Pray for this priest, please

http://www.france24.com/en/20131115-nigeria-boko-haram-holding-french-priest-kidnapped-cameroon

One more note on thoughts from St. John of the Cross

Lost a post somewhere between this McDonald's and another one. C'est la vie.  Let me just say that it was a goodbye to discussing the stages of Illumination and Unity by cautioning readers that to get too far ahead in reading and understanding may become a dangerous thing. To experience grace is not the same as to read about such graces.

Let me summarize, however, a few points on the Illuminative State first, and then, on the Unitive State.

Firstly, the Illuminative State involves the finding of God's Love, as He finally allows Himself to be found after the time of purgation. The time of purification may vary from nine months, to years, to a lifetime, depending on the personality of the Catholic, and God's grace.

Signs of the Illuminative State are infused knowledge, the breaking away of venial sin and tendencies towards sin, the complete dependence on Divine Providence, the release of the virtues and gifts of the Holy Spirit, which have been blocked by sin and the predominant faults.

Great power emanates from the person in the Illuminative State, and, as mentioned before, many of the founders of orders created those in that state. Benedict and Dominic, among others, come to mind. The Indwelling of the Trinity is now accomplished, with the person coming into a new awareness of the soul's relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The ego has been crushed, one lives in humility and one experiences off and on the ecstasies of love in God.

This is an active state, when great deeds for God and the Church may be done. But, it is a time when the soul, which is the bride, comes into a spiritual engagement to a spiritual marriage, which is the final stage, of Unity.

This period of engagement is a heady time and the bride-soul no longer suffers in the same way as in the Dark Night. That suffering has ended, as all obstacles between the soul and God have been removed.

Yet, the soul must learn to trust more in God and to be open, less afraid, of His Love. The Bridegroom Christ seeks the soul more and more. The outward world fades away and the entire life of the spirit becomes all to the bride-soul. The Illuminative state is one of action, whereas the Unitive State is one of passivity, the passing out of the world into the world of the spirit, but not quite. Only in death is there perfect union, and the soul in the Unitive State desires that union, but only in God's time.

(Something very odd is happening here in Union Station-a camera man and six or seven Chicago police and some other people are gathering for some reason...it looks benign. They are all outside the McDonald's. I am sitting next to the only socket, as my battery is low...hmmm).

Anyway, the soul is more interested in the interior life than in the exterior life, and therefore, outward things become a distraction and pain.

But, the pain of separation is at an end. In the Unitive State, God reveals Himself in His Attributes to the soul-the bride-soul begins to experience a deep understanding of God as Beauty, Justice, Truth, and so on.

I am going to take a break from this discussion for awhile. As one in the Dark Night, I can only imagine the great love and peace of the Illuminative State and the beautiful reality of the Unitive State.

On the Unitive State-a short post

A last few words on the Unitive State from St. John of the Cross before leaving him for awhile follow:

“It should be known that God dwell secretly in all souls and is hidden in their substance, for otherwise they would not last. Yet, there is a difference, a great difference, in His dwelling in them. In some souls He dwells alone, and in others He does not dwell alone. Abiding in some, He is pleased; and in others, He is displeased. He lives in some as though in His own house, commanding and ruling everything; and in others as though a stranger in a strange house, where they do not permit Him to give orders or do anything.

It is in that soul in which less of its own appetites and pleasures dwell that He dwells more alone, more pleased,  and more as though in His own house, ruling and governing it. And He dwells more in secret, the more He dwells alone. Thus in this soul, in which neither any appetite nor other images or forms nor any affections for created things dwell, the beloved dwells secretly with an embrace so much the closer, more intimate, and interior, the purer and more alone the soul is to everything other than God. His dwelling is in secret, then, because the devil cannot reach the area of this embrace, nor can one’s intellect understand how it occurs.

Yet it is not secret to the soul itself that has attained this perfection, for with itself it has the experience of this intimate embrace.  It does not, however, always experience these awakenings, for then the beloved produces them, it seems to the soul that he is awakening in its heart, where before he remained as though asleep. Although it was experiencing and enjoying him, this took place as though with a loved one who is asleep, for knowledge and love are not communicated mutually while one is still asleep

More Newman on This Friday

From Sermon 15 of Newman;
(Preached on Thursday morning, the Purification, 1843, by appointment of Mr. Christie, Fellow of Oriel.) The overthrow of the wisdom of the world was one of the earliest, as well as the noblest of the triumphs of the Church; after the pattern of her Divine Master, who took His place among the doctors before He preached His new Kingdom, or opposed Himself to the world's power. St. Paul, the learned Pharisee, was the first fruits of that gifted company, in whom the pride of science is seen prostrated before the foolishness of preaching. From his day to this the Cross has enlisted under its banner all those great endowments of mind, which in former times had been expended on vanities, or dissipated in doubt and speculation. Nor was it long before the schools of heathenism took the alarm, and manifested an unavailing jealousy of the new doctrine, which was robbing them of their most hopeful disciples. They had hitherto taken for granted that the natural home of the Intellect was the Garden or {315} the Porch; and it reversed their very first principles to be called on to confess, what yet they could not deny, that a Superstition, as they considered it, was attracting to itself all the energy, the keenness, the originality, and the eloquence of the age. But these aggressions upon heathenism were only the beginning of the Church's conquests; in the course of time the whole mind of the world, as I may say, was absorbed into the philosophy of the Cross, as the element in which it lived, and the form upon which it was moulded. And how many centuries did this endure, and what vast ruins still remain of its dominion! In the capitals of Christendom the high cathedral and the perpetual choir still witness to the victory of Faith over the world's power. To see its triumph over the world's wisdom, we must enter those solemn cemeteries in which are stored the relics and the monuments of ancient Faith—our libraries. Look along their shelves, and every name you read there is, in one sense or other, a trophy set up in record of the victories of Faith. How many long lives, what high aims, what single-minded devotion, what intense contemplation, what fervent prayer, what deep erudition, what untiring diligence, what toilsome conflicts has it taken to establish its supremacy! This has been the object which has given meaning to the life of Saints, and which is the subject-matter of their history. For this they have given up the comforts of earth and the charities of home, and surrendered themselves to an austere rule, nay, even to confessorship and persecution, if so be they could make some small offering, or do some casual service, or {316} provide some additional safeguard towards the great work which was in progress. This has been the origin of controversies, long and various, yes, and the occasion of much infirmity, the test of much hidden perverseness, and the subject of much bitterness and tumult. The world has been moved in consequence of it, populations excited, leagues and alliances formed, kingdoms lost and won: and even zeal, when excessive, evinced a sense of its preciousness; nay, even rebellions in some sort did homage to it, as insurgents imply the actual sovereignty of the power which they are assailing.



And so, we can have Faith in the reasonableness of Catholicism but we must also pray for the opportunity to share this Faith.

A Serious Note on BBB vs. The Church

Not the Pax Romana, as now the call to Macedonia now faces great obstacles.

The governments of the world want to interfere with the universal Church. I know this from several sources. The governments have already passed laws in the EU which now restrict religious visas, preachers rights to preach, the acceptance of seminarians from other countries to join dioceses, the right to work and stay in some countries for more than five years. And so on…

Think about the travels of SS. Francis, or Dominic, or Catherine of Siena, or Francis Xavier, or Isaac Joques.

The Catholic Church is the only institution in the world which has always transcended boundaries.

Missionaries, nuns and priests, brothers and sisters, have travelled the world in the past without problems on entry or stay.

Convents could set up daughter houses with no problems and share nuns between these houses.

This has ended in some countries and will end in others.

Seminary students who are returning to their own countries may study abroad for a while, but the freedom of many will be curtailed.

Such is the power of the EU. I was talking to Carmelites who used to be able to stay in their father house in Ireland for years. They are from Kenya and Nigeria. Now, they can only stay months.

A pattern of restricting the movements of Catholics began in 2012.

This is all planned, as the only great enemy of socialism and communism is the Church and communists and socialists are also a world-wide organization.  So are the Masons.
All Christians will be affected. I know of a Protestant minister who was recently told he could not preach in Great Britain if he wanted to come in on a visitor’s visa.

I was invited to give a series of talks on the virtue formation of children in the family in an EU country by a diocesan priest in charge of marriage and family spirituality, and I had to say no. I would have to apply for a religious workers visa from America. The Catch-22 is this. Some EU countries no longer allow lay people to come and work in a religious capacity-they cannot be sponsored by the dioceses. One can no longer do such a thing on a visitor’s visa in some countries, and the EU will insure this type of restriction spreads. The EU countries have lost or are losing their personal sovereignty in these matters.

The irony is that there are few European lay people who are trained as we are in the States to do such work. And, with the growing priest shortages, few people are there to catechize.

A Catholic is not allowed to volunteer on a visitor’s visa for any charity. I, for example, could not pray outside of abortion clinics while on a visitor’s visa.  I could not raise money for a charity on a visitor’s visa.  I could not give talks freely at schools or in parishes on a visitor’s visa. A visitor is a tourist, not an evangelist.
Lay people are more and more denied access on various grounds decided by governments.

Think about this. All the Christians in the countries of the world were converted by our missionaries, clerical, religious, lay.

Many of the great saints moved from Europe to other places as missionaries-the list is long.

The apostles and disciples of Christ came from the Holy Land into Europe, St. Paul being the first answering his call to go to Macedonia.

He was shipwrecked on Malta and brought Catholicism to that island. This event is presented in the last chapters of Acts, and I had the great delight of walking where St. Paul walked.

The Pax Romana allowed the movement of Christians and Christ came at the Fullness of Time, the time designated by the Father, for the optimum spreading of the Gospels.

Peace, order, good roads….frequent ships, lively ports. A Roman citizen was a citizen of the world.

Americans are not citizens of the world, by the way, and the so-called special relationships are gone, gone, gone.

Europe is closing its doors to many and opening these doors to others.

The days of freely travelling for those who want to spread the Gospel are numbered.

Think about this….as I do when I sit here and type in Illinois, while people in England and Malta want me to teach catechesis, and share my faith in those countries. I cannot do so at this point, and those dioceses are no longer allowed to sponsor me, as I am an American and not an EU citizen.

Please join me in prayer, as, like St. Paul, I feel called to Europe to work for Christ and His Church there. I have a great love for Europe in my heart and have since I was 14.  That is fifty years of loving Europe and specifically, England.

So, too, were my ancestors called from Europe to America, as the very first person on my mother’s side to come was a missionary priest. He then asked my Great-Grandfather to come and set up schools, and even a monastery, and a Catholic printing press, and a college. This he did and the faith flourished in areas of northern Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri because of my ancestors’ works.

Just as miracles brought Paul to Rome, so, too, I need miracles. But, God’s Will be done.

My faith is strong, but one waits on the Lord. Shortly before I left Malta, I saw the double rainbow and God’s promise to Noah is our promise, not only that God will not destroy the earth by water, but that His Truth will spread through-out the world.

A selection from Blessed John Henry Newman seems appropriate this morning.

From Sermon Seven, Oxford Sermons:
15. The contempt of men!—why should we be unwilling to endure it? We are not better than our fathers. In every age it has been the lot of Christians far more highly endowed than we are with the riches of Divine wisdom. It was the lot of Apostles and Prophets, and of the Saviour of mankind Himself. When He was brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor felt the same surprise and disdain at His avowal of His unearthly office, which the world now expresses. "To this end was I born, … that I should bear witness unto the Truth. Pilate saith, What is Truth?" Again, when Festus would explain to King Agrippa the cause of the dispute between St. Paul and the Jews, he says, "The accusers ... brought no accusations of such things as I supposed, but certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive."
16. Such, however, are the words of men, who, not knowing the strength of Christianity, had not the guilt of deliberate apostasy. But what serious thoughts does it present to the mind, to behold parallels to heathen blindness and arrogance in a Christian country, where men might know better, if they would inquire!—and what a warning to us all is the sight of those who, though nominally within the Church, are avowedly indifferent to it! For all of us surely are on our trial, and, as we go forth into the world, so we are winnowed, and the chaff gradually separated from the true seed. This is St. John's account of it. "They went out from {134} us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not of us." And our Lord stands by watching the process, telling us of "the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the earth," exhorting us to "try them which say they are apostles, and are not," and to "hold fast that which we have, that no man take our crown."
17. Meanwhile, it is an encouragement to us to think how much may be done in way of protest and teaching, by the mere example of those who endeavour to serve God faithfully. In this way we may use against the world its own weapons; and, as its success lies in the mere boldness of assertion with which it maintains that evil is good, so by the counter-assertions of a strict life and a resolute profession of the truth, we may retort upon the imaginations of men, that religious obedience is not impracticable, and that scripture has its persuasives. A martyr or a confessor is a fact, and has its witness in itself; and, while it disarranges the theories of human wisdom, it also breaks in upon that security and seclusion into which men of the world would fain retire from the thought of religion. One prophet against four hundred disturbed the serenity of Ahab, King of Israel. When the witnesses in St. John's vision were slain, though they were but two, then "they that dwelt on the earth rejoiced over them, and made merry, and sent gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth." Nay, such confessors have a witness even in {135} the breasts of those who oppose them, an instinct originally from God, which may indeed be perverted into a hatred, but scarcely into an utter disregard of the Truth, when exhibited before them. The instance cannot be found in the history of mankind, in which an anti-Christian power could long abstain from persecuting. The disdainful Festus at length impatiently interrupted his prisoner's speech; and in our better regulated times, whatever be the scorn or malevolence which is directed against the faithful Christian, these very feelings show that he is really a restraint on vice and unbelief, and a warning and guide to the feeble-minded, and to those who still linger in the world with hearts more religious than their professed opinions; and thus even literally, as the text expresses it, he overcomes the world, conquering while he suffers, and willingly accepting overbearing usage and insult from others, so that he may in some degree benefit them, though the more abundantly he loves them, the less he be loved.
(Preached on Sunday afternoon, May 27, 1832, in the Author's turn as Select Preacher.)

By the way, BBB stands for Broke Big Brother, another name for Europe.

Repeat Poem

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

The Sleeping Lady of Malta

Posted by Supertradmum

Thanks to Wiki for The Sleeping Lady of Malta, circa 1,500 BC



Of what does she dream, this heavy lady of Malta, resting on her hard bed,
hand under her head, like a goddess taking a break from listening to her votaries singing chants over the wine-dark sea?

Does she dream, or is her sleep dreamless, that of the dead, who no longer hold imagination or memory? Has she let go of the last images of the Middle Sea's ships bringing her necklaces of shells from Syracuse?
Is her dream one of the dancing star-skirted lady?

Did her dreams end abruptly, like one caught off-guard in the night, facing a soft journey into eternity?
Or, is she still dreaming, holding on to images which she creates for the people of Malta, who no longer know her name?

This lady wears the billowing skirts of many goddesses and reveals her breasts to the world, as if to say she is worthy of the worship from those who need fertility.
 Those yearnings of Maltese maidens lie in the dust of Ħal-Saflieni-few want offspring now.

This lady's hair was done by one of the ancestor's of the blow-dry experts of Valletta, and she does not worry about her bare feet, so broken, so lost in memory. Does she does dream of some one, some god beyond the walls of Athens or Kedash?

Does he dream of her, he, buried in a cave or sandstorm, with his arm under his head?  Or did he find a lissome lass of  Dalmanutha or the ancient springs of Achsah?  Maybe he preferred dark, like the tents of Kedar?

His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem,
I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. And, so, perhaps, she sleeps into
this tumultuous century, dreaming of lost love....

copyright 2013

Missing Malta

Thanks to wiki for this photo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StJohn3.jpg

"What a funny face! Are you a woman, really? Or an artichoke?”

Will blog on Friday, but  late in the day...sorry, but I shall be on the move. Pray for me as I am still ill.

God's Fool.

We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honourable, but we without honour.   1Cor: 4:10 DR

I may change my name to Gelsomina.

A thank you....

Gloria TV, thanks for the pick ups. An honor.....

More Dominican Posts for Those Who Missed These

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/08/for-st-dominics-day-some-of-dominican.html

Doctors of the Church Series Reminder

I have over 100 posts on the Doctors of the Church, including St. Albert, who has a feast day tomorrow.

Just follow the labels, or tags.

Here is one to get you jump started.

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Part Nineteen on the Doctors of the Church and Perfection-the Dominicans

Posted by Supertradmum

I shall save the best one until last, the Universal Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas, and as we already looked at St. Catherine of Siena, a Third Order Dominican, I can concentrate on St. Albert the Great today.

Again, I am emphasizing the spirituality of these wonderful saints with a view to the journey to perfection. It would take ten lifetimes to examine all the writings of these great minds and great souls.

St. Albert the Great was the teacher of Thomas Aquinas. We do not know exactly when he was born, but he died in 1280 and was no older than 87.

He has much to say on everything, having written at least 31 volumes. Here is a little selection on perfection. It is interesting that this section, a reading for Ash Wednesday is used. There are no accidents.

Chapter 1

On the highest and supreme perfection of man, in so far as it is possible in this life

I have had the idea of writing something for myself on and about the state of complete and full abstraction from everything and of cleaving freely, confidently, nakedly and firmly to God alone, so as to describe it fully (in so far as it is possible in this abode of exile and pilgrimage), especially since the goal of Christian perfection is the love by which we cleave to God. In fact everyone is obligated, to this loving cleaving to God as necessary for salvation, in the form of observing the commandments and conforming to the divine will, and the observation of the commandments excludes everything that is contrary to the nature and habit of love, including mortal sin. Members of religious orders have committed themselves in addition to evangelical perfection, and to the things that constitute a voluntary and counselled perfection by mean s of which one may arrive more quickly to the supreme goal which is God. The observation of these additional commitments excludes as well the things that hinder the working and fervour of love, and without which one can come to God and these include the renunciation of all things, of both body and mind, exactly as one’s vow of profession entails. Since indeed the Lord God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth, in other words, by knowledge and love, that is, understanding and desire, stripped of all images. This is what is referred to in Matthew 6.6, ‘When you pray, enter into your inner chamber,’ that is, your inner heart, ‘and having closed the door,’ that is of your senses, and there with a pure heart and a clear conscience, and with faith unfeigned, ‘pray to your Father,’ in spirit and in truth, ‘in secret.’ This can be done best when a man is disengaged and removed from everything else, and completely recollected within himself. There, in the presence of Jesus Christ, with everything, in general and individually, excluded and wiped out, the mind alone turns in security confidently to the Lord its God with its desire. In this way it pours itself forth into him in full sincerity with its whole heart and the yearning of its love, in the most inward part of all its faculties, and is plunged, enlarged, set on fire and dissolved into him.

Albert is stressing the loneliness and individuality of our walk to perfection. This movement of the Holy Spirit takes intense prayer.

Be sincere.  Be focussed. To be continued.....

Thoughts in Autumn in Illinois on The Two Cities

Too late have I come to this state. Already winter is taking over. It is really cold.

Chicago is a daunting place, too energetic for me. London is different, as one identifies
with a village, a town, once separated, now part of a larger identity. But, one in London
is still from Bayswater, or West Kensington, not merely London.

Here, the Chicagoans want to identify with this amorphous place. I used to visit
this bustling city as a teen, shopping with my mom after Thanksgiving, when the
cold wind ripped through one's coat. Exciting and optimistic times died in the
grass-roots of Alinsky. This Windy City is about to experience a sea-change.

Now, I am glad to be leaving this place, for all of its energy is focused on the
City of Man and not the City of God. One senses the brain fog, like the grayness
of the Lake, numbing people into thinking the same old same old will continue.

It will not. It is not. I grieve a bit at the lack of understanding I am finding here.
Too many people think America will not become like the broken big brother
of Europe, too many people believe Americans will rise up against tyranny.

That Americans have chosen tyranny for years seem to escape their imaginations.

Where are the leaders and the heroes among the Catholics?

A quiet hush hides the machine of change. It is the complacency of the City of Man.

Do Catholics understand St. Augustine's definitions of the City of God as opposed to the City of Man?

Are they thinking of the differences? The City of God must be built even as the City of Man decays. The City of God is not a millennial-type of utopia, but the spiritual city to which we, as baptized Catholics, all belong.

But, it must be built. It just "does not happen".

As Rome was falling to bits, a new society was being built, with blood, sweat and tears-the blood of the martyrs, the sweat of the bishops and clergy and the tears of prayer.

Seriously, I am concerned about priorities among Catholics here. "We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come."

Our priority since baptism is eternal life. But, again, this just does not happen.

I had a lovely student years ago who was not turning in bi-weekly updates on a history project. Finally, after much discussion and follow-up on my part, the term ended. The young lady, when asked, yet again, where her project was, said to me "It just did not happen."

Her passing grade did not just happen, either.

She was given ample opportunities to meet me, work with me, show me her progress.

It just did not happen. Some people do not understand what work actually means.

Work as you have never worked before in the Church Militant to build up the City of God.

Work, pray, think, reflect....

Stop Arguing, Move On--No Women Priests.....

Why are some Catholics still arguing about ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS ?

Do they not get it that this is a final statement, an infallible summary of the long teaching of the Church

on the male priesthood?

I get so bored with women and men bringing up this subject, as if it is open for discussion.

It is not. And, May 22, 1994, was a long time ago, folks.

One section of the document as a reminder:

 The Declaration recalls and explains the fundamental reasons for this teaching, reasons expounded by Paul VI, and concludes that the Church "does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination."(3) To these fundamental reasons the document adds other theological reasons which illustrate the appropriateness of the divine provision, and it also shows clearly that Christ's way of acting did not proceed from sociological or cultural motives peculiar to his time. As Paul VI later explained: "The real reason is that, in giving the Church her fundamental constitution, her theological anthropology-thereafter always followed by the Church's Tradition- Christ established things in this way."(4)
In the Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, I myself wrote in this regard: "In calling only men as his Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, he exercised the same freedom with which, in all his behavior, he emphasized the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time."(5)
In fact the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles attest that this call was made in accordance with God's eternal plan; Christ chose those whom he willed (cf. Mk 3:13-14; Jn 6:70), and he did so in union with the Father, "through the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:2), after having spent the night in prayer (cf. Lk 6:12). Therefore, in granting admission to the ministerial priesthood,(6) the Church has always acknowledged as a perennial norm her Lord's way of acting in choosing the twelve men whom he made the foundation of his Church (cf. Rv 21:14). These men did not in fact receive only a function which could thereafter be exercised by any member of the Church; rather they were specifically and intimately associated in the mission of the Incarnate Word himself (cf. Mt 10:1, 7-8; 28:16-20; Mk 3:13-16; 16:14-15). The Apostles did the same when they chose fellow workers(7) who would succeed them in their ministry.(8) Also included in this choice were those who, throughout the time of the Church, would carry on the Apostles' mission of representing Christ the Lord and Redeemer.(9)

Is anyone caring about this?

http://rt.com/news/iran-netanyahu-war-sanctions-682/

A short poem

Tardy robin in an orange tree, waiting for snowflakes
making sure winter has come to Illinois.

It holds a noble head up to the wind, sensing the
change, but I wonder why it is so late, so alone.

A squirrel runs back and forth, up and down the
yellow tree next to Mr. Robin's perch. With pieces

of pumpkin in its mouth, the squirrel scurries up the
rough bark, stops, eats, and runs back to the

welcoming porch below. Someone feeds it
on a regular basis, as it knows the territory.

Finally, the robin moves out, perhaps south,
perhaps to another orange tree somewhere

in this peaceful suburb. Autumn ends early
this year and white snow interrupts this idyll of

orange and yellow.

More, more on discernment

Returning to St. Ignatius seems a good thing to do today. Talking with someone revealed yet more confusion about the term discernment, and the major understanding of discernment for us comes through the writings and direction of St. Ignatius, as well as the Doctors of the Church. I have written about this before, so check out the tags.

I think the problem is that the new agers and the charismatics have co-opted the term to mean something which it is not. Discernment for all is the recognition of the movements of the soul and the movements of God in one’s spiritual life.

Now, some people need a confessor or a spiritual director to do this type of examination. But, discernment is connected to wisdom, and to our baptismal virtues and gifts. A child can experience discernment, and some do, if they are in the state of grace.

That is the first key to understanding discernment. One must be in the state of grace to see and hear the Voice of God in one’s soul.  Meditation, using the Scriptures and daily examination of conscience develop discernment.

If one is working on one’s predominant faults, discernment grows.

The intellect and the will are involved in the development of discernment, which is why so many anti-intellectual charismatics do not exhibit discernment.

Sadly, there are too many false prophets and teachers, who are not orthodox and do not understand the basics of either sacramental theology or the theology of prayer. I have met too many people who are leading Catholics astray by a false emphasis on feelings and experiences, and I have many articles on such here on this blog. That the charismatic emphasis on experience has infiltrated many retreat and conference centers reveals a weakness in the Church.

The enemy of the soul can take a small bit of truth and wrap it up in heresy.

If a person who is giving a talk or presenting a retreat or workshop is not absolutely, completely orthodox, do not go and do not listen. Recently, I encountered someone who was off on some aspects of Church teaching. I cannot trust him, as he is thinking like a Protestant. Satan will use such people not only to undermine the authority of the Church, but to cause confusion as to the process of becoming holy.

I can see that the person has a gift, but because of the imperfections and sin of heresy, the gift is not free to be used as God would want it used. The need for purgation would clarify that man’s soul so that the gift would be available for the building up of the Catholic Church and not for the building up of that person’s personal ministry.

There is no such thing as a personal ministry, but only calls within the Church and within the Tradition and Teachings of the Church. Anything else must be suspect. One of the weaknesses of the Church in our times has been the undermining of the authority of the Church by those who are off doing their own thing.  There is no automatic virtue in being on the fringes of the institutional Church. Can people be called to such? Yes, but rarely, and the numbers doing so do not indicate necessarily the movement of the Holy Spirit, but the egos of those setting up their own patch.

Discernment comes with obedience to Mother Church is all things, in all details. Remember that the great saints who give us direction in the spiritual life, such as SS. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales and others all had grounding in the doctrines of the Church. 

There are too many false leaders claiming infused knowledge, which again, is a grace at the later stages of holiness.

Discernment is built on orthodoxy, and there is no difference between doctrinal and pastoral approaches to truth. If a person claims that something pastoral trumps a doctrine of the Church, that person is in error.  The Holy Spirit works in order and in and through the Church.

Please remember that. Those false prophets who are going about “discerning” spirits or vices, or the need for “inner healing” and who are not straight down the wicket orthodox will be deceiving you as they have deceived themselves. They will do more damage than good.

Again, the real gifts come to fruition in the Illuminative State, and one cannot even enter the middle and later stages of the Dark Night without moving away from serious sin, such as unorthodoxy.

To be anti-intellectual is not to be a Catholic. To be caught up in thinking that theology is not part of discernment is to be in serious error.

Discernment involves the intellect and the will. True discernment follows the heart and the mind of the Church.

More on the choice of following Christ

Two, if not the greatest evils, of our times are the mad pursuits of comfort and the avoidance of suffering at all costs. Immorality provides a symptom of this headlong rush away from the Cross.

Only those who fall in love with Christ and willingly accept suffering of any kind will enter the Kingdom, as those who avoid pain deceive themselves regarding sin and judgment.

Now, the pursuit of comfort is more of a problem with those in the West, and I am particularly thinking of the Americans and the English, than some other cultures, which cannot avoid less than perfect conditions. Satan lies to us, tempting us to believe that we deserve comfort.

On the contrary….and those few who allow God to take them in to the transforming union, have also faced great suffering.

The suffering of the soul in the Illuminative and then, the Unitive stages is a different type of suffering. It is the suffering of the absence of complete union with God.

St. John of the Cross uses the term “contemplation” at these stages and again, I warn the laity against those false teachers, be they nuns or priests, who think they are teaching contemplation, when this is a direct gift of the last stages of perfection.

I have tried to wean people away from this term, as it is misleading. Contemplation comes in the Dark Night, as a darkness and moved into a peaceful, clear knowledge of God, as He is revealing Himself in the Trinity.

Contemplation comes in the Tranforming Union.

Here is a little summary of this process from St. John. He is referring to the bride of Christ.

“First, her soul is detached and withdrawn from all things.

Second, the devil is conquered and put to flight. Third, the passions are subjected

and the natural appetites mortified.  Fourth and fifth, the sensory and lower part is reformed, purified, and brought into conformity with the spiritual part. The sensory part not only offers no obstacle to the reception of these spiritual blessings, but is even accommodated to them since it participates according to its capacity in the goods the souls now possesses…

The bride sets all this perfection and preparedness before her beloved, the Son of God, with the desire that He transfer her from the spiritual marriage, to which He desired to bring her in this Church Militant, to the glorious marriage of the Triumphant. May the most sweet Jesus, bridegroom of faithful souls, be pleased to bring all who invoke His name to this glorious marriage. To Him be honor and glory, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in saecula saeculorum. Amen.”

I am not going to write more on the sacred movements of the Transforming Union, as there is always a danger that people will think they are farther ahead then they really are on the road to perfection.

St. John helped many lay persons and nuns with his poetry and commentaries. I shall return to him again soon, but take a break from the heady wine of the Illuminative and Unitive States.

Again, the timing of the Dark Night is completely personal. I know some people who have gone through this stage for many years. And, obviously, many of the saints took no time at all in the mysterious state of darkness.

Note....some of us know what this feels like.....slightly

http://www.casorosendi.com/articles/36-english/205-behold-the-man

Pay Attention, Get Ready, Pray

“My God and all things.”

What have the Illuminative State and the Unitive State have to do with Catholics in this time of coming trials?

Some readers understand that only those who truly love God and His Church will be able to withstand the tribulations to come. And, this fact has always been so in times of trouble for the Church. The great martyrs, such as St. John Houghton and his companions, mentioned many times on this blog, were ready for the horrible torments they suffered at Tyburn.

But, the ability to withstand physical pain and endure martyrdom to receive the palm of victory are not the only reasons for pursuing the way of perfection now, in these times of uncertainty.

As I have noted many times, the Church realizes a strength and perfection if Her members are perfected, and experiences weakness and loss, if Her members do not pursue the love of God in all things.

But, the Illuminative and Unitive States of the saint do much more than strengthen the Church. These states bring God into the midst of humankind.

Because in these states, the person is one with God as far as possible on this earth, there is a unity of God and person in the Trinity.  In other words, God is present in the person experiencing this transcendent relationship, and that person is in God in all Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Such a transcendent relationship cannot help but change the world, as God is Present in, with, and through the person.  The person communicates God to all.

This powerful experience of the Divine brings life, God’s life, to the world in an overflowing of love.

Of course, the problem is that most of the time, the world does not want this love and purposefully thwarts those who bring the Trinity into its midst.

Such is the irony of the human condition, that the very persons who could and do change the world are usually the ones persecuted by the world.

That God reveals His attributes to the person in these states means that the person experiences, understands and lives in beauty, truth, wisdom, peace, and so on.

Such is the witness of the saint.

That some people do not experience this oneness with God, this spiritual marriage, until right before death does not diminish the witness. However, as we see in the lives of the saints, those generous souls who have allowed God to perfect them give us a tremendous witness of love and grace.

Just think of the cloud of witnesses, like Theresa, the Little Flower, Gemma Galgani, Edmund Campion, Oliver Plunkett, Pius X, Fulton J. Sheen and so on--these men and women who give us a glimpse of life in the Trinity.

There is too much facile theology floating around about living in the life of the Trinity. That we are given this life in baptism and confirmation is true, but that those graces can only be released through purgation of sin and the tendency to sin is also true.

You will know if you are in the presence of one who is in the Illuminative or Unitive State. You will know if you are in the presence of a saint.

Sadly, this does not happen often enough in our day and age, as there are so many choices and so many distractions for most people.

I have met many people in the Dark Night and even the last stages of the Dark Night. I saw twice, and touched once, Blessed John Paul II, but before his long purgation and suffering. I believe we watched him become a saint.

Some readers may have met saints, even some who have been martyred.  Those Catholics are role models for all of us.

As to the main thesis of this post, that these states most likely are necessary for Catholics to withstand the coming persecutions, I would say that those who went before us were a bit smarter at reading the signs of the times.

I cannot imagine that the earliest Catholics were caught off guard concerning trials. And, it is obvious that such saints as Edmund Campion were trained to face the certain death when leaving the Venerable English College in Rome and traveling to England. As some of you know, St. Philip Neri would stand outside the Venerabile and bless those young priests going to England, saying, “There go the Flowers of the Martyrs”.

Are you preparing yourself and your children for trials by pursuing holiness, which is another word for perfection?

Are you too caught up in trivia to make holiness a priority in your family? Are you all pursuing sports, entertainments, unnecessary shopping, vacations, and ignoring prayer, formation, penances, frequent confession and Holy Communion?

Are you acting as if your children will not need to be different, special, super-Catholics and saints in the days to come?

Do you think they will face a world like yours and mine growing up?

Are you forming saints? I see too many families wasting time on trivia.

Do not lie to yourselves and think holiness just “happens”.  Even St. Thomas More admitted that he needed his long time in prison to get ready for death after watching the singing of the Charterhouse monks, going to their deaths, “like bridegrooms to the wedding.”

Such are the actions of the perfect, those who have gone through the Illuminative and Unitive States, and bear witness joyfully to the vision of the Trinity in the world.

I have met many people lately who are acting as if they have all the time in the world to pursue holiness. I have met too many people who are in denial regarding the signs of the times. And, these people are not young.

I have met too many people who think Catholics can live in America or Europe with the freedoms experienced by their forefathers.

I have met too many people who are wasting time and may be swept away, and compromise when the going gets tough.

For the past several weeks, the urgency of allowing God to make one holy has been a recurring theme on this blog.

God is pouring out His grace and mercy on us now.  The time of grace will end. Look the history of the Church.

Do not think you can act as you have always acted.

“When the Son of Man comes, all will be as it was in the days of Noe; in those days before the flood, they went on eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the time when Noe entered the ark, and they were taken unawares, when the flood came and drowned them all; so it will be a the coming of the Son of Man.”

Matthew 24:37-39

Let these ideals be your guide. Be open to suffering anything in order to become one with God. Be generous is saying yes to graces God wants to give.  Be willing to be different than all those around you and your families-even other Catholics who are not paying attention.

Give yourselves to God entirely now.  Then, like St. Francis, as quoted by St. John of the Cross, you will be able to pray, “My God and all things.”

To be continued….

Frustration And A Mini-Rant

The idiocy of so many Catholics these days is that they are arguing about the wrong issues.

The famous phrase of “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” comes to mind after listening to some conversations which indicate

that the vast majority of Catholics cannot see the imminent dangers facing their religious freedoms.

Idiocy means to me that one has the capacity to find out the truth about situations, but one refuses to do so.

Why are so many American Catholics believing that things are going to be OK in America, and that the European situation is different?

Nope.

Americans are losing rights at such a fast rate that most people are not realizing what will conspire in a short period of time, which

will be no freedom of religion for anyone who disagrees with the new state religion-whatever that will be, which includes abortion,

contraception mandates, same-sex marriage, core curriculum and so on.

When a government creates laws and programs separated from the natural law and from the Ten Commandments, which are

expressions of natural law, one’s freedoms become arbitrary.  To separate governance from God, and specifically from the

one true faith, which is Catholicism, will lead more and more to morals being interpreted by those in power. Period.

Someone pointed out to me the illegality of the martial law situation in Boston neighborhoods after the bombings this

past summer. Did anyone object? Are there lawsuits against the police, or the CIA, or any other special ops?

Our Founding Fathers would not have believed the house to house search without personal warrants, or the curfews.

For this type of tyranny, they wrote out our Constitutional rights.  Hey, these are going, going, gone.

And, who seems to care? Some of us did not like the Patriot Act, seeing it as a knee-jerk reaction which would

erode the rights of citizens.  This has happened.

Few voices have sounded above the great silence of ignorance, idiocy or just plain ennui.

Few voices in Europe have sounded the alarms at the growing power of the Hague and the losing of national sovereignty

among the nation-states.

Why the silence?  Comfort? Money? Apathy?

Those parents with children need to pay attention. Government is out of hand, out of ours hands and it is supposed to be in

our hands.  Teach your children well.