TEN OBSERVATIONS ABOUT CATHOLICISM FOR THOSE NEW TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE (2 of 10)

The map above is the unattributed view of the makeup of all reality by Teilhard de Chardin. His overview is paramount in any discussion of contemplative practices. By beginning with his meta overview of reality and how contemlative practice has allowed me to begin to be aware of how I fit into the total movement of reality from Alpha to Omega, I hope to show the depth of my Catholic understanding of who I am as a human being, how to love as Christ loved me, and the foundations of truth, outside the vagaries of human imperfection. This map is my guide to a deeper understanding of my humanity at the next level.

II. NOT ONLY DOES IT TAKE A LIFETIME OF PRACTICE TO KEEP MY CENTER AT MY CORE, I MUST ALSO HAVE THE MINDSET (Assumptions that God sets the boundaries of all that is) THAT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS WHAT I SEE EACH DAY WHILE LIVING IN THE KINGDOM OF THE EARTH.

I have freely chosen to be a Lay Cistercian of Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery (Trappist) to deepen my Catholic Faith as one now devoted to prayer and Cistercian practices for the reparation of my sins and those of the whole world. I share with you some ideas about this mindset of humility and obedience to God as boundary maker.

MY LEARNING POINTS

In the grand skeme of things, I find myself living in two worlds (two citizenships) one of which is human and lacks the energy to propell me to that next and deepest part of my humanity, and the other one is human raised to its absolute destiny and containing the energy to not only reach this level of evolution but also to sustain it until earthly death follows its course.

My notion of contemplative practice, not limited to Cistercian charisms and practices, has to do with trying to develop and sustain a mindset that allows me to see reality in terms of these two citizenship realities. One is visible and invisible (physical and mental universes), and the other is primarily invisible, with the condition that I must live on earth by its rules, while realizing that the rules of the spiritual universe do not take away my humanity but actually help me to be what my humanity is in that second citizenship (heaven on earth). Death is the portal through which I pass to live out what I have discovered about knowledge, love, and truth. There is an end to my first citizenship on earth, but my second one has no ending or no boundaries.

For me to make such a mindset, I must have energy that is not manufactured by my human nature but comes from a higher source of knowledge, truth, and love. I voluntarily place myself in the presence of Christ (obedience), realizing that God alone has the energy I must somehow assimilate through the Holy Spirit while trying not to fry my human neurons.

As I understand it, as a professed Lay Cistercian, Cistercian practices and charisms are for me to become one who constantly and consistently seeks conversion of heart to make new wineskins. Secondly, I must constantly be aware that Christ needs to grow in me all the time, lest I become too proud in my attempts to know, love, and serve God (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Matthew 22:38).

I have the teachings of the Master and the wisdom of the Benedictine way of Spirituality (Using Cistercian practices and charisms) to fight against the forces that hourly want to seduce me to take the easy way verses what is proper and consistent with the map of Teilhard as my role in God’s plan for all reality.

The Catholic Church, yes, that much maligned and misunderstood collection of living souls with Christ as its head, and the Holy Spirit as its heart. That body of humans from St. Peter and the Apostles through the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, all sinners, all fallible, as they stumble through the ages to preserve what we must know about our humanity, how to love as Christ loved us, and absolute truth above humanity’s choices of morality and values.

One of my Lectio Divina sessions, while in contemplation (waiting for the Lord), has me dying and going up to the gate of heaven (eye of the needle) to seek entrance. A person dressed in a Cistercian habit is there to welcome me. “Welcome to the reward set aside for those who have tried to love as Christ loved us,” said what I think is a monk. “All I need to do is see your hands, palms up, and in you go.” “This is the most peculiar request that I can ever remember,” I thought. “I stretch out my hands to the monk, still unsure of what is going on. The monk reached out his hands to grasp mine, and it was then that I noticed the marks of the crucifixion on his hands, whereas I wore my everyday attire. Looking closer, I noticed his hands and arms bore the marks of someone who had lived a life of wear and tear. “Welcome into the place prepared for you from the beginning, good and faithful servant,” he said. “I want you to meet my mother. Come in.” Speechless, all I could do was mutter a silent prayer, “My Lord, and My God.”

My Catholicism is not limited to going to Church on Sundays, although it is that, as I am able. My Catholicism is a mindset, one of prayer (not verbal) but of silent resignation to be present to whatever comes my way that day and… “Give glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. The God who is, who was, and who will be at the end of the ages.” (Cistercian doxology) I wait for the Lord.

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