“Our friends were too worldly and too clever at mixing the pleasure of the world with the service of God. They scarcely gave a thought to death…. And I knew that all is fleeting that we cherish here under the sun. The only good thing is to love God with all one’s heart and to stay poor in spirit” (Saint Therese of Lisieux)“[The Lenten wilderness] helps us to say ‘no’ to worldliness, to ‘idols’, it helps us to make courageous choices in line with the Gospel and to strengthen our solidarity with our brothers and sisters.” (Pope Francis)Our spiritual warfare is against the world, the flesh and the devil. But of these three enemies, how much time do we spend battling the world? It is worth a moment’s reflection to consider to what extent our values and desires have been influenced by the world. I bring this problem of worldliness to your attention because it is so often mentioned by the great spiritual writers (it is a constant theme of Thomas a Kempis in The Imitation of Christ). Our Lord, on Holy Thursday, prayed earnestly for his disciples to be protected from the world in John 17. Now, here are two quotes that underscore the importance of combating worldliness, one from the great Saint Ignatius of Loyola and the other from Father Faber: “The shortest and almost the only way to achieve sanctity is to have a horror for all which the world loves and embraces.” (Saint Ignatius of Loyola)“It is this world which we have to fight against throughout the whole of our Christian course. Our salvation depends upon our unforgiving enmity against it.” (F.W. Faber)I think these two quotes are of incredible significance. Who can doubt that so many of the challenges the church faces come from worldliness. The world doesn’t mind if you go to mass on Sunday or mumble a prayer or two, just as long as you pledge your primary allegiance to it. It’s not like the world dislikes God: it just feels it can get along fine without Him. The world doesn’t like God to get in the way! I don’t mean to set up a dualism between God and the world. After all it is the same Ignatius who encourages us “to seek God in all things.” And Ignatius wants us to engage the world. But there is a “strange attraction” in the world which makes us forget about God. We focus on the shopping mall, on endless hours of useless talk radio, on sports adinfinitum, on mindless TV shows, and on many other things that keep our senses so inflamed with superficial information that we simply don’t even understand what it means to be recollected in prayer. This is why Saint Ignatius is so emphatic that we keep our eternal destiny foremost in mind as we lead our lives, and that we use all created things to further this end rather than to impede it. Created things should be used as God intended them, to give glory to God, rather than to drown us in a sea of fabricated wants and desires that force us to pig-out on things that are of very little value in the final analysis. Our Lord was born in a cave and his first bed was a manger. He died nailed to a cross. His whole life seems to have been a gigantic testimony against worldliness. The antidote to worldliness is prayer, fasting, love of the poor, detachment from things and, perhaps most of all, constant meditation on our Lord’s Passion. Looking at our crucified Lord is a great protection against worldliness, which is why the cross has always been a scandal and foolishness to those in the world (1 Cor. 1:22-24). Wishing you a blessed, holy and profitable Lent! Tom Mulcahy, M.A. Inspiration: Thomas a Kempis, Saint Ignatius, F.W. Faber (see his chapter on worldliness in The Creator and the Creature, one of the greatest books I have ever read). To SHARE on SOCIAL MEDIA: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below (and this will bring up social media icons if they are not already present). To LEAVE A COMMENT: click on “Leave a comment” or “Comments” below, and then scroll down to the box which says, “Leave Your Own Comment Here,” which is at the end of any comments already made. If the comment section is already present, merely scroll to the end of any comments already made. All rights reserved. Any ads following this note are by WordPress and not CatholicStrength. |
Month: February 2017
FIVE KEYS TO MAINTAINING THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
THE AWESOME PROPHECY OF THE CATHOLIC MASS BY THE PROPHET MALACHI
(The Prophet Malachi)
“…in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation” (Malachi 1:11)
“It would be easier for the world to survive without the sun than to do so without the Holy Mass” (Saint Padre Pio)
Malachi is the final book in the Old Testament. Malachi was the last of the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. Malachi lived about four hundred years before Christ.
According to Dr. Paul Heinisch, “the prophet [Malachi] speaks of a time when [God] will be worshipped throughout the world by every race, a time when sacrifice will be made to Him everywhere and by all peoples. This sacrifice will be a “perfect” oblation, it will not be marked by blemishes like those presently offered by the priests in Jerusalem. And the offering will be brought by men with pure hearts and upright intentions” (Christ in Prophecy, p.172, The Liturgical Press).
This awesome prophecy of Malachi reads as follows:
“For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11)
Dr. Heinisch, an Old Testament scholar, comments: “The prophecy [of Malachi] is fulfilled in the sacrifice of holy Mass. Here we have a true sacrifice; the object is the purest possible – the Son of God, and the Offerer, the Savior through the hands of the priest. It is, moreover, offered in all places throughout the world” (Christ in Prophecy, p.173). Thus, in Eucharistic Prayer number three we find a palpable echo of Malachi’s prophecy. The prayer reads, in part:
“You are indeed Holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.” (emphasis added)
(Mass at the Grotto in Lourdes)
Father George Kosicki (who died in 2014) once roughly estimated that about “4-5 Masses begin each second,” and that “there are are approximately 8-9 thousand Masses going on at any moment” (Intercession: Moving Mountains by Living Eucharistically, p. 22, Faith Publishing Company). Even if Father Kosicki’s rough calculations are on the high side, it is truly inspiring and breathtaking to consider that at any given moment thousands of Masses are being said throughout the world and the infinitely perfect sacrifice of Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity is being lovingly offered to the Eternal Father. What a wonder! What an amazing phenomenon! What an amazing fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy!
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Images. Lower image: A photograph of a Mass at Lourdes taken by Lima at English Wikipedia on July 28, 2006. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 unported license. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version. Lead image: “The Prophet Malachi, painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1310 (Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena Cathedral,” per Wikipedia. Public Domain, U.S.A.
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AMORIS LAETITIA, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND THE PROPER RECEPTION OF HOLY COMMUNION
(St. Thomas Aquinas)
“To respond to this invitation [to receive Holy Communion] we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment…. ‘Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.’ Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1385)
“The Eucharist is too great a gift to tolerate ambiguity and depreciation.” (Saint Pope John Paul II)
Well before Amoris Laetitia, in November of 2013, Pope Francis released The Joy of the Gospel, an Apostolic Exhortation on evangelization. In The Joy of the Gospel Pope Francis makes a brief reference to the Eucharist, and it just happens to contain his now famous Eucharistic maxim: –
“The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” (The Joy of the Gospel, no.47)
The Pope footnotes Saint Ambrose for support of this quote and also Saint Cyril of Alexandria. When I first read this maxim of Pope Francis about the Eucharist in The Joy of the Gospel, I was a little stunned: I was thinking, wouldn’t it be prudent to clarify this somewhat unusual statement by mentioning what the Church infallibly teaches about receiving the Eucharist while in mortal sin (as in the quote from the Catechism at the very top of this note)? I can see now, in retrospect, the purpose Pope Francis apparently had in mind in selecting this maxim.
Now this identical Eucharistic maxim is also found in the Pope’s now infamous footnote 351 in Amoris Laetitia (“I would also point out that the Eucharist ‘is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak’.”). As you most likely know, there is now a furious debate going on in the Church as to whether footnote 351 permits, at least in certain mitigating circumstances, divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Holy Eucharist.
The purpose of this note is to simply demonstrate that Saint Thomas Aquinas clearly teaches that the Eucharist is not a spiritual medicine to heal those in mortal sin, but rather a medicine given to strengthen believers who are in a state of grace. In other words, the Eucharistic maxim of Pope Francis, to have validity, must be interpreted in light of the teaching of Saint Thomas, which is no doubt the infallible teaching of the Catholic Church (as seen, for example, in CCC 1385).
The clear teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas I am referring to occurs in Question 80, Article Four (Pt. III) of the Summa Theologica, which reads as follows as specifically pertaining to Objection 2 (which St. Thomas answers in Reply to Objection 2):
Thomas Mulcahy, M.A., J.D.
Image: “Detail from Valle Romita Polyptych by Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1400)” at Wikipedia. Public Domain, U.S.A.
Note: For greater context, please refer to my previous post:
THE DARK CLOUDS OF EUCHARISTIC AMBIGUITY | Catholic Strength
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Oh Blessed Night of Pure Faith: A Bird’s-eye View of the Spirituality of St. John of the Cross
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23)
“For we walk by faith, and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7)
INTRODUCTION: This note attempts to shed light on the great purifying value of “spiritual darkness” for growth in holiness by way of a summary of some of the insights of the Church’s greatest mystical theologian, Saint John of the Cross. However inadequate this note may be, I nevertheless hope it will be of some value to you, and that it will at least increase your interest in this great mystical theologian and Saint of whom Saint John Paul II said: “[The spiritual journey is] totally sustained by grace, which nonetheless demands an intense spiritual commitment and is no stranger to painful purifications (the “dark night”). But it leads, in various possible ways, to the ineffable joy experienced by the mystics as “nuptial union”. How can we forget here, among the many shining examples, the teachings of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila?” (Novo Millenio Inuente)
KEY PRELIMINARY POINT # 1: Saint John of the Cross states, “All the goodness [of the things created by God], in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, may be described as wickedness. For there is naught good, save only God,” and, “All the wealth and glory of all creation, in comparison with the wealth which is God, is supreme poverty and wretchedness” (Saint John of the Cross, Book I, Ascent of Mount Carmel). The underlying starting point of John of the Cross is thus: God is All in All. Therefore, we were created to set our hearts on God.
KEY PRELIMINARY POINT # 2: Saint John of the Cross emphasizes the nearness of God, who is “nearer to us than we are to ourselves.” In The Spiritual Canticle he makes this point in a strikingly beautiful way: “Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner room and hiding place. There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you, or better, that you cannot be without him. Behold, exclaims the Bridegroom, the kingdom of God is within you [Lk. 17:21]. And his servant, the apostle St. Paul, declares: You are the temple of God [2 Cor. 6:16]. It brings special happiness to a person to understand that God is never absent….” (Stanza 1; emphasis added). Therefore, the desire for union with God is greatly aided by the discovery that God dwells within my baptized soul!
OVERVIEW:
1. We are made for union with God, a process which begins with baptism (where the great gift of sanctifying grace concurrently prepares our soul for the indwelling of the Blessed Trinity) and which is meant to grow in intimacy and love by the increase of this grace throughout our lives. Please call to mind that the gift of sanctifying grace includes the three theological ( God-directed) virtues of faith, hope and love, along with the infused moral virtues and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The purpose for the soul’s journey through the “dark night” of purification and contemplation is to arrive at an “experimental” or true mystical knowledge of the indwelling of the Triune God, the highest degree of which is the transforming union.
2. This process of growing ever closer to God is in direct response to the great commandment: to love God with our whole heart, mind and soul and with all our strength (see Matt 22: 37-40).
3. This journey to greater intimacy with God is hindered by false loves and inordinate attachments. In this sense, we become like what we love.“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21). I repeat, since this is a key point of the saint, you will grow in likeness to what you love. Consequently, when we set our affections on God, we are reformed more and more, through grace, into His image and likeness. Thus, as Saint John of the Cross says, “What prepares the soul to be united with God is the desire for God.”
4. These false loves and inordinate attachments, although not necessarily sinful, nevertheless need to be purged and purified, so as to set our “house” in right order. This purification, then, involves not only the avoidance of sin but also the readjustment of our appetites and desires (it could be called an “un-possessing” of all the affections that capture our heart but impede our union with God). Saint John of the Cross says:
“[The] soul went forth (being led by God) for love of Him alone, enkindled in love of Him, upon a dark night, which is the privation and purgation of all its sensual desires, with respect to all outward things of the world and to those which were delectable to its flesh, and likewise with respect to the desires of its will. This all comes to pass in this purgation of sense; for which cause the soul says that it went forth while its house was still at rest; which house is its sensual part, the desires being at rest and asleep in it, as it is to them. For there is no going forth from the pains and afflictions of the secret places of the desires until these be mortified and put to sleep. And this, the soul says, was a happy chance for it — namely, its going forth without being observed: that is, without any desire of its flesh or any other thing being able to hinder it. And likewise, because it went out by night — which signifies the privation of all these things wrought in it by God, which privation was night for it” (from Chapter 1 of Ascent of Mount Carmel, pertaining, in particular, to the night of the senses discussed below).
The purpose of entering into the dark night, then, is to effect the purification needed in order to draw closer to God.
5. This process of purification or mortification, which John of the Cross calls a “dark night,” involves a four step process:
MORTIFICATION OF THE SENSES (Lower Faculties) Night of the Senses
EXAMPLES: If God could take the zeal and love we have for the passing and perishable things of this world, and apply that zeal and love to Himself (God being the one, true good), the result would be hearts on fire in the service of the Lord. John of the Cross refers to this change of heart as a “transformation” or “reformation of desire”. In this transformation, we begin to love God with our whole heart and soul (thus fulfilling the great commandment), whereas our love for the passing things of this world wanes (and we use them primarily in the service of God). This readjustment of our affections is something God is attempting to carry out in our lives whenever our love for some object or pleasure impedes our love for Him. “He who has God has everything.” “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul” (Mark 8:36). One example: the amazing transformation of desire that took place in Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He took all the zeal, energy and love he had in being a soldier and nobleman and transferred it to the service of God.
St. Paul had the same type of zeal and determination for life displayed by Ignatius. God saw what a good job Saul was doing going after new Christians, and He must of thought, “I need that guy on my side.” So He knocked Saul off his horse and set Paul’s heart on the love of Christ. Paul’s return to the Lord was prodigious. No one worked harder, and suffered more, to advance the church. Is there anything in our lives that we potentially love more than God (or prevent us from growing closer to God)? Is there anything in our lives that provides more security to us than God? Do we have idols that impede our worship of God? Do we understand that the only retirement account of any value is Heaven? These disordered affections need to be uprooted, for they ultimately impede us from loving God and growing closer to Him.
A QUOTE FROM SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS: “Hence, we call this nakedness [this mortification of appetites] a night for the soul, for we are not discussing the mere lack of things; this lack will not divest the soul if it craves for all these objects. We are dealing with the denudation [emptying] of the soul’s appetites and gratifications. This is what leaves it free and empty of all things, even though it possesses them. Since the things of the world cannot enter the soul, they are not in themselves an encumbrance or harm to it; rather, it is the will and appetite dwelling within that causes the damage when set on these things” (Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Book One, Chapter 3). Saint John of the Cross mentions that even a small, seemingly harmless attachment to some pleasure or novelty can impede the soul’s advancement if not mortified. In short, this purification is comprehensive: you are scrubbing clean all your inordinate desires and attachments – all of them! (and St. John of the Cross provides some rather strong guidelines to accomplish this goal; see Book One, Chapter 13). A simple example: you are attached to late night news shows which prevent you from praying the rosary and from examination of conscience. How many amusements and trivial pursuits keep us from meditation, deep prayer and adoration, thus impeding our union with God?
The beautiful senses God has given us should help us to grow in holiness. In our electronic media society we often run the risk of getting entrapped in a world of sensory addiction that is almost a type of bondage. Moreover, our consumer society can keep our senses so inflamed with the desire for “petty, peripheral things,” that we we run the risk of despiritualization. The remedy to this very real and serious problem involves the great Catholic spiritual principle of detachment, where we begin to control our desire for things that are stunting or limiting our true moral and spiritual development, eliminating anything which is immoral, and strictly limiting things which are harmful because they keep us away from other activities which are far more humanizing and God-directed. In the order of the human being, God is the greatest good to which all other goods must be subordinated. Growth in prayer, in fact, is a fundamental antidote to despiritualization. So we see that John of the Cross’ recommendation that we set our senses at rest in the purifying darkness is highly relevant to our own times.
“Strive,” says St. John of the Cross in the counsels he gives in Chapter 13, “thus to desire to enter into complete detachment and emptiness and poverty, with respect to everything that is in the world, for Christ’s sake.” And, “Desire to possess nothing, in order to arrive at being everything.” How can we walk in “liberty of spirit,” towards union with God, our true good, if we are so weighed down by our things, our desires, and our inordinate sensual appetites? Thus, the necessity for the active purification of the senses.
7. The active night of the senses prepares us for the passive night of the senses. The passive night of the senses involves God’s own action upon the soul in question. As the person begins to strip away his inordinate sensual attraction to the things of this world, thus getting rid of the “old-self,” especially through prayer, meditation and self-denial, God then allows a profound period of spiritual aridity to beset the believer, the ultimate purpose of which is to effectuate an even more powerful purification of our inordinate passions and desires, especially as these vices begin to manifest themselves on a spiritual level (as in craving for spiritual delights and pleasures). As the believer perseveres through this “dark night,” where no consolation of God is experienced, but not wanting to turn back to the futility of his old ways, a breakthrough ultimately occurs whereby, through sheer grace, the believer begins to experience the interior presence of God and makes the transition from meditative (discursive) prayer to contemplative (supernatural) prayer, thus moving from the purgative stage of the journey to the illuminative stage (from beginner to proficient). Regarding this transition, Saint John of the Cross states:
“Since the conduct of these beginners in the way of God is lowly and not too distant from love of pleasure and of self, as we explained, God desires to withdraw them from this base manner of loving and lead them on to a higher degree of divine love. And he desires to liberate them from the lowly exercise of the senses and of discursive meditation, by which they go in search of him so inadequately and with so many difficulties, and lead them into the exercise of spirit, in which they become capable of a communion with God that is more abundant and more free of imperfections” (Dark Night of the Soul, Book I, Chapter 8).
This process may take several months or many years.
NOTE: This deeper purification of the passive night of the senses is needed because, as the soul begins to experience sweetness and consolation in spiritual things, resulting from progress made and graces given during the active night of the senses, it “stumbles into many imperfections” like spiritual pride, spiritual avarice and spiritual gluttony (a manifestation of the seven capital sins on a deeper, more spiritual level). The soul thus needs to be greatly humbled, and thus to walk the path of pure faith without groping incessantly for spiritual delights and consolations, so as to draw closer to God Himself. Consolations are good, but they are not meant to be an end in themselves. John of the Cross discusses three signs that demonstrate that the soul has genuinely entered into this passive night of the senses (1. no consolation in the things of God, or in created things; 2. the memory dwells ordinarily upon God with a painful anxiety; and 3. an inability to meditate with an attraction simply to gaze inwardly at God), and then discusses the amazing benefits derived from this night( see Book I, Chapters 9-12 of Dark Night of the Soul; and pages 43-53 of The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. II, for a detailed discussion of the “three signs” summarized above by Fr. Garrigou-LaGrange).
A QUOTE FROM SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS: “At the time of the aridities of this sensory night, God makes the exchange we mentioned by withdrawing the soul from the life of the senses and placing it in that of spirit — that is, he brings it from meditation to contemplation — where the soul no longer has the power to work or meditate with its faculties on the things of God. Spiritual persons suffer considerable affliction in this night, owing not so much to the aridities they undergo as to their fear of having gone astray….The attitude necessary in this night of the senses is to pay no attention to discursive meditation since this is not the time for it. They should allow the soul to remain in rest and quietude even though it may seem obvious to them that they are doing nothing and wasting time….Through patience and perseverance in prayer, they will be doing a great deal without activity on their part….They must be content simply with a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God, and live without the concern, without the effort, and without the desire to taste or feel him. All these desires disquiet the soul and distract it from the peaceful, quiet, and sweet idleness of the contemplation that is being communicated to it” (The Dark Night, Book I, Chapter 10).
It might be beneficial to look at this passive night of the senses from the point of view of addition and subtraction. With the subtraction of sensible consolations in the lower faculties (the sensual part of the soul), comes the addition of a dry, nascent, infused, mystical contemplation in the spiritual part of the soul – a contemplation perhaps not even fully perceived by the soul, but which will increase as the soul becomes more receptive to it. In essence, the soul is being weaned of sensible consolations and called to a higher spiritual life of contemplative prayer through these special operations and inspirations of the Holy Spirit. If the soul perceives that the three signs mentioned above have been met, the soul can safely conclude that God is calling it to a deeper conversion marked by an experimental knowledge of God made present to the soul through an infused, loving contemplation (Ref. chapter 4, Volume II, The Three Ages of the Interior Life, concerning the passive purification of the senses).
Among the effects of the passive night of the senses on the soul, Saint John of the Cross mentions the following: “The love of God is practiced, because the soul is no longer attracted by sweetness and consolation, but by God only. . . . In the midst of these aridities and hardships, God communicates to the soul, when it least expects it, spiritual sweetness, most pure love, and spiritual knowledge of the most exalted kind, of greater worth and profit than any of which it had previous experience, though at first the soul may not think so, for the spiritual influence now communicated is most delicate and imperceptible by sense” (Dark Night of the Soul, Book I, Chapter 13, cited by Fr. Garrigou-LaGrange).
Another great benefit derived by the soul from this purgation of sense is a profound knowledge of self. Father Garrigou-LaGrange explains: “Among the effects of the passive purification of the senses, must be numbered a profound and experimental knowledge of God and self. St. John of the Cross points out: ‘These aridities and the emptiness of the faculties as to their former abounding, and the difficulty which good works present, bring the soul to a knowledge of its own vileness and misery.’ This knowledge is the effect of nascent infused contemplation…. St. John of the Cross says: ‘The soul possesses and retains more truly that excellent and necessary virtue of self-knowledge, counting itself for nothing, and having no satisfaction in itself, because it sees that of itself it does and can do nothing. This diminished satisfaction with self, and the affliction it feels because it thinks that it is not serving God, God esteems more highly than all its former delights and all its good works.’ With this knowledge of its indigence, its poverty, the soul comprehends better the majesty of God, His infinite goodness toward us, the value also of Christ’s merits, of His precious blood, the infinite value of the Mass, and the value of Communion. ‘God [says St. John of the Cross] enlightens the soul, making it see not only its own misery and meanness, . . . but also His grandeur and majesty’ ” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. II, pages 61-62).
Other benefits of this passive night of the senses include “the soul bears a habitual remembrance of God,” it “exercises all the virtues together,” a “spiritual humility” manifested by “love of neighbor,” “freedom of spirit” accompanied with the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the soul longs and yearns to serve God (The Dark Night, Book I, Chapter 13).
The night of the senses has turned out to be an extraordinary blessing, and the soul is now prepared for a deeper, more comprehensive purification in the night of the spirit, a purification where the soul will experience profound privations and desolation in the dark night of the valley of the shadow of death, in order to reach the ultimate goal of this journey in spiritual darkness – union with God, for which the purification of the senses was the necessary first stage. We proceed, therefore, to the night of the spirit.
MORTIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT: OF THE UNDERSTANDING, MEMORY AND WILL (Higher Faculties) Night of the Spirit
“We are now going to treat of the second part of this night, which is faith; this
is the wondrous means which, as we said, leads to the goal, which is God.”
(Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Chapter II)
8. The crucial importance of FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE! Saint John wants us to thoroughly cleanse the faculties which sense, know, desire, understand, remember, imagine and will. In short, John of the Cross wants to completely clean house! And when our spiritual house has been set in order, and swept clean of all the encumbrances that so impede union with God, we will begin to walk by faith, hope and love (the theological virtues). And so a deeper purification is still needed, which brings us to the active and then passive night of the spirit. The active purification of the spirit, of the understanding, memory and will, is discussed in great detail, and with great importance, in Books II and III of The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, with numerous examples and explanations given of the detachment needed to avoid pitfalls or dangers associated with our natural knowing, remembering and willing: these examples demonstrate how the misguided or even wounded human intellectual faculties lead souls off the path which leads to contemplation.
Saint John of the Cross provides practical suggestions for the proficient’s practice of contemplative prayer in Book II of The Ascent of Mount Carmel (Chapter 12), and then readdresses the signs which show that the proficient is truly called to leave meditation and pass on to the state of contemplation (AMC, Book II, Chapter 13). It is useful to understand that there is normally a gap of “many years” between the night of the senses and the passive night of the spirit (TDN, Book II, Chapter 1). It is the passive night of the spirit which marks the soul’s transition from proficient to perfect, from the illuminative stage of the journey to the unitive stage. The unitive stage of the journey is entered upon and completed by the passive night of the spirit, of which the active night of the spirit (addressed in Books II and III of The Ascent of Mount Carmel) is the preparation. The passive night of the spirit is discussed in Book II of The Dark Night Of The Soul (TDN).
Our natural knowledge and human ingenuity are completely insufficient to effectuate union with God; rather, only the supernatural knowledge accessible by the super-discursive virtues of faith, hope and love can effectuate a likeness to God which is the basis of such a union. “As a result, a man has nothing more to do than strip his soul of these natural contrarieties and dissimilarities so that God…may [communicate] Himself to it…supernaturally through grace” (AMC, Book II, Chapter 5). Supernatural faith therefore purifies human understanding, and since memory is our storage facility for human knowledge, it too needs to be purified by supernatural hope; and since the will derives its affections from human intellectual perceptions it needs to be purified by supernatural charity. Even if you were the beneficiary of a supernatural vision, you would still need to process it through your human intellectual faculties, which is, per se, an obstacle to union with God. “[V]isions will be an obstacle to…advancement if [a person] fails to practice this denial, since they impede spiritual nudity, poverty, and emptiness in faith – the requisite for union with God” (AMC, Book II, Chapter 24). Only when the human intellect is placed in darkness (in “un-knowing”) can faith make progress towards its exceptional goal – union with God.
Saint John of the Cross states:“The reason [for this purification of the spirit] is that all the imperfections and disorders of the sensory part are rooted in the spirit and from it receive their strength. All good and evil habits reside in the spirit and until these habits are purged the senses cannot be completely purified of their rebellions and vices” (The Dark Night Book II, Chapter 3).
Saint John of the Cross points out that the imperfections of the lower faculties, namely, the senses, although now purged, cannot be completely purged unless the higher, spiritual faculties of the understanding, memory and will are also purged. “The stains of the old man still remain in their spirit like rust that will disappear only under the action of a purifying fire” (Father Garrigou LaGrange). Although Saint John of the cross spends a lot of time discussing the defects still present in proficients, one might summarize by saying that egoism and pride are deeply embedded in the human spirit. “They must be purified from every human attachment to their judgment, to their excessively personal manner of seeing, willing, acting, from every human attachment to the good works to which they devote themselves. This purification, if well borne in the midst of temptations against the three theological virtues, will increase tenfold their faith, their confidence in God, and their love of God and neighbor” (Father Garrigou-LaGrange). This purgation or purification of the spirit, of the understanding, memory and will, is accomplished in the following manner:
Understanding is to be replaced by faith
Memory is to be emptied and forgotten and replaced by hope
The will is to be emptied of all desires save that of loving God with all our heart, mind and strength
A QUOTE FROM SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS: “But we are imparting instructions here for advancing in contemplation to union with God. All these sensory means and exercises of the faculties must consequently be left behind and in silence, so that God himself may effect divine union in the soul. As a result one has to follow the method of disencumbering, emptying, and depriving the faculties of their natural authority and operations to make room for the inflow and illumination of the supernatural. Those who do not turn their eyes from their natural capacity will not attain to so lofty a communication; rather they will hinder it” (The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Book Three, Chapter II, my emphasis).
Concerning the purification of memory, Saint John of the Cross states: “We must draw it away from its natural props and capacities and raise it above itself to supreme hope in the incomprehensible God” (AMC, Book III, Chapter 2, as cited by S. Muto in The Ascent, p.124). And concerning the purification of the will, Saint John says this: “[T]he will must…be emptied of and detached from all disordered appetite and satisfaction in every particular thing in which it can rejoice whether earthly or heavenly, temporal or spiritual, so that purged and cleansed of all inordinate satisfactions , joys and appetites it might be wholly occupied in loving God with its affections. For if in any way the will can comprehend God and be united with Him, it is through love….” (Minor Works, Letter 12, as cited by S. Muto in The Ascent, p.145). Biblically, Saint Paul says in Ephesians 3:19: “…and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
In essence, we are going to let the Holy Spirit lead us. In Saint John’s own words, the understanding is purged in “the darkness of faith, the memory in the emptiness of hope, and the will in the nakedness and absence of every affection.” This sort of transformation is necessary, John maintains, for those seeking mystical union with God. And even though we may not reach that high degree of union in this lifetime (“the unitive stage”), the principles laid down by Saint John are still of tremendous value in that we should learn to be very distrustful of our limited, human knowledge (and walk by faith); and we need to escape being bogged down in our past memories (some which harm and distract us) and look forward with hope to one day being in the presence of God; and, finally, we need to redirect our will to loving God with all our heart, mind and strength. The theological virtues were placed in our souls at baptism, and they function to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives. This active process of “letting go of all that is not God,” as stored in our understanding, memory and will, prepares us for the passive night of the spirit, ultimately leading to betrothal and union with God, but not before trials and sufferings of a most profound nature (during the passive night of the spirit) as described in the following paragraph.
(see note on the cause of the passive purification of the spirit, below)
THE SOUL WALKS SAFELY AND SECURELY THROUGH THIS PURIFYING DARK NIGHT: Saint John of the Cross states: “In the measure that the soul walks in darkness and emptiness in its natural operations, it walks securely….Since the soul’s evils are thus impeded, only the goods of union with God are imparted to the appetites and faculties; these appetites and faculties become divine and heavenly in this union. If they observe closely at the time of these darknesses, individuals will see clearly how little the appetites and faculties are distracted with useless and harmful things and how secure they are from vainglory, from pride and presumption, from an empty and false joy, and from many other evils…. Another more basic reason the soul walks securely in darkness is that this light, or obscure wisdom, so absorbs and engulfs the soul in the dark night of contemplation and brings it so near God that it is protected and freed from all that is not God. Since the soul, as it were, is undergoing a cure to regain its health, which is God himself, His Majesty restricts it to a diet, to abstinence from all things, and causes it to lose its appetite for them all….Because dark contemplation brings the soul closer to God, it has all these characteristics; it safeguards and cares for the soul” (TDN, Book II, Chapter 16).
“Poor, abandoned, and unsupported by any of the apprehensions of my soul (in the darkness of my intellect, in the distress of my will, and the affliction and anguish of my memory), left to darkness in pure faith, which is a dark night for all these natural faculties, and with my will touched only by sorrows, afflictions, and longings of love of God, I went out from myself.
… My intellect departed from itself, changing from human and natural to divine. For united with God through this purgation, it no longer understands by means of its natural vigor and light, but by means of the divine wisdom to which it was united. And my will departed from itself and became divine. United with divine love, it no longer loves in a lowly manner, with its natural strength, but with the strength and purity of the Holy Spirit; and thus the will does not operate humanly in relation to God. The memory, too, was changed into eternal apprehensions of glory. And finally, all the strength and affections of the soul, by means of this night and purgation of the old self, are renewed with divine qualities and delights.” (The Dark Night, Book II, Chapter IV, as cited by Larry Cooley in The Way to Ultimate Meaning in the Mystical Theology of Saint John of the Cross).
9. In a very simplified manner (relying on Father Garrigou-LaGrange), we may say that these higher intellectual and spiritual faculties have been purified “in their depths” by this dark night of trial and suffering which elevates to an extraordinary degree the infused, loving contemplation of God, and all the amazing benefits which flow from such an elevation of union with God. The highest level of union with God the soul can attain to by the purification of this dark night is called the transforming union, of which Father Garrigou-LaGrange states: “St. John of the Cross describes the transforming union as the state of spiritual perfection, the full development of the grace of the virtues and the gifts: ‘The perfect spiritual life,’ he says, ‘consists in the possession of God by the union of love.’ The transforming union is, therefore, most intimate; it brings with it great, inalterable peace, at least to the summit of the higher faculties.” Overall, these successive purifications place “our house in order”, the ultimate effect of which is profound union with God and, as Ralph Martin points out, a proper and much richer use and appreciation of the things of this world for the love of neighbor and the greater glory of God.
THE CAUSE OF THE PASSIVE PURIFICATION OF THE SPIRIT: As Father Garrigou-LaGrange demonstrates, the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and the intellectual gifts of the Holy Spirit (Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding) are operating at a high level at these higher levels of the spiritual journey, as God, in essence, is now leading the soul. The “purifying infused light” of the dark night, which St. John of the Cross calls “a certain inflowing of God into the soul which cleanses…whereby God secretly teaches the soul and instructs it in the perfection of love,” Father Garrigou-LaGrange relates specifically to the Gift of Understanding. Father Garrigou-LaGrange quotes St. Thomas Aquinas, who said: “The stronger the light of the understanding, the further it can penetrate into the heart of things….Consequently man needs a supernatural light in order to penetrate further so as to know what it cannot know by its natural light: and this supernatural light which is bestowed on man is called the gift of understanding.” The gift of understanding, according to Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange’s critique of Saint Thomas, “confirms the supernatural certitude of faith by making us penetrate mysteries and by dispelling errors.” Thus, says Father Garrigou-LaGrange, relying on Saint Thomas, “Contemplation, which exists in the state of darkness [in the dark night], proceeds from living faith as from its radical principle, and from the gift of understanding as from its proximate principle. The gift of knowledge also often concurs in it by revealing to us more in detail our poverty, culpability, and wretchedness” (The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. II, Chapter 36).
A QUOTE FROM SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS: At the end of Dark Night of the Soul, Saint John of the Cross leaves us with these final thoughts: “By means of the acts of substantial touches of divine union, the soul obtains habitually and perfectly (insofar as the condition of this life allows) the rest and quietude of her spiritual house. In concealment and hiding from the disturbance of both the devil and the senses and passions, she receives these touches from the divinity. By their means the soul is purified, quieted, strengthened, and made stable so she may receive permanently this divine union, which is the divine espousal between the soul and the Son of God….One cannot reach this union without remarkable purity, and this purity is unattainable without vigorous mortification and nakedness regarding all creatures….Persons who refuse to go out at night in search for the Beloved and to divest and mortify their will, but rather seek the Beloved in their own bed and comfort, as did the bride [Sg. 3:1], will not succeed in finding him. As this soul declares, she found him when she departed in darkness and with longings of love” (Chapter 24).
10. Saint John of the Cross describes the active night of the senses and spirit in Ascent of Mt. Carmel. He describes the passive night of the senses and spirit in Dark Night of the Soul. Practical point: Not everyone enters into the dark night voluntarily. Sometimes God brings us into the darkness against our wills in order to purify us. God wants us to learn to walk by faith, hope and love. Thus, as Ralph Martin says, we need to keep in mind that “the purification is our friend.” Dr. Martin further points out that if we persevere during this painful purification, God will take us where we need to go. “Be faithful and it will happen.”
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Image: Saint John of the Cross by Anonymous artist 17th Century (at Wikipedia). Public Domain, U.S.A.
Personal note: There is a lot more to the spiritual theology of Saint John of the Cross than the bare-bones outline presented here (entire topics, like the difficulties presented to the soul by purported supernatural phenomena, and many other topics, are not even touched upon). This post provides, at best, a bird’s eye view of his spirituality (and, as a summary, no doubt has defects and deficiencies). Saint John of the Cross is not easy to read. For a more detailed explanation of his spirituality, see Dr. Susan Muto’s two books, John of the Cross for Today: The Ascent and John of the Cross for Today: The Dark Night.
Note on Active Purification: With respect both to the active purification of the senses and spirit, see Father Garrigou-LaGrange’s essays in Volume I of The Three Ages of the Interior Life (where he relies on a number of great spiritual writers). These essays are entitled as follows: “The Active Purification of the Senses or of the Sensible Appetites; The Active Purification of the Imagination and Memory; The Active Purification of the Intellect; The Active Purification of the Will.” All the faculties of a human being, then, are actively placed under observation for active purification (a prelude to the passive purifications carried out by God as sheer grace, which cannot be merited but only prepared for).
The Degrees of Contemplative Prayer: Saint John of the Cross does not map out the degrees of contemplative prayer as precisely as Saint Teresa of Avila (also a Carmelite). Therefore, please refer to my note on St. Teresa of Avila (St. John of the Cross’ contemporary), at the link below:
THE SOUL’S JOURNEY TO GOD: A CONCISE SUMMARY OF SAINT …
Sources: Ascent of Mount Carmel, translated by E. Allison Peers (Triumph Books); Dark Night of the Soul, translated by E. Allison Peers (Doubleday);The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (ICS Publications); an essay on John of the Cross by Mary E. Giles in Great Thinkers of the Western World (HarperCollins); an internet essay, “The Way to Ultimate Meaning in the Mystical Theology of Saint John of the Cross,” by Larry Cooley; Christian Perfection and Contemplation by Father Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange (TAN Books); and Ralph Martin’s audio presentation on Saint John of the Cross available at renewalministries.net
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THE DECISION TO PRACTICE NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING BRINGS SPECIAL GRACES
“If therefore there are well-grounded reasons for spacing births, arising from the physical or psychological condition of husband or wife, or from external circumstances, the Church teaches that married people may then take advantage of the natural cycles immanent in the reproductive system and engage in marital intercourse only during those times that are infertile, thus controlling birth in a way which does not in the least offend the moral principles which We have just explained. (20)“ (Encyclical Humanae Vitae)
The decisions we make in life have consequences (sometimes very profound consequences); and this is true of the decision we make in marriage whether to follow Church teaching in the area of family planning. I do not hesitate to say that many Catholic couples have not fully appreciated the profound ramifications of this decision.
A common theme in great spiritual books is that obedience (that is, the virtue of obedience) is very dear to God, and for that reason blessings flow from God when we practice humble, trusting obedience. When we apply this principle to Church teaching on contraception and family planning, we can confidently conclude that the practice of Natural Family Planning draws down blessings from God upon the married couple. It is hard to overemphasize the tremendous value great spiritual writers place on the virtue and practice of obedience. With this in mind we should take into consideration that the teaching in Humanae Vitae is the very touchstone of Catholic sexual morality – yet many in the Church chose not to follow it.
Catholic psychologist Gregory Popcak states:
“I’ll say it again. NFP is a wonderful gift, and if you don’t practice it you are missing out, big time. In fact, you cannot experience the fullness of your sexuality without it.” (p.32)
Popcak adds that the “Janus Report on Sexual Behavior (1993) demonstrates that couples who live out their faith have more satisfying sex lives because they ‘pay more attention to the mystic and symbolic dimensions of…sexuality’ ” (p. 204). If this is true, how much more does NFP conform to the important symbolic dimension of sexuality – as a reflection of God’s own creative power – by not rendering the act of intercourse infertile by an external and artificial act, but by by taking recourse to the natural periods of infertility in a woman’s cycle as ordained by God’s Wisdom?
The decision to practice NFP involves the eminent use of the virtue of chastity. And as C.S. Lewis observed in his classic, Mere Christianity, “those who are seriously attempting chastity are more conscious, and soon know a great deal more about their own sexuality than anyone else.” The attempt to bypass chastity by using artificial contraception is dangerous: it tends more and more to a view of sexual pleasure as an end in itself, the beloved partner potentially becoming more and more an object of gratification. Stacey Holgate comments:
“Chastity is a virtue closely linked with the cardinal virtue of temperance. Possession of this virtue enables and necessitates the integration of man’s sexuality with his entire being: intellectual and spiritual. Chaste behavior leads to the self-possession necessary for self-donation, not only physically within marriage but also spiritually to God. Chastity is not achieved quickly nor is it attained easily. The ongoing pursuit of the virtue through grace and effort is in portion what makes its fruits so sweet” ( reference below).
References: For Better …Forever! A Catholic Guide to Lifelong Marriage by Gregory Popcak. The quote by Stacey Holgate is from her article “Marital Chastity and Natural Family Planning” which can be accessed via Google.
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IS HEBREWS 7:25 THE MOST POWERFUL VERSE IN THE BIBLE?
“Consequently, [Jesus our High Priest in Heaven] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25)
In addition to John 3:16, Hebrews 7:25 is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible. If John 3:16 pertains, in particular, to Jesus’ Incarnation and Passion, Hebrews 7:25 pertains to Jesus’ ongoing priestly ministry in Heaven. Hebrews 7:25 shows that Jesus “exercises an ongoing priestly ministry in Heaven, where he intercedes for the saints at the Father’s right hand” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). And the Catechism of the Catholic Church states (at 519):
All Christ’s riches “are for every individual and are everybody’s property.” Christ did not live his life for himself but for us, from his Incarnation “for us men and for our salvation” to his death “for our sins” and Resurrection “for our justification”. He is still “our advocate with the Father”, who “always lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). He remains ever “in the presence of God on our behalf, bringing before him all that he lived and suffered for us” (Hebrews 9:25).
Hebrews 7:25 tells us very clearly that Jesus, in Heaven, is mightily at work for our good – that, in fact, “he always lives to make intercession for us.” Now if the realization that Jesus always lives to make intercession for you doesn’t fill your heart with great encouragement, I’m not sure what will! Moreover, the verse also states that Jesus is “able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him.” Not only does Jesus have the power to save you, but he has the power to save you to the uttermost if you draw near to him. Dearest God, these are powerful words from your Holy Spirit!
Now when you visualize Jesus in your heart during prayer, you can see him there in Heaven living his priestly life to constantly intercede for you. This realization will fill your heart with strength, gratitude and fortitude, increasing your confidence in the prayers you make, and increasing also your love for Jesus. And nothing is more important than drawing close to Jesus in love so that he may save you to the uttermost.
I encourage you to meditate on Hebrews 7:25. Dear friend, Jesus always lives to make intercession for you!
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Note: For a discussion on how Hebrews 7:25 pertains to Mass, see my previous post, The Mass is the Ever-Living Prayer of Jesus Ascended into Heaven, via this link:
The Mass and the Order of Melchizedek | Catholic Strength
Reference: See Catechism of An Interior Life by the great Father Olier, pertaining to the application of Hebrews 7:25 to interior prayer (Part II), a very valuable reflection.
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SCRIPTURE SAYS “KEEP THE FEAST”; DON’T SKIP SUNDAY MASS
(Mass at the Grotto in Lourdes)
“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast….” (1 Cor. 5:7-8)
In his encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Saint John Paul II penned the following words of incredible importance:
The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”. “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love (Section 1).
Given the magnitude of the Pope’s words, as cited above, we can see why Catholics are under a grave obligation to attend Sunday Mass and other holy days of obligation (although, ideally, it might be hoped that we had a burning desire to receive the Holy Eucharist!). The Catechism of the Catholic Church, at 2181, states:
“The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin” (emphasis added).
We simply cannot be lukewarm about the Eucharist because the Eucharist is the great sacramental sign of our covenantal relationship with Jesus. The phrase “new covenant” is mentioned by Jesus only in the context of the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday, where Jesus said: “This chalice which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). Now, as Dr. Scott Hahn points out, with a Biblical covenant come blessings or curses: – blessings if we are faithful to the covenant, and curses if we are not. In Hebrews we see that it is a fearful thing to neglect attending the Eucharistic assembly.
In Hebrews at 10:19 it states that “by the blood of Jesus” we “have confidence to enter the sanctuary.” We have this great blessing then, merited by our Covenant Mediator, Jesus Christ (which those in the Old Covenant did not have), to participate in the Eucharistic liturgy whereby through the sacrificial offering of Jesus’ body and blood we can truly access the “marriage supper of the Lamb” in Heaven (see Rev. 19:9 and commentary to Hebrews 10 in Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). Thus, given the magnitude of this blessing, the author of Hebrews admonishes his readers “not [to neglect] to meet together” for the Sunday assembly (Hebrews 10:25). He adds: “For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment….” (Hebrews 10:26). Dr Hahn comments on these verses:
“People who don’t meet together on the Lord’s day are repudiating the only sacrifice that will work for their sins. The sinning deliberately refers to deliberately sinning by not going to Mass. We don’t know anybody who has committed that sin, do we? All American Catholics go to Mass every week. It hasn’t become the habit of some Catholics not to go to the Eucharist, has it? God help us if we don’t attend weekly liturgy as has become the habit of some. We’re sinning against the most beautiful laws that God has delivered to humanity, that there is a once and for all powerful sacrifice, God be praised! And we renew that sacrifice every time we draw near to the Eucharistic banquet.” (See link below and CCC 2178)
I close, then, with these words of our beloved Saint Pope John Paul II:
The saving efficacy of the sacrifice is fully realized when the Lord’s body and blood are received in communion. The Eucharistic Sacrifice is intrinsically directed to the inward union of the faithful with Christ through communion; we receive the very One who offered himself for us, we receive his body which he gave up for us on the Cross and his blood which he “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). We are reminded of his words: “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57). Jesus himself reassures us that this union, which he compares to that of the life of the Trinity, is truly realized. The Eucharist is a true banquet, in which Christ offers himself as our nourishment. When for the first time Jesus spoke of this food, his listeners were astonished and bewildered, which forced the Master to emphasize the objective truth of his words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life within you” (Jn 6:53). This is no metaphorical food: “My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (Jn 6:55) (Encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 16).
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Image: A photograph of a Mass at Lourdes taken by Lima at English Wikipedia on July 28, 2006. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version.
References: I am relying heavily and primarily on Scott Hahn materials for this note including his book, The Lamb’s Supper (Doubleday). The quote from Dr. Hahn is from Eucharist, Holy Meal. See also Ignatius Catholic Study Bible on Hebrews, Chapter 10, commentary notes. It was Father Faber who cautioned that Catholics cannot be tepid about the Holy Eucharist.
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THERE IS GREAT SPIRITUAL PROFIT FROM MEANINGFUL THANKSGIVING AFTER HOLY COMMUNION
“The minutes that follow Communion are the most precious we have in our lives.” (Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi)
“There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul than that which is made during the thanksgiving after Communion.” (Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri)
In his Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist, SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS, Pope Benedict XVI mentions the crucial importance of making an adequate thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion. He states:
“Furthermore, the precious time of thanksgiving after communion should not be neglected: besides the singing of an appropriate hymn, it can also be most helpful to remain recollected in silence” (#50).
Further on in Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI urges Catholics to “rediscover the Eucharistic form which their lives are meant to have, thus “making our lives a constant self-offering to God….” (#72). The practice of making a proper and meaningful thanksgiving after receiving the Holy Eucharist is one way to rediscover our Eucharistic form. Spending a few minutes after Mass in thanksgiving (in addition to our thanksgiving directly after receiving Holy Communion) is one way to accomplish this goal.
How important is our thanksgiving after Holy Communion to our growth in holiness? In his masterful treatise on the spiritual life, the great Father Garrigou-LaGrange (professor of Saint Pope John Paul II) devotes nearly six full pages to discuss the critical importance of making an adequate and meaningful thanksgiving after Holy Communion (see Chapter 32 of The Three Ages of the Interior Life, Vol. I). And Father Muller devotes an entire chapter to the subject in his book on the Eucharist (The Blessed Eucharist, Chapter Seven). Listen to Father Garrigou-LaGrange’s advice:
“A number of interior souls have told us of the sorrow they feel when they see, in certain places, almost the entire body of the faithful leave the church immediately after the end of the Mass during which they have received Holy Communion. Moreover, this custom is becoming general, even in many Catholic boarding schools and colleges where formerly the students who had received Communion remained in the chapel for about ten minutes after Mass, thus acquiring the habit of making a thanksgiving, a habit which the best among them kept all their lives.”
A few lines later Father Garrigou-LaGrange then says:
“In Communion we receive a gift far superior to the miraculous cure of a physical disease; we receive the Author of salvation and an increase of the life of grace, which is the seed of glory, or eternal life begun. We receive an increase of charity, the highest of the virtues, which vivifies, animates all the others, and is the very principle of merit.
Christ often gave thanks to His Father for all His benefits, in particular for that of the redemptive Incarnation; with all His soul He thanked His Father for having revealed its mystery to little ones. On the cross He thanked Him while uttering His Consummatum est. In the Sacrifice of the Mass, of which He is the principal Priest, He does not cease to thank Him. Thanksgiving is one of the four ends of the sacrifice, always united to adoration, petition, and reparation. Even after the end of the world, when the last Mass has been said and when there will no longer be any sacrifice, properly so called, but only its consummation, when supplication and reparation have ceased, the worship of adoration and thanksgiving will endure forever, expressed in the Sanctus, which will be the song of the elect for all eternity.
With these thoughts in mind, we can easily understand why for some time many interior souls have been having Masses offered in thanksgiving, particularly on the second Friday of the month, in order to make up for the ingratitude of men and of many Christians, who scarcely know any more how to give thanks, even after receiving the greatest benefits.”
These words of Father Garrigou-LaGrange may seem a bit harsh, but I am hoping that, as they have for me, they will encourage you to spend a few minutes after Mass with our Lord thanking Him for having blessed you with the greatest of all possible gifts. Naturally, if you have small children, the duty of the present moment (as Mass ends) is to tend to their needs. However, I have seen families kneel together after Mass for a few minutes of thanksgiving. Moreover, you can attempt to stay recollected in a mode of thanksgiving even while leaving Mass and attending to external circumstances. Christian culture is rapidly disintegrating; it will be a special challenge for our children and grandchildren to maintain their Catholic faith without a deep appreciation for the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is our foretaste of Eternal Life.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Ref. The two quotes at the top of this note are from the Wikipedia article on “Thanksgiving after Communion,” which is quite beneficial. The great Father Lallemant adds in his The Spiritual Doctrine a crucial consideration, saying: do not “shorten the time allotted to the thanksgiving, which, well made, may repair much that is defective in our penances” (p.88).
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THE THREE FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
(“Manresa, Chapel in the Cave of St. Ignatius where Ignatius practiced asceticism and conceived his Spiritual Exercises in 1522″)
“There is nothing of which apostolic men have more need than interior recollection” (Saint Ignatius of Loyola)
The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, “composed between 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, prayers and mental exercises, written by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). Divided into four thematic “weeks” of variable length, they are designed to be carried out over a period of 28 to 30 days. They were composed with the intention of helping participants in religious retreats to discern the will of God in their lives, leading to a personal commitment to follow Jesus whatever the cost” (from Wikipedia).
Father Hardon mentions that the “spiritual efficacy” of the Spiritual Exercises is “sometimes nearly miraculous” and that the “marvelous results they produce” has touched the lives of thousands of people. Saint Ignatius described his Spiritual Exercises as a “method of examination of conscience, of meditation, of vocal and mental prayer prayer, and of other spiritual activities.” He says “they are a way of preparing and disposing a soul to rid itself of all inordinate attachments and, after their removal, of seeking and finding the will of God in the dispositions of our life for the salvation of our soul.” Clearly, there is great value in making an “Ignatian retreat” utilizing the Saint’s Spiritual Exercises.
St. Ignatius realized that our attachment to created things often is like a great weight around our necks which impedes our love of God and our progress in the spiritual life. Here in these three foundational principles of the Exercises he instructs us in the correct use of things so that they are used for the glory of God and to advance our salvation. The young rich man in the Gospel must have had a lot of possessions, for when the Lord Jesus bid to him, “Come follow me,” he looked back at all of his possessions and this mountain of things captivated his heart and he walked away – at least at that moment – from the Lord of Life who was offering him infinite happiness.
The foundational principles of the Spiritual Exercises, comments Father Hardon, “is a compendium of Christian spirituality. It is the principle of faith from which everything in Christianity finally derives. It is the foundation of morality on which everything in our lives finally depends.” Here, then, in question form, are the three foundational principles of the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises:
1. Why were we created?
“The human person is created to praise, reverence and serve God, and by so doing to save his or her soul.” (#23 of The Spiritual Exercises)
Comment: One of the main values of the Exercises is to get us to seriously contemplate what is of truly lasting value, and what is fleeting, transient and passing – and to order our lives accordingly. In this context, “he who has God (truly) has everything” (St. Teresa of Avila). Ultimately, our preference for God over things leads us to more strongly value things in relationship to God’s glory and the salvation of souls.
2. Why were other things created?
“The other things on the face of the earth are created for human beings in order to help them pursue the end for which they are created. It follows from this that one must use other created things in so far as they help towards one’s end, and free oneself from them in so far as they are obstacles to one’s end.” ( #23 of The Spiritual Exercises)
Comment: This is one of the most important principles for our spiritual lives. To protect ourselves from the malignant threat of worldliness, we use created things to serve God and to reach Heaven – if not, they have little value and will have the tendency to draw our thoughts away from God. As an example, are we using our media devices to promote God’s glory? Do the shows or movies we watch tend to this end? God made things and other creatures to lead us to Heaven. Of course, appropriate and reasonable recreation is not opposed to this end.
3. How do we train our wills to use things and circumstances for God’s glory?
“We need to make ourselves indifferent to all created things…but we should desire and choose only what helps us more toward the end for which we are created.” (#23 of The Spiritual Exercises)
Comment: This is the famous Ignatian principle of indifference (of being dispassionate about what happens to us as long as it is for the glory of God). It is a foundational principle of The Spiritual Exercises. Since the battle for our souls is won in the mind, Ignatius is training us to think with apostolic wisdom and fortitude, namely, to train our pattern of thinking to be “indifferent to all created things.” This principle is not always easy to grasp, but I will try to explain it in the following manner (relying heavily on Father Hardon’s book, Retreat With the Lord, and an essay by Karl Rahner, S.J.):
1. Because of our fallen nature we have very strong attachments to persons and things that are not necessarily conducive to our salvation.
2. The main purpose of our life is to know, love and serve God and thus to attain eternal life: next to this goal everything else amounts to practically nothing (unless it is used in service of this goal).
3. People on earth tend to act in this manner: they are indifferent to God and very attentive to creatures and things. Ignatius advises that this situation should be exactly the opposite: we should be very attentive to God and indifferent to all created things except to the extent that these created things help us to serve and give glory to God. Thus, detachment from and mortification of our inordinate desire for earthly things is necessary. Therefore, we should make use of created things only insofar as they help us to attain our eternal destiny.
4. Thus, the main purpose of created things is to help us reach heaven. To the extent created things hinder me from reaching my eternal destiny, they are to be discarded. Everything in our lives is to be brought under the Lordship of Christ.
5. And yet this principle of indifference goes deeper. If we are to develop apostolic strength of mind, and thus avoid or minimize disabling anxiety, we need to become indifferent to what happens to us – provided we are trying to accomplish the will of God and lead a holy life. Thus, as an extreme example, if you were kidnapped tomorrow and forced to live in a small dungeon away from your loved ones, you would accept this unfortunate turn of events as God’s will and do your best under the circumstances. This state of mind trains us to understand that nothing happens to us except by God’s permission. He knows every hair on our heads. If misfortune comes, despite our good efforts, we are to accept it as God’s will and to make the best of the circumstances. This apostolic strength of mind makes us less hostile to the crosses that God will call us to carry – as we will see them as part of His amazing plan for our salvation. Developing this state of mind leads to peace of soul under trying circumstances. Ignatius is basically teaching us to trust God no matter what happens because we are always under the Father’s providential care. Boldly ask the Holy Spirit for apostolic strength of mind. This is the type of strength St. Maximilian Kolbe demonstrated when he ministered the gospel at the Auschwitz extermination camp – he having achieved such a high degree of apostolic strength of mind that he even volunteered to take the place of a man who had been sentenced to death by starvation. Kolbe was placed in a small cell to endure the slow and painful death of starvation. We do not become dispassionate stoics, but rather we seek God’s will whether in pain or pleasure, health or sickness, success or failure, etc., knowing that whatever God allows to happen to us is ultimately, in His mysterious providence, for our ultimate welfare.
6. This indifference does not make us “aloof to the world,” but reaffirms the fact that all of history is rooted in the “eschatological goal of salvation.”
I hope this may be of some help to you, since this principle of indifference is a foundational principle of Ignatian spirituality. It helps us to order our lives for the glory of God and is of immense value when strong winds or even hurricanes come into our lives.
Tom Mulcahy, M.A.
Image: Photo above of the Chapel in the Cave of St. Ignatius by PMRMaeyaert under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Spain license. This photo is indexed in the Spanish heritage register. Photo at Wikipedia.
References: I am relying on Father Hardon’s book, Retreat With The Lord (Servant Publications) which is a self-guided way to make an Ignatian retreat, especially if you simply don’t have the time to make a formal one (although Fr. Hardon recommends you have a qualified spiritual director, if only by way of phone). Another similar book is A Do-It-At-Home-Retreat by Father Andre Ravier, S.J. (Ignatius Press). I found both book very valuable but you would certainly want a spiritual director if you are trying to discern a major change or decision in your life. I think it is clear that where Ignatius uses the word indifference other spiritual writers use the word detachment. The quotes in the second paragraph are taken from Father Hardon’s retreat book.
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