Contemplation and Mysticism

[simple_soul]

Spiritual Direction is an ancient ministry and service. It’s not just Christian. It’s Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu and other. Why? Because through history, man has always aspired to reach the Origin, as St. Bonaventure calls God. Whether it’s through Christianity or other, the search is the same, says St. Bonaventure. Therefore, it has been a human practice to go to a master, to sit, listen, expose oneself, listen again.

In the Christian tradition of East and West, we focus on the eternal truth which is Jesus Christ. Because the fulness of Truth subsists in the Catholic Church (East and West together) we understand something that these other traditions do not. Hopefully, they will get there some day, but not today. That’s another story.

We understand the Mystical Body. We know that Christ reveals himself to the Body, not to one person alone. That’s why Paul tells us that Scripture is not for private interpretation. He was speaking to the people of his time about a reality, God speaks through us, not through me. God speaks to us through us. The Spiritual Director serves as the master and guide, just as in any other faith tradition, but we know something else. That is that we, the spiritual director and the directee, are part of the same Mystical Body and Christ promised to be present where two or three were gathered in his name.

Spiritual Director must be a man or woman who is well versed in the spiritual life. Some are well trained in Spiritual Theology, as I have said. However, other people have a natural gift for it. There is no need to ask someone for their degree and grades in theology to use them as a director. **What is important is that there is a chemistry between you and the director. If there is no chemistry, it will be harder to open up to someone that you don’t trust or that does not make you feel comfortable. It is also very important that this person be well formed in moral theology, because so much of our spiritual life is about matters of conscience. **To conclude, the spiritual director servers two functions. He/she is the master/guide, as in all faith traditions. Secondly, together with us, he discerns. Because Christ speaks to us through us.

Even the great saints did not go at it alone. They always had a spiritual director. The spiritual director has a spiritual director and as you go outward, you become part of a web called the Church. It may be you and the director alone in a space, but you’re really part of a Body.

Why would anyone want to seek Christ and want to be in communion with others? The relationship with the Church through a spiritual director just makes sense.

Put aside the Traditionalist, liberal, orthodox, neo-whatever labels. The spiritual life is not about labels. It’s about a journey. There is a wonderful book written by St. Bonaventure in which he describes the journey of St. Francis’ soul. But it has become a classic in spiritual direction, because Francis’ journey is really the journey of every soul. It’s called the Itinerarium or The Soul’s Journey Into the Mind of God. You can find it online.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Br. Jay, this is a beautiful post. Not having been raised with any real knowledge or understanding of spiritual directors or the purpose for them this is very insightful information.
Regarding the part that I emphasized I recently found this out. I had been seeing a Spiritual Director for few months and even though it did seem to help in some ways I was finding it really difficult to open up. I wanted to pour my heart out but I always felt so guarded. I was thinking it had something to do with me so I keep trying to push myself. But then I remembered something she said in our last meeting and something you had said or I read someplace on CAF about having to find the right match for a spiritual director so I started wondering that maybe we were just not a good match. I started getting discouraged with not being able to completely open up and I always felt, even though I received a lot of useful insight and guidance, that it was somehow incomplete or missing something. I kept telling myself I needed to have patience so that is why I keep trying, hoping and praying I will start being more comfortable with them. While I was trying to figure this all out I got a phone call from a retired priest friend of mine wanting to talk to me about an unrelated matter and in the coarse of our conversation I discovered he did Spiritual Direction so I started to talk to him about my difficulty of being able to pour my heart out and in the coarse of our conversation I asked him if he could be my Spiritual Director and asked if I could come by and talk to him. He said sure so I jumped into the car and drove right over there, children and all, and all I can say is I believe it was very fruitful and providential. I was finally able to pour out things I just could not seem to tell the original spiritual director about. In being able to do this I was able to get the feed back I needed and I was able to accept and put to rest a few things. Because I was able to do this I believe I can now move forward. It really does make a huge difference.
For my next visit I am going to keep in mind some of what you shared in this post. I believe it is good to know and understand more of the reasons behind it. Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Celticnovice]

“If you are a theologian you truly pray. If you truly pray you are a theologian.” -Evagrius Ponticus

 

[FurtherSuntime]

I think you missed the entire paragraph.

I’m speaking about men and women who did not see visions, but were deeply inspired by God to bring a message to the world. The message was delivered in the context of an intense life of prayer. There is nothing erroneous about that. In fact, it’s a very common concept in Christian Spirituality. God speaks through prayer. The extraordinary events are just that, extraordinary. They are not the usual means that God uses to speak to man. Whereas, prayer is an ordinary means. You may find the Franciscan mystics very interesting in this regard. They focus a great deal on the relationship of prayer and mission.

You may enjoy Journey of the Mind into God, The Third Spiritual Alphabet, and The Disciple and the Master or the essays of St. Maximilian Kolbe. They’re probably more clear than I am explaining the relationship between prayer and mission or being sent with a message to the world.

We have to be very careful not to be too quick to jump and accuse another person of error. The better way to approach such a situation is to ask for a clarification. Often, the problem is one of language. Either the speaker was not clear enough, because he assumes that his audience understands or the audience misunderstood the speaker. When we jump to accuse, we cut off the channel of dialogue. The Church does not operate that way. She tries to understand by asking as many questions as possible and answering as many as possible.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Thankyou and firstly I am not aware of whether or not you are an ordained Priest. I have a rule for myself and do not speak to Priests where I believe an arguement is possible. I’m comfortable with that by means of readings from the Dialog, many years ago.

Also in Jose Balleguer.opus dei, the message is very clear, we can consecrate our work to God as a “prayer”.creating in fact a true prayer.To clarify, it seems wrong to myself to alledge that intence prayer which you do not define,is somehow a preferred plateau in worthiness. This is the implication that I am understanding from your writings Intense implies obsessive without meaning due to bulk or other unatural effort. The word Intense also suggests a frustration which is determined out of forceable stubborness, to achieve something otherwise not obtainable through natural means.

Intence is determined.

So my question is determined for what …To express a natural love for God , or a forced impatient need for recognition.?
Intensity is impatience towards an end goal. In other words how can we be received by God, in an impatient intensity ?Self patience is very important.and reflects a peaceful and harmonious existence showing a peaceful togetherness with God. I feel this is a very fair and good question. I fear we are not on the same page

thankyou and if your an ordained Priest which I have no idea what the Br stands for, I do not wish
to argue .
.

 

[JReducation]

Thankyou and firstly I am not aware of whether or not you are an ordained Priest. I have a rule for myself and do not speak to Priests where I believe an arguement is possible. I’m comfortable with that by means of readings from the Dialog, many years ago.

Also in Jose Balleguer.opus dei, the message is very clear, we can consecrate our work to God as a “prayer”.creating in fact a true prayer.To clarify, it seems wrong to myself to alledge that intence prayer which you do not define,is somehow a preferred plateau in worthiness. This is the implication that I am understanding from your writings Intense implies obsessive without meaning due to bulk or other unatural effort. The word Intense also suggests a frustration which is determined out of forceable stubborness, to achieve something otherwise not obtainable through natural means.

Intence is determined.

So my question is determined for what …To express a natural love for God , or a forced impatient need for recognition.?
Intensity is impatience towards an end goal. In other words how can we be received by God, in an impatient intensity ?Self patience is very important.and reflects a peaceful and harmonious existence. I feel this is a very fair and good question. I fear we are not on the same page

thankyou and if your an ordained Priest which I have no idea what the Br stands for, I do not wish
to argue .
.

I see the problem here. No, the word “intense” or the expression “intense prayer” is used in Spiritual Theology to describe a life of constant prayer.

If it were obsessive, it would be a pathalogy, not a virtue.

Intense prayer, on the other hand, is the placing of self in the constant presence of God, whether one is on his knees in front of the tabernacle, at liturgy, at recollection or at work.

St. Jose Maria describes the latter very well. He speaks of taking the ordinary and turning it into prayer. He’s referring to the work of daily life, whatever that may be for each of us. In other words, one does not have to stop praying because we have to teach, go to the office, take care of the kids, walk the dog, etc. Those daily duties can be done as prayer when we offer them to the Lord and we do them for the Lord. Therefore, we do them to the best of our ability. It’s not always going to be perfect, but it should always be the best that we can do.

St. Jose Maria is thinking along the same lines as St. Benedict, St. Francis and St. Therese. Benedict use the term “ora et labora” (pray and work). Francis said, “Everyone shall work, for the Lord also worked.” Therese said, “Do the small things with great love.” All of them were raising the intent of work. Work ceases to be an end in itself, and becomes another means to achieve holiness. In that sense, it becomes part of our life of prayer. The classic definition of prayer is raising the mind and heart to God. One can do this while washing the car too. Don’t stop when you put down your rosary.

Does that help?

As to your other question, no I’m not a priest. I’m a religious. In our community everyone is Brother, ordained or not. We don’t distinguish. Actually, in the entire Franciscan family there is no distinction. In the 20th century, people began to call ordained brothers, Father, because they were used to doing that with other priests. It stuck.

Today, the movement is to go back to the roots of the order. Some Franciscan communities use Brother, others use Friar and some just go with the flow, because it’s not a major issue as long as the ordained are not singularized.

You will find Franciscans who are not ordained but are theologians, spiritual directors, parish administrators, superiors, novice masters, formators, medical doctors, teachers, etc.

You will also find ordained Franciscans who are writers, parish priests, confessors, directors of soup kitchens, running homeless shelters, doing street ministry, on mission teams.

And everyone gets to do laundry, cook, scrub floors, and whatever else it takes to run the house and the ministry.

For example, I was a superior. Now I’m on the formation team and I teach spiritual theology to those in formation and I run a diocesan formation ministry for men in crisis pregnancies, teach and preach. Since I’ve done a lot of teaching, when I joined CAF I couldn’t think of a really snazzy name, so I chose my initials and education, hence JReducation.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[odile53]

Thank you, Brother Jay, for your insights on contemplation and mysticism. I had pretty much left the mystics alone for a long time, preferring the well-worn path of the usual Catholic spirituality that many lay people follow (Mass, occasional Adoration, the rosary) because I found the insights (and sometimes even the near-archaic language) of the mystics confusing at best. Years and years ago, however, while attending Fordham for my fine arts degree, I became aware of the Spiritual Exercises, but my work schedule and my school schedule prevented me from doing anything with them other than praying the Examen twice daily. That worked for a long, long time.

When I retired from my first career, after a bad leg injury, I picked up a book of the Spiritual Exercises and read it partly through. Maybe it was the leg injury that made me feel something in common with St. Ignatius, I don’t know for sure. Once again, the Exercises sounded like a lot of mumbo-jumbo to me. I put that book down, and it got packed up and made a move with me when I came to the western part of the state. It sat unopened, either in the packing box or on my bookshelf, for another ten years or so.

The peculiar thing was in the interim I had gotten a volume of Lives of the Saints, and read it. I’ve always been a history buff. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) “Lives” tremendously, and get a good feeling when I read them. Much better than reading an escapist novel or other junk that passes for literature nowadays. Hmm–wasn’t reading “Lives” the way Ignatius got started?

In any case, I recently did start the Spiritual Exercises, 19th annotation, under direction, and am finding it very useful in cultivating a closer relationship with God. I don’t know if what I’m doing is contemplative, I’m really not sophisticated enough to figure that out yet. But this is certainly prayer on a more intensive and personal level than I’ve ever done before.

I suppose, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

 

[holmj2674]

What exactly are you talking about by introducing two examples of apparitions and then saying

…“This wouldn’t happen without an intense life of prayer”…

Of course we all know many stories, one of course is the Fatima story where the three children before seeing the initial angel, were actually missing a decade or two in their daily rosary.
The beautiful story goes on to be one of the most magnificent miracles known to mankind.

As we know, at that time and in keeping with many other such occasions in these heavenly visits , there would have been litterally thousands of existing Monks, Nuns in what you explain to be"intense life of prayer"
Obviously due to the nature of a full six apparitions in the Fatima story as well the last rather large showing, an emphasis on validity was not an issue relative to heavens design in the whole given happening. Location also was not an issue. The only issue left is “who” the seer’s would ultimately be.
The array of mystics would have been countless, this is true in other factual enlightenments as well.
You have made a direct statement on behalf of your translation of the Church which represents God which is clearly in errorand absolutely false and misleading. in many ill-understood ways.

The only way such an error could take place is by not knowing what the soul is comprised of and simply guessing the relevence of mystical life relative to the actual qualitative value of the soul…
What is your description of the soul and the relationship with both the conscious and unconscious mind, include conscience, the immediate will, free will & grace.

Before gathering an answer of above , don’t forget the quote" We must become as childen to enter the Kingdom"

I am very disturbed with the comprehension level in this forum. The biological immediate will ego… is alive and well. I am winding down my posts here as the exchange in context has become adamant in error in spite of logic…

The telling componant of your entry is that the bulk of the communication had nothing what so ever to do with my question or topic and everything to do with setting up your illogical
false summation

“This wouldn’t happen without an intense life of prayer”…

Thankyou

This is what I do not understand, It seems many Catholics who take for themselves the title of traditionalist completely dismiss any form of mystical contemplation as some sort of affront on their overly rigid scholastic construct of Catholicism. This is a tradition backed up by hundreds of years of church experience. It seems that the basic belief is that to want to desire a profound relationship with our lord and savior is egotistical and therefore sinful, so we should be happy reciting rote prayers and other dry dogmatic formulas lest we wander form the straight and narrow path of lay spirituality reserved for those of us who are not privileged enough to experience visions of the blessed virgin.
If all the saints believed this Christianity would be a dead religion. Theresa of Avila was very adamant that contemplation was for every one, not just the mystics, and thank God many in the church today call each of us to our human destiny of a greater union with the indwelling trinity.
This is not what attracted me to Catholicism and this is not a Catholicism I have any interest in practicing. I am glad there are religious out there at least who understand the Christian life is more than a long list of do’s and don’ts and for that I am very grateful.

 

[JReducation]

Thank you, Brother Jay, for your insights on contemplation and mysticism. I had pretty much left the mystics alone for a long time, preferring the well-worn path of the usual Catholic spirituality that many lay people follow (Mass, occasional Adoration, the rosary) because I** found the insights (and sometimes even the near-archaic language) of the mystics confusing at best.** Years and years ago, however, while attending Fordham for my fine arts degree, I became aware of the Spiritual Exercises, but my work schedule and my school schedule prevented me from doing anything with them other than praying the Examen twice daily. That worked for a long, long time.

When I retired from my first career, after a bad leg injury, I picked up a book of the Spiritual Exercises and read it partly through. Maybe it was the leg injury that made me feel something in common with St. Ignatius, I don’t know for sure. **Once again, the Exercises sounded like a lot of mumbo-jumbo to me. ** I put that book down, and it got packed up and made a move with me when I came to the western part of the state. It sat unopened, either in the packing box or on my bookshelf, for another ten years or so.

The peculiar thing was in the interim I had gotten a volume of Lives of the Saints, and read it. I’ve always been a history buff. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) “Lives” tremendously, and get a good feeling when I read them. Much better than reading an escapist novel or other junk that passes for literature nowadays. Hmm–wasn’t reading “Lives” the way Ignatius got started?

In any case, I recently did start the Spiritual Exercises, 19th annotation, under direction, and am finding it very useful in cultivating a closer relationship with God. I don’t know if what I’m doing is contemplative, I’m really not sophisticated enough to figure that out yet. But this is certainly prayer on a more intensive and personal level than I’ve ever done before.
I suppose, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.

I bolded the parts that put a smile on my face. When I first went to get my STL, which is a post master’s degree in theology, I chose to major in Spiritual Theology. For about a month I kept asking this Dominican Friar who sat nex to me, "What does this mean?’ Silly me, I was thinking that being a Dominican he would understand better than I. He would just look at me and say, “It’s Chinese to me.” I can understand how some of these writings sound like mumble jumble.

Part of the problem is with the writing itself, not with you. It was another time in history. Language was used differently. Many of these writings were in very bad Latin or in the emerging European languages. We have to remember that these men and women often had infused knowledge, not PhDs. Someonelike Catherine of Siena never went to school. She did not know how to read and write. Her writings are dictated. The scribe wrote in a form of Latin that was really more Italian. The translations are very hard to do well. But reading the original Latin is not always helpful, unless you know the idiomatic expressions and the vocabulary of the day.

The other part of this is the need to walk through them with someone. It is always much more helpful. As you go through it, you don’t realize that you’re going deeper and deeper into prayer and contemplation. The spiritual guide is much more aware of what’s happening, because he’s not in the barrel with you.

This is what I do not understand, It seems many Catholics who take for themselves the title of traditionalist completely dismiss any form of mystical contemplation as some sort of affront on their overly rigid scholastic construct of Catholicism. This is a tradition backed up by hundreds of years of church experience. It seems that the basic belief is that to want to desire a profound relationship with our lord and savior is egotistical and therefore sinful, so we should be happy reciting rote prayers and other dry dogmatic formulas lest we wander form the straight and narrow path of lay spirituality reserved for those of us who are not privileged enough to experience visions of the blessed virgin.
If all the saints believed this Christianity would be a dead religion. Theresa of Avila was very adamant that contemplation was for every one, not just the mystics, and thank God many in the church today call each of us to our human destiny of a greater union with the indwelling trinity.
This is not what attracted me to Catholicism and this is not a Catholicism I have any interest in practicing. I am glad there are religious out there at least who understand the Christian life is more than a long list of do’s and don’ts and for that I am very grateful.

You are very right. The contemplative life is for everyone. Teresa of Avila was very adamant that one need not have miracles and mystical experiences to be a contemplative. In fact, she stressed the importance of ignoring them. Which was interestingin itself, because she always learned a great deal from her experiences. I can understand what she means when she encourages one to ignore them. She wants to make sure that you understand that the real prayer is the dialogue between two friends, to use her language. If we follow her description, it’s like a dialogue between lovers. The more you engage, the more you want to continue. What she teaches us is to continue to pray, even when we’re doing the daily routine, but never forget to take time for solitude and silence with the Lord.

Sometimes, reading the biographies of these spiritual masters helps us understand their writings, because we understand their life.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[TrueLight]

mission.

You may enjoy Journey of the Mind into God, The Third Spiritual Alphabet, and The Disciple and the Master or the essays of St. Maximilian Kolbe. They’re probably more clear than I am explaining the relationship between prayer and mission or being sent with a message to the world.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

I just ordered Journey of the Mind into God and Imitation of Christ.

My Catholic Library is expanding. May they enrich my spiritual life!

 

[holmj2674]

You can never go wrong with The Imitation of Christ. A book that I have found very helpful in my limited (but expanding) readind of the mystics is Fire Within, about St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

 

[TrueLight]

You can never go wrong with The Imitation of Christ. A book that I have found very helpful in my limited (but expanding) readind of the mystics is Fire Within, about St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.

Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[JReducation]

I just ordered Journey of the Mind into God and Imitation of Christ.

My Catholic Library is expanding. May they enrich my spiritual life!

I love the Immitation of Christ, but I never recommend it to a beginner. There is one unfortunate detail in the Immitation. It does not give you a background. Each reflection is free standing. People often take them very literally, not knowing that Kempis was a monk and that he uses many literary tools, symbols, allegories and terms that were very clear to the monks of his day and not so clear to us today.

You may want to go online and read a little about the Cluniac Reform before you dive into Kempis. Once you understand the world in which he lived, then you can really get the flavor of what he’s saying. He was a genius.

My guess is that he never expected that his little reflections would be read by anyone other than monks, because he does not offer an explanation for his more complex ideas. There is an a priori assumption that the reader undestands.

Teresa of Avila did this in The Way of Perfection. She wrote it for nuns. Today, it’s read by everyone. Anyone who is not a Carmelite nun will miss certain nuances and not always understand certain points. When you read her life story and a little about the Discacled Carmelites, you get one of those :newidea: moments.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[jmj1984]

I just ordered Journey of the Mind into God and Imitation of Christ.

My Catholic Library is expanding. May they enrich my spiritual life!

It’s a hell of a read, I only read about 40 pages or so and then gave up. I may pick it up later, but at the moment i’m reading the ‘Rule of St Benedict’ its a small book but picks a hell of a punch

 

[JReducation]

It’s a hell of a read, I only read about 40 pages or so and then gave up. I may pick it up later, but at the moment i’m reading the ‘Rule of St Benedict’ its a small book but picks a hell of a punch

The Rule of St. Benedict is much easier to read than the Journey of the Soul Into the Mind of God. What Benedict does is to layout a way of life, hence the word “rule”. It was a a measure. You measure your daily life against this rule. It’s a wonderful work and a masterpiece on Theology of Obedience. Benedict teaches us how to obey and why we must obey. He lays down the foundation for the theology of obedience that the other great masters would build on.

He also does something else. He teaches you how to be charitable. We often live inside of our heads when it comes to charity. We have these abstract concepts that when they are applied are almost inhuman, because they fall short on mercy and kindness. But Benedict’s rules on hospitality, if you examine them carefully, are telling us that one opens the door to all people without judging them. Hence that whole idea of hate the sin and love the sinner. But Benedict tells you that love is kind in deed, in word, and in purpose. With Benedict, there is room for such ideas as, “I can flatten that person for his own good, in order to lead him to Truth.” Benedict would be horrified at such a thought.

He believed in discipline and in consequences for our actions, be he also had a very strong sense of justice in his rule. Only those who have been given the authority to dish out such thrashing that flattens a person in error, have the right to do so. In our sense of charity has become distorted, because we have forgotten justice. We believe that we can beat someone up because they are in error, forgetting that we may not be the person who has the right to do so. There is where Benedict introduces the whole concept of fraternal correction. The brother corrects the brother, but he does not belittle him, embarrass him, scold him, or make him suffer in any way. Only the abbot and those in authority can subscribe to anythign stronger than an admonition. In justice. only they have been given that authority.

The Itinerarium (Journey of the Soul) is much more difficult to read, because Bonaventure is navigating inside the soul of another person. He’s not speaking hypothetically. He tells you at the very beginning that this is the journey of Francis of Assisi into the Mind of God. Then he tells you that he’s going to lay it out, because this is the journey that all of us must make.

To appreciate Bonaventure, you have to understand the following.

He is a Franciscan.

Franciscans, no matter which branch of the order and which century, have a love affair with their father.

Francis taught his sons that his way to perfection had not been revealed to him by any man, but by the Holy Spirit and that the Church had confirmed it.

It is very clear that this journey, along with Francis, is rooted in the Lord revealed to him about himself, through the scripture and the Church confirms it when she says that there is nothing contrary to the faith in his teaching.

Franciscan theology is Trinitarian and Marian. We respond to the Trinity as Mary did. In other words, our goal is to reach the Father. We follow Jesus Christ who is the way to the Father. We rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us follow Christ. We take this lesson from Mary. This is her journey, which become very evident in the infancy narratives. She serves the Father, by acceptint to conceive the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You’re going to see a lot of reference ot the First Principle.

Life is a journey back to the First Principle.

Bonaventure’s language is very scholastic.

Unlike Aquinas, his buddy, Bonaventure takes the path of Francis. Aquinas takes the path of Dominic. Francis seeks God out in love and seeks to serve him in love. Dominic seeks God out in reason and seeks to serve him in Truth.

Therefore, the Itinerarium is written for the common man. It is meant to show the common man how to get to know God through love. It’s not meant to be analyzed, but to be taken at face value.

However, because we are 800 years removed from its origins, we have to analyze it to understand. An analysis of the Itinerarium requires a basic understanding of Franciscan spirituality and Franciscan thought. Franciscan thought is not that complex. It’s actually very simple.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[TrueLight]

I love the Immitation of Christ, but I never recommend it to a beginner. There is one unfortunate detail in the Immitation. It does not give you a background. Each reflection is free standing. People often take them very literally, not knowing that Kempis was a monk and that he uses many literary tools, symbols, allegories and terms that were very clear to the monks of his day and not so clear to us today.

You may want to go online and read a little about the Cluniac Reform before you dive into Kempis. Once you understand the world in which he lived, then you can really get the flavor of what he’s saying. He was a genius.

My guess is that he never expected that his little reflections would be read by anyone other than monks, because he does not offer an explanation for his more complex ideas. There is an a priori assumption that the reader undestands.

Teresa of Avila did this in The Way of Perfection. She wrote it for nuns. Today, it’s read by everyone. Anyone who is not a Carmelite nun will miss certain nuances and not always understand certain points. When you read her life story and a little about the Discacled Carmelites, you get one of those :newidea: moments.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

I know what you’re saying but I am not a beginner when it comes to spirituality. I was raised as a Christian. I’m a beginner when it comes to purely Catholic teaching, like penance. Something I never encountered as a Protestant.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I read that book a long time ago. I just don’t remember it in detail.

 

[jmj1984]

The Rule of St. Benedict is much easier to read than the Journey of the Soul Into the Mind of God. What Benedict does is to layout a way of life, hence the word “rule”. It was a a measure. You measure your daily life against this rule. It’s a wonderful work and a masterpiece on Theology of Obedience. Benedict teaches us how to obey and why we must obey. He lays down the foundation for the theology of obedience that the other great masters would build on.

He also does something else. He teaches you how to be charitable. We often live inside of our heads when it comes to charity. We have these abstract concepts that when they are applied are almost inhuman, because they fall short on mercy and kindness. But Benedict’s rules on hospitality, if you examine them carefully, are telling us that one opens the door to all people without judging them. Hence that whole idea of hate the sin and love the sinner. But Benedict tells you that love is kind in deed, in word, and in purpose. With Benedict, there is room for such ideas as, “I can flatten that person for his own good, in order to lead him to Truth.” Benedict would be horrified at such a thought.

He believed in discipline and in consequences for our actions, be he also had a very strong sense of justice in his rule. Only those who have been given the authority to dish out such thrashing that flattens a person in error, have the right to do so. In our sense of charity has become distorted, because we have forgotten justice. We believe that we can beat someone up because they are in error, forgetting that we may not be the person who has the right to do so. There is where Benedict introduces the whole concept of fraternal correction. The brother corrects the brother, but he does not belittle him, embarrass him, scold him, or make him suffer in any way. Only the abbot and those in authority can subscribe to anythign stronger than an admonition. In justice. only they have been given that authority.

The Itinerarium (Journey of the Soul) is much more difficult to read, because Bonaventure is navigating inside the soul of another person. He’s not speaking hypothetically. He tells you at the very beginning that this is the journey of Francis of Assisi into the Mind of God. Then he tells you that he’s going to lay it out, because this is the journey that all of us must make.

To appreciate Bonaventure, you have to understand the following.

He is a Franciscan.

Franciscans, no matter which branch of the order and which century, have a love affair with their father.

Francis taught his sons that his way to perfection had not been revealed to him by any man, but by the Holy Spirit and that the Church had confirmed it.

It is very clear that this journey, along with Francis, is rooted in the Lord revealed to him about himself, through the scripture and the Church confirms it when she says that there is nothing contrary to the faith in his teaching.

Franciscan theology is Trinitarian and Marian. We respond to the Trinity as Mary did. In other words, our goal is to reach the Father. We follow Jesus Christ who is the way to the Father. We rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help us follow Christ. We take this lesson from Mary. This is her journey, which become very evident in the infancy narratives. She serves the Father, by acceptint to conceive the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

You’re going to see a lot of reference ot the First Principle.

Life is a journey back to the First Principle.

Bonaventure’s language is very scholastic.

Unlike Aquinas, his buddy, Bonaventure takes the path of Francis. Aquinas takes the path of Dominic. Francis seeks God out in love and seeks to serve him in love. Dominic seeks God out in reason and seeks to serve him in Truth.

Therefore, the Itinerarium is written for the common man. It is meant to show the common man how to get to know God through love. It’s not meant to be analyzed, but to be taken at face value.

However, because we are 800 years removed from its origins, we have to analyze it to understand. An analysis of the Itinerarium requires a basic understanding of Franciscan spirituality and Franciscan thought. Franciscan thought is not that complex. It’s actually very simple.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

I meant the Imitation of Christ But you’re response has given me a reason to seek out ‘Journey of the soul Into the Mind of God’

 

[jmj1984]

In fact, I’m pretty sure I read that book a long time ago. I just don’t remember what it was about.

The title says it all

 

[TrueLight]

The title says it all

You’re too quick! I revised the post.

 

[JReducation]

The title says it all

I know what you’re saying but I am not a beginner when it comes to spirituality. I was raised as a Christian. I’m a beginner when it comes to purely Catholic teaching, like penance. Something I never encountered as a Protestant.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I read that book a long time ago. I just don’t remember it in detail.

I agree with JMJ. The Immitation is not about anything. It does not have a thesis as do other writings in spirituality. It’s a series of reflections about everything that comes up on our journey. I’m not even sure if Kempis called it The Immitation of Christ. I think that title may have been given by someone else. The title is taken from his introductory reflection. You can’t give it a better one, because he doesn’t stay on one subject. Its beauty is that each reflection is free standing. You don’t have to read it from cover to cover. You can open to whatever topic is necessary for you that day. It’s not like you miss something if you open up #24 without reading the first 23 entries.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[jmj1984]

You’re too quick! I revised the post.

haha, fair enough.

Nice signature picture btw

 

[jm0rr0w]

I haven’t started reading a lot of Bonaventure yet, but I was referred to a book called Simply Bonaventure: An Introduction to His Life Thought and Writings by Sister Ilia Delio, OSF.

Sister Ilia has studied St. Bonaventure extensively and I hear her book is very good. She gave a series of presentations at the SFO annual regional gathering in my area last month. My brain is still trying to comprehend the massive amounts of information she presented.