**
But St. John, even Mother Teresa is reported as having told Jesus, as she was dying, that He asks too much.
So why do you present it as being so easy?
**
Saturday, June 26, 2010
more from St. John Chrysostom
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...there is need of vigor, and a lofty soul, that takes in things beyond expectation, and stumbles not at appearances... You see that this is a chief characteristic of faith, ...to cast out the feebleness of calculation, and so to accept everything from the Power of God.
**
...there is need of vigor, and a lofty soul, that takes in things beyond expectation, and stumbles not at appearances... You see that this is a chief characteristic of faith, ...to cast out the feebleness of calculation, and so to accept everything from the Power of God.
**
St. John Chrysostom Against Whining
**
Neither account the journey to be difficult. "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved." [1674] "But this way," it will be said, "is strait and narrow." Well, but the former, through which thou hast come, is not strait and narrow only, but even impassable, and full of savage wild beasts. And as there was no passing through the Red Sea, unless that miracle had been wrought, so neither could we, abiding in our former life, have gone up into Heaven, but only by baptism intervening. Now if the impossible hath become possible, much more will the difficult be easy.
"But that," it will be said, "was of grace only." Why, for this reason especially thou hast just cause to take courage. For if, where it was grace alone, He wrought with you; will He not much more be your aid, where ye also show forth laborious works? If He saved thee, doing nothing, will He not much more help thee, working?
Above indeed I was saying, that from the impossibilities thou oughtest to take courage about the difficulties also; but now I add this, that if we are vigilant, these will not be so much as difficult. For mark it: death is trodden under foot, the devil hath fallen, the law of sin is extinguished, the grace of the Spirit is given, life is contracted into a small space, the heavy burdens are abridged.
And to convince thee hereof by the actual results, see how many have overshot the injunctions of Christ; and art thou afraid of that which is just their measure? What plea then wilt thou have, when others are leaping beyond the bounds, and thou thyself too slothful for what is enacted?
Thus, thee we admonish to give alms of such things as thou hast, but another hath even stripped himself of all his possessions: thee we require to live chastely with thy wife, but another hath not so much as entered into marriage: and thee we entreat not to be envious, but another we find giving up even his own life for charity: thee again we entreat to be lenient in judgments, and not severe to them that sin, but another, even when smitten, hath turned the other cheek also.
What then shall we say, I pray thee? What excuse shall we make, not doing even these things, when others go so far beyond us? And they would not have gone beyond us, had not the thing been very easy. For which pines away, he who envies other men's blessings, or he who takes pleasure with them, and rejoices? Which eyes all things with suspicion and continual trembling, the chaste man, or the adulterer? Which is cheered by good hopes, he that spoils by violence, or he that shows mercy, and imparts of his own to the needy?
Let us then bear in mind these things, and not be torpid in our career for virtue's sake; but having stripped ourselves with all readiness for these glorious wrestlings, let us labor for a little while, that we may win the perpetual and imperishable crowns; unto which may we all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen. _________________________________________________________________
Neither account the journey to be difficult. "For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved." [1674] "But this way," it will be said, "is strait and narrow." Well, but the former, through which thou hast come, is not strait and narrow only, but even impassable, and full of savage wild beasts. And as there was no passing through the Red Sea, unless that miracle had been wrought, so neither could we, abiding in our former life, have gone up into Heaven, but only by baptism intervening. Now if the impossible hath become possible, much more will the difficult be easy.
"But that," it will be said, "was of grace only." Why, for this reason especially thou hast just cause to take courage. For if, where it was grace alone, He wrought with you; will He not much more be your aid, where ye also show forth laborious works? If He saved thee, doing nothing, will He not much more help thee, working?
Above indeed I was saying, that from the impossibilities thou oughtest to take courage about the difficulties also; but now I add this, that if we are vigilant, these will not be so much as difficult. For mark it: death is trodden under foot, the devil hath fallen, the law of sin is extinguished, the grace of the Spirit is given, life is contracted into a small space, the heavy burdens are abridged.
And to convince thee hereof by the actual results, see how many have overshot the injunctions of Christ; and art thou afraid of that which is just their measure? What plea then wilt thou have, when others are leaping beyond the bounds, and thou thyself too slothful for what is enacted?
Thus, thee we admonish to give alms of such things as thou hast, but another hath even stripped himself of all his possessions: thee we require to live chastely with thy wife, but another hath not so much as entered into marriage: and thee we entreat not to be envious, but another we find giving up even his own life for charity: thee again we entreat to be lenient in judgments, and not severe to them that sin, but another, even when smitten, hath turned the other cheek also.
What then shall we say, I pray thee? What excuse shall we make, not doing even these things, when others go so far beyond us? And they would not have gone beyond us, had not the thing been very easy. For which pines away, he who envies other men's blessings, or he who takes pleasure with them, and rejoices? Which eyes all things with suspicion and continual trembling, the chaste man, or the adulterer? Which is cheered by good hopes, he that spoils by violence, or he that shows mercy, and imparts of his own to the needy?
Let us then bear in mind these things, and not be torpid in our career for virtue's sake; but having stripped ourselves with all readiness for these glorious wrestlings, let us labor for a little while, that we may win the perpetual and imperishable crowns; unto which may we all attain, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and might forever and ever. Amen. _________________________________________________________________
Friday, June 25, 2010
Just wondering...
**
Where is Amazon.com, anyway? In all my driving around this country, I've never even glimpsed a single one of their warehouses or offices.
Are they underground?
In orbit?
I've never met anyone who works for Amazon, either.
Are they even real? Maybe they're a front for something quite sinister.
And what about those tiny corncob-esque entities in certain salads?--I've never seen any farms with acre upon acre of miniature corn "toe-high by the fourth of July."
Maybe it's best to refrain from checking into a lot of the "ordinary" things we take for granted...
**
Where is Amazon.com, anyway? In all my driving around this country, I've never even glimpsed a single one of their warehouses or offices.
Are they underground?
In orbit?
I've never met anyone who works for Amazon, either.
Are they even real? Maybe they're a front for something quite sinister.
And what about those tiny corncob-esque entities in certain salads?--I've never seen any farms with acre upon acre of miniature corn "toe-high by the fourth of July."
Maybe it's best to refrain from checking into a lot of the "ordinary" things we take for granted...
**
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Rupnik binge continues...(from chapter 4)
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...Since their thoughts then belong to God and they have handed themselves over to God, the Lord acts on them by acting in them. God enters into their hearts through their thoughts and feelings in a tender, kind way, seamlessly, without their feeling any force, any actions that are foreign to them, that might disturb, disquiet, sadden, or prick their consciences.
The thoughts and feelings inspired by the Holy Spirit present themselves in our hearts as an owner entering his own house, not knocking, not forcing open the door, but simply opening and entering because the house belongs to him. As a drop of water falls on a sponge and is silently absorbed without bouncing off or making noise, so the thoughts and feelings inspired by the Holy Spirit present themselves in the human heart. Or rather, they spring from the heart as an underground river simply appears. The heart recognizes these movements as its own, as belonging to it.
The enemy of human nature, on the other hand, acts in a way contrary to the Holy Spirit. He acts above all on our thoughts... The tempter pries into reason with violence, seeking to detach our throughts from this orientation [of sensing and tasting love], to make us trip up. He presents obstacles, exaggerates struggles, renunciations, and sufferings. He multiplies the reasons for not going forward...The enemy acts through disturbance, making the mind restless and provoking a certain state of fear, worry, and bewilderment. The enemy presents the journey as something strenuous and out of nowhere brings to mind dangers we had never imagined before.
**
...Since their thoughts then belong to God and they have handed themselves over to God, the Lord acts on them by acting in them. God enters into their hearts through their thoughts and feelings in a tender, kind way, seamlessly, without their feeling any force, any actions that are foreign to them, that might disturb, disquiet, sadden, or prick their consciences.
The thoughts and feelings inspired by the Holy Spirit present themselves in our hearts as an owner entering his own house, not knocking, not forcing open the door, but simply opening and entering because the house belongs to him. As a drop of water falls on a sponge and is silently absorbed without bouncing off or making noise, so the thoughts and feelings inspired by the Holy Spirit present themselves in the human heart. Or rather, they spring from the heart as an underground river simply appears. The heart recognizes these movements as its own, as belonging to it.
The enemy of human nature, on the other hand, acts in a way contrary to the Holy Spirit. He acts above all on our thoughts... The tempter pries into reason with violence, seeking to detach our throughts from this orientation [of sensing and tasting love], to make us trip up. He presents obstacles, exaggerates struggles, renunciations, and sufferings. He multiplies the reasons for not going forward...The enemy acts through disturbance, making the mind restless and provoking a certain state of fear, worry, and bewilderment. The enemy presents the journey as something strenuous and out of nowhere brings to mind dangers we had never imagined before.
**
More from Rupnik
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Sin takes place within love because it is only within love that that experience of freedom is possible, and therefore also the free choice not to surrender to God.
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Sin takes place within love because it is only within love that that experience of freedom is possible, and therefore also the free choice not to surrender to God.
**
from Rupnik's most recent book, "Discernment..."
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Another method the ancients used to test a thought is based on the conviction that the thought to avoid comes from without and is usually accepted either because it has a certain sensory and emotional fascination on the one who considers it a priority, or because it presents itself with such vehemence and insistence that, because of the pressure caused by haste, it is chosen because it is more urgent. The ancient monks advised posing this type of questioning to the thought: "Where do you come from? Do you come from my own heart, where the Lord dwells, and are thus my own, or do you come from without and someone else has brought you? Who has brought you? What do you want?" Already by asking these questions one perceives a reaction.
Other questions are also recommended: "Why such urgency? I don't have time for you now." Or "You are forcing me to rush, to undertake this step immediately, but the saints have said that the Holy Spirit as well as the devil want me to be holy; only the devil wants this to happen immediately." To the disciple who asked what sin is, a spiritual master answered: haste.
...It is precisely with this inner attention, and with a certain disinterest for whatever assails one, that one begins to become aware of the times when a thought does not come from within, when its origins are foreign and its suggestions seem objectifying and moralistic: "you must," "it isn't right," "it's necessary to react," "you must defend," etc.
It is the powerful way in which such thoughts impose themselves, disguised with spiritual, religious, moral, and ethical labels, that contribute immensely to making us forget we are free. Thoughts of this type rob us of our freedom, blinding us to relationships, to the faces of others. They terrorize us with their sense of duty, of urgency, even to the point of disengaging us from love and making us forgetful of our free choice to surrender. The thoughts that impede us from freely surrendering and maintaining a living awareness of ourselves in relationships are thoughts introduced from outside ourselves, not from within. The Holy Spirit does not use the imperative "you must." In the Gospel passage that presents in all its absoluteness the most "programmatic" speech--the Sermon on the Mount--Christ speaks of those who are "blessed." The Gospel is a revelation, not a demand; blessed is the one who follows it. Even the Mother of God, at the moment of the Annunciation, did not respond, "Yes, I have to be the Mother of God, otherwise the world will not be saved."
When I do not pay attention to a thought, if the thought is born from the Holy Spirit, it will return because the Lord is humble, and he waits at my door and knocks...It is not necessary to be rushed into responding.
**
Another method the ancients used to test a thought is based on the conviction that the thought to avoid comes from without and is usually accepted either because it has a certain sensory and emotional fascination on the one who considers it a priority, or because it presents itself with such vehemence and insistence that, because of the pressure caused by haste, it is chosen because it is more urgent. The ancient monks advised posing this type of questioning to the thought: "Where do you come from? Do you come from my own heart, where the Lord dwells, and are thus my own, or do you come from without and someone else has brought you? Who has brought you? What do you want?" Already by asking these questions one perceives a reaction.
Other questions are also recommended: "Why such urgency? I don't have time for you now." Or "You are forcing me to rush, to undertake this step immediately, but the saints have said that the Holy Spirit as well as the devil want me to be holy; only the devil wants this to happen immediately." To the disciple who asked what sin is, a spiritual master answered: haste.
...It is precisely with this inner attention, and with a certain disinterest for whatever assails one, that one begins to become aware of the times when a thought does not come from within, when its origins are foreign and its suggestions seem objectifying and moralistic: "you must," "it isn't right," "it's necessary to react," "you must defend," etc.
It is the powerful way in which such thoughts impose themselves, disguised with spiritual, religious, moral, and ethical labels, that contribute immensely to making us forget we are free. Thoughts of this type rob us of our freedom, blinding us to relationships, to the faces of others. They terrorize us with their sense of duty, of urgency, even to the point of disengaging us from love and making us forgetful of our free choice to surrender. The thoughts that impede us from freely surrendering and maintaining a living awareness of ourselves in relationships are thoughts introduced from outside ourselves, not from within. The Holy Spirit does not use the imperative "you must." In the Gospel passage that presents in all its absoluteness the most "programmatic" speech--the Sermon on the Mount--Christ speaks of those who are "blessed." The Gospel is a revelation, not a demand; blessed is the one who follows it. Even the Mother of God, at the moment of the Annunciation, did not respond, "Yes, I have to be the Mother of God, otherwise the world will not be saved."
When I do not pay attention to a thought, if the thought is born from the Holy Spirit, it will return because the Lord is humble, and he waits at my door and knocks...It is not necessary to be rushed into responding.
**
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