Photo: Br. Richard Mccambly, St. Joseph´s Monastery, Spencer, Massachusetts, USA.
Meditation 72
On the Right Track
We can earnestly
maintain that in this Recycling Plant of the Holy Spirit God puts us on
the right track in the live
of grace. This track is nothing but the Sacred Way discussed in the
beginning (Med.
12). There are two traffic lights on this track which demands that
we stop: the Mother of God and her Son – the Son of God! These are the
patterns that God gives us to follow in order to repeat the same
mystery in us as in the life of the Blessed Virgin: THE ETERNAL BIRTH
OF HIS SON WITHIN US! God gives us thus two patterns in the beginning
to follow as was stated above (Med.
18): His Son who shows us God
with man and The Blessed Virgin Mary, a human and created being with God.
The blessed Theotokos is the Hodigitria – the one who shows us
the way to her Son. Those of the members of the Church who have
followed these patterns truthfully in the life of grace have become
saints and thus also patterns, although not as sublime. They simply
tell us, “BY HUMAN RESOURCES IT IS IMPOSSIBLE, BUT NOT FOR GOD: BECAUSE
FOR GOD EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE” (Mk 10. 27).
When we follow this Sacred Way where even “the fool will not stray along” (Is 35. 8) it will become a highway in the live of grace – if we fulfil what is expected on our behalf! The prerequisite is this, “the unclean will not be allowed to use it.” Thus all this purification in the nights is a must. The final goal of this pilgrimage on earth is to attain the vision of the blessed, the new Jerusalem. If the “point of view is incorrect, when the direction is wrong, no matter how well the locomotive runs, it nonetheless slips off the track and is derailed.” [1] This is indeed what takes place when souls try to walk this Sacred Way in their own presumptuousness and endeavor without obeying the commandments and the divine decrees: this way is the way of obedience, poverty and purity. This is the Christian revelation – a revealed truth. Christ instituted His Church on earth to transfigure whole of the world, to purify it of all sins in order to make it “holy and faultless before him in love” (Ep 1. 4). This is the eternal dream of God – His vision – and thus He “chose us in Christ before the world was made” and “blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.” And the Church is His living body active on earth, but reaches structurally speaking to heaven in the Holy Spirit who fills all in everything. As such Christianity is the bridge and heavenly ladder and human beings ascend to heaven from earth as members of the Church or by St. John of San Francisco words,
In this super mundane world of light, love, beauty and truth there is a structural order, or if we compare this map making of this super mundane terrain, it starts with higher geodesy – heavenly control points – just as a topographical mapping is executed on earth. Such points are named Laplace points or astronomical triangulation points or first order points in geodesy. They literally speaking secure that a becoming triangulation or net is placed right on the globe in accordance with the stars. After that the triangular points or second order points are surveyed as control points for still further points, so called topographical or third and fourth order points. After that the terrain itself can by surveyed, contours drawn as well as other topographical features until the map is completed.
In the super mundane geography of the saints the first order points are three: obedience, poverty and purity. And you can believe my words, dear reader, that they are very practical in their approach to God: pragmatists! Their foundation is the world of living experience in the moment of passing time. Next come the second order points or the infused virtues along with the spiritual senses. After this the details of this super mundane terrain can be explored further, but only after that! The saints are a kind of explorers just as the great explorers formerly who went to The New World in order to return to give account of their explorations.
There are no exceptions to this general rule or laws of the Spirit because “for God everything is possible.” And God does not constrain Himself neither to the West or East, and His Holy Spirit is at work in all members of His Church on earth. It is because as St. Catherine of Siena said after having found the answer in Deut. 30. 11-14: “the path is not too hard to find, neither is it far off . . . The word is very near you . . . it is in your heart.” [3]. And Meister Echart stated, “Sometimes I have called it the tabernacle of the soul; sometimes a spiritual light, anon I say it is a spark.” [4].
I have taken excerpts from the writings of one Protestant in this work as to emphasize this Law of the Spirit: from the works of the Swede Hjalmar Ekström, and one of the greatest contemplatives of later centuries in Scandinavia. We can mention other cases as the Presbyterian John Hyde or Praying-Hyde and apostle of India. In March 1911 he left India because his heart had moved from the left side to the right side. He needed medical attention and died on February 17, 1912. He was only 47 years old. After his death when his body was autopsied nothing was left of his heart, “A broken, contrite heart you never scorn” (Ps 51. 17). He belonged truly to the right hand’s people – The Siblings of the Sacred Heart – that are never outcasts in the Kingdom of our Living God (Med. 65). He had placed his heart on the golden altar of incense where God consumed it by the fire of His love. And when Praying-Hyde knelt down on his knees he really “rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem” (Ps 51. 38) and hundreds of Anglican missionaries had to turn back on their polo games in order to attend the harvest when Hindus began to stream to the missionaries to learn to know his Jesus better. All such souls are God‘s servants, but we see also disobedient souls seeking extraordinary graces. Through all the history of the Church the fall of such souls was great as they had not followed the “law of the Spirit” (Rm 8. 2). Or by the words of St. Ignaty Brianchaninov,
This is also what the sacred symbols of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle proclaime in an authentic manner. At the lamp stand God gives the soul serious admonition in order to attend the lamps of prayer from morning to evening. It is because it is humble prayer which is the only thoroughfare of all super mundane graces and as Teresa of Avila said rightly above (Med. 24): “Not long ago a very learned man told me that souls who do not practice prayer are like people with paralysed or crippled bodies.”
I have just taken three examples in previous meditation of the Tetramorph as a pattern in the prayer life. I could mention numerous others from the life of the saints both in the Western and Eastern Church. We have already encountered it as a healing of a sick will both by John of the Cross and Nicolas Kavasilas, we could give account of the Tetramorph of St. Symeon the New Theologian as three states of awareness to restore the baptismal grace, Richard of St. Victor’s Tetramorph of four stages of burning love, Tauler, Ruysbroeck, Walter Hilton or Archimandrite’s Sophrony´s Tetramorph in his discussion of the prayer life of St. Silouan the Athonite. In meditations 86-89 below we will see in an authentic way how God emphasize this truth with the fabrics of the Dwelling. The Tetramorph leads us to Jesus Christ.
With stammering lips Isaiah prophesied, “Now I shall lay a stone in Zion, a granite stone, a precious corner stone, a firm foundation stone; no one who relies on this will stumble. And I will make a fair judgement the measure, and uprightness the plump-line” (Is 28. 17). This “solid foundation-stone stands firm, and this is the seal on it: ‘The Lord knows those who are his own’ and ‘All who call on the name of the Lord must avoid evil” (2 Tm 2. 19),
“Here you can rest! Here you can let the weary rest! Here all is quiet” (Is 28. 12). Souls who do not rely on this foundation stone will stumble. This jewel or foundation stone is our Lord and Redeemer in person, the source of all our sanctification. “In him all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col 2. 3). Sav lasav, sav lasav,kav lakav, kav lakav, zeer sham, zeer sham! This is the mystery of holy Mass. This is the core of the minor Elevation of the Mass,
This truth our brethren in the Eastern Church repeat also in the Divine Liturgy in one holy Catholic faith, “Thine own of Thine own we offer to Thee, in all (time) and for all.”
Numerous Protestants follow also this truth, if not in words and doctrine, then in deeds. This is one of God‘s mystery when He touches a human heart by the power of His Spirit.
When we follow this Sacred Way where even “the fool will not stray along” (Is 35. 8) it will become a highway in the live of grace – if we fulfil what is expected on our behalf! The prerequisite is this, “the unclean will not be allowed to use it.” Thus all this purification in the nights is a must. The final goal of this pilgrimage on earth is to attain the vision of the blessed, the new Jerusalem. If the “point of view is incorrect, when the direction is wrong, no matter how well the locomotive runs, it nonetheless slips off the track and is derailed.” [1] This is indeed what takes place when souls try to walk this Sacred Way in their own presumptuousness and endeavor without obeying the commandments and the divine decrees: this way is the way of obedience, poverty and purity. This is the Christian revelation – a revealed truth. Christ instituted His Church on earth to transfigure whole of the world, to purify it of all sins in order to make it “holy and faultless before him in love” (Ep 1. 4). This is the eternal dream of God – His vision – and thus He “chose us in Christ before the world was made” and “blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.” And the Church is His living body active on earth, but reaches structurally speaking to heaven in the Holy Spirit who fills all in everything. As such Christianity is the bridge and heavenly ladder and human beings ascend to heaven from earth as members of the Church or by St. John of San Francisco words,
That which is on the
earth perishes when we bring the body to the grave; but the soul passes
on to another place. When the world comes to an end, consumed by fire,
there will be a new earth and a new Heaven, as the Apostle John the
Theologian says, for with the eyes of his soul he already foresaw the
new Jerusalem, so clearly described in his sacred Revelation. The Lord
came to prepare the whole world for this spiritual rebirth. To prepare
oneself for this new Kingdom, one must uproot from within oneself those
seeds of sin which entered mankind with our ancestors' fall into sin,
distorting our pristine, grace-endowed nature; and one must plant
within oneself those virtues which they lost in the fall. The
Christian's goal is to change daily, to improve daily, and it is of
this that our Icons speak. [2]
In this super mundane world of light, love, beauty and truth there is a structural order, or if we compare this map making of this super mundane terrain, it starts with higher geodesy – heavenly control points – just as a topographical mapping is executed on earth. Such points are named Laplace points or astronomical triangulation points or first order points in geodesy. They literally speaking secure that a becoming triangulation or net is placed right on the globe in accordance with the stars. After that the triangular points or second order points are surveyed as control points for still further points, so called topographical or third and fourth order points. After that the terrain itself can by surveyed, contours drawn as well as other topographical features until the map is completed.
In the super mundane geography of the saints the first order points are three: obedience, poverty and purity. And you can believe my words, dear reader, that they are very practical in their approach to God: pragmatists! Their foundation is the world of living experience in the moment of passing time. Next come the second order points or the infused virtues along with the spiritual senses. After this the details of this super mundane terrain can be explored further, but only after that! The saints are a kind of explorers just as the great explorers formerly who went to The New World in order to return to give account of their explorations.
There are no exceptions to this general rule or laws of the Spirit because “for God everything is possible.” And God does not constrain Himself neither to the West or East, and His Holy Spirit is at work in all members of His Church on earth. It is because as St. Catherine of Siena said after having found the answer in Deut. 30. 11-14: “the path is not too hard to find, neither is it far off . . . The word is very near you . . . it is in your heart.” [3]. And Meister Echart stated, “Sometimes I have called it the tabernacle of the soul; sometimes a spiritual light, anon I say it is a spark.” [4].
I have taken excerpts from the writings of one Protestant in this work as to emphasize this Law of the Spirit: from the works of the Swede Hjalmar Ekström, and one of the greatest contemplatives of later centuries in Scandinavia. We can mention other cases as the Presbyterian John Hyde or Praying-Hyde and apostle of India. In March 1911 he left India because his heart had moved from the left side to the right side. He needed medical attention and died on February 17, 1912. He was only 47 years old. After his death when his body was autopsied nothing was left of his heart, “A broken, contrite heart you never scorn” (Ps 51. 17). He belonged truly to the right hand’s people – The Siblings of the Sacred Heart – that are never outcasts in the Kingdom of our Living God (Med. 65). He had placed his heart on the golden altar of incense where God consumed it by the fire of His love. And when Praying-Hyde knelt down on his knees he really “rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem” (Ps 51. 38) and hundreds of Anglican missionaries had to turn back on their polo games in order to attend the harvest when Hindus began to stream to the missionaries to learn to know his Jesus better. All such souls are God‘s servants, but we see also disobedient souls seeking extraordinary graces. Through all the history of the Church the fall of such souls was great as they had not followed the “law of the Spirit” (Rm 8. 2). Or by the words of St. Ignaty Brianchaninov,
Harm from
interruption or periodic abandonment of the struggle in prayer is just
like the harm that stems from leaving it altogether, harm is more
noticeable when the interruptions are prolonged . . . The sower of the
tares [Satan] is very skilled, crafty, filled with malice; it is a
light thing for him to sow weeds of the most cancerous kind,
insignificant in appearance and in their inception, but consequently
entwining and muddling the whole soul by their multifarious
outgrowth. [5]
This is also what the sacred symbols of the Sanctuary of the Tabernacle proclaime in an authentic manner. At the lamp stand God gives the soul serious admonition in order to attend the lamps of prayer from morning to evening. It is because it is humble prayer which is the only thoroughfare of all super mundane graces and as Teresa of Avila said rightly above (Med. 24): “Not long ago a very learned man told me that souls who do not practice prayer are like people with paralysed or crippled bodies.”
I have just taken three examples in previous meditation of the Tetramorph as a pattern in the prayer life. I could mention numerous others from the life of the saints both in the Western and Eastern Church. We have already encountered it as a healing of a sick will both by John of the Cross and Nicolas Kavasilas, we could give account of the Tetramorph of St. Symeon the New Theologian as three states of awareness to restore the baptismal grace, Richard of St. Victor’s Tetramorph of four stages of burning love, Tauler, Ruysbroeck, Walter Hilton or Archimandrite’s Sophrony´s Tetramorph in his discussion of the prayer life of St. Silouan the Athonite. In meditations 86-89 below we will see in an authentic way how God emphasize this truth with the fabrics of the Dwelling. The Tetramorph leads us to Jesus Christ.
With stammering lips Isaiah prophesied, “Now I shall lay a stone in Zion, a granite stone, a precious corner stone, a firm foundation stone; no one who relies on this will stumble. And I will make a fair judgement the measure, and uprightness the plump-line” (Is 28. 17). This “solid foundation-stone stands firm, and this is the seal on it: ‘The Lord knows those who are his own’ and ‘All who call on the name of the Lord must avoid evil” (2 Tm 2. 19),
“Here you can rest! Here you can let the weary rest! Here all is quiet” (Is 28. 12). Souls who do not rely on this foundation stone will stumble. This jewel or foundation stone is our Lord and Redeemer in person, the source of all our sanctification. “In him all the jewels of wisdom and knowledge are hidden (Col 2. 3). Sav lasav, sav lasav,kav lakav, kav lakav, zeer sham, zeer sham! This is the mystery of holy Mass. This is the core of the minor Elevation of the Mass,
Per ipsum,
et cum ipso,
et in ipso,
est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti,
in unitate Spiritus Sancti,
omnis honor et gloria,
per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Through Him,
and with Him,
and in Him,
is to You, God the Father Almighty,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honor and glory, forever and ever.
AMEN! AMEN!
et cum ipso,
et in ipso,
est tibi Deo Patri omnipotenti,
in unitate Spiritus Sancti,
omnis honor et gloria,
per omnia saecula saeculorum.
Through Him,
and with Him,
and in Him,
is to You, God the Father Almighty,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honor and glory, forever and ever.
AMEN! AMEN!
This truth our brethren in the Eastern Church repeat also in the Divine Liturgy in one holy Catholic faith, “Thine own of Thine own we offer to Thee, in all (time) and for all.”
<>Agiow o Feow, Agiow Isxurow, Agoiw
Afanatow, elehson hmaw.
<>Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us!
<>
<>Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy upon us!
<>
Numerous Protestants follow also this truth, if not in words and doctrine, then in deeds. This is one of God‘s mystery when He touches a human heart by the power of His Spirit.
[1]. St. John of San Francisco, A Discourse in Iconography,
“Orthodox Life,” Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jan-Feb 1980), pp. 42-45. (September,
1968), pp. 4-8.
[2]. Ibid.
[3]. Catherine of Siena‘s Way, p. 76.
[4]. Meister Eckhart (Pfeiffer), p. 37.
[5]. Divine Ascent, p. 110.
[6]. It is as says in the Jerusalem Bible pointless to translate these words, “Order on, order on, Line on line, line on line. A little here, a little there.”
[2]. Ibid.
[3]. Catherine of Siena‘s Way, p. 76.
[4]. Meister Eckhart (Pfeiffer), p. 37.
[5]. Divine Ascent, p. 110.
[6]. It is as says in the Jerusalem Bible pointless to translate these words, “Order on, order on, Line on line, line on line. A little here, a little there.”
