HAUNTED BY THE HOLY GHOST

The Pearl of the Silence of God

"The man who has known pure joy, if only for a moment… is the only man for whom affliction is something devastating… But, after all, for him it is no punishment; it is God holding his hand and pressing rather hard.

For, if he remains constant, what he will discover buried deep under the sound of his own lamentations is the pearl of the silence of God." 

– Simone Weil,

- Gravity and Grace

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO: SILENT INTERIORS by Artiii

Bishops, Saints and Church “Church politics”.

Bishop, originally uploaded by IzzY212.

THE DEFINITION OF A SAINT:

In the saint there exists nothing that is trivial, nothing coarse, nothing base, nothing affected (fake), nothing insincere. In him is the culmination of delicacy, sensibility, transparency, purity, reverence, attention before the mystery of his fellow men…comes into actual being, for he brings this forth from his communication with the supreme Person (God). The saint grasps the various conditions of the soul in others and avoids all that would upset them, although he does not avoid helping them overcome their weaknesses. He reads the least articulate needs of others and fulfills it promptly, just as he reads their impurities also, however skillfully hidden and through the delicate power of his own purity, exercising upon them a purifying action. From the saint there continually radiates a spirit of self-giving and of sacrifice for the sake of all, with no concern for himself, a spirit that gives warmth to others and assures them that they are not alone. … And yet there is no one more humble, more simple, no one more less artificial, less theatrical or hypocritical, no one more “natural” in his behavior, accepting all that is truly human and creating an atmosphere that is pure and familiar. The saint has overcome any duality within himself as St. Maximos the Confessor puts it. He has overcome the struggle between soul and body, the divergence between good intentions and deeds that do not correspond to them, between deceptive appearance and hidden thoughts, between what claims to be the case and what is the case. He has become simple, therefore, because he has surrendered himself entirely to God. That is why he can surrender himself entirely in communication with others.

The Experience of God,
Dimitru Staniloae.

h/t to s_p and "Pithless Thoughts" Blog and a good companion piece to last's Friday's post "The Chopping Block"
Reading both pieces may help keep a balance between the 2, 3 or 50 issues Bishops, Clergy, and Laity must weigh wisely while not losing site of the One True Thing.

Why on earth am I pretending?...I'm here again, the stars befriending

   "Here beneath the stars I'm landing
   And here beneath the stars not ending
   Why on earth am I pretending?
   I'm here again, the stars befriending..."

 

You cannot be too gentle, too kind

You cannot be too gentle, too kind.

Shun even to appear harsh in your treatment of each other.

Joy, radiant joy, streams from the face of him who gives and kindles joy

 in the heart of him who receives. All condemnation is from the devil.

Never condemn each other.

We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves.

When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a swamp that nothing in another

 can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others.

 Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace.

Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows

of slander, insult and outrage and will shield your glowing hearts against all evil.

            - St Seraphim of Sarov

h/t MIND IN HEART

photo:bobbiwhiteman

…What, what will give me back my faith?

Father Zosima from Dostoevsky's "Brother's Karamazov":

“…What, what will give me back my faith?
Though I believed only when I was a little child, mechanically, without thinking about anything…
How, how can it be proved? I’ve come now to throw myself at your feet and ask you about it.
If I miss this chance, too, then surely no one will answer me for the rest of my life.
How can it be proved, how can one be convinced? Oh, miserable me!
 I look around and see that for everyone else, almost everyone, it’s all the same,
no one worries about it anymore, and I’m the only one who can’t bear it.
 It’s devastating, devastating!”                                                               
“No doubt it is devastating.
One cannot prove anything here, but it is possible to be convinced.”

“How? By what?”

“By the experience of active love.
Try to love your neighbors actively and tirelessly.
The more you succeed in loving, the more you’ll be convinced of the existence of God
and the immortality of your soul.
And if you reach complete selflessness in the love of your neighbor,
the undoubtedly you will believe, and no doubt will even be able to enter your soul.
This has been tested.
It is certain.”

PHOTO:MUCH LOVE

ABOVE PHOTO:ANGER IN WINTER

safeguarding

We Have Seen...

from today's post at  Glory to God for All Things by fatherstephen:

"All theology finds its proper root in this true knowledge of God.

 It should never be mere speculation based on a rational system of thought –
but rather the unfolding of the mystery made known to us in the risen Christ.
The hunger for this true knowledge of God is the very core of the Christian life:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

The safeguarding of saving knowledge (true participation in the life of God) is the purpose of all doctrine. Every dogmatic statement of the Church has as its sole purpose the safeguarding of true participation in the life of God. Dogma is not an argument over ideas, but a statement that guards the Apostolic witness (which is living and true)."

Rise, let us go hence...

Harrowing Hell

What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.

Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam’s son.

The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: ‘My Lord be with you all.’ And Christ in reply says to Adam: ‘And with your spirit.’ And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.

‘I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.

‘I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.

‘For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.

‘Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.

‘See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.

‘I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.

‘But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the kherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the kherubim worship you as they would God.

‘The kherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages.’

An  reading from an ancient  homily for Holy Saturday

And wait for me at the end of these my twisting paths, for it is Thee that I love and none other.

At the End of These My Twisting Paths

Lord, thou knowest this heart of mine.
Thou knowest the clashings that at sundry hours rage therein.
Thou knowest my contradictions,
pulled this way and that, I am torn within my breast.
Thou knowest the things that give me life
and the things that wound me unto death,
all that is my joy and all that that is my sorrow Thou knowest,
the strength that is mine,
and the weariness that on certain days is more than I can bear.

Lord, thou knowest my life.
Thou knowest its heights and its depths,
the welling up of loves and the loathings that follow,
fidelity and infidelity,
seasons of flourishing and seasons of crisis,
my brightnesses and my darker moments.

All this, O Lord,
and all that is this life of mine Thou knowest,
thou who searchest the heart and its secret places.

But above all this,
Thou art the Son of Man who one day didst take Thy rest beside the well,
weak Thou wast, and worn, and thirsty,
in the garden held fast in the grip of fear,
and on the tree forsaken.

Come thou, my peace.
Come thou, my sweetness.
Come thou, my consolation.
Come thou my pardon and my love.

Come, rebuild the brokenness within.
Come, redress my fragile shelter.
Come, restore my hope.
Be thou to me one little flame in so vast a night.
And wait for me at the end of these my twisting paths,
for it is Thee that I love and none other.

h/t
From Father Mark at  Vultus Christi

"Didyme wrote this prayer. I took the liberty of translating it from the French. It is every sinner's psalm. The last two lines are extraordinary."

*Didyme/ a Postulant Prémontré in Belgium/his blog (All In French): "La beauté du Seigneur"

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The inner quality of catholicity-A passage from Archpriest George Florovsky’s work entitled “The catholicity of the Church.”

The catholicity of the Church

A passage from Archpriest George Florovsky’s work entitled “The catholicity of the Church.”

The inner quality of catholicity

The catholicity of the Church is not a quantitative or a geographical conception. It does not at all depend on the world-wide dispersion of the faithful. The universality of the Church is the consequence or the manifestation, but not the cause or the foundation of its catholicity.

The world-wide extension or the universality of the Church is only an outward sign, one that is not absolutely necessary. The Church was catholic even when Christian communities were but solitary rare islands in a sea of unbelief and paganism. And the Church will remain catholic even unto the end of time when the mystery of the “falling away” will be revealed, when the Church once more will dwindle to a “small flock.” “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). The Metropolitan Philaret expressed himself very adequately on this point: “If a city or a country falls away from the universal Church, the latter will still remain an integral, imperishable body” (Opinions and Statements of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, Concerning the Orthodox Church in the East, St. Petersburg, 1886, p. 53.). Philaret uses here the word “universal” in the sense of catholicity.

The conception of catholicity cannot be measured by its wide-world expansion; universality does not express it exactly. Καθολικη from Καθ σλου means, first of all, the inner wholeness and integrity of the Church’s life. We are speaking here of wholeness, not only of communion, and in any case not of a simple empirical communion. Καθ σλου is not the same as Κατα παντóς; it belongs not to the phenomenal and empirical, but to the noumenal and ontological plane; it describes the very essence, not the external manifestations. We feel this already in the pre-Christian use of these words, beginning from Socrates.

If catholicity also means universality, it certainly is not an empirical universality, but an ideal one; the communion of ideas, not of facts, is what it has in view. The first Christians when using the words ‘Ekklisía Katholikí (Εκκλησια Καθολικη) never meant a world-wide Church. This word rather gave prominence to the orthodoxy of the Church, to the truth of the “Great Church,” as contrasted with the spirit of sectarian separatism and particularism; it was the idea of integrity and purity that was expressed. This has been very forcibly stated in the well known words of St. Ignatius of Antioch:

“Where there is a bishop, let there be the whole multitude; just as where Jesus Christ is, there too is the Catholic Church” (Ignat Smyrn. 8:2).

These words express the same idea as does the promise:

“Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:19-20).

It is this mystery of gathering together (μυστηριον της συναξεως, Mystírion tis sinákseos) that the word catholicity expresses. Later on St. Cyril of Jerusalem explained the word “catholicity” which is used in the Creed in the traditional manner of his Church. The word “Church” means the “gathering together of all in one union;” therefore it is called a “gathering” (εκκλεσια, Ekklisía).

The Church is called catholic, because it spreads over all the universe and subjects the whole of the human race to righteousness, because also in the Church the dogmas are taught “fully, without any omission, catholically, and completely” (καθολικως και ανελλειπως) because, again, in the Church every kind of sin is cured and healed” (Catech. 18:23 (Migne P.G. 33 c. 1044)).

Here again catholicity is understood as an inner quality. Only in the West, during the struggle against the Donatists was the word “catholica” used in the sense of “universality,” in opposition to the geographical provincialism of the Donatists (Cf. Pierre Batiffol, Le Catholicisme de St. Augustin, I. (Paris, 1920), p. 212

— “Rappelons que le nom ‘catholique’ a servi à qualifier la Grande Eglise par opposition aux hérétiques … Le nom est vraisemblablement de création populaire et apparait en Orient au second siècle. Les tractatores du 4. siècle, qui lui cherchent une signification étymologique et savante, veulent y voir l’expression soit de la perfection intégrale de la foi de l’Eglise, soit du fait que l’Eglise ne fait pas acception de personnes de rang, du culture, soit enfin et surtout de fait que l’Eglise est repandue dans le monde entire d’une extrémité à l’autre. Augustin ne veut connaître que ce dernier sens.” Cp. Also Bishop Lightfoot, in his edition of St. Ignatius, v. 2 (London, 1889), p. 319. Note ad Loc.

The history of the Christian and pre-Christian use of the terms ekklisía katholikí (Εκκλησια Καθολικη) and katholikos (καθολικóς) generally in various settings deserves careful study; apparently there have been no special investigations on the subject. In Russian, reference may be made to the very valuable, though not exhaustive or faultless, article of the late Professor M. D. Muretov in the supplement to his book Ancient Jewish Prayers Ascribed to St. Peter (Sergiev Posad, 1905). See also Bishop Lightfoot, St. Ignatius, v. 2 (London, 1889), p. 310, note).

Later on, in the East, the word “catholic” was understood as synonymous with “ecumenical.” But this only limited the conception, making it less vivid, because it drew attention to the outward form, not to the inner contents. Yet the Church is not catholic because of its outward extent, or, at any rate, not only because of that. The Church is catholic, not only because it is an all-embracing entity, not only because it unites all its members, all local Churches, but because it is catholic all through, in its very smallest part, in every act and event of its life.

The nature of the Church is catholic; the very web of the Church’s body is catholic. The Church is catholic, because it is the one Body of Christ; it is union in Christ, oneness in the Holy Ghost-and this unity is the highest wholeness and fulness. The gauge of catholic union is that “The multitude of them that believed be of one heart and of one soul” (Act 4:32).

Where this is not the case, the life of the Church is limited and restricted.

The ontological blending of persons is, and must be, accomplished in oneness with the Body of Christ; they cease to be exclusive and impenetrable. The cold separation into “mine” and “thine” disappears.

The growth of the Church is in the perfecting of its inner wholeness, its inner catholicity, in the “perfection of wholeness”;

“That they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23).

post originally deleted, but then I remembered, this is Lent...a reminder I have no standing to condemn anyone but myself, So here it is: "As a human being I am taken aback by the arrogance and self-righteousness people display in "God's Name"

FROM TOUCHSTONE MAGAZINE (btw,who's in charge over there lately????)-Posted by James M. Kushiner....Quoting an article by Joan Frawley...

The Pope & Condoms for Africa

Joan Frawley Desmond begins her latest Cathoholic article:

I recall a friend of mine arguing that Pope John Paul II was responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the developing worth who had died of AIDS. 

"Why is the pope responsible? I asked, somewhat bemused.

"Because he rejects the use of condoms," my friend replied. "So if some guy is infected with AIDS, he won't use a condom with his wife, and then she'll become infected."

"But the pope is also opposed to adultery," I told my friend. "if that guy won't follow the pope on adultery, why would he pay any attention to John Paul regarding condom use?'

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Not only is this in bad taste, it borders on cruel, not to mention prelest, assumption, and claiming that you can see into another's heart.

   Also, as a medical professional and and human being well aquainted with illnesses;

I am aware of MANY cases of married couples, both who have married as virgins, remained faithful, and through no fault of their own, one or the other has contracted disease or illnesses that can be spread sexually or suffered from a disease that lead to contracting a disease that can be spread sexually....yes, it is possible...

Let the Pope do his own heavy lifting with the burden God gave him-this is a tough one and maybe a one size fits all RULE may not cut it this time...God did not make us out of cookie cutters;

And last I checked the Pope still has the full weight of God and all the defenses of Heaven behind him....so I think we can stand down on this one; we would be of more use to the Pope and to these poor souls  by lifting them up in prayer.

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And what if the disease was contracted through infidelity (or choose any sin you think is the worst)...

Does that make this person a sinner, undeserving of any Grace, Mercy, Compassion, because even if he or she does repent, it's a given they will just fall again and again and again.....

Oh, wait a minute, I would fall into that category...


All those who don't...as you were, you are free to draw swords or throw rocks, OR WORDS (which, btw, hurt a hell of a lot more the swords or rocks).

Love that is "Stronger than Death"....from: Marriage...Orthodox Perspectives-Fr. John Chryssavgis

Every sacrament is a transcendence of division and alienation.

In the case of marriage, each person must become conscious of the divine presence in the other.

Both husband and wife must pierce the curtain of distance and falsehood.

When this occurs, the marital union is stronger than death, not able to be "put asunder by anyone."

Excerpt from: Small Gems from What I am Reading Right Now:

Love, Marriage and Sexuality: Orthodox Perspectives-Fr. John Chryssavgis

(Right Sidebar)

photo:nevertorun

Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertility a brood destined for another City

From "THE TRUE BELIEVER" by Aidan Kavanagh, O.S.B. (full article can be found in Type list in right sidebar under 

"Excerpts/Current Books and Articles I am Reading"

"Yet even this is not enough, nor is it where the scandal lies. For to know him baptismally is to know him as we were first known when creation was new.

Baptismal iconography has always imaged Baptism as cosmic rebirth, Eden restored. Early baptisteries, decorated to resemble paradise, were filled with fertility, wines, sunlight, water, and a humid atmosphere.

They were gloriously womb-like, for from them issued a new People whose purpose in life was to beget others by the Church, Christ’s bride, in his power.

Thus the ancient inscription in the baptistery of the Pope’s cathedral in Rome read:

Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertility

a brood destined for another City,

begotten by God’s blowing

and borne upon this torrent by the Church their virgin mother.

Reborn in these depths they reach for heaven’s realm,

the born-but-once known by felicity.

This spring is life that floods the world,

the wounds of Christ its awesome source.

Sinner sinks beneath this sacred surf

that swallows age and spits up youth.

Sinner here scour sin away down to innocence,

for they know no enmity who are by

one font, one Spirit, one faith made one.

Sinner shudder not at sin’s kind and number,

for those born here are holy."

(Lateran baptistry inscription (fifth century))