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!

How Are People Called Out?

This is a section from one of St. Cyprian's letters that gave me pause. He is writing about the tradition of how people are claimed for ministry. Instead of a person saying, "I think I have a call to ministry" and going to their pastor about it, perhaps the congregation should say to a person, "We think you have a call to ministry." Looking for comments. It does seem logical that people who are truly called to ministry and would be effective clergy would be limited to those who are called out by the people, and not those who present themselves on their own. Thoughts?

From Cyprian, letter 67, to the clergy and people living in Spain:
Which very thing, too, we observe to come from divine authority, that the priest should be chosen in the presence of the people under the eyes of all, and should be approved worthy and suitable by public judgment and testimony; as in the book of Numbers the Lord commanded Moses, saying, "Take Aaron thy brother, and Eleazar his son; and let Aaron die there, and be added to his people." (Num. 20:25,26) God commands a priest to be appointed in the presence of all the assembly; that is, He instructs and shows that the ordination of priests ought not to be solemnized except with the knowledge of the people standing near, that in the presence of the people either the crimes of the wicked may be disclosed, or the merits of the good may be declared, and the ordination, which shall have been examined by the suffrage and judgment of all, may be just and legitimate. And this is subsequently observed, according to divine instruction, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Peter speaks to the people of ordaining an apostle in the place of Judas. "Peter," it says, "stood up in the midst of the disciples, and the multitude were in one place." (Acts 1:15) Neither do we observe that this was regarded by the apostles only in the ordinations of bishops and priests, but also in those of deacons, of which matter itself also it is written in their Acts: "And they twelve called together," it says, "the whole congregation of the disciples, and said to them;" (Acts 4:2) which was done so diligently and carefully, with the calling together of the whole of the people, surely for this reason, that no unworthy person might creep into the ministry of the altar, or to the office of a priest. (italics mine) For that unworthy persons are sometimes ordained, not according to the will of God, but according to human presumption, (italics mine) and that those things which do not come of a legitimate and righteous ordination are displeasing to God, God Himself manifests by Hosea the prophet, saying, "They have set up for themselves a king, but not by me." (Hos. 8:4)

On Working

A great nugget from John Chrysostom, from his commentary on the Book of the Acts.

What can be less pleasant than the condition of a man who has nothing to do; what more wretched and miserable? Is it not worse than all the fetters in the world, to be always gaping and yawning, as one sits in the market-place, looking at the passers by? For the soul, as its nature is to be always on the move, cannot endure to be at rest. God has made it a creature of action: to work is of its very nature; to be idle is against its nature. For let us not judge of these things from those who are diseased, but let us put the thing itself to the proof of fact. Nothing is more hurtful than leisure, and having nothing to do: indeed therefore has God laid on us a necessity of working: for idleness hurts everything. Even to the members of the body, inaction is a mischief. Both eye, if it perform not its work, and mouth, and belly, and every member that one could mention, falls into the worst state of disease: but none so much as the soul. But as inaction is an evil, so is activity in things that ought to be let alone. For just as it is with the teeth, if one eats not, one received hurt to them, and if one eats things unfitting, it jars them, and sets them on edge: so it is here; both if the soul be inactive, and if inactive in wrong things, it loses its proper force. Then let us eschew both alike; both inaction, and the activity which is worse than inaction. And what may that be? Covetousness, anger, envyings, and the other passions. As regards these, let us make it our object to be inactive, in order that we may obain the good things promised to us, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, honor, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Beginning to Pray Part V

"Very often we do not find sufficient intensity in our prayer, sufficient conviction, sufficient faith, because our despair is not deep enough. We want God in addition to so many other things we have, we want His help, but simultaneously we are trying to get help wherever we can, and we keep God in store for our last push. We address ourselves to the princes and the sons of men, and we say, 'O God, give them strength to do it for me.' Very seldom do we turn away from the princes and sons of men and say, 'I will not ask anyone for help, I would rather have Your help.' If our despair comes from sufficient depth, if what we ask for, cry for, is so essential that it sums up all the needs of our life, then we find words of prayer and we will be able to reach the core of the prayer, the meeting with God."

This is my last post in this series. As I read further in Anthony Bloom's book on prayer, I may be moved to post some more selections. Ancient Faith radio also has a new series of podcasts on this book. Go to http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/eastwest

Beginning to Pray Part IV

"This is the point at which we can begin to knock at a door which is still closed, but beyond which there is hope, that hope which Bartimaeus, the blind man at the gates of Jericho, felt, out of his utmost despair, when Christ was passing.

We know from the Gospels that Bartimaeus found himself landed by the side of the road, hopelessly blind, having lost all faith and all hope in human help, and reduced to beg for his living, to hope not really on charity (the word meaning 'cherishing'), but on the kind of charity which consists in throwing coins to someone without ever having seen him. And one day this man, who had now given up hope, who was installed in the dust in his present blindness, heard about the man, a new prophet, who was now working miracles throughout the Holy Land. Had he had his eyes he would probably have got up and run throughout the country to find him, but he couldn't possibly keep pace with this itinerant wonder-maker. And so he stayed where he was, and the presence of one who might possibly have cured him must have made his despair even greater, even more poignant. And one day he heard a crowd that passed by, a crowd which did not sound like any other crowd. Probably, as the blind do, he had developed the sense of hearing and a sensitiveness greater than ours, because he asked 'Who is it that passes by?' and he was told 'Jesus of Nazareth.' And then he stood at the point of utmost despair and of utmost hope. Utmost hope because Christ was passing within reach, but at the background the looming despair because a few paces would have brought Him level with Bartimaeus, a few more paces and He had gone and would probably never pass by him again. And out of this desperate hope he began to cry and shout 'Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.' It was a perfect profession of faith. And at that moment it was because his despair was so deep that he could summon such daring hope in order to be healed, saved, made whole. And Christ heard him.

There is a degree of despair that is linked with total, perfect hope. This is the point at which, having gone inward, we will be able to pray; and then 'Lord, have mercy' is quite enough. We do not need to make any of the elaborate discourses we find in manuals of prayer. It is enough simply to shout out of despair 'Help!' and you will be heard.