The Center for Contemplative Practice
A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
BEING A LAY CISTERCIAN: A PENITENTIAL PERSON
Over the past twenty years, I have had the practice of doing penance for my sins. Doing penance for my past sins goes way back in the Old Testament. It is the Yom Kippur of Jewish festivals.
Once forgiven in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, sins are no more, but there is a catch. There is restitution due to sin, just like Christ had to atone for the many by his death on the cross. Baptism takes away original sin but not its effects. Those effects are the situation we find ourselves in as we each live out the Christ Principle. Because we are created by God, human nature is intrinsically good. Adam and Eve, our progenitors, made the archetypal choice that began what we know as the struggle to be human. The Church is simply the collective context or “gathering” of all those humans who used the gifts of Christ to move to the next level of their evolution, adoption as sons and daughters of the Father. Baptism is when God chooses us; confirmation is when we choose God as our Father because we know enought of what is going on to say YES.
The habit of penance as a Lay Cistercian means that EACH DAY, I must consciously place myself in the presence of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and wait. Waiting is a sign of humility that says that I trust God to be God and that, as an adopted son, I wait for the Father to speak first. Not so easy to do. if you have tried it.
Characteristics of being a Penitential Lay Cistercian
- Penance is doing something uncomfortable that exceeds what the World can offer as satisfaction.
- Penance is not doing morbid things to the body as much as a mindset of humility and obedience to what I think God’s will is for me to this day.
- Penance is a daily mindset, not limited to The Sacrament of Reconciliation, but includes all the Lay Cistercian practices I do.
- Penance means I try to be consistent with my Lay Cistercian prayers as I have designed them for my situation.
- Penance means I make my morning offering daily to do God’s will and ask for mercy for my past sins and failings (reparation, not confession).
- Penance means I become increasingly aware of the Sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the price He paid to random the many.
- Penance means I become more aware of praying for those on my Prayer List in the Book of Life.
- Penance means I ask the Blessed Mother to intercede for me with her Son each day. I include St. Michael to keep me safe from the seductions of the World and St. Joseph to be with me as He was with Jesus, his foster son. All of this is offered in a bundle to the Father, through, with, and in Jesus Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Penance means I believe in the efficaciousness of prayer for those on earth and those who have died in the peace of Christ.
- Penance means I become increasingly aware that I must die to my former self (conversio morae) and fill that gap with Christ, not some cotton candy offered by the World.
- Penance means I realize and act on the belief that service to others on earth leads to fulfilling the next step of my human evolution as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father.
- Penance means I rely not on my energy or mental pyrotechnics to be more human but to deny my false self and discern Christ’s will for me each morning for that whole day. This choice of abandonment of the World to put on Christ each day is at the core of my being penitential.
Here are five elements that I have made the centerpiece of my habit of penance.
I. CONVERSIO MORAE: Making restitution for sins of the past.
Penance is a way of life where you don’t just DO penance but rather have the penitential mindset. Constantly, I ask for mercy for all my sins, failings, and just being a jerk to other people in my past.
II. CAPACITAS DEI: The mindset that Christ must increase and I must decrease.
Penance means I must replenish my energy from the Holy Spirit each day, to have the spiritual strength to resist the pressures of the World to choose Satan as my Master.
III. REPARATION FOR PAST SINS: All sin has a consequence, even if forgiven. Reparation for sins of our past is a part, although not one that I am always conscious of, of my life of penance. I seek mercy for not only my lack of focus on Christ in the present but for actually being a complete ninny to others in my past, so much so that I am ashamed to meet them later on. While I am alive, I ask for forgiveness from them.
IV. THE LORD HEARS THE CRY OF THE POOR: Penance is not just during Lent. Reflect on this passage from our Eucharistic Liturgy.
Reading 1
The LORD is a God of justice,
who knows no favorites.
Though not unduly partial toward the weak,
yet he hears the cry of the oppressed.
The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan,
nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint.
The one who serves God willingly is heard;
his petition reaches the heavens.
The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds;
it does not rest till it reaches its goal,
nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds,
judges justly and affirms the right,
and the Lord will not delay.Responsorial Psalm
R. (7a) The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the LORD;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord hears the cry of the poor.Reading 2
Beloved:
I am already being poured out like a libation,
and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well; I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me,
which the Lord, the just judge,
will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf,
but everyone deserted me.
May it not be held against them!
But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation might be completed
and all the Gentiles might hear it.
And I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat
and will bring me safe to his heavenly kingdom.
To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
and entrusting to us the message of salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.Gospel
Jesus addressed this parable
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102719.cfm#:~:text=R.
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity —
greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
V. IT IS MERCY I SEEK AND NOT SACRIFICE: The emphasis of a Penitential Lay Cistercian, as I practice it, is one where I show mercy to others by my contemplative approach to spirituality. The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy are not words on a page, the phone book, but meant to inform how each of us, in our own, unique way, is challenged ” …to have in us the mind of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:) Penitent Lay Cistercians make promises (professed) to consistently and constantly pray for others. This is activism but on the contemplative scale. Just as Cistercian monks and nuns pray for the conversion of the world by accepting into themselves the way of the cross, so too, a Lay Cistercian, living in the world, does so by prayer. Chapter 4 of the RB gives, as the title, Tools for Good Works. These are activities that we try to take into our hearts, and thus in our behaviors, on how to become more and more human, as nature intended, and less and less animal, as my instincts pull at me. Lay Cistercians are activists in prayer for others rather than giving people direct aid. Does it make any difference? I think so.
PENITENTIAL PRACTICES THAT I FOLLOW
I have just remembered the powerful penitential prayers of the Psalms, particularly the Penitential Psalms.
READ CHAPTER 4 OF THE RULE OF BENEDICT EACH DAY (or a part of it)
55 Listen readily to holy reading,
56 and devote yourself often to prayer.
57 Every day with tears and sighs confess your past sins to God in prayer
58 and change from these evil ways in the future.
Chapter 4: The Tools for Good Works
EUCHARIST AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE: The food of angels; the food of adopted sons and daughters of the Father.
Eucharist is a way for me to go with Christ to the Father and say, “Thanks,” for all the gifts and wonders of God’s love. In the Eucharist, my sins are forgiven. The Eucharist is the public prayer of the Church Universal. Remember, that means the living body of Christ on earth, those in heaven, and those awaiting purification by doing penance for their failure. If I ask forgiveness for my sins, for example, in an examination of conscience with Compline (Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours), I do so as an individual. Christ is present to the cry of the poor; we just read and forgive my sin. I have both public and private ways to seek forgiveness, not just one method.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION: Making all things new. I seek forgiveness and ask for mercy through, with, and in Christ, as He instructed us when I join with the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of Making All Things New. It is starting repeatedly (which we need because of the condition of original sin in which we all live until we die). Read about your heritage and what Christ did to ensure that you and I, as adopted sons and daughters, can claim our inheritance in heaven. http://www.churchfathers.org This is the way.
Confession
THE DIDACHE
“Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure” (Didache 4:14, 14:1 [A.D. 70]).
THE LETTER OF BARNABAS
“You shall judge righteously. You shall not make a schism, but you shall pacify those that contend by bringing them together. You shall confess your sins. You shall not go to prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of light” (Letter of Barnabas 19 [A.D. 74]).
IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of penance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ” (Letter to the Philadelphians 3 [A.D. 110]).
“For where there is division and wrath, God does not dwell. To all them that repent, the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop” (ibid., 8).
IRENAEUS
“[The Gnostic disciples of Marcus] have deluded many women. . . . Their consciences have been branded as with a hot iron. Some of these women make a public confession, but others are ashamed to do this, and in silence, as if withdrawing from themselves the hope of the life of God, they either apostatize entirely or hesitate between the two courses” (Against Heresies 1:22 [A.D. 189]).
TERTULLIAN
“[Regarding confession, some] flee from this work as being an exposure of themselves, or they put it off from day to day. I presume they are more mindful of modesty than of salvation, like those who contract a disease in the more shameful parts of the body and shun making themselves known to the physicians; and thus they perish along with their own bashfulness” (Repentance 10:1 [A.D. 203]).
HIPPOLYTUS
“[The bishop conducting the ordination of the new bishop shall pray:] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Pour forth now that power which comes from you, from your royal Spirit, which you gave to your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and which he bestowed upon his holy apostles . . . and grant this your servant, whom you have chosen for the episcopate, [the power] to feed your holy flock and to serve without blame as your high priest, ministering night and day to propitiate unceasingly before your face and to offer to you the gifts of your holy Church, and by the Spirit of the high priesthood to have the authority to forgive sins, in accord with your command” (Apostolic Tradition 3 [A.D. 215]).
ORIGEN
“[A final method of forgiveness], albeit hard and laborious [is] the remission of sins through penance, when the sinner . . . does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord and from seeking medicine, after the manner of him who say, ‘I said, “To the Lord I will accuse myself of my iniquity”’” (Homilies on Leviticus 2:4 [A.D. 248]).
CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE
“The apostle [Paul] likewise bears witness and says: ‘ . . . Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]. But [the impenitent] spurn and despise all these warnings; before their sins are expiated, before they have made a confession of their crime, before their conscience has been purged in the ceremony and at the hand of the priest . . . they do violence to [the Lord’s] body and blood, and with their hands and mouth they sin against the Lord more than when they denied him” (The Lapsed 15:1–3 (A.D. 251]).
“Of how much greater faith and salutary fear are they who . . . confess their sins to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience. . . . I beseech you, brethren, let everyone who has sinned confess his sin while he is still in this world, while his confession is still admissible, while the satisfaction and remission made through the priests are still pleasing before the Lord” (ibid., 28).
“[S]inners may do penance for a set time, and according to the rules of discipline come to public confession, and by imposition of the hand of the bishop and clergy receive the right of Communion. [But now some] with their time [of penance] still unfulfilled . . . they are admitted to Communion, and their name is presented; and while the penitence is not yet performed, confession is not yet made, the hands of the bishop and clergy are not yet laid upon them, the Eucharist is given to them; although it is written, ‘Whosoever shall eat the bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord’ [1 Cor. 11:27]” (Letters 9:2 [A.D. 253]).
“And do not think, dearest brother, that either the courage of the brethren will be lessened, or that martyrdoms will fail for this cause, that penance is relaxed to the lapsed, and that the hope of peace [i.e., absolution] is offered to the penitent. . . . For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given” (ibid., 51[55]:20).
“But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that repentance is not to be granted to the lapsed, or to suppose that pardon is to be denied to the penitent, when it is written, ‘Remember whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works’ [Rev. 2:5], which certainly is said to him who evidently has fallen, and whom the Lord exhorts to rise up again by his deeds [of penance], because it is written, ‘Alms deliver from death’ [Tob. 12:9]” (ibid., 51[55]:22).
APHRAAHAT THE PERSIAN SAGE
“You [priests], then, who are disciples of our illustrious physician [Christ], you ought not deny a curative to those in need of healing. And if anyone uncovers his wound before you, give him the remedy of repentance. And he that is ashamed to make known his weakness, encourage him so that he will not hide it from you. And when he has revealed it to you, do not make it public, lest because of it the innocent might be reckoned as guilty by our enemies and by those who hate us” (Treatises 7:3 [A.D. 340]).
BASIL THE GREAT
“It is necessary to confess our sins to those to whom the dispensation of God’s mysteries is entrusted. Those doing penance of old are found to have done it before the saints. It is written in the Gospel that they confessed their sins to John the Baptist [Matt. 3:6], but in Acts [19:18] they confessed to the apostles” (Rules Briefly Treated 288 [A.D. 374]).
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
“Priests have received a power which God has given neither to angels nor to archangels. It was said to them: ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.’ Temporal rulers have indeed the power of binding; but they can only bind the body. Priests, in contrast, can bind with a bond which pertains to the soul itself and transcends the very heavens. Did [God] not give them all the powers of heaven? ‘Whose sins you shall forgive,’ he says, ‘they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.’ What greater power is there than this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son. And now I see the Son placing all this power in the hands of men [Matt. 10:40; John 20:21–23]. They are raised to this dignity as if they were already gathered up to heaven” (The Priesthood 3:5 [A.D. 387]).
AMBROSE OF MILAN
“For those to whom [the right of binding and loosing] has been given, it is plain that either both are allowed, or it is clear that neither is allowed. Both are allowed to the Church, neither is allowed to heresy. For this right has been granted to priests only” (Penance 1:1 [A.D. 388]).
JEROME
“If the serpent, the devil, bites someone secretly, he infects that person with the venom of sin. And if the one who has been bitten keeps silence and does not do penance, and does not want to confess his wound . . . then his brother and his master, who have the word [of absolution] that will cure him, cannot very well assist him” (Commentary on Ecclesiastes 10:11 [A.D. 388]).
AUGUSTINE
“When you shall have been baptized, keep to a good life in the commandments of God so that you may preserve your baptism to the very end. I do not tell you that you will live here without sin, but they are venial sins which this life is never without. Baptism was instituted for all sins. For light sins, without which we cannot live, prayer was instituted. . . . But do not commit those sins on account of which you would have to be separated from the body of Christ. Perish the thought! For those whom you see doing penance have committed crimes, either adultery or some other enormities. That is why they are doing penance. If their sins were light, daily prayer would suffice to blot them out. . . . In the Church, therefore, there are three ways in which sins are forgiven: in baptisms, in prayer, and in the greater humility of penance” (Sermon to Catechumens on the Creed 7:15, 8:16 [A.D. 395]).
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, AND ALL ELSE WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU BESIDES.
Such a simple solution, yet, so very difficult to achieve consistently. This penitent Lay Cistercian’s approach to finding meaning each day using The Christ Principle is one of awareness. I am not speaking of self-awareness, as in knowing that I know, but rather the ontic possibility of manifest ability of all being that I encounter each day. “Having in me the mind of Christ Jesus,” and being aware that all reality proclaims the greatness of God is at the core of being in a state of penitential contemplation while sitting next to the heart of Christ and just being filled with the joyous peace that is the presence of Love, is my one goal for the rest of my natural life.
25n “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat [or drink], or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?o
27Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?*
28Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin.
29But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.
30* If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
31So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’
32All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness,* and all these things will be given you besides.
34 Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/6
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