Spiritual Life – Page 5

Filled with Compassion is the Lord’s method

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord: I will get up and go to my Father and shall say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” Do we see ourselves as sinners in redemption? Do we see the truth of ourselves as needing change of heart, mind and action? There are so many of us in the Christian community that need to take up a new vigor in what is communicated by the Lord in His gospel and in His sacraments, and the Church. We know from experience and consistent teaching that the Church is holy, but the members of the Church, including the clergy, are sinners and their actions can be destructive. Sin is the result of not knowing the goodness of the Lord. In the end, the judgment of the Lord is based on how we treat people. Did we love others? Can we love those who have hurt us deeply?

These words of Saint John Bosco ring true about compassion: “This was the method that Jesus used with the Apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized, and still others to hope for God’s mercy. And so he appeals to us to be gentle and humble of heart.”

One of the phrases in Luke’s version of the Prodigal Son sticks out: “filled with compassion.” Where do you stand? As the Lord and the father in the parable are filled with compassion, so ought we be filled. Do you taste and see the goodness of the Lord in welcoming the sinner? How do you live the conversion and repentance described by Jesus?

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us,

The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father: the fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father’s house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father’s generous welcome; the father’s joy – all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. The beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life – pure worthy, and joyful – of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way. (1439)

24 Hours for the Lord

The Holy Father is calling us to experience a worldwide act of prayer, “24 Hours for the Lord.”

For 24 hours, beginning on Friday, March 4th at 5 p.m. and ending on Saturday, March 5th at 5 p.m., three parishes in the Archdiocese will be open for exposition and adoration of the Eucharist and the opportunity for confession.

The parishes are: 1) St. Peter Claver, 47 Pleasant St. in West Hartford, 2) Church of the Resurrection, 115 Pond Hill Rd. in Wallingford, and 3) St. John the Evangelist, 21 Academy Hill, in Watertown.

If you have access to the monthly Magnificat –March edition– there is a prayer resource on page 61 and pages 74 to 83.

Connecting truth and mercy

It can be said, growing in the truth means learning mercy. The Office of Readings today proposed this reading for the 3rd Sunday of Lent from Saint Bernard, written in 1119, speaks to us particularly in this Year of Mercy.

St Bernard: From the treatise on the Degrees of Humility and Pride

‘Knowledge of the truth comprises three degrees, which I will try to set out as briefly as possible. In the first place we seek truth in ourselves; then we seek it in our neighbour, and last of all we search for truth in its own essential nature. We discover truth in ourselves when we pass judgement on ourselves; we find it in our neighbour when we suffer in sympathy with others; we search out its own nature by contemplation in purity of heart.

Notice not only the number of these degrees, but also their order. Before we inquire into the nature of truth, Truth itself must first teach us to seek it in our neighbour. Then we shall understand why, before we find it in our neighbour, we must seek it in ourselves. The sequence of the beatitudes given in the Sermon on the Mount places the merciful before the pure in heart. The merciful are those who are quick to see truth in their neighbour; they reach out to others in compassion and identify with them in love, responding to the joys and sorrows in the lives of others as if they were their own. They make themselves weak with the weak, and burn with indignation when others are led astray. They are always ready to share the joys of those who rejoice and the sorrows of those who mourn.

Men and women whose inner vision has thus been cleansed by the exercise of charity toward their neighbour can delight in the contemplation of truth in itself, for it is love of truth which makes them take upon themselves the misfortunes of others. But can people find the truth in their neighbour if they refuse to support their brothers and sisters in this way – if on the contrary they either scoff at their tears or disparage their joys, being insensitive to all feelings but their own? There is a popular saying which well suits them: A healthy person cannot feel the pains of sickness, nor can one who is well-fed feel the pangs of hunger. The more familiar we are with sickness or hunger, the greater will be our compassion for others who are sick or hungry.

Just as pure truth can only be seen by the pure in heart, so the sufferings of our fellow men and women are more truly felt by hearts that know suffering themselves. However, we cannot sympathise with the wretchedness of others until we first recognise our own. Then we shall understand the feelings of others by what we personally feel, and know how to come to their help. Such was the example shown by our Saviour, who desired to suffer himself in order that he might learn how to show mercy. Scripture says of him that he learned the meaning of obedience through what he suffered. In the same way he learned the meaning of mercy. Not that the Lord whose mercy is from age to age was ignorant of mercy’s meaning until then; he knew its nature from all eternity, but he learned it by personal experience during his days on earth.’

Plan of Life

Lent is a great time to either renew your plan of life, or to make a first plan. We all need to be certain on our goals for the spiritual life. No plan, no advancement in becoming friends with our Savior; no Beatific Vision. Here is a good example.

Daily: Make the Morning Offering. Spend time in mental prayer. Attend Holy Mass. Receive Hoy Communion, if properly disposed. Make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament if possible. Read a few paragraphs of one of the books of the New Testament. Make an examination of conscience at Noon and before bed. Pray the Angelus or Regina Coeli (depending on the liturgical season.

Weekly: Make a sacramental confession. Do a charitable work. Keep the Fast on Friday. Keep Saturday as a day devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Monthly: A day of recollection. Give alms.

Yearly: Make a week-long silent and directed retreat.

Always: Remember the Presence of God. Consider the fact of the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. Make the spiritual communion. Make acts of thanksgiving. Make acts of atonement. Aspire to holiness. Study. Work. Give some order to your life. Be joyful.

Union with others

Union with others can only be realized by means of our progress in the spiritual life, and in the measure in which we turn away from all that is external in order to be united with God. A man in a state of grace is, indeed, a kind of world, at the center of which God never ceases to be and to act.

A Carthusian Monk
The Prayer of Love and Silence

We carry our cross

Daily I am reminded that life is not easy for others, and for me. We carry burdens of health, the spiritual life, economy, of relationship and psychology. How is our heart affected? The burdens we carry are only lightened when we make a connection with Jesus who first carried the cross for us.

Remember that each of us has his own cross. The Golgotha of this cross is our heart: it is being lifted or implanted through a zealous determination to live according to the Spirit of God. Just as salvation of the world is by the Cross of God, so our salvation is by our crucifixion on our own cross.

St. Theophan the Recluse

Plenary Indulgence: Te Deum on Dec. 31 Veni Creator on Jan. 1

§ 1. A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who, in a church or in an oratory, are present [take part] in a recitation or solemn chant of: …

1° the hymn Veni Creator … on the first day of the year, imploring divine assistance for the whole of the coming year…

2° the Te Deum hymn, on the last day of the year, in thanksgiving to God for the favors received in the course of the entire year.

(Reference: Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th edition, al. concessiones.)

The indulgence is acquired under the usual conditions. i.e., to Confess mortal and venial sin within eight days prior to or after the day on which the indulgence is offered, to pray for the intentions of the Holy Father.

In God’s image we are made

“The image of God is not depicted on gold but is imaged in humanity. The coin of Caesar is gold; that of God, humanity. Caesar is seen in his currency; God, however, is known through human beings. And so give your wealth to Caesar but reserve for God the sole innocence of your conscience, where God is beheld.”

This reflection for the 29th Sunday of Church year from an unknown 5th century author names a key in our spiritual life: our humanity, not temporal items. God reveals Himself in the body, not in gold, real estate or academic degrees. Whom do we seek to know: God or things?

All I have is what I love

It is said that one of our late Benedictine abbesses said, “All I have is what I love!” This is what learned in homily today at Vespers.

A true judgment of man’s spirit and humanity. It is a touchstone in understanding who each of us is before God and others. The question” What do I love?” needs to be asked and answered daily. In fact, that is what happens in the daily Ignatian Examen. The discovery in answering this question is a work.

But as fragile people we are easily distracted; we can fool ourselves by making excuses, and rationales get in the way. Still, “What do I love” requires a concrete answer. What specifically do I love? Deeper down, a love holds my heart?

What stands out in what St Paul said today in his Letter to the Philippians:

Have no anxiety at all, but in everything,
by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God.
Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.Finally, brothers and sisters,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious,
if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.
Keep on doing what you have learned and received
and heard and seen in me.
Then the God of peace will be with you.

St Paul’s letter can remain in the abstract and useless without going deeper in ascertaining the meaning of the various points the Apostle raises viz. our experience. Hence, we have to ask: What do I think is true? What is does it means to act honorably? What difference does purity make? What does the word gracious mean to mean?

It seems that this matter one of several keys for the spiritual life, and not mere word-smithing and academic argumentation. What it does necessitate, I have learned, is a disciplined focus of mind and heart in working with divine revelation.

The words we use

Given what I wrote the other day in a blog post, “Choose life” this post using a piece of Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis (now Fr Simeon, OCSO, monk of Spencer Abbey) from his magisterial work Fire of Mercy: Heart of the Word puts a finer point on what I tried to convey. Christians believe that life comes through the Word. Preeminently, life comes through the Eternal Word of God –Jesus.

Our best words are far more than units of information; they are epiphanies of the truth and gifts through which we can communicate to others our own deepest being and the life of God that has been deposited into our “treasury of goodness.”

Like the divine Word, our own words have the vocation and the mission to do the work that God has purposed. Our words, springing out of the divine Word planted deep within us by baptism and the Eucharist, are called to be further incarnations in the world and in history of the one Word spoken by God in his heavenly dwelling before the beginning of all ages.