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Monday 18 August 2014

Sigh, sometimes fighting the net is worth it....


Michael Voris interviewed, speaks of the role of singles

Here is something you don’t see everyday.
A frequent commentatrix here, Supertradmum, has interviewed Michael Voris.  HERE
Of interest are the questions on the vocation and role of single people in the Church.
A sample:
Question One: I want to concentrate on a subject perhaps not discussed too much and that is the role of single people in the Church. I hope you do not mind sharing a few aspects of this tonight. 
I guess two things pop to my mind. Look at this as a positive and a negative, at the sacraments which are the traditional vocations of the Church, which include graces needed to sustain those roles. (These are marriage and the priesthood.) The single life poses its own unique challenges, but is sustainable by a different application of graces of by Our Lord. Many of us are single, some of us forever.
Nuns and sisters live underneath a sacrament. However, I do believe there is an opportunity to grow in grace in a non-sacramental grace. There is a type of intimacy which can develop between a soul and our Lord, not in the traditional vocations, a non-distracted companionship. You can grow very deeply.  You cannot talk about a single vocation. I do not think it is proper to talk about a vocation to the single life. A single person may be living a consecrated life, but that is not the same.
A person may not be the marrying kind. There are probably some people, lide those with same-sex attraction who would have to come to this place–how to incorporate living according to the Church’s teaching in their daily spiritual lives.
Most people do not stay there (single)

Just In Case You Have Never Seen This

http://www.usccbpublishing.org/client/client_pdfs/Marriage.pdf

Perfection IV: Part Four: St. Augustine

If there is a saint who clearly shows us the struggle through the Dark Night, the purgation of the senses and the spirit, it is St. Augustine.

Here is a snippet from The Confessions. In this passage, we see his new entrance into the Illuminative State, through the deep suffering of the Dark Night. His words remind one of the Song of Songs, when the bride is seeking the Bridegroom, who is also described as beautiful.

Too late loved I Thee, O Thou Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new! too late I loved Thee! And behold, Thou wert within, and I abroad, and there I searched for Thee; deformed I, plunging amid those fair forms which Thou hadst made. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Things held me far from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not at all. Thou calledst, and shoutedst, and burstest my deafness. Thou flashedst, shonest, and scatteredst my blindness. Thou breathedst odours, and I drew in breath and panted for Thee. I tasted, and hunger and thirst. Thou touchedst me, and I burned for Thy peace.

A better description of a man coming out of purgation into light would be hard to find.


When I shall with my whole self cleave to Thee, I shall no where have sorrow or labour; and my life shall wholly live, as wholly full of Thee. But now since whom Thou fillest, Thou liftest up, because I am not full of Thee I am a burden to myself. Lamentable joys strive with joyous sorrows: and on which side is the victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. My evil sorrows strive with my good joys; and on which side is the victory, I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. Woe is me! lo! I hide not my wounds; Thou art the Physician, I the sick; Thou merciful, I miserable. Is not the life of man upon earth all trial? Who wishes for troubles and difficulties? Thou commandest them to be endured, not to be loved. No man loves what he endures, though he love to endure. For though he rejoices that he endures, he had rather there were nothing for him to endure. In adversity I long for prosperity, in prosperity I fear adversity. What middle place is there betwixt these two, where the life of man is not all trial? Woe to the prosperities of the world, once and again, through fear of adversity, and corruption of joy! Woe to the adversities of the world, once and again, and the third time, from the longing for prosperity, and because adversity itself is a hard thing, and lest it shatter endurance. Is not the life of man upon earth all trial: without any interval?

The ego is being smashed. The great saint is experiencing the second conversion. The realization of mercy is a sign of the beginnings of the Illuminative State. Here, one sees the purgation of the senses and the purgation of the spirit leading to light. 

Obviously, St. Augustine has known moments of the Love of God at this point.

And all my hope is no where but in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou enjoinest, and enjoin what Thou wilt. Thou enjoinest us continency; and when I knew, saith one, that no man can be continent, unless God give it, this also was a part of wisdom to know whose gift she is. By continency verily are we bound up and brought back into One, whence we were dissipated into many. For too little doth he love Thee, who loves any thing with Thee, which he loveth not for Thee. O love, who ever burnest and never consumest! O charity, my God, kindle me. Thou enjoinest continency: give me what Thou enjoinest, and enjoin what Thou wilt.

And, the great saint sees the opening up of the life of the virtues.

Art Thou not mighty, God Almighty, so as to heal all the diseases of my soul, and by Thy more abundant grace to quench even the impure motions of my sleep! Thou wilt increase, Lord, Thy gifts more and more in me, that my soul may follow me to Thee, disentangled from the birdlime of concupiscence; that it rebel not against itself, and even in dreams not only not, through images of sense, commit those debasing corruptions, even to pollution of the flesh, but not even to consent unto them. For that nothing of this sort should have, over the pure affections even of a sleeper, the very least influence, not even such as a thought would restrain, -to work this, not only during life, but even at my present age, is not hard for the Almighty, Who art able to do above all that we ask or think. But what I yet am in this kind of my evil, have I confessed unto my good Lord; rejoicing with trembling, in that which Thou hast given me, and bemoaning that wherein I am still imperfect; hoping that Thou wilt perfect Thy mercies in me, even to perfect peace, which my outward and inward man shall have with Thee, when death shall be swallowed up in victory.


Of course, we all know this man reaches the Unitive State, becoming one of the greatest lights in our Church. So, we need such men and women today-those willing to let God mold them, purify them, bring them to such humility that they can be used for the building of the Kingdom of God.

to be continued....

Incarnational Theology, Beauty, and Art: Perfection IV: Part Three





Thinking about the problem with art today, and so-called religious art, I have been pondering the problem of utilitarianism and ugliness. Years ago, I wrote an essay on this point when Shrek came out, showing how dangerous this movie and the sequels were to the modern child's mind.


The fact that the princess became ugly is a complete inversion not only of Western mythology, but the truth of Catholic teaching. We become more beautiful in goodness, in virtue and love transforms one into beauty, not into ugliness.

Many people objected to my article, stating I was against "ugly" people. No. Where ugliness is chosen, beauty is misunderstood. Where ugliness is chosen, the soul is dead or dying. Monsters redeemed would become beautiful in stories for a reason. Love transforms.

The inversion of choosing ugliness over beauty is an undermining of two pillars of our Catholic Faith-revelation and reason. Tradition flows from both.

God inspired the Greeks to define harmony and create an aesthetic of beauty which has lasted until modern times. Throughout the history of the West, the ideals of symmetry and order in architecture and art dominated society and were the basis of the greatest artistic achievements made by men.

It was not until the totalitarian ideal of utilitarianism that we saw ugly buildings honoring those who had lost their souls. The monumental structures of the tyrants, such as Hitler and Stalin ruined the concept of beauty, as both fascism and communism do not care about beauty, only power.

Those of us who were fortunate enough to have Classical Education in the liberal arts, the arts which free the mind to think, learned the great heritage of the Greeks regarding beauty, and when those of us who studied our Jewish roots, we saw in the Old Testament, the theme of beauty as well.

In Psalm 25, David shows us the insights into beauty from the Illuminative State.

[1] Unto the end, a psalm for David. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my innocence: and I have put my trust in the Lord, and shall not be weakened. [2] Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart. [3] For thy mercy is before my eyes; and I am well pleased with thy truth. [4] I have not sat with the council of vanity: neither will I go in with the doers of unjust things. [5] I have hated the assembly of the malignant; and with the wicked I will not sit.
[6] I will wash my hands among the innocent; and will compass thy altar, O Lord: [7] That I may hear the voice of thy praise: and tell of all thy wondrous works. [8] I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth. [9] Take not away my soul, O God, with the wicked: nor my life with bloody men: [10] In whose hands are iniquities: their right hand is filled with gifts.
[11] But as for me, I have walked in my innocence: redeem me, and have mercy on me. [12] My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord. 






 Some modern commentators have written that the Hebrew tradition, the creation by God in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, eschewed beauty. 

Not at all. Many of the woman were described as beautiful, but more than that, the Hebrews knew that Beauty was an Attribute of God.

Looking at David's psalm, one sees several indications that the Illuminative State allows one to begin to glimpse God's Beauty.

The Greeks did not have Revelation, but they had Reason. And these two great pillars uphold our Faith.

First of all, innocence underlies beauty, which is why I  had so many rants about the bad art on the famous television network. If a person is innocence, the beauty of the soul shrines forth, not in a sensual manner, but in a clear simplicity. Both the Hebrew writers and the Greeks understood simplicity are revealing innocence.

David claims his innocence, having been purified by God. David is the man in the Old Testament "whose heart was most like God's" or "a man after God's own heart." Love in him was purified so that he could experience what we are all called to experience, a renewed innocence which reveals a beauty of the soul, mind, and heart. 

David is referring not to the temple, which was not built yet, but to the Tent of Glory, the place of the Ark of the Covenant. But he was also referring to his own soul.

It is not until the Incarnation that most men, not the chosen few prophets of the Old Testament, understood the complete renewal of the mind and body, the heart and soul, through Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

If you have friends who hate beauty, beware.

Second, to confuse beauty with ugliness is a sign of the decadence of our times. So much music, clothing, architecture, art is glorifying ugliness and not God, who is Beauty.

When I  visited England in 2011, after being gone many years, I was shocked at one thing. The women had stopped wearing skirts and dresses and were dressing like American women in trousers and those jackets I call "athletic wear". I had a strange experience in Walsingham that summer of watching hundreds of women pilgrims getting out of coaches with their spouses and I could not tell who was a woman and who was a man.

Now, in Europe, skirts and dresses and "being feminine" are "in" again. God created women to grace the world with beauty. Our Lady is the epitome of grace and beauty.

The soul is reflected in the body. And, David, in the Illuminative State, sees the connection between grace, beauty, innocence and God's glory.

Third, those who are on the path to perfection re-discover beauty if they have lost it. I have seen women change in their walk to God and perfection. They set aside "pants" and begin to wear women's clothing. They are not obsessed with make-up but with pleasing God in every way-in their minds, their bodies, their hearts, their souls. Every woman I know who harbored self-hatred in some way, or did not have a loving relationship with God dressed like a man. They were and are denying their call to be women, to be someone beautiful. When the ego is subdued and the predominant fault faced and conquered, a new beauty is set free in the soul, the Beauty of the Indwelling of the Trinity.

It is said of St. Bernard of Clairvaux that he was an exceedingly handsome man. God chose him to renew an order which went back to the basics.  Stephen Harding's Cistercians moved away from the excesses of Cluny. But, beauty was not thrown out in minimalism. The beauty of the chant and the words of the Divine Office, the beauty of the Rule of St. Benedictine all came to fruition in Bernard's sermons on the Song of Songs, proof of his Unitive State. 

Like the Greeks, the Benedictine Rule, and, by extension, the Cistercian Rule, show us beauty in order.


David understood this order as well. Go back and read the section of the psalm above.

and I am well pleased with thy truth.

My foot hath stood in the direct way: in the churches I will bless thee, O Lord. 

A people who do not value or see the ideal of beauty as from God are a people with shriveled hearts. Catholics whose lives do not reflect order in their day cannot be pursuing God, but themselves and the maker of disorder. Remember that the maker of disorder, the first disobedient creature, perverts and lies and cheats to get a soul. And, he horribly rejoices in ugliness and sin.

Those who pursue perfection will become more beautiful.  

Look at Psalm 44:

[1] Unto the end, for them that shall be changed, for the sons of Core, for understanding. A canticle for the Beloved. [2] My heart hath uttered a good word I speak my works to the king; My tongue is the pen of a scrivener that writeth swiftly. [3] Thou art beautiful above the sons of men: grace is poured abroad in thy lips; therefore hath God blessed thee for ever. [4] Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou most mighty. [5] With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully. 

This is a prophetic psalm referring to Christ. He is the Beloved. The psalmist experienced Beauty, in God. Grace and beauty, blessing and reign, through truth, meekness and justice. These are clearly words of one in the Illuminative State.

[6] Thy arrows are sharp: under thee shall people fall, into the hearts of the king' s enemies. [7] Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a sceptre of uprightness. [8] Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. [9] Myrrh and stacte and cassia perfume thy garments, from the ivory houses: out of which [10] The daughters of kings have delighted thee in thy glory. The queen stood on thy right hand, in gilded clothing; surrounded with variety.

 So, one is reminded strongly of the Songs of Songs, the great love song of God's love for each person.
 
[11] Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear: and forget thy people and thy father' s house. [12] And the king shall greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord thy God, and him they shall adore. [13] And the daughters of Tyre with gifts, yea, all the rich among the people, shall entreat thy countenance. [14] All the glory of the king' s daughter is within in golden borders, [15] Clothed round about with varieties. After her shall virgins be brought to the king: her neighbours shall be brought to thee. 

 We must all forget our "father's house", which is the heritage of Adam, the sin of the old man in us, and for some, it literally means leaving home and finding God outside the family. It does mean detachment, which is learned in the Dark Night. It means an objectivity, and a total following of Christ.

[16] They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing: they shall be brought into the temple of the king. [17] Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. [18] They shall remember thy name throughout all generations. Therefore shall people praise thee for ever; yea, for ever and ever. 

A sign of the Illuminative State is joy. One is now centered on Christ and not on the self. The ego is gone.

For those who have settled for sensuality instead of beauty, this path is not found. For those who follow Christ into the desert and out again, into the temple of the king, from the Dark Night to the Illuminative State, these words belong to them as well as to David.

If one is confused about beauty, look to Mary. Look to the fact that the soul is the form of the body. 

Why have women and men chosen ugliness? Because they are trapped in some type of sin. 

 Why have  some artists succumbed to a sort of political correctness regarding the avoidance of depicting beauty? Because they do not understand the route of perfection and the goal of perfection. 




to be continued...









 


Perfection Series IV: Part Two The Beatitudes


Garrigou-Lagrange's long definition of the Beatitudes, which I put on this blog yesterday or the day before, clearly shows that the second set of the Beatitudes lived out are the sign of the Illuminative State.

No one can really live the Beatitudes without the period of purgation. All efforts are tainted by the ego and most of the virtues are blocked by venial sin.

The Person Who shows us how to live out the Beatitude is Jesus Christ Himself. Another person is Our Lady Mary.

Do not deceive yourselves into thinking that all those who are doing ministries are in the Illuminative State. In fact, few are.

I have met a handful of people in the Illuminative State, which I have shared on this blog before.

Most are young, under forty.

Interesting.

Let us go back to Garrigou-Lagrange and look at the three categories more in depth in light of the Illuminative State. He notes that the first are those of purgation from sin.

The beatitudes of the deliverance from sin correspond to the purgative way, which is proper to beginners and which is prolonged in the way the proficients and the perfect ought to follow. Whereas the world declares that happiness is in the abundance of exterior goods, of riches, and in honors, Christ states without any other preamble, with the calm assurance of absolute truth: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

He points out in this section that the Beatitudes on poverty of spirit, meekness, and mourning are those of purgation, when one learns humility.

The meekness we are discussing is not that which does not offend anyone because it is afraid of everything; rather, it is a virtue which presupposes a great love of God and of one's neighbor, the flower of charity, as St. Francis de Sales says.

And, 

Blessed are they who, like the beggar Lazarus, suffer patiently without consolation from men, for their tears are seen by God. More blessed still are those who weep for their sins, and through an inspiration of the gift of knowledge know experimentally that sin is the greatest of evils, and by their tears obtain its pardon. Lastly, more blessed, says St. Catherine of Siena,(14), are those who weep for love at the sight of the infinite mercy, of the goodness of the Savior, of the tenderness of the Good Shepherd, who sacrifices Himself for His sheep. These receive even here on earth consolation infinitely superior to that which the world can give.

I have experienced these types of mourning in the past nine months in an intense manner. Tears of non-consolation are not as severe as tears concerning one's sins. I am moving towards the deeper awareness of sin and the great love of God, which I have seen as from afar, and in minutes. The Goodness of the Lord in His Love for all people has been an experience of mine. 

One must mourn. One must. Only God can take away sin and the tendencies, the habits of sin.

One God can destroy the predominant fault in the Dark Night. The moments of clarity come and go, and until that state of light is permanent, I know I am still being purged.

When the light comes, one knows it.

The next set of Beatitudes are those of the Illuminative State, when one is working freely and moving in the life of the virtues. Here is part of that section again from Garrigou-Lagrange.





THE BEATITUDES OF THE ACTIVE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN


There are other holy joys which the just man finds when, freed from evil, he seeks the good with his whole heart. The man of action, who allows himself to be carried away by pride, declares that happy is that man who lives and acts as he pleases, who is not subject to anyone, and who imposes his will on others. Christ says: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill." Justice, in the broad sense of the word, consists in rendering to God what is due Him, and then for the love of God giving also to the creature what is due him. In recompense, the Lord gives Himself to us. This is the perfect order, in perfect obedience that is inspired by love which enlarges the heart. Blessed are they who desire this justice, even to the extent of hungering and thirsting for it. In a certain sense, they will be filled even in this life by becoming more just and more holy. This is a blessed thirst, for Christ says: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith: Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (15) That we may keep this thirst when sensible enthusiasm falls away, and preserve this hunger and thirst for justice in the midst of contradictions, hindrances, and disillusions, we must receive with docility the inspirations of the gift of fortitude. This gift prevents us from weakening, from letting ourselves be disheartened, and it lifts up our courage in the midst of difficulties. St. Thomas says: "The Lord wishes to see us hunger and thirst for this justice to such an extent that we can never be satiated in this life, as the miser never has enough gold." These hungering souls "will be satiated only in the eternal vision, and on this earth in spiritual goods. . . . When men are in the state of sin, they do not experience this spiritual hunger: when they are free from all sin, then they experience it." (16)

The two Beatitudes on mercy and justice are those of the Illuminative State.

I have met a few people in this State. Very few, too few to make the Church strong as She should be in this world.

Think about your own examples of those in the Illuminative State.

By the way, all the passages are from the Douay-Rheims and I am not going to repeat DR from now on.
 
[6] Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. [7] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.


Here is the great Dominican again on the second part of this set of Beatitudes:

In our life, as also in that of God, justice and mercy should be united. We cannot be perfect without going to the help of the afflicted, of the sick, as the good Samaritan did. The Lord will give the hundredfold to those who give a glass of water for love of Him, to those inviting to their table the poor, the crippled, the blind, who are mentioned in the parable of the guests. The Christian should be happier to give than to receive. He ought to pardon offenses, that is, to give to those who have offended him more than is due them; he ought to forget insults and, before offering his gift at the altar, go and be reconciled with his brother. The gift of counsel inclines us to mercy, makes us attentive to the sufferings of others, makes us find the true remedy, the word that consoles and uplifts.

to be continued...


Perfection Series IV Part One-Rational Love

One cannot rush the stages. One cannot jump, go past jail, or skip being purified. The purification stage allows for the Illuminative State.

Before reviewing and adding to some of the points which you can find in the myriad postings on this subjective, I want to refer to two aspects of the Illuminative State.

The first has to do with age and God's Plan for us. Yes, we can delay purification by being afraid of suffering and by not willing to embrace humility. But, God may allow a person to sit in the Dark Night for a very long time, only bringing the person to Illumination and Unity at the end of life.

Why? Some say that a certain mission in life may be more perfectly fulfilled if one is suffering. For example, St. John Paul II became a saint. He was not, like some of the younger and purer saints, like Gemma Galgani, a saint early. His long life, and particularly his long suffering in old age, was allowed by God to show the dignity of growing old and the call for all of us to love the aged.

St. John Paul II suffered purification publicly. That was part of his call in serving the whole Church. He had to endure illness and pain as part of his way, God's way, for all of us to learn many, many lessons.

In an age which idolizes youth, St. John Paul II brought our attention to the honor we need to give the elderly and the ill.

His old age and infirmities taught us that God's timing for purification may not be our timing.

We cannot compare saints. They all have their own way, but we can learn from them.

St. John Paul II's Illuminative State was less dramatic than one might expect. But, his life of patience and the living out of the virtues became more and more obvious as he aged.

Interestingly, one of his contemporaries, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very long Dark Night and short Illuminative and Unitive State. Ralph Martin suggests God allowed her long suffering because she was called to serve the most suffering of humans on earth-the homeless, those dying in the streets, the "unwanted."

She could identify with them in her long dryness of the Dark Night. But, the life of virtues must come after we set aside the ego, and it does.

The second point is that some saints come to this state early and show us in their lives the fruits of the Illuminative State. Now, I humbly differ with Ralph Martin, who writes that the states of purification overlap. I do not think so. The demarcation is the death of the ego and the growing of God's love in us.

Suddenly, one understands Scripture, the teachings of the Church, certain aspects of Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. One may experience "infused knowledge" which God gives to the pure of heart.

In the Illuminative State, which we see in such saints clearly as St. Catherine of Siena, St. Therese the Little Flower and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the life of the virtues blossoms into an everyday lifestyle.

It is "easy" to be virtuous, but one is not without temptation, until one dies, by the way. But, these do lessen, considerably.

I do want to mention one clear sign of the Illuminative State not mentioned in my other posts. St. Bernard teaches us that the carnal, affectionate love we have for Christ becomes rational, spiritual.

This type of love is a sign of the Illuminative State. It is still connected to the desire for God, but the love has been purified in the Dark Night.  Some people have experienced this in marriage. One no longer feels the romance or the emotion of love, but wills to love. In that willing comes a zeal, a strength and a deep peace. One is grounded in love, a love which surpasses moods and difficulties.

Love becomes all the attributes found in St. Paul, in 1Corinthians 13, who is describing the love of the Illuminative State. I always find it interesting that married couples frequently choose this passage as one of their wedding readings, when in reality, this is the goal, not the reality of the day.


Charity is to be preferred before all gifts.
[1] If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [2] And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. [3] And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. [4] Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up; [5] Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil;
[6] Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; [7] Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [8] Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed. [9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. [10] But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
[11] When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child. [12] We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then I shall know even as I am known. [13] And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity. 

 This is a perfect description of a person in the Illuminative State. This is the "automatic" life of the virtues which happens at this point, after the Dark Night. How many married couples come to love each other more after trials? Many. That is the point of the graces of the sacrament of marriage.

How wonderful it must be to be known by and to know another person in such intimacy? 

St. Paul is describing perfection, which becomes obvious after the Dark Night, through the freedom of the virtues, which hitherto were bound up by habits of sin and the predominant faults.



To be continued....




Hello to Readers in Luxembourg

I might be related to one of you--lol.

I am half Luxembourgian!

Hey, we had painted cows in Calgary in 2000....http://members.shaw.ca/picscandlish/cow.htm





Unitive State LIst Review as A Preview

I shall repeat this again before the section on the Unitive State.

Etheldredasplace: On the Unitive State-a short post
15 Nov 2013
On the Unitive State-a short post. Posted by Supertradmum. A last few words on the Unitive State from St. John of the Cross before leaving him for awhile follow: “It should be known that God dwell secretly in all souls and is ...
25 Nov 2012
Garrigou-Lagrange would fall into the category of theologians who believe that God is calling all to the unitive state. The reason one should read these books with the approval of a spiritual director is to avoid deceit in one's life ...
06 Jun 2013
On the Beatific Vision and the Unitive State A Bit. Posted by Supertradmum. Last year, a friend of mine had a remarkable experience of his particular judgement. The man, who is young middle age, told me he cried for days ...
22 Aug 2013
For most of us, especially in these times of chaos in the Church regarding liturgy and catechesis, the road to perfection, to the Unitive State, which is the mark of the saint, will be long and arduous. Many of us are climbing out ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
08 Feb 2013
Catherine describes the Unitive State here: we see the characteristics of the enlightened mind and soul, purified in the Love of God and exhibiting a fullness of caritas. Humility and love, peace and tranquility of mind and purity ...
15 Mar 2014
Some of the great saints, such as Bernard of Clairvaux, experienced this state, before moving on to the Unitive State, very early in life, of course, and were fortunate in their ability to share in words what this stage involved.
18 Apr 2013
I am assuming that readers have cottoned on to the purgative and illuminative states, so that I can move on to the descriptions and definitions of the unitive state. I am returning to Garrigou-Lagrange in the next few days.
20 Aug 2013
There is an illumination before the Dark Night, but the great Illumination happens only after purgation, and for many saints, this illumination quickly moves into the Unitive State, union with God in love. See the link below.

Taken from another blog for today

...from another blog, a remarkable family of saints for today...even the two-year old was crucified. Does this sound familiar today?

Feast of the Blessed Guengoros, Family of Martyrs

Today is the feast of Bls. Thomas, Mary & James Guengoro Thomas & wife, Mary along with their son James were martyrs by crucifixion at Kokura, Japan in 1620. Martyred together, James was only two at the time. Martyred by crucifixion helping Blessed Simon Kiota. No other information has survived.

More on Free Will from This Blog:Perfection Series III

13 Feb 2014
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2014/02/comments-interesting-do-you-have-free.html. In order to have free will, people must have a center of their being which is independent. Mortal sin makes us thralls, ...
04 Feb 2014
We are at the point where technology is creating the future not predicting the future. Someone said today that free will is gone in most people in the States, and possibly in the EU. Think about this...................who has free will?
21 Aug 2013
God gave us free will, which sets us apart from the animals, and is part of how we are made in His Image and Likeness. We are called, especially those of us who are baptised, to know, to love, to serve God in this world and to ...
23 May 2013
The Evil of Relativism-the denial of free will and hell. Posted by Supertradmum. I cannot believe this. I am astounded. A religious person, in a habit, said that there was no difference between good and evil in a person.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com
07 Apr 2013
One of the themes of this blog has been the interaction of grace and free will. Thankfully, we have a long tradition of the writings of the Doctors of the Church and others on this subject. The reason I bring it up again is that there ...
09 Sep 2013
Posted by Supertradmum. Concluding this little three part series on the sin of presumption, I want to stress that this sin involves not only pride, but the denial of free will, reason, and revelation. Presumption also denies natural ...
24 Jan 2013
Though the fact may surprise some who frame the debate in terms of divine sovereignty, it must be stated that Augustine is not an enemy of the free will. In fact, Augustine is vehement in his defense of free will on occasion.
22 Jul 2014
(2) God wills all men to be saved and no on to perish...nor after the fall of the first man is it His will forcibly to deprive man of free will. (3) That those, however, who are walking in the path of righteousness in their innocence, He ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
13 Apr 2013
We have free will to repent, change, accept grace and move into the purgation or perfection stage. And, if a habit of rebellion and stubborness persists, one loses the ability to discern. Canisius was writing at a time when ...
22 Jul 2014
The Church has always held up the primacy of free will in man to choose. That God permits evil is a mystery. Here is a quotation from the Council of Quierzy: "Our will, aided by prevenient grace and concomitant is free to do ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/
12 May 2012
It is, basically, a giving up of our freedoms and responsibilities, especially with regard to free will. Adults who do not want to grow up, those stuck in the Peter Pan Syndrome, fall under this false belief system and avoid real ...
16 Jul 2013
Supertradmum said... Raptor, I am sorry for all that pain-but Jesus and God did not make those people act that way. We all have freedom, free will and sadly, many people abuse it. Jesus will not step on our free will, like some ...
18 Mar 2014
God has a perfect will and plan for us and a permissive will, which allows evil things to happen. This permissive will forms the mystery of suffering and the allowance of evil, from the free choices of men and women. However ...
16 Jan 2014
The first is the denial of free will. People chose to make bad choices daily. There is a growing number of Catholics on twitter, in blogs and in daily speech who reveal that they do not understand two things about free will.

On Free Will: Perfection Series III

Catholic teaching on free will must be emphasized in these times of darkness. With evil surrounding so many parts of our lives, people are confused about the nature of evil and the choices of humans.

Let me start with the simple teaching on free will from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. My boldface highlights.



MAN'S FREEDOM

1730 God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."26
Man is rational and therefore like God; he is created with free will and is master over his acts.27
I. FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
1731 Freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. By free will one shapes one's own life. Human freedom is a force for growth and maturity in truth and goodness; it attains its perfection when directed toward God, our beatitude.
1732 As long as freedom has not bound itself definitively to its ultimate good which is God, there is the possibility of choosing between good and evil, and thus of growing in perfection or of failing and sinning. This freedom characterizes properly human acts. It is the basis of praise or blame, merit or reproach.
1733 The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin."28
1734 Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its acts.
1735 Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors.
1736 Every act directly willed is imputable to its author:
Thus the Lord asked Eve after the sin in the garden: "What is this that you have done?"29 He asked Cain the same question.30 The prophet Nathan questioned David in the same way after he committed adultery with the wife of Uriah and had him murdered.31
An action can be indirectly voluntary when it results from negligence regarding something one should have known or done: for example, an accident arising from ignorance of traffic laws.
1737 An effect can be tolerated without being willed by its agent; for instance, a mother's exhaustion from tending her sick child. A bad effect is not imputable if it was not willed either as an end or as a means of an action, e.g., a death a person incurs in aiding someone in danger. For a bad effect to be imputable it must be foreseeable and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it, as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken driver.
1738 Freedom is exercised in relationships between human beings. Every human person, created in the image of God, has the natural right to be recognized as a free and responsible being. All owe to each other this duty of respect. The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in moral and religious matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of the human person. This right must be recognized and protected by civil authority within the limits of the common good and public order.32
II. HUMAN FREEDOM IN THE ECONOMY OF SALVATION
1739 Freedom and sin. Man's freedom is limited and fallible. In fact, man failed. He freely sinned. By refusing God's plan of love, he deceived himself and became a slave to sin. This first alienation engendered a multitude of others. From its outset, human history attests the wretchedness and oppression born of the human heart in consequence of the abuse of freedom.
1740 Threats to freedom. The exercise of freedom does not imply a right to say or do everything. It is false to maintain that man, "the subject of this freedom," is "an individual who is fully self-sufficient and whose finality is the satisfaction of his own interests in the enjoyment of earthly goods."33 Moreover, the economic, social, political, and cultural conditions that are needed for a just exercise of freedom are too often disregarded or violated. Such situations of blindness and injustice injure the moral life and involve the strong as well as the weak in the temptation to sin against charity. By deviating from the moral law man violates his own freedom, becomes imprisoned within himself, disrupts neighborly fellowship, and rebels against divine truth.
1741 Liberation and salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free."34 In him we have communion with the "truth that makes us free."35 The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."36 Already we glory in the "liberty of the children of God."37
1742 Freedom and grace. The grace of Christ is not in the slightest way a rival of our freedom when this freedom accords with the sense of the true and the good that God has put in the human heart. On the contrary, as Christian experience attests especially in prayer, the more docile we are to the promptings of grace, the more we grow in inner freedom and confidence during trials, such as those we face in the pressures and constraints of the outer world. By the working of grace the Holy Spirit educates us in spiritual freedom in order to make us free collaborators in his work in the Church and in the world:
Almighty and merciful God,
in your goodness take away from us all that is harmful,
so that, made ready both in mind and body,
we may freely accomplish your will.
38
to be continued....