And You Thought I Was Just Lazy

No.  When I’m not posting, I’m in my own little world.  Or am I?

Living In Eternity Now

In a recent post (Try To Remember) we were pondering and trying to absorb the fact that our very own souls were with Jesus during his Passion, accompanying and comforting Him. I was struck by the idea that it was “some sort of backwards in time sort of thing”, but as evidenced by the Scripture passages I quoted from Jeremiah and St. Paul, I was also reflecting on the mystery of when we were actually created by God (was it at the moment of our conception in our mothers’ wombs, or did we exist as souls with God prior to our conception?)

After doing a little (very little) research, I discovered that the pre-existence of souls is not accepted by the Catholic Church (not to be confused with reincarnation, also rejected by the Catholic Church), so what, I wondered, could those two Scripture passages actually mean? Did we exist in the mind of God from all eternity? Did God “know” us in some creative way before we were conceived?

Now tell me, o people:  What do you think you were when you were not yet in body and soul?  You truly do not know how you were created.  [From: Hildegard von Bingen's, Mystical Visions, pg. 21]

Oh Hildegard, we truly don’t; at least, I do not, and your very first question is exactly what I’ve been thinking about.  Not yet having done the reading/research necessary to understand the Catholic Church’s rejection of the pre-existence of souls, I have nonetheless come to realize over the years that when the Church discards a suggested answer to a mystery one can be certain that there is an even greater underlying mystery and an even more astounding answer which has been revealed to Her.

I reached for Meister Eckhart (Sermons and Collations) and would like to share two things:

Firstly, something to reflect on as we ponder how it is possible we were with Jesus during His Passion:

…in eternity, exalted above time, man does one work with God. People sometimes ask how man can do the work that God was doing a thousand years ago and in a thousand years will be doing still. They cannot understand it. But in eternity is no before or after; the happenings of the past millenium and the future one and now, in eternity are all the same. God’s doings of a thousand years ago and now and a thousand years to come are but one single act. It follows that the man who is exalted above time into eternity will do with God what he did in the past and also what he does in the next thousand years. (pgs. 150-151)

Secondly, as wonderful as it is to ponder the mystery of our own creation – of how we were begotten of God – it is far more wondrous to ponder how God begets Jesus in us; not only wondrous, but of far more importance, for it is essential to our salvation and to our bringing Christ to others that this mysterious begetting occurs within us.

I had explored this subject in December 2008 here and here, but I love how the Lord keeps bringing back the same topics over time so that we can continue to deepen our understanding of them, and so that the truth of them may be reinforced in our souls. I will leave you with another quote from Meister Eckhart and a splendid little reflection on time from Arthur Young:

The Father ceaselessly endeavours to get us born in his Son so that we may be the same as his Son is.  The Father is begetting his Son, and in his begetting the Father finds so much peace and pleasure that his entire nature is expended in it… When the Father bears his Son in us we shall know the Father with the Son and the Holy Ghost in both of them and the holy Trinity… Then time and number are no more.  (pg. 151)

Try To Remember

Of course I cannot find the relevant post at the moment, but not too long ago Lightborrower of Less Darkness, More Candle reflected on the fact that she couldn’t help but think/hope that somehow, some way, we were with the angel in the Garden of Olives, helping that beautiful being of light to comfort our Jesus.  This is not a new reflection for Lightborrower, but one that she has written of several times over the years, in various blog incarnations…and always, I felt deep within myself, that she was correct.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. [Jeremiah 1:5]

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world… [Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 1:3-4]

In Volume I of The Messages, Anne the lay apostle writes:

…there were good and holy souls who accompanied Him. He [Jesus] told me that my soul, along with countless other little souls, accompanied Him to Calvary. He drew strength from us and from our presence in His Passion. We consoled Him. It’s some sort of backwards in time sort of thing and we cannot understand it from our position on earth. At least I am struggling with it in a logistical sense. We were with Him. We flocked around Him in a great multitude and stayed with Him until the end. He said, “Can you see why I persevered? The love that surrounded me? This love surrounds you and all just souls.” [Vol. 1, pgs. 71-71]

Does this not bring us great comfort and joy, even in our own pain united to Christ’s, to know that somehow, some way, we were there with Him, supporting Him, consoling Him. So the next time you hear this hymn, or sit weeping through it on Good Friday, weep with joy, for you can answer clearly and with profound gratitude, “Yes, I was there.”

Reluctant To Be Gone

Autumn Closing (Bliss Carman)

The show is over, and the leafy tent
All gold and crimson where the sunlight lingered
Through the slow afternoon, is coming down.
The bittersweet is scarlet on the bough
Reluctant to be gone, though frosts have strewn
Patins of glory on the forest trails,
While tatters of torn splendour go to feed
The smoky bonfires in the village street.
What singer pipes the closing autumn hush
With surest note of cheer in all the wild?
A dauntless minstrel of the changing year,
Chickadee of the wilderness! He knows
What sweetness gathers in the winter’s heart,
What saving oracles the North Wind sings.

The Triumph of the Cross

Struggle ensues from this union of his love with us. For him alone, without us, there would be no struggle, for he loves the Father and human beings; he is Love. We, however, are not-love, with which his love burdens itself in order to overcome it. This overcoming does not take place in eternity; the battle is fought on earth, unto the death on the Cross, within the measurable time of the Son’s life that is depicted for us in Scripture, that we see as a limited period within our time, but that belongs so much to eternity that his years on earth cannot be subtracted from the eternity of the Son. Suffering in our time unto death, the Son makes known to us that the time of suffering is transitory, that his triumph in the Resurrection is a victory of heaven over earth, a proof of the Father’s power in the Son of Man, and that we share in this victory and our present time will be conquered by imperishable time.

[The Gates of Eternal Life, Adrienne von Speyr, pgs. 24-25]

Bodies and Souls In Ordinary Time

As I look around the blogosphere lately, I find infrequent postings and dwindling comments.  This is perfectly understandable, since many of us are enjoying summer after a long, hard winter, and entertaining visitors from afar.  For those whose winter has arrived, perhaps they are cozying up more frequently near the fireplace, sipping hot drinks and getting to bed earlier every night.
 
I think this is a good thing.  Apart from considerations of our natural seasons, I hope it is a reflection of the fact that we are in the liturgical season of Ordinary Time.  Liturgically, Ordinary Time means ordered or numbered time, a period when priests predominantly wear green vestments signifying hope and growth.

Ordinary Time is the season for steady and unhurried nourishment of body and soul, a time when the anticipation of major feasts such as Christmas and Easter are not the focal point of our attention, with their attendant periods of Advent and Lent for which so many of us make specific plans.

As this entry at Catholic Culture tells us, Ordinary Time is a time to “pasture” in “vast verdant meadows”.  So let us take this time to enter into Christ’s mystery through the people and the creation around us.  From my point of view, since it is summer here and the house is buzzing off and on with visiting family and friends, I just want to relax into and sanctify the changing of bed linens, the table-setting, the floor-sweeping, the lawn-mowing, the hedge-clipping and the flower-watering, all the while absorbing the chirping of sparrows and the scurrying of baby chipmunks.

I want to nourish my body with fresh fruits and vegetables – local blueberries and farmers’-market corn. I want to feed my soul daily with contemplative prayer, all else such as Lectio Divina, spiritual audio or video resources and blog-reading being added at my own pace, stopping whenever my spirit draws me to simply sit and gaze at tree limbs, cone flowers or cardinals, allowing the Holy Spirit to enlighten my heart and my mind as He pleases.

Yes, it’s Ordinary Time, and I am tired and hungry.

   

The Firmament

Just one more reason why everyone should read the lives of the saints. 

From the Arthur Young Series:

Maybe Tomorrow

[Excerpt from "Heart of the World", by Hans Urs von Balthasar]

Or I can postpone guilt until tomorrow.  The eye that looks at me fixedly always says “today.”  “It is now that I want to be loved.”  But I lower my eyes and say:  “I will love you tomorrow.  Tomorrow you’ll see what I’m capable of doing for you.  You’ll see the sacrifices I’ll bring to you.  Tomorrow I’ll pay you twice over if you’ll only grant me this one hour today.  I must yet pluck the rose before it fades away, but the rosehips I’ll bring you for sure.  Give me the spring and I’ll let you have the autumn, maybe even late summer.  Just for today turn away your gaze, and starting tomorrow you’ll be able to look at me all you like.”  “I’m coming now, I’m coming right away!” the child cries up to his mother when she calls him in, and he finishes playing his game, thinking that surely obedience includes a certain period of grace – a human margin.  Who could all at once make a clean break with his life?  Why, God, do you want to jump steps in my case?  You want the whole thing all at once:  one’s whole heart, whole soul, whole mind – all my strength…