203- Lectio Divina or Meditation?

Summary: In this article we will see that if a person can be understood as not having quite reached second conversion, then that person will have to be content with the initial practice of Meditation and avoid diving into Lectio Divina. This will mean that when a person is facing difficulties in the initial implementation of Lectio Divina we will need to discern between two possible reasons: 1- the legitimate normal difficulty any person faces when practising Lectio Divina, and 2- the fact that the person hasn’t undergone the second conversion yet. If so, the person is not ready yet and needs to practise Meditation and not yet Lectio Divina.

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Introduction

In this article, for the first time I do address in a new way the difficulties we face when we need to implement Lectio Divina and seem to struggle and/or fail. I consider Lectio Divina as we teach it (i.e. with the personal and direct intervention of the Holy Spirit allowing us to really listen to the Lord) under the perspective of whether we do or do not need to practise it. I do open a new horizon to our theological reflection attracting our attention to the difference in the working of the grace of God before and after second conversion. Considering second conversion as a tool of discernment regarding this issue is therefore new.

Lectio divina as we present it, takes for granted that the second conversion has occurred in the life of the practitioner. This is why the direct and supernatural action of the Holy Spirit (Contemplation) is involved. If the second conversion hasn’t occurred, we will then need to be patient, wait and, in the meantime, exercise ourselves in Meditation which doesn’t involve the direct personal action of the Holy Spirit (Contemplation).

1- Lectio Divina as we teach it

Until today, I have generally assumed that the main criterium of discernment for applying Lectio Divina or not as we teach it at the School of Mary, is to ascertain if the person has read at least once the four Gospels, Acts, one or two important letters of St. Paul (Romans) and some extracts from the Old Testament. Otherwise, I used to invite people to read a paragraph from a Gospel before going to sleep, as a starting point, until the person acquired a minimum of familiarity with the Bible. I used to use the image: before reaching the motorway, we need to take the small roads first, then larger roads, until we reach the motorway (i.e. the Lectio as we teach it). I still taught the supernatural Lectio Divina that involves the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit to allow us to really listen to Jesus and put his Word into practice.

The question is should we reconsider this option and not merely assume that any Baptised person would be able to practise Lectio Divina as we teach it, i.e. with the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit?

Lectio Divina as we teach it involves looking at the two ways of the working of the Grace of God. The General and the Particular Help of the Grace of God. The General Help is constantly given to us, and it helps us read, think, study, meditate, ponder. It is a general help of the grace of God given to the mind, helping it to see, understand and act with the ordinary light of faith.

The Particular Help of the Grace of God is the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit in us that makes us enter into direct contact with the Risen Lord. The Particular Help is typical of the post second conversion way of acting of the grace of God.

St. Thomas Aquinas talks about these two ways of acting of the Grace of God (see Summa Teologica I-II^ae Q. 109, A.6). He actually uses the expression of “preparative grace” for the General Help and “Grace” itself for the Particular Help. St. Teresa of Avila, on the other hand, keeps the expressions “General help” and “Particular help” ((Life 14,6; see as well 3Mansions 1,2; 5Mansions 2,3)).

What, then, is the dividing line between the two modes of action of the Grace of God? Can any person receive the Particular Help of the grace of God? No, it is typical of the post second conversion time.

Do we use either one or the other? Or better said, does it mean that after the second conversion all the workings of the grace of God is made according to the Particular Help of the Grace of God?

It is fundamental to understand what is at stake here and how the two modalities of the action of the Grace of God interact. We don’t have one for the pre-conversion and the second for post-conversion. Rather we have the general help for the pre-conversion, but after conversion the two are used, as one prepares and leads to the second as St. Thomas Aquinas rightly says. In this sense we continue to read, think, study and meditate, but all these activities lead us toward the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit in us, the particular help of the Grace of God.

The Lectio Divina as we teach it bears in itself the two workings of the Grace of God. One leads to the other.

2- Can everyone immediately apply Lectio Divina as we teach it?

Those who receive the teaching on Lectio Divina as we teach it in the School of Mary are on their spiritual journey. If they are receiving the teaching on Lectio and they are before their second conversion, the chances for them to be able to apply it as we teach it are very slim. Why? Because at this stage of growth the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit is not yet active.

Therefore, one needs to be careful not to push people too much into applying Lectio Divina as taught, or try to “torture” them by asking them to repeat the process and to keep on trying to do so, as this could lead to their even feeling guilty because it is not “working”.

We need to be able to discern between the intrinsic difficulty of implementing Lectio Divina and the impossibility to do so if the person needs first to do “meditation” (the person is before conversion).

3- Is Lectio Divina for all?

Yes and no. Yes, Lectio Divina is for everybody, but not immediately; it all depends as we said above where they are on their journey. If they are before their second conversion, people should start by meditating, which is using the general help of the grace of God in order to learn from a text they read and implement what they have learned. It is not yet the supernatural Lectio Divina, but purely “Meditation”.

4- The medieval meaning of "Meditating"

It is important to understand the differences in the use of the word “Meditation”. Today, in modern life, the expression “meditation” is used and applied in a very broad way, sometimes even for just some body relaxation. This is not the way it is being used here. We use it according to the traditional Christian meaning of it acquired especially during the Middle Ages.

Meditating in the Middle Ages is to use one’s mind, while reading a text (Scripture or Spiritual or Theological or Philosophical text), trying to find clarity in the text, discerning the main points, seeing the connections between them, to think about them, ponder, and from this work of the mind we deduce new lights or lessons, or resolutions. It is normally meant to lead us to improve in our Christian life, our practice of the virtues, our understanding of our faith and more so, the practical implications we draw from them.

To meditate implies a predominant use of the mind, under the General Help of the Grace of God. It involves the general light of faith.

It is in this meaning that Guigo the Carthusian uses the verb “to meditate” in this spiritual ladder: read, meditate, pray, contemplate.

St. Teresa of Avila uses the verb and St. John of the Cross as well, in the same meaning.

5- St. Teresa of Avila comes to our rescue

All the above is in a way summarised in St. Teresa of Avila’s life and works. Her conversion (which is a second conversion) leads her to experience the direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit (the “supernatural as she calls it” (see Mansions 4, first paragraph)), putting her in direct contact with Christ. It is from that moment on in her life, at the age of almost forty, after twenty years of monastic life that she experiences this change in herself. The majority of what we know about her, then, is the “new Teresa”, the Teresa of Jesus, what comes after her second conversion.

In her works, we can easily find the dividing line between her life before and after her conversion. For instance, in the book of her life, where she explains prayer, and talks about four ways of watering a garden (i.e. receiving the grace of God), her first way, is “meditation”, which falls before the beginning of the supernatural action of God in her. The following three ways of praying all involve the particular help of the grace of God, or the “supernatural”.

The same applies in the masterpiece, “The Interior Castle”. The first three mansions are pervaded by the action of the general help of the grace of God, while from the fourth mansions onward (4, 5, 6 and 7) we see in action both the general and particular help of the grace of God.

It is also significant to note that even if St. Teresa of Avila speaks essentially of Mental Prayer (i.e. Prayer of the Heart) and never about Lectio Divina, it is absolutely fair to apply her theology of the working of the Grace of God to Lectio Divina.

In this case, as we have just said: Meditation is the main activity before the Second Conversion. Any person who hasn’t yet gone through her second conversion is bound not to be able to practise the supernatural Lectio Divina, i.e. Lectio Divina as we explain it in the School of Mary. Why? Because the latter involves the direct and personal intervention of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to meet and hear the Risen Lord talking to our heart.

1	2	3
Meditation	Second Conversion	Lectio Divina
General help of the grace of God		General and Particular help of the grace of God (supernatural)
Working of the mind with the general help. Extracting thoughts that nourish the progress in faith and moral life.		Elevation of the mind with the power of the Holy Spirit, healing the will and transforming it, allowing a new knowledge.

Note: Second Conversion in itself deserves a separate article and treatment. Often it is regarded as only a grace from God, a grace where human effort is not involved. But when we study the teaching of the Doctors of the Church, especially St. Teresa of Avila, we start to understand more clearly what is at stake in the second conversion, i.e. what are the exact proportions between on one hand the direct intervention of the grace of God (the “Particular help of the Grace of God”) and on the other hand the human effort in using the “General Help of the Grace of God”, and that it takes time to occur. In fact, St. Teresa’s life and writings are uniquely rich for the learning of the “second conversion”: it is at the centre of her life and of her teaching.

The book of “Way of Perfection”, offered to the sisters of the monastery she first founded, St. Jose, at Avila, in fact is directly related to the lessons learned from her second conversion.

6- Meditation in St. John of the Cross

The teaching given by St. John of the Cross helps shed an extra light on this issue. In fact, in his works, he does mention something very illuminating for our subject. He tries to help us identify the moment when we “cross” from “Meditation” to “Contemplation”. He offers three signs (plus one). One of these signs is the difficulty or incapacity at a certain point to meditate! Which means to go with our mind, with the general help of the grace of God from one idea to another in a text. Why so? Because the grace of God has reached a point where it is shifting to a higher level of working, i.e. the particular help of the grace of God. It is true that he specifically talks about this phenomenon in Mental Prayer (Prayer of the Heart) but it can easily be applied to the rest of spiritual life. It is very interesting to see how he noticed that the person from a specific moment onwards can’t anymore pray using the mind only (with the general help of the grace of God).

Translated into the workings of “Lectio Divina”, we can say that once a person reaches this point in her spiritual life, she won’t be able to simply meditate on a text. The need and urge (and God’s desire) will be to enter into a direct contact with the Risen Lord, through the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. In this case, Lectio Divina as it is taught in the School of Mary will be applied without too much difficulty, or better said: with its normal challenge, because there is always a challenge when we practise it, the challenge of going from the general to the particular help of the Grace of God, which is from “reading in order to understand the text” to “reading in order to listen to Jesus”.

7- Why the delay?

One can always ask this general question: why does Jesus delay the action of the particular help of the grace of God? Why can’t He just always act directly with the Holy Spirit? Since the coming of the Holy Spirit is what characterises Christian life, why doesn’t the Holy Spirit work immediately in the life of a Christian?

Interestingly enough, we find different answers to this question in the Gospel, in Jesus’ teaching itself. First, let us consider Jesus' reply to the Young rich man who was asking him: “Good Master what shall I do in order to have Eternal Life?”. Jesus doesn’t immediately say to him: you need one thing, go sell what you have, give the money to the poor, carry your Cross and come and follow me. No. Jesus acts progressively, step by step, like a good teacher or formator. He starts by asking him about Moses’ Teaching: “have you put into practice the [ten] Commandments?”. Jesus in fact is first and foremost checking if the foundations of spiritual life in the human being (the first stage of formation) have been laid. Jesus is checking to see if the young man used the general help of the Grace of God in order to apply the Ten Commandments. In fact, perfection doesn’t come first. The foundations come first. He could have, for instance, asked him about his faithfulness to his duties of state, if he has a job. All these aspects of life are important, implicit and fall into the framework of the Ten Commandments, i.e. of what any human being can do using the general help of the grace of God. Let us remember what we said above: this help is given to each human being, and at all times. This means that is should be used. We can’t emphasise the fact more strongly that these aspects should be done, achieved, realised before even talking about any form of Perfection.

It is only after He asked him this question and made sure that he did, that Jesus looked at him and loved him! Here come the specifics of the second conversion: entering into a direct and personal relationship with Jesus, hearing his Call to follow him. A new life!

The Gospel says that that was Jesus’ reaction: He looked at him and loved him. Why? Because this is the starting point of a new life. This is why St. Teresa of Avila when she wrote her life said: until then (her conversion) it was her life, and from that moment on, it was “Jesus’ life in her”. The phrase “of Jesus” attached to her name then started to have a living meaning.

The conclusion of this first insight given by the Lord is the necessity to lay first the foundations. So, a Supernatural Lectio Divina comes after Meditation, comes after laying the foundations, i.e. doing all that could be done using the general help of the Grace of God.

8- Indications of the Parable of the Sower

Interestingly, the Parable of the Sower can shed a light on this issue of Meditation vs Supernatural Hearing of the Word of God (i.e. Lectio Divina as we describe it). Why so? It does so because its main purpose is to analyse our way of listening to Jesus’ Words, the Seeds He came to give us. It offers four ways of listening, three of them not bearing fruits, each one for one or more reasons. By deepening our understanding of the reasons, we understand better the workings of the grace of God, i.e. God’s part in the process and our part. We can also draw a line between the first three types of persons and the fourth one, this line is drawn by the Lord himself when He clarified that only the good soil is bearing fruits, in multiple ways, some 100, some 60 and some 30.

The first soil: “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” (Mt 13:19). These are the persons who, “though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.” (Mt 13,13-15) The Lord’s comment is tough. But there is a serious teaching here for us. The soil here is not “opened” in order to receive the Divine Seed. A serious effort of ploughing is needed.

The soil is the image of our heart and mind. How can we “plough” the soil of our being? By focusing on what is available, at the reach of our hand: putting into practice God’s Ten Commandments, for they summarise God’s will, and the ordinary grace of God is given to us constantly. We can use it to convert, confess, or simply act and put into practice. This step reminds us of the Lord’s first reply to the young rich man: have you put into practice Moses’ Commandments? They are fundamental, they are very close to what the natural light of reason can reach out to, they are a sort of “natural law”. What else could be done at this stage? Paying attention to having a serious involvement in life, with a job, fulfilling the duties of one’s state, helping in the Parish or Community.

As a consequence, at this stage, the mind needs opening and the heart too. It comes with a personal effort of reading, thinking, meditating and extracting conclusions, acts to be done. We understand here that we can’t offer or teach the person here Lectio Divina as we usually do it. Conversion is not yet there, plus, the person is not even necessarily close to the line of conversion. Let us think of the first or second mentions in St. Teresa. Crossing over from the first to the second mansion, avoiding committing sin. This brings the person to the third mansion and roots the person deeply in this regular ordered “rational” life. It is necessary for many people to achieve this stage. There are exceptions, certainly, for the Lord can have mercy on certain big sinners and offer them powerful graces to take them out of their grave sins, but still, they will have to go back to the fundamentals, and implement them until they have strong roots.

The second soil: “The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no roots, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” (Mt 13:20-21) Once the soil is opened by the effort made by the person to put into practice Moses’ Commandments and have an ordered life, it is necessary, as we just said, to persevere in these new virtues so they can gain deeper and stronger roots in us. Learning perseverance and resilience removes the rocks in our soil.

We have often heard after the Vatican Council about human formation. It is the core of this stage. Human virtues; think of even what the Greek philosophers taught us to practise, and this entire structure has been integrated by St. Thomas Aquinas, showing that the supernatural virtues and the working of the Holy Spirit are grafted onto these initial “natural” virtues. This stage has its proper warfare, i.e. combating vices and bad habits.

The Third Soil: We are still in the realm of the general help of the grace of God. “The seed sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the delusions of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mt 13:22) Efforts are made, there is growth, but it doesn’t reach completion, because the human being pays attention to the “worries of life”, “the delusions of wealth”.

The Fourth Soil: It is only with “The Good Soil” (with definite article: The) that we will be able to cross over from “the general help of the grace of God” to “the particular help of the grace of God”, i.e. the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit. “But the [one] having been sown on the good soil, this is the [one] where hearing the word and understanding its implications brings forth fruit and produces–indeed, some a hundredfold, and some sixty, and some thirty.” (Mt 13:23) As we can notice, having entered the supernatural realm, we have progress and always a greater fruitfulness: thirty, sixty and finally a hundredfold.

We may consider that the parable of the Sower is a parable that analyses the different modalities of action of the human being, helping us to understand and devise how things are worked out in us, how we interact with the Grace of God and its different types and modalities. We may consider that the Parable shows us through the first three soils what we are supposed to do in order to implement proper Meditation, aiming of course toward the reception of the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit.

We need first to plough the soil, work it, use the general grace, with the help of Meditation, making use or our mind, of our will, using our free will, which is fundamental. It is a preparation, like John the Baptist who opens the way, flattens the mountains and the hurdles in order to be ready to receive the Messiah and his Anointment. Then an entirely new stage of our life starts, with the help of the Holy Sprit, and more stages of purification, initiated by God himself will occur.

The parable of the Sower is here to tell us that things don’t happen while  we remain passive. Each of the first three soils is an indication for a work that should be done by Meditation. This is so because it is by Meditation and through it that we use our faculties, train them, exercise them, and make them fit in order to receive Jesus’ Spirit.

9- Conclusion: what should we do?

With attentive discernment, it is important to try to sense if the person is before the second conversion or after it.

If the person is after it, this means that trying Lectio Divina as we do it is possible. How can we check? It is better to give time to the person and check through a one on one session what is not working. We need to discern between the intrinsic difficulty proper to the normal practice of Lectio Divina and the need first for Meditation. This comes from learning more about Lectio Divina and trying to see the personal history of the person if she went through a moment of change.

If the person is before the moment of conversion which is the case of the majority of parishioners, one needs to direct the person toward Meditation. It can be meditation of the Scriptures, or certain books that offer a meditation on a specific subject in Christian life. One can read on spiritual subjects and meditate upon them. One can read spiritual comments on the Bible. One needs to remember the main tasks of this stage:  fidelity to the Commandments and Duties of State.

It is not advisable at all to force the person into Lectio Divina, or worse make the person feel undermined about not doing it the way we explain it. One needs pertinent discernment and patience.

At the end of this short article, a question remains: should the School of Mary teach some methods of Meditation?

Jean Khoury

17^th January 2020

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.

192- When I Die, Can I go Directly to Heaven?

By H.T.

The first conversation regarding purgatory I had was with a priest in a confessional box.  I mentioned about going to heaven after death and was abruptly stopped by him telling me to be humble because I didn’t know if I would be going to heaven.  I forgot about it after leaving confession.  Strangely since then I have heard, in close succession, enough of the same view from other religious so as to give me concern.

Here are the reasons they gave to explain why no one should think they can go to heaven without first going to purgatory, followed by some reflections.

1. “No one is good enough so anyone who thinks she can go directly to heaven lacks humility.”

Is this real humility? What is humility? ‘Humility is Truth’ says St. Teresa of Avila. The Truth is that God has an earnest desire for us to reach for spiritual growth, i.e. fullness of love. The Truth is that we can’t reach it with our own efforts only. So, humility is to accept the truth and live by it.

People with this view as expressed above are (knowingly or unknowingly) far from being truly humble. False humility does exist! True humility lies in complete trust in God, His mercy, His love and most of all His Promise as it is.  These people doubt Him as a Heavenly Father who yearns to bring us to Him to the point of coming down from heaven to die for us.  This yearning, if reciprocated by the soul, enkindles such a fire of love that the soul becomes willing to give up all things to be with her Beloved.  God, seeing this, will do His part which she cannot do herself – He raises her to Himself. 

All Catholics know God is Love but do they actually understand the true depth of His love and its implications for their life?  Knowing is not enough.  It has to be received into the core of our hearts, and in fullness! 

What of our Holy Mother? She was to be the first and only human to carry God in her womb.  Was she lacking in humility when she said “yes” without doubt or hesitation?  Should she have said she was not good enough?  Her “yes” was not only total humble obedience, but a courage that stemmed from a formidable faith and trust in God that He could bring about a miracle that she couldn’t understand.

Sadly, some people place their own good works above the grace of God and believe in their own judgement rather than the wisdom of God.  Since they already judge themselves unworthy they have no need for God’s judgement.  They forget that none of us will ever be good enough to enter heaven.  Never ever by our own merits!  It has always only been one thing - the Grace of God.  

2. “God is so pure that no impurities should enter His kingdom.  Therefore one needs to be purified in purgatory first.”

As if the Fire of Love here on earth can’t purify us.

Some people believe their weaknesses/sins are above God’s goodness and purity!  To think that they have the power to somehow affect the purity of God and His kingdom by their impurity is actually quite an insult to the omnipotence of God.  Besides why does one need to wait to be purified in purgatory?  Can one not be purified in her earthly Christian life?  St. Therese of Lisieux puts it perfectly:

“Ah! since that day love penetrates me and surrounds me; this Merciful Love each moment renews and purifies me, leaving in my heart no trace of sin. No, I cannot fear Purgatory; I know that I do not merit even to enter with the Holy Souls into that place of expiation, but I know too that the fire of Love is more sanctifying than the fire of Purgatory, I know that Jesus cannot will needless suffering for us, and that He would not inspire me with the desires I feel if He were unwilling to fulfill them.” (St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Story of the Soul, Ms. A, 84)

Here is her humility: “I don’t (even) merit even to enter with the Holy Souls into that place of expiation”i.e. purgatory. But she doesn’t accept one half of the truth, she takes it entirely. “I know that the fire of Love is more sanctifying that the fire of Purgatory.”

Some might argue St. Therese is a saint therefore she’s different.  We are all called to be saints. She even offers her way to the weakest. So one needs to know: are we taking on board her little way or not!

Counting on Purgatory actually is a very bad solution because it prevents us from growing! The purification in Purgatory is not “meritorious”, it doesn’t allow us, our capacity to love, grow. While the Fire of Love here on earth makes us grow tremendously. So why accept to remain for the rest of eternity like dwarfs! This is really absurd and an insult to us and to God. Allowing the infinite growth of our capacity to love by the fire of love here on earth, is simply a “must” for whoever really understand what Purgatory is and what Purification is here on earth (for the latter, please see St. John of the Cross’ works). 

3. “Only the martyrs go directly to heaven.”   One lady was told by her priest that martyrs are the persecuted Christians in the Middle East because they die for their faith.  “In the West, we have no such opportunity.”

What is martyrdom?  Do people have to literally be shot or beheaded to become martyrs?  No genuine Christians should think they can escape martyrdom.  As true followers of Christ, aren’t we called to be martyrs in our daily lives?  Sacrificing our will and desires to do the will of God and to die to ourselves – this is martyrdom.  As union with Christ is our ultimate goal, martyrdom is the way to this union.  Now, if these people mean to say they aren’t willing to die to themselves – that is another matter.

Having the fullness of love in our heart is the key to understanding true Martyrdom! St. Paul says it: “if I gave my body to the flames and I don’t have Love, then it is in vain” (see 1 Co 13:3).

St. John of the Cross explains also that true martyrdom is realised by the growth of Love in us, until it reaches its perfection in us - it is not the fact itself of dying(see quote below). This is why the Church talks about “Perfection of Love” (Vatican II, Perfectae Caritatis).

“Let us take another example. A soul has great desires to be a martyr. It may happen that God answers him, saying: Thou shalt be a martyr. This will give him inwardly great comfort and confidence that he is to be martyred; yet it may come to pass that he dies not the death of a martyr, and notwithstanding this the promise may be true. Why, then, is it not fulfilled literally? Because it will be fulfilled, and is capable of being fulfilled, according to the most important and essential sense of that saying -- namely, in that God will have given that soul the love and the reward which belong essentially to a martyr; and thus in truth He gives to the soul that which it formally desired and that which He promised it. For the formal desire of the soul was, not that particular manner of death, but to do God a martyr's service, and to show its love for Him as a martyr does. For that manner of death is of no worth in itself without this love, the which love and the showing forth thereof and the reward belonging to the martyr may be given to it more perfectly by other means. So that, though it may not die like a martyr, the soul is well satisfied that it has been given that which it sired. For, when they are born of living love, such desires, and others like them, although they be not fulfilled in the way wherein they are described and understood, are fulfilled in another and a better way, and in a way which honours God more greatly than that which they might have asked. Wherefore David says: “The Lord has granted the poor their desire.” And in the Proverbs Divine Wisdom says: 'The just shall be given their desire.' Hence, then, since we see that many holy men have desired many particular things for God's sake, and that in this life their desires have not been granted them, it is a matter of faith that, as their desires were just and true, they have been fulfilled for them perfectly in the next life. Since this is truth, it would also be truth for God to promise it to them in this life, saying to them: Your desire shall be fulfilled; and for it not to be fulfilled in the way which they expected.”(St. John of the Cross, Ascent of Mount Carmel, 18,13)

Some even might argue that Martyrdom is not for everybody. Here is what Council Vatican II says about martyrdom:

“Since Jesus, the Son of God, manifested His charity by laying down His life for us, so too no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for Christ and His brothers.(230) From the earliest times, then, some Christians have been called upon—and some will always be called upon—to give the supreme testimony of this love to all men, but especially to persecutors. The Church, then, considers martyrdom as an exceptional gift and as the fullest proof of love. By martyrdom a disciple is transformed into an image of his Master by freely accepting death for the salvation of the world—as well as his conformity to Christ in the shedding of his blood. Though few are presented such an opportunity, nevertheless all must be prepared to confess Christ before men. They must be prepared to make this profession of faith even in the midst of persecutions, which will never be lacking to the Church, in following the way of the cross.” (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, 42) 

4. “Being in purgatory is being on the way to heaven.  One should be satisfied if he goes to purgatory.” 

In other words, as long as we are not in hell we are ok.  Why are we being told to aim for mediocrity then, when there’s something as supreme as heaven?  If one is satisfied only to go to purgatory, how will one be living one’s life?  This view takes away all motivation to live a meaningful spiritual life and certainly does not encourage growth.  How can man aspire to something he doesn’t believe is possible?  Christians are not called to be easily contented.  We are called to be ambitious, passionate and courageous in our quest for Him and His righteousness.  Jesus did not say, ‘as long as you don’t go to hell.’  He says ‘be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect’.   Be perfect like God?  Is this achievable in human terms?  Why instruct us with something so impossible?  Give God a sinner and He will make a saint out of him.  Desire and love Him with all our hearts, all our minds, all our strength and all our souls and He will perfect us.  With Him, comes heaven - not purgatory.

If God created us and saved us in order to reach the fullness of Love. Why do we want to disappoint Him? If somebody wants to give us a present and we refuse it, it is an offence! The same applies to God. St. John of the Cross says that is an offence to God not to aim for these heights!

When, at the age of seventeen St. Therese of the Child Jesus read St. John of the Cross she prayed to God to make all that she read a reality in her life!

Magnanimity is a real virtue. It is not opposed to humility, on the contrary, it leans on it. It is to accept wholeheartedly the greats things God has prepared for us and is calling us to receive. If we are God’s Children, how then do we understand the fact of being “called” to become his Children? 

5. “If one believes she’s going to heaven, then it’s a gift from God.  It’s not for everyone.”

What is their understanding of holiness then?  The Church teaches that we are all called to be saints and yet some religious claim that only some are gifted to believe they will get straight to heaven.  Not only is their view incorrect, it’s also dangerous because it implies that God chooses some and not others.  It portrays a God who plays favouritism and who is undependable, unreliable and difficult to please.  As for the ‘chosen few’, it feeds false pride.  Christ died for ALL.  Whatever He has He offers to ALL.  He stands by the door of every heart, knocking to enter.  First conversion is merely the start of a friendship with Christ.  When one opens her heart and Jesus enters to eat and drink, that’s a relationship that will lead to true love and eventually marriage.  Of course, when Jesus has entered into our hearts, we need to keep them clean as one would keep one’s home clean for a beloved guest.  If then some do not wish to do keep their hearts clean, then sure, it’s not for everyone, but we are then talking about people who don't want it rather than it not being offered to them.  

Here is the paradox: everybody agrees that we are all called to holiness. But when it comes to talk about holiness, real life holiness, everybody avoids the question, and come up with all sorts of statements of false humility, then end up by denuding of all meaning the idea that “all are called”. Even if the door and the path are narrow and that many (all) are called but only few are elected, we should believe in what Jesus came to offer us! Otherwise we offend Him, offend His love for us, and reveal that we don’t believe that He can make us saints! We still, then, silently and in practice, are agreeing that holiness is a man-made reality - which is totally false!

Furthermore, this verse ‘many are called but few are elected’, should not be taken literally that God will only elect a few! It means, rather, that though many are called, only a few truly reciprocate His love. Therefore instead of seeing it from a negative angle (few are elected) it’s a reminder that our active participation is absolutely necessary in order to be ‘the elected’; at the same time trusting God to do the rest.  This is a verse that offers great hope for us yet also places great responsibility on our side as it tells us that it is in fact our choice to be the elected or not. 

Christian Death According to St. John of the Cross 

“It should be known that the natural death of persons who have reached this state is far different in its cause and mode from the death of others, even though it is similar in natural circumstances. If the death of other people is caused by sickness or old age, the death of these persons is not so induced, in spite of their being sick or old; their soul is not wrested from them unless by some impetus and encounter of love far more sublime than previous ones; of greater power, and more valiant, since it tears through this veil and carries off the jewel, which is the soul.

The death of such persons is very gentle and very sweet, sweeter and more gentle than was their whole spiritual life on earth. For they die with the most sublime impulses and delightful encounters of love, resembling the swan whose song is much sweeter at the moment of death. Accordingly, David affirmed that the death of the saints is precious in the sight of the Lord [Ps. 116:15]. The soul's riches gather together here, and its rivers of love move on to enter the sea, for these rivers, because they are blocked, become so vast that they themselves resemble seas. The just one's first treasures, and last, are heaped together as company for the departure and going off to the kingdom, while praises are heard from the ends of the earth, which, as Isaiah says, are the glory of the just one [Is. 24:16].” (St. John of the Cross, Living Flame of Love, II,30)

The truth is the journey into union with Christ, spiritual marriage and finally Christian death is not an easy one, just as His coming to die for us shows true love requires huge sacrifices.  There are some Catholics (consecrated and lay) who do not wish to live a challenging spiritual life so they are happy to settle for a happy medium - purgatory.  It is indeed their right to choose not to be transformed by Christ but they have no right to tell others that going directly to heaven is not achievable.  It is not only cruel but a sin to destroy the faith and confidence of those who believe.

St. Paul wrote, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.” 

On these three lie the success of spiritual life.  A love that would require a merciful act from the Holy Spirit to finally free the spirit from the broken heart of a yearning soul, in order for it to fly up hand in hand with the Him into eternal bliss.  What a happy death!  Such a love that is possible between God and His children is the power that shapes a mountain of unshakeable faith and hope and it is this that gives them the courage to say ‘Yes! I am going directly to heaven.’  Who dares challenge it? 

H.T.

186- The Meaning of Advent and Christmas Seasons

There are three comings of Jesus:

1- Visibly 2000 years ago

2- Spiritually in our hearts (John 14:21.23)

3- Gloriously in the end of time: we say "Maranata come Lord Jesus" (See end of book of Revelation). See also in 1Thess-2Thess how Spiritual Life in us makes us pray, hope and ask for Jesus to come back.

The last week of the Liturgical Year is dedicated to 3.  See the Mass readings.

Advent is dedicated to 1 and 2. With John the Baptist and Mary. More Mary of Course: The Immaculate Conception on the 8th December, the Octave of it, and more specifically from the 18th December.

The Liturgical year is the communication of all the Mysteries of Jesus to us. They are spread over the entire year (or 3 years). Liturgy is the moment in time where Jesus' Grace is communicated to us. The more we are attentive to its rhythm the more we receive the Grace of God.

Everything in the Church is at the service of 2, i.e. the coming of Jesus in us, His growth in us until He reaches his fullness in us. Everything really in the Church is normally focused on that! The growth of the Church is the Growth of Jesus in us.

The more Spiritual Life grows in us and develops, the more we become sensitive to 2, i.e. Jesus growth in us. And it aches to see how far the reality on the ground is from that (see following Post). How the way we celebrate Christmas is far from focusing on the inner reality of it. It is normal to feel this pain, it is the sing that the Grace is working in us. 2 is becoming the focus of our life. 

Note: In the early stages of spiritual growth, we are tempted to start to focus on 3, forgetting that 3 alone doesn’t make sense without the progress in 2.
2 is the only door to 3. The coming of Jesus in our heart is the only door to his coming in the end of time. The only way to please Him and hasten his final glorious coming.
Therefore it is better to put all our energy in 2 in order to have a real growth of Jesus in the Church and in the World. Why would we focus on Him coming back if people are not ready to great Him? If people don't have Him in their heart already, is it real love from our part to want Him to come back? Wouldn't it be spiritually egoistical?
If the Love of God is really growing in us, if the love of our neighbour is growing in us, we will want our brothers and sisters to have 2 before us asking for 3! This is real love from our part. They are the potential Body of Jesus.
Asking Him to come back while 2 is not realised is a lack of realism and most importantly a lack of real love for Jesus and for his Body.
Then of course, if we start to focus a lot on 3, we deviate our attention toward false prophecies... and our "apocalyptical fantasy" start to develop.

St Bernard has a Homily on the three Comings (see below in blue). We read it in Advent in the Office of Readings.

The more we are transformed by the Grace of God the more the Holy Spirit calls for Jesus (the desire for Him grows and grows, and it aches! Always more.) The initial work of the Holy Spirit is to prepare the place in us for Jesus. He is the Host who prepares us (the House, the Bride) to receive Jesus in full Union. 

St John of the Cross described wonderfully this work of the Holy Spirit in the Spiritual Canticle.

_________

Please find below the Advent Readings we have in the Liturgy of the Hours (copied). St Bernard's Homily can be found in blue, at the Wednesday of the First Week of Advent:

Liturgy of the Hours for the First Sunday of Advent

1st Reading: Isaiah 1:1-18

2nd Reading

The Twofold Coming Of Christ - St. Cyril of Jerusalem

We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked by patience; the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom. In general, whatever relates to our Lord Jesus Christ has two aspects. There is a birth from God before the ages, and a birth from a virgin at the fullness of time. There is a hidden coming, like that of rain on fleece, and a coming before all eyes, still in the future. At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. At his second coming he will be clothed in light as in a garment. In the first coming he endured the cross, despising the shame; in the second coming he will be in glory, escorted by an army of angels. We look then beyond the first coming and await the second. At the first coming we said: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. At the second we shall say it again; we shall go out with the angels to meet the Lord and cry out in adoration: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The Saviour will not come to be judged again, but to judge those by whom he was judged. At his own judgement he was silent; then he will address those who committed the outrages against him when they crucified him and will remind them: You did these things, and I was silent.His first coming was to fulfil his plan of love, to teach men by gentle persuasion. This time, whether men like it or not, they will be subjects of his kingdom by necessity. The prophet Malachi speaks of the two comings. And the Lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple: that is one coming. Again he says of another coming: Look, the Lord almighty will come, and who will endure the day of his entry, or who will stand in his sight? Because he comes like a refiner’s fire, a fuller’s herb, and he will sit refining and cleansing. These two comings are also referred to by Paul in writing to Titus: The grace of God the Saviour has appeared to all men, instructing us to put aside impiety and worldly desires and live temperately, uprightly, and religiously in this present age, waiting for the joyful hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Notice how he speaks of a first coming for which he gives thanks, and a second, the one we still await. That is why the faith we profess has been handed on to you in these words: He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.Our Lord Jesus Christ will therefore come from heaven. He will come at the end of the world, in glory, at the last day. For there will be an end to this world, and the created world will be made new.

I Sunday of Advent

Second Reading

Brothers and sisters: May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we have for you, so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.

Finally, brothers and sisters, we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you should conduct yourselves to please God and as you are conducting yourselves you do so even more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

Gospel 

Jesus said to his disciples: "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at hand.

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man."

Commentary on the Readings

Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa

I Sunday of Advent (Cycle C) Jeremiah 33: 14-16; 1 Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2; Luke 21: 25-28, 34-36.

Autumn is the ideal time to meditate on human things. We have before us the annual spectacle of leaves that fall from the trees. This has always been seen as an image of human destiny. “Here we are as leaves on the trees in autumn,” says the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti. A generation comes, a generation goes …

But is this truly our ultimate destiny? Is it worse than the fate of these trees? After it is stripped, the tree regains its leaves in spring. But man, once he passes, never again returns. At least he does not return to this world. … Sunday’s readings help us to give an answer to this most anxious of human questions.

There was a particular scene that I remember seeing in a film or reading about it in an adventure story as a child, a scene that left a deep impression. A railroad bridge had collapsed during the night. An unsuspecting train is coming at full speed. A railroad worker standing on the tracks calls out: “Stop! Stop!” and waves a lantern to signal the danger. But the distracted engineer does not see him and plunges the train into the river. … It seems to me something of an image of contemporary society, careening frenetically to the rhythm of rock ‘n’ roll, ignoring all the warnings that come not only from the Church but from many people who feel a responsibility for the future …

With the First Sunday of Advent, a new liturgical year begins. The Gospel that will accompany us in the course of this year, Cycle C, is the Gospel of St. Luke. The Church takes the occasion of these important moments of passage — from one year to another, from one season to another — to invite us to stop for a moment and reflect and ask ourselves some essential questions: “Who are we? From whence do we come? And, above all, where are we going?”

In the readings of Sunday’s Mass, the verbs are in the future tense. In the First Reading we hear these words of Jeremiah: “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and Judah. In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot. …” To this expectation, realized in the coming of the Messiah, the Gospel passage brings a new horizon and content which is the glorious return of Christ at the end of time. “The powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”

These are apocalyptic, catastrophic tones and images. But what we have is a message of consolation and hope. They tell us that we are not heading for an eternal void and an eternal silence but we are on our way to an encounter, an encounter with him who created us and loves us more than mother and father.

Elsewhere the Book of Revelation describes this final event of history as an entering into a wedding feast. Just recall the parable of the ten virgins who enter with the bridegroom into the banquet hall, or the image of God who, at the threshold of the life to come, waits for us to wipe away the last tear from our eyes.

From the Christian point of view, the whole of human history is one long wait. Before Christ, his coming was awaited; after him, we await his glorious return at the end of time. For just this reason the season of Advent has something very important to say to us about our lives. A great Spanish author, Calderón de la Barca, wrote a celebrated play called “Life is a Dream.” With just as much truth it must be said that life is expectation! It is interesting that this is exactly the theme of one of the most famous plays of our times: Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” …

Of a woman who is with child it is said that she is “expecting”; the offices of important persons have “waiting rooms.” But if we reflect on it, life itself is a waiting room. We get impatient when we have to wait, for a visit, for a practice. But woe to him who is no longer waiting for something. A person who no longer expects anything from life is dead. Life is expectation, but the converse is also true: Expectation is life!

What distinguishes the waiting of the believer from every other waiting; from, for example, that of the two characters who are waiting for Godot? In that play a mysterious person is awaited (who, according to some, would be God, hence, “God-ot”), without any certainty that he will really come. He was supposed to come in the morning; he sends word to say that he will come in the afternoon. In the afternoon he does not come, but surely he will come in the evening, and in the evening, perhaps tomorrow morning. … The two tramps are condemned to wait for him, they have no other alternative.

This is not how it is for the Christian. He awaits one who has already come and who walks by his side. For this reason after the First Sunday of Advent in which the final return of Christ is looked for, on the following Sundays we will hear John the Baptist who speaks of his presence among us: “In your midst,” he says, “there is one whom you do not know!” Jesus is present among us not only in the Eucharist, in the word, in the poor, in the Church … but, by grace, he lives in our hearts and the believer experiences this.

The Christian’s waiting is not empty, a letting the time pass. In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus also talks about the way that the disciples must wait, how they must conduct themselves in the meantime to not be taken by surprise: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. … Be vigilant at all times.”

Of these moral duties we will speak another time. Let us conclude with a memory from a film. There are two big stories about icebergs in the movies. The one is that of the Titanic, which we know well. … The other is narrated in a Kevin Kostner film of several years back, “Rapa Nui.” A legend of Easter Island, which is in the Pacific Ocean, tells of an iceberg that, in reality, is a ship and that passes close to the island every century or so. The king or hero can climb aboard and ride toward the kingdom of immortality.

There is an iceberg that runs across the course which each of us travel; it is sister death. We can pretend to not see her or to be heedless of her like the people who were enjoying themselves on that tragic night aboard the Titanic. Or we can make ourselves ready and climb onto her and let ourselves be taken to the Kingdom of the blessed. The season of Advent should also serve this purpose

Monday of the First week of Advent

FIRST READING: Isaiah 1: 21-27; 2: 1-5 

SECOND READING From a pastoral letter by Saint Charles Borromeo, bishop

The Season Of Advent

Beloved, now is the acceptable time spoken of by the Spirit, the day of salvation, peace and reconciliation: the great season of Advent. This is the time eagerly awaited by the patriarchs and prophets, the time that holy Simeon rejoiced at last to see. This is the season that the Church has always celebrated with special solemnity. We too should always observe it with faith and love, offering praise and thanksgiving to the Father for the mercy and love he has shown us in this mystery. In his infinite love for us, though we were sinners, he sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, to summon us to heaven, to welcome us into its innermost recesses, to show us truth itself, to train us in right conduct, to plant within us the seeds of virtue, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace, and to make us children of God and heirs of eternal life.

Each year, as the Church recalls this mystery, she urges us to renew the memory of the great love God has shown us. This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.

The Church asks us to understand that Christ, who came once in the flesh, is prepared to come again. When we remove all obstacles to his presence he will come, at any hour and moment, to dwell spiritually in our hearts, bringing with him the riches of his grace.

In her concern for our salvation, our loving mother the Church uses this holy season to teach us through hymns, canticles and other forms of expression, of voice or ritual, used by the Holy Spirit. She shows us how grateful we should be for so great a blessing, and how to gain its benefit: our hearts should be as much prepared for the coming of Christ as if he were still to come into this world. The same lesson is given us for our imitation by the words and example of the holy men of the Old Testament.

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 2:6-22; 4:2-6

SECOND READING from the Sermons of St. Gregory Nanzianzen, Bishop (Sermon 45, 9. 22. 26. 28: PG 36, 634-635. 654. 653-659. 662)

The Wonder of the Incarnation

The very Son of God, older than the ages, the invisible, the incomprehensible, the incorporeal, the beginning of beginning, the light of light, the fountain of life and immortality, the image of the archetype, the immovable seal, the perfect likeness, the definition and word of the Father: he it is who comes to his own image and takes our nature for the good of our nature, and unites himself to an intelligent soul for the good of my soul, to purify like by like. He takes to himself all that is human, except for sin. He was conceived by the Virgin Mary, who had been first prepared in soul and body by the Spirit; his coming to birth had to be treated with honour, virginity had to receive new honour. He comes forth as God, in the human nature he has taken, one being, made of two contrary elements, flesh and spirit. Spirit gave divinity, flesh received it. He who makes rich is made poor; he takes on the poverty of my flesh, that I may gain the riches of his divinity. He who is full is made empty; he is emptied for a brief space of his glory, that I may share in his fullness. What is this wealth of goodness? What is this mystery that surrounds me? I received the likeness of God, but failed to keep it. He takes on my flesh, to bring salvation to the image, immortality to the flesh. He enters into a second union with us, a union far more wonderful than the first. Holiness had to be brought to man by the humanity assumed by one who was God, so that God might overcome the tyrant by force and so deliver us and lead us back to himself through the mediation of his Son. The Son arranged this for the honour of the Father, to whom the Son is clearly obedient in all things. The Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep, came in search of the straying sheep to the mountains and hills on which you used to offer sacrifice. When he found it, he took it on the shoulders that bore the wood of the cross, and led it back to the life of heaven. Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him. The Word of God follows the voice in the wilderness; the bridegroom follows the bridegroom’s friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit. We needed God to take our flesh and die, that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him.

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 5:1-7

SECOND READING from the Sermons of St. Bernard, Abbot

Let The Word Of The Lord Come To Us

We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold: the third coming is between the other two and it is not visible in the way they are. At his first coming the Lord was seen on earth and lived among men, who saw him and hated him. At his last coming All flesh shall see the salvation of our God, and They shall look on him whom they have pierced. In the middle, the hidden coming, only the chosen see him, and they see him within themselves; and so their souls are saved. The first coming was in flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty. This middle coming is like a road that leads from the first coming to the last. At the first, Christ was our redemption; at the last, he will become manifest as our life; but in this middle way he is our rest and our consolation.If you think that I am inventing what I am saying about the middle coming, listen to the Lord himself: If anyone loves me, he will keep my words, and the Father will love him, and we shall come to him. Elsewhere I have read: Whoever fears the Lord does good things. – but I think that what was said about whoever loves him was more important: that whoever loves him will keep his words. Where are these words to be kept? In the heart certainly, as the Prophet says I have hidden your sayings in my heart so that I do not sin against you. Keep the word of God in that way: Blessed are those who keep it. Let it penetrate deep into the core of your soul and then flow out again in your feelings and the way you behave; because if you feed your soul well it will grow and rejoice. Do not forget to eat your bread, or your heart will dry up. Remember, and your soul will grow fat and sleek.If you keep God’s word like this, there is no doubt that it will keep you, for the Son will come to you with the Father: the great Prophet will come, who will renew Jerusalem, and he is the one who makes all things new. For this is what this coming will do: just as we have been shaped in the earthly image, so will we be shaped in the heavenly image. Just as the old Adam was poured into the whole man and took possession of him, so in turn will our whole humanity be taken over by Christ, who created all things, has redeemed all things, and will glorify all things.

Thursday of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 16:1-5; 17:4-8

SECOND READING from the Commentary of St. Ephrem, Deacon, on the Diatessaron

Keep Watch: He Is To Come Again

To prevent his disciples from asking the time of his coming, Christ said: About that hour no one knows, neither the angels nor the Son. It is not for you to know times or moments. He has kept those things hidden so that we may keep watch, each of us thinking that he will come in our own day. If he had revealed the time of his coming, his coming would have lost its savour: it would no longer be an object of yearning for the nations and the age in which it will be revealed. He promised that he would come but did not say when he would come, and so all generations and ages await him eagerly. 

Though the Lord has established the signs of his coming, the time of their fulfilment has not been plainly revealed. These signs have come and gone with a multiplicity of change; more than that, they are still present. His final coming is like his first. As holy men and prophets waited for him, thinking that he would reveal himself in their own day, so today each of the faithful longs to welcome him in his own day, because Christ has not made plain the day of his coming.

He has not made it plain for this reason especially, that no one may think that he whose power and dominion rule all numbers and times is ruled by fate and time. He described the signs of his coming; how could what he has himself decided be hidden from him? Therefore, he used these words to increase respect for the signs of his coming, so that from that day forward all generations and ages might think that he would come again in their own day. 

Keep watch; when the body is asleep nature takes control of us, and what is done is not done by our will but by force, by the impulse of nature. When deep listlessness takes possession of the soul, for example, faint-heartedness or melancholy, the enemy overpowers it and makes it do what it does not will. The force of nature, the enemy of the soul, is in control.

When the Lord commanded us to be vigilant, he meant vigilance in both parts of man: in the body, against the tendency to sleep; in the soul, against lethargy and timidity. As Scripture says: Wake up, you just, and I have risen, and am still with you; and again, Do not lose heart. Therefore, having this ministry, we do not lose heart.

FRIDAY of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 19:16-25

SECOND READING from the Proslogion of St. Anselm, Bishop

The Desire to Contemplate God

Insignificant man, rise up! Flee your preoccupations for a little while. Hide yourself for a time from your turbulent thoughts. Cast aside, now, your heavy responsibilities and put off your burdensome business. Make a little space free for God; and rest for a little time in him.

Enter the inner chamber of your mind; shut out all thoughts. Keep only thought of God, and thoughts that can aid you in seeking him. Close your door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! Speak now to God, saying, I seek your face; your face, Lord, will I seek.

And come you now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek you, where and how it may find you.

Lord, if you are not here, where shall I seek you when you are absent? But if you are everywhere, why do I not see you present? Truly you dwell in unapproachable light. But where is unapproachable light, or how shall I come to it? Or who shall lead me to that light and into it, that I may see you in it? Again, by what signs, under what form, shall I seek you? I have never seen you, O Lord, my God; I do not know your face.

What, O most high Lord, shall this man do, an exile far from you? What shall your servant do, anxious in his love of you, and cast out far from your presence? He is breathless with desire to see you, and your face is too far from him. He longs to come to you, and your dwelling-place is inaccessible. He is eager to find you, but does not know where. He desires to seek you, and does not know your face.

Lord, you are my God, and you are my Lord, and never have I seen you. You have made me and renewed me, you have given me all the good things that I have, and I have not yet met you. I was created to see you, and I have not yet done the thing for which I was made.

And as for you, Lord, how long? How long, O Lord, do you forget us; how long do you turn your face from us? When will you look upon us, and hear us? When will you enlighten our eyes, and show us your face? When will you restore yourself to us?

Look upon us, Lord; hear us, enlighten us, reveal yourself to us. Restore yourself to us, that it may be well with us, yourself, without whom it is so ill with us. Pity our toilings and strivings toward you since we can do nothing without you.

Teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me when I seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, nor find you unless you reveal yourself. Let me seek you in longing, let me long for you in seeking; let me find you by loving you and love you in the act of finding you.

SATURDAY of the First Week of Advent

FIRST READING from the book of the Prophet Isaiah 21: 6- 12

SECOND READING from the Treatise of St. Cyprian, Bishop and Martyr

Hope Sustains Us

Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again: If you persevere in my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.

We do not seek glory now, in the present, but we look for future glory, as Saint Paul instructs us when he says: By hope we were saved. Now hope which is seen is not hope; how can a man hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience. Patient waiting is necessary if we are to be perfected in what we have begun to be, and if we are to receive from God what we hope for and believe.

In another place the same Apostle instructs and teaches the just, and those active in good works, and those who store up for themselves treasures in heaven through the reward God gives them. They are to be patient also, for he says: Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith. But let us not grow weary in doing good, for we shall reap our reward in due season.

Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience, not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.

Finally the Apostle, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. Charity, he says, is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.

And in another place he says: Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless the brethren cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.

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One can also pray during Advent, asking for Jesus coming using the O Antiphons that we find in each Vespers, for the Magnificat, starting from the 17th December. These are deep prayers of desire, sang with Mary and under her light in order to attract the Lord:

17th December :

O Wisdom

O Wisdom, O holy Word of God,
you govern all creation with your strong yet tender care:
Come and show your people the way to salvation.

Latin

O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem fortiter,
suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

18th December :

O Lord of Israel

 O Sacred Lord of ancient Israel,
who showed yourself to Moses in the burning bush,
who gave him the holy law on Sinai mountain:
Come, stretch out your mighty hand to set us free.

Latin

O Adonai,
et dux domus Israël,
qui Moyse in igne flammae rubi apparuisti,
et ei in Sina legem dedisti:
veni ad redimendum nos in brachio extento.

19th December :

O Root of Jesse

 O Root of Jesse,
you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples;
kings stand silent in your presence;
the nations bow down in worship before you.
Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

Latin

O Radix Jesse,
qui stas in signum populorum,
super quem continebunt reges os suum,
quem gentes deprecabuntur:
veni ad liberandum nos,
jam noli tardare.

20th December :

O Key of David

 O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel,
controlling at your will the gate of heaven:
Come, break down the prison walls of death
for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death;
and lead your captive people into freedom.

Latin

O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

21st December :

O Radiant Dawn

 O Radiant Dawn, splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
Come, shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death.

Latin

O Oriens,
splendor lucis aeternae,
et sol justitiae:
veni, et illumina
sedentes in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

22nd December :

O King of All Nations

 O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart;
O Keystone of the mighty arch of man:
Come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust.

Latin

O Rex Gentium,
et desideratus earum,
lapisque angularis,
qui facis utraque unum:
veni, et salva hominem,
quem de limo formasti.

23rd December :

O Emmanuel

O Emmanuel, king and lawgiver,
desire of the nations, Savior of all people:
Come and set us free, Lord our God.

Latin

O Emmanuel,
Rex et legifer noster,
expectatio gentium,
et Salvator earum:
veni ad salvandum nos,
Domine, Deus noster.

If you want to listen to them in Latin please click here for the playlist.


On can also meditate on this beautiful Latin hymn: "Rorate Ceali de Super", where we ask God to send us His Rain (the Eternal Son) on Mary the Good Soil, so we can have our Saviour. All inspired from Isaiah. For more details see here.

Latin	English
Roráte caéli désuper, et núbes plúant jústum.	Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Ne irascáris Dómine, ne ultra memíneris iniquitátis: ecce cívitas Sáncti fácta est desérta: Síon desérta fácta est, Jerúsalem desoláta est: dómus sanctificatiónis túæ et glóriæ túæ, ubi laudavérunt te pátres nóstri.	Be not wroth very sore, O Lord, neither remember iniquity for ever: thy holy city is a wilderness, Sion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation: our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee.
Peccávimus, et fácti súmus tamquam immúndus nos, et cecídimus quasi fólium univérsi: et iniquitátes nóstræ quasi véntus abstulérunt nos: abscondísti faciem túam a nóbis, et allisísti nos in mánu iniquitátis nóstræ.	We have sinned, and are as an unclean thing, and we all do fade as a leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away: thou hast hid thy face from us: and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.
Víde Dómine afflictiónem pópuli túi, et mítte quem missúrus es: emítte Agnum dominatórem térræ, de Pétra desérti ad móntem fíliæ Síon: ut áuferat ípse júgum captivitátis nóstræ.	Behold, O Lord, the affliction of thy people, and send forth him whom thou wilt send; send forth the Lamb, the ruler of the earth, from Petra of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Sion: that he may take away the yoke of our captivity.
Vos testes mei, dicit Dóminus, et servus meus quem elégi; ut sciátis, et credátis mihi: ego sum, ego sum Dóminus, et non est absque me salvátor: et non est qui de manu mea éruat.	Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know me and believe me: I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour: and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Consolámini, consolámini, pópule méus: cito véniet sálus túa: quare mæróre consúmeris, quia innovávit te dólor? Salvábo te, nóli timére, égo enim sum Dóminus Déus túus, Sánctus Israël, Redémptor túus.	Comfort ye, comfort ye my people; my salvation shall not tarry: why wilt thou waste away in sadness? why hath sorrow seized thee? Fear not, for I will save thee: For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.