The witness of the Holy Spirit

Dom Donald quotes the following from a sermon by Bl Guerric of Igny (a Cistercian writer of the twelfth century.

The statement that "the Spirit makes a much deeper impression on the interior man than material things make on the exterior senses" must have been a reality contemplatives like Guerric.

Mediaeval Cistercian literature has a very patristic "feel to it" - Guerric, Bernard and others like them seem to breathe the same air as the Fathers.

Words had no effect on the apostles until they received the gifts. For when Jesus himself came and stood before them, he convinced them not so much by showing them his body as by breathing on them his Gift.

You know that when he came to them the doors were locked and he stood among them, but they were startled and frightened and supposed they saw a spirit.

But when he breathed on them saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit," and when later he sent from heaven the same Spirit with another gift, these gifts were indeed undeniable proofs and testimonies of resurrection and life.

It is the Spirit who bears witness in the hearts and on the lips of the saints that Christ is the truth, the true resurrection, and the life.

Thus the apostles who had previously doubted even after seeing his living body, after tasting his life-giving Spirit with great power gave testimony to his resurrection.

So it is much more important to receive Jesus in our hearts than to see him with our eyes or hear him with our ears.

The Spirit makes a much deeper impression on the interior man than material things make on the exterior senses.

What room is left for doubt when he who bears witness and he who is the object of that witness are the one Spirit? If the Spirit is one there must be a complete understanding, everything fits together.

That your joy may be full

Archimandrite Justin Popovich was recently canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Here he reflects on the meaning of joy.

Through life in the Holy Trinity, through communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, man’s being is filled with true joy, which is nothing other than divine blessedness.

Without this, man’s being is filled with grief, sorrow, and woe. If not with that, then what can death - and even before death, sin - fill the human being?

A current of bitterness, or sinful pleasures that gradually change into bitterness, pours forth into the soul through every sort of sin.

In every case, through each sin committed, at least a drop of bitterness falls on the soul and imperceptibly spreads throughout the soul.

When the time comes, it grows into an enormous sorrow, and man, very often, does not even know where this grief in his soul and heart comes from.

Through communion with Christ and His holy virtues, man’s being is filled with unceasing joy.

Through living the love of Christ, man’s being is filled with inexpressible joy, as well as from living the righteousness of Christ, the goodness of Christ, the humility and meekness of Christ.

And when man looks into himself - behold, he is completely filled with divine joy, and there is not a trace of grief or fear of death in him.

Therefore, the holy Theologian proclaims: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

H/T Milk & Honey

Bernard of Clairvaux: From sorrow to thanksgiving

St Bernard of Clairvaux writes:

I exhort you to withdraw your minds occasionally from the sad and disquieting memory of your sins, and to pass out of the confined limits of your consciences into the smoother ways of thoughts upon the benefits of God...

...Sorrow for sin is a necessity, yet it should not be continuous. It must sometimes give place to the more cheering thoughts of the divine clemency, lest otherwise the heart, frozen hard by excessive sadness, should fall a victim to despair. More here...

Aelred of Rievaulx on the Ascension and Pentecost

The second reading at the Roman Office of Readings for Pentecost was this one from St Irenaeus. The monastic equivalent of the Office of Readings (Mattins/Vigils) has different texts, and I discovered from Dom Donald's blog that the second reading at Sancta Maria Abbey at Nunraw in Scotland (Cistercian) was this rather wonderful extract from a sermon by St Aelred of Rievaulx, whose ninth centenary is being celebrated this year.

I was particularly struck by this paragraph:

Before this day the Spirit had not been given, for Jesus was not yet glorified, but today he came forth from his heavenly throne to give himself in all his abundant riches to the human race, so that the divine outpouring might pervade the whole wide world and be manifested in a variety of spiritual endowments.

It is surely right that this overflowing delight should come down to us from heaven, since it was heaven that a few days earlier received from our fertile earth a fruit of wonderful sweetness.

When has our land ever yielded a fruit more pleasant, sweeter, holier, or more delectable? Indeed, faithfulness has sprung up from the earth.

A few days ago we sent Christ on ahead to the heavenly kingdom, so that in all fairness we might have in return whatever heaven held that should be sweet to our desire.

The full sweetness of earth is Christ's humanity, the full sweetness of heaven Christ's Spirit.

Thus a more profitable bargain was struck: Christ's human nature ascended from us to heaven, and on us today Christ's Spirit has come down.

Cyril of Alexandria on the Ascension and Pentecost

As those readers familar with the Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) will know, the Office of Readings consists primarily of three Psalms and two readings - one from Scripture and one from the writings of either the Church Fathers or the great mediaeval theologians or (less commonly) spiritual writers of the post-Tridentine period.

When marking the major moments both in the history of salvation and in the liturgical year, the compilers of the Office turn repeatedly to certain authors to whom was accorded the grace of giving definitive expression to the Church's understanding of the most profound mysteries.

Four names which occur again and again at the most theologically significant times of the year are Irenaeus of Lyons, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Alexandria and Leo the Great.

Although Augustine has in all probablility exercised more influence on subsequent western theology than any other non-biblical author, I would suggest that the voice which resounds with greatest clarity and richness in the Office of Readings is that of Cyril - a combative and controversial bishop but a sublime theologian.

In one especially densely packed passage - appropriate to today's Pentecost celebration - from his majestic Commentary on John's Gospel, Cyril sums up in fewer than a thousand words the entire sweep of how Christ saves us in virtue of his incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

See here (part one) on my other blog and here (part two).

If silence does not reign in our soul...

Fr R. Garrigou-Lagrange OP offers some profound reflections on inner silence and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit:

To be docile to the Holy Ghost, we must first hear His voice.

To do so, recollection, detachment from the world and from self are necessary, as are the custody of the heart, the mortification of self-will, and personal judgment.

If silence does not reign in our soul, if the voice of excessively human affections troubles it, we cannot of a certainty hear the inspirations of the interior Master.

Read more at my other blog

Church : Mary : Christian

Isaac of Stella, a Cistercian monk who died in 1169, proposes a useful rule of thumb for interpreting Scripture:

In the inspired Scriptures, what is said in a universal sense of the virgin mother, the Church, is understood in an individual sense of the Virgin Mary, and what is said in a particular sense of the virgin mother Mary is rightly understood in a general sense of the virgin mother, the Church.

When either is spoken of, the meaning can be understood of both, almost without qualification. In a way, every Christian is also believed to be a bride of God’s Word, a mother of Christ, his daughter and sister, at once virginal and fruitful.

These words are used in a universal sense of the Church, in a special sense of Mary, in a particular sense of the individual Christian. They are used by God’s Wisdom in person, the Word of the Father.

This is why Scripture says: I will dwell in the inheritance of the Lord. The Lord’s inheritance is, in a general sense, the Church; in a special sense, Mary; in an individual sense, the Christian. Christ dwelt for nine months in the tabernacle of Mary’s womb.

He dwells until the end of the ages in the tabernacle of the Church’s faith. He will dwell for ever in the knowledge and love of each faithful soul.

From Sermon 51 at The Crossroads Initiative.

Life according to the Spirit

St Maximus the Confessor (580-662) explains what St Paul means by living according to the Spirit rather than according to the flesh:

The holy Gospel teaches men to reject life according to the flesh and to embrace life according to the Spirit.

I am speaking of those who are always dying to what is human - I mean human life in the flesh according to this present age - and living for God in the Spirit alone, after the example of St Paul and his followers.

They do not in any way live their own life but have Christ living in them in the soul alone (cf Gal. 2:20).

Those, then, who in this age are truly dead to the flesh can be distinguished in this way: even though they suffer much affliction, torment, distress and persecution, and experience innumerable forms of trial and temptation, nevertheless they bear everything with joy.

Basil of Caesarea on disturbance of the heart

A recurring theme in the writings of the Fathers of the Church is that of interior stillness. This short quotation from Basil of Caesarea represents an epitome of patristic spirituality:

One cannot approach the knowledge of the truth with a disturbed heart. Therefore we must try to avoid everything that disturbs our heart, that causes forgetfulness, excitement, or passion, or that awakens unrest. We must free ourselves as much as possible from all fuss and flutter and ado over vain things. Yes, when we serve the Lord we shall not be troubled about many things, but always keep in mind that one thing is needful (Luke 10:41).

Quoted in The Way of the Ascetics by Tito Colliander, H/T The Handmaid

Everything beautiful is in Christ

Another reflection discovered on the Orthodox blogosphere...

Elder Porphyry the Kapsokalyvite writes:

This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; He is whatever is good and beautiful. He is everything. Yet, He is still a friend and He shouts it out, “You’re my friends, don’t you understand that? We’re brothers. I’m not…I don’t hold hell in my hands. I am not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.”

Christ is Everything. He is joy, He is life, He is light. He is the true light who makes man joyful, makes him soar with happiness; makes him see everything, everybody; makes him feel for everyone, to want everyone with him, everyone with Christ.

Love Christ and put nothing before His Love. Christ is Everything. He is the source of life, the ultimate desire,He is everything. Everything beautiful is in Christ.

Somebody who is Christ’s must love Christ, and when he loves Christ he is delivered from the Devil, from hell and from death.

H/T Milk & Honey