205- Are We Always Aware that We Contemplate?

Summary: in this article a fundamental tool of discernment is explained that helps avoid confusing a common belief that when God gives us his graces we normally feel them. The difference between uncreated grace (which falls in the spirit only) and created grace (which falls in the soul/body area only) is explained using also an anthropological diagram showing the spirit (above consciousness) and soul-body (consciousness). Two texts from St. Teresa vividly illustrate the necessity for discernment.

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There is a very important point of discernment in Spiritual Life. Without it much confusion reigns in our spiritual life and it can lead to disastrous results.

Where does the grace of God work essentially? It works essentially and directly in our spirit which is the highest part of our soul (see diagram where spirit is the top of the mountain beyond the clouds, and the sun represents God). This part is above our consciousness. We can’t feel directly what God is doing in our spirit. Think of the moment when you receive Communion when you receive the very Divine Nature of Jesus also, it acts directly in the deepest roots of your being, or the highest ones, but you don’t feel the very Nature of God. You know, by faith, that you received Him. Now, exactly what does occur in the soul (mind, imagination and emotions) and the body (senses)? God might allow some created crumbs of his grace to fall into any of these regions, and therefore we become aware of something. However, we are never aware directly of what He is doing in our spirit. This area can’t be directly reached by our conscious part. The latter is in fact our soul and our body (see diagram below, all that is below the clouds). The divine food that falls in each “container” is very different.

Diagram: “spirit” (supra-consciousness) and “soul-body” (consciousness)

What falls in the body is a created grace, with the same dimensions and consistency of the body. It is a created grace. The same for the soul: emotions, imagination and mind. What falls in each of these faculties is still a created grace. Certainly, the higher the faculty the “pricier” the grace. But all these graces that fall into the conscious part (soul and body) are all created.

The essence of any given grace is mainly and essentially given to the spirit (or heart), which is above consciousness, closer to God himself. Our spirit is the only part of our being that can receive God himself, in his uncreated very nature. And this is what matters. To sense with our sense, feel with our emotions, or see with our imagination or with our mind remains secondary and created. What is needed is the essence of God’s Grace. The rest is given to us when He wants and in the way He thinks is better for us. And if He doesn’t give it, it doesn’t mean that He is not necessarily pouring his Grace into our spirit. He might very well be doing so, especially if we are doing his will, and do our best to be recollected and pray.

Some persons mix/confuse “consolations” or the palpable support that God gives us in the conscious part (soul and body) with the Grace itself. They therefore tend spontaneously to think that if they don’t receive any grace (translate this by: they don’t feel any created grace falling in their conscious part) they conclude that God is not giving himself to them and therefore something must be wrong. Many fall into the trap of what is a lack of proper discernment, or apply in an amateur way some rules used in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, which are to be used only within the Exercises. This is grace and causes a great deal of suffering, doubts, feelings of going in circles, or even of regressing.

Suffering: because in some cases the persons are doing their maximum, and they want to please God with all their soul and feel that they are not realising this goal and feel out of their depth.

Doubts: some think that since their way of praying and leading their Christian life is not working. They doubt their faith or choices.

Going in Circles: since they are attached to created palpable graces, and they are not receiving them, they go into a new circle, asking for them, receiving them mildly, and continue endlessly. God wants to elevate them, and therefore needs to stop giving them consolations so they can activate the necessary acts of Faith, Hope and Love, but He can’t do so, because they immediately think that they are going backwards! Absence of consolations is not seen as progress by them, but rather regression.

Regressing: thinking that something is not right, not finding it, they might even start to stop praying, start to abandon their new spiritual life and go backwards to their previous life.

The great and unparalleled master for true discernment in this precise field is St. John of the Cross. He explains the different stages of growth, showing that after a period of consolations, God often offers a mixed period, alternating some consolations with longer periods of aridity. Then after that, when He sees the human being well rooting in His Will, He then starts to stop almost completely the consolations and offers even tougher purifications where the persons see themselves under a very negative (sinful) light. All this is progress, and is totally positive. If we don’t have this discernment, we will continue to confuse spirit and soul, the action of God in our spirit and in our soul-body and will continue to be convinced that any grace that God gives us must be felt, or sensed or seen and therefore is a good sign that we are on the right track doing God’s will, mixing uncreated Grace with created Grace. In sum they will think that if they don’t receive any palpable grace from God, something is wrong and that they need to mend their ways.

St. Teresa of Avila teaches the deepest way of praying which is the Prayer of the Heart, and in doing so, she talks about God’s action in us, Contemplation. In doing so, she addresses the same issue: do we have to feel, sense or see Contemplation? And what if this is not so? Her teaching brings an important light to the fore: it shows that one can be a true contemplative i.e. receiving all the necessary graces meant for our growth and union with Jesus, and at the same time not feel necessarily anything, or very little. She talks about a great servant of God she knew who was perplexed, not knowing what to do, because she wanted badly “contemplation” so very much (i.e. the supernatural action of God in her) but she wasn’t feeling anything, no exterior signs! She was also using a very basic way of prayer: i.e. just vocal prayers (like the Divine Office, Rosary, saying other prayers vocally), and couldn’t stay silent without saying vocal prayers, reading and saying her prayers. The fact that the great St. Teresa of Avila addresses this issue, see below, and sheds a light on it is very consoling and enlightening for us.

One has to say that this discernment applies in all areas in our spiritual (except Lectio Divina, because through it we are supposed to understand clearly, with our conscious mind, what God wants us to do). Progressing spiritually, doesn’t necessarily imply that we feel it. One can be very well united with Jesus in spiritual marriage and not know it. It is just up to the Spiritual Director to give the right advice. We are not always supposed to know where we are, but we need to have the correct guidance and have a check-up from time to time.

Let us now read some extracts from St. Teresa of Avila speaking about the perception or not of Contemplation (i.e. the supernatural action of God in us). Here are two passages extracted from her book Way of Perfection where she answers the desire of her Nuns to teach them Contemplation.

First Text: Way of Perfection Chapter 17

“I seem now to be beginning my treatment of prayer, but there still remains a little for me to say, which is of great importance because it has to do with humility, and in this house that is necessary. For humility is the principal virtuewhich must be practised by those who pray, and, as I have said, it is very fitting that you should try to learn how to practise it often: that is one of the chief things to remember about it and it is very necessary that it should be known by all who practise prayer. […] I do not say this without good reason, for, as I have said, it is very important for us to realise that God does not lead us all by the same road, and perhaps she who believes herself to be going along the lowest of roads is the highest in the Lord's eyes. […] I myself spent over fourteen years without ever being able to meditate except while reading. There must be many people like this, and others who cannot meditate even after reading, but can only recite vocal prayers, in which they chiefly occupy themselves and take a certain pleasure. Some find their thoughts wandering so much that they cannot concentrate upon the same thing, but are always restless, to such an extent that, if they try to fix their thoughts upon God, they are attacked by a thousand foolish ideas and scruples and doubts concerning the Faith.

I know a very old woman, leading a most excellent life -- I wish mine were like hers -- a penitent and a great servant of God, who for many years has been spending hours and hours in vocal prayer, but from mental prayer can get no help at all; the most she can do is to dwell upon each of her vocal prayers as she says them. There are a great many other people just like this; if they are humble, they will not, I think, be any the worse off in the end, but very much in the same state as those who enjoy numerous consolations. In one way they may feel safer, for we cannot tell if consolations come from God or are sent by the devil. If they are not of God, they are the more dangerous; for the chief object of the devil's work on earth is to fill us with pride. If they are of God, there is no reason for fear, for they bring humility with them, as I explained in my other book at great length.

These others walk in humility, and always suspect that if they fail to receive consolations the fault is theirs, and are always most anxious to make progress. They never see a person shedding a tear without thinking themselves very backward in God's service unless they are doing the same, whereas they may perhaps be much more advanced. For tears, though good, are not invariably signs of perfection; there is always greater safety in humility, mortification, detachment and other virtues. There is no reason for fear, and you must not be afraid that you will fail to attain the perfection of the greatest contemplatives.

[…] Reflect that true humility consists to a great extent in being ready for what the Lord desires to do with you and happy that He should do it, and in always considering yourselves unworthy to be called His servants. If contemplation and mental and vocal prayer and tending the sick and serving in the house and working at even the lowliest tasks are of service to the Guest who comes to stay with us and to eat and take His recreation with us, what should it matter to us if we do one of these things rather than another?”

Second Text: Way of Perfection Chapter 30

“If it were not that you would tell me I am treating of contemplation, it would be appropriate, in writing of this petition, to say a little about the beginning of pure contemplation, which those who experience it call the “Prayer of Quiet”; but, as I have said, I am discussing vocal prayer here, and anyone ignorant of the subject might think that the two had nothing to do with one another, though I know this is certainly not true. Forgive my wanting to speak of it, for I know there are many people who practise vocal prayer in the manner already described and are raised by God to the higher kind of contemplation without having had any hand in this themselves or even knowing how it has happened. For this reason, daughters, I attach great importance to your saying your vocal prayers well.

I know a nun who could never practise anything but vocal prayer but who kept to this and found she had everything else; yet if she omitted saying her prayers her mind wandered so much that she could not endure it. May we all practise such mental prayer as that. She would say a number of Paternosters, corresponding to the number of times Our Lord shed His blood, and on nothing more than these and a few other prayers she would spend two or three hours. She came to me once in great distress, saying that she did not know how to practise mental prayer, and that she could not contemplate but could only say vocal prayers. She was quite an old woman and had lived an extremely good and religious life. I asked her what prayers she said, and from her reply I saw that, though keeping to the Paternoster, she was experiencing pure contemplation, and the Lord was raising her to be with Him in union. She spent her life so well, too, that her actions made it clear she was receiving great favours. So, I praised the Lord and envied her vocal prayer. If this story is true - and it is - none of you who have had a bad opinion of contemplatives can suppose that you will be free from the risk of becoming like them if you say your vocal prayers as they should be said and keep a pure conscience. I shall have to say still more about this. Anyone not wishing to hear it may pass it over.”

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201- From “Meditation” to “Contemplation”, According to St. John of the Cross

Question: Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book II, Ch. 14 page 193. Does the Prayer of the Heart method that you teach skip the discursive meditation? Or does it assume that the person is past that first step?

Answer: Your question here is very technical (theologically). This is the type of question that for many years I had hoped to be asked by a theologian or by an assiduous reader of St. John of the Cross. It deserves an answer. A technical one too. But it is a “scary” question, that has occupied the best theologians of the Western Catholic Church for half a century. However, they haven’t reached practical clarity about it despite superficial claims made by some recent historians.

In Chapter 14 to which you allude as well as in the previous one, St. John of the Cross talks about a shift that happens in Spiritual Life where, because of growth, a person would find himself being moved on from (discursive) meditation to the first level of contemplation. He does offer three signs to determine whether a person has been really moved by God from one state to the other. What, however, does this shift mean? There are various meanings which should be kept present in our minds:

- It means crossing the “red line” we have between the Third and the Fourth Mansions.

- It means entering the “supernatural” as St. Teresa puts it in the first lines of the Fourth Mansions. 

- In other words, it means entering the Particular help of the grace of God.

- It means, undergoing the Second Conversion! (think of St. Teresa of Avila’s Second Conversion at thirty-nine years of age.

Other questions then arise from the above-mentioned. Can we just decide by the power of our own will to cross over so, as a result, we find that we have crossed over? Can we enter the Fourth Mansions through our own willpower? Can we undergo the Second Conversion through our own willpower? What could be done to cross this line? What is the relationship between the General Help of the grace of God and the Particular one?

As you know, usually theology says: God gives the Particular help of His Grace when He wants, the way He wants and to whom He wants. But this is only part of the Truth. The rest of the Truth is: He has the earnest burning desire to give Himself to us, He is very thirsty to give Himself to us. In this sense, it is not in His plans to delay or to give Himself in a random way. Look at what St. Thérèse discovered the 9^th of June 1895 or St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque, or, indeed, many saints: they discovered that the Torrents of God’s love seem to be compressed in Him, and that He has a great desire to pour out His Love into our Hearts.

St. Teresa gives another answer: in order to “trigger” the Grace of God it is important to work on the Virtues in a heroic way. Examine the first half of the Way of Perfection where she explains a more Perfect way of practising the three virtues that summarise the Gospel: humility, detachment and love (of the neighbour). Today I translate her concept and condense it into the practice of a true Lectio Divina; in this sense I consider that now that we have access to the Bible which was not so in the case of St. Teresa of Avila, now that we have a rich Lectionary (the renewed one from 1969), practising Lectio Divina not only replaces the first part of  the Way of Perfection (working on the virtues) but it is even better because it offers more security and power (Jesus speaks through His Word), as well as more flexibility  as it is not only focused on three virtues, but includes Jesus adapting to our needs. The Power of a truly supernatural Lectio Divina is such that it boosts our spiritual life and the practice of the Prayer of the Heart.

Similarly, when St. Thérèse felt drawn to offer herself to the Merciful Love of God (9^th June 1895) she didn’t ask herself: “am I at the right level of growth to make this act of offering?” Or: “Can I do it?”, “Will I receive His Grace or not?” Also, when her sister hesitated to offer herself, Therese still invited her to offer herself, her sister being just a novice at that time. “Offering oneself to God” and in return “God giving Himself to us” is the quintessence of the Prayer of the Heart.

Question: You ask me about the teaching offered in the School of Mary and if I assume people who attend the Course and the Formation have passed this line that separates “meditation” and “contemplation”.

Answer: Not everybody comes to the teaching/courses of the School of Mary of their own volition. Mary brings them in. Consequently, therefore, it is not possible for me to avoid teaching supernatural Lectio and the supernatural Prayer of the Heart. Any serious person who is committed in the Charismatic Renewal is in my view already in the Fourth or more Mansions. This is in fact the stage of the beginner! He is a beginner in Spiritual Life but a beginner, nonetheless. Therefore, it is not uncommon to be at this stage of Growth.

Question: Does some work have to be done beforehand? Or do we have to assume that to a certain extent it is purely in the “random” way of a pure choice of God?

Answer: YES of course a lot of work can and should be done! Implementing the whole of Adult Catechesis is a ‘must”. The four parts of the Catechism, especially the first three, should be noted. It is very important to digest and live this book first. Plus, you may add to this, the necessity of a serious commitment in the parish or in some service of neighbour. Having a regular prayer life and prayer time is of the essence, though, of course it will be rather on the side of reading and meditation. This will get people closer to the red line.

St. Teresa of Avila practised the Prayer of the Heart for more than fifteen years before her conversion! Did she receive supernatural graces? I am sure she did! How come, then, she failed to grow spiritually and receive more as she did after her conversion? The reason was that the working of the virtues (translate: supernatural Lectio) was not being implemented properly, and I have explained this on different occasions. St. Teresa said that not practising to perfection the virtues made us remain like dwarfs… and that Prayer of the Heart and lax life do not get on well together.

So, one can even, like her, practise the Prayer of the Heart, and one might even receive some supernatural graces (contemplative ones), but one will not have spiritual growth, certainly not a steady growth. This is why the lessons we can draw from her second conversion are fundamental for all of us, they are a teaching for us. They are for all the Church. Her life, indeed, is God’s answer to the Protestant movement initiated by Martin Luther a few decades before her. The Church before St. Teresa had been trying for three centuries to reform herself and failed. These three centuries are embodied in the twenty years that preceded St. Teresa’s Conversion. She is a paradigm that summarises the crisis of the Church in her time.

Practising love of neighbour to a perfect degree hastens the process of getting us closer to the red line.

Now, technically, my teaching of both Lectio Divina and the Prayer of the Heart involves the supernatural action of God in each one respectively. There is contemplation (of course supernatural) here and there. The particular help of the Grace of God is involved in both cases.

In Chapter 13 of Book 1 of the Ascent St. John of the Cross also teaches the way to produce the full power of our effort, echoing St. Teresa in the first part of the Way of Perfection, when she insists on a perfect practice of the virtues.

Similarly, My Master Fr. Louis Guillet OCD always thought that a seriously committed person (think a postulant or a novice nun) will very rapidly enter into the supernatural action of God (contemplation).

Question: One should, according to St. John of the Cross, have a loving general knowledge or awareness of God before leaving the discursive method - what does this mean?

Answer: Just to clarify your question: are you saying, “does one have to wait to have the three signs of the shift in order to abandon ‘meditation’”?

As you will notice, in my teaching of Lectio Divina and of the Prayer of the Heart I never use the word “meditation” namely, discursive meditation: going from A to B, then from B to C. In this light I mean that meditating will take us from A to C. In Lectio I do say: read, read, read, read. I do not say: read, meditate, pray, contemplate. Of course, the first “read” I mention is about understanding what the text says. But I wouldn’t call it “meditation”. In each Lectio, I always set the goal of reaching the sacramentality of the Word, i.e. the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit.

For the Prayer of the Heart, I use St. Thérèse’s shortcut, or summary of the Prayer of the Heart: the Act of Oblation. It involves everything: the general help and the particular help. The general help is realised through the movement of offering oneself totally to God, without conditions, like a little child. This makes us immediately available to and entrusted into the Hands of God and His Action. He does not need more than an act of oblation to God’s Love, like a little child, through the Hands of Mary. God’s Love is the Holy Spirit, i.e. the particular Help, i.e. “contemplation”.

It is true that the more the person grows, the more the practice (repetition) of the Act of Oblation will allow a greater outpouring of the grace of God during the Prayer of the Heart. But it does not mean we have to wait years or see certain signs or factors in order to make it. Saint Thérèse invited her sister who was a beginner, a novice, to make the Act of Oblation with her.

Question: Am I then dismissing what St. John of the Cross says?

Answer: No, I still think that his doctrine of the three signs is still useful. Fr. Louis added a fourth: fearing sin, i.e. having a new perception of the ugliness of our sins in the eyes of God. But the question can be put from a different angle and I prefer to analyse St. Teresa’s Second Conversion and the lessons we learn from this angle and the Act of Oblation.  I do not want to lean on one teaching only (i.e. St. John of the Cross’ three signs), but on three teachings coming from three different Doctors of the Church, shedding light on one issue.

From 1890 to 1940 roughly, theologians debated the subject of Contemplation and its nature: “Is it for all?”... “Is it acquired or infused?” “Can we acquire it by using our own strengths: the general help of the grace of God or is it infused, i.e. depends purely on God: the particular help of the grace of God?”

Even if, toward the end of the battle of the theologians (1940s), they leaned slightly toward the infused nature of Contemplation, we never got any explanation on how the shift really works, i.e. the crossing from one stage to the other (think: “third” to “fourth mansions”, or “meditation” to “contemplation”). To date we do not have an answer! Even if we tend universally to say that Contemplation is infused (supernatural) we still remain with the half-truth about how to receive it: “God gives it the way He wants, when He wants to whom He wants”.

Meanwhile, in fact, there are ways to get us close to the border, ways that hasten the progress, like almost forcing God’s hand to make us enter into “contemplation”! The expression (forcing God) is not mine, it is of St. John of the Cross, when he says in the Spiritual Canticle that practising love of neighbour the way St. Paul describes it, can almost “force” God’s Hand to pour His grace into us i.e. the particular help.

As St. Teresa would never separate the perfect practice of the Virtues from the practice of the Prayer of the Heart, I would never separate Lectio Divina from the Prayer of the Heart. A true supernatural Lectio Divina (as I teach it, which involves the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit) is for me an important condition that “triggers” the Grace of God during the Prayer of the Heart. The Lord Himself gives us the clue: “whoever loves me, keeps my Commandments, the Father will love him and we will come and dwell in him and him in us” (John 14:21).

One wants to know what true love is. It is to keep Jesus’ Commandments, which is real Lectio Divina, listening to the Risen Lord and putting his Word into practice by His Grace.

As a consequence, a new love of God wants to be outpoured: The Father will love Him. This is the starting point of the Prayer of the Heart: a renewed outpouring of Love.

As a consequence: The Lord and the Father (and the Holy Spirit) will come and dwell in the person. This is a supernatural Prayer of the Heart.

The secret of triggering “Contemplation” (the Son and the Father coming within us) is given to us.

It is the secret of a fruitful Communion during Mass: Mass is the enactment or realisation of the New Covenant. A Covenant needs a written text, a written Contract, realised in the Word of God, the Liturgy of the Word and in Blood: The Lord’s Sacrifice, the Liturgy of the Eucharist. If we want “contemplation” to occur during Communion, we need to listen first to Jesus in the Liturgy of the Word as this triggers a new powerful grace! Steady growth is thereby ensured.

Question: One knows by faith by faith that God loves us, or is it a more sensitive feeling?

Answer: yes, essentially of course it is a truth of our Faith. If we are faithful to Him in Lectio, He pours Himself into our spirit, not necessarily into our soul, emotions, senses. But Prayer often leads to these echoes that are manifest outside of our spirit, echoes that fall in the soul (mind, will), emotions, senses. Echoes of the substantial Meal received in our spirit. The echoes are the crumbs that sometimes God allows to fall into our conscious part.

Of course, if we consider seriously what God did for us, how He gave us His Son, we can know that He loves us truly, totally and constantly. Knowing, not feeling. It is a deep intuition, the intuition of Faith. Sometimes it can be very dry, and therefore be just a pure act of faith without any feeling. However, it helps us to grow to make this act of Faith from time to time.

Finally, let us have recourse to Mary’s faith, the essence of purity of heart and spirit.

191- Completing the Process of Contemplation

Hi S.,

Please find below my answer to your question regarding Lectio Divina. My answer here is very important since it underlines various important aspects of the practice of Lectio Divina. Some people, unknowingly, don’t implement them and they therefore don’t reach the completion of Lectio Divina. This resembles an “abortion”. Here is your question:

“I just finished an hour of Lectio Divina, and this is what I got from it. The reading about the Blind man of Bethsaida… I never saw it that way…. It revealed my own journey…  Jesus took him by the hand out of the village… maybe things that I was comfortable and used to… He used spittle on the eyes of the blind… From Jesus’ mouth to the blind man’s eyes… Only God’s word can make me see…It was a gradual healing…. For me it meant that God will always finish what He started because He is faithful…. And He said do not even go into the village… in my life now it may mean to avoid occasions to sin and to trust in the new way of praying He is introducing to me, not to go back to the old ways of my life. Jesus healed the blind man outside of the village… meaning, true healing can only come through Jesus but not on our own terms, and not the way we want it to. I’ve never seen that particular Gospel passage in this way…. 

And the first reading about Noah meant process of growth… there are stages… but God will see us through, again He is faithful.

It took me the whole hour to get something from the reading…. Is this Lectio Divina? Am I doing it right?”

Lectio Divina has like three stages in the process of listening:

a- Reading the text and understanding what it says, using our normal intellectual capacity.

b- The supernatural action of the Holy Spirit starts to work in us: the two texts say one thing. (This is led by God Himself)

c- The supernatural light becomes a clear indication for today to do something. (This is indicated by God Himself)

It goes without saying that going from "a" to "b" is a real crossing, because in "a" we are left with the normal strength of our faculties, even if we have faith, but what they reach and achieve is limited. We actually use what in theology is called: the general help of the Grace of God. While in "b", God’s power is communicated to us, the mind (intellect) is lifted by the Holy Spirit from its own ways of functioning to a higher supernatural level. So our mind starts to see God’s loving light with God’s eyes. This is in itself an achievement, because in this case we witness a “miracle” happening to us: the real immediate and personal action of the Holy Spirit who starts to bring the text of the Scriptures to life, it is as if the “Word of God” is being addressed to us personally through the Scriptures. The specific process of (supernatural or infused) contemplation of Lectio is now starting. (This is not to be confused with the specific contemplation of the Prayer of the Heart which is different.)

But the temptation here is to rejoice in this contemplation, delight in savouring it but to bring to an abrupt halt the descent of the Word of God in us thereby aborting lectio, aborting the supernatural Work of God. God’s Word must descend fully, from the highest point of our mind, to the lowest part of our will.

I have noticed that many people just remain at this stage and don’t move forward. Remember the very common way today of presenting Lectio Divina - which is truncated – which seems to allude to the fact that Lectio ends at this stage (a gaze of contemplation): "read => meditate => pray => contemplate". (See stage 8 in the fifteen steps, "Read (3) until I see only one light" which describes this stage and shows that there are other stages after it. Please see here: https://schoolofmary.org/lectio-divina-1-definition-steps/)

From what I have read above, you seem to have reached this stage in the Lectio Divina you did that day. As you can see, you rejoiced in the fact that it is new: "I have never seen it this way". So you are witnessing the action of the Holy Spirit in you. Your mind tastes this newness that God only can give.

There is one further important step at this first stage of listening - the following and last stage being the “Putting into Practice” – that is, having a clear indication of God’s message on how to act. So, the light itself you received and started to rejoice in should continue its journey until it reaches the juncture with your will, that is, it should reach a level of clarity that will allow you right after to put into practice the clear indication given to you by God.

The Turquoise Arrow Stops in General Contemplation
The Blue Arrow Reaches Clarity

How do we reach this stage of understanding clearly what God wants to say to us? How do we reach such clarity while Contemplating? It is by begging the Lord something along these lines: “ok Lord, you started to show me something about my life, "I never saw it this way", "I never saw this text this way", "this is new": but what do you mean by that in practical terms? How do you God (not me) translate it in a practical way?

Beg, insist, until the light that has started to work in you becomes clear, as if God were saying: “S., as a consequence of what I have  just made you see or understand in a general light, look for how this general light is becoming clearer as we talk clear and is ready to become incarnate in you  today. As a consequence, I would like you to start doing this today… 

In this case, the process of contemplation will be orientated properly. In fact, contemplation is not about climbing to the clouds, but it is about going from God (the clouds if you will) to the lowest part in us, in fact it is going in the opposite direction, the direction of incarnation: i.e. a Word given to us from God, starting its journey from high above, going down, crossing our entire being, in a beautiful sacred descent (like what happens to Our Lady during the Annunciation) where the Word crosses our mind, from its upper part to its most practical part, and is about the cross from our mind to our will, generating an act. A sacred act that finds its origins in God and is working in a participation of our mind and will with the thought and will of God.

Once the Word, the Light of this contemplation, reaches this junction between "what I know" (our mind) and "what I do" (our will), it becomes clear and visible, the Word of God is pointing its finger or tip (tip of a sword or arrow), toward a precise point in our Will, asking us for a specific act.

Here come the following 5 steps of implementation (see the last 5 steps in the link mentioned above on the 15 steps), marked essentially by this second and last prayer: “God you showed me what you want me to do, please Jesus help me, give me your Holy Spirit so I can put THIS received Word into practice.” Then you put the word into practice! Lectio then is a Word that became clear and then became flesh in your will, through an act.

I hope this helps.

For further reading please read these three articles, they address this issue on how to go from the beginning of the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit (one light) to the end of the process of listening, that is, understanding clearly what God is asking of us, how the one light becomes clear (from 2 to 3 of the above steps):

- Finished and Unfinished Lectio Divina

- How The Grace of God Works in Lectio Divina

- The Space We Dig In Ourselves

Note that your way of doing Lectio Divina here in this case is very common to the way the Fathers of the Church read the Bible. We see it in their Homilies. The temptation then is to transform Lectio Divina into a sort of a “spiritual reading of the Bible”, in the sense of having a “spiritual exegesis” or understanding of the text. There is nothing wrong in reading the bible spiritually, or seeing symbolically how it can allude to different aspects of our life. But this in itself is not Lectio Divina yet as you can see from the above explanations.

Many people today (unfortunately it became a trend 15 years ago) offer their own spiritual meditation on texts from the bible and they call it: “Lectio Divina on the Gospel of Matthew”, or Luke or Job, or Jeremiah…. This is really a deviation, giving us the fruits of a personal spiritual meditation and not inviting each one of us to meditate. But strangely nobody seems to bother. It leaves me speechless! How did we reach this deviation?

We see it even in presentations of Lectio Divina, like the French Wikipedia entry on Lectio Divina. It initially seemed to say that Lectio Divina was about the spiritual meanings of the Scriptures! From a method of listening to God’s Word and putting it into practice, we have transformed it into spiritual exegesis or spiritual personal meditation! How sad!

Lectio is indeed the most powerful way of prayer, the most secure (“it is not the ones who say: ‘Lord Lord’ who enter in the kingdom but the ones who put into practice the word of God”), but also the most difficult and challenging: why? Because it involves real transformation and it tackles our conscious faculties that we use on a daily basis: the mind and the will, our thoughts and our actions!

183- On the Importance of the Incarnation

The Incarnation is fundamental for our eternal survival.

If we are not inside the Father’s House, it is vital we return to it. Only the Son Incarnate, because He is altogether God and Man, can leave the Father’s House (so to speak) and come to seek us out and rescue us, carrying us in Him - and not only “on him” like the shepherd carrying a sheep - taking us back to the Father's House.

He is the Father's House.

Do we want to spend Eternity excluded from of the Father’s House, where there is darkness, fear and hatred?

Being part of the Father’s House is vital for each and every human being.

The Incarnation is the Father building His House for us: the Son Incarnate.

The Incarnation doesn’t end when the Lord is born of Mary. The Incarnation ends, or realises its mission, or raison d’être, on the Cross and in the Resurrection and Ascension. He reunites us in Him on the Cross. He causes us to us rise with Him. He introduces us in Him (he is the Father's House). He makes us to sit beside Him (so to speak) with the Father, and we shine like the sun (Matthew 13:43) and He serves us, in God’s Eternal Banquet.

"He Saves us” means He purifies us, enlightens us, unites us to Him, and enables us to contemplate Him with His own divine capacity and love Him also with the same divine capacity.

Without the Incarnation none of the above could happen.

He became one of us, so we can, by listening to his Saving Words, and entrusting ourselves to Him, become Divinised.

If we read the Song of Song of Solomon, we discover in hidden Words the enjoyment and delight we are called to have with the Son Incarnate.

According to St Luke, only "in Mary" we can discover the depths of the Love of God. This Ferociously powerful and tender Love for each one of us, so that that it made Him become like us (except for sin) and carry all our being and darkness, to the point that He appeared to have become sin. This He did so that He could get as close as possible to our free will, to offer us His Light and Love – “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20).

It is from an extreme, incomprehensible powerful love that Incarnation has its explanation/origin. It is like an explosion of Love.

According to St Luke, only "in Mary" are we enabled to experience this Love in a lasting and secure way and grow in the experience of it.

The Incarnation allows us to have a share in God’s being, to experience His Being! Divine Humility. Divine Mercy. A mind-blowing overwhelming experience. Incarnation and its realisation (Passion-Death-Resurrection-Ascension) offer us the intimacy of God, like entering into the very bowels of His Merciful Being. The Incarnation continues till today since Jesus choosing to be in his fullness in his bride, continues to be among us, to preach, to give us his being, to transfigure us day after day. He is alive in Her and active through Her in the Holy Spirit. Incarnation continues to the very present time and will continue till the end of time.

Each one of us, having Christ in Him, being part of the Bride, continues and prolongs the Incarnation here in today’s world. If any person touches us physically, he or she is touching Jesus’ Body. This encompasses an even a greater Humility and Mercy from God. Our being is the prolongation of the Incarnation.

From us emanates the light and love of Jesus to the World.

174- “Prayer Time” and “Prayer Life”

“Prayer Time” and “Prayer Life”

Contemplation & Action / Mary & Martha 

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The Carmelite Masters teach us a very important way of spending the day outside of “Prayer Times”: to live in the Loving Presence of the Lord. This is in the sense that it is not enough to have set “Prayer Times” during the day, i.e. times of contemplation, i.e. contact and union with Jesus, throughout the day. They call it: “Living in the Presence of the Lord”. Brother Laurence is one of the greatest apostles of this important side of Spiritual Life, and of Carmelite Life. This is the way they see Contemplation during the day, outside of specific Prayer Times. 

As a result, some Spiritual Masters have also coined the expression: « Prayer Life » i.e. Prayer outside of Prayer Time. They saw the deep unity between “Prayer Times” and “Prayer Life”. The basis of a fine discernment is to acknowledge that: The way we live our day (“in” or not “in the Presence of God”) influences the quality of our Prayer during “Prayer Time”.

Just as an example of the training one can impose on oneself let us look at what occurs in the Indian Carmelite noviciate houses: here they briefly ring the church bells every fifteen minutes to instil the new habit of Living in the Presence of the Lord. Novices would then stop what they are doing, because it is during the day, and they are supposed to be working, for a minute and direct their hearts to the Lord. They learn to make an “Act of Presence”. Like a short “Arrow Prayer”, or “Ejaculatory Prayer”. One can make St Therese’s Act  saying: Draw me”. 

Carmelites perceived this fundamental commandment and vital spiritual necessity in the prophet Elijah’s words: « He is Alive Yahweh Sabaoth in whose presence I am ». (1 King 18:15) It is in fact the commandment we find in the New Testament of having to Pray incessantly (1 Th 5:17).

There is a time for Prayer, which is called “Prayer Time”. And there is a time called “Prayer Life”, for everything else that is not “Prayer Time”. We are not to be united to God only during “Prayer Time”. We do not have a split spiritual personality either. There is a deep unity between these two times and they both need to be fiery. As mentioned above each one influences the other. Living as close to God during the day, remembering Him often, doing acts of Love from time to time, will increase exponentially the quality of our commitment, the quality of what we do, and of course the quality of our “Prayer Time”. The way we spend our day is the way we are when we pray. We don’t have another personality or another area in us. We are one. The same person. Therefore we need to foster a richer quality of prayer in our “Prayer Time” hence the need for vigilance during the day. This can be seen in the fact that many spiritual persons do two examinations of conscience on top of the one at the beginning of the Mass: one at mid-day and one before sleeping. The more we are attentive to God during the day, the closer we are to Him, the more inflamed our heart becomes, with the result that the better we will be when we will start our Prayer Time! Our being will be lighter, less dust will be attached to our feet.

And this is so vice-versa: when we spend time in Lectio Divina and in Prayer of the Heart, there is great closeness to God and unitive moments, therefore, when we finish the “Prayer Time” we are already closer to God, our day is spent differently, and the quality of our “Presence to the Lord” during the day will be different.

Each exercise (Prayer Time and Prayer Life) helps the other, feeds it, influences it. They go hand in hand. In the ancient mediaeval spiritual categorisation they were called: “Contemplative Life” and “Active Life”. Today, by contrast, these two expressions have completely different meanings as they allude to states of life: like cloistered Monks or apostolic Religious. However, before, during the Middle Ages and a few centuries after, referred to the moment we pray and the moment we are involved in the daily activities, like Mary and Martha.

There are two moments in the stages of spiritual life where Mary and Martha are like two aspects of our being and they work nicely hand in hand. The first is during the first stages of “Prayer of Quiet”, which is the first manifestations of the Supernatural (or Contemplative) action of God in us. The second is much more advanced, it develops from the moment onwards of the reception of the grace of “Spiritual Marriage”.  One can read both descriptions in St Teresa of Avila, they look the same, but they are in fact very different.

Her description thus seems to say that there is a part in us that is deeper, like an inner Tower or Castle, which is the upper part in us, that is very much united and in communication with God. This part is the spirit and a small part of the highest part of the rational soul (mind, memory and will). The rest, i.e. the soul and the body, is involved in daily business. The inner part in us united with God is Mary, seated at Jesus’ feet and the outer part is Martha, busy serving, working, in the dealings with the World. Both live together, both act in the same person, both are parts of the same person, but they are on different levels.

Integral Theology

PPROPOSAL

Proposal

for

Integral Theology formation

___

Jean Khoury and I propose to set up an Institute, under the patronage of Mary “Mater Theologorum”, in which Catholic teaching would be presented, in its entirety and with academic rigour, in a way that fully integrates theology and spiritual theology.

Until the early Middle Ages spiritual life and academic theology were inseparable, but have become distanced since then in a way that does harm to both. The combination of academic teaching and formation in spiritual life will make the Institute distinctive and new in the contemporary field.

Courses will be offered at different levels, from short units taught over a few weeks in a parish to first cycle degree level. It would be offered in suitably adapted forms to all those who are looking for formation: catechists, Catholic teachers, RCIA candidates, those being confirmed as adults, parishioners seeking more formation for themselves, parents,  those wanting to go deeper in the spiritual life, novice-masters/mistresses, those seeking formation as Spiritual Directors, and seminarians.

Teaching and formation would be offered in the five areas of: Bible, Dogmatic theology, Sacraments, Moral Theology, and Pastoral Theology For a schematic presentation and examples of how the integration between dogma and spiritual life would be achieved in each area, please see the accompanying sheets.

Validation will be sought for courses from appropriate institutions at each level.

Jean Khoury has a Masters in Theology from the Institut Catholique in Toulouse and the Teresianum, Rome, and is researching a PhD in Spiritual Theology at the Angelicum. He has written books and articles on prayer and mysticism, and is currently teaching spiritual theology at several venues in London and elsewhere. His website is: www.amorvincit.com and he can be contacted on: jeancyrille @ gmail.com

Mgr. Keith Barltrop is parish priest of St. Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, and is a past rector of Allen Hall seminary and director of the Bishops’ Conference Agency for Evangelisation. He can be contacted on: keithbarltrop@rcdow.org.uk

Topics for a Formation in ‘Integral Theology’

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Introductory course presenting “Integral Theology”.

Course on the “Call for holiness”.

Inner line of formation	Bridging-Topics	Outer line of formation
Theology of listening Lectio divina “Biblical Inspiration” and “Spiritual Life” Christian Contemplation	Spiritual exegesis	Bible Exegesis Canon, Inspiration Biblical Theology
Experience of the Trinity Experience of Christ Experience of the Holy Spirit Experience of Mary The spiritual experience of the Church	Trinity in Spiritual Life Christ in Spiritual Life The Holy Spirit in Spiritual life Mary in Spiritual Life Church and Spiritual Life	Dogma Trinity Christology Pneumatology Ecclesiology Mariology
Spirituality of Priestly Gift of the Faithful Spirituality of Martyrdom Lectio Divina Prayer of the heart – Lift up the heart Digesting the Sacraments Rosary	“Fruitful Participation” to the liturgy. Liturgy and Spiritual Life Spirituality of Baptism Spirituality of the Eucharist Spirituality of Marriage	Sacraments 7 Sacraments Liturgy
Theological Acts (Faith – Hope – Love) Ups and downs in SL Synergy with the Action of the Holy Spirit – Presence of God	Moral Theology and Spiritual Theology Confession and Spiritual Direction Perception of sin in the examination of conscience	Moral Theology General MT Special MT
Discernment – Counsel – Government Spiritual Direction Spiritual Pastoral Being fruitful	The Holiness of the Priest/minister in his ministry Pastoral techniques under the light of Spiritual Life. Pastoral orientations in the light of the Spiritual Journey.	Pastoral Theology Pastoral Theology Evangelisation Canon Law

Mgr Keith Barltrop

Jean Khoury

Pdf version (click here)

Course "Meditating the Passion" available online

For a short period of time the videos of this Course will be available for free. (click here)

Blessed Lent 2017

For more information please see leaflet here