For a novice, Lay Cistercian, such as myself, moving as I have down the tumultuous labyrinth of what is good or bad for me, the term “Conversio Morae” is at the center of my every conscious moment. Along with the companion habit, “Capacitas Dei,” of growing each day from my false self to my true self as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, these two signposts are my daily default thoughts.

Conversio Morae is especially important for two reasons, ones that I only discovered at age 80 of my 83.8 years of existence. I am not the Catholic that I was even a year ago. Why? Because I am more aware of my humanity and its potential for service to others than I was a year ago. This “capacitas dei” comes about because I am passionate about converting myself from my former self (good as it is) to a deeper and ever-enriched awareness of how The Christ Principle enlivens this routine and seemingly pointless rehashing of behaviors over and over without moving deeper to have a template with which to measure both visible and invisible reality.

1. Becoming more like Christ and loving others as he did (not as I think I should do)
2. Realizing the cumulative effects of daily converting self to God strips away vainglory and allows me to overthrow years of meaningless Catholicism (good but not my best).

• Conversio Morae is the habit of striving to grow deeper in vertical spirituality (horizontal spirituality is from this point to that time). Lay Cistercian spirituality is a way of being for me that allows me to continuously focus on penetrating into that one place that I fear to go, that upper room of my inner self. In this room, stripped of my vanity and with profound humility (RB 7:10), I abandon my former self of being so centered on myself and reach out to The Christ Principle as the center of all reality.

• Conversion is the basis of what it means to be a penitent Catholic, a Lay Cistercian who only seeks to be present to the one he loves as much as consciously possible without becoming paranoid about it.

• Conversion is not a one-shot wonder and forgetting that experience because you think you are on the conveyor belt to Heaven and guaranteed a reserved seat on Spirit Airlines. You must work your way to Heaven by becoming what you believe.
• Conversion is only the beginning, the realization that you must walk your unique journey as did Christ the Mystic Hero as outlined in the Synoptic Gospels.
• Conversion is tough to do because I must do what is right rather than what is easy.

I SAW WHO I REALLY AM, AND IT SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME

After a lifetime of trying what I thought was being a good Catholic, I came to the realization at the age of 80 that I have had the wrong center in my life but with what I thought was for the right reasons. I said the words, did the expected rituals, and jumped through the correct hoops, and if you had asked me a few years ago, I would have told you that I am reasonably happy with my life.

What changed for me is the cumulative and almost innocuous repetition and habit of placing myself in the presence of Christ in that upper room of my inner self and just waiting, soaking up the energy of God as I would get Vitamin D from sitting in the warmth of the Sun. I was not even aware of what was happening to me. Mind you, all I did was just sit in the presence of Christ in that upper room of my inner self and just wait. Just wait. No agenda. No petitions of this or that favor. Just be present to the one I love with gratitude and humility (fear of the Lord).

One day, out of the clear blue, I looked in the mirror of my life and saw what I actually was in relationship to what I should be as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. It wasn’t pretty. It is like the character Tom Ellis plays on the television show Lucifer, where he sometimes shows his true hideous face to others. It scared the Hell out of me.

I was stunned at what I saw and immediately said “No” to what I was. That is when I realized what it meant to convert myself to be more like Christ and less like me. I was shocked so much that, ever since making a complete abandonment of all that I held before as being Catholic, I embraced the notion of reparation for my sins of the past and a pledge to focus profoundly on Knowing, Loving, and Serving God with all my heart and mind and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36)

Being in a body that has long seen its peak performance, at 83.7, I do not rely on my failing body but the refulgence of energy, not my own, to convert my life daily and consciously to what I now know is the true center of my life (Philippians 2:5). Simplicity in prayer is my mantra. At night, I look forward to asking the Blessed Mother to be with me as she was with Christ at the foot of the cross and to pray for all of us at the hour of our death. My body may not be able to save starving children in Somalia (if it ever could). Still, I can consciously and purposefully spend a large amount of time making up for the hurt I may have caused Jesus and those with whom I now feel I wronged and was disrespectful. I pray for the souls in Purgatory, those I know, and those who are in the waiting room of cleansing and purgation awaiting entry into Heaven.

My prayers take the form of saying, over and over and over, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me a sinner.” I am sorry for all my instances of not seeing you in others and ask forgiveness from you and them. I am not a bad person but one who must be in your Real Presence to save me from the Ruler of the World (John 14) who seeks to cloud my mind with a Christ I have made in my image and likeness. I will do this daily, multiple times, just whispering, “Have mercy on me.” to ask God’s energy and forgiveness for this broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit, the one with all those bruises and cuts from a lifetime of stumbling down the wrong path, only to be lifted up by simply sitting in the presence of God and saying, over and over, “Be it done unto me, according to your word.”

My friends who help me along the way are Jesus, My Lord and Savior. Mary, Mother of God, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit to be the first disciple and to whom I ask to pray to God that God does not remember my lifetime of blunders and inconsistencies but my intentions, frail as they were, to be faithful. St. Joseph, my friend and person I ask to pray for me and with me as I approach Christ is humility and fear of the Lord. And finally, St. Michael, my namesake and protector, will be my guard and watch my back against that part of me that still seeks to be a recidivist and backslide into my false self.

John 20:30-31 talks about why there is even a written account of some of the sayings and practices Jesus taught his disciples so that they could “come to believe: that Jesus is the Messiah, the Hero of Heroes, and our Master. Are my prayers efficacious? I Hope so.

My humanity cries out to God from the depths (de profundis clamavi ad Te, Domine) of my becoming. And what is my response to all this love from God for humans? “Thank you.”

I can remember the Sun slicing through the gigantic, three-foot-thick, sandstone window openings of our Second Theology class in Sacramental Theology on the first floor of the Major Theology section at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. At the blackboard was the late Father Aiden Kavanaugh, O.S.B., writing down the words, “Mrs. Murphy,” on the blackboard. In 1963, not knowing what I did not know, much less what I should know about theology, I was just trying to stay awake on the warm Spring day in Southern Indiana. At the time, I remember thinking that his explanation of Mrs. Murphy did not make sense. Father Adrian told us to remember that liturgy was about the human heart being able to approach the unapproachable mystery of Faith through using the senses and common human experiences to share what we can share about Word and Sacrament.

Those who were fortunate to hear Father Aiden, recognize that he thought in terms of compound, complex sentences, but his keen insights into the human condition began to formulate how the Sacred informs meaning in each of us in very different ways.

Now, I am merely a broken-down, old Lay Cistercian of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, lucky to comment about life around me and certainly not an eloquent apologist for any approach to liturgics. In this book, Mrs. Murphy looms large as an archetype of us all, an Adam and Eve for relations with the Sacred. Let me use a quote from Fr. Aidan to give you a sense of his eloquent thinking. 

“The liturgical assembly is thus a theological corporation and each of its members a theologian. . . . Mrs. Murphy and her pastor are primary theologians whose discourse in faith is carried on not by concepts and propositions nearly so much as in the vastly complex vocabulary of experiences had, prayers said, sights seen, smells smelled, words said and heard, and responded to, emotions controlled and released, sins committed and repented, children born and loved ones buried, and in many other ways no one can count or always account for.” (On Liturgical Theology, Chapter 7)

 If I understand Father Aidan’s thinking even remotely, it is that the local church is established by Christ to enable its members to communicate and give glory to a God we cannot see, to make sense out of everyday struggles and trials with those we do see, and to find meaning and purpose with a world gone mad with its importance. By loving our neighbor as our self, within the sacramental and non-sacramental context of the local assembly, the Mystery of Faith, we find purpose, pure energy with the source of all reality, and how to love with all our hearts, our minds, and our strength. God will not leave any of us stranded or without food to sustain us on our journey. If our purpose is to be with God…Forever, then the invisible God needs some way to communicate with those who call him Lord and give them food for the journey and the ability to make all things new, over and over. The context in which we find what we need to make sense out of all of this is the local church, linked by heritage and practice to the Apostles. It is the way to touch the invisible God in our midst; it is the way we claim our adoption as God’s sons and daughters.

I think I am just beginning to get what Father Aidan was proposing with the archetypal character of Mrs. Murphy, much like Genesis did with Adam and Eve. What has bothered me all these years, up to five years ago, was the concept of Mrs. Murphy. How can an old woman sit in the back of the church and know more than all the theologians and clerics combined? I say five years ago because that was the time I was accepted as a novice Lay Cistercian. With the emphasis on contemplation and Lectio Divina, I found that I gradually morphed into Mrs. Murphy, at least I fancy that I did. I wasn’t worried that I had to comprehend the Mystery of Faith, only that I could approach it in humility and wait. I began to think less of knowing and more of loving through doing. As part of doing this, I wrote down all my thoughts about Mrs. Murphy in 67 books and 930 blogs to keep my Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5) fresh and relevant to my relationship with the Sacred. The older I get and the deeper I delve into the limitless mysteries of my humanity and also the adoption given me by The Father, the more I realize that the end is just the beginning, that all my life experiences are the ways that I grow deeper in complexity and consciousness of what is. All I can say, over and over, when faced with the reality of the enormity of what I don’t know is, “Be it done unto me, according to your Word.”

Waiting for Jesus.

Knowledge unlocks the door to the heart, the place where no one wants to look. It is my sitting on a park bench in the dead of Winter, waiting for Christ to come by, straining to see him trudging about the bend with his pet Yellow Lab, in the hope that he will sit down next to me.

The Mystery of Faith accessed through the window of my humanity.

Mrs. Murphy is that every person who has profound simplicity, the simplicity of a human approaching that which the human mind cannot control or grasp, but the human heart can partially capture. We get a glimpse of divine reality, like looking through a foggy glass. For Mrs. Murphy, and now for me, I am satisfied that Christ is my mediator between the Sacred and the world in which I live. With Christ, I access the Mystery of Faith through silence, solitude, work, and prayer, in the context of my communities of Faith. I am grateful and blessed that Father Aidan planted the seed. I watered it, but it is Christ who gives the issue. And what an issue it is.

Praise be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages. Amen and Amen. –Cistercian doxology

I have often read the phrase, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” In my twenties, full of vim, vigor, and myself, I read and promptly sloughed off this passage from John 14 as “read and just as quickly forgotten.” Like almost all Scriptures I read then, I was more preoccupied with reading the Bible than thinking and even being what that passage meant. Sixty years later, I find myself reading that same passage, now in its entirety (not just to memorize or justify Jesus), so I might become what I read. I offer you the entire passage below for your pondering and reflection. Read it three times, each time thinking of how you can become better because of it and increase God’s presence within you. (capacitas dei)

I assure you that I do not have the capacity or capability to conjure up all these thoughts in my limited lifetime of human experiences. What I have learned about contemplative practice and its effects on me is what I share with you. Don’t do as I do; do as you can in God’s presence.

Last Supper Discourses.

1^* “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith^* in God; have faith also in me.

2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

3^* And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.^a

4Where [I] am going you know the way.”^*

5Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth^* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.^b

7If you know me, then you will also know my Father.^* From now on you do know him and have seen him.”^c

8Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,^* and that will be enough for us.”^d

9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?^e

10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.^f

11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.^g

12Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.^h

13And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.ⁱ

14If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

MINING MY LIFE FOR DEEPER PARTS OF MY BEING HUMAN

You have just read a phrase about Christ being the Way, the Truth, and the Life. At this stage of my life, I usually look at what is more profound in ideas and concepts and what might be the assumption that requires me to believe this or that. I share five levels of depths (capacitas dei), which I use to delve beneath the surface of a phrase or idea. They are:

COSMIC– This is the universal level of all reality (physical, mental, and spiritual), the macro view of the concept “I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.” As I view it, the idea makes more sense when I apply the Teilhard de Chardin map of Existence to this phrase and use its milestones (the three principles below) plus my own use of reason and free will choice to lift up this pathway as the cosmic way all reality flows with purpose and yet diversity. When you look at this map, it is the way I look at my humanity, and within it, there is movement of consciousness and ongoing complexity that has a beginning and a conclusion or fulfillment.

THE GENESIS PRINCIPLE — Creation (Alpha) to Omega is how reality flows on this Teilhard map, picking up more and more consciousness (conversion morae) and ever-expanding complexity (capacitas dei), as all matter and time fulfill their role in this movement of intelligent progression. This macro pathway is what Christ mentioned in (John 14:6-7), except this way is the flow of all matter, time, energy, and life from what was to what will be picking up the fragments of thought and authentic truth as matriculates in each age.

THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE-– A milestone (and a paradigm shift) is humanity struggling with mere human energies (physical and mental) to strain to that next level of our humanity, one intended since God put his fingerprints on each atom. God had to become human to give us the truth, one which is increasingly difficult for almost all humans to accept with simply human or secular reasoning. The key to moving to the next level of human evolution rests with each individual, not the species or human nature. Reason and choice are provided to humans so that they can make the choice to abandon all that the world seeks to place as the next level of evolution in favor of what is true in the spiritual universe–the opposite of what the world says makes humans fulfilled. Humans could never reason with this approach, nor would they have the energy to raise our nature to that next level of fulfillment, being an adopted son or daughter of the Father and heir to the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ became human (Philippians 2:5-12) to tell us and show us how to become more human. Notice that The Christ Principle, like the nature of God, is a person, one with whom we can identify and use human examples to grasp the grandeur of the way crudely, leading to the truth, and so to lead a life that is the next step in our human involvement.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ABSOLUTE TRUTH– This third way to look at the way, the truth, and life has to do with the key to making all of it make sense. I have already mentioned that the kingdom of heaven does not make sense with the senses. Humans always seek the truth without error and without human contamination. Because of Original Sin, that is impossible, each person is their own center of truth and reality and values revolve around each person according to what they choose at their center. What is true for humanity must be absolute truth, which only exists in the divine nature, not human. Do you see why Jesus had to become human in nature? It was to be a Magister Noster (Our Teacher and Master) on how to get to heaven, beginning with this world. But how to do that in this world steeped in the fog of original sin? With Baptism, original sin’s penalty of death is removed, but we still live with the effects of our human imperfections and bad choices. Accepting The Christ Principle as the way, the truth, and the only way to live a spiritual life that is the fulfillment of our next step in the evolution of our species means all measurement comes through, with, and in Him.

MY ASSIMILATION OF THE ABOVE INTO A MINDSET ON HOW TO GROW DEEPER IN MY HUMANITY

I am not you; you are not me; God is not us, and we, most certainly, are not God. I am the reason all of this exists. Were I not to exist, none of this would matter. Because I do realize that I know that I know and that my free choice is to give it away to God to receive in return the fullness of what it means to be at the next level of my evolution along with the energy from outside of my nature to sustain me as I continue to wobble down the pathway of whatever time I have left in my physical and mental existence.

I am the only translator of what it means to be Catholic. I use the totality of my life experiences, which are different for each human, to look at reality and ask fundamental questions, such as The Divine Equation poses and answers with The Christ Principle as the truth template. They are:

• What is the purpose of life?
• What is the purpose of my life within that purpose of life?
• What does reality look like?
• How does it all fit together?
• How to love fiercely?
• You know you are going to die: now what?

My Lay Cistercian Way is how I have chosen to live out the kingdom of heaven in this world of original sin until I am resurrected with Christ and ascend to the Father in the kingdom of heaven after death. Your way may not be my way, but all of us must use The Christ Principle and these five levels of sophistication to answer the longings of our hearts to know, love, and serve God in this life and to be happy in the next. (Baltimore Catechismm, Q6).

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When I observe the rich virtual and technological wonders of shared communication on the Internet and Television, I am reminded of the saying, “Caveat Emptor,” let the buyer beware. All communication always has assumptions and an underlying purpose for exposure on the airways. Advertisers, the inconvenient distraction to most things I watch, want you to know and buy their product. They want to earn money. Nothing wrong with that.

What I find terrifying because of its insidious intrusion into my values system is a program that promotes those ideas that are opposite to mine and pulled off as legitimate. Currently, those values that I find not only offensive but leading to devolution in my humanity back to its animalistic nature are those that seek to ever so slightly creep into the public consciousness, like lava flowing so slowly but so destructively to cover all in its path with the imprint of molten rock.

Here are a baker’s dozen ideologies that block my search for discovering what my humanity means at its deepest level, what love is, and what absolute truth is. I have identified these ten false premises because they answer false or partially actual questions with what their authors consider absolute and unchanging truth. As we should, I answer only for myself and no one else. I must actively resist these ideologies, which take me, hostage, each day, or I will suffer the fate of not keeping my spiritual grass cut.

A BAKER’S DOZEN OF THINKING THAT CAN TAKE YOU HOSTAGE.

YOU CAN’T FOOL MOTHER NATURE. — Butterflies don’t control their nature nor can they change it to become human, if they want. Some things are self-evident unless you are afflicted by the insidious worm that seduces you into thinking you control what is uncontrollable. We must all act our nature, including butterflies.

HUMAN NATURE MEANS YOU DON’T NEED ANYONE OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. Other than my wife telling me what to do, I don’t like it but tolerate it, I don’t want anyone telling me what to do. This human characteristic or EGO is the one gift I have to give that subordinates my will to that of the Father in Heaven. Sounds like a fairy tale but it is the sign of contradiction that makes perfect sense if I apply the Rule of Opposites to my view of what makes life worth living.

THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES TO ORIGINAL SIN, SO “SIN BRAVELY.” If the notion of automatic salvation because of Baptism is your thing, your life is one without taking up your personal cross daily and carrying the imperfections of humanity in the way you live out your life. I don’t want to be held hostage by the idea that I can do what I want without consequences because Christ redeemed everyone. Thinking like this is a slippery slope to behaving like morals don’t count.

THE ONLY REALITY THAT I CAN BELIEVE IS ONE I CAN SEE OR WITH MY SENSES. I love the objectivity of scientific inquiry except for being held hostage to the premise that what exists is what I can see, whereas I know that “what is essential is invisible to the eye.” (The Little Prince) Intellectual ego is no substitute for growing beyond the boundaries of my humanity to that next step, which demands I die to my false self to rise to a new order, a new humanity, one that has no corruptibility.

LIFE IS WORTH LIVING, BUT IT IS A MERRY-GO-ROUND—YOU JUST ENJOY THE RIDE AND THEN GET OFF. What makes life worth living is our experiences with people, our family, friends, and how scientific inquiry and literature seek to probe the meaning of what is good versus what is bad for my humanity. I won’t be held hostage to thinking that, if I use my reasoning and free choice to discover my purpose in life, this purpose comes only from my experiences. I must go outside of my humanity to a higher level to have Christ lift me up with Him as He continuously ascends to the Father (with sinful me in tow) to fulfill my purpose in life, i.e. to know, love, and serve God in this lifetime and to be happy with doing that in the life to come.

GOD IS LIKE HUMANS IN IMAGE AND LIKENESS. Most humans don’t care about God unless there is a strategic emotional event that causes them to pause in how they view life and seek to grow deeper. Humans can’t know God as God is, but only through a glass darkly, as St. Paul says, like looking at a total solar eclipse with protective lenses. I won’t be held hostage to thinking I need to prove God with human measurements. I only know the unknowable because that which is at the next level of nature, divine, has chosen me through Baptism, directly, or through human behaviors, indirectly.

SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT IS RESERVED FOR CATHOLICS OR BAPTIZED PEOPLE ONLY. I don’t want to be held hostage to the idea that, just because the Catholic Universal Church is authorized by Christ to be the template for loving others as much as Christ loved me, I am better than any other human because of it. If anything, I must be a servant to others, even those who do not believe as I do. God works in the hearts of all humans in that innate sense of longing that causes them to desire more from their humanity. For me, the Catholic Universal Church is both the repository and depository of those experiences of what is good or bad for humans as they wobble down their unique pathway of life toward their destiny.

IF GOD IS SO KIND AND LOVING, HOW CAN GOD LET BABIES IN ETHIOPIA STARVE TO DEATH? The seemingly contradictory statement has God always coming out as the villain. Substitute you for God in that statement and you have the source of the problem. No one should let babies starve to death anywhere, but we do. God is not the author of evil and sin, as indicated by Genesis. God made us in the image and likeness of God to be a steward on earth and keep the garden free of weeds. That we have imperfections comes from human nature, not divine will.

ALL HUMANS ARE EQUAL, AND THOSE WHO ARE MORE EQUAL MUST BE FORCED TO BE CUT BACK TO FIT THE MIND OF THOSE WHO THINK THIS WAY. This procrustian approach to thinking assumes all humans are equal. Governments are held hostage and many activists think that making all people equal in money and diversity levels the playing field. How is that working out? Don’t let equality hold you hostage.

WOKE IS NOT BEING AWAKE. Wake up, wokers. This way of thinking, multifaceted as it is, has both intended and unintended consequences. Unleashing the whirlwind that you can’t control is destructive of inclusion, not helping. It is justice we need, but justice that comes from a way of thinking that is above human imperfection.

ABSOLUTE TRUTH DOES NOT EXIST WITHIN THE CORRUPTION OF MIND AND MATTER. When I think I have the right to an opinion, that does not mean that my opinion is correct. It must be measured against absolute truth. Only God has truth absolutely but that truth is a person in the person of Christ. Being hostage to the illusion that humans possess absolute truth is absolutely false.

Don’t give up your creative side. It integrates with your intelligence side to provide perspective.

There are few more controversial and problematic concepts than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as both God and Human in expiation for the dissonance caused by humanity’s choices that lead to a failure to reach our destiny as designed by nature.

Each year, the Catholic Church, conscious of its need for collective and individual mercy, trudges through the readings of Lent in the Eucharistic Liturgy, which culminates in the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah.

I call to your attention two resources I used in my Lectio Divina meditations to help me surmount the obvious contradiction of a mere human approach to what it means to be human using The Christ Principle as the template of truth. I offer them without comments for your perusal and pondering on this mystery so essential to the mystic hero, Christ’s mission.

I. SCRIPTURES WITH FOOTNOTES

The Gospel Teaching.^*

1 Now I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand.

2Through it you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

3^* For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures;^a

4that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures;^b

5that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.^c

6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

7After that he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8Last of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me.^d

9For I am the least^* of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.^e

10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but the grace of God [that is] with me.

11Therefore, whether it be I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Results of Denial.^*

12But if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised.^f

14And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.

15Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.^g

16For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,

17and if Christ has not been raised,^* your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

18Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.

Christ the Firstfruits.^*

20^h But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits^* of those who have fallen asleep.

21^* For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being.

22For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,ⁱ

23but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;^j

24then comes the end,^* when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.^k

25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.^l

26^* The last enemy^m to be destroyed is death,

27^* for “he subjected everything under his feet.”ⁿ But when it says that everything has been subjected, it is clear that it excludes the one who subjected everything to him.

28When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will [also] be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.^o

Practical Arguments.^*

29Otherwise, what will people accomplish by having themselves baptized for the dead?^* If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they having themselves baptized for them?

30^* Moreover, why are we endangering ourselves all the time?^p

31Every day I face death; I swear it by the pride in you [brothers] that I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.^q

32If at Ephesus I fought with beasts, so to speak, what benefit was it to me? If the dead are not raised:

“Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die.”^r

33Do not be led astray:

“Bad company corrupts good morals.”

34Become sober as you ought and stop sinning. For some have no knowledge of God; I say this to your shame.^s

35^*But someone may say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come back?”

The Resurrection Body.

36^* You fool! What you sow is not brought to life unless it dies.^t

37And what you sow is not the body that is to be but a bare kernel of wheat, perhaps, or of some other kind;

38^u but God gives it a body as he chooses, and to each of the seeds its own body.

39^* Not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for human beings, another kind of flesh for animals, another kind of flesh for birds, and another for fish.

40There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the brightness of the heavenly is one kind and that of the earthly another.

41The brightness of the sun is one kind, the brightness of the moon another, and the brightness of the stars another. For star differs from star in brightness.

42^* So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown corruptible; it is raised incorruptible.

43It is sown dishonorable; it is raised glorious. It is sown weak; it is raised powerful.^v

44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

45So, too, it is written, “The first man, Adam,^* became a living being,” the last Adam a life-giving spirit.^w

46But the spiritual was not first; rather the natural and then the spiritual.

47The first man was from the earth, earthly; the second man, from heaven.

48As was the earthly one, so also are the earthly, and as is the heavenly one, so also are the heavenly.

49Just as we have borne the image of the earthly one, we shall also bear the image^* of the heavenly one.^x

The Resurrection Event.

50^* This I declare, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption^* inherit incorruption.^y

51^* Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,^z

52in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.^a

53For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.^b

54^* And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:^c

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

55Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”^d

56The sting of death is sin,^* and the power of sin is the law.^e

57But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.^f

58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

* [15:1–58] Some consider this chapter an earlier Pauline composition inserted into the present letter. The problem that Paul treats is clear to a degree: some of the Corinthians are denying the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor 15:12), apparently because of their inability to imagine how any kind of bodily existence could be possible after death (1 Cor 15:35). It is plausibly supposed that their attitude stems from Greek anthropology, which looks with contempt upon matter and would be content with the survival of the soul, and perhaps also from an overrealized eschatology of gnostic coloration, such as that reflected in 2 Tm 2:18, which considers the resurrection a purely spiritual experience already achieved in baptism and in the forgiveness of sins. Paul, on the other hand, will affirm both the essential corporeity of the resurrection and its futurity. His response moves through three steps: a recall of the basic kerygma about Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor 15:1–11), an assertion of the logical inconsistencies involved in denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12–34), and an attempt to perceive theologically what the properties of the resurrected body must be (1 Cor 15:35–58).

* [15:1–11] Paul recalls the tradition (1 Cor 15:3–7), which he can presuppose as common ground and which provides a starting point for his argument. This is the fundamental content of all Christian preaching and belief (1 Cor 15:1–2, 11).

* [15:3–7] The language by which Paul expresses the essence of the “gospel” (1 Cor 15:1) is not his own but is drawn from older credal formulas. This credo highlights Jesus’ death for our sins (confirmed by his burial) and Jesus’ resurrection (confirmed by his appearances) and presents both of them as fulfillment of prophecy. In accordance with the scriptures: conformity of Jesus’ passion with the scriptures is asserted in Mt 16:1; Lk 24:25–27, 32, 44–46. Application of some Old Testament texts (Ps 2:7; 16:8–11) to his resurrection is illustrated by Acts 2:27–31; 13:29–39; and Is 52:13–53:12 and Hos 6:2 may also have been envisaged.

* [15:9–11] A persecutor may have appeared disqualified (ouk…hikanos) from apostleship, but in fact God’s grace has qualified him. Cf. the remarks in 2 Corinthians about his qualifications (2 Cor 2:16; 3:5) and his greater labors (2 Cor 11:23). These verses are parenthetical, but a nerve has been touched (the references to his abnormal birth and his activity as a persecutor may echo taunts from Paul’s opponents), and he is instinctively moved to self-defense.

* [15:12–19] Denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12) involves logical inconsistencies. The basic one, stated twice (1 Cor 15:13, 16), is that if there is no such thing as (bodily) resurrection, then it has not taken place even in Christ’s case.

* [15:17–18] The consequences for the Corinthians are grave: both forgiveness of sins and salvation are an illusion, despite their strong convictions about both. Unless Christ is risen, their faith does not save.

* [15:20–28] After a triumphant assertion of the reality of Christ’s resurrection (1 Cor 15:20a), Paul explains its positive implications and consequences. As a soteriological event of both human (1 Cor 15:20–23) and cosmic (1 Cor 15:24–28) dimensions, Jesus’ resurrection logically and necessarily involves ours as well.

* [15:20] The firstfruits: the portion of the harvest offered in thanksgiving to God implies the consecration of the entire harvest to come. Christ’s resurrection is not an end in itself; its finality lies in the whole harvest, ourselves.

* [15:21–22] Our human existence, both natural and supernatural, is corporate, involves solidarity. In Adam…in Christ: the Hebrew word ’ādām in Genesis is both a common noun for mankind and a proper noun for the first man. Paul here presents Adam as at least a literary type of Christ; the parallelism and contrast between them will be developed further in 1 Cor 15:45–49 and in Rom 5:12–21.

* [15:24–28] Paul’s perspective expands to cosmic dimensions, as he describes the climax of history, the end. His viewpoint is still christological, as in 1 Cor 15:20–23. 1 Cor 15:24, 28 describe Christ’s final relations to his enemies and his Father in language that is both royal and military; 1 Cor 15:25–28 inserts a proof from scripture (Ps 110:1; 8:6) into this description. But the viewpoint is also theological, for God is the ultimate agent and end, and likewise soteriological, for we are the beneficiaries of all the action.

* [15:26] The last enemy…is death: a parenthesis that specifies the final fulfillment of the two Old Testament texts just referred to, Ps 110:1 and Ps 8:7. Death is not just one cosmic power among many, but the ultimate effect of sin in the universe (cf. 1 Cor 15:56; Rom 5:12). Christ defeats death where it prevails, in our bodies. The destruction of the last enemy is concretely the “coming to life” (1 Cor 15:22) of “those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor 15:23).

* [15:27b–28] The one who subjected everything to him: the Father is the ultimate agent in the drama, and the final end of the process, to whom the Son and everything else is ordered (24, 28). That God may be all in all: his reign is a dynamic exercise of creative power, an outpouring of life and energy through the universe, with no further resistance. This is the supremely positive meaning of “subjection”: that God may fully be God.

* [15:29–34] Paul concludes his treatment of logical inconsistencies with a listing of miscellaneous Christian practices that would be meaningless if the resurrection were not a fact.

* [15:29] Baptized for the dead: this practice is not further explained here, nor is it necessarily mentioned with approval, but Paul cites it as something in their experience that attests in one more way to belief in the resurrection.

* [15:30–34] A life of sacrifice, such as Paul describes in 1 Cor 4:9–13 and 2 Corinthians, would be pointless without the prospect of resurrection; a life of pleasure, such as that expressed in the Epicurean slogan of 1 Cor 15:32, would be far more consistent. I fought with beasts: since Paul does not elsewhere mention a combat with beasts at Ephesus, he may be speaking figuratively about struggles with adversaries.

* [15:35–58] Paul imagines two objections that the Corinthians could raise: one concerning the manner of the resurrection (how?), the other pertaining to the qualities of the risen body (what kind?). These questions probably lie behind their denial of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:12), and seem to reflect the presumption that no kind of body other than the one we now possess would be possible. Paul deals with these objections in inverse order, in 1 Cor 15:36–49 and 1 Cor 15:50–58. His argument is fundamentally theological and its appeal is to the understanding.

* [15:35–49] Paul approaches the question of the nature of the risen body (what kind of body?) by means of two analogies: the seed (1 Cor 15:36–44) and the first man, Adam (1 Cor 15:45–49).

* [15:36–38] The analogy of the seed: there is a change of attributes from seed to plant; the old life-form must be lost for the new to emerge. By speaking about the seed as a body that dies and comes to life, Paul keeps the point of the analogy before the reader’s mind.

* [15:39–41] The expression “its own body” (1 Cor 15:38) leads to a development on the marvelous diversity evident in bodily life.

* [15:42–44] The principles of qualitative difference before and after death (1 Cor 15:36–38) and of diversity on different levels of creation (1 Cor 15:39–41) are now applied to the human body. Before: a body animated by a lower, natural life-principle (psychē) and endowed with the properties of natural existence (corruptibility, lack of glory, weakness). After: a body animated by a higher life-principle (pneuma; cf. 1 Cor 15:45) and endowed with other qualities (incorruptibility, glory, power, spirituality), which are properties of God himself.

* [15:45] The analogy of the first man, Adam, is introduced by a citation from Gn 2:7. Paul alters the text slightly, adding the adjective first, and translating the Hebrew ’ādām twice, so as to give it its value both as a common noun (man) and as a proper name (Adam). 1 Cor 15:45b then specifies similarities and differences between the two Adams. The last Adam, Christ (cf. 1 Cor 15:21–22) has become a…spirit (pneuma), a life-principle transcendent with respect to the natural soul (psychē) of the first Adam (on the terminology here, cf. note on 1 Cor 3:1). Further, he is not just alive, but life-giving, a source of life for others.

* [15:49] We shall also bear the image: although it has less manuscript support, this reading better fits the context’s emphasis on futurity and the transforming action of God; on future transformation as conformity to the image of the Son, cf. Rom 8:29; Phil 3:21. The majority reading, “let us bear the image,” suggests that the image of the heavenly man is already present and exhorts us to conform to it.

* [15:50–57] These verses, an answer to the first question of 1 Cor 15:35, explain theologically how the change of properties from one image to another will take place: God has the power to transform, and he will exercise it.

* [15:50–53] Flesh and blood…corruption: living persons and the corpses of the dead, respectively. In both cases, the gulf between creatures and God is too wide to be bridged unless God himself transforms us.

* [15:51–52] A mystery: the last moment in God’s plan is disclosed; cf. notes on 1 Cor 2:1, 7–10a. The final trumpet and the awakening of the dead are stock details of the apocalyptic scenario. We shall not all fall asleep: Paul expected that some of his contemporaries might still be alive at Christ’s return; after the death of Paul and his whole generation, copyists altered this statement in various ways. We will all be changed: the statement extends to all Christians, for Paul is not directly speaking about anyone else. Whether they have died before the end or happen still to be alive, all must be transformed.

* [15:54–55] Death is swallowed up in victory: scripture itself predicts death’s overthrow. O death: in his prophetic vision Paul may be making Hosea’s words his own, or imagining this cry of triumph on the lips of the risen church.

* [15:56] The sting of death is sin: an explanation of Hosea’s metaphor. Death, scorpion-like, is equipped with a sting, sin, by which it injects its poison. Christ defeats sin, the cause of death (Gn 3:19; Rom 5:12).

a. [15:3] 11:23 / 1 Pt 2:24; 3:18 / Is 53:4–12.

b. [15:4] Acts 2:23–24 / Ps 16:8–11; Hos 6:1–2; Jon 2:1.

c. [15:5] Mk 16:14; Mt 28:16–17; Lk 24:36; Jn 20:19.

d. [15:8] 9:1; Acts 9:3–6; Gal 1:16.

e. [15:9] Acts 8:3; 9:1–2; Gal 1:23; Eph 3:8; 1 Tm 1:15.

f. [15:13] 1 Thes 4:14.

g. [15:15] Acts 5:32.

h. [15:20] Rom 8:11; Col 1:18; 1 Thes 4:14.

i. [15:22] Gn 3:17–19; Rom 5:12–19.

j. [15:23] 1 Thes 4:15–17.

k. [15:24] Eph 1:22.

l. [15:25] Ps 110:1.

m. [15:26] Rom 6:9; 2 Tm 1:10; Rev 20:14; 21:4.

n. [15:27] Ps 8:7; Eph 1:22; Phil 3:21.

o. [15:28] Eph 4:6; Col 3:11.

p. [15:30] 2 Cor 4:8–12; 11:23–27.

q. [15:31] Ps 44:23; Rom 8:36.

r. [15:32] 4:9; 2 Cor 4:10–11 / Wis 2:5–7; Is 22:13.

s. [15:34] Mt 22:29; Mk 12:24.

t. [15:36] Jn 12:24.

u. [15:38] Gn 1:11.

v. [15:43] Phil 3:20–21; Col 3:4.

w. [15:45] Gn 2:7 / Jn 5:21–29; 2 Cor 3:6, 17.

x. [15:49] Gn 5:3 / Rom 8:29; Phil 3:21.

y. [15:50] Jn 3:3–6.

z. [15:51] 1 Thes 4:14–17.

a. [15:52] Jl 2:1; Zec 9:14; Mt 24:31; Rev 11:15–18.

b. [15:53] 2 Cor 5:2–4.

c. [15:54] Is 25:8; 2 Cor 5:4; 2 Tm 1:10; Heb 2:14–15.

d. [15:55] Hos 13:14.

e. [15:56] Rom 4:15; 7:7, 13.

f. [15:57] Jn 16:33; 1 Jn 5:4.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/15

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II. NEW ADVENT ON THE RESURRECTION. http://www.newadvent.org

“Besides the authoritative rejection of the foregoing view, we may submit the following three considerations which render it untenable:

First, the contention that the Resurrection of Christ cannot be proved historically is not in accord with science. Science does not know enough about the limitations and the properties of a body raised from the dead to immortal life to warrant the assertion that such a body cannot be perceived by the senses; again in the case of Christ, the empty sepulcher with all its concrete circumstances cannot be explained except by a miraculous Divine intervention as supernatural in its character as the Resurrection of Jesus.

Secondly, history does not allow us to regard the belief in the Resurrection as the result of a gradual evolution in Christian consciousness. The apparitions were not a mere projection of the disciples’ Messianic hope and expectation; their Messianic hope and expectations had to be revived by the apparitions. Again, the Apostles did not begin with preaching the immortal life of Christ with God, but they preached Christ’s Resurrection from the very beginning, they insisted on it as a fundamental fact and they described even some of the details connected with this fact: Acts 2:24-31, 3:15-26, 4:10, 5:30, 10:39-40, 13:30-37, 17:31-32; Romans 1:4, 4:25, 6:4-9, 8:11-34, 10:7, 14:9; 1 Corinthians 15:4, 13 sqq.; etc.

Thirdly, the denial of the historical certainty of Christ’s Resurrection involves several historical blunders: it questions the objective reality of the apparitions without any historical grounds for such a doubt; it denies the fact of the empty sepulcher despite solid historical evidence to the contrary; it questions even the fact of Christ’s burial in Joseph’s sepulcher, though this fact is based on the clear and simply unimpeachable testimony of history.

The character of Christ’s resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ has much in common with the general resurrection; even the transformation of His body and of His bodily life is of the same kind as that which awaits the blessed in their resurrection. But the following peculiarities must be noted:

• Christ’s Resurrection is glorious; it implies the reunion of body and soul and the glorification of the body.
• Christ’s body was to know no corruption but rose again soon after death when sufficient time had elapsed to leave no doubt as to the reality of His death.
• Christ was the first to rise unto life immortal; those raised before Him died again (Colossians 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:20).
• As the Divine power which raised Christ from the grave was His own power, He rose from the dead by His own power (John 2:19; 10:17-18).
• Since the Resurrection was promised as the main proof of Christ’s Divine mission, it has greater dogmatic importance than any other fact. “If Christ be not risen again, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

Importance of the resurrection

Besides being the fundamental argument for our Christian belief, the Resurrection is essential for the following reasons:

• It shows the justice of God who exalted Christ to a life of glory, as Christ had humbled Himself unto death (Philippians 2:8-9).
• The Resurrection completed the mystery of our salvation and redemption; Christ freed us from sin by His death, and by His Resurrection, He restored the most important privileges lost by sin (Romans 4:25).
• By His Resurrection, we acknowledge Christ as the immortal God, the efficient and exemplary cause of our own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:21; Philippians 3:20-21), and as the model and the support of our new life of grace (Romans 6:4-6 and 9-11).”

About this page

APA citation. Maas, A. (1911). The resurrection of Jesus Christ. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm

MLA citation. Maas, Anthony. “Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12789a.htm&gt;.

Transcription. Donald J. Boon transcribed this article for New Advent. It is dedicated to Bishop Andre Cimichella of Montreal and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

http://www.newadvent.com/resurrection

In a much wider sense, the analogy of wineskins fits perfectly with what I consider a paradigm change that happens inexorably. The problem is, that we notice it and don’t learn from it, or we don’t learn it and continue to always do what always did so that we always get what we always got. Here are some of my reflections on reality using this metaphor from what happens in my life when I place new wine in old skins.

The Question About Fasting.^o
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.”
34^* Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests^* fast while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
36^* And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
37 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
38Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
39[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^*
A commentary adds:
* [5:39] The old is good: this saying is meant to be ironic and offers an explanation for the rejection by some of the new wine that Jesus offers: satisfaction with old forms will prevent one from sampling the new. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/5

Luke 5

In no particular order of importance, here are some random thoughts that shriek randomly through my consciousness during prayer today.

I. THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE IS THE NEW WINE. The Christ Principle is always new and always that which all reality moves towards as nature intended. Henri Teilhard de Chardin calls this Point Omega in his book, The Phenomenon of Man. https://archive.org/stream/ThePhenomenonOfMan/phenomenon-of-man-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin_djvu.txt. I encourage you to take the time to read this book. The difficulty with The Christ Principle being both new and immutable is a mystery of our Faith. Not that is not beyond our ability to at least know about it, but more so because we don’t have the mindset to know what to do with it. A principle is a mental construct from which all flows and into which all trends.

The notion of new wine means that this Christ Principle makes all things new. What is truly remarkable is that at the same time change happens, and all things remain the same.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.”^d

5The one who sat on the throne^* said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”^e

He said to me, “They are accomplished.^* I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water.^f

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/21

II. MY RESPONSIBILITY AS AN ADOPTED SON (DAUGHTER) OF THE FATHER IS TO SEEK NEW WINESKINS.

When I am Baptized into Christ, I am baptized into the Eucharistic Community of the Church Universal, the living water in each age which sustains me while I wait for my life to change. Baptism provides me with the opportunity to place myself in the presence of Christ using Lay Cistercian practices with their charisms (remember, I only speak of my experiences). If The Christ Principle is the WHAT AND THE WHY, then the HOW is the new wineskin, made present every day as I offer my Morning Offering to the Father through Jesus. I felt called to the Lay Cistercians because of this HOW, using Cistercian practices that led to my designing a unique Cistercian Way for my situation.

• I take upon myself certain daily practices (as I can) to form a pattern of living or a Lay Cistercian Way, tailored only to my life situations. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God. Community with other Lay Cistercians, those at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) and Auxiliaries throughout the State of Florida and all over the world, bind me with the professed promises I made to the Abbot, Dom Augustine, O.C.S.O., in May of 2018.
• When I was a younger version of myself (still a broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit in 2014 when I was a novice, my routine looked like this:
  • Liturgy of the Hours at Blessed Sacrament Parish Chapel almost every day but Sunday, followed by daily Rosary, followed by Eucharist.
  • Monthly Gathering Day at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery, Conyers, GA (a five-hour, each-way car ride alone). I usually went up the night before and stayed at a local motel in Conyers. Georgia.
  • Lectio at three or four times per day for ten minutes.
  • Writing down my thoughts in a blog since 2017. https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org
  • Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel at Good Shepherd.
• My routine now is that I am more debilitated with mobility problems, my plumbing leaks, my electrical system doesn’t work (Pacemaker), and my mind is not what it used to be (if it ever was that).
  • Brother Michael from the Monastery told us as Juniors, “Pray as you can when you can.” What great insights. Now, as a more broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit, Lay Cistercian, here is my schedule at 83.6 years. Here are my new wineskins.
  • I am not able to attend Eucharist but once in a blue moon.
  • I don’t go to Church to join others in the Liturgy of the Hours, as I used to do.
  • I say the Rosary now only sporadically, not daily, or, more accurately when I can remember to do so. As I evolve in my new reality with my Church being the upper room of my inner self, I still reserve the Blessed Sacrament in my heart.
  • I now do Lectio Divina as much as five times a day, linking them together as fifteen-minute modules rather than a two-hour, one-time meditation.
  • My attention span is gradually becoming less and less. Gone are the days when I could spend two or three contiguous hours writing down my thoughts to share with you.
  • I have a desire to put some of my ideas on YouTube using Zoom or some other video technology, but I am just by myself and don’t have the money to move to that step. Were I ten years younger, I would sell all I have (which is not much) and follow Christ through YouTube or WordPress.com?
  • Once a month, I attend the gathering of Lay Cistercians via Zoom for several hours, again being unable to sustain my attention past a certain point without anxiety and a strong urge to sleep. It is my willingness to give Christ what I have, not what I should do, that allows my mind to do what I can and make my whole waking life a prayer (although I don’t think of it overtly each minute).

I term this movement away from what I should do to what I can do, in the context of silence, solitude, prayer, work, in the context of multiple faith communities, being a situational Catholic. I am not the Catholic I was even one year ago, having a purpose to “Have in me the mind of Christ Jesus” every day. (Philippians 2:5) My rule now is just to be aware that I must “…love God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength and my neighbor as myself,” each day, and place this at the core of what it means to be human at my deepest level. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36)

III. I DON’T SEEK TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD TO ATHEISTS, OR OTHER CATHOLICS, BUT RATHER TRY TO CONVERT MYSELF FROM MY FALSE SELF TO MY TRUE HUMAN SELF EACH DAY BY WAITING IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.

Simplicity is one of those charisms or by-products of just waiting in the presence of Christ with humility and obedience to God’s will for me as discerned with the energy of the Holy Spirit. My vertical spirituality has grown exponentially as I have gradually learned to abandon my humanity and its assumptions only to find out that, in dying to self, I have all that I valued before (minus the evil) plus the ability to access Christ by just waiting, listening with the ear of the heart (St. Benedict’s Prologue to the Rule), and consciously becoming still to the ontic possibility of all being encountered in my Lectio Divina exercises.

I try to love those who hold differing views from my approach to The Christ Principle, yet vigorously maintain what I believe in how reality looks and what it means.

uiodg

This blog continues my previous comments on original sin (The Genesis Principle), which are my ideas about noise in the physical and mental universes and my continuation of an exploration of the noise of the spiritual universe.

Rereading the previous blog on “Original Sin: The Background Noise of Existing as a Human” might be beneficial. My premise is that if there is noise in the physical universe. We can hear that, and then there is noise in my other two universes that make up one reality, the mental universe, which leads to the spiritual universe. Still, the spiritual universe is also a more profound realm of being human. This elusive spiritual universe is almost entirely invisible to the eye, but my destiny as I move forward in consciousness and complexity during what time I have as a sentient being.

THE GRAND OVERVIEW

If the background noise of the physical universe is an undistinguishable swoosh of creation, and the noise of the mental universe is the dissonance of how humans fumble over what is good for them or what leads them down paths of love and the inability to identify the truths that are not helpful for our being human. In that case, the spiritual universe is the resonance to that dissonance of being human, the deepest level of our humanity. “Every day brings something new.”. The noise of the spiritual universe is silence. The problem is, “How do I access something which, to all things I have learned about what it means to be human, makes no sense, and receive messages in my mind and heart that I can’t hear with my ears or see with my eyes?” What is the language of silence? I must learn the language of God, but how and from whom?

To gain access to a nature that is beyond my own. I don’t have the energy to move from humanity to divinity using just my human nature alone. What I do have, through my unique reasoning and choices I make, is the capacity and the capability to move to become the highest form of what my human species allows through complexity and consciousness (See Teilhard Map {unattributed}). I want this map to be one of my conceptual ways to assess reality. If I only live in two universes (physical. In that case,l and mental), this map does not explain what I consider to be the three problems automatically facing each human, whether they know it or not, and whether they can solve it. This map is my river of life, showing not only a systems approach to my purpose in life but also the stages of our collective intelligent progression (evolution) from atom to Adam, from primates to adopted sons and daughters of the Father, from being merely human (which is good) to fulfilling the purpose for which this flow of life intends, to “,,, know, love and serve God in this world and be happy with God in the next.” (Baltimore Catechism, Question 6).

I conjecture that there are three core existential “problems” to be solved that are automatically embedded in my humanity, seeking resolution in my individual lifetime by using my reasoning and ability to choose what is authentic or irrelevant to my purpose. Butterflies don’t have to answer these problems because they are not aware that they are aware of them. The three innate prompts or unresolved longings in all humans are:

!. What does it mean to grow to that most profound level of humanity and fulfill the natural intellectual progression towards what my nature intends for our species?

II. What does it mean to love fiercely?

III. Once I am on the pathway to even knowing the meaning of my humanity at the deepest level and accessing it through love, then, “What are those absolute truths beyond human corruption and original sin that allow me to unlock the six combination locks that have led me to place the one key into the correct position to open the purpose of my life?”

UNLOCKING THE MYSTERY OF MY HUMANITY

My premise is that there is a deeper level of my humanity, but one which is not subject to the automatic movement of animal or human nature. Instead, each person gains entrance to this template of truth by unlocking six combination locks to discover the one key or template that is absolute truth, beyond human capability or capacity to reason.

To gain entrance, I must be a sinner, which all of us are, except Jesus and Mary, and say, “Let it be done unto me, according to your word.” As a Lay Cistercian, I try to delve deeper into my humanity daily using the energy of the Holy Spirit while I sit next to Jesus in the upper room of my inner self. I am a work in progress. I bring this up because it is my Lectio Divina encounters with the Sacred that the problems each human faces, plus how I can begin to unravel The Divine Equation, is shared with me, as my capacitas dei (consciousness) and conversio morae (complexity) allow me to assimilate. In my dying to self, the cross is my key that unlocks what life is all about for me. It is not dollar signs, nor the number of cars I own, or even if I am famous and recognized by others for whatever I do, but simply how much I can love others (even those who hate me or whom I dislike) AS CHRIST LOVED ME, that is at my core. (Philippians 2:5-12)

It makes no sense that silence is the noise of the spiritual universe and can open up my humanity to a level of evolution that nature intended it to have from the beginning.

WHAT IS THE NOISE OF DIVINE NOTHINGNESS?

Do you think that this is jibberish? It is without the application of my assumptions. If you want to hear jibberish, go back to my previous blog and listen to the background noise of creation. My contention (I would not even say a hypothesis) is that the noise of the spiritual universe is silence. I assume that what cannot be heard with the physical ear is real.

1. The spiritual universe coexists and interacts with the physical universe of matter and the mental universe of humanity. These three realms of reality exist simultaneously and have different functions that enhance their purpose. These three universes exist together as one as they collectively move along the river of life, each gaining in complexity and consciousness as they approach Omega.

2. Examining my personal intervention in this river of life, I exist with the physical universe as a base (along with all other living things), but with a difference. I can reason and say YES or NO to the trends of my nature and God. My physical and mental universes allow me to approach the next level of my evolution (intelligent progression), the spiritual universe, where I must use my reason to choose a deeper level of my humanity, which is the opposite of what my humanity says is accurate. In my experience, most humans cannot make this leap of the mind. It is also called dying to my false self so that I emerge on the other side with an enhanced awareness of my humanity and the energy to move towards that Omega point. This silence of the mind is peculiar to humans. Ants don’t have this capability, even if they surpass humans in how they organize their existence. This is the realm of interior silence, which is peculiar to each human. It is the place no one wants to look, not because they are incapable, but more often because they just don’t think anything is worth exploring. The pathway to my inner self is well-worn and worn down by my relentless treks to where I just sit and wait for pure energy to envelop me as I can receive it (capacitas dei). Once I have been named and accepted as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, I begin packing for my journey to the kingdom of heaven in heaven. Heaven, both on earth and in heaven, is God’s playground, and if I intended to play in this playground, I must pack those things that God has told me are useful while on earth so that I might enjoy with others after I die. The notion of service to others, rather than self, is fundamental. That takes lots of work because the allure of the world wants me to pack those things and pleasures that make me happy on earth, but they are like cotton candy (tastes good but has no nutritional value). My challenge is knowing what God wants when I have never seen God, the Father, or Christ, and especially the illusive Holy Spirit. Christ told his disciples, “Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.”

My path to inner silence.

To make the trek to that upper room, I must abandon everything that makes sense to forge ahead and accept what Christ tells me is the way, what is accurate, and what is the life that will lead me now, after I die, to my destiny as a human being. I use the assistance of Lay Cistercian spirituality, with its emphasis on denying self to rise to a new level of thinking (capacitas dei) and the Cistercian practices and charisms that keep me focused on Christ alone, instead on my meandering thoughts that are all about me. “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven, ” is my mantra daily or more frequently. It is a habit you don’t think about each day but one that, if you don’t do it, something seems out of kilter.

Characteristics of the noise of silence

• Profound silence is not the opposite of noise but rather the presence of the unseen energy of the Sacred.
• The spiritual universe has silence as its language of communication, not human speech.
• I must use God’s language, not my own, to communicate with God.
• The silence of God is alive because it is the background noise of pure energy.
• I can’t hear this background noise with my physical hearing, but I can learn to listen to the whispers of God in my heart when I voluntarily place my heart next to Christ and just wait.
• Silence is that blanket of the energy of the Holy Spirit that surrounds me when I choose to place myself in the presence of Christ and say, “Have mercy on me, a sinner. May it be done unto me according to your word.”
• Silence is that little old lady sitting in the back of the Church, named Mrs. Murphy by the late Aidan Kavanaugh, O.S.B., my Sacramental Theology professor, back in 1963, who is content just to sit in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and be present to the ontic possibility of the manifestibility of the Sacred.
• It is not my silence that I seek. I Hope to dwell in the presence of the nothingness (NO-THING-NESS) of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as an adopted son of the Father and with Hope in the future, in the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven later on.
• I must choose to leave my standard paradigm of living in the physical and mental universes to experience the silence that is the ultimate resolution to my humanity’s dysfunction. Thus, I can peek into the next level of my evolution as a human, the purpose for which my nature intended in the Garden of Eden before the Fall.
• The noise of the Big Bang is picked up by scientists and sounds like gibberish, but it is not. The noise of the mental universe is the dissonance caused by the conflict between being human and an adopted son or daughter of the Father. That is original sin (sin meaning something is not aligned correctly according to what our human nature SHOULD be. I can see the dissonance of human behavior in what people choose as their center and how it leads to the devolution of the human process forward using complexity and consciousness rather than what nature intended.
• Silence is the sign of contradiction to the Tower of Babel used by humans who believe that human nature alone can lead to the fulfillment of what it means to be human, or what it means to love fiercely, and finally, what is truth absolutely without the corruption of original sin.
• Rather than leave us orphans, Christ, our Re-Creator, becomes human to tell us face-to-face and to show us by the power of the Resurrection how each person can fulfill their humanity by dying to that old self and vesting ourselves in the robes of an adopted son or daughter of the Father.
• Heaven begins with Baptism and is a lifetime of gathering those treasures you will take with you to Heaven after you die. Remember, only the rich get to heaven, but it is God’s treasures that count, and they must contain NOTHING of matter or sinfulness.

HOW I USE THE LANGUAGE OF SILENCE TO HEAR THE WHISPERS OF GOD.

Evolution (physical and mental) has prepared me to solve The Divine Equation, a series of six questions or keys that I discerned over my 83+ years of wobbling down the rocky path of existence. I use The Divine Equation not as a way to know who God is as God but to begin to approach the mystery of my own humanity, using my life experiences and intelligent progressions. I use the whispers from God to both ask the questions that are most authentic to why I am here and to seek answers to these six questions. They are:

1. What is the purpose of life?
2. What is the purpose of my life within that purpose?
3. What does reality look like?
4. How does it all fit together?
5. How can I love fiercely?
6. I know I am going to die; now what?

I am attracted to the contemplative approach to spirituality because of its emphasis on interior conversion and growth (complexity and consciousness). Like the airline stewardess who explains the oxygen system in case of emergency, you must put your oxygen masks on first before you help others. Lay Cistercian’s spirituality, as I understand it, is self-centered but with a twist. I must convert myself first, moving from my false self to my true self. That true self is manifested by my going to the upper room of my inner self and wanting to sit on the couch and listen to the heartbeat of Christ in silence. I wait for what comes rather than pushing my agenda. Silence is the language of God, and I must know how to close down my own noise of the universe and the radical sounds of dissonance formed by the wake of my movement through the river of humanity and all its pitfalls. It is a strict, disciplined life if formed properly. To ensure that, I am a part of a gathering called Lay Cistercians that have been adopted by the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit (Trappist), where I must meet monthly to keep myself balanced and rooted in Christ Jesus, lest in preaching to others, I, myself, maybe a hostage to my own myopic view of life. http://www.trappist.net

As I sit in silent wonder, reflecting on both the questions and the answers to The Divine Equation, I am struck that there is a very faint whisper in that profound silence that can compel me to channel my thoughts in ways not in keeping with my free will but using someone else’s will. The wind blows in the silence of God, and I use Lay Cistercian (based on Cistercian and Benedictine) practices to stop and listen with the ear of the heart. In my Lectio Divina meditations, when I am still enough, silent enough, and focused enough on The Christ Principle, I feel that wind in my depths and barely make out a calling in the silence and solitude in that most precious place. At first, I thought of silence as external, meaning the absence of noise, which it is. On learning to use my powers of focus to grow deeper (vertically), I gradually learned that INTERIOR silence is the goal of my Lectio Divina. In this arena of the upper room of my inner self, I am not in control but a learner, a disciple, sitting at the feet of the Master, waiting to listen to the language of God, silence, and what it means. This energy is beyond me as a human but well within my grasp as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father.

As a son (daughter) of my Father, I find it takes work to do this each time. There is no automatic way to love God without putting God there first, where there is no Love.

The noise of the spiritual universe is the silence of God, both while I am still alive and gathering up with it means to answer the three questions of life (see above) using The Divine Equation, and also later on in Heaven where all will speak silence and share out consciousness and complexity with others…forever.

My secret and Christ’s secret to listening to the whispers of God is no secret at all. It is still enough in my mind and heart to go apart and rest for a while, just waiting in that upper room of my inner self for my humanity to calm down so I can receive what God wants of me. I wait for the noise of silence to encompass me and whisper how I can be more human in my approach to life by doing what God intends me to be by my nature.

In my own Lay Cistercian Way, I plunge forward with complexity and consciousness of God’s presence in me during Cistercian practices and their resultant charisms (humility, obedience, hospitality, simplicity, etc…) that help me focus on the presence of Christ at this moment in time.

In this next blog, I will capture what I do regarding practices and a situational schedule for this old, broken-down Lay Cistercian. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God.

In the coming blogs of this series, I will share with you ten techniques I use to still my rambunctious humanity enough to hear the whispers of Jesus.

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Way back in 1965, I remember coming out of lunch at the refectory at St. Meinrad College of Liberal Arts in Indiana and making a beeline to the radio to listen to Paul Harvey. Such a compelling voice and good thinking are always timeless and of value.

Here are a few YouTube clips that still ring true for me today.

God be with you, Paul Harvey, and thanks for the rest of the story.

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I have always been intrigued by the scientific exploration of our universe. One such incident popped into my Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5) recently. I share with you some of my ideas about the background noise of the universe of matter (the physical universe). The universe of the mind that humans possess has allowed me to reflect on the physical universe and generate observations as it pertains to my third universe, that of the spirit (for lack of a better analogy).

The confrontation of universes, or more accurately, the amalgamation of one reality having three distinct components, happened when I viewed the following YouTube on cosmic background noise. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVnzcwYaJ8c. Some call this ambient noise or the sounds made from the Big Bang. My thoughts usually tried to figure out how anything could help me explain the three questions each human must attempt to answer before they die. They are

• What does it mean to move deeper into my humanity as I age, while expanding my depth of awareness?
• What does it mean for me to love fiercely?
• What is the truth that is absent of human contamination or corruption?

Each individual, and I do include myself in that statement, must seek these three core truths, whether they know them or not. I answer these three challenges with the sum total of my life experiences and how they have allowed me to discern the purpose of life and the fulfillment of my humanity as nature intended. What unlocks this puzzle so that, even if I don’t have a complete answer, there is enough curiosity and intellectual inquiry to keep my mind focused on these seemingly unsolvable elements of what it means to be human.? If these three questions have locks to open them, even if I succeed, which I find to be an ongoing process of discovery, new wrinkles in my quest keep coming up. I will share one such event which opened a door that I didn’t even know was there.

I have always tried to hold the hypothesis that what takes place in the physical and mental universes also happens in the spiritual universe, but with different components and complexities peculiar to that unique universe. For example, energy is a word, that, if I mentioned it to you, you would try to grasp it from the storehouse of your life experiences. A nuclear physicist would have an understanding that only a scientist knows the language of energy in the physical universe. Each of us has our own understanding of energy, but my hypothesis is that energy in the physical universe happens outside the control of humans, and humans, using the mental universe, can determine what composes that energy. Physical energy is different from mental energy which is different from spiritual energy. Energy takes its existence from the properties of that unique universe. In the case of the physical universe, we have the energy of matter and its natural pathway. When there is a Big Bang, there is evidence of that convergency in terms of what happened, which we are still trying to explore more fully. The mental universe allows humans the ability to reflect on physical energy with mental energy, posing theories about what makes the physical universe work, why, and how. That mental energy has many languages, one of which is scientific inquiry, but humanity explores more than the physical energy of space and matter; it is capable of penetrating the realm of interior space and mental energy. Humans can look at not only physical or visible reality but also that which is hidden but no less real. This progressive movement forward picks up each person’s notion of universality and assimulates it into one whole reality but now identifies a physical dimension, a mental one. With these two prerequisites, humans can now look horizontally (from beginning to end) but also vertically (how deep our intelligence and perceptions of those three fundamental questions) When I ask the question of why there is a physical universe, the notion of spiritual energy looms large for me. The physical universe is the WHAT of energy; the mental universe is the WHY, WHAT, HOW, and WHEN of energy using various languages that uncover meaning that hitherto was unknown or newly discovered. But, there is another dimension to energy, one which is not necessarily higher, lower, or better than the physical universe, one which explains WHY we are what we are. This is spiritual energy, for lack of a more precise set of tools with which to gain human awareness of something outside of human experience. It is not another level of matter but of existence. To begin to be aware of this next level of our human evolution, it takes the energy from this universe to reach down and enlighten humans with HOW to become more human. Not everyone sees this or even admits it is possible. To the Gentiles it is foolish and a fairy tale, to the Jews it is a stumbling block. This is energy no human could generate by themselves. It is the movement from one level of humanity to a higher level of existence, just as humanity is on a higher level of being than matter.

Teilhard de Chardin’s map (unattributed) of the swath of reality having both movement and complexity all purposefully moving to our final evolution as humans has helped me visualize that cosmic transition.

SOME ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT NOISE

There is one reality but it has both movement and complexity (see above).

I use the Rule of Threes to delineate three separate dimensions or functions within this one reality. These three universes are separate but distinct in their purpose and measurement. One is not the other yet all are one reality.

THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE — Noise in this universe is the product of what nature produces. All matter is contained in this universe, the basis of all that is. Humans are included in this, sans their mental and volitional capabilities (they are just animals, but very special ones). Noise is the background sound produced by what is and what was, but not what will be. (Listen to the YouTube at the beginning of this blog.)

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE-– Noise in this universe of the mind pertains to humans only. It is the collective sounds that emanate from human noise. We humans have evolved sounds that our reason and free will recognize as concepts and ideas, but with a caveat. Not everyone understands the language and dialects that communicate meaning and conceptual ideas. I don’t know French or Russian. Science is that great equalizer that looks at reality with a collective language accepted by many but not understood by all, to find out what is true from what is just opinion. In my own limited way, I use this scientific language, plus the collective assimilation of other languages (poetry, music, philosophy, psychology, spirituality) in my blogs to try to integrate the Tower of Babel inherent in being a human within my limited timeframe. I am aware that I am aware, in the same way, that I know that I know. What I know is as unique to me as it is to you. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God. Yet, all humans share the same noise during their lifespans. It is this noise that seems to be incoherent and chaotic that I must discover resonance from the dissonance of multiple ideas about purpose, meaning, what reality looks like, how it all fits together, how to love fiercely, and now that I know all of this and I know I am going to die, what now? , the individual must use the languages that I know to make sense of these three questions that allow my humanity to continue movement and complexity, again as an individual, toward being complete and fulfilling what my nature has intended. The fact that various people, who also have reason and free will to choose what they reason, do not agree seems to foster the idea that truth is relative. It is not. Here they are again.

• What does it mean to move deeper into my humanity as I age while expanding my depth of awareness?
• What does it mean for me to love fiercely?
• What is the truth that is absent of human contamination or corruption?

My awareness of this discrepancy that of the seeming chaos of meanings and ideologies that seek to explain these three questions is what I call original sin, or the background noise of humanity through the ages as it struggles with the fundamental questions of humanity. Forget about God. I find that when I am aware of my humanity, using these assumptions, I can never define humanity’s nobility. Still, I can begin to appreciate it in terms of my unique worldview, one that I have accumulated throughout my lifetime to make sense out of all the babble.

To do this without damaging my reasoning, I have to choose what I consider to be the template of what is reasonable, yet slightly out ahead of me, capturing it as absolute truth.

Because of this human background noise with others’ diverse and often contradictory claims of authentic truth, there is no absolute truth possible in my physical and mental universes. Yet, absolute truth (it is because it is what is) or the anchor or template that makes all things align in the physical, mental, but also in spiritual universes, demand resonance. I have human reasoning, and the ability to choose what my reason says is meaningful so that I can answer these three questions of what it means to be human.

The noise in this mental universe is not the background noise I can hear on YouTube about the sounds of matter and energy. Using my human nature, I can hear and see that all life in this physical universe is good (even humanity as it transverses the collective pathway from animality to rationality). Something happened to humanity when it evolved over the threshold from where we were as a part of the physical universe to where we are as a new paradigm emerged, the mental universe. Somehow, dissonance entered the complexity of what it means to be human. Just as it took a millennium to develop from animality to rationality, it now began the movement with its unique human complexity more and more away from being animal to that of what it means to be human. This intelligent progression is one where using my reasoning and awareness of environmental factors peculiar to my time frame, I make choices about these three questions I posed above. There is no infused knowledge I get when I am born into this human condition. I learn based on variables not always within my control.

The background noise that I notice in this universe is not only what I can hear, but, added to it, what I can see about myself that prompts me to form a way to make sense out of knowledge, love, and service to others. I answer these three core questions about my humanity and my purpose here with the innate abilities of the one who created me. My parents were my creators, but all of us carry the fingerprints, the DNA of the intelligence, love, and service who began the physical universe, our step one, to lead to step two, my ability to be aware that I am aware of those overt clues that help me to become more than an animal, more than just someone who is here today and gone tomorrow. This level of human reasoning can grow in complexity the more I assimilate the results of applying a methodology to how I interpret reality.

The noise of this mental universe is the dissonance that I can see right now in the human condition before me. It is the noise that I can see in the values and meanings that I attribute to life. It is the world of corruption of human nature, our collective trend to seek what is good for us and also what is bad for us (evil). It is the corruption I witness in my personal life as I seek to move forward in life using the complexities of knowledge, truth, and service as daily mantras.

My evolution as a member of my species does not stop when I die. Even if all I have discerned in my lifetime is just limited to my attempts to solve these three core questions, the flow of life continues on and on towards what seems to be something more than just my “time in space.” I have found a continuity or flow of intelligent progression from creation through its ultimate fulfillment, that of Omega (using the Teilhard map above). The physical universe is the platform where I can exist, while the mental platform allows me to look at this physical universe and ask the questions, WHAT, WHERE, HOW, and WHY something is such.

But, where can I find out the template, the principle that I can overlay on these three core questions of humanity, ones that seem to be lacking that next step, one where the WHY of my speculation meets the Divine Equation that drills down deeper into my humanity to explore regions that reason alone shudders at entering? In my progression, I had to determine what that Divine Equation was for me. Oddly, my researching and thinking about this idea of God led me, with the encouragement of St. Thomas Aquinas’ approach, that we cannot know God as God is but only as we humans are. In effect, I must turn everything I know about the world and its conclusions upside down (also called dying to self) so that I not only retain what I held before to be accurate but now have the tools to apply a new way of thinking, one that virtually upends everything I know by viewing its opposite to be true. It is not a convenient way of thinking because it is all about seeking to love others who may, or may not, love you back. This addresses, at least initially, that second core question about what it means to love fiercely.

I have come to some conclusions about God. The Divine Equation, which are the six questions I use to listen to the whispering of God to me in Lectio Divina, has nothing to do with who God is, which I have neither the capacity nor capability of knowing. What I can determine is how to answer those three, core questions about who I am in relationship with the vast array of “isms” that claim to be the key to unknown knowledge. There must be a way to find out the truth so I can live the life my nature intended. There is. It is called the spiritual universe and can only be entered through Baptism and free choice.

THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE — Not everyone has my assumption that there is a deeper dimension of my humanity and certainly no other human has my unique take on it. I am not you, you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God.

When thinking of the background noise of the spiritual universe, I have parsed it in the spiritual universe on earth (while I live) and the kingdom of heaven after I die. It is the same noise but my ability to receive it while I live is limited in understanding how to access this noise and to understand its language. Going back to the mental background noise, there is noise but not all ways of interpretation lead to solving the problem of what ONE way is there so I can move to the next level of human intelligent progression and use that ONE template to make sense out of the chaos. That is my choice as a human.

I am limited as a human being to interacting with my environment to pick up those things that I find to be essential to answering those three questions about being human. I can seek to answer the six questions of The Divine Equation, but how do I know they are correct? Enter my Magister Noster (Our Master), one who is of the nature of God but also now, one of us, one who shows us how to answer those three fundamental questions of my humanity using the Divine Equation in stories I can understand. I can seek love, but how do I know what love is? Again, the template for what is true is Jesus, who told us to follow in his footsteps so we could avoid being blown up by the minefields.

I have chosen to join, and have been selected by Lay Cistercians of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist), as a way, while I am on this earth, to listen to the chaos of the background noise of the physical universe, using what I know of life to interpret the background noise of humanity as it moves forward in its complexity to lift me up to that next level of my evolution, the kingdom of heaven in heaven. This way of thinking about my humanity based on Cistercian practices and charisms is like a picture within a picture. I am a member of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church with all that heritage and responsibilities but I also have opted to grow deeper by being accepted by the Abbot to seek to transform my thoughts and actions using the traditions of Cistercian spirituality. http://www.trappist.net

Not only is there an evolution in the physical universe but the mental universe is also that which is collectively common to all life forms on Earth. Spirituality, if properly aligned with truth, is the key to unlocking the mysteries right in front of me.

If the background noise of the physical universe is an undistinguishable sound of creation, and the noise of the mental universe is the dissonance of how humans fumble over what is good for them or what leads them down paths of love and truth that are not helpful to our being human, then the spiritual universe is the resonance to that dissonance of being human, the deepest level of our humanity, that which makes all things new each day. To gain entrance, I must be a sinner, which all of us, except Jesus and Mary, and say “Let it be done unto me, according to your word.” As a Lay Cistercian, I try to delve deeper into my humanity daily using the energy of the Holy Spirit while I sit next to Jesus in the upper room of my inner self. I am a work in progress.

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What follows is a contemplative practice I am using this Lenten awareness. I try to answer three questions just by reading in the silence and solitude of the upper room of my inner self and listening with the ear of the heart. I share with you what I used to discover 1. What does it mean to be a profound or deeper human? 2. What does it mean to love fiercely? 3. What is absolute truth uncorrupted by time and matter?

Listen. Ponder. Inform. Form. Transform.

http://www.organism.earth — is a macro or cosmic approach to reality. One of the contributors is the Jesuit Paleontologist, Teilhard de Chardin, who wrote the book, The Phenomenon of Man.

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In a much wider sense, the analogy of wineskins fits perfectly with what I consider a paradigm change that happens inexorably. The problem is, that we notice it and don’t learn from it, or we don’t learn it and continue to always do what always did so that we always get what we always got. Here are some of my reflections on reality using this metaphor from what happens in my life when I place new wine in old skins.

The Question About Fasting.^o
33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.”
34^* Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests^* fast while the bridegroom is with them?
35 But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”
36^* And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
37 Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
38Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
39[And] no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^*
A commentary adds:
* [5:39] The old is good: this saying is meant to be ironic and offers an explanation for the rejection by some of the new wine that Jesus offers: satisfaction with old forms will prevent one from sampling the new. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/5

Luke 5

In no particular order of importance, here are some random thoughts that shriek through my consciousness during prayer today.

I. THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE IS THE NEW WINE. The Christ Principle is always new and always that which all reality moves towards as nature intended. Henri Teilhard de Chardin calls this Point Omega in his book, The Phenomenon of Man. https://archive.org/stream/ThePhenomenonOfMan/phenomenon-of-man-pierre-teilhard-de-chardin_djvu.txt. I encourage you to take the time to read this book. The difficulty with The Christ Principle being both new and immutable is a mystery of our Faith. Not that is not beyond our ability to at least know about it, but more so because we don’t have the mindset to know what to do with it. A principle is a mental construct from which all flows and into which all trends.

The notion of new wine means that this Christ Principle makes all things new. What is truly remarkable is that at the same time change happens, and all things remain the same.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, [for] the old order has passed away.”^d

5The one who sat on the throne^* said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”^e

He said to me, “They are accomplished.^* I [am] the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water.^f

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/revelation/21

II. MY RESPONSIBILITY AS AN ADOPTED SON (DAUGHTER) OF THE FATHER IS TO SEEK NEW WINESKINS.

When I am Baptized into Christ, I am baptized into the Eucharistic Community of the Church Universal, the living water in each age which sustains me while I wait for my life to change. Baptism provides me with the opportunity to place myself in the presence of Christ using Lay Cistercian practices with their charisms (remember, I only speak of my experiences). If The Christ Principle is the WHAT AND THE WHY, then the HOW is the new wineskin, made present every day as I offer my Morning Offering to the Father through Jesus. I felt called to the Lay Cistercians because of this HOW, using Cistercian practices that led to my designing a unique Cistercian Way for my situation.

• I take upon myself certain daily practices (as I can) to form a pattern of living or a Lay Cistercian Way, tailored only to my life situations. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God. Community with other Lay Cistercians, those at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) and Auxiliaries throughout the State of Florida and all over the world, bind me with the professed promises I made to the Abbot, Dom Augustine, O.C.S.O., in May of 2018.
• When I was a younger version of myself (still a broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit in 2014 when I was a novice, my routine looked like this:
  • Liturgy of the Hours at Blessed Sacrament Parish Chapel almost every day but Sunday, followed by daily Rosary, followed by Eucharist.
  • Monthly Gathering Day at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery, Conyers, GA (a five-hour, each-way car ride alone). I usually went up the night before and stayed at a local motel in Conyers. Georgia.
  • Lectio at three or four times per day for ten minutes.
  • Writing down my thoughts in a blog since 2017. https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org
  • Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament in the Chapel at Good Shepherd.
• My routine now is that I am more debilitated with mobility problems, my plumbing leaks, my electrical system doesn’t work (Pacemaker), and my mind is not what it used to be (if it ever was that).
  • Brother Michael from the Monastery told us as Juniors, “Pray as you can when you can.” What great insights. Now, as a more broken-down, old temple of the Holy Spirit, Lay Cistercian, here is my schedule at 83.6 years. Here are my new wineskins.
  • I am not able to attend Eucharist but once in a blue moon.
  • I don’t go to Church to join others in the Liturgy of the Hours, as I used to do.
  • I say the Rosary now only sporadically, not daily, or, more accurately when I can remember to do so. As I evolve in my new reality with my Church being the upper room of my inner self, I still reserve the Blessed Sacrament in my heart.
  • I now do Lectio Divina as much as five times a day, linking them together as fifteen-minute modules rather than a two-hour, one-time meditation.
  • My attention span is gradually becoming less and less. Gone are the days when I could spend two or three contiguous hours writing down my thoughts to share with you.
  • I have a desire to put some of my ideas on YouTube using Zoom or some other video technology, but I am just by myself and don’t have the money to move to that step. Were I ten years younger, I would sell all I have (which is not much) and follow Christ through YouTube or WordPress.com?
  • Once a month, I attend the gathering of Lay Cistercians via Zoom for several hours, again being unable to sustain my attention past a certain point without anxiety and a strong urge to sleep. It is my willingness to give Christ what I have, not what I should do, that allows my mind to do what I can and make my whole waking life a prayer (although I don’t think of it overtly each minute).

I term this movement away from what I should do to what I can do, in the context of silence, solitude, prayer, work, in the context of multiple faith communities, being a situational Catholic. I am not the Catholic I was even one year ago, having a purpose to “Have in me the mind of Christ Jesus” every day. (Philippians 2:5) My rule now is just to be aware that I must “…love God with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength and my neighbor as myself,” each day, and place this at the core of what it means to be human at my deepest level. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36)

III. I DON’T SEEK TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD TO ATHEISTS, OR OTHER CATHOLICS, BUT RATHER TRY TO CONVERT MYSELF FROM MY FALSE SELF TO MY TRUE HUMAN SELF EACH DAY BY WAITING IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST.

Simplicity is one of those charisms or by-products of just waiting in the presence of Christ with humility and obedience to God’s will for me as discerned with the energy of the Holy Spirit. My vertical spirituality has grown exponentially as I have gradually learned to abandon my humanity and its assumptions only to find out that, in dying to self, I have all that I valued before (minus the evil) plus the ability to access Christ by just waiting, listening with the ear of the heart (St. Benedict’s Prologue to the Rule), and consciously becoming still to the ontic possibility of all being encountered in my Lectio Divina exercises.

I try to love those who hold differing views from my approach to The Christ Principle, yet vigorously maintain what I believe in how reality looks and what it means.

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What follows are some resources that have helped me appreciate the scope of the complexity and movement of the Catholic Church growing not only forward horizontally but deeper vertically. In my most recent Lectio Divina (Philippians 2:5), I reflected on my Lay Cistercian vocation to die to myself each day and consciously convert my life to a more profound level of existence as a human being. When I think of the opportunities for individual Catholics to grow deeper into a more structured and challenging life of prayer and penance, lay institutes and movements that, in some cases, have been around for centuries, come to mind. Rather than just outlining what I consider crucial Lay Movements, I will list them with the understanding that I only touch the surface of what is out there. I offer only the ones that I use, not all resources available.

https://gracefulcatholic.com/daily-catholic-prayer-routine/ Use this site as an overview to organize your spiritual disciplines or practices.

CARMELITE RULE OF LIFE FOR THE LAITY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlD5VTdJc8

FRANCISCAN SECULAR ORDER https://www.franciscansusa.org/secular-franciscan-order/#:~:text=Secular%20Franciscans%2C%20as%20the%20name,a%20period%20of%20initial%20formation.

DOMINICAN LAITY —https://domlife.org/dominican-family/associates/

LAY CISTERCIANS — http://www.trappist.net; https://laycistercians.com/

CATHOLIC GATHERING COMMUNITY- Like the saying, “Who is my neighbor? The person in front of me?” When it comes to parish communities, “Which parish is the best? Is it the one you are in now?” I offer you what I find most inspiring in the South Florida Ave Maria Community. Judge for yourself. https://www.avemariaparish.org/

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If Lectio Divina is the Lay Cistercian practice I use to place myself in the presence of Christ, then invoke the Holy Spirit to flood me with God’s energy, as I can assimilate it (capacitas dei), then the technique I use is one I devised called “The one word Lectio Divina technique.” Quite simply, it is using my foundational Lectio Divina (lectio) from Philippians 2:5, “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus,” and repeating it over and over until one word emerges. Several days ago, I tried this technique and I want to share with you both the technique, which you may or may not find useful, and the results. Here it is. It took me one hour plus to move through this as I savored being in the presence of Jesus, the Lord.

EMERGING WORD: Humility. I repeat this word over and over, taking my time to listen to what my mind conjures up. In this case, I thought of Sacrifice.

EMERGING WORD: Sacrifice. I think of my own sacrifice of self to the will of God for me this and each day.

EMERGING WORD: Abandonment. I think of how I must give up the most precious gift, free will, to align with what my humanity trends toward in the future,

EMERGING WORD: Kenosis. I think of the strength of God to give up being God to take on my nature, complete with the effects of original sin, yet be free from sin.

EMERGING WORD: Love. What love must God have for me to have loved me first so that I might follow the path of righteousness?

EMERGING WORD: Me. All of this is for me that I might deny myself those trappings of humanity holding me back from progressing to what my nature originally intended and becoming an adopted son (daughter of the Father).

EMERGING WORD: Gratitude. My gratitude to Christ is to desire to be in his Real Presence (in Eucharist, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament), but also in that tabernacle where Christ resides in my heart. Gratitude to God is only possible through, with, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

EMERGING WORD: Humility. This realization completes the cycle and I am more than humbled that I have been selected by God (Baptism) through Faith to walk my unique path on earth with Christ as my Guide using the energy of the Holy Spirit to fend off the parries of the Evil One.

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• 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats^* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
  John, CHAPTER 6 – USCCB
• My belief does not make the Eucharist happen. The priest has the authorization from Christ, through the Church, to utter these words and confect the Sacrament Most Holy. The questions I always have are;
• If it really is indeed the body and blood of Christ, would I not sell all I have and place receiving the Eucharist before all else, my job, my family, my friends, my riches, my very self?
• Would I not die to myself each day so that I can receive into myself that which the universe fails to contain?
• Would not my heart race within me as that which the world contains humbles Himself once more to come into my unworthy temple and reside next to me.
• Would I let nothing keep me from visiting the Blessed Sacrament in Eucharistic Adoration?
• Would I not just “go to Mass” every Sunday but use Eucharist as the forgiveness of sins and the opportunity to bear Christ Himself in the depths of my heart where I keep my own Arc of the Covenant, in which I treasure the Ten Commandments, protect the precious body and blood of Christ by not living a life of phony Faith but rather embrace the cross?
• Would there be anything in the world that could keep me from the love of Christ?
• Would I not try to convert myself daily in that most precious of all tabernacles, the upper room of my inner self, and keep it swept clean of the seven deadly sins?
• Would I not try to emulate the Blessed Mother and receive all (from God) that her humanity could endure and ponder all this in her heart throughout her lifetime?
• Would I not try to purge all pride and deceit from my approach to others by loving others as Christ loves me?
• Would I not be grateful to the Father for adoption as his son (daughter) and for the strength each day to persevere in my resolve to be worthy of that trust in me.
• Would I not want to spend as much time as I possibly could before the Blessed Sacrament at Church or in the Arc of the Covenant in the silence of my own heart?
• Would I not remind myself at the beginning of each day with a pledge of allegiance to doing God’s will and for mercy for my continued failures to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus?
• Would I not want to do the maximum in placing myself in that real presence of Christ through Lay Cistercian practices to cultivate the charisms that I don’t take for granted every day as I slosh through the mire of original sin around me?
• Would I not depend upon myself for salvation but rather Faith in the energy of the Holy Spirit that would allow me to believe authentically.
• Would I not long to be present daily even hourly to the One I love, unsure of all that that means, but resolute in the Hope of the Resurrection as promised by my Master?
• Would I not trust that Christ in the body and blood could even entertain entering this unworthy temple of the Holy Spirit with all its cracks and weeds grown up around it?
• Would I not try to love God each hour with all my mind, with all my soul, and all my strength and to love my neighbor as myself?
• Would I not long to be with Christ and give glory to the Father, through, wit and in Him, in unity of the Holy Spirit?
• Would I not focus on gaining the kingdom of heaven rather than worry about making money, prestige, what others thought of me, or what I think of myself?
• Would I not seek the sign of contradiction in viewing the world’s allurements to be the purpose or center of my life?
• I would and I do, with the help of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “I believe, help my unbelief.”
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Hell is one of those hot topics noone wants to handle. I thought I was immune to that thinking but the Holy Spirit has a way of making me humble, even when I shy away from confronting it. I was thinking of Lent and how the sign of the cross is made on my forehead with ashed burned from the previous year’s Palm Sunday representation. This cross is indelibly marked on my soul at Baptism, a tattoo that I take with me all my lifetime to remind me that, as a Catholic, despite people focusing on the politics of the Church, my calling is to deny myself to follow Christ daily. St. Benedict says, “Renounce yourself to follow Christ (Matt 16:24 and Luke 9:23); discipline your body ( I Cor 9:27); do not pamper yourself, but love fasting.” (RB 4: 10-13). Again, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way. The love of Christ must come before all else.” (RB 4:20-21) What it means to be a Catholic at this moment in time and space, plus being a Professed Lay Cistercian, is my way to achieve this transformation from false self (humanity alone), to that of having The Christ Principle as my center (humanity-informed by my Faith and Belief). It is my only wish for each day that life presents itself to me to feast on its treasures using Christ as my yard stick.

Like all other Lents, this Lent is a time of reflection with one exception–I am not the same person I was last year. I need not only conversion through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receiving the Eucharist, but to glorify the Father through the Son each day, using the energy of the Holy Spirit (not that God needs my glory, but to help me become more human and achieve the purpose of my nature as intended in the original Garden of Eden).

The cross, a sign of contradiction, means for me to be fully human, I must renounce Satan and all his allurement and embrace Christ daily consciously and purposefully through taking the hard road, one that is not easy but difficult, a road that is often rocky and in doubt as to its efficacy. This awareness that my Lay Cistercian life is jammed with sameness (Teens call it boredom), and yet that seeming inconsequential characteristic is, in itself, the challenge of the cross to transform from being just a human to being a human adopted by the Father to inherit the kingdom of heaven on earth but also in the life to come.

Heaven is now. “The kingdom of heaven is within you,” now. My Lay Cistercian Way is a discipline using Benedictine and Cistercian practices and charism to allow me to rise above the martyrdom of ordinary living so that I can see in what others consider to be boring and fantasy, the true purpose of life and where I fit in it.

Lent becomes, not so much a season, as an intensive way to reflect on my penitential self, one in constant need of redemption. I am a pilgrim in a world that is alien to me, one that considers my Catholicism as archaic and so much mumble-jumble. And you know what? It is that for those who have not died for their human-alone approach to life. Lent becomes a time to make all things new once again. Lent is different because I immerse myself in the process of being a penitential person through the Liturgy of the Eucharist and Reconciliation. I am aware that now I am aware of how much God has given me through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and, with a spirit of gratitude, give back to God the only thing he lacks from me, my free will to say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This completes the circle of being human, from physical and mental universes to that of one reality with three separate universes, tied together with The Christ Principle, awaiting my YES as Mary chose to give her recognition and consent long ago.

Hell, like sin, means I choose evil over good. There is only one absolute truth and that is outside of our humanity, absolutely. God is the truth that does not change. When I look at Hell or the Devil, I see a condition or a spirit that wants me to say that evil is good. Being sinful means that I know what is wrong, know that God says for me not to put my hand on the hot stove, but do it anyway. Evil is far more malevolent. Evil means that I think that what is evil is good. I make myself God. I make myself the lynchpin of Truth. Hell and Satan are the exception to reality, not the rule.

Lent is a time of humility, where I reaffirm my humanity and my place in the cosmos. I use my free will to give to God what is God’s and what is Caesar’s to Caesar. I must keep in mind that I have dual citizenship as a human but as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. Lent is a time of purposeful spiritual reconversion and awarness.

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This part of my Lectio Divina has to do with my usual core statement (Philippians 2:5), “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus,” which I say repeatedly in the upper room of my inner self. This time my wheel of consciousness stopped at a concept I had used extensively in my past life (whenever that was) to clarify my focus on leadership. The concept of Situational Leadership is touted by Hersey and Blanchard.

I used this model to ask myself the question about what kind of leader I am as a Catholic? Also, if you view the Catholic Church as a leader, what kinds of leadership does it exhibit and how? I want you to look at the following YouTube videos and then answer these questions, or pose new ones.

That’s all folks.

More on The Situational Catholic in the next series of blogs.

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An alternative title might have been, “Spiritual Weightlifting Exercises to increase stamina.” I do these three exercises from time to time and share them for what they are worth to you. They are worth “more than many sparrows” to me.

I. STRENGTHEN YOUR SUSTAINABILITY TO FOCUS ON CHRIST

Instructions: This is an exercise where you test yourself to see if you have the spiritual will to focus on Christ each day for thirty days, a second thirty days, and a third thirty days. Here is how I do this deceptively simple yet profound practice to help me die to my false self and grow to my true self. (Remember the previous blog?)

CAN YOU WATCH 30 DAYS WITH ME WITHOUT MISSING A DAY?

1. Read Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict once daily for thirty days. Just read it through and put it down, but it must be each day without missing. If you miss it, start your thirty days from the beginning.
2. At some time after those 30 days, analyze your performance and come up with some conclusions. They are just for you alone.

Repeat your reading of Chapter 4 in its entirety, but this time, read it as prayer, realizing that God is speaking to you in whispers and through your mind.

Go to that upper room in your inner self and sit on the couch (see the photo of my upper room). After each of the tools that St. Benedict sets forth, pause for one or two minutes and think about how each item is designed to move you from your false self to your true self as an adopted son or daughter of the Father. It’s all about silence, solitude (inside you, not outside you), and awareness that you are aware of the presence of Christ with you.

CAN YOU WATCH ANOTHER 30 DAYS WITH ME AND PROBE EVEN DEEPER INTO YOUR SPIRIT?

Once again, read Chapter 4 entirely, but with this caveat. Go to the upper room of your inner self each day and just wait there, seated next to Christ. No agenda, thoughts, or techniques; only ask that you are ready to receive whatever comes your way in humility and with obedience to Christ’s commands. I do this each day for at least 30 minutes, but I have been practicing for ten years to get there. Start with ten minutes and expand it as you grow stronger.

If you cannot even watch with Christ for 30 days, you know your spiritual muscles need food (Eucharist) and practice (Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament). You get nothing spiritually unless you work for it. It is not the work that is important but placing yourself in the presence of Christ and just waiting.

II. STRENGTHEN YOUR BELIEF THROUGH FAITH

One way Catholics have, but many do not use, is adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. It is usually an hour when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for adoration. Many parishes have Eucharistic Adoration as an important part of their spiritual weightlifting training in the School of Love. Don’t underestimate the power and energy that comes from placing yourself in the real presence of Christ in humility and obedience to God’s will, and, with eyes lowered, just repeat, “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Remember! Faith comes from God; belief comes from you. Your faith is not only your own, but you are linked to all those in heaven, those on earth who are still struggling to believe, and those in purgatory who get a second chance after they die. Church is WE; belief is ME. Both are different sides of the coin that Christ gave you at Baptism.

Find a Catholic Church with Eucharistic Adoration, or, if none is available, just sit down in Church for fifteen minutes and watch that light at the left of the Tabernacle. That is the light left burning in the window to show Elijah at the second coming that there is a believer in this room. The Jews placed blood on the doorway to show the Angel of Death that those inside were faithful, and then He would pass over.

The challenge here is to make time to go to your Church and sit for at least fifteen minutes while just focusing on looking at the cross without any comments. Of course, that is impossible when you first begin, but it is important to note that the Art of Contemplation, like any skill, needs to be practiced over and over, and then over and over. You say you are a Catholic and believe in the Real Presence. If you never think about Christ or take the time to go to Church once per week (at a minimum), your Faith could be in jeopardy.

III. THE MOUNT RUSHMORE EXERCISE TO BUILD UP SPIRITUAL ENDURANCE

THE SIGN OF THE FOUR

I will give you an example of how I determine what the center of my core being is (keeping it there is the full-time task of doing my Cistercian’s practices daily without fail).

Take a blank piece of paper and drawing a square 4″x4″, make a cross to end up with four boxes.

In each box place what you consider to be the four core values or behaviors that guide your life. This could be a phrase from the Scriptures or one or two words.

Now that you have filled the boxes with what is at your core, ask yourself what is the one box, that if you took it away, all other values could not sustain themselves.

Prioritize the boxes from 1 to 4. Number one is your center, at least at this moment in time.

Now you must ask yourself if this one center you chose is the correct one. How do you know. What will be the template you use to find out the core of your being, that which is sustainable over the long run of being human and that which leads to having a deeper understanding of yourself when you use contemplation.

This is not easy, but it is a sign that you have joined the race to be human (not just the human race). Your center will not be my center. If you tell me your center, or I tell you mine, we should know if our humanity is regressing or progressing, evolving or devolving. Try it.

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Last night, or early this morning, my Lectio Divina was about the most terrifying words of Old or New Testaments. Words are important to humans for communicating. Words are not to be trifled with. As Aristotle says in his book of aZswqq, “Trifles are not trifling.” That being said, these next three sets of words evoke a sense of wonder at how quickly they change the scenario from normalcy to a sense of foreboding and confusion.

FIRST WORD: 8c Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph,* rose to power in Egypt.

SIC TRANSEAT GLORIA MUNDI — How quickly the fortunes of humans can change. This happens even in our own days, viz-a-viz Ukraine, China, the United States, political parties of all stripes, and movements that come and mostly go. Heraclitus was correct in saying that the only constant is change. In this context, the transition of Joseph and thus the Israelites went from one of influence to one of servitude with the change of one ruler who had very different intentions about the worth of what Joseph had done before. Read this terrifying quote in its context.

Jacob’s Descendants in Egypt.

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel^* who, accompanied by their households, entered into Egypt with Jacob:

2^* Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

5 The total number of Jacob’s direct descendants^* was seventy.^a Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and that whole generation died.^b

7 But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific. They multiplied and became so very numerous that the land was filled with them.^*

The Oppression.

8c Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph,* rose to power in Egypt.

9 He said to his people, “See! The Israelite people have multiplied and become more numerous than we are!

10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase;* otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave the land.”

11 Accordingly, they set supervisors over the Israelites to oppress them with forced labor.^d Thus they had to build for Pharaoh^* the garrison cities of Pithom and Raamses.

12 Yet the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians began to loathe the Israelites.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/1

I always try to tie the Scriptures with the living history or stories and myths of how people tried to come to terms with what it means to be human and not savage. This is still the case, especially in our age of rationalism and the golden calf of what is easy over what is right.

I try to focus on that first terrifying statement for fifteen minutes of meditation and ask the Holy Spirit what that means for me. I don’t claim to know what that means for you because you and I are different persons with different approaches to what it means to be fully human throughout our lifetime. I have assimilated these three caveats into how I think about life, realizing that, at any moment, an asteroid may hit Earth, some crazy politician might set off a nuclear war, or I might have a stroke and become debilitated. With Christ, whatever comes is my reality, my Lay Cistercian way.

SECOND WORD: “And it was night.”

Announcement of Judas’s Betrayal.^m

21 When he had said this, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

22 The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.

23 One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,^* was reclining at Jesus’ side.ⁿ

24 So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.

25He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?”^o

26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel^* after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot.

27 After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”^p

28 [Now] none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.

29 Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor.^q

30 So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/13

This is a bone-chilling statement, one that is extremely short but powerful. At night, no one can see anything without light. There is no light for what Judas has in mind. Betrayal is darkness, blindness, and the heavy sense of being phony. Again, the narrative in John’s Gospel paints a picture of human nature that is consistent with the default of original sin. Darkness is that default while light must be the exception so that people can physically or mentally see what is before them. My Lay Cistercian way is the exception to the world around me, which is why I must struggle each day against the darkness. Light only comes if I put it there. Love only comes if I put it there. The default of human existence is the darkness of acting our nature, while the next step in my evolution is for me to be aware enough to be a light from my heart being next to the light of the world, Christ, each day. Catholicism, and how I practice it through the contemplative mindset of silence, solitude, work, prayer, and community, is the exception to my humanity. I can only enter into this mindset by dying to that self which is the darkness of original sin and reaffirming my Baptism with its promises, over and over again. Starting over is the norm and not the exception in my spirituality. Reconciliation is making all things new, starting over again. How many times should I start over? Seventy times seven! Dispelling the darkness, which is the default, requires that I light up my life using the only light that will sustain my humanity and fulfill my evolution, The Christ Principle.

THIRD WORD: “…he departed and went off and hanged himself.”

The Death of Judas.

3^b Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver^* to the chief priests and elders,^c

4 saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.”

5^* Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests gathered up the money, but said, “It is not lawful to deposit this in the temple treasury, for it is the price of blood.”

7 After consultation, they used it to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.

8 That is why that field even today is called the Field of Blood.

9 Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet,^* “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of a man with a price on his head, a price set by some of the Israelites,

10^d and they paid it out for the potter’s field just as the Lord had commanded me.”

Despair is a human emotion that can eat at the very fabric of what it means to be an adopted son or daughter of the Father. Insidiously, despair paints a dark picture of past behaviors that can, if not countered by Hope, become, as in the case of Judas, life-ending. What it means to be fully human is not just existing physically and mentally, although it is that. There is an additional dimension for some that helps to penetrate the darkness of hopelessness. When I think of Christ and the fact that God could, at any moment relieve the lot of the poor (and those in the darkness of their own blindness to the light of Christ), I am reminded of how, without Hope (from the Holy Spirit), life is not worth living if you have cancer, or are in an abusive relationship as spouse or child, or have no money for food, or, as Dr. Viktor Frankl writes, “a will to meaning.” Here are some of his profound insights into hope and despair. http://www.AZQuotes.com

• “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning. The greatest task for any person is to find meaning in his or her own life.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “Our greatest human freedom is that, despite whatever our physical situation is in life, WE ARE ALWAYS FREE TO CHOOSE OUR THOUGHTS!” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer-we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl
• “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life—daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not of talk and meditation, but in the right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual.” ~ Viktor E. Frankl

An additional resource is http://www.organism.earth. This one is way out there.

How lucky we humans are to know that we know, to be aware that we are aware, to know and be aware that each of us is an adopted son or daughter of the Father through Baptism.

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One of the most essential parts of my Lay Cistercian Way is growing (capacitas dei) and growing by doing penance to move from my false self to my true self as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. It all sounds so theoretical. They are sterile and no more important than words in the phone book if these words are without the power to do what they mean.

An exciting thing about anything good is that we must put it there. Choosing what is good is not automatic. If we want Love of Christ to be present, we must place it there. Because of original sin, our default is the moral ambiguity of either choices from God or the world. St. Paul uses this dual concept in Galatians 5 where he gives the two choices we have to make; choose God’s way or choose the ambiguity of what the world holds. Not to be too simplistic about the world being all bad, that is not what I am saying. Original sin means there are effects for the archetypal sin of Adam and Eve, and it is a condition where the devil lurks like a roaring lion seeking to seduce us with that weakness and proneness to choose our will, one that takes the easy road rather than the way of the cross, the correct road.

One of the key concepts in Teilhard de Chardin’s Map is that of movement, the other axis being complexity. bring this up in the context of moving from false self to true self because of the implications it has for being human and our need for redemption from the effects of our humanity.

1. That compendium of wealth about the meaning of what it means to be human, The Torah, specifically Genesis 2-3, describes in detail that God created all that is and installed humans to be keepers of the Garden of Eden. Genesis goes out of its way to say that everything God made was good. That includes butterflies, dogs, cats, humans, and, unfortunately, mosquitoes. Hold that thought.
2. Over time, the multiple writers of Genesis crunched hard against what they saw and experienced. Humans didn’t act well, so how could a good God make what is rotten and evil? Over countless learning sessions and campfires, the eventual myth emerged. What God created must be good. Humans messed it up.
3. Humans fell victim to the serpent (Satan) and the invitation to be in charge of the Garden of Eden without God. Now comes that archetypal moment of choice where either humans or God decides what is good for Adam and Eve. They chose wrong. This choice was not a one-time event, although the Genesis Story gives humans the context for such an action. It must have happened since the early writers and people could remember. Why do we humans do bad things if a good God made us?
4. Now, we come to the purpose of all Genesis, actually all Scriptures (John 20:30-31). God tells humans what is bad so they don’t lose their identities as humans and humans must choose good or evil based on what God tells them or what their instincts tell them. One is life, the other is death (to what it means to be fully human and to continue movement as humanity. This is intelligent progression allows humans to reach out and touch that next level of our evolution. Christ made it possible for us to have the choice once again. He was a ransom for many and the sacrificial lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.
5. All of us are born into that condition known as original sin. Baptism removes it, not because of anything I did or could do. Because of Love, Christ paid the price of the sacrifice for all humans to, once again, be able to care for the earth as caretakers of each other. What a great second chance.
   • But, there is a catch (isn’t there always), maybe two catches.
   • The effects of original sin remain with all humans, even if Baptism takes away the sin of Adam and Eve.
   • Salvation is based on choosing to keep Christ as our individual, not just keeping laws or doing good works for the sake of works.
6. Because salvation happens only within the parameters of my lifetime, I must work (Genesis again) to maintain my choice of Jesus as Lord and Savior each day (each moment, if truth be told).
7. The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy are the living Body of Christ’s way for me, the individual, to transform myself from those seven deadly sins, always trying to encroach on my center and get me to forget my struggle or completely abandon it for mere pleasures of the body. Many people I have read think that the Catholic Church is against pleasure and fulfillment of what it means to be human. Actually, I find just the opposite. What the Catholic Church (Magisterium) does is to keep before each age the tools and techniques needed for me to move from my false self to my true self by providing Eucharist, Liturgy of the Hours, Reconciliation, the Sacraments, in the context of community.
8. As a Lay Cistercian, this Lay Cistercian Way, based on the practices and charisms of the Cistercian approach to dying to self as capacity dei and conversion morae, make it possible for me to struggle down my individual pathway to reach what nature has intended for me from the Garden of Eden.
9. Conversion uses The Principle of Subsidiarity, that is, the most effective service to others happens at the lowest level to the ones they serve. In the case of Lay Cistercians, that means I am the container in which my false self is grounded to make way for a new self (new wine). I do that by choosing good rather than evil as my center. These Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are only guidelines for me to focus on doing for others rather than always focusing on what the world says will make me happy. If you want Love to be present, you must put it there. It is not an easy task, and I can’t do it without help from the Holy Spirit and The Christ Principle. Lay Cistercian Way helps me to focus on Jesus each day by having a mindset. Philippians 2:5 says it best, “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” This is what I hear when I say the words, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
10. Catholicism is a way of acting, that seeks the truth that comes from the Holy Spirit and is stored in our temple of the Holy Spirit. All of this produces life, not just of this world but a deeper reality for my humanity, one I could not conceive of with reason alone, but one that makes no sense without it. That is why I HOPE that the words of Christ are true. In the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Read the following from the URL on the works of mercy and the seven deadly sins from your bishops: http://www.usccb.org.

“Often it is the people closest to us who need our help. We should not go out in search of some unknown business to accomplish. It is better to begin with the simplest, which the Lord tells us is the most urgent.” —Pope Francis General Audience (10/12/2016)

The Corporal Works of Mercy

The Corporal Works of Mercy are found in the teachings of Jesus and give us a model for how we should treat all others as if they were Christ in disguise; they “are charitable actions by which we help our neighbors in their bodily needs” (U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults).

FEED THE HUNGRY • Check in with your parish community to see if there are parishioners who cannot (or should not) go grocery shopping themselves. • Check in with your parish to see if the food pantry is adequately stocked. • Organize a network of volunteers in each parish/community to grocery shop for parishioners in need, especially the more vulnerable populations in our community.

GIVE DRINK TO THE THIRSTY • Do not purchase or hoard more water than you need. • While handwashing is vitally important, make an effort not to waste water—in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Christ who do not have access to clean water and suffer from the lack of this basic necessity.

SHELTER THE HOMELESS • Consider donating toiletries and sanitary items to a local shelter since those who suffer homelessness—and the facilities that minister to them—are especially vulnerable at this time. • Financially support organizations that are working to support the homeless population in your community. The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy During the COVID-19 Pandemic2

VISIT THE SICK • While in-person visits are not advisable during this time, please invest time in reaching out via phone/video call or by sending a letter or card to those who may feel particularly isolated during this time. • Offer to assist caregivers of chronically sick family members by grocery shopping or cooking for them so they do not have to risk exposure. • Reach out to healthcare workers in your community who may be overworked, burdened, or in need of specific support at this time.

VISIT THE PRISONERS • Explore whether your parish or diocese has a prison ministry and, if so, check whether they need supplies or support. • Given that people in prison can be especially isolated and vulnerable during this pandemic, consider how to support those who are ministering to them and bringing them the Word of God.

BURY THE DEAD • Now that funerals may be limited or restricted, reach out with cards or phone calls to those who have recently lost a loved one. • If possible, visit the cemetery to pray for those you have lost—and to ask their intercession on behalf of all those facing death today.

GIVE ALMS TO THE POOR • Reach out to those who may have been especially burdened during this pandemic, especially those whose occupations make them more vulnerable to economic instability. • Remember that the lack of public celebration of Masses may result in parishes struggling financially in the next few months; be sure to continue your support and if possible, increase offerings for those who cannot donate due to recent financial hardship or inability to work. • Remember that Catholic Relief Services continues to serve the most vulnerable and consider making a donation or praying for them as you are able.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

The Spiritual Works of Mercy have long been a part of the Christian tradition, appearing in the works of theologians and spiritual writers throughout history; just as Jesus attended to the spiritual well-being of those he ministered to, these Spiritual Works of Mercy guide us to “help our neighbor in their spiritual needs” (U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults).

COUNSELING THE DOUBTFUL • Reassure and support those who may be especially anxious during this time. • If someone asks you for advice, orient your response to Christ, who is the Way, the Truth,

INSTRUCTING THE IGNORANT • With the public celebration of Masses unavailable, learn and/or teach someone else how to make a Spiritual Communion. • Take this time to recommit to your own study and formation and, for those home with children, take advantage of this time to reflect on the faith as a family.

ADMONISHING THE SINNER • Being confined in close quarters for long periods with families or housemates can test us in more ways than one, so be supportive in helping others find their way and correct their mistakes. • Recognize the reality of spiritual warfare in daily interactions and strive to cultivate the corresponding virtues needed to resist your personal temptations.

COMFORTING THE SORROWFUL • Write a letter or send a card to someone who is suffering and let them know you are thinking of them. • Remember that a few moments of your day may make a lifetime of difference to someone who is going through a difficult time. • Consider sharing links to spiritual resources with those who may be isolated, such as live-streamed Masses, so that they can participate in community worship from home.

FORGIVING INJURIES • For families, this time may maximize opportunities to exercise forgiveness, so take this time to model the importance of forgiveness both for this life and the next. • If the sacrament of Reconciliation is not available in your parish at this time, commit to making a regular examination of conscience. • Learn and/or teach your family members the Examen prayer and/or the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

BEARING WRONGS PATIENTLY • Practice developing and strengthening the virtues of temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice. • When frustrated with someone, step away from the situation, take a few deep breaths, and pray the Our Father, asking God for patience. • Commit to praying the Stations of the Cross once a week.

PRAYING FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD • Pray the rosary with family members, via video conference or conference call if needed, for all those who are suffering from the effects of this pandemic. • Keep your own book of prayer intentions, writing down the names of those who you are keeping in your prayers, and let people know that you are praying for them. • Ask a friend or family member if there is anything you can pray for them about.”

Seven Deadly Sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.

Read what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: https://www.usccb.org/sites/default/files/flipbooks/catechism/458/

 IMPLICATIONS FOR A BROKEN-DOWN, OLD, AND CROTCHETY LAY CISTERCIAN

Being Catholic, among many reasons, seems to center around being and doing what Jesus wanted for us as a collective (Church) and as individuals. The church gives us the continuity and heritage to know what to do to be a disciple of Christ. Individually, I must take into myself (assimilate) those practices and charisms of being Catholic to simply put myself in the presence of Christ and trust in the Holy Spirit to overshadow me with what I need to move from false self to true self.

I am not born with all this information or skills. I must choose it freely and place myself under the care of the Holy Spirit to give me what I need to flee from the seven deadly sins and move towards the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

I must move away from all that I have come to experience about what it means to be human and step out into the new pathways of values and morals commended to me by Christ and brought forward through the centuries by the faithful. I realize that I must do that with a systematic approach to spirituality. I have been selected to be a Lay Cistercian who tries to emulate the words of the Gospel to convert oneself through the cross and to put on the armor of Christ (St. Paul). http://www.trappist.net It is another way I have to control that human urge to be lazy and retire to what is easy rather than what is right. The cross is never easy. If it is, it is probably not an authentic cross.

Being human means I am locked into a humanity that has no morals or values from God unless I put them there. If I want the Love of Christ present, I must use my free will and put it there. The energy I get to be aware of this is from the Holy Spirit. I convert myself daily because the alternative is to let my grass grow wild, and we all know how much a problem that is.

The benefits of prayer are not to be taken for granted but a gift of Faith (God’s energy) which each human can assimilate into their behavior if they are aware, know how to sit in the presence of God and listen with “…the ear of the heart” to the whispers of God. Assurance is such a gift, a product, or an outcome of riches just for being in the presence of God and waiting. Unlike belief, which is a momentary assent to what presents itself to us in prayer, Assurance, Acceptance, Accountability, Assimilation, and Awareness all stay with us, attached to the multiple charisms of what makes us Lay Cistercian. When I say that each day is a new opportunity for life to present me with the occasions of blessing the Lord (Canticle of Daniel), then my belief is intertwined with the fruits of my past fidelity to the Rule of Benedict, Cistercian charisms, and the chance to bring into myself a Christ that is unique to me (or to you). It is capacitas dei, slowly growing in grace and wisdom before God and my fellow humans.

As a retiree from work (but not from life), what the Lay Cistercian Way has provided me is not earned but gifted by the Holy Spirit. Believe me, I must work every day to keep myself centered on Christ through Lay Cistercian practices that I learned from the Cistercian monks at Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist), Conyers, Georgia. http://www.trappist.net

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I challenge you to find out the answers to these questions. No trick questions or answers here. I used this methodology in my Lectio Divina to probe deeper into my faith. Most of my life. I just wanted someone to do the hard lifting for me and all I had to do was say, “Thanks.” My realization now is that I must do the dirty work and dig the hole myself, just as Jesus could not have a surrogate to die for him on the cross.

I have answered these questions myself to my satisfaction and would like to challenge you to do the same. I will give you a series of questions that came up in my Lectio Divina and which I subsequently had to dig out of the resources provided for me by the Holy Spirit. Are these resources the only ones out there? By no means, but they are the ones I use because of my life experiences and choices. You and not me; I am not you; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God.

• No tests.
• Keep the results to yourself and store them in the vault of your mind to take with you to heaven.
• You don’t need to respond to me with your results.
• Jesus is the Magister Noster and grades your conclusions.
• Jesus is The Christ Principle, the way, the truth, and the life.
• Don’t fight the truth, embrace it and allow it to nourish your spirit.

Here are the resources that I use to dig deeper (capacitas dei) and move from my false self to my true self (conversio morae) each and every day. If I can remember to continue this, there will be more such questions in the future.

RESOURCES FOR THE CRITICAL THINKER

Here are my favorites that I use regularly for inspiration, formation, and transformation from my false self to my true self as nature intended.

www.peterzeihan.com — My favorite commentator on geopolitical happenings in the world.

https://www.organism.earth– My favorite website for an existential look at how all reality fits together.

www.newadvent.org — My favorite website for reflection on all things Catholic.

www.usccb.org —  My favorite website for the latest news and primary resource for all things Catholic.

https://thecenterforcontemplativepractice.org — My favorite website (I wrote it) about contemplation, the Lay Cistercian Way.

htpps://www.ecatholic2000.com — A great place to discover your heritage.

https://www.wofdigital.org. A top-of-the-line commentary on all things Catholic. Subscription-based but worth every cent.

https://homeschoolconnections.com/twelve-books-thinking-catholic-woman/ A must-see list of contemporary Catholic women authors.

PRACTICES I USE TO PLACE MYSELF IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST AND LISTEN.

Read Book One, Chapters 1-5 in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. (www.ecatholic2000.com and look at Spirituality).

Read Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict each day for thirty days. Just read it without commenting or thinking about it. Every day, without fail. https://christdesert.org/rule-of-st-benedict/chapter-4-the-tools-for-good-works/

SPIRITUAL COMMENTARY

• Just do one thing a day for thirty days, but do it every day and make it easy to do.
• Don’t think that loading up on contemplative prayers automatically increases your presence with Christ. Prayers by the pound don’t necessarily mean more is better. Contemplative spirituality, as I understand and practice it, actually cuts down on prayer overload in favor of a balance between recited prayers (Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist, Penance) and just placing yourself in silence and solitude of the upper room of your inner self and waiting. There is no such thing as a bad or wasted prayer. At first, do one thing well for thirty days. You will be amazed at how difficult that is. This dynamic is at the heart of slowing down your life to make room for Christ (capacitas dei) and consciously converting your false self to be present in the heart of Christ.
• The Church is not a building, although the buildings we use to pray to God are portals to forever. The Church is, among other things, a mother who wraps her mantel around you tightly as you rock in the chair of your lifetime. The Church is a school where we learn what it means to be human, learn how to love authentically, and learn absolute truth in the Christ Principle.
• The cross is not popular with what the world says is fulfillment as a human. There are two citizenships humans can experience: one is the physical and mental universe, our base of existence, where we are part of that great cosmic design; the second one is citizenship in the physical, mental, plus the spiritual universe, where we must die to the first citizenship to gain adoption as a son or daughter of the Father. The cross is not just a sign of contradiction and points to the Rule of Opposites but finds its authenticity and authority because Christ suffers, dies, rises from the dead, and ascends back to the Father. This act means we humans are once again able to access that which the sin of Adam and Eve deprived us of being fully human as nature intended.
• Christ is present to us yesterday, today, and tomorrow, through the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit, through being a Lay Cistercian (in my particular case), and is as real in the Eucharistic Sacrifice to the Father each day as He was to the Apostles at the Last Supper. To quote the late Flannery O’Connor, “If the Eucharist is not the real presence of Christ, then the hell with it.” https://homeschoolconnections.com/twelve-books-thinking-catholic-woman/
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As I read my scientific inquiry colleagues, science is the only permanent stability in a world of rationalism and opinions, as good as they might be. While theories and theorems are valid, they are only so until theoretical physicists discover new ones, which is all the time. Scriptures would say that it is not only new wine (ideas) but new wineskins (challenging the assumptions of existing theories. In this sense, science and My Cistercian Way are constantly evolving while maintaining a rational and objective base for human assumptions and hypotheses.

Not so random thoughts about nothing specifically:

Because of the hyper-importance of the Scriptures in my life, I sometimes forget that many people have thoughts and commentaries that would add to the assimilation of what is good and true. Such authors are the Greeks, many of whom we have comments they made and which, even today, are harbingers of the teachings of Christ. Here are a few thoughts that I find inspiring. I offer these quotes because I wanted to share the joy that I had in reading them with you. They come from Az Quotes.

“”The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become.” ~ Heraclitus

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” ~ Heraclitus

“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only about those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny … it is the light that guides your way.” ~ Heraclitus

“If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.” ~ Heraclitus

“Because it is so unbelievable, the Truth often escapes being known.” ~ Heraclitus

“Nothing is, everything is becoming.” ~ Heraclitus

“The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.” ~ Heraclitus

“Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging. The same road goes both up and down. The beginning of a circle is also its end. Not I, but the world says it: all is one. And yet everything comes in season.” ~ Heraclitus

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” ~ Plutarch

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” ~ Plutarch

“To fail to do good is as bad as doing harm.” ~ Plutarch

“The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune.” ~ Plutarch

“The talkative listen to no one, for they are ever speaking. And the first evil that attends those who know not to be silent is that they hear nothing.” ~ Plutarch

“Reason speaks and feeling bites” ~ Plutarch

“All speech is vain and empty unless it be accompanied by action.” ~ Demosthenes

“Everything great is not always good, but all good things, are great.” ~ Demosthenes

“An evil nature wielding great authority brings misfortune upon the community.” ~ Aeschines

“Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.” ~ Aeschines

“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.” ~ Thucydides

“Knowledge without understanding is useless.” ~ Thucydides

“The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding go out to meet it.” ~ Thucydides

“Of all manifestations of power, restraint impresses men most.” ~ Thucydides

“For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.” ~ Thucydides

“I choose the likely man in preference to the rich man; I want a man without money rather than money without a man.” ~ Themistocles

“The Athenians govern the Greeks; I govern the Athenians; you, my wife, govern me; your son governs you.” ~ Themistocles

“A man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.” ~ Euripides

“Question everything. Learn something. Answer nothing.” ~ Euripides

“The greatest medicine of all is teaching people how not to need it” ~ Hippocrates

“The physician treats, but nature heals.” ~ Hippocrates

“To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.” ~ Hippocrates

I hope you liked a few quotes that I used in my Meditatio for Lectio Divina.

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Sometimes, I forget what my Lectio Divina thoughts presented to me, only to be dumbfounded that they seem to “pop up” later in the most unauspicious times and places. I might be in the bathroom and I get an impulse or virtual image. This is not important, but it is interesting to how my mind works (or doesn’t).

Here are some examples of what I mean by bits and pieces of ideas.

• When Adam and Eve were shown the tree of the knowledge of good or evil in Genesis 2-3, were there any fruits left on the ground that had recently fallen?
• It wasn’t the apple in the tree of the Garden of Eden that got us into trouble, it was the pair on the ground.
• One of the greatest hoots in history is Christ establishing his One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and then entrusting it to a person who had denied him three times, maybe four.
• The Pope is infallible in matters of faith or morals when speaking “ex-cathedra,” not because of anything that the Pope did, but because the Holy Spirit overshadows him in this specific instance (two times), The precedent is in Luke when the Holy Spirit overshadowed her. The Holy Spirit overshadows me at Baptism, Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders, Penance, Eucharist, and Anointing of the Sick. See a pattern here?
• Like those old men who accused the woman of adultery in https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/8:8-11, I am much more tolerant of others the older I get.
• When was the last time you cried tears of sincere mercy for the sins of your past life? Last night for me.
• There is only one requirement to become a Lay Cistercian, http://www.trappist.net, and that is we are sinners in need of redemption and mercy, daily.
• Baptism is a moment of Faith, but it is not because we have chosen God but that God has chosen us. This opens up dual citizenship to all Baptized (citizen of the world and citizen of the kingdom of heaven and adopted by the Father).
• Mary is not called a Saint. She is called Blessed from the very beginning.
  • Lk 1:39-56
  • Mary set out
  • and traveled to the hill country in haste
  • to a town of Judah,
  • where she entered the house of Zechariah
  • and greeted Elizabeth.
  • When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
  • the infant leaped in her womb,
  • and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
  • cried out in a loud voice and said,
  • “Most blessed are you among women,
  • and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
  • And how does this happen to me,
  • that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
  • For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
  • the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
  • Blessed are you who believed
  • that what was spoken to you by the Lord
  • would be fulfilled.”
  • And Mary said:
  • “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
  • my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
  • for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
  • From this day all generations will call me blessed:
  • the Almighty has done great things for me,
  • and holy is his Name.
  • He has mercy on those who fear him
  • in every generation.
  • He has shown the strength of his arm,
  • he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
  • He has cast down the mighty from their thrones
  • and has lifted up the lowly.
  • He has filled the hungry with good things,
  • and the rich he has sent away empty.
  • He has come to the help of his servant Israel
  • for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
  • the promise he made to our fathers,
  • to Abraham and his children forever.”
  • Mary remained with her for about three months
  • and then returned to her home.
• Who did the dishes and cooked and washed clothes and kept the children, while Jesus was proclaiming his Father’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?
• Can someone go to Confession and not receive absolution from the priest, even though he gives it? If you think you can get away with murder for three Hail Marys, rather than totally dying to your false self, you have totally missed the purpose of the Sacrament and set yourself up to think that evil is good.
• Catholics have at least three ways to seek forgiveness for their sins. GOOD- Ask God to be merciful to you, a sinner, and seek the grace of the Holy Spirit. BETTER: Ask God in the presence of the Church (Beginning of the Eucharist) to have mercy, then receive Holy Communion. BEST: Confess your sins to the priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and receive not only absolution but the grace to keep your firm purpose of amendment.
• Grace is the energy of God. I access that power in my Lay Cistercian practices and charisms but I must not keep it to myself but share it, just as Christ did. That is called good works and is the product of my offering my will to the Father on earth as it is in heaven.
• Humans don’t give Faith. We can gather together in, with, and through Christ to ascend to the Father with all honor and glory through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• If you think that Catholicism is all about keeping rules you have not learned how to dig deeper into your Faith. That is where the treasure is.
• The purpose of life is not marriage, but the purpose of marriage is Life.
• Celibacy is not a job to be performed but a charism to be used to die to self in a way that is not marriage or being unmarried. It is so difficult that one must seek conversion daily lest the Evil One tempt priests to just see celibacy as an inconvenience, rather than a sign that contradicts the world.
• Don’t get cocky, if you are a Catholic. You may think being Catholic gets you automatically to heaven because you have the fire policy, but if you don’t make the daily payment on it, the fire insurance company will dump you. And then what?
• You are what you read. You are what you eat. You are what you place as the one, immutable center of your life. Without help, no one can survive the onslaughts of the Devil. This help comes in the form of the Word and Scriptures which are stories to tell us how to become more human and less animal. This help comes from the Eucharist and eating the real food and drink, as Jesus says. This help comes from placing Jesus at our center and then working each day to keep Him centered. Original Sin is the default of the world which tarnishes our good works, if we don’t keep them polished daily.
• It is only when I go inside myself to walk up those stairs to the upper room of my inner self (see the photo above) and sit down in silence and solitude, not having an agenda of my own but saying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and then WAITING for the answer, that I can die to my false self and put on the wedding garment of Christ’s banquet.
• Awareness is key to sustaining Faith. Early in life, I was distracted and actually made a poor choice for my center for sixty years. During that time, I wandered in the desert thinking that God was made in my image and likeness. When I woke up (I am a Woke advocate), I was aware that, like Adam and Eve, I had lived most of my life without ever working to dig deeper. Being a Lay Cistercian helped me to stop, rest, and think again, now using my waiting skills to let God have a word edge-wise. Behaviorally, my way of acting is now measured against the Gospel as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the special adaptation of the Cistercian Way (silence, solitude, prayer, work, community) that Lay Cistercians use to “pray as they can,” as Brother Michael Lautieri, O.C.S.O. taught us.
• St. Benedict says we must “…treasure Chastity” (RB 4:64). Chastity is not the same as Celibacy, but all Catholics must “treasure Chastity,” and that goes for everyone who wishes to call themselves Catholic.
• Have you ever asked someone who is an atheist, agnostic, gay, divorced, a prisoner or a Protestant to bless you? If they can bless you, what does that mean? We are encouraged to love those who don’t love or agree with us, even if we can’t agree with what they do. I have friends in all the categories above and don’t think of them as inferior but as friends.
• Don’t judge anyone in the Church as to their motivation and let God judge those outside of the Church.
• Five skills moms and dads need to teach their children (up to and including 79 years of age):
  • Learn that the riches of Catholicism are gold hidden beneath the surface of your humanity and how to dig to find them.
  • Learn to access that upper room of your inner self in contemplative prayer and be still and wait for the Lord. (It takes skill and much practice.)
  • Learn to love a Jesus sitting next to you and assimilate that love into your heart daily.
  • Learn that people around you need mercy and that you should not confuse the person with what they do that is evil.
  • Learn to be of service to those in need because of the love Christ has for you.
• Those in heaven don’t need our prayers, we need their prayers. Both those in heaven and those on earth can pray for those in Purgatory that “…they be loosed from their sins.”
• Do you believe those in heaven really exist?

So much of what makes humanity human has to do with the ability to reason beyond the mere limitations of our nature. This has to do with choice, the most defining of human characteristics. This choice of what to do or not informs who we become, and what we take into our inner selves to create human values and purpose, and ultimately defines what it means to be human. Interestingly enough, all of this takes place within the platform of my life, from beginning to end. Humanity, as a species, has certain characteristics but oddly enough we are not born with infused knowledge, how or what to put at the center of our lives, nor what is true. Truth becomes an individual discipline, most often regulated by the whims of an individual who collects willing participants. This can be good, as in the case of Jesus, or somewhat flawed, as in the cases of most political and monarchical dictators. The problem comes with trying to herd all those individual thinkers, of which each person is a contender, together to form a direction, a way of thinking, or an ideology that, strangely enough, never seems to last past the parameters of the central figure. Exceptions are there, for sure, but normally, trends come and go. Democrats and Republicans wax and want depending on who is the favorite guru, there is always a racial or gender-based flavor of the moment that seeks to seduce us with its insistence on equality, meaning, of course, there is no freedom of choice or thought tolerated.

There is no room in the inn for thinking that stresses denial of self, dying to false ideologies or idols, and constantly striving to do what is right over what is easy. All humans have is their own ability to choose to do what they think is best for them or not. Believe me, no one chooses anything that they do not think is good for them. The problem or maybe wrinkle comes when the Tower of Bable syndrome takes hold and people disagree on what is true or not. Each individual has the power to say YES or NO to anything, although not without consequences or paying a price.

Into this meatgrinder of seemingly contradictory rights and viewpoints, which I term original sin, comes a most singular and unappreciated event, The Christ Principle. the intervention or assumption of a lower nature by a higher one. It is as if you wanted to become your pet dog or cat to help them live beyond their 10 or 15-year lifespan and be with you forever. None of that, of course, makes sense, unless you factor in that divine nature, creator of the lower orders or natures, wants to see at least one species reach its potential as nature intended. To do that meant that divine nature reached down to humanity from a condition that humanity would never be able to capture intellectually and showed humans a way to live their lives in such a way that truth becomes absolute and not relative. It is the lighthouse to warn of the dangers of rocks for a boat. The lighthouse does not diminish the fury of the seas (original sin) or automatically point to the port of call. Humans need to recognize that their nature needs help, and assistance with their human nature to make the difficult task of one step on that staircase towards their destiny.

It is in being the supreme Magister Noster, our shepherd through the darkness, our light to enlighten that darkness that creeps into the folds of all human resolve, becoming our friend and advocate, that Love shows us what love is. Follow me, is the invitation. YES or NO is the decision, one that each individual makes but with consequences based on that choice

YES is usually an enabling word, while NO is a blocking word. Depending on how they are used, they can be good or bad. Here are some classic answers of YES or NO.

• Adam and Even said NO to their human nature and wanted to become God.
• Jesus said YES to becoming a ransom for many with the price being total giving of his life to save humanity and allow them to move to their next level of evolution, should they so choose.
• The most famous YES is that of Mary to become the mother of Jesus Christ, divinity, and humanity. This is particularly important because she was filled to the brim with God’s energy. Mary most likely did not know the consequences of her act of Faith (or maybe she did), but she chose God and so became the prime human to enable the highest human to teach us how to love others as ourselves and to get to heaven.
• I must say YES to Jesus through conversio morae and capacitias dei each day, reaffirming both my Baptismal promises and Lay Cistercian Profession frequently.
• I must say YES to the energy of the Holy Spirit and try to hold my humanity still enough for me to assimilate what the Holy Spirit wishes to tell or show me (Lectio Divina).
• I am privileged to say YES and accompany Christ when He ascends to the Father once again in the Eucharist, taking me with him and those whom I gather in my thoughts in prayer.
• I say NO to temptations of the flesh (Galatians 5) and yes to chastity or being pure in spirit each time I say the word, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and St. Michael defend me against the onslaughts of the Devil.
• I say YES each day as a Lay Cistercian when I purposefully place myself in the presence of Christ and invoke the Holy Spirit to overshadow me as was Mary.
• I say YES frequently during the day when I pray for my own forgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to lose those in Purgatory for their sins, in reparation for my own sins of neglect and failing to see Christ in others in my past life.
• The Apostles said YES to becoming overshadowed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
• It is only when I give my power to say YES or NO to my human nature that I can have the greater power to say YES to God’s will being one on earth as it is in heaven. Of all the people who ever lived, my YES or NO confirms the archetypal choice of Jesus as restoring humanity’s ability to once again choose heaven on earth over hell. To all of this great goodness, I can only say, Thank you. Be it done unto me according to your word.

uiodg

Having completed my first iteration of contemplative tools that I use to probe ever deeper into vertical contemplative practices, I found there are a few more techniques that have been helpful. The tools for good works are found in Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict. These five and now ten techniques are unique to My Cistercian Way. I selected what I wanted to help my spirituality and bring it into my wheelhouse.

As with any tool or technique, its purpose is not an end in itself but rather a way to enable my will and reason to focus on the most important goal: to sit in the presence of Christ and wait until I am called.

In no order of importance, here are five additional ways I try to grow in Christ (capacitas dei).

I. THE RULE OF THREES

Based on my book of the same name, I see spirituality as having at least three core processes:

• The Rule of Centers– everyone has one center that informs and compels them to act in terms of what is good or bad for them.
• The Rule of Revolving Centers– as soon as you select a center, you must fight with your free will to keep it on the top.
• The Rule of Opposites–spiritual reality means you have died to the meaning of what the authentic world says is true and meaningful only to find that you still have what you had before PLUS now a deeper dimension to your human evolution or intelligent progression.

Cross-cutting behaviors that temper and inform what it means to be spiritual for me.

1. Awareness-– this unsung hero of my spiritual encounters with the Sacred is the awareness that I am aware that God is God and I am, well, my sinful self. St. Benedict terms it as the first step for those who climb the ladder of humility, the first rung being “fear of the Lord.” This attribute means awareness that, despite the humanity of Christ being familiar, God still compels my attention and focus, not merely human traits. Awareness means, using the Rule of Opposites, that the cross is the paradigm of meaning for me, not money, fame, fortune, glory, or power. That makes no sense if I am only living in the human dimension beset by the ever-present effects of Original Sin. Baptism removes all sin, including Original Sin, but it does not diminish the effects of sin against which I must always struggle as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father.
2. The Flaming Sword of the Word — St. Michael is not the only one who wields the power of the flaming sword. Remember awareness? I am aware that, as soon as the cross is traced on my forehead, I am a pilgrim in a foreign land, which seems like a defenseless weakling destined to always choose what is easy versus what is right. But, just when all humanity of the world seems to have lost its senses (which it has), I am aware that I must battle the forces of darkness that relentlessly pull me towards doing what makes me feel good at the moment rather than taking up my cross at the invitation to be irrelevant (sin) and slay the snake. None of the practices and charisms of Cistercian Spirituality, as much as I know of it, are ends in themselves but only serve to allow me to sit in the presence of The Christ Principle and absorb energy (grace) to strengthen my resolve here and now to give thanks to the Father for my adoption. This Word, this sword of Truth from the Holy Spirit, allows me to cut away the darkness around me in my Lectio Divina at Eucharist, during my sleepy hours when my thoughts can tend to turn to my animalistic human nature and allow the evil one to seduce me into cultivating that Mirror of Erisade, the facade of authentic meaning. https://youtu.be/Ck4Bk6SKO7o All techniques and tools of good works (St. Benedict Chater 4) are flaming swords of the Word. The Word is God. The Word has the power when I use it to dispel bad thoughts by replacing evil and temptations to be animalistic with Love, the flaming sword that no evil can endure. I say the word, “Jesus,” or “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” whenever I now encounter the Evil One in idle thoughts or fantasies about love, power, adulation, lust, hatred, and others found in Galatians 5. Before being a Lay Cistercian, I was a Catholic but one who did not fight for my heritage against the forces that would drag me away from The Light. Now, at least, I am aware of what is going on, and, more often than not, abruptly stop my daydreaming or drifting off during Lectio Divina or Eucharist. Self-awareness helps me to stay more focused than before because I now realize that I must fight for my Faith like Adam and Eve had to work for their food. It is only with the power of Christ to sustain me in my humanity that I can be aware that I am not only a citizen of the earth (world) but also of the citizen of heaven on earth. It works only if I work.
3. Constancy and Consistency – Because of the effects of original sin, Genesis 2-3 provides classic examples of how humanity acts, after the Fall from Grace. One such mention is that we must work for what we get. No entitlement comes with assuming the role of adopted son of the Father. In fact, because we are no longer mere citizens of earth, our whole paradigm has shifted toward doing what is right (God’s will) versus what is easy (our free will). The attributes of both constancy (repetitiveness or the martyrdom of the ordinary) and consistency (the habitual choice to continue to focus on having in me the mind of Christ Jesus) are key not only to dredging up new wineskins for new wine but also to keep moving forward past the inevitable pull of original sin to give up work that goes against our nature. As an adopted son, our new nature is still human but enhanced now with Christ being the center and the Holy Spirit helping with our human foibles and failures to do what we say we will do (classic St. Paul). My Lay Cistercian Way means I am conscious of my resolve and aware that I must be consistent in purpose, even if dark nights of the soul challenge my resolve. The feeling of challenge deep inside me means I must call upon the name of the Lord frequently. “Not my will, but Thine be done” is my mantra.

THE RULE OF CENTERS —

A technique I use every day in my Art of Contemplative Practice is to center myself. Delving into what that means behaviorally, I must make a conscious act of my will each and every morning to begin that day by recognizing and being aware that I am me and God is God. This is what St. Benedict terms step one in the ladder of humility as set out in Chapter 7 of his Rule. I am free, as you are, to place anything at my center. My personal center that I have selected and attempted to maintain since 1963, is “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5) It has been my only lectio for my Lectio Divina since that time.

“10 The first step of humility, then, is that a man keeps the fear of God always before his eyes (Ps 35[36]:2) and never forgets it. 11 He must constantly remember everything God has commanded, keeping in mind that all who despise God will burn in hell for their sins, and all who fear God have everlasting life awaiting them. 12 While he guards himself at every moment from sins and vices of thought or tongue, of hand or foot, of self-will or bodily desire, 13 let him recall that he is always seen by God in heaven, that his actions everywhere are in God’s sight and are reported by angels at every hour.”

Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 7

A nicer. but deeper spiritual awareness of St. Benedict’s Rule may be found in the Benedictine Abbey Christ in the Desert by Abbot Philip Lawrence, O.S.B. I have used this commentary as part of my spiritual reading about The School of Love and how these Rules are not rules in the worldly senses of barriers, but rather how to grow deeper in Christ Jesus. (capacitas dei) https://christdesert.org/rule-of-st-benedict/

II. THE DIVINE EQUATION– This is my favorite technique (I say that about each one of them) because I see it as receiving both questions and answers from beyond my nature (from Jesus with the Holy Spirit). I call it divine, not because it tells me who God is, which it can’t and doesn’t, but rather, what it means for me to take that next step in my human evolution and become all that my nature intended but which Adam and Eve messed up. I have written extensively on this topic in past blogs and books, so I will not try to duplicate my prior reflections. They are:

• What is the purpose of life?
• What is the purpose of my life based on that purpose of life?
• What does reality look like?
• How does it all fit together?
• How do I love fiercely?
• You know you are going to die; now what?

It is my contention that every human must answer these questions correctly to make it to the next level of our collective evolution. The big question becomes who has the key, who possesses the truth that unlocks these seven locks to reveal its authentic answers? It must be the template of truth.

III. THE TEMPLATE OF TRUTH– Being one who has adopted the Catholic Way of looking at reality, which includes My Cistercian Way of being Catholic, means that absolute truth comes, not from humans or my humanity, but from divine nature. My choice is to acknowledge this and not fight it but to use it to help me reach a level of human evolution that the physical and mental universes alone could not enable. My spirituality is being aware of this duality and voluntarily placing myself in the presence of God in the upper room of my inner self and just waiting. That makes absolutely no sense to my humanity without my freely dying to that former self only to rise to a new level of awareness, now in the presence of absolute truth. Truth does not come to me but I can allow it to permeate my way of thinking about the purpose of life, my purpose in life, what reality looks like, how it all fits together, how to love fiercely, and what to do, now that I know I am going to die soon. (The Divine Equation)

What I place at my very center is what I consider the purpose of my life, that one principle that, if taken away makes the rest of my values powerless.

One Reality with Three Principles

Using Teilhard’s Map of Intelligent Progression, there are three principles that I use to make sense of the chaos of the world. They are:

As you can see in the map above, there are milestones of evolution or intelligent progression through which all reality (not just humanity develops). As I grapple with what all of this means, three principles of reality from which and into which all life seems to move using consciousness and complexity in the crucible of time, stand out:

The Genesis Principle — This principle is characterized by the physical universe of matter, all its properties, and movement from inanimate to animate life (creation, life, humans). Life, be it cosmological or animal to rational, continues to create the foundation principle. The ultimate evolution of humanity is from animality to rationality with reason and freedom to choose being its defining characteristic. There is a problem. human evolution keeps bumping into a wall that does not allow it to be what it should be by creation. All of this Genesis Principle is created good but it is imperfect, limited in its own energy as a race to evolve beyond matter and the limitations of human nature. Human nature is like the dam that holds back the normal evolution of time and complexity with our humanness bumping into the blockage unable to flow to the next level of our progression without help. Someone has to break that dam, someone who is not human but who created the natural intelligent progression in the first place. The maker must tweak its creation without causing it to lose its characteristics of reasoning and the ability to say YES or NO to each action of existence. Humans evolved the ability to reason and to freely block anything that anyone presents to them as individuals but without the experience on how to use it appropriately. Hence, sin came into the world, sin being the mindset that I must do what pleases me. That itself is not bad in and of itself but rather that my judgment may be influenced by my humanity and its proneness to do what is easy rather than what is right.

If there is a next step in humanity from animality to being the fulfillment of what nature intended humans to be, then humanity as a collective person could not lift its leg to make that next step. It is a step that does not use human energy or power to move its evolutionary complexity forward as in the natural progression of matter. We are talking here about the complexity of collective human consciousness taking that next step, one that the first humans took from their animality to being novice humans.

The Christ Principle

God had to do something so drastic only God could have thought of it. God sent his Son to take on human nature so that he, like the archetype Adam who took that first step from animality to rationality, would not reverse human distinctiveness but gently lift it up so that all humanity would be able to continue to journey on to their destiny as nature had dictated. But, again a problem. Humans to move from Point A (their earthly nature) to Point B, a step up, and only individuals using their reason and freedom to choose would have to make it case by case or one by one. This happens only if the person is aware that to move to that next step, one must abandon everything that seemed to make sense and embrace a new paradigm, one that is The Rule of Opposites, one where I have to give up those two characteristics, human rationality or reasoning and the ability for me to choose good and bad for me, and die to that notion. That is not possible unless I know that there is a way that is the absolute truth and leads to a life that is more fully human than before and now the flow of intelligent progression leads me toward what nature intended my humanity to be all along.

Now, I am aware of two principles (Genesis and Christ) but what does that mean for My Cistercian Way? How can I use it to deepen my understanding of what reality is and find out how it all fits together? I use contemplation to sit in the presence of Christ, close my eyes (custos oculi), and ask the Holy Spirit what it means. That makes perfect sense to me because I don’t have either the questions or the answers to these cosmic paradigms.

In humility and obedience to God being God, I wait for whatever the Holy Spirit and Jesus want me to know. After all, earth and heaven are their playground, and, if I want to play in it, I must use the rules that are the characteristics of who God is. I must use God’s knowledge (as I am capable) to love others as Christ loved us so that I can share that playground and all the wonderful rides and sandbox with others. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36)

It is only with Christ and the energy of the Holy Spirit that I can take that step, being held up by my two Advocates, as an old man needing help to walk up the stairs of life. I can only be grateful that I have the awareness of Faith needed to ask for and receive assistance in My Cistercian Way.

The Principle of Truth

It is no accident that Christ entrusted the Holy Spirit with ensuring that His living Body of members would endure despite all the foibles of humans trying to do their will rather than His. The gates of Hell will not prevail over the Church but as it plays out in each age, all that is best about original sin and its effects impacts the gathering of faithful left. .

Collectively, this principle is one of truth, an unseen yet gravitational-like pull on each human to have that elusive template that makes everything make sense. Taken together, The Genesis Principle (humanity and what it means to be human), The Christ Principle (fulfillment and now the opportunity to become one who loves as authentically as we are capable) plus The Principle of Truth (the Holy Spirit being present to us to give each person the divine energy they need to fulfill their humanity) are all one, a Trinity of image and likeness we can all assimilate based on our capability (Cistercian conversio morae) and capacity (Cistercian capacitas dei). One reality with three divine principles, our template for emulation and movement from false self to our true calling as redeemed human being.

IV. DIGGING INTO THE WORD OF GOD– I am mindful, whenever I read or listen to the Word of God, that it is just that. Using the notion of vertical contemplative growth (capacitas dei), I try to cultivate a habit of moving through five levels of every deepening awareness, going from the proclaimed Word or read Word to that approaching the mystery of Faith, hidden amid God’s energy somewhere. Because I have described these steps in depth in an earlier blog, I will just state them, but with the caveat that all habits must become habitual and move from relying on these steps to moving through them automatically.

In My Lay Cistercian Way, I like to read or listen to the passage one time per level and then take some time to reflect on it. The five techniques that I use to move deeper into the mystery of faith are:

1. Say, Listen, or Read the Word of God– This applies only to Sacred Scripture primarily but also works for me with spiritual readings or watching Bishop Barron on YouTube.
2. Pray the Word of God — Prayer, in its essence, is taking time to focus on the Word of God as prayer. Prayer is transformative if we move from our false self to that true self which enables our humanity to accept adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father and listen rather than tell God what it means.
3. Share the Word — Anything to do with God always has three dimensions, if I direct my mind to think like Christ (Philippians 2:5-12) because we are made in the image and likeness of God. They are: a) Knowledge, b) Love, and c) Service. My Lay Cistercian Way has reduced itself over ten years of focusing on consistency and continuity to become just the prayerful act of going to the upper room of my inner self and waiting. I know what love and sharing are because Christ first loved and shared Himself with me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and not just once. Each time I abandon my human tendency to limit my awareness to just the physical and mental universes, I share, first of all, with Christ, then with those with whom I gathered in listening to the Word, and finally with everyone I might encounter that day or week. The Word is meant to be shared, just as the Eucharist is not just an idea to be remembered in our minds, which it is, but also harkens to that Old Testament sacrifice of the blemished lamb called the Thanksgiving Sacrifice (God gets a part of it, the priests get a part of it, but all the people get a part of that sacrifice, the ransom for many). It is no accident that gratitude or thanksgiving is at the core of any Eucharist Sacrifice, a sort of festive picnic to eat the body and blood of Our Savior and take Him into our temple of the Holy Spirit and reserve humanity and divinity in the Arc of the Covenant. Without dying to self, the Eucharist becomes nothing more than a boring exercise rather than my encountering the Real Presence in the flesh (and blood).
4. Become the Word — Ironically, it is only in, with, and through Christ that my humanity has the power (Holy Spirit) of being lifted up and together we approach the Father with praise and glory. When I say my daily prayer of Chapter 4 of St. Benedict’s Rule on the Tools of Good Works, that continuity and consistency allow me to let God do the work through the Spirit. All I have to do is show up and dispose of myself by realizing that God is God and I am me. (Chapter 7 on Rule of St. Benedict) I transform from my old sinful self (citizen of the World) to that of an adopted son (daughter) of Our Father, with Christ.
5. There are no human words that explain the Love Christ has for each human being. This is why my ultimate act of Faith is one of silence, solitude, simplicity, serenity, abandonment of God’s will, and merely showing up to be with the person I love because He has first loved me. I wait for the Lord.

Here is my favorite Psalm (27th) and the culmination of my Lay Cistercian Life, now and in the life to come. I encourage you to read this Psalm using these five levels of awareness. Take your time and read it five times with reflection in silence and solitude. Break up the time over five days, if you wish.

1^aOf David.

A

I

The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom should I fear?

The LORD is my life’s refuge;

of whom should I be afraid?

2When evildoers come at me

to devour my flesh,^*b

These my enemies and foes

themselves stumble and fall.

3Though an army encamp against me,

my heart does not fear;

Though war be waged against me,

even then do I trust.

II

4One thing I ask of the LORD;

this I seek:

To dwell in the LORD’s house

all the days of my life,

To gaze on the LORD’s beauty,

to visit his temple.^c

5For God will hide me in his shelter

in time of trouble,^d

He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;

and set me high upon a rock.

6Even now my head is held high

above my enemies on every side!

I will offer in his tent

sacrifices with shouts of joy;

I will sing and chant praise to the LORD.

B

I

7Hear my voice, LORD, when I call;

have mercy on me and answer me.

8“Come,” says my heart, “seek his face”;^*

your face, LORD, do I seek!^e

9Do not hide your face from me;

do not repel your servant in anger.

You are my salvation; do not cast me off;

do not forsake me, God my savior!

10Even if my father and mother forsake me,

the LORD will take me in.^f

II

11LORD, show me your way;

lead me on a level path

because of my enemies.^g

12Do not abandon me to the desire of my foes;

malicious and lying witnesses have risen against me.

13I believe I shall see the LORD’s goodness

in the land of the living.^*h

14Wait for the LORD, take courage;

be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/27

V. THE LADDER OF LECTIO DIVINA — This is the first technique I used, now being almost eleven years ago, when I was first accepted by the Abbot to discern if I wanted to embrace the Lay Cistercian lifestyle. This fifth type, and certainly not the last technique I use, is the one that I consistently and constantly try to follow. Read the blog from the USCCB for yourself (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops). https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/how-we-teach/catechesis/catechetical-sunday/prayer/adult-faith-formation-binz

I just automatically add a fifth step, one recommended by Pope Benedict XVI, which is called ACTIO, or do something with it.

LECTIO — A phrase or word from Sacred Scripture.

MEDITATIO- In silence and solitude, reflect on this word and say it repeatedly. There are no right or wrong thoughts here (as long as they are focused on Christ). Let the ideas flow from reflecting on growing deeper in awareness (capacitas dei) to prayer for the Holy Spirit to “Let it be done according to God’s will.”

ORATIO– Pray that what you just heard by listening with the “ear of your heart” will allow you the stillness and steadfastness waiting for what the Holy Spirit shares with you.

CONTEMPLATION — For me, this is just waiting for the Holy Spirit to show up, realizing that, in that upper room of my inner self, the Holy Spirit has been waiting for me since before there was a before. I sit on the couch next to Christ with the energy of the Holy Spirit overshadowing me, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner. Thy will be done.”

ACTIO — The Holy Spirit is the personification of service or action. In the pure energy that is God, the Father and Son love each other,, and this produces divine energy. To use this analogy of our being made in God’s image, Christ and I (we) love each other, and this produces divine energy from which I can take a drink according to my capacity (capacitas dei) and capability (conversio morae). The Church, the living Body of Christ in Heaven and on Earth with Purgatory, is the energy of knowledge, love, and service. For all its warts, bruises, and seemingly incoherent ways through the centuries, it is filled with sinners, just like you and me. We need help and we have it. We need to learn what it means to be human, and we have that. We need to learn what it means to love fiercely or as Christ loved us, and we also have that. We need to know what is true (knowledge of the tree of good and evil), and we have to do is have the patience to wait for the Lord and be open to the ontic possibility of the manifest ability of all being and reality.

FRAGMENTS OF THOUGHTS FROM THE LEFTOVERS OF THESE TEN TECHNIQUES

No technique or Cistercian practice is an end in itself but only allows us to place ourselves in the occasion of grace whereby our hearts rest next to Christ.

Waiting in silence, stillness, solemnity, sacredness, and solitude is the anthesis of modern thinking with its stress of self-fulfillment of human needs.

As a Catholic, each of us must die to ourselves (grow ever deeper in our vertical spirituality), shedding the old skins to hold the new wine without sacrificing our tradition and heritage. I don’t mean just Roman Catholics but those who are part of the Catholic Universal Church. Outside the Church, there is no salvation.

Purgatory looms more and more reasonable for how all of this fits together. God judges the heart, just as the Ancient Egyptian God Anubis is depicted with a scale. On one side is the heart of a person, while on the other side, Anubis places a single, light feather. If the heart is as light as a feather, people can enter into the realm of the living again. What a wonderful thought about how God judges each of us, according to our works (knowledge, love, and service). Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:36 contain the core of what life is about or why we are here.

Our task is awareness of self, others, events, and service to others all related to that key to being fully human. If any of us die and don’t know or don’t care about God or Christ or haven’t received the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, God gives us a second chance with Purgatory. How good is that?

The more I discover what heaven is like now, while I live, the more I can enjoy all the linkages I make with goodness and what I want to pack for the journey to tomorrow. I make the limits of what my heaven will be. With God, there are no limits. With me, My Lay Cistercian Way helps me to grow daily in awareness and gratefulness that God would love “a wretch like me,” as the hymn Amazing Grace points out.

These ten tools go hand-in-hand with St. Benedict’s Tools for Good Works, Chapter 4 of the Rule of Benedict.

Eucharist is the ultimate prayer of Christ to the Father, the Last Supper becomes the food of angels (panis angelicus) and a key to overcoming the dense fog of the world for all things signed by the cross. Read

I am not only a man of constant sorrows, I must constantly forage into virgin territory with which I am unfamiliar or have never entered before. That is how I describe my Lectio Divina these days. I know that my Lectio is, and always will be,, the phrase in Philippians 2:5, “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus,” but I could never have envisaged how deep I could penetrate my humanity with the help of the Holy Spirit. It just happens each day and all I can do is hold on for the ride. And what a ride it is.

Critics, or probably more accurately, those who do not know what they do not know, keep throwing out what they consider arguments against anyone being able to grow in Christ Jesus, calling it fairy tales or what I made up from an overactive imagination. Whereas I used to get upset with that characterization, I now consider it a badge of honor. My Catholic Faith and the hypotheses I use to actually make sense out of my humanity as I meet each life situation is indeed a fairy tale, and yet, I make it all up. Do me a favor. Go back to the home page of this blog and look on the right-hand side of the page, where it lists all my blogs and fairy tale ideas. They go back to 2017 and are over one thousand (I lost count). My question is: Isn’t this a lot of stuff for fairy tales and where in the world would a broken-down, old Lay Cistercian get all these crazy ideas, except “out of this world.” I am a ghostwriter (Holy Ghost, that is).

MY FIRST AWARENESS

My latest foray into the realm of “fairy tales” has me sitting in the upper room of my inner self, looking around at who I am, where I am, what I am, why I am, how I am, and why I even bring up some seemingly unrelated topics such as the multi-faceted awareness. Like a Jewish gem cutter who has perfected his craft of diamond cutting over many years, my Lectio Divina began with my sitting down in Church and launching into what I thought Christ said in the Scriptures. I used the four steps of the Ladder of Contemplation religiously. After trying and mostly failing to do this every day, I became bored with the process and thought all this contemplative and meditative stuff was for the naive.

Like any habitual practice of spirituality, my humanity seeks the exceptional rather than its anthesis, the psychopathology of the normal, or martyrdom of everyday routine. What I resist in my earthly self, my spiritual self relishes “Silence, Solitude, Simplicity, Sharing, Sorbreity of Focus, and Serenity” are all products of the tools of good works, as indicated by St. Benedict, Chapter 4 of the Rule, but not an end in themselves. All of this leads to my realization that nothing depends on me in my Lectio Divina. I just sit in the presence of Christ, His heart to my heart, and wait. I do anything to make Christ present; Christ is present when I am aware that I am aware of the dynamics of humility.

My Lay Cistercian Way is a way of life that unfolds truth only in, with, and through Christ when I am in the presence of the Holy Spirit. This may or may not be during horizontal prayer (a specific time I carve out for Eucharist, Lectio Divina, Rosary, Reading Scripture, etc..). These Cistercian practices that I do over and over have a vertical dimension that increases as I increase my intensity of Faith through my belief that Christ is indeed present in multiple ways in my journey as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. (capacitas dei)

Try as I can with my humanity (the kingdom of the earth), I can’t make the jump from here to there (the kingdom of heaven on earth, much less the kingdom of heaven in heaven, later on as an extension of my adoption by the Father. My humanity does not possess the energy to lift itself up to that next level of our evolution. By myself, I don’t have the power needed.

MY SECOND AWARENESS

My human nature is made in the image and likeness of God (good), but because of the archetypal choice of Adam representing all humans with Eve, representing the mother of all humanity, I don’t know what it means to be human in my next level of evolution, I don’t know how to love fiercely, nor do I know what absolute truth is. In my lifetime, I make use of all the stimuli, events, trial and error, following saints and sinners to seek the answer to these three questions. My humanity alone gives me neither the questions nor the correct answers to this trio of conundrums.

MY THIRD AWARENESS

I am not the template that decides what is good or bad, even though I can choose anything good or bad. I can force others to believe what I do through verbal persuasion or force. This animalistic instinct of dominance is intrinsic to who I am and I must give it away if I am to discover any truth outside of myself. I have a lifetime to discover what is true and what the way is, and lead a life intended by my nature. I think I am the most powerful person in existence, and I am, but to be powerful according to my intended nature, I must give away what I think is good to embrace a view of reality totally the opposite of my inclinations to covet power.

MY FOURTH AWARENESS

Heaven is real, but so is Hell. Heaven is not the antithesis of Hell in the same way that God is not the antithesis of Satan. There are two finalities after we die: Heaven (with Purgatory being a second chance to make a first impression) and Hell. What is Hell? Here is one of many ways I see it. Is Satan and Hell cool?

While you live, Satan offers you plush accommodations at the swankiest golf country club with exclusive membership reserved for Presidents of Countries or politicians. You have unlimited food and drink at this golf club and have any escort you wish to pass the time. Your golfing clubs are of the highest quality, and caddies to tote any bags you use on the course. Satan Himself, a golf pro, is your personal golf pro, available every hour at your beck and call. All awaits you just saying YES to the best you can be. Oh yes, there is one slight wrinkle in the contract of membership. After you die, there are no golf balls allowed. Golf balls are only available in Heaven. How cool is that?

They’re indeed limits to my humanity. With Baptism as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father and in, with, and through Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. I have what I need to be what my nature intended. All I need to do is say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” uiodg

This website entitled Sensus Fidelium is jammed with great, short examples of those who have gone before us with the sign of peace. I offer this for you as a resource.

A Lay Cistercian reflects on spiritual reality with the totality of his life experiences.

As I mature in my daily attempts (and failures) to keep a profound focus on the most enigmatic and illusive concept in my Lectio Divina, I use all the tricks in the book. To be honest, I only have one trick, and that is to just sit in the presence of pure energy (God) and wait. That waiting is what focus is all about, for my human nature seeks to have an attention span of ten seconds before the temptation to move on to something that I think is more meaningful. This sloughing over all these topics that seem so esoteric is a sign that I am not focused at all. Some days, admittedly, are better than others.

This theme of “growing deeper” as I sit in a place surrounded by the silence and solitude of just waiting is “capacitas dei,” the almost imperceptible movement forward but at the same time gaining depth, is one of my key quests in contemplative practice. I need help, not only from the Holy Spirit but using the tools that I have been gifted purposefully and consciously forward (horizontal spiritual growth) and in complexity (vertical spiritual contemplation). Here are five such tools among the many that I find helpful for me to probe the darkness of the inner sanctum of my inner self, the place no one wants to look.

I. THE DIVINE TEMPLATE

The problem with my human instincts from the world is to fill up all those holes left unattended and unfilled in my life. Moving on from topic to topic until I find something that will amuse me or cause me to watch it on television, is called channel hopping. This is the side of me that is a secular humanist. Like Pavlov or B.F. Skinner, I choose what makes me happy and fulfilled, what titillates the senses and causes me to have a flush of lust. The filler for my holes in life can be those that come from my life experiences or they can be the combination of my life experience with those of Christ’s. Christ is the only Way, the only Truth, and the only Life that fills my humanity as nature intended.

When I died to my false self, first in Baptism and then later on in life as a Lay Cistercian, each day, each hour, I put on the new wedding garment of an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, and, make a commitment to act as a disciple of The Christ. It is the struggle between these two sides of me that is like a daily battle to see if one side wins or loses. I am not saying that being human is immoral or bad, but individuals can and do bad things, bad to God’s morality and Way. To choose Christ is to pick up my cross daily and follow Christ. In plain language, if I want God in my life I must choose to put him there as opposed to the default of my human nature, the citizen of the World. Because I am an adopted son (daughter) who also lives in the condition of Original Sin, I am affected by those effects, causing me to choose either my own will or God’s will.

As a Lay Cistercian practicing the Cistercian Way as I understand it, abandonment each day to God’s will is not the default of my humanity but takes an act of the will, one which demands I rise above my human nature and die to self, an idea totally foreign and fantasy to those who only have one citizenship. My realization is that the sign of contradiction in the Christ Principle shows me that just being a secular humanist, good as that is, won’t lift me up to the next level of my evolution, to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven and heir to what that is.

If I want love somewhere, I must put it there. This is not the secular love that Erich Fromm spoke about in his book, The Art of Loving, although these authentic characteristics of love he mentions form the basis of what I consider love to be in the spiritual universe. The problem is, that love in the secular world is different from love in the kingdom of heaven. Christ tells us “I give you peace, but not as the world gives it.” This love is raised to the level of our highest human intelligence progression and possesses the divine energy to lift us up, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to be what we have proclaimed ourselves to be, sons and daughters of the Father. The peace that Christ gives, and what we share at each Eucharist in “the sign of peace” is not the absence of conflict within us but the presence of His love which we give to each other.

Being a Catholic is not easy because it takes profound focus on being an adopted son and daughter and constantly being worthy of adoption. To help us out, Christ gives his very self, body, blood, soul, and divinity to us in the Eucharist and bids us to love others as He has loved us. Because of original sin and its effects to drag us down to our animal roots, we must seek mercy and forgiveness daily but also through the Church Universal in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. These sacraments of milestones for us to traverse the minefields of our lives without being maimed or killed. Christ not only gives us the TRUTH but also the LIFE, so that we can trudge our unique WAY with all the help we need. The cross is our sign that we are followers of the Master, our Magister Noster (Our Teacher), who did not promise us cotton candy as food, but to use what each of us has gleaned from a lifetime of trying to discover what it means to be human, what it means to love, and what is the purpose of life. The Christ Principle gathers all reality unto Himself and transforms it from just secular humanity to adoption as His very own disciples, his friends. Jesus tells us that if we deny ourselves and transform ourselves into that adopted son or daughter (each one of us being unique and different) he will be a friend for us before the Father. Read John 17 to the end. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/17

MY CORE

Can you drink the cup that I drink?

This is my life and describes my reality.

I live in three separate and distinct universes, all one, yet three dimensions. For each of the three universes, I ask the question, “What do you see?” and wait for the answer.

THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE – This is what I can see and only what I observe. No meaning here. It is a cup, wood, colors, window, blurry background.

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE – Using this photo of a cup and window, my mind, housing the totality of all my human experiences so far, can look at this cup and ask the question, “What does this mean?” I answer with what I alone can give–the sum of my choices and their consequences. This is the citizenship of the world. The cup is my life, the window means I look outside for something outside of myself that is murky. The brown wood is simple and stark.

THE SPIRITUAL UNIVERSE- For the third time, I look at this photo (or any of the photos) and ask, “What does it mean with The Christ Principle as the center of my life?” I live in three universes, not just two. This third universe fulfills my humanity by answering the questions posed by my second universe.

REFLECTIONS

• There must always be something or someone that is the key to whatever you measure yourself against.
• As Magister Noster, I choose Christ as the Principle from which all reality flows and into which all meaning emanates.
• I am free to select whatever center I think captures the meaning of life for me. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us; and we, most certainly, are not God.
• Render to God what is God’s and to human that which is human.
• No human has either the capacity or the capability to know God as He is. What humans can experience in the whispers of God is what God is like. Jesus, being both God and Human, came to actually TELL us how the Old Testament fulfilled the coming of the Messiah, but also to SHOW us how to meander through the minefields of life without getting destroyed by the false promises of the World. (Philippians 2:5-12)
• I use this Rule of Three (one reality with three distinct universes) as a way to link all reality together in a coherent pattern or theme.

WHAT DO YOU SEE? For the first answer to “What do you see?” I use scientific inquiry. I see what is there with what my senses and my intelligence tell me is there, nothing more. I see a dark brown foreground of the window upon which sits a white cup. The window sill looks old and weather-beaten, even though it is on the inside of what must be a shelter of some sort. It looks very worn and used. There is an old window that appears it have been in the rain because it is foggy and difficult to see through. I see what looks like a green landscape on the other side of the window, but it is not clear. All I can see are images. There is light on the other side of the window while the interior is very dark and rough looking.

My Life

The second time I asked the question, “What do you see?” I am using the physical plus the mental universes to grow deeper. This means I look at not only what is there but what it means to me. I use my reason and free will to separate out meaning from physical existence. Both are there, contained in one reality. Why is the background in the picture blurred? Is my life blurred, too?

The third time I asked the question, “What do you see?” I added the spiritual dimension. Now I see the physical universe and what is, the mental universe and why it is, or “what does it mean for me?” But, because I have been adopted by the Father in Baptism, I am given access to a deeper dimension of my humanity, that of looking at both physical and mental universes with the template provided by The Christ Principle. This is the big WHY. Of course, those who do not think there is a spiritual universe think this is so much la-la land. They are correct. The foolishness of God is wiser than all the wisdom of all humans combined.

Now, I use this photo to give me a visual representation of my life, and the context of the physical universe, using scientific inquiry, the depths of meaning and hope in that lone cup in the window of my life, straining to see what is only the other side but only looking as through a foggy glass, as St. Paul states. Christ alone through the energy of the Holy Spirit, allows me to take these two universes (physical and mental) and move to the deepest level of my humanity, one which allows me to view life with the purpose for which I was created, “to know, love and serve God in this world, and to be happy with God in the next.” (Baltimore Catechism, Question 6). It is in this spiritual universe that I can access what my human reasoning alone is incapable of reaching by itself, how the contradiction has become the principle, how the exception has become the rule, how Christ, the cornerstone, rejected by the builders, has become the cornerstone.

I use this Rule of Threes most often when I look out at reality. One reality, three distinct dimensions, each one with different purposes and different ways to access it. It is in this context that I find myself using Lectio Divina and other Lay Cistercian practices. The more I voluntarily place myself in the presence of this pure energy, this One God having three distinct persons, I grow accordingly. This is called capacitas dei, or Christ must increase and I must decrease. It costs no money but only takes my free will and places God’s will as my priority, thus fulfilling what nature intended my nature to be before The Fall.

II. THE BURDEN OF DUAL CITIZENSHIPS

I have two citizenships but only one center. My center, since 1962, has been Philippians 2:5, “Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” I have had two births, and perhaps three. One is my physical birth into the physical universe. Because I have human reasoning, I must acquire within myself what it means to be human.

The next citizenship is voluntary and lifts me up to be an adopted son (daughter) through Baptism. Each day becomes a new chance to be aware of my center and my relationship with God.

The third one is my realization that I wanted to live out my Faith using Cistercian practices and charisms. This is the Cistercian Way and I have been accepted as a Professed Lay Cistercian by the Abbot of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) in Conyers, Georgia. This third way to seek what it means to be fully human has been the key to my seeking and finding answers to the question: How does it all fit together?

This dual citizenship is a way for me to address the three questions I must answer in order to move forward in my growth of what it means to be fully human. This is the Genesis Principle as found in the book of the same name.

1. What does it mean to be human, to fulfill what nature intended by our intelligent progression?
2. What does it mean to love authentically as nature intended?
3. What is true? How do I know what is good and what is evil? Who determines what is good or evil in my life?

As I mentioned earlier, Erich Fromm holds that humans are not born knowing how or what love is. Life is a search for meaning, as Viktor Frankl observed when he was in a Nazi prison camp, and those who have hope survived, while those for whom hope was an illusion, lost the will to live. He wrote of this experience in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Both of these books had an impact on how I view all reality fitting together.

The life of anyone signed with the cross at Baptism means that there will be struggles throughout the time you are alive to keep yourself centered. It is no wonder that Christ came to show us how to take up our cross daily and sustain ourselves amid physical, mental, and moral chaos that surrounds us like military training for being gassed. In this, analogy, gas is the condition in which we find ourselves. With Baptism, we receive a gas mask to use. Some know how to use it, while others do not. Our training comes from Christ, our Magister Noster, who walks the way of the cross so that we might discover the truth about how to get to heaven and thus receive our inheritance of profound love, profound knowledge, and also profound service. This is significant for my spiritual walk because it only comes from one source, a divine nature, that I can never fully appreciate, but to which I am invited as one with human nature, elevated by the redeeming help of The Christ Principle to be what my nature naturally intended. This is the dual citizenship or what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the cost of discipleship. I call it the martyrdom of the ordinary because, while our dual citizenships are one to the visible eye, they are mundane and not exciting, a ploy from our Great Accuser to get us to deny Christ. Instead, as a Lay Cistercian, I renounce that earthly citizenship and die to self only to realize that is abandoning all, I receive the fullness of what it means to be human, that next step in my evolution, the reason for my existence. It is only when I freely and consciously offer to God my humanity in humility and obedience that Christ lifts me up to the next level of my humanity, that of an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. I must do this daily to survive the lure of the Devil, who goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

III. THE COSMIC VIEW OF THE MOVEMENT OF REALITY INTO COMPLEXITY

My third way of seeking God each day in whatever comes my way is to give a context to this template of The Divine Equation. Speaking just for myself, the map of Teilhard de Chardin, Jesuit Paleontologist, and Cosmologist, has just opened up a new dimension of depth to my already deeper penetration into the Christ Principle. Like all scientific inquiry, today’s discoveries are not tomorrow’s research conclusions, mainly because our technologies allow us to expand our exploration of physical reality using new concepts and the cumulative effect of research. If you go back to the first concept, that of three distinct universes and one reality, this parallel becomes a way to view reality from a macro viewpoint, a cosmic map, if you will, of the evolution of the physical universe (matter, time, energy, space) but also the mental universe (new ideas about the physical universe because we know more to be able to probe ever deeper into what makes us tick. There is the interdependence of the physical universe with the mental universe. Because of humans’ capacity to learn and ask interrogatory questions, our technology has expanded exponentially, allowing the mind to grow ever deeper into penetrating the mysteries of the cosmos. But does evolution just end with the physical universe and the mental universe’s search for meaning? Depends.

In my understanding of Teilhard de Chardin’s concept of movement and complexity moving from creation to what he terms Omega, there is progressive intelligence, beginning with creation. I like this idea as a way to view the physical, mental, and spiritual universes as all having movement and complexity. If I just view reality as having two universes (physical and mental), then I limit myself to that next opportunity to expand my evolution to its next and logical evolution. Science uses these two universes as they should be to look at reality now and in the past to see how it is composed and its purpose. My Lay Cistercian Way looks at the physical and mental universes as giving me the capability and capacity to enter a new (spiritual) universe that seems to be at odds with the physical and mental ones. This next step in our human evolution is forward, and science can help but not completely answer how to do that.

In the second way of looking at reality, which I term dual citizenship, those who can’t discover how to make the jump from physicality and mentality to spirituality, can only see so much. For them, and I might add, rightly so, they see spirituality as so much opinion and fairy tales, like Santa Claus. My view of what reality looks like takes all that is good and true from the physical and mental universes (scientific inquiry is good, not evil) to move beyond that limited view of reality to one that includes the scope that uses measurements and assumptions not verified by the citizenship of the world. This is why the late Stephen Hawking (he is just an example) could not look at the cup you see in the first template and look beyond the level of physical properties, and then mental properties of meaning and application to the questions:

• What is the purpose of life?
• What is my purpose within that purpose?
• What does reality look like?
• How does it all fit together?
• How can I love fiercely?
• I know I am going to die; now what?

The tools to discover both questions and the answers do not come from human reasoning alone, because humanity does not have the mental energy to grasp what is going on. To see a universe that exists now that has its roots in the present but exists in the future is indeed a fairy tale unless you have the Divine Equation to unlock the next dimension of our human evolution, that of being adopted by the Father as sons and daughter destined for something our human reason thinks is unreasonable and can’t quite see it with reason alone. Look back at the first segment, where it shows the cup. When I look at the cup, I see three distinct levels of reality, the same thing I do daily in real life.

IV. THREE QUESTIONS WE ARE NOT BORN WITH BUT MUST USE OUR REASON AND FREE CHOICE TO MOVE TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF OUR INTELLIGENT PROGRESSION.

The first three of these tools have a core against which you measure the validity and authenticity of life; the dual citizenship with which we can translate what is good from what is not suitable for us and nature, not human reasoning alone, intended; the map that gives direction and purpose to the macro version (my 83 years, so far, is the micro version) of the Divine Equation. I use all the previous steps to help me move ever so slowly but cumulatively toward becoming deeper and deeper into whatever awaits me in my encounters with the Holy Spirit.

Using the Teilhard map of the “spine of reality,” another level, the fourth tool, allows me to seek solutions to three questions that all humans must answer with the totality of their accumulated learning, the purpose of life, and values that endure.

1. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?
2. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LOVE FOR ME?
3. WHAT IS TRUE? WHO CHOOSES WHAT IS GOOD AND EVIL?

I share with you some of my reflections on these three core questions that will lead me to discovering in the next level of my human evolution.

I recognize that creation has milestones in its intelligent progression (movement) toward becoming more and more complex as it collectively gathers knowledge about what reality looks like and how it all fits together. The crucible in which all my life experiences are gathered and melded into one reality is my reason and ability to say YES or NO to what I think is meaningful to my humanity as I live out my allotted time on earth. This is the one and only center of my life. It is like trying to balance a chair on one prong. It takes skill to balance it, but it must be the correct chair, and I must constantly keep it balanced and not allow it to fall. If I do, and I assure you, I must start over again and make all things new again. Each human finds themselves on this line of reality in various conditions and social conditions. Each of us interacts not only with the complexity of an ever more sophisticated humanity but also with the movement individually and as part of humanity as a process.

IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN

Like Erich Fromm’s book, The Art of Loving, I also share his idea that we come into this world with a tabula rasa (our cupboard is bare, and our book of life experiences is blank). Without a book of life experiences or infused knowledge from the previous genitors, I must face life’s challenges and experiences armed with my human reason (at the start of its interaction with the environment) to determine who I am. I am not at the point of even asking that question, nor, if I did, could I answer it with the limited contexts in which my trial and error has provided me with good or bad choices. I act and react against my parents, siblings, and friends to give me space to intellectually breathe and find my space. My space is mine, not yours, a holdover from our ancient distant ancestors. I don’t like being told what to do if I don’t like it. I am not my brothers or sisters. All this plays out in the physical and mental universes without much interference from choices or their inevitable consequences. Good choices for me and those bad for me are more evidently visible. To deal with the unseen and invisible has always been the Achilles heel of science and strictly secular thinking (what is real is what you can see, and no one can tell you what to do {except your wife}).

• I was human when I was twenty-five and knew everything was different from my present age of 83, and I don’t even know what I don’t know.
• Life is a process of becoming. What that is depends on perspective. Perspective depends on what assumptions I make about life. I get these assumptions by testing my reason using my free will to discover what is good or bad for me by trial and error.
• My humanity seems endless in its capability and scalability. There is one catch. I must give up my humanity to jump to the next level of my intelligent design. It does not come automatically, as does my physical evolution. Regarding the Teilhard map, this step means my humanity can evolve just so far until I bump up against that next step, the Pneumosphere. I have reason and the ability to choose as a human being precisely so I can choose to abandon myself or die to self and so choose a reality outside of myself to die to my former merely physical and mental self to take on the mantle of an adopted son or daughter of the Father and thus heir to the kingdom of heaven. Heaven, then, begins from the moment of my Baptism, when God, through, with, and in Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit, lifted me up from being just a human being confined to the physical and mental world of my making, to that of one who throws open the doors of knowledge, love, and service to embrace that which nature had intended all along. Adam and Eve (the prototype of humanity) chose themselves rather than use the power of a force outside themselves, one that did not lead to fulfillment but dead-ended in being stagnant in their intelligent progression.
• Jesus, the second Adam (Romans 5), took on our nature to live all humanity up to reach that next plateau of evolution, the spiritual universe. This step is not automatic, although there is potential for each human to claim adoption. In Baptism, God chooses me and gives me adoption but also the tools I need in life to persevere in the minefields of being merely a human without spirituality. The Eucharist (Christ’s own Body and Blood for food for the journey) and the Forgiveness of Sins (making all things new) are distributed by the Holy Spirit through the Body of Christ to me so that I can daily convert my life from being an incomplete human being to that which was intended by nature all along. Evolution is not just in the physical and mental universes but also leads me to have the possibility to grow ever deeper in what it means to be human as nature intended.
• The point is, I must learn how to be human amid the pitfalls of human thinking that seek to limit me to see and be only a citizen of the earth rather than move from that state to one of higher (but still human) intelligent progression. My destiny, on the Teihard map, is Omega or a terminal existence in the future in terms of temporal time but actually exists right now in the NOWness of what I choose as good for me.
• As a Lay Cistercian using Cistercian practices and charisms as I know them, I abandon all the tools and tomfoolery of the world (earth) to die to myself each day so that I might continuously move deeper into the mystery of what it means to be human. Because of my context in original sin, that foggy mist of corruption and temptation to have me as the center of my life, I might be seduced by the charm of thinking that life is all about me, which it is. The paradox of life is that, according to Christ, we must give up our lives to reach the next level of our destiny, the kingdom of heaven. When I think of Christ being a Savior, this is the concept I think is most important. I have THE OPTION to abandon my will to give it as a gift to the Father in exchange for receiving everything and becoming incorruptible.
• The process of my movement towards more complexity is automatic. I can only evolve so far by my human intelligence and choices. When I give up my free will, totally unhuman thinking, I not only gain the next level of my human evolution, adoption as a son or daughter, but I begin to prepare to live in the kingdom of heaven in heaven by collecting how to live authentically in the kingdom of heaven on earth, until I forfeit this body for a glorified one (whatever it means).
• Learning to be more human means using intelligent design as intended by the flow of complexity and consciousness to consciously make a choice that I can’t move to that next level of existence by myself. I need help.
• This first quest to be human is all about knowledge beyond my powers, but not with the help of Christ and the Holy Spirit (my two advocates). Regarding progressive consciousness, knowledge alone is insufficient for me to be fully human, as was Christ. I need more. Fortunately, two other questions need to be confronted and answered with the totality of what I have accumulated in my lifetime to answer question one, “What does it mean to be human?”

IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT LOVE MEANS

Humans, according to Erich Fromm, in his book, The Art of Loving, states that we are not born knowing how to love. Our species alone can love and accept love as the purpose of why we are here. Using the Teilhard map, I see love as having a movement of complexity from the instincts of primate animals through Adam and Eve to my time on Earth. There are three dimensions, which I based on the Rule of Threes (see above).

LOVE AS PHYSICAL

The big myth of those who are sin-centered is that all love is sinful. Not so. God made humans good, but humans chose poorly and wanted to be equal to God (being able to determine what is a good or bad choice for themselves). All creation has physical love as part of its natural progression. In this universe, I exist along with other objects or living things.

Characteristics

• Like everything in this universe, I don’t have a choice but to obey the laws of the physical universe. Everything has a beginning and an ending.
• Life is a progression of movement from what was to what will be within that beginning and ending.
• Life has a way of passing on energy and matter as it progresses towards its maturation.
• Love is not just a human construct but at the very core of what it means to physically exist.
• Love is present as matter becomes more complex in its accumulation of needs.
• Love is procreation, where all existence seeks to not only exist but to replicate that complexity with a more profound desire to reach its destiny.
• Love, in this sense, means, as a human being with awareness of what is going on, I have been allowed to move deeper into the mystery of my human existence and not only horizontally (from creation to Omega, as the Teilhard map shows), but for me personally, vertically. I am one in this universe with all matter, and love is the energy that encapsulates all physical energy through its inexorable movement and complexity toward an unseen destiny for its occupants.
• Everything in this universe is good. Human nature is fundamentally good by nature but weakened and wounded by the misuse of the natural outcome. I call that original sin, the condition of missing the mark or not fulfilling our humanity as originally intended.
• The physical universe contains all that was, or all that is now. Humans are a part of this because none of us just popped into existence from nothing. Everything came from something. I am inexorably linked to everything that came before me. I inherit the combined energy and matter of everything that went before me. Who I am is a direct result of all that is. A wonderful website that illustrates my ideas is http://www.organism.earth. Teilhard de Chardin, the Jesuit Anthropologist, is mentioned in the various quotes from those with a universal scope of thinking.
• This is the universe that seeks to replicate itself. Humans, as part of it, have one of their strongest urges as a result of that innate tendency. Humans share that with all other life forms. When I look out at the universe from the beginning to what I hope the ending is, as a single life force, I notice that it has the characteristics of complexity as it matures toward its destiny. I am like a molecule in the grand scheme of reality but an important one. I am one of the molecules that knows that it knows. I have the capacity and the capability to realize that I exist in the midst of where I find myself during my short, 83+ years of human existence. I can know, I can love, and fulfill my purpose in life, unlike anything before me. I am a new paradigm as a human species, but there is always more to life than just existence. I can move to the next stage of love, that of being human. This is no accident of nature because nature has been preprogrammed, just as my individual DNA is the script from which I live out my unique purpose within the parameters of space, time, and matter.
• In this universe, I share matter, time, space, and the characteristics of matter with all else that is.

LOVE AS MENTAL

Using the Teilhard map (above), there are at least five steps, or paradigm changes that my humanity makes to allow me to love.

• Creation– Love begets love in all creation
• Life– Life sustains love by replication
• Human– Humanity sustains love through procreation but also by distinguishing authentic love from unauthentic love (as indicated in Erich Fromm’s book, the Art of Loving)
• Christ– Humanity is lifted up to the next stage of its evolution by Pure Knowledge, Pure Love, and Pure Service
• Holy Spirit– (The enigma of the Church, the enlightenment to see the way, the truth, and the life and fulfill the three questions each human must confront, whether they realize it or not. I claim 83 years of this stage, so far, as I prepare for the completion of my human existence.
• Omega– the fulfillment and completion of the cycle of love is eternal and completes the final stage of human evolution, adoption as sons and daughters of the Father, and existence without boundaries of beginning or end.

I hold that humanity not only made these steps consistent with the movement and complexity given by God’s DNA onto matter and began its movement (time), but that at the nexus of each step, existence did not possess the energy to lift itself up to the next step, but needed help. At each of these critical steps, God, being the author of all that is, lifted us up to that next level of evolution and allowed nature to continue its flow unblocked by its own powerlessness.

I hold that God infused reason and free will into my prototype (Adam and Eve) when humanity could not make that high step by itself and needed help. Genesis is the archetypal story of how that happened using anthropomorphic representation (e.g., the garden, God walks in the garden as owner, Adam and Eve are gardeners to keep all living things as they should be according to their nature).

Because Adam and Eve chose poorly, humanity was good by nature but wounded by the choices they made and by not knowing what was good or bad for them. They now had to choose what would help them or hurt them as they acted out the experiences of their lives. This choice of what love is is the basis for what it means to be human, but also what it means to be an adopted son or daughter of the Father. Without having God’s absolute truth to shine a light on where to step, humanity keeps stumbling down the evolutionary path of its progression. With God’s help, which entails admitting to ourselves that we don’t know it all, we reach out to the future and say, “Be it done unto me, according to your Word.” The Blessed Mother said it more succinctly, when she told us, “Do what he tells you.”

Because God’s fingerprints are on each atom, and they move toward Omega, the purpose of their nature, the choice becomes the key to not only being human as we know it but the one thing over which God has no control. Why? Because God created us in that DNA with God’s image and likeness. Image (knowledge, love, and service) and likeness (Father loves the Son, and together they love the Holy Spirit, the product of their love.)This is our template for the kingdom of heaven and why Christ had to come to tell us HOW to do that as He would show us.

Characteristics

• If everything in the physical universe is good because of its source, the mental universe, with its unique components of human reasoning and freedom to choose good or evil for its nature, then we discover an unintended consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. Sin. This condition is crucial to understanding what it means to be human and also the meaning of love.
• Sin comes into the world through one man, says St. Paul in Romans 5. With the mental universe comes choice, that defining quality that makes the mental universe unique among living things. To restore humans to their rightful progress there needs to be a use of free will where the individual chooses God for God and not themselves, as did Adam and Eve.
• Humans have reason and choice for a reason. We move beyond automatic love as in the physical universe where there is no choice, to a whole new nature, human, which now must learn the meaning of what it means to love as one who has all the emotions and insecurities of what it means to love authentically.
• Humans don’t like others telling them what to do, but we all seek to tell others what to do based on what we think is good for us. Herein is the dilemma.
• Based merely on secular thinking, the fundamental authority for deciding what love is is me. And where do I get my assumptions about what is good or evil? From the life experiences that have shaped who I am and who I will become.
• In this context, I feel a powerful urge to procreate and satisfy the body’s need to feel good. I am the source of what it means to control my human instincts and impulses.
• Human nature as wounded by the poor choice of Adam and Eve is considered to be that citizen of the Earth or the World, as mentioned above. God does not have a place in the human consciousness unless I alone put God there. There can be love, as described by Erich Fromm, in The Art of Loving, but it is merely human love with humans (imperfect mental energy). There must be a way to move beyond authentic love as a human to stretch out our collective hand to that next level of human evolution. Just as a football game cannot end with a flag, human nature, and its search for meaning, cannot end with dysfunction of its human nature. Human nature cannot fix itself, it needs to move beyond that step which it cannot take and seek help to take the next step. Why the next step? Movement doesn’t stop; Complexity doesn’t stop. It just can’t move beyond its own boundaries set by human nature.
• We have the physical universe, which we share with all reality, as well as the mental one, which all humans share, although not equally, to allow all humans the chance to move to the final stage of attainment.
• The mental universe allows humans to ask interrogatory questions about purpose and meaning.
• Human love is not automatic, nor is spirituality. It is one of many choices that each human makes as they accumulate meaning into what forms their unique view of reality. Some choices help us to become more human as our nature intended and others can kill our progress. God sends Jesus to show us what leads to our destiny in Omega, in heaven by helping our walk on earth. There is one problem. We have to give up all we know, all we love, and all that is success in our human self (false self) to abandon what is to accept God’s way of thinking. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to the human reason nor the coveted ability to choose and say YES or NO to anything.
• Along those same lines, when the rich young man asked Jesus what he must do to be saved, Jesus told him he had to go, sell all he had, give it to the poor, and come follow him. He walked away, and I imagine so do most of us who hear these words. Consider this “deeper” penetration into the concept of being perfect.
• Jesus does not ask the impossible of humans to move forward in their daily conversion of heart and mind to God. He merely says, “Do what I do.” Mary echoed that sentiment when, at the Wedding Feast of Cana, she told the incredulous wine steward, “Do what he tells you.” Applied to the notion of selling what you have, giving it to the poor, and following Christ, the assumption that I have had is that He means physical riches of the world, such as money. Somehow, that doesn’t make sense, unless Jesus wants only a handful of people to make the cut. Rather, I sense something larger at work here, an approach that Jesus, Himself, uses but also one in which he wants each one of his followers to adopt, a mindset, if you will, for growing deeper in adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father. Philippians 2:5-12 provides a contextual hint to this process which is called kenosis in Greek but means emptying the jug of water completely to the last drop. Another word, made relevant by St. Charles de Foucauld, is “abandonment,” the leaving behind of those things that we think make us more human in favor of moving to a whole new paradigm, the kingdom of heaven on earth which leads to the kingdom of heaven in heaven. When Christ tells the rich young man to give up his riches, he is actually telling him not to place riches at the center of his life, but rather, by abandoning all that the world says is meaningful and renewing it with what God’s purpose is for humans, there is a new skin to hold the new wine Christ gives us each day.
• Some call this a “leap of Faith,” while others call it conversio morae. It is the fairy tale that atheists taunt Christians with unaware that they are throwing them into the briar patch where they are destined to survive.

LOVE AS SPIRITUAL

The spiritual universe is the natural result of an intelligent progression (see Teilhard map). If the physical universe asks the question, “What does reality look like?” then the mental universe allows humans to probe the meaning of the physical universe using reason and free choice. It is left for the spiritual universe to provide the answers to these two milestones of creation, life, and humanity. But, therein lies the problem. The hiccup in reality is the sin of Adam and Eve, or the exception becoming the rule, so to speak.

Humans are born into a state of original sin, or a condition of imperfection, subject to the floundering of their reasoning and free choices being influenced by our animal past. We have the seven deadly sins as default rather than being free from struggle or a smooth path to our intended destiny in heaven (Omega or the completion of reality). Each person’s pathway is different because of what they place at their center and the choices they make as a result of their reasoning. The default is not automatically God but rather whatever human reasoning conjures up as that ultimate solution to ethics and morals. The curse of choice is that everyone has it and must give a YES or NO to anything that leads to a better future. The options are vast and complex, ranging from unbelief (apathy) to atheism (denying God) to believers of Christianity, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and multiple other ways of describing the purpose of life. If all of them are correct, then none of them are correct, a veritable Tower of Bable, all jostling to prove they are correct to others. “My god can beat your god,” is the mantra of the righteous, yet there can be only one truth.

This notion of spirituality is my own and is informed by the events and testing reality during my time on earth. I can change my position and have done so many times, based on new wine that has come my way. My task in life is to make new skins through conversio morae (movement forward) and capacitas dei, (moving forward) by constantly increasing my capacity for what is by using the way, the truth, and life from a source outside of my human experience.

To get there is a bit of a conundrum. I can only access the city of God (citizenship in heaven on earth and later on in heaven) by dying to self, or as St. Benedict instructs in RB 4:10 to “renounce yourself in order to follow Christ.” Humans don’t like to think of tempering their emotions and rerouting their free will to accept God as the arbiter of truth, absolute truth. Returning to the Tower of Babel, choice becomes a problem because each human has their own religion, their own center of morality. So many religions that say, “Follow me, I am the truth.” What should we believe? You have a reason for a reason, so use it. You also can choose a spirituality that fits what you reason, so be careful what you wish for and test it in and out of season.

The meaning of love, in my experience, might be expressed by three concepts:

1. GOD IS LOVE. As far as I can tell, our purpose on earth is tied up with how I discover what love is and what it means to be human and what is good and evil. We are made in the image and likeness of God. When God, the Word, imprinted his DNA on each atom and molecule, reality gained purpose and direction, or as Teilhard’s map suggests, complexity and movement (KNOWLEDGE). When Christ bought back our “happy fault,,” and restored our humanity to its potential, that was LOVE. When the Holy Spirit, through the Church, facilitates energy to each age through my free-will offering to the Father of gratitude, in, with, and through Christ, I gain the energy I need to sustain my adoption as a son or daughter of the Father on my journey to Forever.
2. CHRIST IS LOVE MADE FLESH. Philippians 2:5-12 is my favorite passage, not only because I have it as my center, but because it tells me that the spiritual love that I seek is pure energy, and this pure energy is alive. St. Paul gives a hint as to this energy. Listen to this with the “ear of your heart.” The Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration are two ways the love of Christ is made present in each age. He is not the God of invisibility but did not hesitate to become flesh in the person of Jesus Christ but more importantly for me, He is here right now. The Lay Cistercian Way helps me to be present to Christ in ways that were always there but which I have not become aware exist. Christ first loved me so that I could return it to others.

Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus,^*

6Who,^* though he was in the form of God,^d

did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.^*

7Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness;^*

and found human in appearance,^e

8he humbled himself,^f

becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.^*

9Because of this, God greatly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name^*

that is above every name,^g

10that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,^*

of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,^h

11and every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord,^*

to the glory of God the Father.ⁱ

3. LOVE IS SHARING THE GOD IN YOU WITH OTHERS

The wonderful passage in St. Paul provides much food for thought.

1 Corinthians

1 If I speak in human and angelic tongues^* but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.^a

2 And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.^b

3 If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.^c

4^* Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,^d

5 it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,^e

6 it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.

7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.^f

8^* Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

9 For we know partially and we prophesy partially,

10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11 When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

12 At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.^g

13^* So faith, hope, love remain, these three;^h but the greatest of these is love.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/13

Characteristics

• I feel love when I think of Mary’s Magnificat.
• I feel loved when Mary wraps her mantle of humility and obedience to the will of the Father around me in silence and solitude
• God has chosen me, I have not chosen God. Jesus loved me first so we could know what spiritual love is. The Holy Spirit is now with me as I see the love of Christ as not what the world offers, as good as that is sometimes.
• Love is contemplation in the upper room of my heart where there is only me and my two Advocates.
• Love is longing to be present with Jesus, Mary, Joesph, and St. Michael when there is confusion of thoughts and the temptation to replace Jesus with Satan.
• Love is saying the words, Jesus is Lord, when thoughts become lustful, prideful, hateful, duplicitous, and vengeful.
• Love is reading Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict every day, “and listening with the ear of the heart.”
• Love is being aware that heaven is my real home and that I am grateful for adoption as the son (daughter) of the Father.
• Love as Christ wants us to practice it is not the default and automatic fallback for my behavior. I must choose Love to make it present.

III. WHAT IS TRUE? WHO CHOOSES WHAT IS GOOD AND EVIL?

The haunting remnants of our humanity are all tied up with choice and my personal assimilation of behaviors into what is collectively called “What makes me be me?” Some choices I make are good for me and some are bad for me? During a lifetime, I pick up more and more clues as to what makes sense of good and evil and also how to change, if I have gone down the wrong path.

I am the final arbiter of what is good or bad for me, depending on the center I have selected to be my template. My investigations into choice have led to the conclusion that I choose what I think is best for me, based on the center I have selected as the key to meaning. In some cases, I have selected the wrong center, such as power, money, fame, adulation, or lust. I can keep my center sustained depending on how strongly I believe it makes me happy or fulfilled. In one sense, what is true is my choice and I have the final say in what makes me, me. There are consequences to my actions, such as physical or spiritual depression with the effect that center has on me. If I choose drugs is THE truth, all my thoughts and cravings go into making that happen in my life, even with disastrous consequences.

But there is a more authentic and less traveled way for me, one where I must control my human tendencies to self-indulgence. I choose the template or the key that is truth outside of myself, one which is at odds with my feelings and seemingly lacks reasonableness. I have to give up my humanity to possess the next level of my humanness. I become a citizen of the spiritual world, a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, and constantly at odds with my citizenship in the world. I must constantly choose what I know to be right rather than give in to my animalistic tendencies (false self).

As a conservator of truth, I give away my will to self-gratification in favor of the rocky road of absolute truth, one that has its authority in divine nature. This is absolutely truth, absolutely, and admits no change. Christ is the same now, tomorrow, and forever. The caveat of this way of abandonment of personal truth in favor of a way that is truth and leads to life is that I am always besieged by the influences of original sin to slip and slide down the slope of recidivism to my former false self. Original sin is my default and I must continuously choose good over evil each moment I can think about it, or suffer the consequences of backsliding on my Faith. I use personal choice to choose what God tells me will allow me to fulfill my humanity rather than what my animalistic tendencies urge me to do. These are the seven deadly sins and the virtues that help to contain them. https://www.goodcatholic.com/your-guide-to-the-seven-deadly-sins/

V. PROBING VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT IN SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

HORIZONTAL MOVEMENT IN SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

There are two dimensions of my Lay Cistercian spirituality that I have just recently uncovered or rediscovered. There is a horizontal dimension, consistent with the Teilhard Map called movement, and a vertical one, which he calls complexity, both of which comprise my concept of intelligent design.

Vertical Lay Cistercian Awareness –– I use the term “Lay Cistercian” in my awareness to designate how Lectio Divina and the Cistercian practices and core competencies have been at the center of both my movement forward in time (from here to there) but also how I have matured spiritually in place (like aging in place). I realize that vertical awareness is mine and mine alone to capture. It is the sum total of who I am and who I am meant to be as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father.

Characteristics:

Vertical spirituality is all contained in the movement of NOW. What sounds like a conundrum means that there is movement or dynamics in each horizontal moment of now, where my will confronts reality and I assimilate it based on my concepts of what is at my center. My center is only one of many values that my free will makes as a primary or core choice of that one principle on which all others depend. For me, I have selected Philippians 2:5 as my center (“Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” Over and over and over, I keep trying to penetrate both horizontally (from here to there) but also vertically, based on how deep (high) I can achieve at each vertical moment.

These tools you are reading have a beginning and an ending (horizontally placing my mind and heart in the presence of Christ in time) but also a never-ending depth (or height) that allows me to immerse myself in the presence of pure knowledge (Father), pure love (the Son) and pure service (the Holy Spirit). I need both vertical and horizontal spirituality to increase my complexity as a human being, but also movement, to ensure that my intelligent progression is moving towards its finality, Omega.

As applied to Cistercian spirituality, as I understand it at this level of my maturity, I see complexity as the vertical axis of “capcitas dei,” or growing in my capacity to “Have in me the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5). The horizontal axis is “conversio morae,” or the movement based on my will converting my wishes to include those of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as primary, while my humanity and its urges, tainted by the influence of original sin, are transformed from being animalistic to that of spiritualistic. These two components are at work most effectively when I realize that The Christ Principle is the template that unlocks the dynamics of simply sitting in the presence of pure energy (God) and patiently waiting for whatever comes my way each day. For those who only exist in the physical and mental universes (without God or against God), it is very much a theoretical exercise without proof or credibility, and so it is. For those who have abandoned (died to self because of the redemptive sacrifice of Christ to give us a way, the truth, so we can live an authentically human life), what seems to be logical and reality in favor of what is described as a fairy tale or Easter Bunny thinking, is actually the cornerstone of reality, that which fulfills each of our individual complexities and deepest penetrations of our human evolution. Theoretical? I hope so.

This movement and complexity happen when I am before the Blessed Sacrament, or purposefully place myself in Lectio Divina mode in the upper room of my inner self, and seek God each day as God is and not as I am. I need humility and obedience as my weapons of choice to beat back the interference that Satan inevitably throws up to counter any of my moves. It is the tension that I must bear as being a citizen of the earth (world) and yet living as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Like cosmic background noise that is “just there,” original sin is the ever-present effect of the sin of Adam and I must consider its effects as I try to keep my equilibrium as an adopted son (daughter).

Horizontal Lay Cistercian Awareness –– If vertical spirituality plumbs the depths (and heights) of humanity in search of fulfillment (St. Augustine says “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee), then horizontal Lay Cistercian Awareness is the time I carve out of my day to do vertical spirituality. For a Lay Cistercian, it means attending the monthly Gathering Day at the Monastery of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit (Trappist), it means that Lectio Divina is my daily horizontal prayer so I might go vertical with Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. In reality, these prayer times (Eucharist, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Reconciliation, Lectio Divina, Reading Sacred Scripture) had the added benefit of my having to use the attributes of consistency of purpose and constancy of longing to be in the presence of Love (The Trinity). It takes an act of my will to not only want to be with Jesus, heart to heart but also go against my human default that says that I don’t have time for this silliness. I will never achieve mastery of any of these techniques of good works because they are just that, tools, ever-changing and growing (capacitas dei), ever allowing me to seek God each day where I am and as I am (conversio morae).

More and more, I have that elusive awareness that the cross I bear is my humanity challenged by my adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father. I don’t always know how, or even if some of this is true, due to the fickle nature that I share as a citizen of the world. I do know that there is a level of awareness out there into which I must place my trust and confidence that, when actualized in horizontal and vertical prayer, allows me to just sit there in my innermost thoughts and soak up whatever I need to survive the onslaughts, bumps, and bruises of human nature.

These five techniques complement the tools of Good Works in Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict. They are part of My Cistercian Way and offers me opportunities to be in the presence of the one I love, knowing that, if I love Christ with all my heart, all my mind, and all my strength, I am fulfilling my humanity as intended by my nature. (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Mattheww 22:36) It is this almost fanatical desire to seek God each day that stokes the fires of my heart to want to grow more in, with, and through Christ and less in me.

Good works, properly understood, don’t automatically mean you get to heaven because you do them, but it does mean that they come from Faith, and Faith is enhanced in the sanctuary of the upper room of my inner self through these techniques and by using the tools for Good Works (Chapter 4 of the Rule of St. Benedict). Faith is service to others as Christ would have us do.

uiodg

Have you been following the machinations of all the wars? The ineffectual United Nations condemns Israel for the genocide of the Palestinians while the Russians systematically fire rockets at civilians with not a peep from anyone. Hypocrisy? In today’s market of competing power struggles, it is normative, not aberration. It is no wonder that, when I look at humanity as its proneness to power, lust, and prevarication, what makes me happy versus what might be right is that the underlying war is not one nation dominating another because they can, but because what is good and true must come from beyond the human Towel of Bable, called the United Nations, political platforms that mean nothing, or the absolute and brazen double standards of lies and truths to suit what humans want it to be. In short, humans are doing what comes naturally, based on three archetypal issues that have plagued humanity since Adam and Eve told God in the Garden of Eden, “The Devil made me do it.” That is a classic human response.

THREE ARCHETYPAL QUESTIONS THAT HUMANS MUST ANSWER

When I think about what atheists, agnostics, college professors, scientists, clergy, physicians, and both genders (whatever that is) and poets have in common, it is that all humanity is not born with what is true. We are all seekers. Each individual must probe the values and life experiences presented to them as the context or framework for answering three fundamental questions that humanity must address but often ignores because they have the wrong pieces of the puzzle that don’t fit, or they deny anything like this exists in the first place. Yet, the three fundamentals that face all humans are at the core of what it means to be rational and what makes us different from animals.

Different ideologies and political persuasions all claim that they have the answers to life but don’t know the three questions to ask, which must lessen the template that makes humanity cognizant of the next steps in their evolution. Humans can say YES or NO to anything they wish to place at the centers of their lives. They can put it there but must continue to keep it there, by choice. The default of human nature is to choose what our nature has evolved for humanity. The problem is that choice is an individual prerogative and we can do what is good for us or bad for us without fear of consequences from God, only from other humans.

Back in the heady days of my time at Indiana University, I took a course from the IU School of Business on operant conditioning as it pertains to how to manage people. I remember thinking how much I disliked B.F. Skinner’s approach to treating people is based on stimulus and responding to reward or punish behaviors that were deemed inappropriate. At this point in my life, I owe Dr. Skinner an apology, but with a caveat based on my increase in spirituality (capacitas dei). When I used the tool of dual citizenship to look at the total human condition of choices, I previously thought that humans made choices based on the freedom to make those choices. Now, I think that humans have a citizenship of the world (earth), which bases that choice on what I think gives me pain or pleasure at this moment. I don’t look to see the spiritual ramifications in this default of my human side. Where I have matriculated is to increase my view of reality to include the second of citizenships, that of the kingdom of heaven and adoption by God as heir to that kingdom. This kingdom begins with my Baptism and lasts forever. I don’t use behavior modification in this second dimension of my reality because, as St. Benedict says in his Rule, “Your way must not be like that of the world.” I embrace the opposite of my nature, only to find that, when dying to self, I come out with an awareness that what I had before, my humanity, has a deeper and more enduring evolutional stage than I had ever imagined, one that I term, “Intelligent Design.”

I bring all this up because I have only recently been aware that there are three questions all humans must confront, but there can be only one answer to each. This notion of dual citizenship and the tool of Teilhard de Chardin’s map (unattributed) plus looking at reality as physical, mental, and also spiritual universes, all one reality, yet three distinct movements existing simultaneously, provide me with a cursory but partial picture of reality. St. Paul calls it “seeing through a glass darkly.”

My life as it ponders heaven through a glass darkly.

In the crucible of my life, where I grind up both the new and old wine together to seek God each day, I can only find the answers to the longing of my heart by totally giving up my will (kenosis of Philippians 2:5-12) to embrace what, to others seem like a fairy tale. And what a tale it is. I am not suggesting a one-time abandonment of my will to the Father through Christ via the power of the Holy Spirit, as in my conversion when I became aware that Jesus is Lord and Savior, both happen DAILY because I exist in the condition of humanity that defaults to my human self alone without my deeper evolution as adopted son (daughter) of the Father. This could all be so theoretical for me if all it was was a one-time flush of piety, here and gone leaving me with the smug feeling that I am correct and everyone else is a fool, but it is a way of life, a Lay Cistercian Way, a way where I try to convert my way to Christ’s Way.

As I sit each day on my couch in the upper room of my inner self, I wait, without agenda, trying to shed my thoughts of the world to be open to what Jesus radiates from His heart to my heart. It is in this context that I am presented with the three questions each human must ask and answer correctly. It is using my dual citizenship to open up my mind (knowledge), to love as much as I am capable (capacitas dei), and fulfill what it means to be human in the intended completion of my nature.

What does it mean to be fully human? I am in the process on this earth of discovering what my nature intended before the Fall. I do this, not with my own energy but by denying myself and opening my heart to the possibility of all I encountered that day.

What does it mean to love fiercely? Fierce love means you sell all you have to obtain a treasure you found and don’t want to love. In the silence and solitude of my heart, this love is being aware that God first loved me so that I even know what love is. Love is sacrifice and abandonment of all THINGS in favor of what the world sees as foolish and the Jews think is folly. Love is service to others as the Father (pure knowledge) loves the Son (pure love), and together that love produces pure energy (service). This is the model Christ came to give us and, more importantly, show us through giving up His life for the ransom of many. I long to have this as my center. It takes work, each way, to be aware that I am aware of Christ.

What is truth? I learned somewhere, in the cobwebs of my past experiences, that truth is the adequation of the mind with reality. Like a chicken who seeks food from the dirt, I can only peck here and there as to what that means. I don’t worry about truth because human truth is always tainted with the imperfection of human nature. Think not? Just listen to the nightly news and the comical claims of nations and their politicians that they are true when your mind does flip-flops over how hypocritical they are. Human truth is subjective, and subject to change. Absolute truth comes only from God absolutely. There is no change, there is no height or depth. Humans can only approach this truth with the help of Jesus (both divine and human in nature). We are present to it through, with, and in Christ, and the extension of the Body of Christ (the Church). I don’t place myself in the presence of truth, when I do Lectio Divina or share Eucharist with others, and think that I come away with secrets only the Holy Spirit gave to me alone. Truth comes in my constant and consistent act of humility and obedience where I purposefully offer my life for others and seek only “…to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”

I am in a battle, a constant war of my humanity with my human instincts to move beyond my present reality to that of a fulfillment of what I am supposed to become. Rather than the natural help of evolution, it takes intelligent progress and my personal YES to make the jump from my humanity to the next step in my evolution, one intended by God but was shortcut by Adam and Eve.

My Cistercian Way (www.trappist.net) allows me to take the hypotheses above and make them real as part of how I approach people, events, and the totality of all beings I encounter.

I can’t thank God enough, if fact it is only with, through, and in Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit that we, together, can approach the Father in the Eucharistic and other Cistercian practices and charisms, and say:

Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who is to come at the end of the ages.

Each year, I have made a New Year’s resolution, and my resolve lasts about two days. Mostly, it is about losing weight. Good intentions, poor execution on my part. This yearly ritual has lulled me into an insensitivity to the importance of making and keeping what I choose to do to better myself. In all actuality, I realized I was talking about converting myself, once again, to that which makes my humanity more than its animal antecedent. I have human reasoning for a reason, as I can choose YES or NO to what I place as a value in my life. Like any habit, I do it so often that I become seduced by its intrinsic repetition. In short, it becomes routine and without either awareness or its consequences.

Once again, when I became a Lay Cistercian, I started over with my resolve to do whatever it was that Lay Cistercians do to become more Cistercian. As so many times before, I began anew my resolve to be a better person, so go to Church more, to keep the Lay Cistercian practices, as if they ended in themselves and not pathways to a deeper mystery that would excite my humanity. This, I described later on in my personal Lay Cistercian Way, was a daily martyrdom of being aware that I was aware of the extraordinary physical and mental encounters I face each day, each moment. Without tripping over my own feet to become something I am not, a religious fanatic who does anything for the sake of anything, I learned to balance my experiencing life as a citizen of the world (St. Paul) and an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, not as I want it to be, but as it is. What is good? I began to assimilate into my worldview of what it means to be human. New words, such as “adoption,” “abandonment,” “silence and solitude,” and “conversio morae and capacitas dei,” not only began to redefine my paradigm of the psychopathology of Catholicism that I had developed and had adopted as “normal,” but was the endpoint of being human. What was bad for my progression as a human being was that I began to term my “false self,” all the while gaining an awareness that my Catholicism was merely a school of love, as St. Benedict would term the monastic way he wrote in his Rule. I realized that life is a process of filling myself with new wine and constantly changing wineskins so that this new wine would not become vinegar.

I began to be aware that I had always had a place in my inner self, one where I did not think of entering because it took work and demanded that I focus on another other than myself. This is the place I fear most in all the world, a place where I had to confront those three life lessons that I must assimilate to become more human, a place where I had to let go of the world (citizen of the earth) to place myself in the presence of pure energy, pure knowledge, pure love, and pure service, and then wait with no agenda of my own. These three challenges for each human are:

• Discern what it means to be fully human as nature intended.
• Learn how to love fiercely.
• Discover the meaning of truth and the freedom that accompanies it.

The answers for each of us come from our lifetime experiences and choices. The problem is that there are good choices that take our human evolution to the next step, and there are bad ones, those where we miss the mark either partially or totally. The question for me becomes, “What is the template, the key, the cornerstone that will allow me to begin to process my humanity authentically?”

My own humanity, although a great vacuum sweeper of all things I encounter, is not strong enough nor mentally competent to give me that answer. So, what do I do? Just sit in the ambiguity of the contradictions and false pathways of being human? I have human reason for a reason; plus, I have the mental hunger to be aware that the answers I seek must come from a source not tainted by original sin. I am not you, and you are not me. We each get a crack at the key that unlocks the equation of these three questions above.

I have come to discover (John 20:30-31) that Jesus is the Principle against which I discover how to open what, to those who only limit their notion of reality to the physical and mental universes, is the way, what is true, and what life is for those who move to their next level of evolution. For me, and again, I only speak for my life experiences, I am in the process of becoming more human each day, I continue to seek to love with more than just human love, but dare to reach out to the divine nature, because I have first been selected and ratified it in my heart, that my destiny is the kingdom of heaven on earth while I live, and the continuation of my movement and complexity in the kingdom of heaven with Christ…without corruption and with the attainment of the highest potential of my humanness. Mary is the archetype of what it means to be fully human, love fully, be at one with what is true, and be free.

Where Mary was filled with the Holy Spirit all at once, I also have the opportunity to be filled with that same spirit, but I must seek it daily and be aware that I am aware that placing myself in the presence of a nature beyond my own, without doing anything or thinking anything beyond the supreme privilege of having the real presence of Christ in my tabernacle of the Arc of the covenant in my temple of the Holy Spirit. Nothing I do can make this happen; in, with, and through Christ, I can go to the Father as an adopted son and say Abba. I can approach the mystery of Faith so deep that I will never reach its heights or depths while I live. Like St. Paul, I only glimpse what is to come while I sit in silence and solitude in my upper room and wait for the Lord. I don’t need to prove any of this to anyone. In fact, I can’t.

Because I still wobble around with the trappings of my humanity while I am alive, each day I find myself packing for the trip to forever. My bag is my life and those lessons Christ has taught me that make it through the microfilter from human life to eternal peace. As a Lay Cistercian, with my unique approach to what I think Cistercian spirituality, with its practices and charisms, is, I seek simplicity in my Catholic faith home, wrapped in the centuries of those who traveled to their upper rooms to give honor and glory to the Father. Like Mary, the Church is a mother that soothes my bumps and bruises and bids me not lose focus.

And, finally, we come to my resolution for this year of making new skins for the new wine and bread Christ shares with me each day. I make my resolution, hopefully, every day in my morning offering and continue to be aware of my adoption as I can. I do not do these resolutions as ends in themselves, but rather, as tools to place myself in the presence of Christ with constancy and consistency.

MY PROFESSED PROMISES TO CHRIST AS A LAY CISTERCIAN

I, Michael Francis Conrad, a member of the Lay Cistercians of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit, a community of Catholics living in the world, promise to strive for a daily conversion of life as my response to the love of God.

I commit myself to live in a spirit of contemplative prayer and sacrifice in obedience to God’s universal call to holiness, using daily Cistercian practices and charisms of simplicity, humility, obedience to God’s will, hospitality, and striving for conversion of life to move from self to God.

I thank my wife, Young, and my daughter, Martha, for standing with me on my journey. I ask for prayers from the Monastic community of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit and the Lay Cistercian community, including the  Ecumenical and Auxiliary communities. I place myself in the hands of those already stand before the throne of the Lamb, including Holy Mary, Mother of God, St. Benedict, St. Bernard, the Seven Cistercian Martyrs of Our Lady of Atlas, Father Anthony Delisi and other deceased monks and Lay Cistercians of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, and also Deacon Marcus Hepburn and George Unglaub. Finally, I accept the Rule of St. Benedict as interpreted by the constitutions and statutes of the Strict Observance Cistercians as my guide for living the Gospel within the remaining time. Ut in Omnia Dei glorificatur.

All words are symbols our brain translates into something meaningful if we know the language. The meaning of words, their assumptions, and nuances might differ slightly for each individual because of the accumulated experiences each of us brings to our purpose in life. I am not you; you are not me; God is not us, and we are certainly not God. The fancy philosophical term I always use is: Quidquid recepitur ad modum recipientis recepitur,” which, if I still remember my Latin, loosely translates into “Whatever is received, is received according to the disposition of the one who receives it.”

Hold that thought! My Lectio Divina last night had to do with the final attainments of things that drive me crazy because I just can’t seem to master them and move on to the next. This blog is about ten such “words” that I have tried to grow deeper in my comprehension (capacitas dei). Words have meaning but nuances based on how I perceive them with the sum of my human experience. Take the word “poor.” When I hear it, I think of giving away my physical belongings to be poor, as the Gospels suggest. As a Lay Cistercian, I always have two dimensions to my thinking. One is that of the world and where my humanity learns what it means to be a human being. There is always movement and complexity as, each day, I bump against words, ideas, situations, problems, and relationships that share who I am, depending on how I respond to them. The second is my dying to everything that this world holds as important to rise to a new dimension where I have everything I had before but now the meanings of words take on a much deeper and fulfilling meaning. “Poor” now means divesting myself of all clutter to what is really important but with the added dimension of taking into account what Christ said about it. He said,”

Gospel

Mt 5:1-12

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven.
Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The Beatitude does not speak of the poor in the sense that the world uses it, although there is nothing wrong it that. It simply takes a person to be aware that they are citizens of earth and citizens of heaven (on earth) to think of the deeper, more contemplative meaning involved. Poor in this deeper dimension means divesting oneself of the attachment to things to embrace the deeper poverty within each of us that we must have to divest ourselves of riches that we cannot take with us to heaven.

The point of this blog is to remind me (for I am the only one I have control over, with the one exception of my wife) that this is always a contemplative dimension of physical reality, one not often even considered because of my lack of awareness. Words and their implications are important when I think about reaching a terminal conclusion to abandonment, for example. I will always strive to abandon all the extraneous cuts that tear at my center (Philippians 2:5) each day, but I will never achieve mastery to move on.

THREE CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT ATTAINMENT OR MASTERY OF A HABIT OR SKILL

I. THE INTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF DUAL CITIZENSHIP — As a Catholic, I am marked with the sign of the cross in my innermost being, an indelible tattoo. This comes from the Father accepting me as an adopted son (daughter) and heir to the kingdom. My other citizenship, one that led me to adoption, is earthly in scope, limited to the physical and mental universes, but one in which I am bound to live out whatever existence I have left on earth. Since I have two citizenships, the default one (the world) is subservient to the higher purpose (adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father. In the ten following words and their implications, I am ONLY speaking of the spiritual universe. As shown in the example above of the word “Poor,” my human intelligence defaults to thinking of physical riches and things when I use that word rather than “Poor in Spirit” (abandonment). Here is the takeaway from this idea: All of these ten words can only be comprehended through spiritual and not human means, although their purpose is to uplift my humanity to reach its full potential. This is why My Cistercian Way bids me to meet Christ each day as I am and how I am. Christ is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow. I must ask Christ for the meaning of spiritual concerns, and I do that through my life as prayer in Lectio, Eucharist, Rosary, Scripture, and Readings of Cistercian fathers and mothers. I don’t worry about finding the finality of meaning with any word from Christ because they exist in the spiritual universe that HAS NO END or FINALITY. Isn’t that what abandonment means, at least in part?

II. THERE IS NO FINALITY WITH ANYTHING TO DO WITH CHRIST — We Catholics have a way that each one of us develops, depending on what we pick up in good or bad experiences along our road of life. Christ alone is the cornerstone, the keys of the kingdom, the template of all reality that makes all things new with my unique life. This is why St. Benedict states in Chapter 4 of the Rule: “Your acting must be different from the world’s way: the love of Christ must come before all else.” This is why each of us must die to our false self only to energy in a world (the kingdom of heaven on earth) where we don’t worry about reaching a final state of attainment in any words or practices with Christ, much less these ten. This dying to our false self is what is called abandonment of our wills to that of Christ, only to emerge to an even higher attainment of our humanity than the earth (world) could ever give. Relax in the serenity and simplicity of just waiting for the Lord. Seek first the kingdom of heaven, says Christ, and all things will be given to you that you need.

III. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN HAS A BEGINNING FOR ME (BAPTISM) BUT NO ENDING OR FINALITY. — Once I am adopted by the Father because God first loved me before I could begin to try to love others as Christ loved us, I begin to know that I know and to be aware that I am aware in Lectio and Eucharist and other Cistercian practices. My individual Lay Cistercian Way is without finality or an ending, save heaven in heaven, the next step of my spiritual evolution as an adopted son being progression to heaven after this mortal body runs out of gas. Abandonment as a concept is not so much an end in itself but is rather a way to get rid of those earthly ties that bind me. I must let go of every-THING to gain the prize that St. Paul describes as a race to our Omega or fulfillment in Christ. There is no finality with Christ, only the finish line and I strive mightily to run the race because I see the prize. Spirituality is a race for the finish line, a line that never is finished.

All Things to All.

19^* Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible.ⁿ

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law.

21 To those outside the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law.

22 To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some.^o

23 All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.

24^* Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.^p

25 Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.^q

26Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.

27 No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.^* https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/9

TEN WORDS AND HOW I TRY FOR MASTERY BUT WILL NEVER ACHIEVE IT IN THIS LIFE…AND I AM OKAY WITH THAT.

When I am more and more aware that what I must do from now until I shake off the trappings of mortal existence (die), I have a mindset that is not of this earthly world, although, ironically, what I pack for my trip to tormorrow I must select from my earthly citizenship and human experiences. My adoption has allowed me to begin the process of knowing, loving and serving God in this world so that I can fulfill my humanity using the template of authentic and absolute truth (the Holy Spirit). These ten words (and many more) are those that exist in the citizenship of the kingdom of heaven on earth. They are not the same words that I use as a citizen of the world. These words are imbued with the influence of God and give life to those who can become awareness enough to bring them into their hearts. These words have no ending or finality, in the sense of being terminated and achieved. They are words that each of us takes with us to heaven and can transition us from citizen of the earth (world) to citizen of heaven (on earth and as it is in the heavens). These ten words and their unique meanings are only present in my citizenship of heaven (on earth). I strive for these habits to allow myself to grow in Christ Jesus (capacitas dei) and fulfill my destiny as an adoted son (daughter) of the Father.

SIIMPLICITY-– Simplicity of my spiritual life means I don’t place my trust in Princes nor do I seek to accumulate THINGS in my life. The deeper meaning is to seek first the kingdom of heaven and all else will be given to be beside. I don’t worry about divesting myself of THINGS but rather seek first to invest my energies in “Having in me the mind of Christ Jesus.” Then, I can tackle the corruptible THINGS in my life. Like all these words, a Lay Cistercian is a way of life that is always in the process of attainment but never finality. The process is part of prayer. Simplicity has no end and is a process not an attainment.

ABANDONMENT- Abandonment in the sense I use it here is letting go of my inner tensions to always have a product as a result of any time I spend. I abandon my will, my most precious gift from the Father as an adopted son and say, “Thy will be done in heaven as it is on earth.” Cistercians call this “conversio morae,” or moving deeper into the mystery of what it means to be human. What it means to be human includes a spiritual depth only accessable if I abandon my humanity and its assumptions and just on my couch and wait for the Lord. Abandonment in its ultimate form is giving up my physical life to embrace heaven with Jesus. The early matryrs abandoned their physical bodies only because they were aware of a greater dimension to life. As a Lay Cistercian, I suffer martyrdom, too, but it is in the complete abandonment each day in the context of my waffling and wobbling down the path of righeousness. I now use a wheeled walker, but it works. Abandonment has no end and is a process.

FAITH— Faith only comes from God; Belief only comes from my response to Faith. Like going to an electric terminal to fill up my electric car, if I don’t fill up each day, I run out of energy to sustain my Faith. Eucharist and the Cistercian practices allow me to have Christ in me physically and also mentally and spiritually. Greater love has no one than they give their life for another. Eucharist is that gift to me and together through, with, and in Christ, it is OUR gift of glory and honor back to the Father in gratitude. Faith has no end and is a process.

LOVE— We know what love is because Christ first loved us and gave us all we need to love others as He loves us. Like human love, we can lose it if we don’t use it properly. Love is that elusive but essential ingredient humans generate to link our meaning in life with other people and events. The love of Christ is evident in how much He was willing to abandon (kenosis) so that we could once more love as nature intended our species. (Philippians 2:5-12) Love waxes and wanes due to original sin so we have the living body of Christ to bolster us in good time and in bad, in sickness and health. There is no end to this love of Christ only the next level of maturation. This depends on me and how much I grow in Christ by taking up the cross I bear and walking the way. (capacitas dei) Love has no ending if Christ is with me. I am in process of movement and growing in complexity (even when I get to heaven in heaven).

PEACE— Christ tells us that He give us peace but not as the world gives peace. This peace of Christ is allowing our humanity to reach ever closer to what our nature has intended us to be. The Ten Commandment and the Beatitudes are not words as much as dymanic tonics for our spiritual maturation. Bring peace into my heart means there is no room for hatred of others or myself. I abandon my being hostage to hatred and coveting its product–pride, envy, deceit, lust, mendacity, hedonism, and much more. Hatred never exists in a vacume in our inner room of our sanctuary. It is like mould which continues to both infect all it touches and infest its host with eventual corruption of the mind and spirit. Peace of Christ is the presence of love in our hearts and not the absence of conflict. There is no end to this Peace of Christ just as there is no end to the Eucharist when we repose it in the tabernacle of our inner sanctum, our inner room, the temple of the Holy Spirit.

FIDELITY — Conversatio morae, (daily conversion of moving from my false self to my true self as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, means I must be on constant guard not to allow original sin (the condition of being human) to encroach on my center (“Have in you the mind of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5). My will must be vigilant against the fog of apathy to all things spiritual. If I do nothing, I will surely fail. Being a Lay Cistercian has allowed me the opportunity to be aware that I must be faithful, as in “The fidelity of the Lord endures forever.” Fidelity means keeping my eyes on the prize, even when all seems lost and fruitless. Christ helps me with fidelity as I sit in His presence and listen “…with the ear of my heart” to the Holy Spirit. There is no end to this practice of fidelity and I must keep vigilant watch until my final moments as a citizen of earth.

PRAYER— Prayer is much more than reciting formula prayers, although that is certainly a valid expression of prayer. Prayer, in the generic sense, is lifting the heart and mind to God and, when necessary, using words. Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist, Penance, are all examples of public prayers (even if you say it privately). Lectio Divina is private prayer and performed in the silence of our hearts. I don’t pray alone, although I might have private prayers. Christ is always with me as I pray because without Christ, my prayers would not find fulfillment between Father and Son. My life each day is dedicated to prayer, although I don’t think of God each moment. Their is no finality with any prayer because it is an ongoing process of fulfilling our destiny as adopted sons and daughters of the Father. There might seem like a beginning and ending to a prayer, but remember vertical growth that has no ending or finality. We take everything linked through our relationship to Christ with us to heaven in heaven. There is no end to the supreme Eucharistic Prayer of Christ to the Father and my voluntary participation in it.

TREASURES— Only the rich get to heaven, but to those who hold dual citizenship (earth and kingdom of heaven) you can take it with you, but with this exception. The treasures you accumulate in your life on earth and kingdom of heaven must be what God considers riches, not what you value. There is no finality to what you can pack for your journey to forever. What I pack, I can enjoy later on in heaven. Scriptures are the guidebook of what to pack and how to sustain it as long as your body exists. There is no end to the items I can take with me to heaven.

ENERGY-– Energy is the only constant in the three universes of physical, mental, and spiritual. In the physical universe, matter and the laws of nature dictate a change from one form of matter into energy and back to a new creation. In the mental universe, I have the energy of the mind and free will to observe the physical and mental universes and discover what is meaningful. For some, they discover a deeper meaning to humanity, the end result of their evolution, the next step in human complexity, called the spiritual universe. The spiritual universe has a foot in both the physical and mental universes (visible reality) but adds the dimension of being unseen to the eye, but not the human heart. This universe may only be entered by a choice of free will, one that abandons the seen universe in favor of a way of thinking that includes both visible and invisible reality. There is no end to this spiritual universe, whereas both physical and mental universes will deteriorate an eventually end.

Practically speaking, my Lectio Divina is based on my assumptions that this energy from Christ through the Holy Spirit is true. It is true, not because I believe, but I believe because it is true. Christ could work on miracles on those who did not believe that miracle are possible. When I am sitting in the presence of the Holy Spirit, waiting for what awaits me, I abandon all my human wants and needs that shape who I am, in favor of letting God shape the deepest part of my inner self. In that upper room, the simplicty of the Divine Transformation of energy from who God is to who I am to become is the movement and complexity that is at the core of my humanity. In giving up my humanity, I enhance it exponentially that no amount of good, human works can accomplish. Eucharist in its most profound sense, is Jesus becoming flesh once again in me, walking his designated way, and, together, we can approach the Father giving honor and glory (the gift of my humanity and its most coveted asset, free will) in gratitude for my adoption as son (daughter). Faith is God’s energy in me, according to my capacity to receive it (capacitas dei) and my awareness of who I am in the sight of God (humility). The energy of God just is.

SERVICE– When we are told that we are made in the image and likeness of God, once again, the context of this statement is not what the world sees as a likeness or image. What does God look like? In the Old Testament, the Word denotes three dimensions, each one separate from one another yet all one. They are pure knowledge and pure love combined to produce energy that is pure service (filioque in the Nicene Creed). St. Thomas Aquinas says that knowledge comes before Love. Love and Knowledge together produce energy, that of service. Service is the one constant that Jesus asks his followers to emulate in their lives because it reflects who God is. There is no Service in Christianity without knowledge or love (Deuteronomy 6:5 amd Matthew 22:36ff). Once more, a reminder that the meaning of these words is peculiar to the kingdom of heaven (on earth but most assuredly in heaven). God does not have an image as we know it. God is pure knowledge, pure love, and pure service, all interlating together to produce divine energy, which is 100% of God’s nature. We don’t have a way to even begin to understand this, but Christ, Son of God, Savior, became one of us to tell us stories and walk the way of contradiction to give humans a way to evolve beyond their stalled human evolution based only on matter and mind. (John 20:30-31)

When this gratitude fills the cup of blessings, like it did when the Holy Spirit overshadowed the Blessed Mother, our individual cups are full, indicating that our humanity is, at its core, what nature itself intended it to be before the Fall. The cup of Mary was full of her humanity, not because of anything Mary did, but because the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and filled her with energy. Mary, being aware of what was happening to her, uttered the now famous response, The Magnificat.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,^s

42cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.^t

43And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord^* should come to me?

44For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.

45Blessed are you who believed^* that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”^u

The Canticle of Mary.

46^v And Mary said:^*

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;^w

47my spirit rejoices in God my savior.^x

48For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;

behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.^y

49The Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.^z

50His mercy is from age to age

to those who fear him.^a

51He has shown might with his arm,

dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.^b

52He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

but lifted up the lowly.^c

53The hungry he has filled with good things;

the rich he has sent away empty.^d

54He has helped Israel his servant,

remembering his mercy,^e

55according to his promise to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”^f

56Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/1

These ten words (among the thousands of others) are words all adopted sons and daughters use to discern the meaning of what it means to be human, what is means to love authentically, and what is the truth. Truth is never found on the surface of anything, each of us must dig for it, but we must KNOW where to dig for it, the value of what we seek, and share it with those around us, as Jesus did. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life for a reason. We have reason and the ability to choose that seemingly unreasonable reality so we can fulfill our humanity and grow in consciousness and complexity toward our destiny as a race.

All of us should be grateful for the chance, the opportunity to move to that next level of our human evolution, adoption as sons and daughters of a loving Father.

uiodg

(Sent to Lay Cistercians of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist). Conyers, Ga. http://www.trappist.net

May the Grace and Peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Our meeting on Tuesday is about our Lay Cistercian theme: Gratitude, but with a slight twist. I am sharing with you some ideas that we may discuss on Tuesday at our prayer meeting/reflection on gratitude.

This morning at 1:10 a.m., my Lectio Divina swept me into the thinking that led to “awareness” as a sub-topic. This is such an important dimension of “capacitas dei,” that I had to write some of what I remembered of what the Holy Spirit tried to present to this old noggin.

My Lectio began with an unlikely YouTube video that I was watching at 1:10 a.m. This video was called CANCELLED and highlighted all the properties around the world that have just been abandoned by their owners because of financial difficulties. It was a Four Seasons resort on Bali, a paradise if there ever was one. It was all grown up with weeds and trees and, after a fire or two, was just the shell of concrete walls. Nature had reclaimed it in a remarkably short time. I was shocked that Four Seasons, the ultimate in luxury and sophistication, would have been scuttled and abandoned. It said that the government, investors, and potential owners, such as Simon Cowell and Andrew Lloyd Webber owned some land there. It never got off the ground because of all the confusion of tongues (aka The Tower of Babel).

When I saw the confusion of humans and the desolation of Four Seasons, for some reason I thought about original sin (being the theoretical theorist that I am). 

At this season of pruning our senses of false foliage, it made sense to me that Four Seasons was like the condition of original sin into which we are all thrust at our birth. Like the briar bush of Br’er Fox, what is nature will automatically become what it is naturally intended to be. To me, I found a great analogy for my life and why I have had to struggle every day to overcome the brush and trees that grow up if I don’t prune them back. Original sin, the consequence of choice is the price each of us pays for the sin of Adam. At this time of the Incarnation, I think that Christ paid the price that allowed us to be free to prune back the bushes and weeds that inevitably take over any place that we don’t actively work to clear. It is a daily fight, but one where Christ made us aware of what is going on and how we should not be hostage to sin but free to keep cutting the grass of our wounded humanity and, with the help of the Panis Angelicus and making all things new through awareness of who we are in the sight of God, slosh our way through Christ using His way, His Truth, and so His Life to reach the destiny originally intended in the Garden before the Fall.

Baptism allows me to take this awareness to the next level of my evolution, being an adopted son or daughter of the Father. It is still a rough way to go but just because my road is rocky, doesn’t mean I am on the wrong path. My Lay Cistercian Way, unique to me as it is to every Lay Cistercian, means I seek God every day as I am and as God presents to me the opportunity to glorify the Father, through, with, and in Christ with the energy of the Holy Spirit. Awareness of these dynamics in my life means I am not as prone to the seduction of my human characteristics toward unauthentic purposes. Christ became one of us by an act of kenosis (abandonment) that allowed humans to be aware (according to their capacitas dei) of reality that is the only way to both ask and get answers to three lessons each human must grapple with to become what nature intended us–that next step in our evolution. They are:

• What does it mean to be a human being at the next level of evolution? (Father)
• What is the meaning of love and how does that lift me up with Christ to fulfill my humanity to what it should have been before the Fall? (Son)
• What does it mean to be present to absolute truth absolutely and how does just being present to divine energy energize my spirit (according to my capacitas dei)?

Growing ever deeper in Christ Jesus each day, awareness of my surroundings informs and inhabits who I am. Even though each day is new, I am not, thanks to just being in the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit, my second advocate. I only have to do one thing and that is to be aware of what is happening. I can’t do that without sitting next to Jesus on the Couch of the upper room of my inner self and just waiting, but with a smile in my heart as I “listen to God with the ear of my heart.”

My Christmas and everyday gift to you is to hope that you are aware of the supreme joy and fulfillment of your humanity through abandoning all only to realize that you have gained everything plus the art of contemplative practice.

At this time of stillness, solitude, and silence (at least in our hearts) may we have the peace of Christ there to combat the forces that militate against our being fully human. The peace of Christ is not the absence of conflict or pain, but the presence of Love. This is the Incarnation and Resurrection, Ascension and Eternal Fulfillment of our humanity…Forever.

A greater gift than this no one can give than to give their life for another. 

Michael

It is not often that I am completely dumbfounded by a discovery I make about the Catholic Church, one that uses Scripture as mentioned by those men and women of the early Church to “come to believe” that the words of Christ are alive and dynamic. (John 20:30-31)

A “must have” resource of mine is that of the monumental work called Catena Auria by St. Thomas. Here is the site so you can use it directly.

https://www.ecatholic2000.com/catena/

It is a line-by-line explanation of the Holy Scriptures, which, in itself would be good enough, but this text gives the quotes and citations of early Church writers (and I mean early) on the four Gospels. As always, I do all of this without commentary. I merely offer it to you as a colleague so you might use it as you see fit.

The citation is http://www.ecatholic.com/catena I recommend beginning with the Preface with the caveat that this is a scholarly work of some density and might not be suitable for some. I trust you to make that judgment for yourself. Personally, I use it for my Spiritual readings weekly to grow deeper (capacitas dei) in appreciation of the great love Christ has for each of us. Again, for a context, begin with the Preface is my suggestion.

CATENA AUREA BY SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS

COMMENTARY ON THE FOUR GOSPELS COLLECTED OUT OF THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS: VOLUMES 1 TO 4

ST. MATTHEW OXFORD, JOHN HENRY PARKER; J. G. F. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. MDCCCXLI

CATENA AUREA: COMMENTARY ON ST. MATTHEW (VOLUME I)

• PREFACE
• LIST OF AUTHORS
• PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW
• MATTHEW CHAP. 1
• MATTHEW CHAP. 2
• MATTHEW CHAP. 3
• MATTHEW CHAP. 4
• MATTHEW CHAP. 5
• MATTHEW CHAP. 6
• MATTHEW CHAP. 7
• MATTHEW CHAP. 8
• MATTHEW CHAP. 9
• MATTHEW CHAP. 10
• MATTHEW CHAP. 11
• MATTHEW CHAP. 12
• MATTHEW CHAP. 13
• MATTHEW CHAP. 14
• MATTHEW CHAP. 15
• MATTHEW CHAP. 16
• MATTHEW CHAP. 17
• MATTHEW CHAP. 18
• MATTHEW CHAP. 19
• MATTHEW CHAP. 20
• MATTHEW CHAP. 21
• MATTHEW CHAP. 22
• MATTHEW CHAP. 23
• MATTHEW CHAP. 24
• MATTHEW CHAP. 25
• MATTHEW CHAP. 26
• MATTHEW CHAP. 27
• MATTHEW CHAP. 28

CATENA AUREA: COMMENTARY ON ST. MARK (VOLUME II)

• PREFACE
• PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK
• MARK CHAP. 1
• MARK CHAP. 2
• MARK CHAP. 3
• MARK CHAP. 4
• MARK CHAP. 5
• MARK CHAP. 6
• MARK CHAP. 7
• MARK CHAP. 8
• MARK CHAP. 9
• MARK CHAP. 10
• MARK CHAP. 11
• MARK CHAP. 12
• MARK CHAP. 13
• MARK CHAP. 14
• MARK CHAP. 15
• MARK CHAP. 16

CATENA AUREA: COMMENTARY ON ST. LUKE (VOLUME III)

• PREFACE
• PREFACE TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE
• LUKE CHAP. 1
• LUKE CHAP. 2
• LUKE CHAP. 3
• LUKE CHAP. 4
• LUKE CHAP. 5
• LUKE CHAP. 6
• LUKE CHAP. 7
• LUKE CHAP. 8
• LUKE CHAP. 9
• LUKE CHAP. 10
• LUKE CHAP. 11
• LUKE CHAP. 12
• LUKE CHAP. 13
• LUKE CHAP. 14
• LUKE CHAP. 15
• LUKE CHAP. 16
• LUKE CHAP. 17
• LUKE CHAP. 18
• LUKE CHAP. 19
• LUKE CHAP. 20
• LUKE CHAP. 21
• LUKE CHAP. 22
• LUKE CHAP. 23
• LUKE CHAP. 24

CATENA AUREA: COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN (VOLUME IV)

• JOHN CHAP. 1
• JOHN CHAP. 2
• JOHN CHAP. 3
• JOHN CHAP. 4
• JOHN CHAP. 5
• JOHN CHAP. 6
• JOHN CHAP. 7
• JOHN CHAP. 8
• JOHN CHAP. 9
• JOHN CHAP. 10
• JOHN CHAP. 11
• JOHN CHAP. 12
• JOHN CHAP. 13
• JOHN CHAP. 14
• JOHN CHAP. 15
• JOHN CHAP. 16
• JOHN CHAP. 17
• JOHN CHAP. 18
• JOHN CHAP. 19
• JOHN CHAP. 20
• JOHN CHAP. 21

Here is a blizzard of confused ideas about what, I have no idea, but they were part of my Lectio Divina. You tell me.

When I look out over the YouTube universe, especially those wonderful Walking Korea tours, and see the tragic Philippines slums or India slums walking tours, and realize that God loves each and everyone, despite the evident oblivion they have to authentic Christianity, I am humbled by thinking that they bless the Lord by who they are and their struggle to just put food in their mouths.

When I see what is going on between nations, the duplicity, lack of truth, and supremacy of lies, the wars, and the justification of evil in the name of nationalism or territorial heritage hundreds of years ago, I realize that this is part of original sin and that, if I was there I might well be one of those on either side shouting slogans of patriotism in my favor.

When I look at my church struggling to come to terms with making new wineskins (never an easy process), to be able to hold the new wine of each age, I think of how the Holy Father alone is chosen by the Holy Spirit to guide the believers forward in justice and truth, I am conscious of original sin and the story of Genesis. Humans, be careful what you wish, like the Protestant Reformation, you have unintended consequences of reducing each person to a pope with his own magisterium.

When I see all those who are atheists and agnostics who rail against there being no God, I am always grateful that they are using their intelligence to make use of their human reasoning but sad with their conclusion. I pray for those I know to realize that Catholicism is a sign of surrender of physical and mental self to the much larger cosmic way that has movement and always more and more complexity. My assumption is that they all seek what is true, as I do.

I realized about ten years ago that my life was a complete failure as I was leading it. I thought I was spiritual, and probably was shallow and never ventured deeper into the mystery of my humanity to explore the mystery of Faith. Having replaced my own selfish interests as my center with that of Christ (Philippians 2:5), I slowly began to know, love, and serve others as I thought Christ would. I ceased to judge others and use the Scriptures as ways to prove others wrong. Rather, embracing John 20:30-31, I just abandoned (as much as my prideful self would allow each day) every that was right in favor of what was easy, as St. Benedict says in Chapter 4 of the RB 10 and 20. “Renounce yourself to follow Christ and discipline your body,” and again, “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else.” I don’t worry about the Church, the Pope, or the conflicts going on within it. My sole focus is to center myself on “Having in me the mind of Christ Jesus.” by being present to the Holy Spirit in Lay Cistercian practices and charisms (rooted in the Cistercian Strict Observance interpretation of the Rule of Benedict.

Like the widow’s mite, as explained to me by the Late Aidan Kavanaugh, O.S.B., in Sacramental Theology class at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana, in 1963, “Mrs. Murphy, a little, old lady, sitting in the back of a darkened Church, eyes lowered, head bowed, praying her rosary but saying the words, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner,” as she sits in the upper room of her inner self. That person knows more, loves more, and is more dynamic that all the theologians who just talk “about” God. St. Thomas Aquinas also said it best, “One day when Thomas Aquinas was preaching to the local populace on the love of God, he saw an old woman listening attentively to his every word. Inspired by her eagerness to learn more about her God whom she loved so dearly, he said to the people: It is better to be this unlearned woman, loving God with all her heart, than the most learned theologian lacking love.” https://www.azquotes.com/author/490-Thomas_Aquinas

These days, any Lay Cistercian Practice I do, public or private prayer, is in the context of silence and solitude, just waiting for the Lord.

Worry can never lengthen your days, but it may shorten them.

uiodg

This installment is the second in a series about my thoughts on a)objective and subjective truth in the corruption of matter and mind and b)my observations and comments about what is real as it relates to original sin.

Here are my thoughts about how all humans are subject to intelligent progression, which includes moving not only horizontally (from beginning to end of anything) but also vertically, which is how deep my Lectio Divina takes me. I don’t control horizontal movement, e.g., I can’t stop time from happening or stop my life. In the same way, I don’t have the option of choosing how deep I can go to penetrate the implications of what it means to be human. Some say we use only 10% of our mental energy, while others reject that and say we use 100%. So far, my experience has been I can use 10% with just my human reasoning and freedom to choose what is good or bad for me. By joining with the Holy Spirit, I can use whatever capacity I have created in the timeframe I call being alive (capacitas dei). The new wine is the Holy Spirit and The Christ Principle. The new skins are whatever I do through good works and willing offering my will to the Father through, with, and in Jesus Christ, using the power of the Holy Spirit. I constantly struggle to keep my opening expanding and not let it return to its default state of original sin.

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Once again, I think of the Holy Spirit as the new wine poured into my new skin each day. Each day is a new adventure because I don’t know what to expect. I do know that I make my morning offering each morning as I sit on the side of my bed through Christ to the Father, seeking mercy on my lack of Faith and offering this day as atonement for my sins of the past (actually more like being a complete nincompoop for most of my life).

It is my contention that when I am in the presence of the Holy Spirit and Christ, there is an effect on my humanity in that it grows more and more toward what it means to be fully human. The insufficiency of human nature (due to original sin) is that humans can never achieve their true destiny by nature. This is why Jesus came to save us from the effects of original sin that keeps us anchored to a materially and morally corrupt world. In this context, objective truth (the divine nature) reaches down to human nature and lifts it up. That which is the higher nature (divine) can lift up the following nature, not to be divine, but to its final destination. The Blessed Mother, for example, is lifted up by the Holy Spirit to receive the fulness of her humanity while she is on earth. At the same time, the rest of us must wait until we die and reach that final state of attainment of what was intended by our nature as our final destiny.

The Coming of Jesus’ Hour.^*

20Now there were some Greeks^* among those who had come up to worship at the feast.ⁿ

21^* They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”^o

22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.^p

23^* Jesus answered them,^q “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24^* Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat;^r but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

25Whoever loves his life^* loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.^s

26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.^t

27“I am troubled^* now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.^u

28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”^v

29The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”^w

30Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.^x

31Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world^* will be driven out.^y

32And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”^z

33He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

34So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.^* Then how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”^a

35Jesus said to them, “The light will be among you only a little while. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness may not overcome you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where he is going.^b

36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light.”^c

Looking back at my lifetime, I have shed my spiritual skin at least six times that I think are significant. My book, The Divine Equation, describes these shed skins in more detail. They are the six questions plus my six answers that answer the question, “What is truth?” The point I am trying to make is that neither the questions nor the answers to what it means to be fully human come from the world because it exists in the corruption of matter and mind (everything has a beginning and an end). Truth is the adequation of the mind with reality. This can happen only in the objectivity of the divine nature, where there is no change and moths will not consume our treasures. When I think of Jesus as my Savior, I am reminded that He came to give us the way, what is true, and a life on earth that will lead to the eternal fulfillment of our humanity.

Treasure in Heaven.

19^* “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.^j

20 But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.

2 1For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.^k

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/6

As an adopted son (daughter) or the Father, I am invited to grow in, with, and through Christ to glorify the Father with the Son, all overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. This begins with my Baptism and continues each day that I seek God with the totality of who I have become.

THE GREAT PASSOVER

The great feat in all humanity is the resurrection of Christ from the dead as a ransom for the many. This redemption from being a hostage to our human nature is played out in each of our lifetimes on earth as we seek to find the answers to the three questions that our nature by itself cannot provide automatically at our birth. They are.

1. What does it mean to be human and what is the next step in the fulfillment of our humanity?
2. What is the meaning of love?
3. What is truth?

Baptism is the event where God chooses me formally as an adopted son (daughter) and provides me with the energy necessary to complete whatever time I have left in the correct way, to include absolute truth, and so lead the life that is a sign of contradiction to the world but leads to fulfilling my human nature.

This adoption lifts me up with the energy of the Holy Spirit to be able to begin to know, love, and serve God on this earth (until death) and thereafter to be with God and claim my inheritance promised from before there was a tick to the celestial clock. All I have to do is be aware of how to sit in the presence of pure knowledge, pure love, and pure service and assimilate what I can to grow in Christ daily (capacitas dei). This desire or longing to be in the presence of what seems to my human nature as a fairy tale and spooky children’s fantasies, is possible only when I die to my old self and emergy to the next level of my intelligent progression, an adopted son of the Father, still very much on earth with original sin, but now with a destination that is not of this world, or Point Omega.

Solving the mystery of humanity (the three challenges humans have to move to the next level of our human evolution) involves using the key. This key is a sign of contradiction, one which makes no sense to the world because I have to abandon my humanity and lose it to find it at a deeper level. This evolution is not automatic but requires each person to recognize the way, the truth, and so lead a life that looks the same as what the world offers but now using the power of the Holy Spirit to be aware of the possibility of the manifestability of all being encountered in my journey.

THE WAY

A key to my understanding of everything in the Scriptures and through the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium is that the Holy Spirit is there to keep humans from doing too much damage to the barc of Peter as it meanders its way through time. Scriptures, according to John 20:30-31 is there at all to give us what is needed in our belief systems to center us on THE WAY of the cross, and how humanity either accepts or rejects the help God gives to us as we make our individual way in the time allotted to us.

As much as I try to discover what my humanity is and to seek the purpose of life through my own efforts alone, I fail. Scriptures, if nothing else, are a history of those who tried to live their lives with God and without God. The results are not pretty.

THE TRUTH

This is where and how truth interfaces with my personal ability to say YES or NO to anything, even to deny God without being zapped by the Truth Nazis. Individuals (Adam and Eve) or Governments try to coopt truth using their limited influence. Because all humans and institutions live in the corruptibility of time, no human institutions can own the truth. That doesn’t mean that absolute truth does not exist. Absolute truth is the absence of change absolutely. Both individuals and the Church exist in space and time, but with an exception, we have that dual citizenship because God reached down to lift us up the Church through Christ so that each of us could access absolute truth (from God alone) and overcome the unintended consequences of original sin (death). I participate in this super life when I give up my humanity (kenosis) and abandon my personal will to embrace absolute truth. Doing so, means I move to a level of humanity intended by God before the Fall in the Garden of Eden, a place intended by God before Adam and Eve ruined it. There is only absolute truth in heaven or, when I access the kingdom of heaven on earth as an adopted son or daughter. What seems like an innocuous contradiction in terms is actually a cosmic shift in my humanity as I reach out to what seems incredulous and ridiculous to my senses and human experiences to just sit in the presence of Christ and imbibe energy as I am capable (capacita dei).

My Lay Cistercian Way is meeting Christ each day where I am and as I am. I consciously place my will on the altar of sacrifice as did Abraham, and say, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” I don’t have to care what comes my way each day. My focus is “Having in me the mind of Christ Jesus,” as much as I can, without becoming religiously paranoid. Balance is key here.

THE LIFE

There is no life without the way that is true. There is only one way, and Christ both told us and showed us how to walk it in each age. “The life “means living out what I have discovered about what it means to be fully human (the kingdom of heaven on earth and the fulfillment of my humanity in the kingdom of heaven in heaven). There is no life with the correct way and the absolute truth as a beacon on the lighthouse to warn us of the high waves of original sin.

• New wine comes from my interaction with the Holy Spirit each day
• New wineskins come from the Church as it struggles to fit new ideas into old skins.
• It is Christ who makes all things new.
• It is Christ who says, “If you eat this flesh and drink this blood, you will have life in you.”

uiodg

Here are some early thoughts on this controversial statement.

Salvation Outside the Church

IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH

“Be not deceived, my brethren: If anyone follows a maker of schism [i.e., is a schismatic], he does not inherit the kingdom of God; if anyone walks in strange doctrine [i.e., is a heretic], he has no part in the passion [of Christ]. Take care, then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according to God: For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of his blood; one altar, as there is one bishop, with the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3:3–4:1 [A.D. 110]).

JUSTIN MARTYR

“We have been taught that Christ is the first-begotten of God, and we have declared him to be the Logos of which all mankind partakes [John 1:9]. Those, therefore, who lived according to reason [Greek, logos] were really Christians, even though they were thought to be atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates, Heraclitus, and others like them. . . . Those who lived before Christ but did not live according to reason [logos] were wicked men, and enemies of Christ, and murderers of those who did live according to reason [logos], whereas those who lived then or who live now according to reason [logos] are Christians. Such as these can be confident and unafraid” (First Apology 46 [A.D. 151]).

IRENAEUS

“In the Church God has placed apostles, prophets, teachers, and every other working of the Spirit, of whom none of those are sharers who do not conform to the Church, but who defraud themselves of life by an evil mind and even worse way of acting. Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace” (Against Heresies3:24:1 [A.D. 189]).

“[The spiritual man] shall also judge those who give rise to schisms, who are destitute of the love of God, and who look to their own special advantage rather than to the unity of the Church; and who for trifling reasons, or any kind of reason which occurs to them, cut in pieces and divide the great and glorious body of Christ, and so far as in them lies, destroy it—men who prate of peace while they give rise to war, and do in truth strain out a gnat, but swallow a camel. For they can bring about no ‘reformation’ of enough importance to compensate for the evil arising from their schism. . . . True knowledge is that which consists in the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place [i.e., the Catholic Church]” (ibid., 4:33:7–8).

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA

“Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy was necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for piety . . . for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the law did the Hebrews” (Miscellanies1:5 [A.D. 208]).

ORIGEN

“[T]here was never a time when God did not want men to be just; he was always concerned about that. Indeed, he always provided beings endowed with reason with occasions for practicing virtue and doing what is right. In every generation the wisdom of God descended into those souls which he found holy and made them to be prophets and friends of God” (Against Celsus 4:7 [A.D. 248]).

“If someone from this people wants to be saved, let him come into this house so that he may be able to attain his salvation. . . . Let no one, then, be persuaded otherwise, nor let anyone deceive himself: Outside of this house, that is, outside of the Church, no one is saved; for, if anyone should go out of it, he is guilty of his own death” (Homilies on Joshua 3:5 [A.D. 250]).

CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE

“Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined to an adulteress [a schismatic church] is separated from the promises of the Church, nor will he that forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is an alien, a worldling, and an enemy. He cannot have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother” (The Unity of the Catholic Church 6, 1st ed. [A.D. 251]).

“Let them not think that the way of life or salvation exists for them, if they have refused to obey the bishops and priests, since the Lord says in the book of Deuteronomy: ‘And any man who has the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest or judge, whoever he may be in those days, that man shall die’ [Deut. 17:12]. And then, indeed, they were killed with the sword . . . but now the proud and insolent are killed with the sword of the Spirit, when they are cast out from the Church. For they cannot live outside, since there is only one house of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone except in the Church” (Letters 61[4]:4 [A.D. 253]).

“When we say, ‘Do you believe in eternal life and the remission of sins through the holy Church?’ we mean that remission of sins is not granted except in the Church” (ibid., 69[70]:2 [A.D. 253]).

“Peter himself, showing and vindicating the unity, has commanded and warned us that we cannot be saved except by the one only baptism of the one Church. He says, ‘In the ark of Noah a few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water. Similarly, baptism will in like manner save you” [1 Peter 3:20-21]. In how short and spiritual a summary has he set forth the sacrament of unity! In that baptism of the world in which its ancient wickedness was washed away, he who was not in the ark of Noah could not be saved by water. Likewise, neither can he be saved by baptism who has not been baptized in the Church which is established in the unity of the Lord according to the sacrament of the one ark” (ibid., 73[71]:11).

“[O]utside the Church there is no Holy Spirit, sound faith moreover cannot exist, not alone among heretics, but even among those who are established in schism” (Treatise on Rebaptism 10 [A.D. 256]).

LACTANTIUS

“It is, therefore, the Catholic Church alone which retains true worship. This is the fountain of truth; this, the domicile of faith; this, the temple of God. Whoever does not enter there or whoever does not go out from there, he is a stranger to the hope of life and salvation. . . . Because, however, all the various groups of heretics are confident that they are the Christians and think that theirs is the Catholic Church, let it be known that this is the true Church, in which there is confession and penance and which takes a health-promoting care of the sins and wounds to which the weak flesh is subject” (Divine Institutes 4:30:11–13 [A.D. 307]).

JEROME

“Heretics bring sentence upon themselves since they by their own choice withdraw from the Church, a withdrawal which, since they are aware of it, constitutes damnation. Between heresy and schism there is this difference: that heresy involves perverse doctrine, while schism separates one from the Church on account of disagreement with the bishop. Nevertheless, there is no schism which does not trump up a heresy to justify its departure from the Church” (Commentary on Titus 3:10–11 [A.D. 386]).

AUGUSTINE

“We believe also in the holy Church, that is, the Catholic Church. For heretics violate the faith itself by a false opinion about God; schismatics, however, withdraw from fraternal love by hostile separations, although they believe the same things we do. Consequently, neither heretics nor schismatics belong to the Catholic Church; not heretics, because the Church loves God; and not schismatics, because the Church loves neighbor” (Faith and the Creed 10:21 [A.D. 393]).

“[J]ust as baptism is of no profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him” (On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4:4[6] [A.D. 400]).

“I do not hesitate to put the Catholic catechumen, burning with divine love, before a baptized heretic. Even within the Catholic Church herself we put the good catechumen ahead of the wicked baptized person . . . For Cornelius, even before his baptism, was filled up with the Holy Spirit [Acts 10:44–48], while Simon [Magus], even after his baptism, was puffed up with an unclean spirit [Acts 8:13–19]” (ibid., 4:21[28]).

“The apostle Paul said, ‘As for a man that is a heretic, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him’ [Titus 3:10]. But those who maintain their own opinion, however false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially those who have not originated the error of bold presumption, but have received it from parents who had been led astray and had lapsed . . . those who seek the truth with careful industry and are ready to be corrected when they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics” (Letters 43:1 [A.D. 412]).

“Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church, by this single sin of being separated from the unity of Christ, no matter how estimable a life he may imagine he is living, shall not have life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (ibid., 141:5).

FULGENTIUS OF RUSPE

“Anyone who receives the sacrament of baptism, whether in the Catholic Church or in a heretical or schismatic one, receives the whole sacrament; but salvation, which is the strength of the sacrament, he will not have, if he has had the sacrament outside the Catholic Church [and remains in deliberate schism]. He must therefore return to the Church, not so that he might receive again the sacrament of baptism, which no one dare repeat in any baptized person, but so that he may receive eternal life in Catholic society, for the obtaining of which no one is suited who, even with the sacrament of baptism, remains estranged from the Catholic Church” (The Rule of Faith 43 [A.D. 524]).

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that I actually know or have met the legendary Seymour Bernstein. I would never consider myself lucky enough to have a normal conversation with him. Mr. Bernstein is a gifted master teacher of classical music.

I, on the other hand, am just a broken-down, old Lay Cistercian trying each day to seek God as and where I find God with the sum total of who I am. It helps if I use Cistercian practices and charisms to help me peel off the barnacles of life on my hull, the ones that keep me from being who I am as an ever-grateful adopted son of the Father. While watching this YouTube on Mr. Bernstein’s critique of the great Glenn Gould, he made a statement that I have incorporated as an ever-deepening penetration of the complexity of my humanity. Listen to the same YouTube that I did. You might have to toggle over to Seymour Bernstein’s critique, for there are six masters who offer their thoughts about Glenn Gould. Mr. Bernstein’s critique is number 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgUnUd9oBSc

As is often the case with random connections with life’s fantasies, my Lay Cistercian Way assumes whatever I meet in daily life with the template of The Christ Principle, my source of interpretation of the early (as oppossed to my adopted life as the son (daughter) of the Father, is my encounter with being or non being. Mr. Bernstein’s video on YouTube was totally unexpected but had a profound impact on me, not from the viewpoint of music history or a master class, but of how I used it to grow deeper in Christ in my contemplative waiting. Mr. Bernstein said that, when he listened to Glenn Gould play Bach, all he heard was Gould and not Bach. I had to think on this for a long time.

As I applied to how I tried to listen with the ear of the heart (St. Benedict), I was nudged by the Holy Spirit to think that, even in contemplation, as good as I think I am, or it is, my default is listening to my interpretation of Christ rather than striving to filter our my human biases and listen to Christ as Christ is. To be sure, I am still in the midst of struggling with what that means or even if it makes sense in the crucible of time. It is for me one of the joys of being in the presence of Christ without any agenda and then growing even deeper.

I thank you, Mr. Bernstein, for opening up this nuance for me to consider. Bless you.

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Thanksgiving or Gratitude Day is coming up when we sit down together with loved ones and share a meal as a sign that we appreciate what God, society, our heritage, our religion, and our family have done for us. It is a moveable secular feast that tries to codify, as do all secular celebrations, a fleeting remembrance of a day.

Gratitude, in the sense that I use it here, means an ongoing and perennial focus on my spiritual heritage and those good choices I have made to enable me to call God, Abba, Father. A recommendation for contemplative practice for Lay Cistercians, and others who practice Lectio Divina, would be to have a gratitude prayer session (anywhere from five minutes to fifty). Each person, if they wish, can take turns to give the group what makes them grateful to the Father, through the Son, in unity with the Holy Spirit. An additional caveat for your consideration; specify the area you wish to focus your Lectio Divina on, such as Lay Cistercian Gathering Days, Practices, and Charisms, or Parish Eucharistic Adoration and Eucharist. Keep comments to a sentence or two.

I offer you my ideas about gratitude as they pertain to My Cistercian Way with all that it entrails. With my constant mantra of growing deeper in Christ Jesus as I approach whatever falls my way, there is a level of Thanksgiving (the life, not the day) that climates with Eucharist and Eucharistic Adoration.

• I don’t deserve anything from God, having been such an unbelieving believer in my time on earth. I am grateful that God lifted me up from my own self-indulgence and allowed me to just long to be in the presence of Christ.
• I thank the Father for my adoption as a son (daughter) and heir to the kingdom of heaven.
• I am so grateful that I listened to the Holy Spirit and became a Lay Cistercian, following the Cistercian Way of practices and charisms.
• When I think of the three lessons each person on earth must learn, I am so grateful that God chose me as an adopted son and that I had both the humility and obedience to his will to accept. (1. What does it mean to be fully human? {capacitas dei)? 2) What does it mean to be fully human with the authentic meaning of love? (conversio morae from merely human love to loving others as Christ has loved us), and 3) What is the absolute truth that solves these questions using The Divine Equation?) (Dying to my false self to rise to a new level of humanness in Christ Jesus.)
• The Canticle of Daniel is my “go-to” prayer when thinking about how all matter, mind, and spirit bless the Lord. Read the whole Canticle using “the ear of the heart.”

The Fiery Furnace.

1King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made, sixty cubits high and six cubits wide, which he set up in the plain of Dura^* in the province of Babylon.

2He then ordered the satraps,^* prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the officials of the provinces to be summoned to the dedication of the statue which he had set up.

3The satraps, prefects, and governors, the counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates and all the officials of the provinces came together for the dedication and stood before the statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4A herald cried out: “Nations and peoples of every language,

5^* when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, you must fall down and worship the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

6Whoever does not fall down and worship shall be instantly cast into a white-hot furnace.”

7Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, the nations and peoples of every language all fell down and worshiped the golden statue which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

8At that point, some of the Chaldeans came and accused the Jews

9to King Nebuchadnezzar: “O king, live forever!

10O king, you issued a decree that everyone who heard the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, and double-flute, and all the other musical instruments should fall down and worship the golden statue;

11whoever did not was to be cast into a white-hot furnace.

12There are certain Jews whom you have made administrators of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have paid no attention to you; they will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”

13Nebuchadnezzar flew into a rage and sent for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were promptly brought before the king.

14King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them: “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you will not serve my god, or worship the golden statue that I set up?

15Now, if you are ready to fall down and worship the statue I made, whenever you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, zither, dulcimer, harp, double-flute, and all the other musical instruments, then all will be well;^* if not, you shall be instantly cast into the white-hot furnace; and who is the God who can deliver you out of my hands?”

16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “There is no need for us to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

17If our God, whom we serve, can save us^* from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king, may he save us!

18But even if he will not, you should know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.”

19Nebuchadnezzar’s face became livid with utter rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual

20and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace.

21They were bound and cast into the white-hot furnace with their trousers, shirts, hats and other garments,

22for the king’s order was urgent. So huge a fire was kindled in the furnace that the flames devoured the men who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into it.

23But these three fell, bound, into the midst of the white-hot furnace.

Prayer of Azariah.^*

24They walked about in the flames, singing to God and blessing the Lord.

25Azariah^* stood up in the midst of the fire and prayed aloud:

26“Blessed are you, and praiseworthy,

O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

and glorious forever is your name.

27For you are just in all you have done;

all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right,

and all your judgments proper.

28You have executed proper judgments

in all that you have brought upon us

and upon Jerusalem, the holy city of our ancestors.

By a proper judgment you have done all this

because of our sins;

29For we have sinned and transgressed

by departing from you,

and we have done every kind of evil.

30Your commandments we have not heeded or observed,

nor have we done as you ordered us for our good.

31Therefore all you have brought upon us,

all you have done to us,

you have done by a proper judgment.

32You have handed us over to our enemies,

lawless and hateful rebels;

to an unjust king, the worst in all the world.

33Now we cannot open our mouths;

shame and reproach have come upon us,

your servants, who revere you.

34For your name’s sake, do not deliver us up forever,

or make void your covenant.

35Do not take away your mercy from us,

for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,

Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,

36To whom you promised to multiply their offspring

like the stars of heaven,

or the sand on the shore of the sea.

37For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,

brought low everywhere in the world this day

because of our sins.

38We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,

no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,

no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.

39But with contrite heart and humble spirit

let us be received;

As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bulls,

or tens of thousands of fat lambs,

40So let our sacrifice be in your presence today

and find favor before you;

for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.

41And now we follow you with our whole heart,

we fear you and we seek your face.

Do not put us to shame,

42but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.

43Deliver us in accord with your wonders,

and bring glory to your name, O Lord:

44Let all those be put to shame

who inflict evils on your servants;

Let them be shamed and powerless,

and their strength broken;

45Let them know that you alone are the Lord God,

glorious over the whole world.”

46Now the king’s servants who had thrown them in continued to stoke the furnace with naphtha, pitch, tow, and brush.

47The flames rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace,

48and spread out, burning the Chaldeans that it caught around the furnace.

49But the angel of the Lord went down into the furnace with Azariah and his companions, drove the fiery flames out of the furnace,

50and made the inside of the furnace as though a dew-laden breeze were blowing through it. The fire in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm.

51Then these three in the furnace with one voice sang, glorifying and blessing God:

52“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;

And blessed is your holy and glorious name,

praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.

53Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,

praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.

54Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

55Blessed are you who look into the depths

from your throne upon the cherubim,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.

56Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,

praiseworthy and glorious forever.

57Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

58Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

59You heavens, bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.^a

60All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

61All you powers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

62Sun and moon, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

63Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

64Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

65All you winds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

66Fire and heat, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

67Cold and chill, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

68Dew and rain, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

69Frost and chill, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

70Hoarfrost and snow, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

71Nights and days, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

72Light and darkness, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

73Lightnings and clouds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

74Let the earth bless the Lord,

praise and exalt him above all forever.

75Mountains and hills, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

76Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

77You springs, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

78Seas and rivers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

79You sea monsters and all water creatures, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

80All you birds of the air, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

81All you beasts, wild and tame, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

82All you mortals, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

83O Israel, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

84Priests of the Lord, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

85Servants of the Lord, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

86Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

87Holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

88Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

For he has delivered us from Sheol,

and saved us from the power of death;

He has freed us from the raging flame

and delivered us from the fire.

89Give thanks to the Lord, who is good,

whose mercy endures forever.

90Bless the God of gods, all you who fear the Lord;

praise and give thanks,

for his mercy endures forever.”

Deliverance from the Furnace.

91Then King Nebuchadnezzar was startled and rose in haste, asking his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they answered.

92“But,” he replied, “I see four men unbound and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.”

93Then Nebuchadnezzar came to the opening of the white-hot furnace and called: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out.” Thereupon Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.

94When the satraps, prefects, governors, and counselors of the king came together, they saw that the fire had had no power over the bodies of these men; not a hair of their heads had been singed, nor were their garments altered; there was not even a smell of fire about them.

95Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants that trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

96Therefore I decree for nations and peoples of every language that whoever blasphemes the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut to pieces and his house made into a refuse heap. For there is no other God who can rescue like this.”

97Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

98^* King Nebuchadnezzar to the nations and peoples of every language, wherever they dwell on earth: May your peace abound!

99It has seemed good to me to publish the signs and wonders which the Most High God has accomplished in my regard.

100How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders;

his kingship is an everlasting kingship,

and his dominion endures through all generations.^b

I give thanks that Christ gave me the many options of asking for forgiveness for my past behaviors that have not had Christ as my true North on my compass of life.

On this secular Thanksgiving Day, I offer thanks for being able to call God, Abba, Christ, my Savior, and the Holy Spirit my inspiration.

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Here are some ideas that flashed through my mind this morning at 2:10 a.m. Don’t ask! In one way or another, I have either coined these sayings myself or, more likely, picked them up from other sources during my lifetime. I offer them without commentary. A (*) indicates it might have come from me.

Peace of Christ is not like the world thinks of as peace. Christ’s peace is not the absence of conflict but the presence of His love.*

Don’t allow yourself to be held hostage by the hatred of others.*

The most difficult task I have as a follower of Christ is to remain silent when others are calling my commitment to Christ a fairy tale, la-la land, and telling me that I am worthless in my belief in Jesus as Lord. This is the meaning of turning the other cheek.*

If you break the commandments, they break you. (Father Conrad Louis, O.S.B.)

No one can say Jesus is Lord unless by the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:3)

The purpose of life is not Marriage, but the purpose of Marriage is life.*

Only the rich can get to heaven. Just make sure it is God’s riches you store up and not your own.*

Just because your road is rocky, doesn’t mean you are on the wrong road.*

There are dark times ahead. There will be a time when we must choose between what is right and what is easy. (Professor Dumbledore to Harry Potter, in The Goblet of Fire) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA2FMxfwDAI

Life is changed, not ended. This is not the end. (Gandolf the White) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_FmqI7QKck

What is essential is invisible to the eye. (The Little Prince) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_FmqI7QKck

Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God, that which is God’s. (Mark 12:17)

Messing with God’s plan is not only futile but leads to unintended consequences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMqReTJkjjg&t=191s

That in all things, God be glorified. –St. Benedict

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As I sit here and reflect on Philippians 2:5 for my Lectio Divina meditation, my mind turns to  Jesus and the love he must have had for all humans to become corruptible humans. Love is at the center of what Jesus is about. Humans are so predictable in their thinking. They are lazy in their willingness to work for what they get. They want it easy. The Old Testament is all about God establishing the covenant of love between Himself and the Israelites, and the many ways that they break it. Read the First Reading from the Office of Readings for the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

From the book of the prophet Jeremiah
2:1-13, 20-25
The infidelity of God’s people

“This word of the Lord came to me: Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear!

I remember the devotion of your youth,
how you loved me as a bride,
Following me in the desert,
in a land unsown.
Sacred to the Lord was Israel,
the first fruits of his harvest;
Should anyone presume to partake of them,
evil would befall him, says the Lord.
Listen to the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob!
All you clans of the house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord:
What fault did your fathers find in me
that they withdrew from me,
Went after empty idols,
and became empty themselves?
They did not ask, “Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the desert,
through a land of wastes and gullies,
Through a land of drought and darkness,
through a land which no one crosses,
where no man dwells?”

When I brought you into the garden land
to eat its goodly fruits,
You entered and defiled my land,
you made my heritage loathsome.
The priests asked not,
“Where is the Lord?”
Those who dealt with the law knew me not:
the shepherds rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
and went after useless idols.

Therefore will I yet accuse you, says the Lord,
and even your children’s children I will accuse.
Pass over to the coast of the Kittim and see,
send to Kedar and carefully inquire:
Where has the like of this been done?
Does any other nation change its gods?—
yet they are not gods at all!
But my people have changed their glory
for useless things.

Be amazed at this, O heavens,
and shudder with sheer horror, says the Lord.
Two evils have my people done:
they have forsaken me, the source of living waters;
They have dug themselves cisterns,
broken cisterns, that hold no water.

Long ago you broke your yoke,
you tore off your bonds.
“I will not serve,” you said.
On every high hill, under every green tree,
you gave yourself to harlotry.
I had planted you, a choice vine
of fully tested stock;
How could you turn out obnoxious to me,
a spurious vine?
Though you scour it with soap,
and use much lye,
The stain of your guilt is still before me,
says the Lord God.
How can you say, “I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Consider your conduct in the Valley,
recall what you have done:

A frenzied she-camel, coursing near and far,
breaking away toward the desert,
Snuffing the wind in her ardor—
who can restrain her lust?
No beasts need tire themselves seeking her;
in her month they will meet her.
Stop wearing out your shoes
and parching your throat!
But you say, “No use! no!
I love these strangers,
and after them, I must go.”

In the Old Testament, God says love is being trustworthy and keeping the commands. Does this ring a bell when you read Genesis 3? God tells Adam and Eve, all of this is yours to tend as a gardener, and all you have to do is one thing, don’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Keeping the letter of the law is certainly the first step in proving one’s fidelity to the covenant. Love becomes entangled with the law.

Because of Original Sin, there is a default for all humans, one that allows us to choose what our animality and past collective experiences dictate without much thought. Human nature is, in essence, good but flawed in that we don’t always choose what we should that would be consistent with what our nature intends. Since God is the author of intelligent progress by means of a Word (John 1:1), there is a hidden DNA in reality that seeks fulfillment. This is the tug we feel when we realize that, in the words of St. Augustine, “…our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”

I approach this topic of “What does reality look like?” with some hesitation because I am venturing out of my wheelhouse and comfort zone. I have, for the past three or four years, ventured into realms of thinking that are not normal to my particular life experiences. My hesitation comes from the conclusions towards which I am being inexorably pulled, ones that, in my case, don’t make sense with my current understanding of reality. Scary as that is, it is also exhilarating to be living with such profound thoughts that lead to some conclusions that are beyond what my mind alone can present to me. Watch http://www.organism.earth for a sample of the macro perspective.

I continue to hold that each person has a view of reality that is different from one another yet all tied together with two opposing forces, those of the macro existence and its counterpoint, micro existence. As a disciple of Lay Cistercian practices and charisms, they have allowed me to delve into the mystery of silence and solitude with ancient wisdom that comes from The Christ Principle. I can read primary source commentaries from the Early Fathers of the Church and those practiced by such commentators of the Gospels as St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Benedict and his Rule (https://christdesert.org/rule-of-st-benedict/), St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bruno, and other followers of the contemplative way of living and thinking. What I have today is the result of my heritage handed on directly from Christ and passed through the Apostles down through the centuries. All I have to do is access it.

I use the Map of Reality (unattributed) of Teilhard de Chardin against which I can not only think deeper about reality (micro thinking) but also, look at a higher more expansive view of reality (macro thinking).

TYPES OF MACRO AND MICRO PERSPECTIVES

A perspective, as I use it, is a way to look at the scope of reality plus also factor into it milestones or markers that delineate its movement and complexity (see Teilhard’s map above). Perspective is all about how humans look at reality from various assumptions that each individual holds. When groups of individuals agree on these assumptions, they are a way of thinking, such as scientific inquiry, religious teachings, and principles of what makes up a society, as in the United States Constitution. These assumptions are not absolute (immutable and admitting to no change) but can be either objective, subjective or both. All reality for me is subjective but I look at it with objective tools and perspectives to gain a way to organize this reality and meld it together with the other lifetime experiences that make up my reality. When looking at what makes up for reality, I am the only one who looks at the horizon of matter and time and can ask questions (who, what, why, where, when, and so what) and use this reasoning to formulate a way to begin to make sense out of all that I experience.

In a recent blog, I wrote about the various ways in which I assume knowledge, love, and service into my worldview and try to make sense of it. Here is an overview of the various ways I assimilate what I see into who I am and wish to become.

THE MICRO AND MACRO PERSPECTIVE

Both you and I are micro perspectives of reality that we take in around us. I am the lowest common denominator when it comes to assimilating reality and then processing what my reason and free choice tell me is good for me. Even though I might disregard what I consider to be bad for me (sinful). I still retain a record of my choice, what led me to make it, and the results and consequences of that which I have chosen. They are all what is a part of me. Accumulated over the years, these choices amount to a living book of who I am.

Whatever spirituality I have is subject to the changes in my perspective. I can have Faith with its corresponding belief, or suspect my life, depending on what I judge truth to be for me at the time. This micro reasoning and concomitant choices are for me only. You have your own choices and they form who you are. I am not you, you are not me; God is not us, and we, most certainly, are not God. All of our micro perspectives are critical because in that macro perspective of the Teilhard map, more accurately the macro perspective of the physical, mental, and evolution of the spiritual universe, my micro perspective must align correctly with its counterpart.

This Teilhard map indicates to me that everything is in flux, as Zeno of Elia remarked. I am reminded that the map is just a mental construct against which I posit ideas about what it means for me to grow ever deeper in the awareness of my purpose in life. Because of the moment of matter, time, space, and the corruptibility of all matter, there is a beginning and an end to everything. Since I am part of that physical universe and my species evolved into the mental universe, I have a beginning and an end to my particular life. The assumptions and choices I make along my life span inform who I am as a person, unique among all humans.

Divine nature (pure thought, pure love, and pure service but only one reality) is beyond a human macro or a micro perspective because it is its cause for existence and has its DNA embedded in all matter and in chromosomes to guide it to a destiny that is beyond physical and mental existence.

Christ assumed human nature into His Divine Nature when he became a ransom for many. This is the macro perspective of the way, the truth, and the life. I enter into that same way of thinking when I submit my will, willingly, to conform to what God has intended for my species. In this sense, I am a micro perspective with my unique micro perspective. I am able to access God’s presence because of my adoption as the son (daughter) of the Father. I can only do this by consciously and deliberatively saying “Be it done unto me according to your world.” My unique micro perspective (my reason and free choice) chooses the macro perspective of Christ as energized by the Holy Spirit. This ability to be lifted up by Christ from my individual micro perspective of what it means to be human enables me to be in the presence of the Christ Principle and the energy on this earth to help me plan for my living in the kingdom of heaven in heaven after I die. This is spirituality. This is the ultimate purpose for which humans were singled out to be gifted with the adoption of the Father and heirs of the kingdom of heaven in heaven. What I must do, in, with, and through Christ, is to recognize that kingdom of heaven on earth each day and learn how to love to be able to enjoy in heaven that which I recognize on earth. Heaven (and Hell) begin with knowledge (as St. Thomas Aquinas states) and proceed to love, with the product of good works (Chapter 4 of the RB) for all to see and give glory to the Father.

Observations

• If the kingdom of heaven on earth is the micro context of spirituality, then the kingdom of heaven in heaven is the macro dimension, one that is not limited to boundaries or corruptibility of matter and time.
• My personal assent of Faith each new day is the micro choice I make to submit my will to the Father in return for the macro entry into the presence of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• My individual prayer times each day with Lectio Divina, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist, Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and spiritual reading are those micro times when I join others to form a macro gathering of “praise and glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who will be at the end of the ages.” –Cistercian doxologyy
• Contemplation is my retiring to the upper room of my inner self frequently to pray by waiting in the presence of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and growing in capacitas dei through conversion of my false self to my true self in Christ Jesus.
• The complexities and depths of the knowledge, love, and service I receive from God (macro energy) I must translate with the totality of my human life experiences to be of service to others by doing God’s will as I perceive it.
• I receive the macro body and blood of Christ into my heart (the micro tabernacle within my temple of the Holy Spirit) to share it with others each day.

I am micro. Christ is macro. Christ and I are macro and a prayer of gratitude to the Father for being adopted.

UIODG