The state of resurrection

Here follows a wonderful quote from Olivier Clement's "The Roots of Christian Mysticism."

We are continually tempted to appropriate the world, to take possession of it as a kind of prey. We thus increasingly enslave it to death, and today we are in danger simutaneously of collectively committing suicide, and destroying nature. But by the intervention of the mystery of Christ and of the witness of his followers a state of death is transformed into a state of resurrection. In Christ the world becomes Eucharist. In him we can transfigure the world by integrating it into the human consciousness of the Risen Christ, who offers resurrection to everyone and everything. It is up to Christians to show people that the cross, all the crosses of history, call upon us to advance from possession to sharing and offering, to discover the Giver through the gift. They invite us to respect nature and spiritualize it, and to share the blessings of the earth like brothers and sisters, because, as Dumitru Staniloae, whose thought is summarized here, writes, "They are destined to serve interpersonal communion" (Dogmatic Theology, I, 344). Sanctity imparts the divine light not only to our bodies but to the whole cosmic environment. Today, when history itself is raising the ultimate questions, we are called to what Simone Weil termed a "holiness of genius" that is able to communicate the light to the very foundations of culture.

Good Friday reflection

A beautiful prayer by Isaac of Nineveh:

Lord Jesus, our God, who wept for Lazarus, and shed for him tears of grief and compassion, accept the tears of my bitterness. By thy sufferings assuage my suffering. By thy wounds heal my wounds. By thy blood cleanse my blood. Pour out on my body the perfume of thy life-giving body. For the gall that thou was given to drink changes the bitterness of my soul into sweetness. May thy body stretched on the wood of the cross draw to thee my spirit crushed by the demons. May thy sacred hands pierced with the nails snatch me from the pit of damnation and bring me back to thee, as thou hast promised. May thy face which suffered blows and spittle enlighten my face that is defiled by my wrongdoing. May thy soul which on the cross thou didst give back to thy Father lead me by thy grace to thee. I have no broken heart to start me on the quest for thee, no penitence, no tenderness. I have no tears with which to pray to thee. My spirit is in darkness. My heart is cold. I know not how to make it warm again by tears of love for thee. But thou, Lord Jesus Christ, my God, do thou give me complete repentance, the breaking of my hearts, that with my whole soul I may set out in quest of thee. Without thee I should be without all reality. May the Father who in his womb begot thee in eternity renew in me thine image. I have forsaken thee. Do not thou forsake me. I have wandered far from thee. Do thou set out in quest of me. Lead me back to thy pastures with the sheep of thy flock. Feed me together with them on the fresh grazing of thy mysteries where the pure heart dwells, the heart that bears in it the splendour of thy revelations. May we be worthy of such splendour through thy grace and by thy love for humankind, O Jesus Christ our Saviour, for ever and ever. Amen.

reflection on the Trinity

I had to share this new insight I just read about the Trinity that resonated with me. The Father is God apart from us, the Son is God with us, and the Holy Spirit is God in us. The other thing I read went something like this: in any living thing, we can view it in a Trinitarian way. For example, consider a bird. The existence of the bird is made possible by the Father, who is the Creator. It's design and purpose is made possible by the Son, who is the Word of God. And the vitality, dynamism and growth of the bird is made possible by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life. Imagine comprehending the whole world through the eyes of the Trinity!