Abbey-Roads2

Popularly known as Thomas Merton. 

Every once in a while I will re-read some of Thomas Merton’s early writings.  I was never a huge Merton fan, but I usually appreciated what he wrote.  Nevertheless, his writings rarely edified me or moved me to devotion as other spiritual writers had.  Of course his writings are insightful, informative, and provocative, but he seemed to be the antithesis of devotion.  I would guess this is because Merton was more of an intellectual than a mystic, although others will disagree.  Many of his followers consider him a mystic, and of course, they would know better than I do since I haven’t read all of his works.

Having said that, I find Merton much more interesting now that I am older and prayer is dry and crusty.  I was reading snippets of Seeds of Contemplation  at Barnes and Noble the other day.  I think he wrote well of what contemplative prayer is all about - in a practical sort of way.  I didn’t buy the book because I had another one by him at home, Contemplative Prayer - so I decided to read that again first.

The renewal of religious life and prayer.

Almost immediately upon opening the book, I think I could see where Merton began to drift toward Oriental mysticism, in fact his approach to monastic prayer does seem almost Zen-like.  Nevertheless, he was far too intelligent to confuse the two.  I could also see the seeds of religious experimentation in his writing.  In the Introduction and the first chapter he makes a few allusions to the renewal of religious life and experimentation.  It was 1968 and the “cultural upheaval” - as Benedict XVI calls it - was in process.

Merton wrote:  “The purpose of monastic renewal and reform is to find ways in which monks and nuns can remain true to their vocation by deepening and developing it in new ways, not merely sacrificing their lives to bolster up antique structures, but channeling their efforts into the creation of new forms of monastic life, new areas of contemplative experience.”  - Contemplative Prayer

Merton and tradition.

While what he said is true, in hind sight we can see how the “channeling” thing went for not a few religious houses - contemplative or not.  Some communities “sacrificed” the entire structure and today are barely discernible as Roman Catholic institutes.  It is interesting that in his early work, Merton seems to have had little affinity with Oriental styles  of prayer, and especially would have opposed “centering prayer”.  He bristles at the suggestion that the contemplation of the hesychasts of Eastern Orthodox monasticism is similar to yoga.  He wrote:

“Nothing is more foreign to authentic monastic and contemplative tradition in the Church than a kind of gnosticism which would elevate the contemplative above the ordinary Christian by initiating him into a realm of esoteric knowledge and experience, delivering him from ordinary sufferings, elevating him to a privileged state of being, and no longer familiar with the economy of the sacraments, charity, and the Cross.” - Contemplative Prayer

Notice how traditional his understanding of contemplative prayer was.  I think Thomas Merton was very much a traditionalist at heart - but like I said, I’ve never read his later works. 

“If you cannot contain yourself, flee into solitude. . . . It is not through virtue that I live in solitude, but through weakness; those who live in the midst of men are the strong ones.” - Abba Matoes

Novy Dvur

The Cistercian (O.C.S.O.) monastery of Novy Dvur, constructed outside Prague is a magnificintly austere abbey in the early tradition of Cistercian asceticism.  Designed by architect John Pawson, who gained fame for his minimal designs for the Calvin Klein boutiques, the monastery beautifully expresses the nada  of contemplative life.

The abbey Church is pure and unadorned space, majestically simple, wherein liturgical prayer is the entire focus, as is evidenced by the sanctuary with the centrality of the tabernacle and the altar of sacrifice.  Nothing created impedes the lifting up the heart to God.  The other traditional spaces of the complex are likewise as simple and austere with elements of classic monastic architecture. 

On monastic prayer.

“Do not let anyone occupy your heart, but God alone.” - Saint Theophane of Tambov

“It is above all a question of faith, a firm adhesion, without any support, where great things are at stake. In order to remain attentive to the Lord who is present, there is a manner of doing things that one would hardly call a method, unless one retains the etymology of this word: a way or path, a set of reference points from which each person must forge his own experience according to his personal grace, guided by an elder.

Each person, in effect, can turn himself to God, even without knowing it. But the practice of prayer – attentive personal and quiet presence before the Holy Sacrament – orients our life. We learn to remain in an attitude of prayer for a long time, occupied simply by a vocal prayer, invocations or a reading. We have grasped the fact that the desire to turn ourselves towards God, even when this is mixed with other desires, can happen with the help of divine grace.

And let us not distinguish between prayer from God and prayer from the man: there is only one side, everything comes from God, and yet the man really prays… Prayer in fact is a volontary commitment, consented in the action of the Christ Savior. If only we would care to lift the veil which blocks our vision, so overaccustomed to these realities, we would understand how much prayer is serious and simple in its accomplishment but ambitious in its result.

Outside of God, of the Faith, monks have no meaning and serve no useful end. the monk, himself, knows – since he shares the faith of the Church – that his vocation is mysteriously useful, mysteriously efficient for his brothers and sisters of mankind: he knows that it his participation, imperfect and unfaithful, in the life, the Passion and the sorrowful and solitary death of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who in this way saved humanity.

It is also for this reason that the monk prays. Burying his prayer in the prayer of Jesus, he prays for all men, living and dead, believers and non-believers, those dear to him and those he knows not. Not so that, from bad they might become good… but so that all may have access to goodness and truth. This is the prayer of substitution or of intercession. - Novy Dvur website

Reading these thoughts on monastic prayer may help one understand the austerity of the architecture at Novy Dvur.

St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionist Order.

I mentioned St. Paul of the Cross in reference to the dark night of the soul we recently learned Bl. Mother Teresa endured for so many years.  I recall one journalist stating that this night of faith seems to be the hallmark of the saints of the 20th century.  I don’t know where she got that idea.  I’m quite sure the experience has been around much longer than when it first became a focus of study in the writings of St. John of the Cross. It is an aspect of the mystical life, albeit extraordinary, reserved for the few.

Garrigou-Lagrange devotes six pages to the life of St. Paul of the Cross in the second volume of his work, “The Three Ages of the Interior Life.”   He concentrates upon the mystical life of St. Paul and the reparatory night of the spirit, which he endured for forty-five years.

The mystical life of the saint.

Since his youth St. Paul was accustomed to a life of self-denial, and at a very early age was favored with the affective prayer of simple gaze.  Around the age of nineteen he underwent the passive purification of the senses.  After this he was given the grace of infused contemplation, accompanied  by visions and ecstasies.  At. twenty-six he underwent the passive purification of the spirit, preparing him for the grace of transforming union by the age of thirty-one.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes:  “After receiving the grace of transforming union, he had, according to the testimony of his confessor, to pass through forty-five years of interior desolations, most painful abandonment, during which, ‘from time to time only, the Lord granted him a short respite.’”   This was a period when it seemed to him that he had been totally abandoned by God, that God was displeased with him, and he endured great temptations to despair and sadness.  Yet the chief characteristic others noted about him was his patience and extreme kindness to all who approached him.

The life of reparation.

Aside from the purificatory aspect of the night of the spirit which enables “the soul thus purified to pass beyond the formulas of mysteries and ‘enter into the deep things of God’, as St. Paul says,”  this trial can be chiefly reparatory as well.  Such is the case with St. Paul of the Cross, and more recently, Therese of Lisieux, and as we read now, Teresa of Calcutta.

Garrigou-Lagrange writes that when the trial is chiefly reparatory the principal end is to have the purified soul work for the salvation of its neighbor, in conformity with the intimate sufferings of Jesus and Mary.  It is interesting to note that Father writes that these souls struggle for years in this night in order to “Snatch souls from eternal death; and, in a way, these reparative souls must resist the (same) temptations of the souls they seek to save that they may come efficaciously to their assistance.” - Three Ages, Vol. II

Oh what a night!  

What’s in a name? 

A blogger buddy and I were having an email exchange concerning the personas some bloggers may adopt to hide their true identity when they write.  One man who says he is a priest, has received a great deal of attention from others who claim he is a fake.  I read his posts, I see nothing against the faith in what he writes, so I don’t understand the problem.  (Yet some priests do see it as a problem and present their credentials  for people to view - this isn’t a bad idea - it may be one reason why this priest has the most popular ‘priest’s blog’ on the net.)

I pointed out to my friend that no one knows if Sr. Mary Martha is a real nun or not.  (I never read Sister’s blog until I brought her up in our email exchange.)  My friend told me that if a person is pretending to be a priest or sister, they are giving the impression they have some authority, and what they write is in line with Church teaching.  If they write in error, unsuspecting people may be misinformed or misled.  I didn’t realize how this could happen until today.

Sister Blogger.

Reading Sister Mary Martha  today, I noticed something which sounded more influenced by Protestantism than Catholicism in her advice.  Responding to a question posed to her by a reader concerning the intercession of the saints, Sister wrote:

1. We do not pray to anyone but Jesus…or God…or the Holy Spirit, Who are One but also separate. It’s the Sacred Mystery of the Holy Trinity. Sacred Mystery is “Catholic” for “just let it go”.

2. We do not pray to any saints or Mary. Even though we often say, “Pray to St. Anthony” or whoever, what we really mean is “Pray for the intercession of St. Anthony”. We are asking St. Anthony to pray to Jesus..or God…or the Holy Spirit, Who are One but also separate. It’s no different than if I asked you to pray for me.” - Ask Sister Mary Martha

Always check the facts.

That sounds a little Protestant to me.  As Catholics, we have always been taught we may indeed pray to  the saints and request their intercession on our behalf.  Indeed, an older catechetical handbook I have states:

“We honor the saints by praying to them.  We honor them by praising them  in word and song, and asking their intercession.  Indeed, we may pray in private to anyone who we believe is either in heaven or purgatory.  But we are forbidden to give public veneration to anyone who is not beatified or canonized.”

“When we pray to the saints we ask them to offer their prayers to God for us.  This is what we call the intercession of the saints.” - My Catholic Faith,  originally published 1949.

From the current Catechism of the Catholic Church we have this:

“Their intercession (the saints) is their most exalted service to God’s plan.  We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.” - CCC 2683

Talking to the saints.

To her credit, Sr. Mary Martha does write:  “It’s no different than if I asked you to pray for me.”   She is referring to our asking the saints to pray for us and comparing it to how we ask one another to pray for our intentions.  While in the body of the post she does say we ask the saints to intercede for us, her message is confusing, and gives the impression we do not actually pray to the saints.  Especially since she is so emphatic in stating  ”we do not pray to”   the saints.

When we pray, “Hail Mary, Full of grace…” who does Sister imagine we are addressing?  Indeed we may converse with Our Lady, the angels and saints at will, fully conscious they present our petitions before God.  In honoring Our Lady or the saints we honor God.  We also pray in union with all the Church, which includes the souls of the just who are living in heaven, or awaiting the beatific vision in purgatory.  This is what the Communion of Saints implies.

Maybe it’s just a question of semantics.

Of course all of us can make mistakes.  Even real priests and nuns and other “authorities” can make mistakes or express erroneous opinions on their weblogs.  Earlier this summer a priest posted on the devotion of the Scapular of Mt. Carmel  as being superstitious.  (It is not.)   So, when in doubt, always check the facts with your Catechism or another credible Catholic source book. 

The blogosphere is not the Magisterium. 

Feast of St. Teresa of Avila.

Today is the feast of my favorite saint - and I had no access to this blog to do a post on her.  So I am reminding everyone that I continue to post at Abbey-Roads 1  when I do not have access to Abbey 2.  Well, that is not exactly true - I post at Abbey 1  every day anyway.  (Make sure Abbey 1 is in your blogroll if you enjoy reading this blog.)

Now it is already 2nd Vespers of the feast of Holy Mother St. Teresa, and what can I say about her that hasn’t been said already today?  If you read this blog, you know I write about her a lot.  Teresa of Avila is especially dear to me because it took her so long to become a person of prayer.  She writes:

“Very often, for some years, I was more anxious that the hour I had determined to spend in prayer be over than I was to remain there… and so unbearable was the sadness I felt on entering the oratory, that I had to muster up all my courage.” - Life 8, 7 

After determining to practice prayer faithfully, St. Teresa continued to encounter problems:

“For more than eighteen of the twenty-eight years since I began prayer, I suffered this battle and conflict between friendship with God and friendship with the world.” - Life 8, 3

Many, many people who desire to make mental prayer a part of their life encounter the same difficulties as St. Teresa did.  Perfection doesn’t happen in a night, as Holy Mother’s life demonstrates, while her example and teaching encourages and leads anyone interested on the pathways of prayer.  Teresa struggled for twenty years!  She writes:

“I voyaged on this tempestuous sea for almost twenty years with these fallings and risings and this evil - since I fell again - and in a life so beneath perfection that I paid almost no attention to venial sins.  And mortal sins, although I feared them, I did not fear them as I should have since I did not turn away from the dangers.  I should say it is one of the most painful lives, I think, that one can imagine, for neither did I enjoy God nor did I find happiness in the world.  When I was experiencing the enjoyments of the world, I felt sorrow when I recalled what I owed to God.  When I was with God, my attachments to the world disturbed me.  This is a war so troublesome that I don’t know how I was able to suffer it even a month, much less for so many years.” - Life 8, 2

It is almost amusing to realize that what St. Teresa describes above is something a few people seem to  mistake for the ”dark night” of the spirit.  Not.

“Pray the Rosary every day.” - Our Lady of Fatima 

I wish I could convince everyone to pray the Holy Rosary.  I have never “experienced” the ‘grace of prayer’ more in any other prayer, save thanksgiving after Holy Communion.  Our Lady grants unimaginable graces and favors through the prayer of the Holy Rosary.  It is the ladder to Heaven.

I once had a disagreement with a very good priest who told me that the Rosary does not constitute mental prayer.  “Yes, indeed it does Father!”  I told him.  In fact, the Rosary is a very contemplative prayer, encompassing all the stages of prayer.  Later, reading Garrigou-Lagrange, it seemed my intuitions were confirmed.

“These mysteries, which are those of the incarnation of the Word, of the redemption, of eternal life, the rosary daily places before our eyes by recalling to us the Savior’s childhood, his sorrowful passion, his resurrection and ascension.  If the proficient is faithful, he goes beyond the sensible aspect of these mysteries, he attains all that is spiritual in them, the infinite value of the merits of Christ; then the rosary is no longer the mechanical recitation of the Hail Mary, but a living thing, a school of contemplation.” - Three Stages of the Interior Life, Vol. II, Chp. VI

Never allow anyone to discourage you from the prayers of the Holy Rosary - least of all yourself, especially when you are tempted to think that just sitting there in some sort of dark night of centering prayer,  or navel gazing, is contemplative prayer.  Let Our Lady direct your prayer - she will ’suspend your faculties’  and console you when she sees fit. 

The communion of saints. 

Today is the feast of St. Joseph of Cupertino, a Franciscan who barely made it to ordination.  In the beginning of his religious life he was considered something of a simpleton, although recognized for his deep piety.  When he was called to study for the priesthood, he found studies extremely difficult, yet was finally ordained.  We know him for his ecstatic flights, which are recorded in detail and took place before many witneses, hence he is proposed as the patron of astronauts.

How does one imitate a saint like Joseph of Cupertino?  Or any other saint for that matter.  It is true that we ought to imitate, or follow Christ alone, while the saints are presented to us as intercessors, helps and models for us who strive to live a Christian life.  Though separated from us by the thin veil of our mortality, in their perfect union with God in heaven, they are more near to us - for the asking - than our closest friends.  While their earthly lives may be emulated, although not necessarily in outward conduct, it seems to me that we do best to try to live according to their spirit.

The example of the saint.

I think the lives of the saints re-animate  the Gospel for us.  In and through the witness of their lives we see the Gospel, especially the Beatitudes, lived out in the concrete circumstances of life.  St. Joseph of Cupertino, as any other saint, was not canonized for the mystical phenomena he took part in, but rather the practice of heroic virtue.  When we understand  this and more closely examine the virtues the saints practiced, we can better grasp the essence of their holiness.

[Art: St. Joseph of Cupertino, courtesy  The Wilson Almanac.] 

The Dialogue

I’ve once again been reading St. Catherine of Siena lately since Garrigou-Lagrange refers to her so often in the Three Ages of the Interior Life.  As a lay person I’m almost more comfortable reading her because she was essentially a lay-Dominican.  Her teaching on prayer is excellent.  Chapter 60 is especially good as regards the passive night of the senses - very solid doctrine.  (The Dialogue  is Catherine’s exchange between God the Father and herself.)

“There are others who become faithful servants.  They serve me with love rather than slavish fear which serve only for fear of punishment.  But their love is imperfect, for they serve me for their own profit or for the delight and pleasure they find in me.  Do you know how they show their love is imperfect?  By the way they act when they find they are deprived of the comfort they find in me.  And they love their neighbors with the same imperfect love.  This is why their love is not strong enough to last.  No, it becomes lax and often fails.  It becomes lax toward me when sometimes, to exercise them in virtue and to lift them up out of their imperfection, I take back my spiritual comfort and let them experience struggle and vexations.  I do this to bring them perfect knowledge of themselves, so that they will know that of themselves they have neither existence nor any grace.  I want them in time of conflict, to take their refuge in me by seeking me and knowing me as their benefactor, in true humility seeking me alone.  This is why I give them these troubles.  And though I take away my comfort, I do not take away my grace.” - The Dialogue, Chapter 60