WOUNDED HEALERS(St Dominic's Way)
by Andrew Richards

The Faith's destruction is very near,
The priesthood's called by a cowardly name,
We serve the Lord under growing fear,
Even bishops have fallen from dread and shame.

We've come to you for a better way,
O Father tell us what to do,
For we will listen to what you say,
Speak some words from your heart so true?

"The Lord is my light and my salvation,
Whom shall I fear? Father Dominic said,
The Lord is our strength in each situation,
He is our peace as we sleep in our bed.

"Though a host encamp against me,
My heart shall not be afraid,
In desert storms, like storms at sea,
His strength is shelter, and gives shade."

Yes, that's very good to hear,
But we are seeking simple advice,
We live in shame that's costing us dear,
What is the remedy for clerical vice?

"The remedy you know, why ask it again?
Clergy are wounded and fall in this life,
To Love the Lord God is the answer to sin,
His Name on your lips puts an end to your strife.

In place of your fear, give praise to the Lord,
And He will protect you when priests spill His Blood.
With His courage you must fashion a spiritual sword,
And His Cross is the bridge over clerical mud.

For though there be mud at the base of Mt. Zion,
The summits are snow that dazzle in whiteness,
The saints overcame showing power like a lion,
Having leapt over mud to God in His brightness.

So be glad and rejoice that your heart's with the Lord,
Though all fall about you, you never will fall,
Be a soldier of Christ; wield His spiritual sword,
Wearing God's holy armor you'll overcome all.

End

"According to St. James (i, 12 sqq.), the natural source of man's temptations is concupiscence, or that proneness to evil which is the result of the fall of Adam, and which remains in human nature after baptismal regeneration, and even though the soul is in the state of sanctifying grace (cf. Rom., viii, 1). Concupiscence becomes sinful only when freely yielded to; when resisted with God's help it is an occasion of merit. Together with inward concupiscence, and outward creatures, which may be the occasion of sin (I John ii, 15 sqq.), the chief cause of temptation is Satan, "the tempter" (Matt., iv, 3), bent on man's eternal ruin (Eph., vi, 10 sqq.).

"In the Lord's Prayer, the clause "Lead us not into temptation" is an humble and trusting petition for God's help to enable us to overcome temptation when His Fatherly Providence allows us to experience the allurements of evil. Prayer and watchfulness are the chief weapons against temptation (Mark, xiv, 38; etc.). God does not allow man to be tempted beyond his strength (I Cor., x, 13). Adam was tempted only from without as inward concupiscense was not an issue for him before his fall.(Francis E. Gigot,"Catholic Encyclopedia, Temptation of Christ," Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter)

God loves us all very much because He is a Good God filled with Kindness and Mercy. From the midst of the world and ongoing spiritual crises, He is calling the laity to abandon mediocrity and to begin to live with His Joy. We already know the Way and His Name. For the Joy of the Lord is His Son, Jesus Christ. We must begin to live with courage, and to commit ourselves, once and for all, to His path of True Love, a path which, in spite of temporary setbacks and occasional persecution, always blossoms, for those who fully give themselves, in the Abundant Life and Joy of the Lord. There is no room in today's world for the "victim mentality" which makes excuses for a life of spiritual compromise. All Crosses, when courageously embraced, give way to Joy when shared with the Overcoming Power of Almighty God. Through the Church, the Holy Spirit has one message for all the faithful today: "Seek sanctity!" For lukewarm spirituality is not an option in a world filled with terror. If we set our sights on anything less than sanctity, we will not only fail to know the Joy of the Lord, we will be in real danger of losing our soul.

It is not just happenstance that Christianity provides the only spiritual program that meets all the requirements man needs in order to undergo a transformation that leads him back to the state of happiness and conscious bliss where everything began. That program is fully articulated within the Church's call to contemplative prayer, and the programs of unselfishness and asceticism that must accompany it. By another name, that program is called the "Way of Jesus Christ," the Way of "Unselfish Love." It entails Baptism into His Life, attending Church, receiving grace through participation in the Sacraments, listening to sermons, forgiving sin, praying for enemies, and participating in a variety of good works. It involves the regular practice of mental prayer.

The Church's program of spirituality is a comprehensive program of single-minded love and devotion to the One Who gave us life. Everything in our lives is subordinated to the demands of this program. It is absolutely co-extensive with all the shades of good and bad, evil and suffering, light and darkness, love, emotion, and joy which encompass the daily life of every human being. For the evil, suffering, and man-made selfishness of this world are powerful realities that snatch happiness from us at every turn. We can theorize until we are blue in the face as to whether there was a Garden, or a God in the Garden, or an Evil Presence that tempted the first man. But there is no use theorizing about the central fact of our consciousness: "We exist!" And in that existence which we call life, we find all the characteristics which fully correspond with the story of the Fall of the First Man in the Garden, and a subsequent life demanding spiritual warfare against a self-centered nature wounded by Original Sin. And we all know too well that there is such a thing as temptation, and that when we give way to evil we are on a rapid road to despair and misery.

Therefore, each one of us is on a mission. That mission is a search for our personal Holy Grail. It is to save our souls by reuniting with the Spirit Which gives us life in the first place, and moment to moment thereafter. And we do that through the spiritual program revealed to us through the Church and handed down through the centuries by the Old and New Testament prophets and apostles. And when we do, we find that the program is tailor-made to meet all the impossible demands that life sometimes imposes on us. We find that the program, like no other, is fully a match for evil, and knows how to deal with human suffering, with hatred, with death and despair. And we find that the program transforms these terrible realities into a Royal Road which actually delivers the happiness that always seems to elude us. And in the end, through the wonder of it all, we find that the spiritual program leads us unerringly back to the One Who Loved us in the first place, and is calling us back to the fullness of joy that made the Garden a spiritual delight.

For the spiritual program of Jesus Christ, provided through the Church's sacramental life transforms the souls of believers through the power of Jesus Christ, regardless of the spiritual quality of the administrators of that program. Christ has already paid the price on the Cross and is eagerly waiting to fill us with the grace from the sacraments, regardless of the state of grace, or the quality of the spirituality of the one administering them.

The Church's spirituality is the only one that solves life's problems and mysteries in a manner fully compatible with the challenges of the realities with which life confront us, and provides the complete answer to all the dimensions of our existence. It is the only spiritual program that stands up to the world and calls the evil it carries out by its proper name, regardless of the ongoing reality of weakness, sin, and woundedness in the Body of Christ, Itself. As Christ told us, His Church came to call sinners, not the righteous.

Remember that the mind and attitude that you admire in the saints, like St Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa, St Therese of Liseaux, and St Thomas More, is the mind of Christ which characterizes their consciousness at all times, under provocation, under pressure, and in all situations. It is a kindly, understanding, humble, overcoming, "human" mind which always asserts, "Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone." It is a mind that has eliminated egotism, anger, hatred and violence as part of its makeup. It can be assertive and get things done nonetheless, in a kindly, cooperative, human way. It can execute physical force as necessary, or required, without losing and betraying these characteristics of Christ. This must become your mind, the Mind of Christ, characteristic of your behavior at all times, and in all situations as you go about your daily activities.

The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 4:17, describes the purity of this "Mind of Christ" which should be in each one of us, the Children of Light:

"So I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds; darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart; they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess. That is not how you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

"Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil. The thief must no longer steal, but rather labor, doing honest work with his (own) hands, so that he may have something to share with one in need.

"No foul language should come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for needed edification, that it may impart grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. "(And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.

"Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, No obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving.

"Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. So do not be associated with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.

"Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.

"And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit... giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. (St Paul, Ephesians 4:17)

But perhaps you were thinking that you could achieve a better life by changing everything, moving somewhere else, or escaping your responsibilities. You won't. The key to your happiness is not really connected to the quality of your exterior life. As we all know, many saints lived lives of great joy and happiness in the midst of all manner of tribulations and exterior suffering. Mother Teresa in Calcutta is one example, of many. St John of the Cross is another. St Catherine of Siena was a layperson who became counselor to the Pope and leaders of the Church. She overcame the criticism of her family and contemporaries and the suffering it caused her. They did what you must learn to do, no matter what might be the nature or quality of your exterior life. The only problem you really have at this moment is that you have not learned to live "within."

St Augustine said, "I did not find You without Lord, because I wrongly sought You without, Who were within." And St. Augustine, a bishop, was a busy person like you, yet he managed to find ongoing time for God "within."

St John of the Cross advises you: "Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all the creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved that you may go in quest of Him and be united with Him... This is something of immense gladness for you, to see that all your good and hope is so close to you...What more do you want, O soul. And what else do you search for outside when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfactions, fullness and kingdom, your Beloved Whom you desire and seek? Desire Him there, adore Him there. Do not go in pursuit of Him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and wearied thereby."

You begin the inward journey when you silently repeat to yourself, "Jesus have mercy," and stay in His Holy Presence. Then, after a period of time, as He promised, He and His Father, and Their Spirit of Love, will come and establish a permanent residence in your soul. But in the beginning it will require persistant effort on your part. But it will be effort well spent, for as Christ said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

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SPIRITUAL WAY

from St Bonaventure

Don't let your past sins or your past life disturb you. Remember how the saints were before their conversion. Don't fret about tomorrow. You are simply here and now with the Lord. He it is who calls you. And you need know nothing else.

Don't justify yourself, seeking reasons to escape from the path to the Lord. Do not be dazzled by illusions of what you will miss in a world that is perishing. For you will gain a hundred-fold for everything you sacrifice for the Lord. Moreover, make up your mind to live with spiritual courage from now on, instead of living in lukewarm service to God "and" Mammon.

1. When beginning the day, arm yourself with the Sign of the Cross and consecrate it, all of it, in a brief act to the Lord. Begin your day with twenty minutes to one half hour of prayer. Attend mass and take Holy Communion, in adddition to days of obligation, when you can. Throughout the day, repeat the shortened version of the Jesus Prayer silently to yourself: "Lord have mercy."

2. Explicitly renounce, with a very short prayer, any vanity or distraction during the day. Make it your purpose, sincerely, not to be separated from the Lord no matter what problems arise during the day. Remember St John of the Cross's teaching, that only God is worthy of our thoughts.

3. Ask, finally, with prayer and invocation, for the grace of contemplation and perseverance.

4. Know that the devil will tempt you with many distractions or worries under the guise of good reason. Reject these deceits with vigour and don't live as if turned inside out but be ready and on guard. Ask the Lord for the gift of discernment and seek peace. Let your principle ascesis be silence, whenever appropriate or possible.

5. Not taking on too much will achieve the best results. Carry out the duties of your vocation with courage and with competence. Remember, you are performing them as an acceptable service to the Lord. The Lord desires neither your busyness nor your things, but all you are. Waste no time on activities that may be occasions of sin. However, make healthy recreation a part of each day.

6. The world, which touches you on pilgrimage, resembles chaos. Most people in cities live in disorder and disharmony. Don't be afraid, nor let yourself be caught up in worldly snares. Return within.

7. The left hand need not know what the right is doing. Let the day elapse in a spirit of humility, and in competent performance of required duties, along with forgetfulness of self.

8. Remember with the help of God you will overcome any obstacle. God is a God of Courage. You must live with the courage to faithfully perform the tasks He has assigned you, and to always make Him first in your life.

9. Don't rush about. Occasionally stop and pause. Don't take one thing after another impetuously. Be able to let go of the worldly spirit that is driving you. Perform your work at a measured, human pace. Step by step you will find that you are in control of things, rather than the other way around.

. 10. Interrupt your movements frequently. Breathe deeply and invoke the Lord before and after each step. Don't hurry either in speaking or responding.

11. Don't anxiously do this or that. Be distrustful of your own urgency. It may be just more of the fearful spirit which drives ambition and the worldly spirit.

12. Be firm in your convictions. Once you have chosen God, you must work to give more and more of yourself to Him. Trust Him. Unlike fallen mankind, when He makes a covenant with you, He keeps it! You must keep it too.

13. Don't look for recognition or applause. Accept what Providence itself affords you in relation to your exterior actions. If you are seriously living within, you won't be looking for satisfaction without.

14. Know, in all that you undertake, that your true country is Heaven and that now you find yourself in the mystery of exile. But don't forget that you will find Heaven is already in your soul. Your spirit itself anticipates eternity.

15. Don't settle down in nor get tied to a rigid time table. Stay within a harmonious order that you can, easily, change.

16. Try to integrate surprise, that is: the unexpected. The contemporary life abounds in what is not expected. On occasions you are tried by the devil's traps in order that you may lose balance along the road. Don't pay attention nor become distressed at all that occurs. Continue as if nothing had occurred, living your own interior. Cultivate peace.

17. Take advantage of the moments and the dawns, the sunsets, and the beauty of the clouds. Discover in the hours and in landscapes, in music, in art, and in all manifestations of beauty, the profundity of God reflected in the world He created. Enjoy created being from your true interior solitude.

18. Each instant will deliver you Eternity.

19. One yourself within to the life unseen which, however, requires your prayer and your vigil. Your primary vocation is to "stay within with God," your secondary vocation are your exterior duties.

20. May you discover the religious mystery of the night and, when possible, make of those hours your own desert.

21. Keep in mind that to keep vigil within, no matter what your exterior duties, can be better than to hide yourself in the depths of the desert.

22. Only the person who perseveres in interior vigils can understand the glory and the force hidden in the recollected life.

23. Persist in vigilance by means of brief prayers. Practice spiritual reading and pray over the Scriptures.

24. Do not settle down in time or space. Give up with determination any desire for power, even when it appears convenient or has the pretext of contributing to the apostolate. Do to appeal to any entangling alliance nor be served by one.

25. Do not inhabit any transitory space spiritually. Christians inhabit the world but they are not of the world. Christians live passingly in corruptible habitations, while they await the incorruption of heaven They inhabit their own countries as strangers. . . . All foreign territory is to be for them equal to their own homeland and all homelands foreign. To be a Christian is to be, therefore, a pilgrim in the desert of this world.

26. Abandon everything in the Lord. To abandon everything is a consequence of metanoia. What characterizes the interior desert is total abandonment in the Lord. Christian freedom from suffering - Hans Urs von Balthazar has said - is the opposite of a technique made to protect oneself from suffering; it is a pure abandonment to eternal love, beyond both pleasure and pain. Therefore one must accept and be thankful for crosses. Learn to praise God for all the circumstances of your life, present and past, even the evil over which you have, or have had, no control. You must praise God for all of it, not because it is evil, but because He allowed it, and allows it for your transformation and sanctification. "All things work to the good for those who love God," said St Paul. Therefore, put aside anxieties and restlessness, and let His praise be ever in your heart.

27. Have no expectations regarding spirituality. Renunciation of delight and any power in this world acts to arm oneself against one's own weariness.

28. Let go of any compromise with your duty to God implicit in the acceptance of power of this world. Gradually prepare yourself within your responsibilities for contemplation and giving yourself internally to God alone. In full union with God you will give the world, people, and your responsibilites a thousand times more than you would have had you chosen not to fulfill the First Commandment.

29. The pilgrim has nothing to fear from the effort but to place confidence in the grace of the Lord with humility and patience. Impassivity does not consist in not being attacked by temptation from the world, or from evil, but in remaining unassailable when we are attacked.

30. Practice internal silence in the Presence of Jesus, and prefer external silence as well. However, internal silence can be maintained by one who is serious about spirituality even in the midst of noise and confusion.

31. Convert yourself into a disciple who knows how to listen and discern. When someone speaks to you, give them the gift of your full attention Indeed, the important thing is not what arrives but how we receive it.

32. Be ready, when necessary, to remain weak and vulnerable, without strength. Prefer to practice Love rather than self-defense. This means one must be willing to accept the cross that is occasioned by vulnerable interaction with others.

33. Have your heart fixed on God and when you endure adversity or suffer some loss, or whatever it may be, don't feel sorry for yourself nor reflect on it. Don't keep it in your memory nor dwell on it. When unpleasant memories arise to your mind, pray for the people who have hurt you and whose memories now cause you pain. And praise God that He has allowed these things to happen, and from which He brings greater good, not the least of which is your sanctification and eternal happiness.

34.Contemplation consists in attending to and adhering to the Presence of God in the depth, root, and centre of our being. Keeping in mind that this is a grace, live it and pray for it constantly. Remember that the contemplative doesn't know more or less than another, but rather is capable of ecstasy over the ineffable Love of God as well as insignificant happenings which would stike others with indifference.

35. Contemplation is not a pilgrimage to knowledge but a call to a life lived at the Supernatural level, a Love that transcends every road, every plan.

36 Practice prayer through the use of images, art, drama, and music as part of your spiritual life program.

37 If, sometime, you find yourself in an adverse environment with adverse people, transform everything into a school for charity and learn to transcend the worldly impositions of any place.

38 Persevere with your inner recollection under dryness and trials.

39.Remember, you will eventually come to the place where God alone suffices. In a pure heart there are no more dissonances nor distances from God. Be open to the Mystery and be found in conformity with the Father's Will. Authentic silence is the same as a pure heart, like and oned with the Heart of God. You will be able, after all, to live in a complete silence when you rest yourself without difficulty, like a child, in the Lord Himself.

40. It is possible to be very determined, and very effective, in all types of activities and at the same time to remain recollected. For the ongoing Peace of God is the heritage of the soul that remembers God through the image of Jesus Christ.

41. Commit neither violence, hatred, nor abuse no matter what happens. Do what is required of you in the circumstances without losing your inner peace. Respect things as they are and don't rush to respond to everything or to intervene in what does not concern you. Look on things with benevolence. Remember, God is in your favour. For "All things work to the good of those who Love God."

42. Liberate yourself from everything that takes you away from God while you carry out your responsibilities. If television or movies are an occasion of sin, then give them up. Find more satisfactory ways of recreational relaxing. Don't depend on people or on situations. Avoid the voices that talk and chatter, taking analysis to excess. Look for your refuge and your help only in God. You will never be defrauded or ashamed.

43. Jesus said, "I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly." God is the same as your life. Just as invoking the Name of Jesus recalls him constantly, the Presence of the Lord Himself is in your interior unity and intimate Life in Him.

44. God's Love will grow in you in spite of His seeming absence during desolation or interior trial. Hang on to the simple, silent repetition of the Holy Name. Try to begin and end each day in twenty minutes to one half hour of prayer.

45. Remember that God Loves you and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to endure. When you have sexual temptations, always remember that you are no different than the rest of the human race. God is well aware of the sexual trials that bother those who want to love him. Thank Him for that Cross that makes celibacy, purity, and sexual self-control in marriage such angelic virtues. No matter how many times you may fall, you must confess your sins and start again. Believe it! He understands. Jesus Christ is Flesh and Blood and knows full well the power of the sex drive since man lost original innocense. Learn to keep His Image or Presence alive in your consciousness, by staying recollected, and He will help you fight this battle. With sincere sorrow you will start where you left off, having lost no ground. Be assured that you will eventually achieve all the goodness, joy, and blessings that God has promised to those who remain faithful and make an honest effort to "overcome" tempatations. For His Spirit is a Torrent of Delight, the Eternal Joy of the New Jerusalem, and the Ecstasy of Abundant Life in the Everlasting City of God.

St Bonaventure

"If you would suffer patiently the adversities and miseries of this life, be a man of prayer. If you would gain power and strength to overcome the temptations of the enemy, be a man of prayer. If you would mortify your will with all its affections and lusts, be a man of prayer. If you would understand the cunning devices of Satan, and defend yourself against his deceits, be a man of payer. If you would live joyfully, and with sweetness walk in the path of penitence and sorrow, be a man of prayer. If you would drive out the troublesome gnats of vain thoughts and cares from your soul, be a man of prayer. If you would sustain your soul with the richness of devotion, and kept it ever full of good thoughts and desires, be a man of prayer. If you would strengthen and confirm your heart in the pilgrimage with God, be a man of prayer. Lastly, if you would root out from your soul every vice and in their place plant the virtues, be a man of prayer, for in this is obtained the unction and grace of the Holy Spirit who teaches all things. "And besides all this, if you would climb to the height of contemplation, and delight in the sweet embraces of the Bridegroom, exercise yourself in prayer, for this is the way by which the soul mounts up to contemplation and to the taste of heavenly things.

"You see, then, of how great virtue and power is prayer, and for proof of all that has been said (to say nothing of Holy Scripture) let this now be sufficient assurance that we have seen and heard, and see, day by day, many simple persons who have attained to all these things above mentioned and to others greater, through the exercise of prayer."(St. Bonaventure)

There is no more powerful spirituality for the laity than "The Little Way" of St Therese available through the link below. In like manner, the spirituality of Brother Lawrence linked below provides the perfect method for remaining in God's Loving Presence during the many activities of the secular day.