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886
Resisting Marxism
"We then began to realise, especially with [Stefan] Swieżawski and [Jerzy] Kalinowski, often talking and discussing, that one should not have a direct dialogue with Marxists. Rather, it should be carried out in an indirect way, by consolidating a proper organisation of university studies and thus a proper education.
It is simply necessary to present an alternative vision of culture, growing out of a background different from that proposed by ideologised, weaponised philosophy. This is why we very consciously entered a kind of intellectual and social 'ghetto' in relation to the state universities, in comparison to which we presented independence and a distinct difference. At the same time, we believed that it was the state universities that were intellectually isolated, while we tried to enter the stream of European thought, a very old stream, because it referred to the cultural discoveries of the Greeks. Marxism, moreover, did not have the characteristics of a scientific system. At the time, politicians were engaged - I will not mention their names today - as Marxists to give so-called commissioned lectures. Some of them now occupy high state offices."
"Abandoning the world of absurdities. With Mieczysław A. Krąpc OP interviewed by Fr Jan Sochoń", Lublin 2002
886
Ratzinger on Spiritual Roots of Europe
"Multiculturalism, which is so constantly and passionately promoted, can sometimes amount to an abandonment and denial, a flight from one’s own heritage. However, multiculturalism cannot survive without common foundations, without the sense of direction offered by our own values. It definitely cannot survive without respect for the sacred. Multiculturalism teaches us to approach the sacred things of others with respect, but we can only do this if we, ourselves, are not estranged from the sacred, from God. We can and we must learn from that which is sacred to others. With regard to others, it is our duty to cultivate within ourselves respect for the sacred and to show the face of the revealed God, of the God who has compassion for the poor and the weak, for widows and orphans, for the foreigner; the God who is so human that He Himself became man, a man who suffered, and who by His suffering with us gave dignity and hope to our pain.
Unless we embrace our own heritage of the sacred, we will not only deny the identity of Europe, we will also fail in providing a service to others to which they are entitled. To the other cultures of the world, there is something deeply alien about the absolute secularism that is developing in the West. They are convinced that a world without God has no future. Multiculturalism itself thus demands that we return once again to ourselves."
https://matiane.wordpress.com/2023/03/23/cardinal-joseph-ratzinger-on-spiritual-roots-of-europe/
886
The effects of hope confirmed by trials
Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange's Three Ages of the Interior Life
"After various trials, hope, which has been greatly strengthened, surmounts all obstacles. According to St. Paul: "We. . . glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God. And not only so; but we glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience trial; and trial hope; and hope confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us." (Rom. 5:2-5)
Commenting on St. Paul's words, St. Thomas says: "St. Paul shows us first of all the grandeur of hope by the grandeur of the thing hoped for (that is, eternal life), then the power, the vehemence of hope. In fact, he who strongly hopes for something, willingly bears for that reason difficulties and bitterness. And therefore the sign that we have a strong hope in Christ is that we glory not only in the thought of future glory, but in our tribulations and the trials which we have to bear. 'Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.' (Acts 14:21)
Moreover, the Apostle St. James says: 'My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.' (Jas. 1:2f) And from the fact that a man bears tribulation patiently, he is rendered excellent, probatus. We read of the just in the Book of Wisdom: 'Though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace He hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust He hath received them.' (Wisd.3:4-6) Thus trial causes hope to grow, and hope does not deceive us, for God does not abandon those who trust Him. 'No one hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded.' (Ecclus. 2: 11) It is evident that the Lord will not refuse Himself to those who love Him, to those to whom He has already given His Son.
From what has just been said we perceive that, contrary to the opinion held by the quietists, in great trials, instead of sacrificing our desire of salvation, we must "hope against all hope" while loving God for Himself. Thus charity increases greatly; it becomes pure love which, far from destroying confidence, vivifies it. Certainly these trials serve to purify hope of all self-love, of the desire of our own perfection, so far as it is ours.
St. Nicholas of Flue admirably expressed in a prayer the union of firmest hope and of pure love: "Lord, take from me all that hinders me from drawing near to Thee; give me all that will lead me to Thee. Take me from myself and give me entirely to Thyself." We can also say, as an expression of hope and pure love: "Give Thyself, Lord, entirely to me, that I may love Thee purely and forever."
As a practical conclusion, let us remember that in our lives there are two parallel series of daily facts: that of the outward events which succeed one another from morning to night, and that of the actual graces which are offered to us and even bestowed on us from moment to moment that we may draw from these occurrences, whether pleasurable or painful, the greatest spiritual profit. If we thought often of this fact, there would be realized increasingly in our lives St. Paul's statement: "To them that love God all things work together unto good," (Rom. 8:28) even annoyances, rebuffs, and contradictions, which are so many occasions of lifting our hearts toward God in a spirit of faith and confidence in Him."
886
Against slanderous talk p.III
John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, ch10 “On slander or calumny”
"I have heard people slandering, and I have rebuked them. And these doers of evil replied in self-defence that they were doing so out of love and care for the person whom they were slandering.
I said to them: ‘Stop that kind of love, otherwise you will be condemning as a liar him who said: “Him who secretly slanders his neighbour, him I drove away” (Palm 100:5).
If you say you love, then pray secretly, and do not mock the man. For this is the kind of love that is acceptable to the Lord.
But I will not hide this from you (and of course think about it, and do not judge the offender): Judas was in the company of Christ’s disciples, and the Robber was in the company of murderers. And what a reversal when the crisis came!’
He who wants to overcome the spirit of slander, should not ascribe the blame to the person who falls, but to the demon who suggests it. For no one really wants to sin against God, even though we do all sin without being forced to do so.
I have known a man who sinned openly and repented secretly. I condemned him as a profligate, but he was chaste before God, having propitiated Him by a genuine conversion.
Do not regard the feelings of a person who speaks to you about his neighbour disparagingly, but rather say to him: ‘Stop, brother! I fall into graver sins every day, so how can I criticize him?’
In this way you will achieve two things: you will heal yourself and your neighbour with one plaster. This is one of the shortest ways to the forgiveness of sins; I mean, not to judge. ‘Judge not, that you be not judged’ (Luke 6:37).
Fire and water are incompatible; and so is judging others in one who wants to repent. If you see someone falling into sin at the very moment of his death, even then do not judge him, because the Divine judgment is hidden from men.Some have fallen openly into great sins, but they have done greater good deeds in secret; so their critics were tricked, getting smoke instead of the sun.
Hasty and severe judges of the sins of their neighbour fall into this predicament because they have not yet attained to a thorough and constant remembrance and concern for their own sins. For if anyone could see his own vices accurately without the veil of self-love, he would worry about nothing else in this life, considering that he would not have time enough for mourning for himself even though he were to live a hundred years, and even though he were to see a whole river Jordan of tears streaming from his eyes. I have observed that mourning, and I did not find in it even a trace of calumny or criticism.
The demons, murderers as they are, push us into sin. Or if they fail to do this, they get us to pass judgment on those who are sinning, so that they may smear us with the stain which we our selves are condemning in another.
This is one of the marks by which we can recognize malicious and slanderous people: they are plunged in the spirit of hatred, and with pleasure and without a qualm they slander the teaching or affairs or achievements of their neighbour.
To judge others is a shameless arrogation of the Divine prerogative; to condemn is the ruin of one’s soul.
Self-esteem without any other passion can ruin a man, and in the same way, if we have formed the habit of judging, we can be utterly ruined by this alone, for indeed the Pharisee was condemned for this very thing.
A good grape-picker, who eats the ripe grapes, will not start gathering unripe ones. A charitable and sensible mind takes careful note of whatever virtues it sees in anyone. But a fool looks for faults and defects. And of such it is said: ‘They have searched out iniquity and expired in the search.’
Do not condemn, even if you see with your eyes, for they are often deceived."
886
Providence
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
excerpt- God's creative love
"When God creates, therefore, it is not out of egoism at all; on the contrary, it is to manifest His goodness externally. In subordinating everything to Himself He is subordinating us to the sovereign good, and this He does for our greater happiness. Our beatitude is incomparably greater in the possession and love of God through praise than if it were a mere complacency in our own personal dignity. The more we give glory to God, the greater will be our own glory.” Not to us, O Lord, not to us: but to Thy name give glory” (Ps. 113: 1). Our greatest glory, O Lord, is to give glory to Thee."
"Such being the love God has for Himself, how can it be directed to anything else besides? Some unbelievers, as also the deists, hold that God cannot possibly love us in the true sense of the term: the use of the word “love” in this connection is purely metaphorical. To love some other being, they say, is to be attracted by it. But God, the plenitude of all good, can find nothing in us to attract Him; He cannot be passive to an attraction exerted by so paltry a good as we are.
The answer to this deist objection is that in the love God has for us there is no passivity whatever; it is essentially active, creative, life-giving: it is sheer generosity and is supremely free. It is true love in the strictest and highest sense of the word. No passivity is possible in the love God has for us."
"But does it follow that creation is not a free act; that, unless He created, God would be neither good nor wise? By no means. Scripture tells us that “God worketh all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephes. 1: 11), and the Church proclaims the absolute liberty of creative love. It is indeed highly appropriate that God should create, but also that He should be altogether free in creating, so that there would have been nothing derogatory to Him in not creating: in His own intimate life God would have none the less been infinitely good and infinitely wise. As Bossuet says, God is no greater for having created the universe. The fact of His conferring existence on us cannot bring the smallest increase to His infinite perfection. Creation is an absolutely free act of love. In this sense even the natural gifts we have received are gratuitous.
But in God there is a still greater and freer act of love, by which He has bestowed on us the even more gratuitous gift of grace, that participation in His intimate life, a gift to which our nature has no claim whatever. By this life-saving love He has made us worthy to be loved in His sight, and that not merely as creatures but as His children, thus fitting us to behold Him and love Him for eternity.
We are loved by God far more than we think. To realize the extent of His love for us, we should have to know fully the value of grace when it has reached its final development in the glory of heaven; we would have to see God, if only for an instant."
"In the incarnation, the redemption, and the Eucharist, God’s love for us reaches its consummation. To realize how intense is this love, we should have to appreciate to the full the infinite value of the redemptive part of the incarnation and the merits our Lord gained for us, and hence the value of all the spiritual graces that flow from them."
"God loves us far more than we think, especially in times of trial when He appears to desert us; for it is then He bestows upon us His most precious, most profound, most life-giving graces. At such times as these, let us say with St. Teresa: “Lord, Thou knowest all things, canst do all things, and Thou dost love me.”
Such in essence is the love God has for us, a creative and life-giving love; supremely generous and supremely free."
full text
886
Providence According To The Gospel- the mystery of infinite justice, infinite mercy, and supreme liberty- a fragment
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
"Some (Nominalists) have held that in God there is no fundamental perfection from which the rest may be logically deduced. According to their view, the divine essence is merely the sum of all the perfections; there can be no question of seeking a logical order among them, since they are simply different names for the same transcendent reality.
This doctrine of Nominalism leads to the conclusion that God is unknowable, because His attributes cannot be deduced from one fundamental divine perfection; and, since we can give no reason why He must be wise or just or merciful, we should simply be asserting the fact without knowing why.
2) Others, inspired by Descartes, have held that what constitutes the divine nature is liberty: God is pre-eminently a will transcendently free. Descartes claimed that, if God so willed, He could make the circle square, mountains without valleys, or beings that at one and the same time would exist and not exist, or effects without a cause. Ockham in the Middle Ages declared that, had God so willed, He could have commanded us not to love but to hate both ourselves and Him. That is, the principle of contradiction and the distinction between moral good and evil are dependent for their truth on the free will of God. First and foremost God is said to be absolute liberty.
In the opinion of some modern philosophers (Secretan in Switzerland, for instance), the correct definition of God is I am what I will, I am what I would freely be.
In reply to this view, it has been pointed out that liberty cannot be conceived as anterior to intellect. Liberty without intellect is impossible; it would be confounded with mere chance. Liberty is inconceivable without an intellect to direct it; it would be liberty without standard of any kind, without truth, without true goodness. As Leibniz remarked, to say that God, if He had wished, could have commanded us to hate Him, is to deny that He is of necessity the sovereign good; in that case, had He wished, He might well have been the Manichean principle of evil. A man would have be out of his senses to maintain such a position. To claim that God has established the distinction between good and evil by a purely arbitrary decree, to claim that He is absolute liberty without standard of any kind, is, as Leibniz again says, “to dishonor God. Clearly, then, liberty cannot be conceived without an intellect and wisdom to direct it, and conversely intellect is conceived as anterior to the liberty it directs. The knowledge of true good, indeed, is anterior to the love of that good, which would not be so loved were it not already known.
Intellect, therefore, is prior to and the cause of liberty.
This is all quite true. But is subsistent thought or intellection the absolutely primary perfection in God? However lofty this way of conceiving the divine nature may be, it does not seem to be the highest.
Holy Scripture provides us with a more profound conception of the divine nature. It tells us that God is being itself; He Himself has revealed His name to us as “He who is.”
886
The purpose of our instruction is to arouse the love that comes from a pure heart, and clear conscience, and a genuine faith
"In everything we say we should bear in mind that the purpose of our instruction is to arouse the love that comes from a pure heart, and clear conscience, and a genuine faith. This is the end to which we should relate all our words, and toward which we should also move and direct the thoughts of those for whose instruction we are speaking.
The chief reason for Christ’s coming was so that we should know how much God loves us, and knowing this be on fire with love for him who loved us first, and for our neighbour at the bidding and after the example of him who became our neighbour by loving us when we were not his neighbours, but had wandered far from him.
Moreover, all inspired Scripture written before the Lord’s coming was written to foretell that coming, and all that was later –committed to writing and ratified by divine authority speaks of Christ and teaches us to love.
It is clear therefore that upon these two commandments, love of God and of our neighbour, depend not only the whole of the Law and the Prophets, which was all that made up holy Scripture when the Lord spoke these words, but also all the divinely inspired books which were later written for our salvation and handed down to us.
In the Old Testament, then, the New is concealed, and in the New the Old is revealed. Insofar as the New Testament is concealed, worldly people, who interpret Scripture in a worldly way, are now as in the past subject to the fear of punishment.
But insofar as the Old Testament has been revealed, spiritual people, who interpret Scripture spiritually, are set free by the gift of love; that is to say, both those of old to whose devout knocking hidden things were made known, and those of today who seek without pride, for fear that even what is manifest may be hidden from them.
And so, since nothing is more contrary to love than envy, and the mother of envy is pride, to cure our boundless conceit by a more powerful antidote, the Lord Jesus Christ, God and man, became both the proof of God’s love for us, and the example of humility among us.
Great is the misery of human pride, but even greater is the mercy of divine humility. With this love before you, then, you have something to which you may relate everything you say; so speak that by hearing those whom you address may believe, and that belief may give them hope, and hope inspire them to love."
Augustine of Hippo (354-430): De catechizandis rudibus I, 6-8 (CCL 46:124, 126-128); from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesrday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time, Year 2.
886
Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God
"Let us make every effort to purify our hearts, exert ourselves to stay alert, and as far as in us lies gain this grace by constant prayer.
And if we wonder about external purity, the Lord tells us: Clean the inside, and then the outside will be clean as well.
Some may think that Scripture refers to the body as much as to the heart, for it is written: All mankind will see God’s salvation.
How then can there be any doubt that the sight of God is promised to us, unless there is doubt as to the meaning of God’s salvation. But since there is no uncertainty about this, there is no doubt: God’s salvation is Christ the Lord. The divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ can be seen by the eyes of the heart when they are pure, perfect, and full of God.
And he was seen also in the body according to the text: Afterward he was seen on earth and lived among men.
Thus the meaning of the text: All mankind will see the salvation of God is clear: let no one doubt that it means that we shall see Christ. […] All mankind will see God’s salvation is said to mean that all mankind will see God’s Christ.
But Christ was also seen in a body that was no longer mortal, a body that had undergone a spiritual transformation.
After his resurrection he himself said to those who saw and touched him: Handle and see, for spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have. This is how he will be seen: not only how he was seen in the past but how he will be seen in the future.
[…] All mankind, then, will see God’s salvation. Both those who see and he who is seen will be in the body because it is in his real body that he will come to judge.
But to those placed on his right and sent to the kingdom of heaven he will show himself in the way he promised when he was already seen in the body:
Those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and show myself to them.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430): Sermon 277, 15-16, from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Saturday of the Second Week of Advent Year 1.
886
“Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”
"Those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord.
For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. 5:22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Hence Paul says, Whereas there is among you envying and strife, are ye not carnal (1 Cor. 3:3)? Hence again he says also, Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14).
Hence again he admonishes, saying, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling (Eph. 4:3-4). The one hope of our calling, therefore, is never reached, if we run not to it with a mind at one with our neighbours.
But it is often the case that some, by being proud of some gifts that they especially partake of, lose the greater gift of concord; as it may be if one who subdues the flesh more than others by bridling of his appetite should scorn to be in concord with those whom he surpasses in abstinence.
But whoso separates abstinence from concord, let him consider the admonition of the Psalmist, Praise him with timbrel and chorus (Ps. 150:4). For in the timbrel a dry and beaten skin resounds, but in the chorus voices are associated in concord. Whosoever then afflicts his body, but forsakes concord, praises God indeed with timbrel, but praises Him not with chorus.
Often, however, when superior knowledge lifts up some, it disjoins them from the society of other men; and it is as though the more wise they are, the less wise are they as to the virtue of concord.
[…] To such it is rightly said through James, But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable (James 3:14, 15, 17). Pure, that is to say, because its ideas are chaste; and also peaceable, because it in no wise through elation disjoins itself from the society of neighbours.
Gregory the Great (c.540-604): Pastoral Rule, 3, 22
886
How to study
A letter of St. Thomas to Brother John
Because you have asked me, my brother John, most dear to me in Christ, how to set about acquiring the treasure of knowledge, this is the advice I pass on to you:
That you should choose to enter by the small rivers, and not go right away into the sea, because you should move from easy things to difficult things.
Such is therefore my advice on your way of life:
1. I suggest you be slow to speak, and slow to go to the room where people chat.
2. Embrace purity of conscience; do not stop making time for prayer.
3. Love to be in your room frequently, if you wish to be led to the wine cellar.*
4. Show yourself to be likable to all, or at least try; but do not show yourself as too familiar with anyone; because too much familiarity breeds contempt, and will slow you in your studies; and do not get involved in any way in the deeds and words of worldly people.
5. Above all, avoid idle conversation; do not forget to follow the steps of holy and approved men.
6. Never mind who says what, but commit to memory what is said that is true.
7. Work to understand what you read, and make yourself sure of doubtful points.
8. Put whatever you can into the cupboard of your mind as if you were trying to fill a cup.
9. "Seek not the things that a higher than you."
Follow the steps of blessed Dominic, who produced useful and marvelous shoots, flowers and fruits in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts for as long as life was his companion.
If you follow these things, you will attain to whatever you desire. Farewell.
* This reference to the "wine cellar" is actually a reference to Bernard's commentary on the Canticle of Canticles, and signifies the place of wisdom.
#spiritualreading
886
Charity is patient
From a letter by St. Paul of the Cross, priest, (Epist. 1, 43; 2, 440. 825)
"Live in such a way that all may know that you bear outwardly as well as inwardly the image of Christ crucified, the model of all gentleness and mercy. For if a man is united inwardly with the Son of the living God, he also bears his likeness outwardly by his continual practice of heroic goodness, and especially through a patience reinforced by courage, which does not complain either secretly or in public. Conceal yourselves in Jesus crucified, and hope for nothing except that all men be thoroughly converted to his will."
886
God's perfect patience
The Good of patience, St. Cyprian of Carthage
"...for how can anyone be either wise or patient unless he knows the wisdom and patience of God? For He Himself warns and states concerning those who think that they are wise in this world: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent I will reject.'"
"But how wonderful and how great is the patience of God! He endures most patiently the profane temples, the earthly images and idolatrous rites that have been set up by men in insult to His majesty and honor. He makes the day to rise and the sun to shine equally over the good and the evil."
And although God is provoked by frequent, yes even continual, offenses, He tempers His anger and patiently waits for the day of retribution which He once foreordained. And although vengeance is in His power, He prefers to be long-suffering in His patience, that is, waiting steadfastly and delaying in His mercy, so that, if it is at all possible, the long career of malice at some time may change, and man, however deeply he is infected with the contagion of error and crime, may be converted to God even at a late hour, as He Himself warns and says: 'I desire not the death of him that dieth, as much as that he return and live.' (And again: 'Return to Me, saith the Lord.') And again: 'Return to the Lord your God for He is merciful and loving and patient and rich in pity, and one who turns aside His judgment in respect to the evils proposed.'
"And this, beloved brethren, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, did not teach by words only, but He also fulfilled it by His deeds. And He who said that He came down for this purpose, namely, to do the will of His Father, among the other miracles of virtue by which He gave proof of His divine majesty, also preserved and exemplified His Father's patience by His habitual forbearance. Accordingly, His every act right from the very outset of His coming is marked by an accompanying patience; for from the first moment of His descent from the sublimity of heaven to earthly things, He did not disdain, though the Son of God, to put on man's flesh, and although He Himself was not a sinner, to bear the sins of others."
"He did not rule His disciples as a master rules his slaves, but being both kind and gentle, He loved them as a brother, even deigning to wash the feet of His apostles, so that, while He was such a Master to His servants, He might teach by His example the attitude that a fellow servant ought to have toward his companions and equals. We should not wonder then that He was such a one among His disciples, who was able to tolerate Judas, even to the end, with enduring patience, who could eat with His enemy, who could know the foe in His household and not reveal him, who could not refuse the kiss of His betrayer. But what wonderful equanimity in bearing with the Jews, and what wonderful patience in persuading the unbelieving to accept the faith, in winning the ungrateful by kindness, in responding gently to those who contradicted Him, in enduring the proud with mercy, in yielding with humility to persecutors, in wishing to win over the murderers of the prophets and those persistently rebellious against God even to the very hour of His passion and cross!"
And after such sufferings, He even still receives His murderers if they are converted and come to Him, and with a patience instrumental in saving man, this kind Master closes His Church to no one. Those adversaries, those blasphemers, those persistent enemies of His name, provided they do penance for their offense, provided they acknowledge the crime committed, He not only receives and pardons, but admits to the reward of the kingdom o£ heaven. What can be called more patient, what more kind? Even he who shed the blood of Christ is given life by the blood of Christ. Such is the wonderful patience of Christ. And unless it were so wonderful in character, the Church would not have Paul the great Apostle.
886
St. John of the Cross on vices of converts p.III
Spiritual immaturity
Dark Night of the Soul (Book I, Chapter VI)
"These persons have the same defect as regards the practice of prayer, for they think that all the business of prayer consists in experiencing sensible pleasure and devotion and they strive to obtain this by great effort, wearying and fatiguing their faculties and their heads; and when they have not found this pleasure they become greatly discouraged, thinking that they have accomplished nothing. Through these efforts they lose true devotion and spirituality, which consist in perseverance, together with patience and humility and mistrust of themselves, that they may please God alone. For this reason, when they have once failed to find pleasure in this or some other exercise, they have great disinclination and repugnance to return to it, and at times they abandon it. They are, in fact, as we have said, like children, who are not influenced by reason, and who act, not from rational motives, but from inclination. Such persons expend all their effort in seeking spiritual pleasure and consolation; they never tire therefore, of reading books; and they begin, now one meditation, now another, in their pursuit of this pleasure which they desire to experience in the things of God. But God, very justly, wisely and lovingly, denies it to them, for otherwise this spiritual gluttony and inordinate appetite would breed innumerable evils. It is, therefore, very fitting that they should enter into the dark night, whereof we shall speak, that they may be purged from this childishness."
886
On the necessity of looking up to the Saints
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, from the opening of his Life of St. Malachy:
"It is indeed always worth while to portray the illustrious lives of the saints, that they may serve as a mirror and an example, and give, as it were, a relish to the life of men on earth. For by this means in some sort they live among us, even after death, and many of those who are dead while they live are challenged and recalled by them to true life. But now especially is there need for it because holiness is rare, and it is plain that our age is lacking in men. So greatly, in truth, do we perceive that lack to have increased in our day that none can doubt that we are smitten by that saying, Because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold; and, as I suppose, he has come or is at hand of whom it is written, Want shall go before his face. If I mistake not, Antichrist is he whom famine and sterility of all good both precedes and accompanies. Whether therefore it is the herald of one now present or the harbinger of one who shall come immediately, the want is evident. I speak not of the crowd, I speak not of the vile multitude of the children of this world: I would have you lift up your eyes upon the very pillars of the Church. Whom can you show me, even of the number of those who seem to be given for a light to the Gentiles, that in his lofty station is not rather a smoking wick than a blazing lamp? And, says One, if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Unless perchance, which I do not believe, you will say that they shine who suppose that gain is godliness; who in the Lord's inheritance seek not the things which are the Lord's, but rather their own."
886
Concerning true friendship
Introduction to the Devout Life, page 151,153, St Francis de Sales
"Love everyone, Philothea, with a great love of charity, but have no friendship except for those that communicate unto you the things of virtue; and the more exquisite the virtues are, which shall be the matter of your communications, the more perfect shall your friendship also be.
If this communication be in the sciences, the friendship is certainly very commendable, but still more so if it be in the moral virtues—in prudence, discretion, fortitude, and justice. But should your reciprocal communication relate to charity, devotion, and Christian perfection, how precious will friendship be! It will be excellent, because it comes from God, excellent because it shall last eternally in God. Oh, how good it is to love on earth as they love in heaven, to learn to cherish each other in this world as we shall do eternally in the next.
I speak not here of that simple love of charity which we must have for all men, but of that spiritual friendship by which two, three, or more souls communicate one to another their devotion and spiritual affections, and make themselves all but one spirit. Such happy souls may justly sing: “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Ps. cxxxi. 1); for the delicious balm of devotion distils out of one heart into another by so continual a participation, that it may be said that God has poured out upon this friendship his blessing and life everlasting. I consider all other friendships as but so many shadows in comparison with this, and that their bonds are but chains of glass or of jet in comparison with that bond of holy devotion which is more precious than gold.
Form no other kind of friendship than this. I speak of such friends as you choose yourself; but you must not, therefore, forsake or neglect the friendships which nature or former duties oblige you to cultivate with your parents, kindred, benefactors, neighbours, and others.
No one surely can deny but that our Lord loved St. John, Lazarus, Martha, and Magdalen, with a sweet and special friendship. We know that St. Peter tenderly cherished St. Mark and St. Petronilla, as St. Paul did Timothy and St. Thecla. St. Gregory Nazianzen boasts, a hundred times, of the incomparable friendship he had with the great St. Basil, and describes it in this manner: “it seemed that in the one and the other of us there was but one soul dwelling in two bodies; and if those are not to be believed, who say that all things are in all things, yet of us two you may believe that we were both in each of us, and one in the other: we had each of us only one pretension to cultivate virtue, and to accommodate all the designs of our life to future hopes; going in this manner out of this mortal earth, before we died in it.” St. Augustine testifies that St. Ambrose loved St. Monica entirely, for the real virtues he saw in her, and that she reciprocally loved him as an angel of God. But I am to blame in detaining you so long on this very clear subject. St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Bernard, and all the greatest servants of God have had very particular friendships, without prejudice to their perfection.
St. Paul, reproaching the disorders of the Gentiles, accuses them of being people without affection, that is to say, that they had no true friendship. And St. Thomas, with all the wisest philosophers, acknowledges that friendship is a virtue; and he speaks of particular friendship, since, as he says, “Perfect friendship cannot be extended to a great many persons.” Perfection therefore consists, not in having no friendship, but in having none but with such as are good, saint-like, and holy."
Worldly friendship ordinarily produces a great profusion of sweet words, passionate expressions, together with admiration of beauty, behaviour, and other sensual qualities, whereas, holy friendship speaks a plain and sincere language, and commends nothing but virtue and the grace of God, the only foundations on which it subsists.
#friendship
886
The example of the Father
Zygmunt Krasiński, a poet
"I ask you to pay attention to every word I say here, to remember that your fate and the fate of other hearts, maternal and paternal hearts, depend on it. Remember that if you do not control and temper your bad inclinations, you can never do your country any service. You do not know what life is like, what external distractions and obstacles there are! If, apart from these, there is still an eternal obstacle in his own breast, where can he think of removing them?
Get used, I beseech you, to exemplary kindness with women. You're missing out on it; it's neither Polish, nor Christian, chivalrous, nor noble. Politeness, on the other hand, is the first sign of a brave horseman. Whenever you are tempted to rudeness, remember that the Mother of the Saviour of the world, now reigning in the heavens, was a woman and that your own mother is a woman. Let the first of these memories stand to your right, the second to your left, and let two musical chords of angelic sweetness tune your heart from a hard tone to a tone of gentleness and charity, always and everywhere.
My dear boy, I beseech Thee, keep my words in Thy memory, for in them Thy goodness, for in them Thy nobility, for in them is the love that men have for Thee, for in them is everything that Thou alone canst make beautiful one day, and everything that Thou alone canst make auspicious or salutary!
Letter to his son Władysław, August 1858
*Raising a boy to be a man is a paternal responsibility. Masculinity has clearly defined qualities, which many fathers today forget, so that their sons can never really grow up and therefore are unable, when the time comes, to be responsible husbands and fathers. Masculinity is shaped in the ability to control the sphere of feelings, especially feelings of fear and lust. Masculinity is also a subtle respect for every woman along the lines of respect for the Mother of God and the birth mother. Faith, Scripture and the lives of saints give us the best examples.
886
Professor Feingold gave a lecture to the Association of Hebrew Catholics, explaining different possible attitudes toward Greek philosophy, drawing from the writings of St. Justin, St. Clement of Alexandria, and Origen; explained the difference between the errors of rationalism and fideism. In addition he showed how Origen's misuse of philosophy led him into certain errors, and how Tertullian's rejection of philosophy led him into error. Rationalism requires that every mystery of the faith be verified by reason; fideism denies that philosophy has a role as handmaiden to theology. He also discussed the Church Fathers' understanding of the passage in Exodus regarding the plundering of the Egyptians on the night they departed from Egypt. In the last part of the lecture he discussed Pope Benedict's Regensburg Address on the relation of faith and reason, and the attempt by some to de-hellenize Christianity.
886
Fear encourages evil
Bl. Jerzy Popiełuszko
"Overcoming fear is fundamental to personal and national freedom. After all, fear is born of the sense of danger. We fear that we are threatened by suffering, loss of some good, loss of freedom, health or position. And then we act against conscience, which is, after all, the measure of truth.
We overcome fear when we accept suffering or the loss of something in the name of higher values. If truth is a value worth suffering for, worth taking risks for, then we overcome fear- the direct cause of our enslavement. Christ repeatedly reminded his disciples: "Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and can do no more" (Lk 12:4).
The late Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, while in prison for the truth, wrote in his "Prison Notes" on 5 October 1954 that "the greatest vice of an apostle of Christ is fear [...], it squeezes the heart and shrinks the throat. [...] Anyone who remains silent in the face of the enemies emboldens them. [...] To force silence through fear is the first task of the strategy of the godless. [...] Silence only has its apostolic meaning when it does not turn its face away from the ones who strike it...".
from a sermon delivered on 31 October 1982.
886
To the young generation
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
"I am talking to the young, not the old! Have more healthy, noble ambition! When the nation has risen from slavery and filth, then you, the young generation, do not push it into filth again! If you see that the fathers were sober, then you be sober! If you say that the fathers were backward and retrograde, then you be progressive in spirit and heart! Begin to love the nation in such a way that you stop making demands of it and start making sacrifices of your lives. We need to make sacrifices by honest intellectual work, by moral work on ourselves, overcoming bad habits and inclinations. Only such work will give you much joy. Acquire respect for the human nature that the heavenly Father has given you in your body, in your soul, reason and heart. Be willing to look at yourselves with God's eyes, and then you will see the great dignity of man."
Wrocław 2 IV 1957
"Young people! Without forgetting the past, learn to look towards the future. But remember - the future is not certain for anyone in the world. No nation can be guaranteed a golden age.
It is therefore necessary to train in yourselves a spirit of sacrifice. You cannot educate the youth for the future without demanding sacrifice. It is not possible to create favourable conditions for the young generation and exempt them from effort, hardship, fighting against themselves and overcoming themselves. Dear young people! If you can look to the future, you must make great demands of yourself. You must educate yourself in a spirit of sacrifice and enable yourself to make sacrifices.
For there may come a time when only with sacrifice can the freedom of the fatherland be guaranteed."
Warsaw on 16 August 1970.
