A new "JP II" Society?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SilentKnight
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
S

SilentKnight

Guest
Three years ago, “Ani Ibi” began a thread with the following post:
I don’t know anything about the different orders. I remember reading on another thread that JPII was a carmelite? At the funeral Mass today at St Michael’s Cathedral, Monsignor spoke of his Ceremonial Assistant (or whatever he is called) concelebrating with JPII at the Vatican. This man said that the force of JPII’s prayers was astonishing, arresting, palpable, transformative of all who stood in its presence.
Click to expand...
I have been musing that so much of JPII’s teaching has not really been about change but about tremendous growth in the Church and in the World. I am thinking that people identify so strongly with JPII and his teaching was so greatly advanced and clarified from previously popes, that a JPII Order would be in a strong position to evangelize, create new disciplined priests. and faithful nuns. What do people think of establishing a new clerical order or religious order or both after the example of JPII?
Click to expand...
I would be interested to hear your views on this; but if you choose to digress and discuss existing orders with a view to comparing and contrasting, I would be happy to hear those views as well. Thank you.
Click to expand...
I don’t know if Ani Ibi (or any of the others who participated) is still around or not, but I “stumbled” across the thread last night and was gripped by it. Why? Because for the last several years, the Lord has been placing a number of different things on my heart that all seem to point to something very much along these lines.

I think the word that stood out to me most in the post was “transformative”. That’s not a common theological term (at least in the West). The name of the Society that I envision? “Transforming Light”. It is a multifaceted, multi-level “entity” (I don’t really know whether to call it a “ministry”, or an “apostolate” or what) that I have the charter and many other things written for that combines all of the best in the Church for the purpose of consecrating all things to Christ’s service and for presenting all men and women mature in Christ, per Col. 1:28. It would be made up of everyone - single and married, clerical and non.

I’ve had the “paperwork” done on this for quite a while now and have shared it with a handful of people who I believe are close the Lord, but to know avail yet. Everybody seems to just sort of read it, say, “Cool” and then they let it drop. I was hoping for and expecting more along the lines of “Yes, this is what the Lord wants of you and this is how you need to go about implementing it.” But no dice…Yet anyway. I know the Lord is still working on refining me interiorily. Maybe I have to wait until that process is complete to “launch” this fully. But, I am here to mention the fact that, even if this is so, the time - I really feel - is near.

I request your prayers for this project (that the Lord would hasten it, according to His will, of course, if this is from Him in the first place, and if it is not from Him, that this would all quickly be erased and eliminated), and I solicit your comments.

In the heart of Christ our King,

SK
 
Good afternoon Sir Knight,

I don’t really know the procedure for starting a new order, but I would recommend talking to your priest, eventually I think you’ll need the bishop’s approval to be an official Catholic Order. It seems to me that the first step is to make sure that you yourself are living the Rule that you have written.
I pray thee all the best,
Spirithound
PS, I’d be interested in reading what you’d have
 
Hi Spirithound,

Just wanted to acknowledge your post real quick. Thanks for responding. Will post the “basics” when I have more time to do so. Hopefully some time tomorrow?

Peace,

SK
 
Ambrose,

Thank you for the link. No, it is not old news to me. I had never heard of that group before. When I get some free time, I will definitely investigate.

One of the constitutional elements of Transforming Light is “networking”, or integrating different noble elements of the Church that are already up and running. (No need to reinvent the wheel, in essence.) So, this could end up proving very helpful.

More to follow.

Peace.

SK
 
Sorry for the delay. I had all but finished writing on this yesterday at work, saved what I had written there on the computer and then neglected to post it or email it to myself so I could post from home. Today and tomorrow are my days off.

So…It looks like Thursday for a synopsis of Transforming Light.

SK
 
Ok! So…Where to begin?

I should probably begin by mentioning that Transforming Light (“TL” from here on out) is what I would call “multi-dimensional”. It’s certainly “multi-axial”. Hopefully it will become clear what I mean by that as I go on.

TL has three “levels” to it: Mustard Seed, Transforming Light, and King of the Nations (Jesus’ title in Rev. 15:3). Mustard Seed is for beginners, for those who are generally new to the faith, or who have been Catholic a long time, but, for whatever reason, are not very familiar with the faith and want to begin a serious spiritual life. Its nature is simple and its focus is on things like the 10 commandments, the importance of confession, the power of the Eucharist, etc.

Next is Transforming Light. (TL, at the moment, is the name of both the “apostolate” as a whole and of the second level in the apostolate. This is for the “average Joe” Catholic who knows his faith fairly well and lives it fairly well. The emphasis here is essentially on providing leaven to the Church and society around those involved in it.

Lumen Gentium begins by suggesting that the light of Christ shines “brightly” on the countenance of the Church…In a “philosophical” sense, perhaps. Yes. In a practical sense, when we look around and examine the Church throughout the world today, one can’t help but be concerned about how little of Christ’s light really does shine forth from the Church in actuality. That needs to change. Jesus said he came to light a fire upon the earth and wished it were already burning. If God is willing, TL will do a great deal to “fan the flames” by consciously and intentionally combining a number of movements in the Church together that have been in the past and always should be integrated anyway.

The movements of which I speak are, for example, the marian movement, the charismatic movement, the evangelical movement, and the social justice movement in the Church. For some reason, many Catholics tend to be one and not any of the others. (And sometimes are even against all the others.) TL sees all of the listed elements as equally normative and one facet among many of which the universal Church and faith are constituted.

In this way, TL is a “comprehensive” and, in some ways, very basic (and yet therein very powerful), spirituality that should be able to readily exist on its own, or which can exist in conjunction with other forms of spirituality (i.e. Dominican, Benedictine, Regnum Christi, etc.) concurrently. In summation, it seeks to enhance - by bringing “catholicity” to - everyone’s spiritual life, bringing to all, in the end, the true fullness of faith.

The third and final level of TL is called, King of the Nations, after the title given to Jesus in Revelation 15:3. It is for those who are already well-grounded in their spirituality and who want to give living the faith and advancing the Kingdom their all. One might say that this is the “military” wing of the society - though one should be cautious in interpreting what exactly that means. It is more “exclusive” than TL and would not really “sync” with other forms of spirituality. It is a spirituality of its own, involving a daily routine of prayer, scripture reading, etc.

TL is neither “liberal”, nor “conservative”, neither traditional (in the sense that it perceives any developments in the Church or society after, say, the1500’s as being “bad” or “heterodox”) nor “progressive” in the sense that it perceives the opposite – that everything occurring before Vatican II is of no use or significance. It quite simply is “Catholic” in what this author perceives to be the best and fullest sense of the word.

This is but the beginning of what it is that Transforming Light is all about. What is above really speaks only to its spiritual aspect. There is plenty more (social, ministerial, political), all of which can essentially be boiled down to the purpose of both consecrating everything in creation to Christ, and to presenting every man mature in Christ. (Col. 1:28).

As for offering it to the local ordinary, as I understand it, not only is it acceptable to begin something like this without the Church’s permission, it is actually all but required. Canon law allows the faithful to get together and do “whatever whenever” basically (to grossly oversimplify). We just are not allowed to stamp the “officially Catholic” label on it until after canonical approval. The process of approval is only initiated something like 6 or 12 months after the group begins doing whatever it feels called to do.

So…Apparently my next step is in seeking out a handful of “likeminded” individuals that want to “do this” with me for a while and then take things from there. I have contemplated whether or not this group could be comprised of all internet participants and, at the moment, I’m not sure of what the answer is. (Practically, let alone canonically.)

And thus…???

As before, your prayers are requested and (name removed by moderator)ut welcome.

In Christ our King,

SK
 
Will there be a progression from Mustard Seed to Transforming Light to King of the Nations? How does one put oneself into one of the categories?
 
Spirithound,

Good questions. I have to say I misread your post the first time around, though, and thus I have answered your second question first and the first question last…(Good biblical principle, I suppose…👍 )

I envision it being up to each interested individual to place themselves, more or less. If someone is already “deeply spiritual”, but they want to only take part in Mustard Seed prayer meetings, etc…So be it. Their choice.

If, conversely, someone is just beginning a serious prayer life and they want to be at the King of the Nations level, shortly after trying to go to confession twice a month (or more), having to spend about three hours a week in adoration, etc., etc…They just won’t last. In fact, knowing the requirements ahead of time, they most likely won’t be interested in the first place. If you’ve had any experience trying to “surge” in your faith like that, you’ll know what I mean. 😉 It has to build over time, or you end up falling flat on your face.

Keep in mind additionally that TL is more “involved” than MS is and KN more than TL (if you follow my abbreviations there), not just spiritually but in every way (ministerially, etc.)

I envision MS being a simple matter of “simple” prayer meetings and basic teachings (Fr. Corapi style, for example) in some form or other - with an eye toward future “growth” and development. For the most part, that’s all. MS is a “fire starter”, if you will. A spark.

KN, on the other hand, would involve all kinds of different activities (some of which would not necessarily require “membership” in KN spirituality) potentially including political advocacy, “liturgical advocacy”, etc., etc… KN is definitely more complicated than MS and, thus, I don’t know that it would help a lot to provide many of its details right now. Suffice it to say it is much bigger and, more or less the ultimate aim of all.

Yes, the “concept” behind TL as a whole is recognizing and manifesting the growth of the human person, which, of course, comes gradually in stages. The are exceptions to every rule, but, generally, the idea is that one begins in MS (if they need to), then moves up to TL, and then to KN - at least as far as the level of maturity goes, etc.

Ideally, one day the whole world will be solid Catholics and MS (and maybe one day even TL) will thus no longer need to exist. But until then…

I hope this helps to clarify. If it does not, or if you have more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

SK
 
To give you an idea of one way in which TL (level 2) distinguishes itself from MS, and KN from TL, I re-post something I just wrote to someone in another thread regarding sexuality.

The Mustard Seed perspective on sexuality is very simple: Sex is for married couples. Period. It’s gravely immoral to use it otherwise. Heterosexual is good, homosexual is bad. Period.

A very simple, straightforward and accurate (if remedial and, really, “incomplete”) view. It is remedial and incomplete, but necessary to begin here, firmly grounded in God’s Law which is absolute.

The Transforming Light perspective appreciates that sexuality is a little more complex than this and that someone can be homosexually oriented, for example, but not sin in that orientation, just the same. Sex is reserved for marriage, but TL at least begins to understand that factors such as addiction play some role in mitigating the guilt in someone who struggles in overcoming what is objectively sinful behavior. It also begins to appreciate the “bigger picture” of sexuality, recognizing it as a gift from God, rather than a “scourge” that one has to deal with until they’re married - or their whole life if they’re single.

The King of the Nation’s perspective is at what we might call “the cutting edge”. It is same as the Mustard Seed and TL approach, just more fully developed. A sampling of it is detailed in the post I referenced above:

**[Poster],

I agree with you that sexuality is primarily physiological, though, it appears I may disagree with the conclusions one should draw from this.

Let me be clear from the outset that Catholic teaching is correct - sexual activity is properly exercised only by lawfully wedded spouses. If one has strong homosexual tendencies, this means that they need to live a chaste, committed single life either all their lives or until this is healed (if it is ever healed).

This established, sexual orientation is not black and white but a matter of some color and degree. It is normal, for example, for teenagers more than anyone else to experience strong transient homosexual feelings at various stages in their development. The nature of this is typically not spiritual (temptation from the devil - though, the devil may certainly attempt to exacerbate the temptation) but physiological. For reasons that I cannot articulate too well because I am not a scientist, homosexual “thoughts”, “desires”, etc. will continue to come and go throughout everyone’s life. The desires/thoughts are fleeting and simply not acknowledged by most (they don’t really need to be - what purpose would this serve?), but they’re there.

In many people, this is of no consequence. A thought different from the conventional comes, a thought goes and it’s very quickly on with life. But in others, these thoughts and feelings are not quite so transient. And I’m not referring to those who are fully homosexual.

To put this into numbers to illustrate - Most people are, in a real manner of speaking, not 100% heterosexual, but 99% or 99.5% heterosexual, that remaining .5 or 1%, as I mentioned, whistling through here, whistling through there, ultimately in a way that is of little to no signifcance. Then there are others with stronger tendencies, who are say, 90% heterosexual and 10% homosexual. Still others are 50/50 and yet others 99% homosexual and 1% heterosexual.

Some who have strong homosexual tendencies can be healed of these. Others cannot. I won’t bother getting into why in this particular thread (at least not now). Suffice it to say for now, [Poster], that what you need to do about this, and whether or not you need to disclose it to a potential spouse depends in large part on how much it really “compels” or bothers you. Knowing that sexuality is a matter of degree and that some homosexual thoughts and feelings here and there are normal, does this “free” you? Or are the thoughts and feelings you have strong enough that you are worried that life married to a woman would be unfulfilling?

Further more, at age 37 now, my first question to you would be - How has single life been for you thus far? If you’re living as chastely as you can and it’s been miserable, then, yes, I would continue to explore this issue in an attempt to seek resolution. But, if, on the other hand, at 37, you are actually quite happy with single life (and simply look at marriage because societal pressures suggest that you’re “supposed to”, you’re “not supposed to” be 37 and single), I would revisit that and consider remaining in a committed single state regardless of your issues of orientation.**

Does this effectively help to illustrate the difference in the three levels of Transforming Light?

SK
 
If I may comment briefly:

Of the three levels, it is MS that is the most “comfortable”, KN the least because MS is so simple and KN so much more complex. MS the most clearly delineated, KN the least (in a sense).

And yet, KN is also the most mature of the three approaches and, in that sense, the best and, in a real sense, strongest. Reality is what God has designed it to be and we are designed to, over time, develop a deeper and deeper understanding of those things which never change. Individuals and groups are able to do this in varying stages, some more or less quickly than others; some with greater or lesser “skill” than others. Transforming Light (the whole) keeps this in mind and works with this, first and foremost within its very nature, manifesting a three-tiered constitution as it does.

Hope this helps to further illustrate.

In Christ our King,

SK
 
For those still around and interested, I was reading Ephesians 4 the other day and thought that verses 4-16 were a very apt description of Transforming Light - King of the Nations in particular:

"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

"But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift…And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love.”

From the heart of the King,

SK
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top