For some, love has become the “Open, Sesame,” the cure for all problems. They misapply St. Augustine’s magnificent expression, “Love, and do what you will,” as if warmth of emotion liberates a person from all commandments and restraints. For St. Augustine, however, the greater the love the greater the adherence to commandments, for they are the expression of God’s love. Without the rectitude ensured by the commandments, love will not be true, will not survive.
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Source: Servais Pinckaers, O.P., The Sources of Christian Ethics, trans. by Mary Thomas Noble (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1995), 29.
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label charity. Show all posts
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Modest Dress and "Evil" Beauty
Some liberally minded people object to modest dress because they say modest dress enforces a notion that women's bodies are evil, that the beauty of a woman cannot be anything but temptation, and therefore modesty is degrading to the dignity of women.
And it may be admitted that modest dress may enforce such a notion among some people. But is this possibility a sufficient reason to reject modest dress? No, because the connection is not a necessary one. There is no logical connection between modest dress and the idea that women's bodies are evil. In fact, quite the contrary.
As semiotic beings, we organize and interpret sensation into coherent experience through signs and sign processes proper to our biology. Due to this primacy of sign usage, every subjectivity with which we come into contact is experienced as an object. An object is already an interpretation of a subject. As semiotic beings, we may then differentiate the objective and subjective dimensions of any being presented in experience, understanding that what I experience has its own subjective constitution. In this case, a woman with her dignity.
But a man, as with any animal, experiences the woman firstly as an object to be sorted into three possible categories of fundamental interpretation: 1) an object to be desired; 2) to be avoided; or 3) ignored. Such a categorization isn't evil; this is fundamental to animal experience. To reduce the totality of a woman's subjectivity to my preliminary, animal objectification of her would be evil, but the act by which we categorize any object of experience into 1, 2, or 3 is natural and necessary.
Men who struggle with lust obviously categorize women into the first: an object to be desired. Why? They interpret this object of their experience as possessing desirable features and characteristics, and the object then presents itself with future possibilities of fulfillment in multiple ways: animal, physical, emotional, familial, spiritual, etc. But desirable objects must possess positive goods that are recognized as such in order to be categorized as desirable. Hence, a man who struggles with lust is precisely someone who is stuck on one feature of a woman's positive goodness in relation to himself, namely, his own pleasure-seeking. As we noted above, the reduction of a woman's subjectivity to this simple objectification is precisely the objection to modest dress, but notice that our analysis up until now has had nothing to do with modest dress. The objectification occurs all within a man's psyche.
Where does modest dress enter in? It enters precisely in two ways: 1) women seek to help men overcome this objectification; 2) men seek to admit their weakness.
1) modest dress ought to be a means by which a woman says, "I recognize that you have trouble controlling your desires, that you struggle with objectification. I want to help in the way that I can." We are not responsible for each other's actions; hence a woman cannot be required to help a man work through his own psychological mechanisms. But she can help remotely by not encouraging the man's habits by presenting herself in an overtly sexual manner. In so doing, modest dress represents that a woman recognizes the power of her physical beauty to attract the gaze and attention of another, and, wishing to help the other remain both attracted but not enslaved to solely that dimension of her subjectivity, she wears modest dress as a reminder that she is more than her physical beauty. Her mystique is more than the physical although the physical is certainly part of it.
2) men must be willing to admit their weakness. There is a trend in our culture to object to modest dress on the basis that men should be able to control themselves, and having women wear modest dress implies that men can't control themselves. And yes, that is precisely the problem. Women are not responsible for men's lack of self-control; that is not what is claimed by proposing modest dress as a help. We must stop fooling ourselves into believing that we have self-control; look around and be honest. Most do not exercise self-control. This is a problem, and it leads to problems. But modest dress may help take first steps by not encouraging the man to be stuck at the physical level from the very first moment. If a man doesn't notice and become fixated on the physical beauty of a woman from the first instant, an environment is encouraged in which the man may expand his conception of women beyond the pleasure he derives from physicality.
Modest dress ultimately is objected to because it hampers pure individuality, which is the core of the indifference we exhibit towards each other in the spheres of our lives. Because of this indifference, cooperation is characterized cynically as mutually accepted manipulation. Real cooperation, however, means that we cannot exist as self-sufficient beings, but we must exist always in relation to each other, helping and complementing each other, seeking support from each other. We can do this without having to be responsible for the personal choices we each make as individuals; on the other hand, we don't have to go to the other extreme and leave each other alone in our struggles to achieve moral freedom.
And it may be admitted that modest dress may enforce such a notion among some people. But is this possibility a sufficient reason to reject modest dress? No, because the connection is not a necessary one. There is no logical connection between modest dress and the idea that women's bodies are evil. In fact, quite the contrary.
As semiotic beings, we organize and interpret sensation into coherent experience through signs and sign processes proper to our biology. Due to this primacy of sign usage, every subjectivity with which we come into contact is experienced as an object. An object is already an interpretation of a subject. As semiotic beings, we may then differentiate the objective and subjective dimensions of any being presented in experience, understanding that what I experience has its own subjective constitution. In this case, a woman with her dignity.
But a man, as with any animal, experiences the woman firstly as an object to be sorted into three possible categories of fundamental interpretation: 1) an object to be desired; 2) to be avoided; or 3) ignored. Such a categorization isn't evil; this is fundamental to animal experience. To reduce the totality of a woman's subjectivity to my preliminary, animal objectification of her would be evil, but the act by which we categorize any object of experience into 1, 2, or 3 is natural and necessary.
Men who struggle with lust obviously categorize women into the first: an object to be desired. Why? They interpret this object of their experience as possessing desirable features and characteristics, and the object then presents itself with future possibilities of fulfillment in multiple ways: animal, physical, emotional, familial, spiritual, etc. But desirable objects must possess positive goods that are recognized as such in order to be categorized as desirable. Hence, a man who struggles with lust is precisely someone who is stuck on one feature of a woman's positive goodness in relation to himself, namely, his own pleasure-seeking. As we noted above, the reduction of a woman's subjectivity to this simple objectification is precisely the objection to modest dress, but notice that our analysis up until now has had nothing to do with modest dress. The objectification occurs all within a man's psyche.
Where does modest dress enter in? It enters precisely in two ways: 1) women seek to help men overcome this objectification; 2) men seek to admit their weakness.
1) modest dress ought to be a means by which a woman says, "I recognize that you have trouble controlling your desires, that you struggle with objectification. I want to help in the way that I can." We are not responsible for each other's actions; hence a woman cannot be required to help a man work through his own psychological mechanisms. But she can help remotely by not encouraging the man's habits by presenting herself in an overtly sexual manner. In so doing, modest dress represents that a woman recognizes the power of her physical beauty to attract the gaze and attention of another, and, wishing to help the other remain both attracted but not enslaved to solely that dimension of her subjectivity, she wears modest dress as a reminder that she is more than her physical beauty. Her mystique is more than the physical although the physical is certainly part of it.
2) men must be willing to admit their weakness. There is a trend in our culture to object to modest dress on the basis that men should be able to control themselves, and having women wear modest dress implies that men can't control themselves. And yes, that is precisely the problem. Women are not responsible for men's lack of self-control; that is not what is claimed by proposing modest dress as a help. We must stop fooling ourselves into believing that we have self-control; look around and be honest. Most do not exercise self-control. This is a problem, and it leads to problems. But modest dress may help take first steps by not encouraging the man to be stuck at the physical level from the very first moment. If a man doesn't notice and become fixated on the physical beauty of a woman from the first instant, an environment is encouraged in which the man may expand his conception of women beyond the pleasure he derives from physicality.
Modest dress ultimately is objected to because it hampers pure individuality, which is the core of the indifference we exhibit towards each other in the spheres of our lives. Because of this indifference, cooperation is characterized cynically as mutually accepted manipulation. Real cooperation, however, means that we cannot exist as self-sufficient beings, but we must exist always in relation to each other, helping and complementing each other, seeking support from each other. We can do this without having to be responsible for the personal choices we each make as individuals; on the other hand, we don't have to go to the other extreme and leave each other alone in our struggles to achieve moral freedom.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Memo: A Philosophy or Theology of "Like"
A memo to think about how people often say we don't need to like people but only to love them. What is meant here by "like"? Is it an affective attraction to a person? Is it how that person makes me feel? These two things (an attraction and how a person makes me feel) are different, yet both are usually associated with "liking" a person.
Does loving a person lead to some sort of attraction to them?
Also, what are the social consequences of "liking" or "upvoting" or "downvoting" as is becoming common on social media websites for a notion of "like"? Does "like" become synonymous with some form of intellectual (social, political, philosophical, theological, etc.) or affective support?
If I don't "like" a person, why does it seem very difficult also to love that person? Is there a strict separation between liking and loving even when loving is defined as willing another person's good? Did our Lord "dislike" anybody?
Does loving a person lead to some sort of attraction to them?
Also, what are the social consequences of "liking" or "upvoting" or "downvoting" as is becoming common on social media websites for a notion of "like"? Does "like" become synonymous with some form of intellectual (social, political, philosophical, theological, etc.) or affective support?
If I don't "like" a person, why does it seem very difficult also to love that person? Is there a strict separation between liking and loving even when loving is defined as willing another person's good? Did our Lord "dislike" anybody?
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The Never-Ending Argument and Service Work
The desire to end the discourse, to have the final say, is the same dynamic that feeds a never-ending argument. A never-ending argument is neither constructive nor dialogical; open, rational discussion, while creating space for voicing disagreement, clarification, and proof, is not argumentative even if it may continue on forever. An argument, on the other hand, misses the point of what was being discussed; it is an act of battering each other with crystalized concepts cut off from their proper referent in reality.
Both of these phenomena are rooted in a form of solipsism, an overemphasis on esse in, the substance itself as an atom, disconnected from those around us.
Personal transformation is a positive manifestation of esse in; it acknowledges and respects the individual and seeks to improve it by admitting its poverty. The admittance of poverty, or in other words, humility, is also the necessary foundation for mutual transformation, the transformation of individuals in a network, a corporate body, a society. The collective transformation of esse in through esse ad, being towards or for another, enriching the other with each of our respective riches.
What, then, becomes of the status of service work when an individual who serves others at the same time treats other individuals with contempt, impatience, condescension, etc.? It's a contradiction. How might it be explained? The service, the movement to enrich another, whether it be an individual or collective, somehow loses its proper referent. Service properly speaking must always acknowledge and respect the other, in spite of disagreements and annoyances. But if service loses its proper referent, the impetus of service, which is esse ad, returns to esse in, or solipsism. Service then becomes an unconscious form of self serving.
In order to avoid the selfishness that creeps into service, it is therefore necessary to always return the referent of service to its proper object, the other in poverty, in need of enriching, and this referent must extend to all without discrimination with respect to the sharing of qualities of mutual support: patience, generosity, gentleness, kindness, consideration, affirmation. Of course, the extent of this support depends on context and circumstances, but the willingness to share and its equal distribution irrespective of persons is the condition by which esse ad refuses to remain esse in. It is the condition required to avoid the never-ending argument. It is the condition required to be willing to have an ongoing discussion, to resist the desire to have the last word.
Both of these phenomena are rooted in a form of solipsism, an overemphasis on esse in, the substance itself as an atom, disconnected from those around us.
Personal transformation is a positive manifestation of esse in; it acknowledges and respects the individual and seeks to improve it by admitting its poverty. The admittance of poverty, or in other words, humility, is also the necessary foundation for mutual transformation, the transformation of individuals in a network, a corporate body, a society. The collective transformation of esse in through esse ad, being towards or for another, enriching the other with each of our respective riches.
What, then, becomes of the status of service work when an individual who serves others at the same time treats other individuals with contempt, impatience, condescension, etc.? It's a contradiction. How might it be explained? The service, the movement to enrich another, whether it be an individual or collective, somehow loses its proper referent. Service properly speaking must always acknowledge and respect the other, in spite of disagreements and annoyances. But if service loses its proper referent, the impetus of service, which is esse ad, returns to esse in, or solipsism. Service then becomes an unconscious form of self serving.
In order to avoid the selfishness that creeps into service, it is therefore necessary to always return the referent of service to its proper object, the other in poverty, in need of enriching, and this referent must extend to all without discrimination with respect to the sharing of qualities of mutual support: patience, generosity, gentleness, kindness, consideration, affirmation. Of course, the extent of this support depends on context and circumstances, but the willingness to share and its equal distribution irrespective of persons is the condition by which esse ad refuses to remain esse in. It is the condition required to avoid the never-ending argument. It is the condition required to be willing to have an ongoing discussion, to resist the desire to have the last word.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Individualism, Social Justice, and Boundaries
Is there an intrinsic tension between upholding concern for others through social justice causes and the insistent maintenance of an individualistic mindset, especially one manifested through the assertion of personal identity that is apathetic to the reaction of the other?
Can one insist that people should care about a certain cause while simultaneously insisting that one can do what one wants, when one wants, how one wants?
Or perhaps concern for others ultimately comes at a price to pure individuality, to the notion that we are atoms randomly bouncing into each other. Perhaps concern for others ultimately means that boundaries, while necessary, are not "dogmas" and that a boundary must serve a person and not vice versa.
Can one insist that people should care about a certain cause while simultaneously insisting that one can do what one wants, when one wants, how one wants?
Or perhaps concern for others ultimately comes at a price to pure individuality, to the notion that we are atoms randomly bouncing into each other. Perhaps concern for others ultimately means that boundaries, while necessary, are not "dogmas" and that a boundary must serve a person and not vice versa.
Monday, February 3, 2014
St. John of the Cross on Apostolic Work, pt. 1
Fulfilling the one thing the Bridegroom said was necessary [Lk. 10:42], and that is: attentiveness to God and the continual exercise of love in him. This the Lord values and esteems so highly that he reproved Martha when she tried to call Mary away from her place at his feet in order to busy her with other active things in his service; and Martha thought that she herself was doing all the work and Mary, because she was enjoying the Lord's presence, was doing nothing [Lk. 10:39-41]. Yet, since there is no greater or more necessary work than love, the contrary is true. [...]
A little of this pure love is more precious to God and the soul and more beneficial to the Church, even though it seems one is doing nothing, than all these other [active, exterior] works put together. [...]
Great wrong would be done to a soul who possesses some degree of this solitary love, as well as to the Church, if we were to urge her to become occupied in exterior or active things, even if the works were very important and required only a short time. [...] After all, this love is the end for which we were created.
Let those, then, who are singularly active, who think they can win the world with their preaching and exterior works, observe here that they would profit the Church and please God much more, not to mention the good example they would give, were they to spend at least half of this time with God in prayer, even though they might not have reached a prayer as sublime as [contemplation]. They would then certainly accomplish more, and with less labor, by one work than they otherwise would by a thousand. For through their prayer they would merit this result, and themselves be spiritually strengthened. Without prayer they would do a great deal of hammering but accomplish little, and sometimes nothing, and even at times cause harm. God forbid that the salt should begin to lose its savor [Mt. 5:13]. However much they may appear to achieve externally, they will in substance be accomplishing nothing; it is beyond doubt that good works can be performed only by the power of God.
Oh, how much could be written here on this subject! [...]
[Worldly souls] think these [spiritual] persons are excessive in their conduct, estrangement, and withdrawal, and assert that they are useless in important matters and lost to what the world esteems. The soul skillfully answers this reprimand, boldly facing it and all the other possible reproofs of the world; for in having reached the intimate love of God, she considers everything else of little consequence.
But this is not all. She even proclaims how she has acted, and rejoices and glories in having lost the world and herself for her Beloved. [...] If [worldly souls] no longer see her engaged in her former worldly conversations and pastimes, they should believe and declare that she has lost these things and withdrawn; and she has counted this loss such a good that she herself, searching for her Beloved and intensely enamored of him, desired it. [...] She declares her loss a gain, and as a result she became lost purposely. [...]
The place where people often gather for diversion and recreation [...] is usually called "the common." Thus, by the common the soul refers to the world, where worldlings engage in their pastimes and conversations and feed the flock of their appetites. In this verse she tells those who are of the world that if they neither see nor find her as they did before her complete surrender to God, they should consider her by this fact lost [....]
Those who love are not abashed before the world because of the works they perform for God, nor even if everybody condemns these works do they hide them in shame. Those who are ashamed to confess the Son of God before others, by failing to perform their works, will discover that the Son of God, as is recorded in Luke, will be ashamed to confess them before the Father [Lk. 9:26]. The soul possessing the spirit of love glories rather in beholding that she has achieved this work in praise of her Beloved and lost all things of the world. [...]
Few spiritual persons reach such daring and determination in their works. Though some do act this way, and are considered far advanced, they never lose themselves entirely in some matters, whether worldly or natural, and never execute works for Christ with perfection and nakedness of spirit; they think about what others will say or how their work will appear. Since these persons are not lost to themselves in their work, they cannot declare: "You will say that I am lost." They are still ashamed to confess Christ before others by their works. Because of their human respect they do not live entirely in Christ. [...]
Aware of the Bridegroom's words in the Gospel, that no one can serve two masters but must necessarily fail one [Mt. 6:24], the soul claims here that in order not to fail God she failed all that is not God, that is, herself and all other creatures, losing all these for love of him.
Anyone truly in love will let all other things go in order to come closer to the loved one. [...] She achieved this in two ways: she became lost to herself by paying no attention to herself in anything, by concentrating on her Beloved and surrendering herself to him freely and disinterestedly, with no desire to gain anything for herself; second, she became lost to all creatures, praying no heed to all her own affairs but only to those of her Beloved. [...]
The one who walks in the love of God seeks neither gain nor reward, but seeks only to lose with the will all things and self for God; and this loss the lover judges to be a gain. [...] The soul that does not know how to lose herself does not find herself but rather loses herself, as Our Lord teaches in the Gospel: Those who desire to gain their soul shall lose it, and those who lose it for my sake shall gain it [Mt. 16:25]. [...]
Everything is a gain for the soul whose gain is God, because all the strength of her faculties is converted into a spiritual communion of exceedingly agreeable interior love with him. These interior exchanges between God and the soul bear such delicate and sublime delight that no mortal tongue can describe it or human intellect understand it.
---
Source: St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, in The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, trans. by K. Kavanaugh and O. Rodriguez (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1991), 587-591, 29.1-4, 5-8, 10-11; 30.1.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Shortest Way to Union with God
Some go slowly, others run, and others fly. Moreover, even among those who fly, there are differences; rapid is the dove in its flight, more rapid is the arrow, but the most rapid of all is the ray of light.
Do you wish to know which is the most excellent and the shortest way to union with God? Listen to the words of [St. Paul]: "Follow after charity" (1 Cor. 14:1). [...]
Charity is acquired by the practice of charity itself. Mark well that I am not referring here to exterior works of charity toward one's neighbor, which, according to the opinion of many, constitute charity. [...] Charity is something quite distinct from all exterior works. Charity is simply the love of God; or, in other words, inasmuch as God and love are one and the same thing, it is God Himself living within our souls. It is personal and infinite Love loving Himself within our hearts.
To exercise ourselves in charity, therefore, is to give way to God in our hearts. It is to detach ourselves from everything and to make ourselves an absolute vacuum in order that God may fill us with HImself. As the great mystic, Tauler, says, perfection does not consist in doing great things, but in letting God "be magnified, that is, made great within us" (Institutions, chap. 14). And in order to let God be magnified within us, all we have to do is give Him much space, to expand infinitely our capacity to receive Him. This we cannot do of ourselves, but neither will God do it unless we desire it ardently and ask for it day and night.
God is an infinite treasure and He wants souls rightly to esteem His value, to desire Him above all things and to plead for Him with great yearnings. God likes to make himself desired [....]
This most ardent desire for God is also what makes the soul fly and even shoot forth with the speed of a light-ray toward that supreme Center which so irresistibly attracts it to Himself. In its flight to God, the soul is divested of all that is earthly and mortal in its nature, and mundane things are definitely cast aside. In the holy exercise of charity one arrives more quickly at the summit of perfection and sanctity because in one simple act all the virtues are exercised and all vises attacked at their very root; for the root of all vices is pride or self-love and the root and soul of all the virtues is charity. [...] The soul must die in order to be united to God, and he who is dead is justified and purified of all sin; it is no longer possible for pride and self-love to reign in him.
This is the reason why St. Paul enumerates as manifestations of charity the practice of all the virtues (patience, benignity, humility, mortification, detachment, etc.) and the absence of all the vices (pride, envy, etc.) (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-7). Charity or the love of God, if it is real, must of necessity produce all these effects in the soul. If the effects are otherwise, then it is a pure illusion. Wherefore, if we dedicate ourselves preferably and above all things, with all the earnestness of our souls, to the acquisition of the love of God, we shall quickly and in a more simple and excellent way attain our perfection. [...]
The soul fixes its entire attention upon God and all its efforts are aimed at delighting and pleasing Him and doing His will in all things. In a word, it strives to love Him as He should be loved. As this is the soul's one and only objective, it forgets about self and is not concerned about anything except the sole object to which it aspires with all the energy of its being, which is the love of God or union with God. That is why however grievous and painful the trials God may send or however difficult the circumstances of its life, the soul's attitude in this regard is one of total indifference. It matters not whether it be in light or in darkness, in consolation or aridity; everything which may affect the soul personally is a matter of indifference to it. Its only occupation and concern is to love God, which it feels to be the only thing necessary. [...]
This is the path proper to great hearts and courageous souls who would be ashamed to bargain with God but rather abandon themselves to Him totally and without reserve. [...]
[The method of practicing the virtues and exercises of piety] is proper to beginners and also to the proficient. [...]
Souls will learn that an ardent, sincere, and profound desire to love God as He should be loved can admit of no deception, if, at the same time, it is accompanied by a desire, equally ardent and profound, to die to self and to all things. [...] In the desire not to be anything in anything whatever, to seek poverty and nudity of spirit, to desire to die in order that God may live within us, there can be no illusion. [...]
The best way of abbreviating all the spiritual paths consists in increasing charity by every means possible, especially by performing all our actions with the most pure intention of pleasing God, that is, by performing them with great zeal and with the sole desire of glorifying God and of praising His holy name.
This does not require much knowledge nor a great variety of interior acts. One act, repeated with all the fervor of our soul, would be sufficient. [...]
We should be indifferent to everything except God, who is our last end and our beatitude.
---
Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 30-39.
Do you wish to know which is the most excellent and the shortest way to union with God? Listen to the words of [St. Paul]: "Follow after charity" (1 Cor. 14:1). [...]
Charity is acquired by the practice of charity itself. Mark well that I am not referring here to exterior works of charity toward one's neighbor, which, according to the opinion of many, constitute charity. [...] Charity is something quite distinct from all exterior works. Charity is simply the love of God; or, in other words, inasmuch as God and love are one and the same thing, it is God Himself living within our souls. It is personal and infinite Love loving Himself within our hearts.
To exercise ourselves in charity, therefore, is to give way to God in our hearts. It is to detach ourselves from everything and to make ourselves an absolute vacuum in order that God may fill us with HImself. As the great mystic, Tauler, says, perfection does not consist in doing great things, but in letting God "be magnified, that is, made great within us" (Institutions, chap. 14). And in order to let God be magnified within us, all we have to do is give Him much space, to expand infinitely our capacity to receive Him. This we cannot do of ourselves, but neither will God do it unless we desire it ardently and ask for it day and night.
God is an infinite treasure and He wants souls rightly to esteem His value, to desire Him above all things and to plead for Him with great yearnings. God likes to make himself desired [....]
This most ardent desire for God is also what makes the soul fly and even shoot forth with the speed of a light-ray toward that supreme Center which so irresistibly attracts it to Himself. In its flight to God, the soul is divested of all that is earthly and mortal in its nature, and mundane things are definitely cast aside. In the holy exercise of charity one arrives more quickly at the summit of perfection and sanctity because in one simple act all the virtues are exercised and all vises attacked at their very root; for the root of all vices is pride or self-love and the root and soul of all the virtues is charity. [...] The soul must die in order to be united to God, and he who is dead is justified and purified of all sin; it is no longer possible for pride and self-love to reign in him.
This is the reason why St. Paul enumerates as manifestations of charity the practice of all the virtues (patience, benignity, humility, mortification, detachment, etc.) and the absence of all the vices (pride, envy, etc.) (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4-7). Charity or the love of God, if it is real, must of necessity produce all these effects in the soul. If the effects are otherwise, then it is a pure illusion. Wherefore, if we dedicate ourselves preferably and above all things, with all the earnestness of our souls, to the acquisition of the love of God, we shall quickly and in a more simple and excellent way attain our perfection. [...]
The soul fixes its entire attention upon God and all its efforts are aimed at delighting and pleasing Him and doing His will in all things. In a word, it strives to love Him as He should be loved. As this is the soul's one and only objective, it forgets about self and is not concerned about anything except the sole object to which it aspires with all the energy of its being, which is the love of God or union with God. That is why however grievous and painful the trials God may send or however difficult the circumstances of its life, the soul's attitude in this regard is one of total indifference. It matters not whether it be in light or in darkness, in consolation or aridity; everything which may affect the soul personally is a matter of indifference to it. Its only occupation and concern is to love God, which it feels to be the only thing necessary. [...]
This is the path proper to great hearts and courageous souls who would be ashamed to bargain with God but rather abandon themselves to Him totally and without reserve. [...]
[The method of practicing the virtues and exercises of piety] is proper to beginners and also to the proficient. [...]
Souls will learn that an ardent, sincere, and profound desire to love God as He should be loved can admit of no deception, if, at the same time, it is accompanied by a desire, equally ardent and profound, to die to self and to all things. [...] In the desire not to be anything in anything whatever, to seek poverty and nudity of spirit, to desire to die in order that God may live within us, there can be no illusion. [...]
The best way of abbreviating all the spiritual paths consists in increasing charity by every means possible, especially by performing all our actions with the most pure intention of pleasing God, that is, by performing them with great zeal and with the sole desire of glorifying God and of praising His holy name.
This does not require much knowledge nor a great variety of interior acts. One act, repeated with all the fervor of our soul, would be sufficient. [...]
We should be indifferent to everything except God, who is our last end and our beatitude.
---
Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 30-39.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
The Desire for Sanctity
He who is actuated by any other motive than that of pleasing God, regardless of what he may do or the extent to which he may go, will avail little or nothing. This is the "most excellent way" (1 Cor. 12:31) of which St. Paul speaks, and which consists simply in the practice of the love of God or charity.
However, in order to follow this course it is necessary to abandon oneself to God entirely and without reserve and to have a blind faith and confidence in the designs of His infinite love. [...] It will always be true that without trials and crosses it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God: that His grace, by whatever means it may come, will never fail us; and that our intentions, aspirations, desires, and efforts ought always to tend toward one and the same thing: union with and the possession of God. [...]
It is important not to intimidate [souls], not to confine them within narrow limits or suppress their most noble aspirations, but to animate and encourage them to rise ever higher toward God by making them aware of the infinite riches of His love and of His desire to find hearts disposed to receive them. The important thing, finally, is to teach them to overcome and detach themselves totally from self in order to receive these spiritual treasures. They must be made to understand that one does not reach this goal by way of high-flown notions or aspirations to extraordinary things, but through profound humility and the annihilation of every desire that does not proceed from a pure and holy love of God. In brief, they must be made to realize that they will love God in exact proportion as they die to self. What danger can there be in this? What danger can there be in inculcating in souls the desire to be nothing in order that God may become their all? [...]
If [souls] know that the normal or ordinary characteristics of progress toward the mystical life are not sweetness and ecstasies, but trials and crosses which are sometimes so severe that the master of mysticism, St. John of the Cross, compares them to hell itself (Dark Night, Bk. II, chap. 6), then they will not lose heart, but will be greatly encouraged to pass through the terrible desert which leads to the promised land. [...]
As long as they come to love God ardently and unite themselves closely to Him, what does anything else matter? Only one thing is necessary: to love God as He should be loved.
If souls are taught to ask, not for the extraordinary, but for the ordinary elements of the mystical life, that is, the substance and reality of these graces which give it its sanctifying efficacy; if they are taught to ask fervently and perseveringly for the perfect possession of the Holy Ghost and all His gifts and fruits, then we shall see His marvelous effects of perfection and sanctification. [...]
Ardent desires and aspirations for sanctity, then, should be fomented and encouraged. After all, how do we know that God does not call us to greater things simply because we have not experienced them? Did the saints, perchance, begin their spiritual life at the heights? What danger can there be in desiring to ascend with them to the summits they attained? These fervent desires are inspired by the Holy Ghost Himself [....]
There is no better prayer than that which rises from the depths of our humility and misery and from the desire to receive the Holy Ghost and be sanctified by Him, putting ourselves in His hands entirely and without reserve, so that He may do with us whatever He wishes and that we may be consumed by the fire of His love.
If we proceed in this way, there is no danger of being deceived. Deception consists in believing that we possess the divine gifts when we do not, or in thinking that we can acquire them by our own industry and effort; but to desire and ask for them with all our heart is not in itself a source of self-deception. On the contrary, it is the best means of freeing ourselves from all error and deception, for it is these gifts that "sanctify us in truth" (Jn. 17:17). This is precisely one of the signs of a right spirit: the ardent desire to know that one is not being deceived and to be sanctified in truth. Therefore, good souls are always fearful and uncertain, regardless of how great the graces and gifts they have received [....]
Let us not, then, suppress the ardent desires for sanctity in souls. [...] Let us foment them by every means possible, being careful only that they be real and sincere. [...] Let us be guided in prayer by faith and the impulses of our heart and let us constantly and ardently ask for a boundless love of God and the gifts of His Holy Spirit, for He himself has promised them to us and seeks only to find a heart upon which to lavish them. Nor let us forget the saying of the saints: The more God wants to give of Himself, the more does He cause HImself to be desired, and the more we desire Him the more does He give Himself to us, because the hope of heaven attains as much as it hopes for.
---
Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 9-10, 23, 27-30
However, in order to follow this course it is necessary to abandon oneself to God entirely and without reserve and to have a blind faith and confidence in the designs of His infinite love. [...] It will always be true that without trials and crosses it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God: that His grace, by whatever means it may come, will never fail us; and that our intentions, aspirations, desires, and efforts ought always to tend toward one and the same thing: union with and the possession of God. [...]
It is important not to intimidate [souls], not to confine them within narrow limits or suppress their most noble aspirations, but to animate and encourage them to rise ever higher toward God by making them aware of the infinite riches of His love and of His desire to find hearts disposed to receive them. The important thing, finally, is to teach them to overcome and detach themselves totally from self in order to receive these spiritual treasures. They must be made to understand that one does not reach this goal by way of high-flown notions or aspirations to extraordinary things, but through profound humility and the annihilation of every desire that does not proceed from a pure and holy love of God. In brief, they must be made to realize that they will love God in exact proportion as they die to self. What danger can there be in this? What danger can there be in inculcating in souls the desire to be nothing in order that God may become their all? [...]
If [souls] know that the normal or ordinary characteristics of progress toward the mystical life are not sweetness and ecstasies, but trials and crosses which are sometimes so severe that the master of mysticism, St. John of the Cross, compares them to hell itself (Dark Night, Bk. II, chap. 6), then they will not lose heart, but will be greatly encouraged to pass through the terrible desert which leads to the promised land. [...]
As long as they come to love God ardently and unite themselves closely to Him, what does anything else matter? Only one thing is necessary: to love God as He should be loved.
If souls are taught to ask, not for the extraordinary, but for the ordinary elements of the mystical life, that is, the substance and reality of these graces which give it its sanctifying efficacy; if they are taught to ask fervently and perseveringly for the perfect possession of the Holy Ghost and all His gifts and fruits, then we shall see His marvelous effects of perfection and sanctification. [...]
Ardent desires and aspirations for sanctity, then, should be fomented and encouraged. After all, how do we know that God does not call us to greater things simply because we have not experienced them? Did the saints, perchance, begin their spiritual life at the heights? What danger can there be in desiring to ascend with them to the summits they attained? These fervent desires are inspired by the Holy Ghost Himself [....]
There is no better prayer than that which rises from the depths of our humility and misery and from the desire to receive the Holy Ghost and be sanctified by Him, putting ourselves in His hands entirely and without reserve, so that He may do with us whatever He wishes and that we may be consumed by the fire of His love.
If we proceed in this way, there is no danger of being deceived. Deception consists in believing that we possess the divine gifts when we do not, or in thinking that we can acquire them by our own industry and effort; but to desire and ask for them with all our heart is not in itself a source of self-deception. On the contrary, it is the best means of freeing ourselves from all error and deception, for it is these gifts that "sanctify us in truth" (Jn. 17:17). This is precisely one of the signs of a right spirit: the ardent desire to know that one is not being deceived and to be sanctified in truth. Therefore, good souls are always fearful and uncertain, regardless of how great the graces and gifts they have received [....]
Let us not, then, suppress the ardent desires for sanctity in souls. [...] Let us foment them by every means possible, being careful only that they be real and sincere. [...] Let us be guided in prayer by faith and the impulses of our heart and let us constantly and ardently ask for a boundless love of God and the gifts of His Holy Spirit, for He himself has promised them to us and seeks only to find a heart upon which to lavish them. Nor let us forget the saying of the saints: The more God wants to give of Himself, the more does He cause HImself to be desired, and the more we desire Him the more does He give Himself to us, because the hope of heaven attains as much as it hopes for.
---
Source: Fr. Victorino Osende, Fruits of Contemplation, trans. by a Dominican Sister (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder Book Co., 1963), 9-10, 23, 27-30
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Fr. Jordan Aumann on Sanctification Through Action
A [...] source of confusion possible is the identification of 'life' with 'action'. The second in ordinary speech almost invariably means transitive action. The first, in turn, suggests vital operations, understood generally as external actions, even if the scholastic definition of life does insist that it is immanent activity. From such usage arise such expressions as 'formation through action' or the 'spirituality of action'. Should 'action' here be understood as exterior activity sufficient to itself as a form of 'life', without an interior source, then we have the 'heresy of action', referred to by Pope Pius XII (Letter to the Superior General of the Jesuits, June 16, 1944; cf. Documentation Catholique XIII, p. 7). Taken in this way, these expressions would even be inaccurate philosophically; external action receives a properly human value from interiority, from the immanent operations of life. On a truly human level the active life can never mean merely the execution of external activity, but necessarily involves the acts of mind and will, immanent activities. [...]
The phrase 'sanctification through action' is apt if certain qualifications are kept in mind. The first, that it be understood in the context of an accurate concept of the virtue of charity. In recent times there has been a tendency to exaggerate the love of neighbour [sic] to the point of an erroneous theology. This is a logical sequel to the identification of life with action, action with transitive action and charity with transitive action. Some have gone so far as to prefer to call charity by the name 'service'. This is to ignore the truth: charity's specifying objective is God himself, it is a theological virtue uniting us to God's lovable goodness in our love of him, self and neighbour.
As a result the 'disinterestedness' of charity is confused. Not all disinterested love of others is charity. Nor is the disinterestedness of charity itself such that it excludes love for God from love of neighbour. The contrary is, of course, true. It is love of God that makes love of neighbour charity at all. Any other concept of love of neighbour would reduce the apostolate to a level of mere philanthropy or social work, and have serious consequences upon the theology of the spiritual life.
The command of charity is that a man must love God with all his heart and soul and strength and his neighbour as himself (Luke 10, 27). Charity's objectives are, then, God, self, neighbour. This is why in repeated papal teaching there has been insistence upon apostolic works being performed with personal sanctification as preparation and source. It is not external activities themselves that sanctify a person, but the intensity of love for God with which they are done. The measure of holiness always remains the intensity of charity. And charity itself is intensified in the sense of being more deeply rooted in the person's will; this comes about through its own immanent activity. An intensification of charity's own immanent activity is not opposed to the work of the active life. Rather it is the indispensable prerequisite. In fact there can only be a true intensification of the love of neighbour, thus of a true apostolate, where there is an intensification of the love of God. The love of God is the motive for the love of neighbour.
---
Source: Fr. Jordan Aumann, "Appendix 6: Action and the Interior Life," in Summa Theologiæ: Volume 46: Action and Contemplation, trans. by Jordan Aumann (Cambridge: Blackfriars, 1966), 117-119.
The phrase 'sanctification through action' is apt if certain qualifications are kept in mind. The first, that it be understood in the context of an accurate concept of the virtue of charity. In recent times there has been a tendency to exaggerate the love of neighbour [sic] to the point of an erroneous theology. This is a logical sequel to the identification of life with action, action with transitive action and charity with transitive action. Some have gone so far as to prefer to call charity by the name 'service'. This is to ignore the truth: charity's specifying objective is God himself, it is a theological virtue uniting us to God's lovable goodness in our love of him, self and neighbour.
As a result the 'disinterestedness' of charity is confused. Not all disinterested love of others is charity. Nor is the disinterestedness of charity itself such that it excludes love for God from love of neighbour. The contrary is, of course, true. It is love of God that makes love of neighbour charity at all. Any other concept of love of neighbour would reduce the apostolate to a level of mere philanthropy or social work, and have serious consequences upon the theology of the spiritual life.
The command of charity is that a man must love God with all his heart and soul and strength and his neighbour as himself (Luke 10, 27). Charity's objectives are, then, God, self, neighbour. This is why in repeated papal teaching there has been insistence upon apostolic works being performed with personal sanctification as preparation and source. It is not external activities themselves that sanctify a person, but the intensity of love for God with which they are done. The measure of holiness always remains the intensity of charity. And charity itself is intensified in the sense of being more deeply rooted in the person's will; this comes about through its own immanent activity. An intensification of charity's own immanent activity is not opposed to the work of the active life. Rather it is the indispensable prerequisite. In fact there can only be a true intensification of the love of neighbour, thus of a true apostolate, where there is an intensification of the love of God. The love of God is the motive for the love of neighbour.
---
Source: Fr. Jordan Aumann, "Appendix 6: Action and the Interior Life," in Summa Theologiæ: Volume 46: Action and Contemplation, trans. by Jordan Aumann (Cambridge: Blackfriars, 1966), 117-119.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Fr. Antonio Royo Marin on Uprooting Voluntary Imperfections
It is therefore absolutely necessary to wage an unceasing battle against our voluntary imperfections if we wish to arrive at perfect union with God. The soul must use all its efforts and all its energies to make them disappear. It must tend always toward the more perfect and try to do all things with the greatest possible intensity. Naturally, this greater intensity should not be considered as a physical or organic intensity, as if it were necessary to keep one's nervous system in a state of constant tension or to make an act of love of God accompanied by organic or psychic intensity. We are referring here simply to the perfection of one's motives which lead one to act: doing all things with the greatest possible purity of intention, with the greatest possible desire of glorifying God, with the ardent desire that God's action invade or dominate us completely, that the Holy Spirit take complete control of our soul and do with us as he wishes in time and in eternity, without taking any account of our own tastes or desires. It consists simply in an ever more perfect and docile abandonment to the will of God until we are led by him without the least resistance. And this will not occur before the total death of our human egoism and our full transformation in Christ, which will enable us to say with St. Paul: "It is now no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).
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Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marin, The Theology of Christian Perfection, trans. by Jordan Aumann (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 237.
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Source: Fr. Antonio Royo Marin, The Theology of Christian Perfection, trans. by Jordan Aumann (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011), 237.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Sacred Scripture on Good and Bad Language
"But now you must put them all away: anger, fury, malice, slander, and obscene language out of your mouths" (Colossians 3:8).
“No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4).
“No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
“Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving” (Ephesians 5:4).
Friday, October 4, 2013
Bl. JPII on Evangelization and Authenticity
Brothers, Christ is the purpose and the measure of our lives. In the knowledge of Christ, your vocation took its origin; and in his love, your life is sustained. [...] You follow him in sacrifice and willing generosity. You follow him in joy, "singing gratefully to God from your hearts in psalms, hymns, and inspired songs" (Col 3 :16). And you follow him in fidelity, even considering it an honor to suffer humiliation for the sake of his name (cf. Acts 5:42). [...]
Let me begin by reminding you of the personal qualities needed to share effectively with Christ in his mission. In the first place, you must be interiorly free, spiritually free. The freedom of which I speak is a paradox to many ; it is even misunderstood by some who are members of the Church. Nevertheless it is the fundamental human freedom, and it was won for us by Christ on the Cross. As Saint Paul said, "We were still helpless when at his appointed moment Christ died for sinful men" (Rom 5 :6). [...]Source: Pope John Paul II, "Address of His Holiness John Paul II to Religious Men on the Feast of Saint Francis" (address presented in Chicago, IL, October 4, 1979), nn. 1-5, 8-10, accessed October 4, 2013, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1979/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19791004_chicago-st-francis_en.html.
[T]his freedom of an undivided heart (cf. 1 Cor 7 :32-35) must be maintained by continual vigilance and fervent prayer. If you unite yourselves continually to Christ in prayer, you will always be free and ever more eager to share in his mission.
Secondly, you must center your life around the Eucharist. While you share in many ways in the passion, death and Resurrection of Christ, it is especially in the Eucharist where this is celebrated and made effective. At the Eucharist, your spirit is renewed, your mind and heart are refreshed and you will find the strength to live day by day for him who is the Redeemer of the world.
Thirdly, be dedicated to God's word. Remember the words of Jesus: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice" (Lk 8 :21). If you sincerely listen to God's word, and humbly but persistently try to put it into practice, like the seed sown in fertile soil, his word will bear fruit in your life.
The fourth and final element which makes effective your sharing in Christ's mission is fraternal life. Your life lived in religious community is the first concrete expression of love of neighbor. It is there that the first demands of self-sacrifice and generous service are exercised in order to build up the fraternal community. This love which unites you as brothers in community becomes in turn the force which supports you in your mission for the Church. [...]
Never forget the specific and ultimate aim of all apostolic service: to lead the men and women of our day to communion with the Most Holy Trinity. In the present age, mankind is increasingly tempted to seek security in possessions, knowledge and power. By the witness of your life consecrated to Christ in poverty, chastity and obedience, you challenge this false security. You are a living reminder that Christ alone is "the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14 :6). [...]
For the measure of your effectiveness will be the degree of your love for Jesus Christ.
Finally, every form of apostolic service, of either an individual or a community, must be in accord with the Gospel as it is put forward by the Magisterium. For all Christian service is aimed at spreading the Gospel; and all Christian service incorporates Gospel values.
Therefore be men of God's word: men whose hearts burn within them when they hear the word proclaimed (cf. Lk 24 :32); who shape every action according to its demands; and who desire to see the Good News proclaimed to the ends of the earth.
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