of the Lord; and make me to be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. O Thou Who art the Spirit of the Father and the Son, O Thou Who are the love of the Father and the Son, O Thou Who baptisest with fire, and sheddest abroad the love of God in our hearts, shed abroad Thy love in my heart. One thing have I desired of the Lord: that will I seek after: not wealth, rank, power, worldly home, worldly happiness, or any worldly good, but one drop of that holy flame, one drop of that heavenly fire, to kindle me and set me on fire with the love of my God.

Let that holy flame burn up and consume in me every spot and soil of the flesh and of the spirit. Purify me sevenfold with the fire of Thy love. Consume me as a holy sacrifice acceptable unto Thee. Kindle me with zeal, melt me with sorrow, that I may live the life and die the death of a fervent penitent.”

Manning Day-The Ending of A Fantastic Journey

Manning continues on the theme of perfection.

In this state, there are two opinions are to whether people still sin venially. The key is “…there is no deliberate affection to anything contrary to the will of God. Temptations resisted are not sins; and the indeliberate adhesion of the mind to that which is deliberately resisted is not a transgression of the law. “

We are all called to this. Manning continues, “All that are saved must be made perfect before they can see the face of God. But all are not called to the same perfection, not to the same degree of perfection, nor by the same way….All are called, but not all to the same office, or grace or reward.”

But, all will be happy in heaven, according to each one’s call.

So, to repeat, what is perfection? “The essential perfection of the soul is the love of God and our neighbour. “

“There is no perfection of charity, humility, poverty of spirit we may not attain. All of you living in the world in trade and business, n the cares and works of home, you may all be united with God in a close and constant union…”

More later…much more tomorrow

Perfection Series II: Manning and The Sacred Heart

Because of limited access to the Net and because I want to pass this magnificent book on to friend before I move in two weeks, I am aware of the inadequacies regarding the unpacking of Cardinal Manning’s insights.

Moving into the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which I did in the last post, one sees in Manning a deep, deep spirituality, that of a saint.

Let me share a few posts more on the book we have been following together.

On the fruits, as I noted briefly in the last post, some of these pertain to us and our holiness more directly than others.

Modesty, which keeps us temperate and moderate, helps us to do more than merely what is lawful. We move into humility through modesty. Continence, as Manning notes, “.. mean most especially the repressing of the passions,” and again, he points out that such regulation keeps us moderate and disciplined.

“Chastity,” the Cardinal writes, “is the transparent purity of the soul and the custody of the senses, because they are the avenues of the soul by which sin enters.”

Wise words….

Manning moves to the ideal of the sweetness which comes from love the love of God and the love of neighbor. And, Who is our great example but, Christ Himself.

Manning tells us of his own love for the Sacred Heart through these words.

“His hands were always exerting the promptings of His Sacred Heart. And His Sacred Heart He bequeathed to His Church, which is His Mystical Body. The vibration and the pulsation of that Heart of love are felt through Christendom.”

The work of good Catholics contains the working of the Sacred Heart.

“The Sacred Heart of the Incarnate Son of God cast fire upon the earth. And the Christian world kindled and broke forth into all works of charity.”

We all, notes Manning, as baptized Catholics, have a ‘facility of dong right” but this comes from and in the Heart of Christ. The active perfection which is the working of the fruits in the world comes from the heart.

The fruits are “…the acts, internal and external, of the love of God and of our neighbour.”

The fruits point to active perfection as these are all acts. But, Manning reminds us, as do all the saints, perfection is not merely found through actions but through passivity. And in the passivity of the acceptance of suffering, perfection becomes sublime.

“Obedience is perfected in patience.”

“Jesus revealed the perfection of the Sacred Heart always and everywhere, but no-where and at no time, as in the three hours of agony on the Cross. There His deified will was crucified—there His heart and mind were conformed to God by the last conformity of self-oblation and of suffering unto death.”

Manning sums up-“The active perfection is the perfection of the fruits of the Holy Ghost; the passive is the perfection of the Beatitudes”.

To be continued…