VERBUM SERAPHICUM

PAX ET BONUM !

APRIL  +  2007 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

Week I

An Example of Trust

 

Now have come the days of Our Lord’s Passion:  the most sacred Triduum of the Year!  When Christ’s whole Mystical Body, scattered upon the Earth, is called to return in spirit and body to the remembrance of all that He did and said and suffered for us.

 

Our Lord accomplished more by suffering than by acting.  This greatest and most mystical of ironies is made manifest at the heart of the Triduum, Good Friday:  because Our Lord Jesus Christ did not redeem the world by what He said, though He taught and revealed everything He had heard from the Eternal Father; nor by what He did, though he cured many of their illnesses and raised Lazarus, the son of the Canaanite woman, and the little girl from the dead.

 

Yet, by suffering, that is not by speaking nor doing, but by silently enduring the torments brought on upon Him by the envy of his peers and people and by the injustice of the Romans, He did redeem the world, and not only this world of men, but the entire universe!

 

What Our Lord accomplished has, according to the saints, given us a testament of virtue:  a witness to every virtue.  And among the horrific things we know that He suffered, we can count many virtues:  patience, meekness, forgiveness, charity for sinners, fortitude, a more than human self-control, a reticence which rivals that of any man, etc..

 

Yet one virtue that is often overlooked is Christ’s trust.  Being God and Man, but a Divine Person and not a human person, Christ did not have the theological virtues of Faith and Hope, because He beheld the Eternal Father and Holy Ghost in beatific Vision constantly, and thus could not have these virtues.  He did have the theological virtue of charity, though, and by this He merited our salvation.

 

But the moral virtue of trust, the moral virtue most closely associated with the theological virtue of hope in us, He did have, and that to an incomparable degree.

Trust is the virtue which assists us to have confidence in another.  We trust that our father and mother are telling us the truth, normally speaking; that our friends mean what they say, and that partners in business will keep their promises.

 

But we ought to have trust also in God.  That is, we ought not only hope in the promises God has made, by supernatural hope, knowing that God cannot deceive nor be deceived, but we must trust in God that the manner in which He has ordained for our salvation is the best way, howsoever mysterious.

 

And this secondary virtue, of trust, is what Christ, in His Sacred Passion, exemplifies so eloquently.

 

Because being God and having all power over Heaven and Earth, He could have done anything He wanted, and established His rule upon earth in any manner He pleased, as God, and as Man.

 

And yet He humbled Himself as man, and accepted the manner of redemption which He as God had laid out with the Eternal Father and Holy Ghost.

 

He in a word trusted.

 

“In this He has given us an example, so that we might follow in His footsteps.”  This verse of Scripture calls us to the practice of the virtue of trust.

 

We too, being but men, can envision a myriad of ways to live our lives, to do good to others, and to better our lot and that of others.

 

But we must as Christians, lay aside our own prudence and the counsels of our own personal experiences, and in trust as much as in the darkness of faith, set out along the path Christ took, which God lays out for us all, that of penance, conversion, the practice of virtue, and for those called to religious life, to the evangelical counsels, going, selling all that we have, giving it to the poor and becoming religious.  It seems like utter self annihilation, but in truth, it is the best and golden path to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Week II

How to Rid Oneself

of Spiritual Poison

 

One of the most difficult and common problems prospective vocations follow is the carnal fear that is born from deeply rooted vices and attachments.

 

A vocation with faith may see the goodness of being religious, of forsaking everything for Christ’ sake, but he is nevertheless kept from acting on account of a certain spiritual freeze, which keeps his will from acting on what he sees is good.

 

This frigidity which keeps back so many vocations is something which too many never overcome.

 

They do not overcome it, because of several factors. First they do not recognize that it is a spiritual malady. Second they do not understand what it means to be free. Third they do not understand what God has destined them to be.

 

This spiritual malady is a true sickness and a serious illness.

 

It cannot be removed by a simple confession, worthy communion, habit of daily prayer, or even a devout meditation. Because it is a malady of the will in its very ability to act, it cannot be removed but by an action of the will, acting contrary to its impulse.

 

Since one cannot act against this malady, unless one understands what its root cause and fruits are, let us consider what its cause it and what its consequences are.

 

First, this malady is noticeable whenever one thinks of the sacrifices necessary to be a priest or religious, and of the loss of the familiar and pleasant things one currently has or is pursuing.

 

In these moments it inclines the mind to turn its consideration away from the great rewards God holds out to souls who forsake all for Him sake, and it turns their attention to a review or reconsideration of what appears to be valuable in the goods which they would have to give up.

 

Thoughts of marriage, girl friends, buddies, a career, the pleasantries of life, of having children, taking vacations, enjoying pastimes and the baser things of nature, all crowd the mind and heart as an immediate

result of this spiritual malady.  A certain sort of carnal fear and carnal esteem of these goods fights against the consideration of anything which leads one against their enjoyment.

 

The foolish man thinks that he is free in such moments, and that what transpires in his heart and mind are merely his own personal thoughts; he is oblivious to the grave inclinations of his own heart to lower things, and of the mischief the devils are making to avert the gaze of his mind illumined by faith.

 

And here it is that the man who does not understand what it means to be free, looses his way; because he vainly convinces himself that enslavement to such goods and attract his attention in this world, is true freedom, and that abandoning all for God’s sake is a certain sort of slavery, however noble.

 

But if he were to consider seriously that none of these things can save his immortal soul nor give him eternal life, and that wealth, health, youth, friends, jobs soon pass away and are gone, and how in laboring for them all one obtains enjoyment only in certain moments, though he labors continually, he would begin to understand that the hunt for joy in this world is a vain quest, and a fruitless pursuit, because no lasting joy is found here.

 

And thus by such a pursuit he is in fact living a slavery, and thus that joy in such a pursuit is a living slavery.

 

Now even this consideration, to bear fruit, must be at once supported by a strong faith, that is by a firm assent to the truth of what Christ teaches us:  namely that God has made us for Himself, and we shall forever be restless, unless we rest in Him; and that such is the danger and the waste of pursing joy in things, that without immediate, resolute, and heroic action, all may be forever lost.

 

Immediately action on this basis is necessary, because being fickle creatures, the moments of grace are rare and passing, and only very few respond to them to find the way to eternal life, and thus every effort to act firmly in such moments is of the greatest profit in such moments.

 

And thus this spiritual malady, this carnal fear, this frigidity of the will in the face of following a vocation, can only be broken by a decisive rejection in intention and in practice from the very moment of such a grace, and perseverance in it, by frequently recalling Christ’s promises and the vanity of all things. May God grant you such a grace:  and if you follow the advice here, you will profit from it.

Week III

How to Pray

 

Amazingly we live in an age so turned away from the Faith and God that many do not even know how to pray.

 

Since prayer is the foundation of a Catholic’s response to faith, it is essential that we know how to pray, why to pray, what to pray for, how to conduct ourselves during prayer, and what to avoid in prayer.

 

Prayer is the life of the soul, that is, it is the most important act of the soul’s life.

 

Even on the natural level this is true:  because our soul is a spiritual entity, not made of matter, and of itself it has only one relation, that to its Origin:  because God Himself by a direct act of creation, made our soul out of nothing at the moment of our conception.  In this sense every human being is a handiwork of God.

 

Now Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him, must worship in spirit and in truth”.

 

There are many truths contained in this great precept of Our Lord, but first of all, one must consider and recognize that true worship of God is spiritual worship.

 

This is not to say that we cannot or must not worship God with our bodies; but it does mean that principally and essentially all worship is conducted in the soul and by the soul and through the soul.

 

This is because God is a spirit and our soul is a spirit, and God being essentially outside the confines of time and place can only be contacted, communicated with, by another spirit.

 

This communication with God is called prayer, and the created spiritual creature does this through acts of his intellect and will.

 

Now just how to pray is not so difficult, if we look to what is taught in Scripture.  The Apostles, when they were in retreat with Our Lord near Caesarea, asked him:  “Lord teach us how to pray!”  To which Our Lord answered, “When you pray, say:  ‘ Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven; give us this day our daily Bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

In the Our Father we have a divine lesson on how to pray.

 

Now as Catholics, when we pray, we should begin by making the sign of the cross.  However, we can pray at all times, even without making this sign, simply by speaking to God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in our hearts, with our mind.

 

First, we should address ourselves to God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or to one of the Divine Persons, or to any Saint, especially Our Lady, or to our guardian angel, or to the Angel charged with inspiring a particular virtue, or to protecting a particular place, class, occupation, nation, etc..

 

Second, we should name and describe in true terms the honor of the person whom we address:  Thus Our Lord says, “who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name”.  This helps us elevate our minds to Heaven.

 

Third, we should profess agreement and a resolute submission to the good work which this Divine Person works, or which this Saint or Angel is known for:  thus Our Lord says, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, etc.”.  This strengthens our will to do good.

 

Fourth, we should ask for those things necessary for our salvation or for that of those for whom we are praying.  The more specific our request is, the more likely we are to receive what we ask for, if it be God’s will.  But if we are not granted what we ask for, it is either because we ask for what is not good, or we ask wrongly, or we do not ask with enough faith, or because God wants us to realize that there is something better to ask for, and so trains us by His silence to seek it.

 

Fifth, we should resolve and pledge to be merciful to others, as we expect God or the Saint or Angel to be to us:  thus Our Lord teaches us to say, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.  It is good to ask the Saints and Angels to forgive us to, and to seek the grace of God’s forgiveness for us.

 

Sixth, we should pray in such a way as to remind ourselves that we are not worthy of what we ask for:  thus Our Lord adds: “and lead us not into temptation”.

 

Seventh, we should pray in such a way as to remind our selves that we cannot endure without God’s protection and the Saints and Angels intercession, mindful that we can loose what we have asked for, by sin and vice, and the work of the Devil.

 

Week IV

The Importance of  Asking

 

One cannot emphasize too much the importance of asking the Most Holy Trinity for the things we need to be saved and sanctified.

 

Our Lord, to encourage us in this necessary, spiritual exercise, told us:  “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock, and it will be opened unto you”.

 

It is understandible, if we consider the Goodness of God and are thankful for all that He has done for us, that we may not be inclined to ask Him for more, but this is a profound error and is caused by a secret pride.

 

Because whatever God has given, whether life or grace or blessings or mercies, we can loose it, either because we become unworthy through our personal sins, or because of the sin of another, or because of the work of the Devil.

 

“The just man sins seven times a day”, says Scripture.  And the Fathers of the Church explain this to mean that even the just man fails in little things many times each day.  And for these venial sins one can merit to loose the gifts of God.

 

Moreso, because what seems small to us, can be great to God; and what seems to be a small sin to us, can in fact be a great sin.

 

In the life of St. Catherine of Siena, one day upon receiving communion, she made her thanksgiving as she was accustomed to do; but upon hearing someone pass by her pew, she, out of curiosity, opened her eyes, and looked.  She saw nothing sinful, but the mere fact that she allowed the attention of her heart

and body to turn away from Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament for a moment, greatly offended the Lord, who spoke to Her, and on account of this sin she was deprived of some great graces for several years!

 

For this reason we must never let our vigilance and mindfulness of our own sinfulness and weakness to lapse.

 

For the Devil is always searching and his minions too, to undermind our souls, and lead us to damnation with himself.  To this purpose he is always looking for the chink in our spiritual armour, the opening through which he can turn us aside from God and turn us to the inordinate love of some creature, to which he can bind us and enslave us forever.

 

If he cannot find a chink, then the makes one by arranging some circumstance, some intersection of human behavior which leads us to an occasion of sin, then he attacks with all his might to stir up the passions of others around us and our own passions, and insinuates in our minds doubts and fears and other movements to induce us to sin.

 

In that hour if we do not pray, and if we have not prayed for protection beforehand we will sin, because we are weak and fragile creatures.

 

For this reason St. Alphonsus dei Liguori recommended that we pray daily for the grace never to commit a mortal sin again, and even for the grace to turn away forever from all venial sin; and not trust in our virtues or resolutions or even our habit of praying (though we should have habit of prayer, esp. in times of trouble and temptation).

 

Let us remember always the importance of asking God for help and assistance, and more grace to be more faithful, especially to love Him more that we may not be led into temptation, but be delivered from the Evil one.

 

 

February 2007 Edition : March 2007 Edition