Calendar

Leader's School
Thur June 6, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri June 7, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri June 21, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Leader's School
Thur July 11, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri July 5, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri July 19, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Men's Weekend #31
Sept 26-29, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

Women's Weekend #31
Oct 10-13, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 51

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Confucius is said to have stated: "When there is harmony in the heart, there will be harmony in the family. When there is harmony in the family, there will be harmony in the nation. When there is harmony in the nation, there will be harmony in the world."  The same may be said of peace. It begins within the individual heart and spreads to all nations.  It is in this way that a Christian is able to respond to the command of Christ to the Church, "Baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

BEATITUDES

      BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

THEY WILL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD

In the world peace is most often defined as the absence of war. With the end of World War I and World War II and with the tearing down of the Berlin wall, it was said, "the world is at peace."  This definition of peace is even extends to end of life, as though the battles of life are over. We hear people say, "well now he or she can have peace."  We even put "Rest in Peace," or "RIP" on gravestones to indicate that the rest of the dead is peaceful.  The peace that the beatitude speaks to, however, is not a negative. It is a positive characteristic. Peace is a virtue.  When a person lives the virtue of peace it is evident to those around them. We will hear them spoken of as "a peaceful person."  Peace is not acquired at a treaty table, or through a handshake of reconciliation. Peace is a virtue to be lived.

The virtue of peace derives principally from virtues of prudence and love. The virtue of peace is empowered in a person's life by wisdom, a gift of the Holy Spirit infused at Baptism and reinforced by the Sacraments.  As with all virtues, development of the virtue of peace depends upon the human will, and is practiced toward perfection.  As with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gift of wisdom is given as God wishes.  Gifts of the Holy Spirit empower the virtues to the degree that there are no obstacles to its action in the person. The Gifts are given according to the mission of Beatitude that God has in mind for an individual. All persons possess the virtue of peace. It is because of God's plan for our lives that some are heroic persons of peace, and others, even with practiced virtue may never be heroic.

The person of peace gives to God what is due to God and gives to His creatures what is due to them.  They live according to the words of the Evangelist, "Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). The person of peace is pleasant to be around because they love God above all things and they love us as God loves us.  They do not demand that we love them in return, they simply love us because of what we are. They know that we are but dust, created for the purpose of glorifying God. They know that we, like themselves, are weak because of sin.  They know, as St. Paul knew, that it was in our sin that God loved us enough to send His only Son to redeem us (Ephesians 2:1-5).

The peacemaker is a person of prayer.  They see the providence of God in all things, and are compelled to continuously praise and thank Him. They give praise to God for all that they are and assume nothing from themselves. They are not so concerned for the things of this world that they worry. Their life, family, friends and possessions are seen as gifts that they have done nothing to deserve. Even their enemies are seen as gifts, because they offer an opportunity to overcome their human wants and love the unloveable. In this they rise above themselves and become one with divinity.

The person of peace viewing the world with the eyes of wisdom, knows Gods will.  Knowing and doing God's will removes evil from a person and transforms them into persons of peace.  Paul in Ephesians, 2:6 says that such a person is "raised up with God and is seated with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus."   The more perfected one becomes in peace, the more able they are to train others in the virtue of peace.  The peacemakers make a big difference in the world when they do not complain of suffering, of needs, of disappointments, but see all that happens to them as within the providence of God.  They are able to accept that "all things work for good" (Romans 8:28). Others receive their love and desire to love in return.  It is in this spreading of the virtue of peace that the peacemakers carry out their vocation of Beatitude in the world.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM; “ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD”

ARTICLE NO. 647

“O truly blessed Night,” sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! But no one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically.  Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses.  Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles’ encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history.  This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples,” to those who came up with in from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.” (Acts 13:31; Jn 14:22)

ONLY THE NIGHT DID KNOW

DEACON JIM BREAZILE

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 52

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother took the small boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her. Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked "NO ADMITTANCE." When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that her son was missing. Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

This is the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful flowing music. But assisted by the grace of God everything that we do in life can truly become something of beauty.

The next time you set out to accomplish great feats, such as bringing peace to the world, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Lord whispering in your ear, "Don't quit. Keep playing." You may feel His loving arms around you and know that His strong hands are playing the concerto of your life.

Keep in mind always that God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. He will always be there to love and guide you on to great things.

BEATITUDES

      BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS

THEY WILL BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD

          The human heart is wounded by the effects of the sin of Adam. We know that the Lord destroys the sin at our Baptism. At our baptism, we were infused by supernatural virtues and enabled to reach such perfection of peace. The virtue of peace is the result of living the virtues of justice charity. The virtue of  justice leads to trust and charity leads to love.  Peacemakers are those who enable others to know that they are trusted and loved.

Even though we are Baptized and know the effect it has on us, there is within the human heart an inner emptiness. This is expressed in our inability to maintain a continuous relationship of love and trust with our Lord. We know that the purpose of the incarnation of Christ, His death and Resurrection was to restore this relationship. Our faith gives us sure knowledge that through His death and resurrection we were made children of God and heirs of His heavenly kingdom. Our spiritual nature, weakened by sin makes it difficult for us to maintain the perfection necessary for this relationship.

We can each recall times at which we have known the inner peace that comes through the experience of love and trust. This is particularly common to the relationships of husband and wife, children and parents, grandchildren and grandparents. It is particularly children and grandchildren who are special gifts from the Lord to bring great joy to parents and grandparents.  The Lord wishes for each of us to experience this communion of peace at all times in our lives as His children.

Part of our growth in maturity is recognizing that to achieve such a relationship with others, we first have to provide the gifts of trust and love to others.  We also come to realize that we are too selfish to really trust and love others, so we turn to our Lord in the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist. He infuses us with His trust and love, so that we will be empowered to give it to others.  Without sacramental grace to nourish us, we would be helpless as peacemakers. It is His peace that we receive to give to others.  When we respond to His love and trust and begin to live the virtues of justice and charity in our every day life, we find that more and more we experience the Lords gift of peace. We are then transformed by His peace into the peacemakers of the world. As with all grace, when peace is given away, it grows in the one who gives.

The true child of God experiences an inner assurance that they are uniquely and individually loved and trusted.  This peace allows them to see God as present in everything that they do. They see all that they have and are as given to them from a generous Father, who cares for them at all times and wants for them only an overwhelming happiness and peace. Because of these gives, the child of God rejoices in the presence of the Lord in all things. There is no room for sadness, only delight. They dance and sing in the presence of the God who they know holds them in His thought through all eternity. The peacemaker truly becomes a child of God when all that they do, say and are gives glory to God.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM: “HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER” ARTICLE NO. 662

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (Jn 12:32) The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it.  Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands... but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” (Heb. 9:245) There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for those who draw near to God through him.” (Heb. 7:25) As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven. (Heb. 9:11; Rev. 4:6-11).

THE CROSS AND THE ASCENSION

DEACON JIM BREAZILE

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 53

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Two children were helping their father carry wood into their little house, to be used for fuel in the winter. The younger boy held out his arms and the father began to stack pieces of wood onto his small arms.  The older brother intervened and said, "Let me carry some of your load. Your arms are not strong enough for such a load."  The younger boy replied, "No, I cannot let you do that.  My father knows how much I can bear. He will not give me more than I can carry."

This is the beatitude of obedience to persecution. Our Lord in Heaven will never allow us to be overburdened by persecution because of our obedience to Him.  He will always weigh the load within the limits of our capability to carry it.

BEATITUDES

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR THE SAKE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

                When we begin to live the gifts of beatitude in our lives, we will experience both an inner and an outer persecution.  The inner persecution comes from the demands of perfection, The outer persecution comes from others, who are not comfortable with your striving for perfection. Evil is always uncomfortable with divinity.  The self  persecution is most difficulty because we know that it comes from our free will decision to follow Christ. We know how easy it would be not to follow.  As we strive to be holy our Father in Heaven is Holy and to be Perfect as He is Perfect, we find within us the law of our decision that demands obedience.  Obedience to this decision is sometimes a tyrant. Difficult as it is, the Lord loves our obedience. He loves obedience even more than he loves all the good deeds we wish to do in response to our few found goal. When the decision that we have made is that living with God in Heaven is more important than anything in our lives, even life itself, we begin to be recreated.  In this re-creation, the Holy Spirit urges us to trade old habits of the world for the new habits of growth in holiness through the activating of the infused virtues of our Baptism.  We cannot just uproot the old habits of our thoughts and actions. They are so deeply rooted within us that it is necessary that they be crowded by being replaced. They are replaced by the growth of a living grace and by holy habits derived from the virtues.  The persecution comes from our questioning from time to time why this or that pleasure must go. We question the value of the new, an sometimes unfamiliar habit of love, joy, peace, harmony. These are questioned because we have become to practiced at the exercise of bad habits, that they don't seem to fit.  Being remolded to have them fit is sometimes a severe persecution.

                To the time of this conversion we may have been living our lives "our way," for many years, and now we decide to live "His way." Carrying out this decision requires determination.  The edifice we have built in exaltation of  ourselves must come down.  Sometimes they come down with a crash, and the pain and struggle is short. Most often, however, the destruction of our favorite way of living is a work of sweat and tears.  The bloody sweat of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane reflects this struggle of humanity with sin.  When Jesus saw the devastation wreaked by the sin of man throughout the ages, it caused Him so much agony that the blood of redemption poured through the pores of his skin. This bloody sweat was necessary for his learning of obedience to the will of the Father.  That red rosary of His blood onto the roots of the ancient olive trees are a signal to us that victory in this struggle will depend upon our obedience to His will, nurtured by His redemptive grace. We really do want His grace, but like Jesus in the Garden, would like to find a way to escape the demands of grace.

                Gods grace is like that. It attracts us because of the knowledge that it is the source of eternal happiness. At the same time it repels us because our fallen human nature calls us into the world.  The grace of beatitude is particularly difficult because it means that we are preparing to see God in all His glory, just as if we had died and gone to heaven. There cannot be any thought or even a slight leaning toward returning to the world.  To have God it is necessary that we hold nothing else. The death that is experienced in overcoming our ways of thinking, acting and speaking and replacing these actions with love is usually not done without a great deal of mental toil and strife.  Is it worth it?  St. John of the Cross makes it clear that the soul that has attained complete conformity and likeness of will to the divine will is totally united to and supernaturally transformed  into God (Ascent of Mt. Carmel Book II, chapter 5, article 4).

                The second persecution that comes from without often comes from our closest friends. We may have been friends for many years. Friends have a profound potential to influence on our lives toward the world and away from God. They are more free than others to criticize our choice for a "new life."  It may be necessary to separate from some friends, not because we don't love them, but in order to protect ourselves from a sinful falling away from things holy.  Sometimes our family members are the source of persecution. We cannot separate from those whom God has given, our wives, children, mothers and fathers.  Here, the persecution again become extremely severe. This is particularly the case in which they are not interested in things of the Lord and think that our way of living is an affront to them.  To overcome, we learn to depend more and more upon God and the persecution becomes a road toward our perfection.

                God allows this persecution, both from within and from without, in order that we can appreciate the difficulty of overcoming sin and living in His glory.  We find that just as we have begun the struggle, His infusion of grace makes the transformation easier than we thought.  The giving of things, actions and persons in our lives is now seen as an exchange for better things. In this light the persecution is seen as a blessing and not a curse.  It is this infusion of knowledge of the way of the Lord that makes persecution not only bearable, but very profitable.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM;

ARTICLE NO. 659

“So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.”(Mk.16:19) Christ’s body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. (Lk 24:31; Jn 20:19, 26) but during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. (Acts 1:3; 10:41; Mk 16:12; Lk 24:15; Jn 20:14-15; 21:4)  Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand. (Acts 1:9; 2:33; 7:56; Lk 9:34-35; 24:51; Ex 13:22; Mk 16:19; Ps 110:1) Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul “as to one untimely born,” in a last apparition that established him as an apostle. (1 Cor 15:8; 9:1; Gal 1:16)

DIVINE INTERCESSOR

DEACON JIM BREAZILE OCDS

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 54

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

Severinus was a holy monk.  All the other monks wanted to emulate him in their daily lives, because his life was perfect in all things.  He was patient and kind to everyone, even when they were cross with him.  He always bowed his head when he approached anyone, treating them as though they were Christ.  When he entered a room, they felt holiness in their hearts, and their lives were made holy by just being with him.  When he went on mission, they missed him terribly, because he was such a blessing to the monastery.  In the winter of his 70^th year Severinus became ill with diphtheria and died.  The entire monastery mourned his loss, but in their hearts, they knew he had gone to Heaven and was with the Father.  Because of this, they did not pray for him. 

One evening during Vespers, Severinus appeared before them, bound in chains, with a crown of thorns on his head and carrying a heavy cross.  He turned to each of them and asked them to keep him in their prayers, because he would need strength to persist in his agony.  They exclaimed, "Why are you not in Heaven with God our Father. No one ever heard of you committing a sin. What happened?"  He explained to them, that once when he was a young monk, he had failed to answer the bell of the poor hastily enough to serve them their food.  Since then, he had been increasingly prompt in serving everyone he met as though they were the poor. When he died, he went to God, and God was ready to admit him to heaven.  He did not feel, however, that he could carry out his mission in heaven, so he asked to be placed in purgatory until the end of time. There he could suffer for his sin, and invoke the Lord for grace for all others who fail to serve the poor.

THE BEATITUDES:

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO ARE PERSECUTED FOR THE SAKE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

In our reflection on the first Beatitude, 'Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit for the Kingdom of God is Yours," we recalled the three kingdoms of nature, grace and glory.  Living in the kingdom of nature, we know that because God created us, we live each moment in His Word, His Son, Jesus Christ.  It is in Christ, through whom all things were created, that we live and move and have our being. Our nature, when fulfilled is to share in Gods divinity and to become His glory in this world.  Living in the kingdom of grace, we are empowered to bring His kingdom to earth.  As Jesus came into the world announcing "Repent! The Kingdom of God is at hand," we know that our life in Him represents the seeds of His Kingdom.  As we are in Him, so He is in us, glorifying us and making us pleasing to the Father.  In the kingdom of glory, although rooted in earthly time, we begin to live in eternity. Our minds, our hearts, our spirits and souls are with God at all times, but our feet are firmly embedded within the soil of this earth.  It is as though we are stretched between two opposing gravities, an eternal gravity and an earthly gravity of time.  We are pulled by the eternal gravity by our desire for be with God. We are at the same time, because of our humanness, pulled toward the earth from which we were formed. As Theresa of Avila said, "It is as though we are suspended, as though crucified, between heaven and earth."

Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom of God is present in this world when He said, "the Kingdom is in you." (Lk. 27:21).  This Kingdom, which is His presence within us, urges us to a supernatural perfection in which we are not only restored to His image and likeness, but also to live His life of glory in our life. If we respond to the glory that is within us though a spirit of poverty, and of a total giving of ourselves to His will, His Kingdom will become alive within us. St. Paul, in his letter to the Romans (8:15b-17) expresses it clearly when he writes, "you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him."

This is the nature of the Kingdom of God within us.  If we cooperate with the glorifying Spirit within us, we will suffer persecution, both personal and external. We will be too holy for holy people and too human for the world.  Both will wish to crucify us.  It was for these charges that our Lord Jesus was crucified. The civil court (Rome) found him guilty of being too human (He claimed to be king). The holy court (the Sanhedrin) found him guilty of being too holy, (He claimed to be God). These contradictory charges required a death by the sign of contradiction, the Cross-, upon which Divinity was crucified. Here it was that he redeemed the sin of all that He had taken upon Himself.

This is the fulfillment of our vocation to be Beatitude in the world. We are to be so perfect in our holiness, that our presence will bring uneasiness into the lives of those uncommitted to their faith.  Our humanness is to be so full that it will be a disturbance to those who live only for the world. Paul tells us (Romans 8:22-23) "We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; and not only that but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."  When this is fulfilled, our vocation is completed.

The Kingdom of God however, is never separated from the Sacraments administered through His Church.  It is here that we are nourished, taught and empowered to live His Kingdom within us. Even though the Kingdom of God is within us, His Kingdom cannot flourish without our unity with the Church.  Jesus gave the keys of the Kingdom to Peter and empowered the Apostles to loose and bind, to forgive and not to forgive. He promising that Heaven would respond to the decisions of the Church to the end of time.  Separated from the authority of the keys, we cannot hope to live the beatitudes.  Only when we are in accord with His Church, with Peter (Pope John Paul II) as its visible head and the Apostles (our Bishops) in communion with Peter, can we hope to reach the perfection Jesus demanded.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM; “FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AGAIN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD” ARTICLE NO.  674

The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel,” for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” and their “unbelief” toward Jesus. (Rom. 11;20-26; Mt. 23:29) St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, who heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” (Acts 3:19-21) St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” (Rom. 11:15) The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles,”(Rom. 11:12,25; Lk 21:24) will enable the People of god to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” in which “God may be all in all.”(Eph. 4:13; 1 Cor. 15:28)

COMING DELAYED

DEACON JIM BREAZILE OCDS

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 55

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

One day during Holy Week, Saint Paul of the Cross was in his parish church at Castellazo attending divine service. He was engrossed in prayer when, on hearing the Apostle's words sung: "Christ was obedient unto death for us, death on the cross," he was filled with such a feeling of wonder and love that he started to repeat: "Jesus obedient until death, death on the cross; and why shouldn't I too be obedient?" Carried away in divine fervor, he immediately made a vow to obey, for the love of God, his superiors, his elders, and any others, provided he was not ordered to do anything against God's law. He kept this vow with admirable fidelity until the day he died.

Obedience is the principle character of a devout person.

DEVOTION and PRAYER

In our previous reflections, we have considered the tools of holiness.  These are attributes that have been infused into our human nature that enable us to fulfill Gods will for us.  As baptized Christians, we are well equipped with Virtues that direct our path toward heaven, Gifts of the Holy Spirit that enable us to be pleasing to God and to our neighbor and the Beatitudes that empower us to be the glory of God in the world. There is no doubt that we have the resources necessary for holiness. What remains?

To this point, although many of our reflections, catechetics and poems may have induced spirituality by their nature, we have done nothing to employ the tools of holiness.  We may have been moved to action by some of our reflections, but it was not the reflections themselves that has induced this action.  To employ the tools of holiness it is necessary that we be people of devotion and prayer.  When persons of devotion and prayer come to understand the tools at their disposal, there is no hesitation in their employment.  Without devotion and prayer, the tools remain unused. In the following reflections, we will consider what is meant by devotion and what is meant by prayer.

St Francis de Sales, in the first part of the introduction to his book, "Introduction to a Devout Life," states that "you must know what the virtue of devotion is. There is only one true devotion but there are many that are false and empty. If you are unable to recognize which kind is true, you can easily be deceived and led astray by following one that is offensive and superstitious."  His statement raises several important questions, such as "I am devoted to my family, is this a true devotion?  How can devotion be offensive?  How can devotion be superstitious?"  In the following considerations, we will come to understand devotion in the sense that it is presented by St. Francis de Sales, and many other spiritual counselors through the years. This understanding will help to answer these questions.

Spiritual devotion is a true expression of who we are as persons. In order to draw a contrast to what devotion is in this context, it is helpful to recognize some things that devotion is not. Devotion is not praying, it is being a prayer. Devotion is not giving, it is being a gift. Devotion is not blessing, it is being a blessing.  Devotion is not so much what we do, it is who we are when we do it.  We may consider a person of prayer devout, but the prayer and the time spent in prayer may not reflect at all who the person is.  We may be devoted to a large number of things or persons, each of which define us in a certain way, but none of which bring us to holiness.  The devotion that is necessary to bring us to holiness is love.  To be devoted, we are to become love.  It is not just any kind of love that enables the virtue of devotion, it is the love of God above all things, and the love of our neighbor as God loves them that will bring us to holiness.  The life of a devout person is the living, breathing reality of the love of God above all things and the love of neighbor as God loves them.

The virtue of devotion enables one to personify the love of God in all that they do.  The life of devout persons is lived with prudence. They carefully discern the effects of each action, word or symbol expressed by their life. They determine whether or not it will bring glory to God.  The devout are not impetuous in their action, but after carefully determining that an act is good and will bring God glory, they do not hesitate to act.  Although they are often aware of adverse consequences of their act and in some cases danger to their lives they have no hesitation in carrying it out. When the virtue of devotion defines a person, they begin to see that there are many moments in the day when they can make the love of the Lord present in the world in which they live.

The virtue of devotion, as any infused virtue, must be practiced in order that it become perfected.  This requires great diligence during our daily lives to obedience to the God we profess to love, and reverence to others who reveal His glory to us.  Diligence to exercise of talents produces great athletes, mathematicians, scientists and philosophers. Diligence to the development of any habit or talent requires strict obedience. The athlete must bow his head in obedience to a rigid scale of practice and proper sequence of exercise. The scientist must bow his head in obedience to the observations of the microscope.  The mathematician must bow his head to accumulated wisdom to develop a proof for a new theorem. So it is with devotion. To enable the virtue of devotion to become active in our lives, it is necessary that we bow your heads in obedience to both Lord and neighbor before we will learn to love them. We must become obedient to all of Gods commandments, and to all the needs of our neighbor.  This is the gymnasium of holiness. It is in this gymnasium that we exercise our spirituality, until it becomes who we are meant to be.  In the following reflections we will develop the process of devotion in order that we may understand its growth within us.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM; “FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AGAIN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD” ARTICLE NO. 675

Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. (Lk 18:8; Mt. 24:12) The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth (Lk 21:12; Jn 15:19-20) will unveil the “mystery of iniquity” in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems as the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.(2 Thess 2:4-12; 1 Thess 5:2-3; 2 Jn 7:1 Jn 2:18, 22)

ARTICLE NO. 676

The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment.  The Church has rejected  even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism.

WILL HAIL THE COMING OF CHRIST

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 56

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

A country priest in Ireland was out for a walk when it began to rain.  He quickly took shelter under a small bridge.  As he entered the shelter, he was surprised to find an old man scurry into shelter at the same time. Neither spoke, but the old man, after settling himself, took a small prayer book from his pocket and began to read his prayers.  As he read half aloud, the priest recognized that the old man was praying the Holy Office of the Church.  He watched as the man read with great devotion to the words he was speaking, and saw a spirit of serenity come over him.  The priest himself felt at peace just being near the man in prayer.

After a time, the man finished his prayer and put his book back in his jacket pocket.  Neither had spoken, so the priest, in order to make conversation finally said, "You must be very close to the Lord."  The old Irishman looked up and said, "Yes, I am a child of my Lord. He loves me very much."

This is a relationship of devotion.  Note that it was not so much what the old Irishman did, but who he was. It didn't matter so much how he related to God but how God related to him.

DEVOTION;

In the last reflection, the emphasis concerning devotion was to determine who we are.  This is one of the basic elements of devotion. We understand that God created an immortal soul for us that was individual, independent of all other souls, and unique within all of creation. That is to say, our soul is not a duplicate. No soul has ever existed or will ever exist, that is equipped with precisely the same characteristics as the soul God made for us when we were conceived in our mothers womb.  The reason He made our soul so unique was not only to give us the gift of eternal life, but that the soul would be the model to determine the means by which our lives in the world could give Him glory.  We are meant, through the expression of our soul to become the person God had in mind.  The New Catholic Catechism Article No. 1703 puts it this way; "Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, the human person is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake. From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude."

This describes the uniqueness of the person we are meant to be.  For most of us however, as we grow and mature in the world, we determine our habits of behavior and patterns of thought and our person becomes conformed to what we do and what we think.  During the development of this person that we become, in most cases we did not concern ourselves with the person God created us to be. The will of God for us however, is inherent within the characteristics of our soul.

Within each of us there is an inner conflict of our will impacting upon Gods will. We recognize a dichotomy of persons within us. There is an urgency to conform to the image willed by God. But at the same time there is an urgency to conform to the image willed by ourselves. This spiritual disturbance within each of us is the nature of fallen humanity. Even though we do all that we can to remain in a state of perfect union with the Lord, we recognize our total dependency upon His grace for that union. Our contribution to the union is weak and tenuous. The rule of obedience, however, becomes our guide.  In order that devotion be true, it is necessary that we become who we are meant to be. It is within this context that true devotion can occur.  The more clear our image of ourselves comes into accord with that of the soul the Lord has given us, the more easily will obedience to His will become. 

The necessity for being our true selves is that devotion is a special relationship between our selves and God our Creator. We establish many relationships, that are often called devotion, such as between spouses, parents and children, individuals and God.  If, in these relationships, we are not ourselves, then the relationship is false, and devotion is also false. What kind of relationship could we every hope to have with God? We recognize that He is all there is, and we are nothing, except that He wills us to be? Man could not conceive of the relationship God wishes us to have with Him.  We only know of Gods desire through the revelation of Christ of God the Creator.  It was the mission of Christ to reveal all that we could understand about our Creator.  The most astounding idea concern our Creator that Christ revealed was that He is more than just Creator, as a sculptor forms a statue our of clay, He is our Father!

The author Canon F. Cuttaz, in his book "Our Life of Grace", emphasizes that "the keynote of all devotion is the title Father". In other worlds, devotion receives its origin and purpose in the Fatherhood of God.  Because He is our Father, we are His sons and daughters.  The Fatherhood of God was the central theme of the teachings of Christ.  When He was asked how His followers should pray, He emphatically stated, "Say Our Father...."  An understanding of how stupendous this revelation is to us as members of a fallen humanity is difficult for us to grasp. Through supernatural grace we become the adopted family of God the Father, brothers and sisters of Jesus, the only Son of the Father.  It is only through an understanding of this relationship to God the Father that devotion has any meaning at all. This relationship characterizes the devotion that Christ came to establish. It is the goal of the new covenant that He came to inaugurate. It is the foundation of the Kingdom of God to be instituted in the world.

Devotion begins with our ability to say the words "Abba, our Father," with sincerity and with understanding.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM; “I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT” ARTICLE NO.  683

“No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3). “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6). This knowledge of faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit; to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son

Baptism give us the grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit. For those who bear God’s Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God’s son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God’s Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit. (St. Irenaeus, Dem. ap 7: SCH 62, 41-42)

SPIRITS BLESSED FAVOR

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 57

Deacon Jim Breazile ocds

St. Clement Hofbauer once went begging for the orphan children. He approached a man in a hotel in Warsaw, Poland.  This man, who was playing cards there, spat into Clement's face because he interrupted the card game with his begging.  St. Clement calmly wiped his face and said: "Sir, that was for me, I deserve this because I am not always an obedient child of God. Now please give me something for my orphan children. They deserve it because they know that they are God's children and when they learn of His will they carry it out without hesitation." The man repented and the orphans received their alms. 

St. Clement understood the idea of devotion.  He saw that the children were devout because they recognized that they were God's children and they responded fully and immediately to the demands of God's love.  St. Clement also recognized that He, himself was a child of God and that he did not always respond in this way to God's will.

DEVOTION:

The person of devotion expresses their relationship with God as "Abba", Father.  Devotion does not derive from an ordinary relationship with a distant God, but from a relationship of adoption.  We are the adopted children, the sons and daughters of God our Creator. A better understanding of what this adopted relationship is can be obtained from an apiphatic argument; e.g. by defining what it is not, we may understand something of what it is.  Our adoption by God is not a general adoption, a natural adoption, or an adoption by grace. This son-ship is beyond our understanding. It is not a relationship with God that we would ever have conceived had it not been revealed through divine revelation by Christ, the Scriptures and the Church.  The Abba-son-ship relationship doesn't refer to a general son-ship common to all because they receive life from God. It is a special son-ship reserved for Christians.

The concept of adoption by God runs through the Old and the New Testaments. God adopted the family of Noah because of his faithfulness and protected him from the cleansing death of the flood. Through Abraham, God adopted the Hebrews to preserve a purity of faith in a corrupt and amoral world.  Although the Hebrews were a liturgical people, following the Torah in its worship of God, their adoption did not involve sacramental grace. God can give the gift of grace to His people when and as He wishes.   He thus supplied the grace of faith and the strength of virtue to the Hebrews. Until the death and resurrection of Christ, sacramental grace was not made available to man.

The adoption as a child of God is not like that of a natural adoption through which an orphan is brought into a family.  In natural adoption, even though life is shared, there is no share of the adopted child with the substance of the parents.  Although the adopted child calls their new parents father and mother, the child was not derived from the substance of the father and the mother.  In the adoption of a child by God, there is a share in the substance of God.  This is what makes this adoption special. It is not an adoption of nature, or of grace, but of love which is eternal.

The new adoption introduced by Christ and attested to by the evangelists of the new people of God goes beyond an adoption by grace because it is not lost through sin.  Although sin excludes us from the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10), forgiveness is stronger than sin, and God is always ready to forgive.  It is in His love that we are adopted, not only by grace, but also by his sharing Himself with us in love in such a way that we share in His divinity. In The New Catholic Catechism the definition and effects of a mortal (deadly or serious) sin is given as follows.  "A mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God's law; and turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to Him." Even such a decision of the human will does not turn God away from the man.  God continues in His love to accept the adopted son and in His love, keeps vigil to man's return in repentance to love God in return.

This is the essential message of the parable of the prodigal son.  (Luke 15:11-24) Just as the prodigal son left the father and went into a foreign land to explore the pleasures of his hungers, his ego and his search for love, the father never abandoned the son.  Even though he did not accompany the son with his grace into the foreign country or approve and participate in his activities while there the father's heart was with the son. Because of the love of the father for the son, the father held a continual vigil in anticipation of his return (Luke 15:20).  Just in this way, God never forgets us, and even if the soul is involved in the deepest and darkest of sin, He removes His grace, but He never abandons his love for us and thus we are always adopted children of God.

We not only share in the inner life of the Trinity through grace, which may be lost through the action of our free will, we share in the actual substance of the divine Trinity, which is love.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM “I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT”

ARTICLE NO.  684

Through his grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to “know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ.” (Jn 17:3) But the Spirit is the last of the persons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed.  St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of divine “condescension”:

The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. The New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly....By advancing and progressing “from glory to glory,” the light of the trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio theol., 5, 26 (=Oratio 31, 26): PG 36, 161-163.

 STAGES OF FAITH

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

 SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 58

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Brother James had lived in the monastery for 25 years, and was always faithful to his vows, prayers and assigned duties.  He was considered a model religious, and had obviously given his life to the glory of the Lord.  He had been assigned the duty of answering the evening bell, which was rung by the poor who came to the monastery to be fed each evening.  Brother James loved the poor.  As he gave them food from the poor pantry of the monastery, he saw each poor person as Christ, and was always greatly blessed by their presence.  There was, however, one wish that Brother James carried in his heart.  The wish was that the Crucified Jesus would visit him in a more direct way and affirm him as a child of God.  Brother James prayed for this wish, knowing that it might seem foolish to anyone else, and maybe even foolish to God.

One evening, however, as Brother James was quietly praying in his cell, Jesus appeared to him.  Jesus was wearing the crown of thorns and his hands, feet and side bore the wounds of the crucifixion.  Just as Jesus appeared, the poor at the gate rang the bell.  Brother James was confused for a second. He did not want to leave the vision, but at the same time, he did not want to fail in his duties.  He simply bowed his head to Jesus and went to feed the poor.  An hour later when he returned, Jesus was waiting.  Brother James was overjoyed.  "I thought you might have left," he exclaimed.  Jesus looked at him with love and said, "If you had not gone to feed to poor, I would have left. But your prompt response to their needs and forgetting your desires attests that you are truly a child of the Lord"

Brother James was a devout person. He responded to his love for others as Jesus would have responded. He did not hesitate to carry out the good that the Lord had assigned him to do and disregarded his own pleasures.  The devout person continuously responds to the two great commandments; "To love God above all things and to love our neighbor as Christ has loved them."

DEVOTION:

The roots of devotion lie within the commandments revealed in Holy Scripture to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind" (Deut. 6:5 and Matt. 22:37) and "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." (Lev. 19:18 and Matt. 22:39)  Jesus added to the latter when He told His apostles to "love one another as I have loved you."(John 13:34)   The love of Jesus, after accepting the gift of obedience in the Garden of Gethsemani, was demonstrated in his unhesitating acceptance of the cross and a certain excruciating death for us. 

Although there are may ways in which we demonstrate devotion, unless it is as radical and complete as the devotion Jesus demonstrated to His Father, and the devotion He has for us, it is empty.  Empty devotion is asking the Lords forgiveness while holding anger, hatred or a desire for revenge in our hearts for some slight someone may have done to us.  Empty devotion is saying we are sorry to our enemy without love, or with our fingers crossed, or with grit teeth. This is what St. Francis De Sales meant, as referred to in reflection No. 55, when he wrote that unless we know what true devotion is, our devotion may be false or empty.   True devotion requires a complete conversion of our heart, mind, spirit and soul so that our will is constantly the will of God.  Only then can we recognize Gods will and without concern for our comfort, convenience, desires or needs, Just Do It.

What do you think?  Are you a devout person?  Do you want to be?  Start now.

We have a model of how to start.  Our model is the Trinity.  The Father, Creator and Sustainer of all that is, sent His only Son, in order that we may have life and have it to its fullness. He did not need us, He did all that He does out of love.  The Son did not come to reveal Himself, but with steps back and bows to His Father. His role was not to reveal Himself, but to reveal the Father. In this He served His Father in all that He did, and said.  After Jesus Left and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Church, it was not the role of the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself, but to reveal the Son.  As Jesus had stated, "When He comes, you will recall all that I did and all that I said."  In imitation of the Trinity, and through grace, living within the inner life of the Trinity we are called to reveal the Holy Spirit, Who is Love. 

If we live as the children of the Lord and have true and holy Love that is God, even the little things we do for our neighbor and our enemy will become great in the Kingdom of Heaven. We can see therefore that devotion is not what we do, but who we are.  We are to be the love of God on earth.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM;

ARTICLE No.  689

The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his Son, is truly God.(Gal 4:6). Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable form them, in both the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world.  In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church’s faith also professes the distinction of persons.  When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable.  To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the Spirit who reveals him.

ARTICLE No. 690

Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness(Jn. 3:34). When Christ is finally glorified (Jn. 7:39), he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory (Jn. 17:22) that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him (Jn.16:14). From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him.

FATHER'S THOUGHT AND BREATH

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 59

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

There was a very rich man, who had everything. One day God tested him, as he tested Job, and suddenly the man found himself with nothing. His cattle died, his ships sank, his houses caught fire and a curse fell on his business. Discouraged, sad and defeated, he started, as a beggar a pilgrimage across the country. 

He was walking along the road asking for alms, when he passed a town where a man was beating his wheat and throwing it in the air. "why don't you leave the wheat alone?" he asked. "I am doing this so it will dry and will not rot."

He walked on and saw another man driving his plow into the ground. "why are you hurting the ground?" "So that it will become soft and will soak up water and receive sunlight. Then it will grow my crop."

Later the man passed a vineyard and saw another man pruning the vine shoots with very sharp shears. "Why do you torture the vineyard in such a manner?" "so that it will bud better and give more fruit."

Then the man fell down on his knees and exclaimed," Ah, Lord, now I understand your ways.  You beat me as if I were wheat that I might not rot in my vices; you hurt me like the earth with the plow-share of your justice so that my soul would swell and better receive the sun and rain of your grace; you pruned me like a vine shoot so that I would yield the fruit of your good works. Thy will be done! Blessed art thou!"

DEVOTION

We have previously emphasized two factors that assist us in defining devotion and living out its definition. The first factor recognized that devotion begins with our ability to say with sincerity and with understanding something of the words "Abba, our Father,".  The second is that the roots of devotion lie within the commandments revealed in Holy Scripture to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind... Love your neighbor as you love yourself and love one another as I have loved you" It is obvious that love is the basis for devotion.  This love, originating from the Father and given to us as a free gift, empowers us to love others with vigor and with determined intent and to love the Father above all things.  Our identity as devotion is based on our identity with love. We become what we live. Because He first loves us, so we in turn love and through living our love, become love.

God loves us and through His love shares with us His inner life.  Through grace, which he gives freely in sacrament, prayer and service, but most effusively through sacraments, He transforms us into His children.  It is in this sense that we become His adopted sons and daughters.  This transformation begins in our soul. It is true that if our body does not respond to the properties of the soul that the Lord places within us at our conception, the soul will be transformed by the actions of the body.   The action of Gods life within our soul has the purpose of restoring the soul from the nature it has acquired from life in the flesh and with the world to the image of God that He wished for us when He created the soul. Without God operating in the soul, it is deformed by the human body with its senses (the flesh) operating through the mind and heart, into something other than what God had designed. When the soul conforms to world, the flesh and Satan, it fails to love and it loses the glory of God.

Devotion begins when we love God enough to allow sanctifying grace to re-create us. Our re-creation begins at the moment we begin to refuse the demands of our sensate self and to turn away from those events, thoughts, possessions, and actions that "make us feel good." This turning away requires considerable discipline of the mind and the heart by the will.  If we want truly to be devoted to the Lord and love Him as He deserves, we will meet with a great inner rebellion from our sensate self.  Something (it seems almost as if it were another person) within us rebels against our decision. Something outside of ourselves (and it also seems as if it were another person) joins in this rebellion.  That which is within is concupiscence, the weakness of the soul inherited because of original sin. Even though we have been Baptized, and may have been bathed in the Holy Spirit, this weakness remains very much a part of our soul. It weakens the soul to the Love of God, and turns the soul toward the sensate nature of the body.  That which is without is Satan and his dominions.  The battle of the human will against the forces of the flesh, the devil and the world is often fierce, and always on the verge of being lost.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM: “THE SPIRIT OF THE PROMISE”

ARTICLE NO. 705

Disfigured by sin and death, man remains “in the image of God,” in the image of the Son, but is deprived “of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) of his “likeness.” The promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that “image”(Jn 1:14; Phil 2:7) and restore it in the Father’s “likeness” by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is “the giver of life.”

ARTICLE NO.  706

Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. (Gen 18:1-15; Lk 1:26-38, 54-55; Jn 1:12-13; Rom 4:16-21) In Abraham’s progeny all the nations of the earth will be blessed.  This progeny will be Christ himself, (Gen 12:3; Gal 3:16) in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” (Jn 11:52) God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beloved Son and “the promised Holy Spirit ... [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.” (Eph 1:13-14; Gen 22:17-19; Lk 1:73; Jn 3:16; Rom 8:32; Gal 3:14)

LIKENESS REGAINED

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS

SPIRITUALITY 101

SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 60

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

When the Turkish sultan Mohammed II took Constantinople after a bloody struggle (in 1453), he ordered the imprisonment of all Christians who survived the carnage.  There was among them a very pretty young girl by the name of Irene whom the sultan, much against the counsel of his advisors, promised to marry if she became a Mohammedan.  The girl, who had always been diligent in the articles of faith was blinded by the flattery of such high honor and consented to the apostasy.

On the day of the wedding there was a great ceremony. At the appropriate hour the bejeweled Irene appeared.  The sultan presented her to the people and ask her if she would publicly give up Christianity. "I will," she replied.  The Sultan then placed the crown on her head.  Just as she was about to show herself as the new queen, the sultan unsheathed his scimitar and with one blow cut off her head.  He then turned to the people and said.  If you do not know who your ruler is, then he does not know you.  This girl did not know her ruler in Christianity, and it is obvious through her actions that her ruler did not know her.

For God not to know us is a very serious state.  He does not know us when we do not know ourselves. We do not know ourselves when we don't know the person He meant for us to be.  This occurs when we turn away from the personality that He has designed for us and we turn to one of our own making.

DEVOTION

In our considerations of the issue devotion to date, we have determined that if we were not limited in our ability to respond to God's grace, we could achieve true devotion. We are not so much limited in this endeavor by our talents as we are limited by our personalities. It should be clear from the preceding reflections that devotion is not things that we do, but is living the life that the Lord our Creator determined for us throughout eternity and held in abeyance until the time and place of our conception. Devotion is living the life governed by the soul that He created for us at that time. The soul is mean to express its unique and magnificent characteristics in the determination our personalities. Our human personalities that uniquely equip us to live as God intended both determine and limit our actions in the world.

It is this that explains why on one hand we can have a brilliant scientist, who can hardly write a meaningful paragraph, and a skilled author who cannot comprehend the order and reasoning of science.  Our individual personalities are meant to be determined by the soul that God has given us. In creating our soul God equipped us to reveal His glory in our individual vocation of Beatitude. As our lives take form on earth we may choose to direct our lives in accord with God, in which case we are successful in our vocation. On the other hand we may also choose to design our own personalities in accord with the urgings of the devil, the flesh and the world.  Most of us exhibit personalities that are an amalgam of the devil, the flesh, the world, and of the person of God who lives within us.  When then, the Lord looks at us He sees two persons; the one He wished us to be and the one we have become. It is this that Jesus refers to in Matthew 7:21-23, when He indicates that God may not know us. 

In order that we achieve true devotion it is necessary for us to overcome this state of schizophrenia and become the person He wishes us to be. We will then truly be the son or daughter that He has chosen and not the son or daughter we have decided to be. The components of our personality that we have gained through following our senses, the devil and the world are not necessarily in themselves sinful, but they keep us from responding fully to the will of God and being fully alive. These aspects of our personality are not something that we can just discard, they are so adherent to who we identify ourselves to be that their removal is like an amputation.  It is better therefore, rather than removing these accessories of our personality that we crowd them out. 

A truth of philosophy that is self evident is that two contraries (identities or opposites) cannot fully and perfectly occupy the same time or space. For either contrary to perfectly possess time or place, one contrary must displace the other.  Holiness and unholiness are contraries.  When we fill ourselves with holiness, the unholy accretions to our personality will be displaced.  In the following reflections, we will deal with identities and opposites of personality traits and the means by which those willed by God can displace those we will for ourselves.

THE NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM 

ARTICLE No. 711

“Behold, I am doing a new thing.”(Isa 43:19) Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await in hope, the “consolation of Israel” and “the redemption of Jerusalem.”(Zeph 2:3; Lk 2:25,38)

ARTICLE No. 713

The Messiah’s characteristics are revealed above all in the “Servant songs.”(Isa 42:1-9; cf. Mt 12:18-21; Jn. 1:32-34; then cf. Isa 49:1-6; cf Mt. 3:17; Lk 2:32; finally cf. Isa 50: 4-10 and Isa 52:13-53:12) These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus’ passion and show how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an outsider, but by embracing our “form as slave.” (Phil 2:7) Taking our death upon himself, he can communicate to use his won Spirit of life.

ARTICLE No. 715

The prophetic texts that directly concern the sending of the Holy Spirit are oracles by which God speaks to the heart of his people in the language of the promise, with the accents of “love and fidelity.”(Ezek 11:19;36:25-28; 37:1-14; Jer 31:31-34; and cf. Joel 3:1-5) St. Peter will proclaim their fulfillment on the morning of Pentecost.(Acts 2:17-21) According to these promises, at the “end time” the Lord’s Spirit will renew the hearts of men, engraving a new law in them.  He will gather and reconcile the scattered and divided peoples; he will transform the first creation, and God will dwell there with men in peace.

PEOPLE OF PEACE

Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

Ó2001 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS