VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM JUNE -- 2000 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me." Matthew 19:21
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INTRODUCTION This is the fifth issue of VERBUM SERAPHICUM: a newsletter for vocations to traditional Franciscan life. The purpose of this publication is to provide information that assists in the discernment of a supernatural vocation to religious life and to the priesthood. O Mary, Mediatrix of every Grace, pray for us! On Exorcising the Spirit of Worldliness In his First Letter, the Apostle St. John offers this sober counsel for vocations to the priesthood and religious life: Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. (1 Jn 2:15 ) By the term "the world" Our Lord and His Apostles are referring not to creation or this planet or human society or anyone in it; but to the moral corruption of human society which leads to eternal damnation. St. John explains why this corruption must be hated, in the next verse of his letter, where he writes: For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. (v.16) What leads away from God is opposed to God. Therefore the moral corruption of human society is opposed to God. Therefore it must be hated by those who would love God. Hence it is that the Apostle St. James, the lesser, says: Do you not know that friendship with the world is hatred for God? ( Jm. 4:4 ) No one can be saved who has surrendered himself to the spirit of worldliness; for such a spirit is naught but love of evil. This love of the world is, in Catholic terminology, called the spirit of worldliness, and the devil who instigates this love, the Spirit of worldliness. Whereas the spirit of hatred for evil is called righteousness and the Spirit of righteousness is St. Michael the Archangel, who battled the dragon at the beginning of time with the war cry, which is his name: Who is like unto God? |
The fruits of the spirit of worldliness are blindness of the mind, dullness of the heart, and thirst in the senses. The spirit of worldliness blinds the mind, by filling it with considerations that esteem and appreciate the achievements of the world, the power and riches and pleasures offered by those who pursue its ideals. It dulls the heart but turning it to desire what it has already convinced the mind to appreciate. The heart thus come to love, if not evil directly and overtly, evil indirectly and all that leads to evil and is obtained by evil. The spirit of worldliness makes the senses thirst, insofar as the desire for experiences obtains supreme dominance over a heart and mind turned away from love of goodness and assent to truth. The battle cry of the spirit of worldliness is "Freedom! All that one needs is that he got to be free!" The freedom of the worldly is the freedom from truth and goodness, the freedom to imprison oneself in experiences and the pursuit of fleeting goods which cannot save. It is thus that the spirit of worldliness puts all endeavors to the service of conveniences and enjoyments, whether that endeavor be religion, or science, or technology, or education or politics. And the world passes away and the concupiscence thereof; but here that does the will of God abides forever. ( 1 Jn 2: 7 ). It follows that those who seek what passes away will themselves pass away. Hence, The wisdom of the world is death. ( Rom 8:5 ) For to love what is evil, is, according to the definition of evil (the privation of the good that ought to be in a thing) to love what is lacking, and to love the absence of something is to love nothingness. And just as all those who love become what they love, so all those who love nothingness are doomed to obliteration. Hence as the Apostle St. Paul writes, The wisdom of the world is death. ( Rom 8:5 ) And the society of the worldly is a society and culture of death. The spirit of worldliness can only be exorcised by the spirit of godliness, because just as the love of the absence of good is opposed to goodness, so the love of the presence of the Supreme Good is opposed to evils' hatred. Hence it is written in Proverbs: The desire of the just is all good. (10:23) St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!
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VERBUM SERAPHICUM
PAX ET BONUM JUNE -- 2000 A. D. AVE MARIA
"If thou wilt be perfect, go,
sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
. . . and come follow Me." Matthew 19:21
|
St.
Francis of Assisi reminds us daily, that God is "good, all good, the
Highest Good." (the Praises of God Most High). Indeed, this is why the
very beginning of his conversion began with the Our Father. St. Francis was
known as one who habitually prayed with his face turned towards Heaven, for
immersed in a spirit of Godliness he sought Him who is the Supreme, Most High
Goodness and strove to fill his mind with knowledge of Him, his heart with
love for Him, his sense, as it were, with thirst for Him. It is thus that St.
Francis exorcised the spirit of worldliness in himself and in his age. This
is the reason and necessity for devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament in the
Franciscan Order. St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us! THE EXPOSITION OF THE OUR FATHER by St. Francis of Assisi O Most Holy Our Father: Creator, Redeemer, Consoler and Our Savior. Who art in Heaven: in the Angels and in the Saints; * enlightening them unto knowledge,
because Thou, Lord, art Light; * inflaming them unto love, because Thou,
Lord, art Love; * indwelling and filling them unto blessedness, because Thou,
Lord, art the Highest Good, the Eternal One, from whom is every good, without
whom nothing is good. |
Thy promises, the sublimity of Thy Majesty and the depth of Thy judgments. Thy Kingdom come: so that Thou may reign in us by grace * and make us come unto Thy
Kingdom, where vision of Thee is made manifest, love of Thee made perfect,
company with Thee blessed, enjoyment of Thee everlasting. As we also forgive our debtors: and what we do not fully forgive, Lord make us fully forgive, * so that we may truly love our enemies for the sake of Thee and intercede devoutly on their behalf with Thee, * rendering to none evil for evil (cf. 1 Thes 5:15) and striving in all things to advance unto Thee. And lead us not into temptation: hidden or manifest, sudden or importune. But deliver us from evil: past, present, and future. Published by The
Franciscan Archive, |