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.

157: Deeper Contemplation: Turning Points after the Second Conversion

If a person is already Christian, traditionally Christian baptised from a very young age, and hears Jesus' Call to follow Him closely, this turning point is called "second conversion". It is called "second" because the person is already Christian. It is about having a living relationship with Jesus and growing in His love. The second conversion starts a new journey of growth until one achieves total union with Jesus. To reach that goal one goes through various levels of purification, transformation and liberation. For a variety of reasons the majority of Christians do not reach that goal. This is a pity.

Is it the only turning point in our life? No. There are others. Every junction between the different stages of purification is also a turning point. The purification of the senses - the inferior part of our being - senses, body, instincts, addictions is the first purification we face right after our second conversion. This can last for a while - a year or two, or sometimes an entire life. Here, our initial sensory attachments are purified and we start to taste the spiritual “milk” that the Lord gives us. So prayer has a taste, doing things for the Lord give us consolations. Our life changes, we start to have new habits, our daily schedule changes allowing us space for prayer and for serving the Lord and our brothers.

If the person is fervent and with good spiritual steady growth, he or she will reach a point of a first great liberation, where he or she will experience greater control from the superior part of our being (more rational/spiritual) over the inferior part. One can experience an exhilarating liberation from an addiction as well.

Sometime after that newly experienced freedom and possession of self, if the person remain fervent and if some external helps/means are available (books, spiritual directors who know about the coming phase) God might then consider that the person moves from the spiritual “milk” to the “solid food”. Instead of lowering himself to our level, the Lord wants now to lift us up to Him and to his ways of being and doing things. The New Man should develop drastically, and automatically drops the Old Man.

After firmly biting the bait, the fish is now about to be lifted outside of its waters in order to be put on the fire, grilled, and eaten by the Lord (Union with Him).

Before entering in this deeper stage (see area 3 in the drawing), the Lord makes us go through an intermediate phase (area 2). This phase has at least three types of trials, described by St John of the Cross in chapter 14 of The Dark Night, Book 1. It is the turn of the imagination and the inner senses. The Lord allows the person to be put under a trial, in order for him or her to strengthen the new "muscles" of the New Man: the act of faith (learning to focus beyond what is felt, seen, experienced, on Jesus himself). The person learns not to surrender to indecent images, or immoral feelings or blasphemies or some form of scruple.

Any trial or temptation is like a test, a training that God provides for us. They might come from some types of bad spirits (the devil), but all is happening under the command and governance of God. "Everything contributes to the good of the persons who love God" (Romans 8:28). If somebody loves God this means that he or she is totally committed to Jesus and faithful to him on a daily basis. This means that anything that happens in his or her life, including what interests us here: his or her life of prayer, happens either because God wants it or because God allows it for our own good.

These trials are not negative. They just offer some strong medicine to give us resistance so we start to train the muscles of the New Man in order to counter the negative impulses and therefore grow and draw closer to Jesus.

St John of the Cross, in that same chapter 14 of The Dark Night Book 1, mentions three different spirits who tempt the person and put him or her under a trial: a spirit of fornication (with all the filthy and unbearable imagery that comes with it), the spirit of blasphemy (with all the sufferings that one can feel because of the desire not to offend God) and the spirit of vertigo... a sort of hesitation, spiritual unsettlement which I would call a form of scruple.

In the drawings below we have the following:

In dark red (a dot): God himself at the centre of our being.

In clear red (area 4): the area of the Union with Jesus, what St Teresa of Avila calls as well the Seven Mansions.

In grey (area 3): the rational part of our Soul: conscious mind, will and memory.

In clear orange (area 2): the imagination and the inner senses, and as well somehow our emotions.

In clear green (area 1): the sense (lower part of our being/body).

The first drawing illustrates (with the white path marked in area 1) the first phase of purification.

When the time is right, the person is introduced to the second phase: circles in red. The white trace of the journey of the person grows into area 2 (see the following diagram).

When the three horrible temptations happen, one has to stay still...in Faith, focusing on Jesus, beyond what is felt and experienced. It is very important not to be shaken by any of these three temptations. They are like watching a horrible movie in the cinema. The movie is projected on a wide white screen, just some light hitting a piece of white fabric. So if anything happens in the movie, even if it seems to impress us, it is not coming from us, so, there is no sin. We need to remain still, knowing that God is here... and sees that we are not part of that, that we don't want it. We focus on Jesus, and not on what we feel or sense.

These trials says Saint John of the Cross prepare us for the next phase, humbling us.

Of course good spiritual direction is much needed here, but hopefully the Spiritual Director knows about the spirit, has discernment and know about the development that follows so he can explain and reassure the person. The Catechism of the Catholic Church warns us about the choice of a Spiritual Director, quoting St John of the Cross:

"According to St. John of the Cross, the person wishing to advance toward perfection should "take care into whose hands he entrusts himself, for as the master is, so will the disciple be, and as the father is so will be the son." And further: "In addition to being learned and discreet a director should be experienced. . . . If the spiritual director has no experience of the spiritual life, he will be incapable of leading into it the souls whom God is calling to it, and he will not even understand them." (C.C.C.2690)

So, when a spiritual person experiences such things he or she will need to be reassured and helped. Otherwise the sufferings are unbearable because of the clearly evil character of what is happening inside of the person.

God want us to stay still, remain stable and rooted in him, and above all to allow our faith to grow stronger, by renewing the acts of faith, focusing not on what we feel or experience internally, but on Jesus who is beyond our inner senses and imagination.

Here is the text of St John of the Cross:

CHAPTER XIV

Expounds this last line of the first stanza.

1. WHEN this house of sensuality was now at rest—that is, was mortified—its passions being quenched and its desires put to rest and lulled to sleep by means of this blessed night of the purgation of sense, the soul went forth, to set out upon the road and way of the spirit, which is that of progressives and proficients, and which, by another name, is called the way of illumination or of infused contemplation, wherein God Himself feeds and refreshes the soul, without meditation, or the soul's active help. Such, as we have said, is the night and purgation of sense in the soul. In those who have afterwards to enter the other and more formidable night of the spirit, in order to pass to the Divine union of love of God (for not all pass habitually thereto, but only the smallest number), it is wont to be accompanied by formidable trials and temptations of sense, which last for a long time, albeit longer in some than in others. For to some the angel of Satan presents himself—namely, the spirit of fornication—that he may buffet their senses with abominable and violent temptations, and trouble their spirits with vile considerations and representations which are most visible to the imagination, which things at times are a greater affliction to them than death.

2. At other times in this night there is added to these things the spirit of blasphemy, which roams abroad, setting in the path of all the conceptions and thoughts of the soul intolerable blasphemies. These it sometimes suggests to the imagination with such violence that the soul almost utters them, which is a grave torment to it.

3. At other times another abominable spirit, which Isaias calls Spiritus vertiginis [The 'spirit of giddiness' of D.V., and 'perverse spirit' of A.V., Isaias 19:14.], is allowed to molest them, not in order that they may fall, but that it may try them. This spirit darkens their senses in such a way that it fills them with numerous scruples and perplexities, so confusing that, as they judge, they can never, by any means, be satisfied concerning them, neither can they find any help for their judgment in counsel or thought. This is one of the severest goads and horrors of this night, very closely akin to that which passes in the night of the spirit.

4. As a rule these storms and trials are sent by God in this night and purgation of sense to those whom afterwards He purposes to lead into the other night (though not all reach it), to the end that, when they have been chastened and buffeted, they may in this way continually exercise and prepare themselves, and continually accustom their senses and faculties to the union of wisdom which is to be bestowed upon them in that other night. For, if the soul be not tempted, exercised and proved with trials and temptations, it cannot quicken its sense of Wisdom. For this reason it is said in Ecclesiasticus: 'He that has not been tempted, what does he know? And he that has not been proved, what are the things that he recognizes?' [Ecclesiasticus 34:9-10] To this truth Jeremiah bears good witness, saying: 'Thou didst chastise me, Lord, and I was instructed.' [Jeremiah 31:18.] And the most proper form of this chastisement, for one who will enter into Wisdom, is that of the interior trials which we are here describing, inasmuch as it is these which most effectively purge sense of all favours and consolations to which it was affected, with natural weakness, and by which the soul is truly humiliated in preparation for the exaltation which it is to experience.

5. For how long a time the soul will be held in this fasting and penance of sense, cannot be said with any certainty; for all do not experience it after one manner, neither do all encounter the same temptations. For this is meted out by the will of God, in conformity with the greater or the smaller degree of imperfection which each soul has to purge away. In conformity, likewise, with the degree of love of union to which God is pleased to raise it, He will humble it with greater or less intensity or in greater or less time. Those who have the disposition and greater strength to suffer, He purges with greater intensity and more quickly. But those who are very weak are kept for a long time in this night, and these He purges very gently and with slight temptations. Habitually, too, He gives them refreshments of sense so that they may not fall away, and only after a long time do they attain to purity of perfection in this life, some of them never attaining to it at all. Such are neither properly in the night nor properly out of it; for, although they make no progress, yet, in order that they may continue in humility and self-knowledge, God exercises them for certain periods and at certain times [Lit., 'for certain days.'] in those temptations and aridities; and at other times and seasons He assists them with consolations, lest they should grow faint and return to seek the consolations of the world. Other souls, which are weaker, God Himself accompanies, now appearing to them, now moving farther away, that He may exercise them in His love; for without such turnings away they would not learn to reach God.

6. But the souls which are to pass on to that happy and high estate, the union of love, are wont as a rule to remain for a long time in these aridities and temptations, however quickly God may lead them, as has been seen by experience. It is time, then, to begin to treat of the second night." (Dark Night, Book I, chapter 14)

117: Examining our conscience with the Pope

The 22nd of December, the Pope addressed the Curia (all who work in the Vatican Offices) with a very clear cleansing purifying message, denouncing the existence of 15 sins, bad habits, bad spirits. Not 7, but 15...!

It is a very bold but healthy step. We can only rejoice because of it. But while reading this discourse the first temptation is to think this is only addressed to the Curia. In fact it is valid for all the clergy as well. Second temptation is to forget to pray for Priests. The Pope addresses this point. The third temptation is to forget the most powerful (spiritually powerful) function in the Church: Consecrated People (Monks, Nuns, Religious,...), and this is valid as well for them. The fourth temptation is to think that this analysis is only valid for the persons mentioned above and not for the rest of the Church: lay people. So let us re-read the Pope's words, and think that they are addressed to us (especially all lay persons who work in different ministries (catechesis, Evangelisation,...)). Here it is:

To the Roman Curia on the occasion of the presentation of Christmas greetings (22 December 2014)

PRESENTATION OF THE CHRISTMAS GREETINGS TO THE ROMAN CURIA

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

Clementine Hall

Monday, 22 December 2014

THE ROMAN CURIA AND THE BODY OF CHRIST

“You are higher than the cherubim,

you who changed the pitiful plight of the world

when you became like one of us”

(Saint Athanasius)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the end of Advent, we meet for our traditional greetings. In a few days we will have the joy of celebrating the birth of the Lord: the event of God who became man in order to save us; the manifestation of the love of God who does not just give us something, or send us a message or a few messengers, but gives us himself; the mystery of God who took upon himself our humanity and our sins in order to reveal his divine life, his immense grace and his freely-given forgiveness. It is our encounter with God who is born in the poverty of the stable of Bethlehem in order to teach us the power of humility. For Christmas is also the feast of the light which is not received by the “chosen”, but by the poor and simple who awaited the salvation of the Lord.

Before all else, I would like to offer all of you – co-workers, brothers and sisters, papal representatives throughout the world, and all your dear ones – my prayerful good wishes for a holy Christmas and a happy New Year. I want to thank you most heartily for your daily commitment in the service of the Holy See, the Catholic Church, the particular Churches and the Successor of Peter.

Since we are persons and not numbers or mere titles, I would mention in a particular way those who in the course of this year concluded their service for reasons of age, or the assumption of new duties, or because they were called to the house of the Father. My thoughts and my gratitude go to them and to their families.

Together with you, I want to lift up to the Lord a lively and heartfelt thanksgiving for the year now ending, for all we have experienced, and for all the good which he has graciously willed to accomplish through our service of the Holy See, while at the same time humbly begging his forgiveness for our failings committed “in our thoughts and words, in what we have done and what we have failed to do”.

Taking this request for forgiveness as my starting point, I would like this meeting and the reflections which I will now share with you to be for all of us a help and a stimulus to a true examination of conscience, in order to prepare our hearts for the holy feast of Christmas.

As I thought about this meeting, there came to mind the image of the Church as the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. This is an expression which, as Pope Pius XII explained, “springs up and in some way blossoms from the frequent teaching of sacred Scripture and the Fathers of the Church”.[1] As Saint Paul wrote: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Cor 12:12).[2]

The Second Vatican Council thus recalls that “a diversity of members and functions is engaged in the building up of Christ’s body too, There is only one Spirit who, out of his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his various gifts for the welfare of the Church (cf. 1 Cor 12:1-11).[3] As a result, “Christ and the Church together make up the ‘whole Christ’ (Christus totus). The Church is one with Christ”.[4]

It is attractive to think of the Roman Curia as a small-scale model of the Church, in other words, as a “body” which strives seriously every day to be more alive, more healthy, more harmonious and more united in itself and with Christ.

In fact, though, the Roman Curia is a complex body, made up of a number of Congregations, Councils, Offices, Tribunals, Commissions, as of numerous elements which do not all have the same task but are coordinated in view of an effective, edifying, disciplined and exemplary functioning, notwithstanding the cultural, linguistic and national differences of its members.[5]

However, since the Curia is a dynamic body, it cannot live without nourishment and care. In fact, the Curia – like the Church – cannot live without a vital, personal, authentic and solid relationship with Christ.[6] A member of the Curia who is not daily nourished by that Food will become a bureaucrat (a formalist, a functionalist, a mere employee): a branch which withers, slowly dies and is then cast off. Daily prayer, assiduous reception of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist and Reconciliation, daily contact with the word of God and a spirituality which translates into lived charity – these are vital nourishment for each of us. Let it be clear to all of us that apart from him we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:8).

As a result, a living relationship with God also nourishes and strengthens our communion with others. In other words, the more closely we are joined to God, the more we are united among ourselves, since the Spirit of God unites and the spirit of evil divides.

The Curia is called constantly to improve and to grow in communion, holiness and wisdom, in order to carry out fully its mission.[7] And yet, like any body, like any human body, it is also exposed to diseases, malfunctioning, infirmity. Here I would like to mention some of these probable diseases, “curial diseases”. They are the more common diseases in our life in the Curia. They are diseases and temptations which weaken our service to the Lord. I think a “listing” of these diseases – along the lines of the Desert Fathers who used to draw up such lists – will help us to prepare for the sacrament of Reconciliation, which will be a good step for all of us to take in preparing for Christmas.

1. The disease of thinking we are “immortal”, “immune” or downright “indispensable”, neglecting the need for regular check-ups. A Curia which is not self-critical, which does not keep up with things, which does not seek to be more fit, is a sick body. A simple visit to the cemetery might help us see the names of many people who thought they were immortal, immune and indispensable! It is the disease of the rich fool in the Gospel, who thought he would live forever (cf. Lk 12:13-21), but also of those who turn into lords and masters, and think of themselves as above others and not at their service. It is often an effect of the pathology of power, from a superiority complex, from a narcissism which passionately gazes at its own image and does not see the image of God on the face of others, especially the weakest and those most in need.[8] The antidote to this plague is the grace of realizing that we are sinners and able to say heartily: “We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty” (Lk 17:10).

2. Another disease is the “Martha complex”, excessive busy-ness. It is found in those who immerse themselves in work and inevitably neglect “the better part”: sitting at the feet of Jesus (cf. Lk 10:38-42). Jesus called his disciples to “rest a while” (cf. Mk 6:31) for a reason, because neglecting needed rest leads to stress and agitation. A time of rest, for those who have completed their work, is necessary, obligatory and should be taken seriously: by spending time with one’s family and respecting holidays as moments of spiritual and physical recharging. We need to learn from Qohelet that “for everything there is a season” (3:1-15).

3. Then too there is the disease of mental and spiritual “petrification”. It is found in those who have a heart of stone, the “stiff-necked” (Acts 7:51-60), in those who in the course of time lose their interior serenity, alertness and daring, and hide under a pile of papers, turning into paper pushers and not men of God (cf. Heb 3:12). It is dangerous to lose the human sensitivity that enables us to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice! This is the disease of those who lose “the sentiments of Jesus” (cf. Phil 2:5-11), because as time goes on their hearts grow hard and become incapable of loving unconditionally the Father and our neighbour (cf. Mt 22:34-35). Being a Christian means “having the same sentiments that were in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5), sentiments of humility and unselfishness, of detachment and generosity.[9]

4. The disease of excessive planning and of functionalism. When the apostle plans everything down to the last detail and believes that with perfect planning things will fall into place, he becomes an accountant or an office manager. Things need to be prepared well, but without ever falling into the temptation of trying to contain and direct the freedom of the Holy Spirit, which is always greater and more flexible than any human planning (cf. Jn 3:8). We contract this disease because “it is always more easy and comfortable to settle in our own sedentary and unchanging ways. In truth, the Church shows her fidelity to the Holy Spirit to the extent that she does not try to control or tame him… to tame the Holy Spirit! … He is freshness, imagination, and newness”.[10]

5. The disease of poor coordination. Once its members lose communion among themselves, the body loses its harmonious functioning and its equilibrium; it then becomes an orchestra which produces noise: its members do not work together and lose the spirit of fellowship and teamwork. When the foot says to the arm: “I don't need you ”, or the hand says to the head, “I’m in charge”, they create discomfort and scandal.

6. There is also a “spiritual Alzheimer’s disease”. It consists in losing the memory of our personal “salvation history”, our past history with the Lord and our “first love” (Rev 2:4). It involves a progressive decline in the spiritual faculties which in the long or short run greatly handicaps a person by making him incapable of doing anything on his own, living in a state of absolute dependence on his often imaginary perceptions. We see it in those who have lost the memory of their encounter with the Lord; in those who no longer see life’s meaning in “deuteronomic” terms; in those who are completely caught up in the present moment, in their passions, whims and obsessions; in those who build walls and routines around themselves, and thus become more and more the slaves of idols carved by their own hands.

7. The disease of rivalry and vainglory.[11] When appearances, the colour of our clothes and our titles of honour become the primary object in life, we forget the words of Saint Paul: “Do nothing from selfishness or conceit but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil 2:3-4). This is a disease which leads us to be men and woman of deceit, and to live a false “mysticism” and a false “quietism”. Saint Paul himself defines such persons as “enemies of the cross of Christ” because “they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (Phil 3:19).

8. The disease of existential schizophrenia. This is the disease of those who live a double life, the fruit of that hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and of a progressive spiritual emptiness which no doctorates or academic titles can fill. It is a disease which often strikes those who abandon pastoral service and restrict themselves to bureaucratic matters, thus losing contact with reality, with concrete people. In this way they create their own parallel world, where they set aside all that they teach with severity to others and begin to live a hidden and often dissolute life. For this most serious disease conversion is most urgent and indeed indispensable (cf. Lk 15:11-32).

9. The disease of gossiping, grumbling and back-biting. I have already spoken many times about this disease, but never enough. It is a grave illness which begins simply, perhaps even in small talk, and takes over a person, making him become a “sower of weeds” (like Satan) and in many cases, a cold-blooded killer of the good name of our colleagues and confrères. It is the disease of cowardly persons who lack the courage to speak out directly, but instead speak behind other people’s backs. Saint Paul admonishes us to do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent” (Phil 2:14-15). Brothers, let us be on our guard against the terrorism of gossip!

10. The disease of idolizing superiors. This is the disease of those who court their superiors in the hope of gaining their favour. They are victims of careerism and opportunism; they honour persons and not God (cf. Mt 23:8-12). They serve thinking only of what they can get and not of what they should give. Small-minded persons, unhappy and inspired only by their own lethal selfishness (cf. Gal 5:16-25). Superiors themselves could be affected by this disease, when they court their collaborators in order to obtain their submission, loyalty and psychological dependency, but the end result is a real complicity.

11. The disease of indifference to others. This is where each individual thinks only of himself and loses sincerity and warmth of human relationships. When the most knowledgeable person does not put that knowledge at the service of his less knowledgeable colleagues. When we learn something and then keep it to ourselves rather than sharing it in a helpful way with others. When out of jealousy or deceit we take joy in seeing others fall instead of helping them up and encouraging them.

12. The disease of a lugubrious face. Those glum and dour persons who think that to be serious we have to put on a face of melancholy and severity, and treat others – especially those we consider our inferiors – with rigour, brusqueness and arrogance. In fact, a show of severity and sterile pessimism[12] are frequently symptoms of fear and insecurity. An apostle must make an effort to be courteous, serene, enthusiastic and joyful, a person who transmits joy everywhere he goes. A heart filled with God is a happy heart which radiates an infectious joy: it is immediately evident! So let us not lose that joyful, humorous and even self-deprecating spirit which makes people amiable even in difficult situations.[13] How beneficial is a good dose of humour! We would do well to recite often the prayer of St. Thomas More.[14] I say it every day, and it helps.

13. The disease of hoarding. When an apostle tries to fill an existential void in his heart by accumulating material goods, not out of need but only in order to feel secure. The fact is that we are not able to bring material goods with us, since “the winding sheet does not have pockets”, and all our earthly treasures – even if they are gifts – will never be able to fill that void; instead, they will only make it deeper and more demanding. To these persons the Lord repeats: “You say, I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. So be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:17, 19). Accumulating goods only burdens and inexorably slows down the journey! Here I think of an anecdote: the Spanish Jesuits used to describe the Society of Jesus as the “light brigade of the Church”. I remember when a young Jesuit was moving, and while he was loading a truck full of his many possessions, suitcases, books, objects and gifts, an old Jesuit standing by was heard to say with a smile: And this is “the light brigade of the Church”? Our moving can be a sign of this disease.

14. The disease of closed circles, where belonging to a clique becomes more powerful than belonging to the Body and, in some circumstances, to Christ himself. This disease too always begins with good intentions, but with the passing of time it enslaves its members and becomes a cancer which threatens the harmony of the Body and causes immense evil – scandals – especially to our weaker brothers and sisters. Self-destruction, “friendly fire” from our fellow soldiers, is the most insidious danger.[15] It is the evil which strikes from within;[16] and, as Christ says: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste” (Lk 11:17).

15. Lastly: the disease of worldly profit, of forms of self-exhibition.[17] When an apostle turns his service into power, and his power into a commodity in order to gain worldly profit or even greater power. This is the disease of persons who insatiably try to accumulate power and to this end are ready to slander, defame and discredit others, even in newspapers and magazines. Naturally, so as to put themselves on display and to show that they are more capable than others. This disease does great harm to the Body because it leads persons to justify the use of any means whatsoever to attain their goal, often in the name of justice and transparency! Here I remember a priest who used to call journalists to tell – and invent – private and confidential matters involving his confrères and parishioners. The only thing he was concerned about was being able to see himself on the front page, since this made him feel “powerful and glamorous”, while causing great harm to others and to the Church. Poor sad soul!

Brothers, these diseases and these temptations are naturally a danger for each Christian and for every curia, community, congregation, parish and ecclesial movement; and they can strike at the individual and the community levels.

We need to be clear that it is only the Holy Spirit who can heal all our infirmities. He is the soul of the Mystical Body of Christ; as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed says: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, Lord and Giver of Life”. It is the Holy Spirit who sustains every sincere effort at purification and in every effort at conversion. It is he who makes us realize that every member participates in the sanctification of the Body and its weakening. He is the promoter of harmony:[18] Ipse harmonia est”, as Saint Basil says. Saint Augustine tells us that “as long as a member is still part of the body, its healing can be hoped for. But once it is removed, it can be neither cured nor healed”.[19]

Healing also comes about through an awareness of our sickness and of a personal and communal decision to be cured by patiently and perseveringly accepting the remedy.[20]

And so we are called – in this Christmas season and throughout our time of service and our lives – to live “in truth and love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love (Eph 4:15-16).

Dear brothers!

I read once that priests are like planes: they only make news when they crash, even though so many of them are in the air. Many people criticize, and few pray for them. It is a very touching, but also very true saying, because it points to the importance and the frailty of our priestly service, and how much evil a single priest who “crashes” can do to the whole body of the Church.

Therefore, so as not to fall in these days when we are preparing ourselves for Confession, let us ask the Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, to heal the wounds of sin which each of us bears in his heart, and to sustain the Church and the Curia so that they can be healthy and health-giving; holy and sanctifying, to the glory of her Son and for our salvation and that of the entire world. Let us ask her to make us love the Church as Christ, her Son and our Lord, loves her, to have the courage to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of his mercy, and not to fear surrendering our hands into her maternal hands.

I offer cordial good wishes for a holy Christmas to all of you, to your families and your co-workers. And please, do not forget to pray for me! Heartfelt thanks!

[1] He states that the Church, being mysticum Corpus Christi, “calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. As in the body, when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the aid of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body… a Body not formed by a haphazard grouping of members, but… constituted of organs, that is of members, that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is constituted by the coalescence of structurally united parts” (Encyclical Mystici Corporis, Part One: AAS 35 [1943], 200; ed. Carlen, Nos. 15-16)

[2] Cf. Rom 12:5: “So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another”.

[3] Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 7.

[4] It should be remembered that “the comparison of the Church with the body casts light on the intimate bond between Christ and his Church. Not only is she gathered around him; she is united in him, in his body. Three aspects of the Church as the body of Christ are to be more specifically noted: the unity of all her members with each other as a result of their union with Christ; Christ as the head of the body; and the Church as bride of Christ. Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 789 and 795.

[5] Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 130-131.

[6] Jesus often spoke of the union which the faithful should have with him: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (Jn 15:4-5).

[7] Cf. Pastor Bonus, Art. 1 and CIC can. 360.

[8] Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 197-201.

[9] Benedict XVI, General Audience, 1 June 2005.

[10] Francis, Homily at Mass in Turkey, 29 November 2014.

[11] Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 95-96.

[12] Ibid., 84-86.

[13] Ibid., 2

[14] “Grant me, O Lord, good digestion, and also something to digest. Grant me a healthy body, and the necessary good humour to maintain it. Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place. Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumbling, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress, because of that obstructing thing called ‘I’. Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to be able to take a joke and to discover in life a bit of joy, and to be able to share it with others”.

[15] Evangelii Gaudium, 88.

[16] Blessed Paul VI, referring to the situation of the Church stated that he had the feeling that “through some crack, the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God”: Homily for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June 1972); cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 98-101.

[17] Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 93-97.

[18] “The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church. He gives life, he brings forth different charisms which enrich the people of God and, above all, he creates unity among believers: from the many he makes one body, the Body of Christ… The Holy Spirit brings unity to the Church: unity in faith, unity in love, unity in interior cohesion” (Homily at Holy Mass in Turkey, 29 November 2014).

[19] Augustine, Sermo CXXXVII, 1 (PL 38, 754).

[20] Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 25-33.

90: St James explains Lectio Divina 1

In his beautiful letter, St James explains to us Lectio Divina and its conditions. "Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing. If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." (James 1:19-27)

Let us see how this presentation of Lectio Divina goes and let us discover a deeper understanding of this outstanding analysis of Lectio Divina.

Lectio Divina is about listening to Jesus’ Word for us every day. Can we really listen to him? Should we prepare our heart in order to become able to listen?

Original deafness

First and foremost it is important to remember that with the Fall (the Original Sin) we lose the capacity to listen and speak directly to God.

Moses is one of the first human beings to speak directly to God, face to face. People were scared of God.

Sin, separates us from God, and radical grave sin, stops us from hearing, and hardens our heart. We need a deep operation that will change our heart of stone to the heart of flesh.

This is why Jesus will perform a very important act on the Cross: he will open our “hearing” and our “speech” (capacity to talk), so we become, fort the first time capable to hearing the Word of God directly and talk to God directly and personally.

Even if this event happens during Jesus’ ministry, it centrally happens on the Cross where Jesus accomplishes our Redemption, this is why we have this long sigh:

“31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. 33 And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; 34 and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."” (Mark 7:31-37)

On the Cross Jesus brings us back from our darkness, our deafness to the fluency of communication with God (listening-speaking). It is on the Cross that Jesus opens us to God, changes us, gives us a new heart, a heart of flesh (Ez 36:26), (like Mary’s one), capable of listening. “Give thy servant therefore a heart that listens” (1 Kings 3:9).

The old man, by definition isn’t capable of listening. This is why among many other rites, during Baptism, the Minister performs that same act that Jesus did and touches the ears of the person who is baptised and his or her mouth, saying after Jesus: “Ephphatha” that is: be opened.

When we sit down, in order to listen to Jesus, we need to remember that listening to Him is a Grace, not something obvious and automatic. This is why Jesus gives a very special Grace of the Holy Spirit to us, in order for us to listen to Him, hear his voice, See him in the Scripture: he “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). Without this supernatural intervention of Jesus in our mind/heart, we can’t really hear him, see him, be touched by his words deeply, be moved by them.

It is important to acknowledge that we can’t take Lectio Divina (listening to Jesus) for granted, and that it is a huge Grace, that we need to ask for humbly and insistently.
Note: For these reasons Mary is considered by Luke to be the only one who was capable of Listening to the Word of God and obey it, put it into practice. This is why we need her, New Eve, our Mother, to generate our new heart, at the image of her heart, capable of listening and putting into practice Jesus' Words.

Impurity makes us deaf

St James will explain to us some of the dispositions in order to become capable of listening to Jesus-God:

“19 Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, 20 for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19)

The goal is to become “quick to hear”. In order to do so, there are plenty of other operations of our soul (mind and will) that should stop: speaking and being angry. “chatter” could be the expression of anger. We can’t in the same time hate somebody and want to listen to Jesus. Because “hating” is an act of inner silent speech, where with our thoughts we direct the arrows of our anger against this person. The word of Jesus doesn’t have a space in us.

We can’t expect two things that are opposite to dwell in us: anger and God’s action in us. “Anger” has many forms in us. Frustration for instance can makes us angry.

The Word of God needs and awaits for a clean heart. There is a cleanness that we can perform, which is refusing to surrender to anger and ask from God to give us a new heart, a heart of flesh, a heart “quick to hear”.

“21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls.”

St James will clarify his thought: “anger” is for him any “filthiness and rank growth of wickedness”. If we want to receive the “implanted Word” of Jesus, we need to put away all what goes against it. Remember the thorns in the third soil in the Parable of the Sower. It has thorns that suffocate the Word of Jesus implanted in us. These thorns are all what is against the Word of God, all the desires that are not “the desire of God” (richness, worries,…).

God wants to save us. He has two means for that: His Word (his preaching), and His Body and Blood (the Cross). Jesus’ word is capable of Saving our soul, changing it, purifying it, helping it to walk the path from the land of the darkness to God who is Light and Love. God’s Word is powerful and we need it everyday so we can be saved: each day bears its effort, and each day has its own Bread. For man doesn’t live alone from Bread but from the Real Bread: Jesus’ Words.

“A heart quick to hear give me O Lord! A meek heart.”

Putting into practice

One of the characteristics of the heart that can receive the word of God is the heart that from the beginning is ready to put it into practice, unconditionally ready for that. We know that God can fulfil any Word he would say to us. So why are we doubting God? We need to trust him, trust that he knows what is best for us today, we are his children, his dearest children and he wants to “save our souls” with his Word.

Do we really believe that we need to be saved, i.e. changed by him, by his words? Do we really entrust our being into the Hands of Jesus who then will give us each day a Word of Salvation, of change, of transformation, purification? Do we really see Jesus as our doctor, healer? Do we acknowledge the existence of this Grace every day? Are we following Jesus everyday?

So, from start, the process of “listening” bears in it the deep determination to put into practice what we will hear from Jesus, we are totally opened to him: “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

Being in front of Jesus is being in front of THE Truth, the truth on us. We expose ourselves to His Light. Wanting to listen to Jesus means that we want to see ourselves in Him: he sheds a light a day on us, reflects it to us, shows it to us. “For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror” (James 1:23)

Jesus is our Divine Mirror

But we really need to accomplish all the operation of listening: i.e. listening and putting into practice.

Otherwise: “he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like” (James 1:24)

Really we need to be persons who listen and put into practice the daily word of Jesus. This is what characterises us. We believe in the Incarnation, and part of the Incarnation is the incarnation of Jesus’ words in us. This incarnation really changes our life, modifies it radically. This is a fundamental criterion of discernment. One can claim that he or she has a life of prayer, but it can be deeply fake. We can’t fool God by just praying and doing various sacred acts of worship. If the Word of Jesus doesn’t become incarnate in us, our worship is superficial, not made “in Spirit and in Truth”, we just worship Jesus with our words, and body, but our heart doesn’t listen to Him, is not guided by Him and is not transformed by His Word. "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men" (Matthew 15:8-9)

Jesus is our living Law, Jesus is our living example and guide, he is our Way. Jesus came to free us from the darkness, bringing us to the Light and transforming our inner being into His Light.

“But he who looks into the perfect Law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25)

Again and again: otherwise our worship is false, superficial, pharisaic. How can we continue to have a heart that doesn’t listen to Jesus, and is not moved by his words if from our heart come all sorts of thoughts and silent acts?

“If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain.” (James 1:26)

One can say: but what will Jesus ask me to do? Loving Jesus’ Body:

“He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:9-11) “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20)

Who are the most vulnerable persons on earth according to the biblical tradition? The persons that have nobody on earth to take care of them? The orphans and the widows. These are the most “poor” persons. Before reaching them, we need to open to the closest persons, then after, we will go deeper and deeper in Jesus’ Body until we reach the poorest of the poorest: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” (James 1:27) “Religion” is worship, is to love God, is all the acts of worship. Giving what we have, who we are, letting the love of God flow from him, through our heart to the poor, Jesus’ body, is really one of the deepest and most powerful ways of “putting into Practise” Jesus’ Word: Lectio Divina.

Conclusion

We really need to meditate these few verses of St James’ letter, in order to deepen our understanding of Lectio Divina.