HOW THE MAGISTER NOSTER HELPS ME GROW DEEPER IN MY HUMANITY.

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/
• UIODG