GOD IS LOVE

Contemplative prayer is a love story between the created soul and the Creator God, the story of man's return to His Beloved, in Eden. Such prayer reveals the mystery of the Wisdom and power of God, as well as the mystery of suffering, and the reason for man's creation. It lets us share in the mystery of God's Being, which is also the mystery of our being, i.e., "the mystery of Overcoming Love," revealed to the world in "resurrection power," manifest in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's Son, the Promised Messiah.

For God "is Love," personal Trinitarian Love. And this Love is "Eternal Life," characterized by Perfect Mercy and Kindness, and expressing itself as Sacrificial Love, yet always bearing the fruit of Perfect Justice. And each member of the Trinity participates fully in the Life of each other member. And at a point in created time, the Glorious Mystery of Trinitarian Love exploded upon the Universe of mankind, as: “God so loved the world, He “gave” (as in a Holocaust of Sacrificial Love) His only begotten Son. And the Son, with a groan welling up from deep within His Spirit, responded to the Father’s Merciful cry, as He instantly, and obediently, “Offered Himself” as a “Victim” of “Sacrificial Love,” expressed through “The Incarnation,” and His Life, Death, and Resurrection, taking on Himself the guilt and punishment for the sins of mankind. And the Holy Spirit, groaning within, fully, and voluntarily, responded in Love filled with the Sacrifice of both Father and Son, and poured forth grace for each human being’s participation in such an act of Sacrificial Love, through Baptism into the Church, and participation in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

And such love, in order to merit the name, must be "freely given," or it is not really love but rather the response to fear or coercion. God's love is free by nature and that's the way He made us, i.e., "in His own image." This means that, in seeking our love, while respecting the freedom inherent to such love, God must show us "the Way" to Him in a manner that leaves us free to accept or reject Him. If our reason could not resist the "Truth" before our eyes, our choice to accept this Truth would be automatic like a machine, rather than lovingly and freely given as befits a being made in the image of God.

Therefore, even though the proofs of God's love for us in His Son, Jesus Christ, are beyond all that our rational minds could require, they still do not "compel" us to believe. We must always remember that faith is a supernatural "gift," which atheists and unbelievers do not possess, even if they have achieved self-realization and natural enlightenment through years of spiritual "practice" and meditation. They speak from their hearts and the truth of their limited natural vision when they say their lives are built on self-reliance, and show no manifestation of God nor a Godman. They have no faith, and, therefore, no "vision." Their hearts are set against any "Truth" that would suggest a Power outside themselves, and their minds cannot be changed by natural efforts or rational arguments. While many of them are personally responsible before God for choosing to reject Him, and the gift of faith, we must nonetheless remember, "There but for the grace of God goes each and every one of us!"

In "Dover Beach," by Matthew Arnold, part of which is repeated below, we find an example of the jaundiced vision of the atheist, and the despair of one who views the lamentable state of "creation," now bereft of God, Who has been killed by the men He created, i.e., the rationalists, the atheistic evolutionists, and the Higher Criticism of the Bible:

Dover Beach
by Matthew Arnold

"...for the world,
which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

This is an apt description of the atheist's vision of the world without God. However, in stark contrast to this melancholy vision, the contemplative man of faith sees the same view of worldly life transformed in eternal significance and meaning. Instead of despairing at a Godless world, the contemplative rejoices in God's supernatural blessings, the very ones claimed to be lost in the poem: joy, love, light, certitude, peace, help for pain, and all the things necessary to a life of hope and meaning. And instead of the "dark vision," and the "darkling plain," the contemplative sees the mystery inherent in all creation through the Eyes of God's Loving Spirit, the Master Artist Who blesses all the world with special meaning and significance, and Who rejoices, even now, in the haunting, dark beauty of the lonely cliffs of "Dover Beach."

For as Cardinal Ratzinger tells us, through Jesus Christ, the message of God's Beauty, and Eternal Overcoming Love, triumphs over the message of melancholy, evil, and suffering in this world for all time. The Inner Beauty of God shows itself stronger than despair, hate, falsehood, violence, and suffering, as the Crucified One opens his arms wide to mankind from the Cross, and from the midst of His Passion, Pain, and the Ugliness of His Dereliction, says, "Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do." For in that moment, Eternal Love overcomes and transfigures the ugliness of suffering, and shows a Power of Reconciliation, and a Face of Beauty, never before seen in the world of fallen man. At that moment, Love takes wings and re-establishes Beauty and Goodness at the highest summit, as the glorious Truths of the Universe, and as the defining purpose of Creation. And down through the centuries this Inner Beauty of Jesus Christ draws each of us out of our complacency to participation in a personal act of Overcoming Beauty and Goodness: "Take up your Cross and follow Me!"...For "he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."(Ephesians l:9)(gloss from Cardinal Ratzinger, "Contemplation of Beauty.")

For we are all free to succumb to a form of intellectual pride, and to reject the joyful response of our hearts to the love for which we were created because we have preferred the anti-church propoganda in the latest best-seller, or because of historical untruths which some novelist manufactured to make a lot of money. By the same token, we are free to use the current scandals and crisis in the Church as an excuse to commit spiritual suicide, and give up on the Faith, and, incidentally, any hope for happiness in this life, as well as the next, for as Jesus warned us, in this life, the chaff would always be mixed with the wheat:

"The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way...Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. However, let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13)

THE TRUE NATURE OF DIVINE LOVE IS MANIFEST TO THE WORLD, WITH AUTHORITY, IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST

God's Spirit, and the qualities which constitute what we call Spiritual Perfection, and which, besides supernatural joy, bring natural happiness and integrity thorugh purity of spirit, could not be achieved or sustained until they were seen "with authority" in the mirror of His Perfect Image, Jesus Christ. Because of the power of our innate selfishness, the inherited residue of Original Sin, it was not enough to hear the words of this or that guru, each teaching a different spiritual program involving meditation, and promising permanent happiness if we would only die to our evil "cravings" connected with life in this world, and awaken to our true self. For while such teachings were partially correct (in that natural happiness could result from such ongoing purity of spirit as represented by realization of the true-self) permanent and sustained mortification of pride and the many-headed monster of evil desire coming from concupiscense was only possible through the help of grace and the Holy Spirit.

No, man was created for God, and man's natural and supernatural happiness depends on union with God. He could not find the power of transformation he was seeking through natural efforts, self-reliance, nor in partial programs of truth, involving a respectful relationship with fallible human gurus, nor with the Law. The true power for sanctity, and the total transformative change man needed, including ongoing enlightenment of the true self, would only be forthcoming when "Perfect Charity" was seen in human form, and when a fellow human being, completely enlightened, and filled with God-consciousness dwelt among us, in the "Fullness of Truth," manifesting in Himself, in visible form, the reality, nature, and attainability, of the very perfection, natural and supernatural, we were called to seek for ourselves.

Therefore, meditation, sustained natural efforts, and good intentions aren't enough to curb selfishness and evil cravings, and to bring about a true conversion of our spirit and permanent happiness. We all, right from the start of our spiritual quest, need a personal encounter with something greater than ourselves; we need a transforming contact with a "teacher" who is above scandal, will never abandon us, and whose very presence radiates a natural goodness and supernatural power which engenders a "loving faith," and which shatters our complacency and the hard boundaries, defense mechanisms, and entrenched prejudices which characterize our natural self.

Through God's Wisdom, such a teacher appeared, and a powerful bond of "Personal Love" between man and His Creator entered the spiritual equation through the power of One sacrificing Himself for us, and manifesting a unique presence and personal goodness, never before seen in the world. The relational bond forged through love of Jesus Christ fostered a spiritual likeness between man and God, and revealed the true nature of man to himself(the "Way"), providing the world with the necessary teaching model and spiritual dynamism, through the Holy Spirit, for supernatural transformational change of man's life away from self and sin, to full union and likeness with the "Other," a spiritual communion in the perfection of charity.

But, sad to say, man has no problem in seeking transformation through the easy-going spirituality of many non-Christian religions, or through a spiritual life based on meditation, alone, which is promised by Western teachers of Eastern Nonduality and a God of Pure Consciousness. He'll buy every new book that comes out and dazzles him by this easy, although woefully untrue, solution to the problems of evil in his life. And he'll sit forever on a cushion, reading such books and hoping, thereby, to "find his bliss." Instead of finding bliss, he finds nothing but his own small self, still separate from God, by nature, and still suffering in a miserable life that makes no sense, but now with an ever-growing pile of books that him how happy he is supposed to be.

And then someone says, "But what about the scandals in the Church, don't they prove the fully revealed program doesn't work? And the Wisdom in God's Answer eternally forsaw the problem, and is Infinitely above the criticism of the question. Fortunately for the human race, our Faith is not dependent on the reliability of sinful, wounded human beings, clergy, religious, laity, or otherwise. From the beginning of the human race to the present time, man has continually betrayed the image of God found in his own soul. Fortunately for us, "A Divinely Perfect Spiritual Master' has come among us Who has warned us of the perfidy of the human heart, and Who has provided us with the Perfect Example, the "Eternal Way," provided through the Church.

And for many reasons it is the height of foolishness to reject this "Way" Jesus called His Life. One of the most powerful reasons is because it is the only spiritual path or Way which confronts, explains, and overcomes with Love, the same kinds of evils and sufferings that produce violence, hatred, and murder on other spiritual paths. (A case in point is the murderous "spirituality" of the men who crucified Jesus.) For only Jesus' Revealed Way is the "the Key" and pattern for our own lives, and has the God-given power to take the physical and mental pain, the illness, the disease,the shame and sufferings of this life and actually turn them into a mysterous form of joy!

This is no wishful thinking, for each of us can prove it in our own lives, as it leaps out to us from our own suffering which is transformed from something evil into something mysterously good through our personal embrace of it, joining it to Christ's suffering on the Cross. This is the Great and Holy Mystery of "the Wisdom of the Cross," for which we embrace suffering, and which caused St Paul to rejoice in his trials; for our merciful God has "redeemed suffering," making it a "Royal Road" by which love eternally overcomes all manner of opposition and evil, manifesting its glorious power and goodness throughout the ages. No, No other religion ever did that, or ever will do that, because there is only one Ultimate Truth, and one Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

As Isaiah tells us:

"For anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness: for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. For the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light...You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing. For the yoke that burdened them...you have smashed."(Isaiah 9)

Isaiah continues, "For a child is born to us , a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father Forever, Prince of Peace; His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David's throne(he rules), and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains, by judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!

THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF REGULAR PRAYER

Some may wonder why it is necessary to pray at all, and why we can't just go about doing good works and forget about prayer. The answer lies in our condition of soul which we inherited from our first father, Adam, i.e., our disordered concupiscence caused by Original Sin. At the beginning of our spiritual quest our souls are full of pride and self-centered desires, and our activities reflect this, and tend more to serving self than God and neighbor. This includes much of our religious activity and good works. We are proudly full of ourselves with strong habits of attachment to all manner of finite goods of this world. Our activities leave no opening for God. Our active, versus prayerful, mind and body find a will and desires fully engaged at the "natural" level and not available to God's supernatural action because intellect, will, and imagination of soul are "bound-up" with this world, through the powerful attraction ingrained in our souls for "worldly" thoughts, ideas, images, and pleasures. And activity, as contrasted with prayer, strengthens our worldly habits through the renewed pleasure and satisfaction we receive. We remain turned away from openness to God's Spirit in our hardened, self-possession, in an active, non-receptive mode, necessary to carry out ongoing activities.

That's why mental prayer is necessary every day. It is a daily "opening" for building a relationship with Him, and for His supernatural action to bring about an increase of grace in our "busy" spirit. It's also an opportunity for Him to gradually undermine the deep-seated pleasure we experience connected with busyness and activity, in favor of the delight we find in time spent with Him. (With the infusion of contemplative prayer, and the nights, this activity will become more pronounced.) It's a period of time during which our spiritual faculties are in the "receptive" mode necessary to supernatural infusion, rather than the "active" mode which binds us to the natural level. That's why nothing can make up for mental prayer, not even good works. For all our activities, even our religious motivated good works, particularly in the early stages of our spiritual development, tend to exercise our natural desires and egocentric finite loves, more than they exercise the charity of God. That's why its foolish and dangerous for souls to undertake great activities for God before they have matured to a significant level in their prayer life, which provides the supernatural motive power for the charity which must inform all such acts.

And in order to better appreciate the awesome divine mystery implicit in our faith in "One Man," and true God, Jesus Christ, we should consider the following principles:

"The human nature of Christ, united hypostatically with the Divine nature,(Sacred Humanity) is adored with the same worship as the Divine nature, because of the Divinity of the Incarnate Word."(Catholic Encyclopedia, "Incarnation")

"If the goal of the Christian life is configuration with Christ and transformation in Christ, as St. Paul explicitly teaches, there can never be a point at which the soul abandons Christ."(Fr. Jordan Aumann, O.P., "Spiritual Theology," Ch. 3)

All graces, including the grace of apophatic contemplation, come to us through the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ.(Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange,O.P., ref: St Thomas, "Three Ages of Interior Life," p.lll)

"Man may be saved without contemplation, but he cannot be perfect without it; that is why the Church proclaims the contemplative life as the most excellent."(Fr. Jordan Aumann, "Christian Spirituality in the Catholic Tradition," Ch.7)

"All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love." (Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, nn. 40-41)

UNIVERSAL CALL TO CONTEMPLATION(Lumen Gentium, Ch. 5):

Because the laity are called to perfection, as Vatican Council II says they are, and such perfection is impossible without supernatural contemplative prayer, then we should not "hold back" from the conclusion we must draw, i.e., "All Christians, no matter what may be the distinction of duties in their different vocations, i.e., layman, secular priest, religious, contemplative monk/sister are called, generally, to contemplative prayer by virtue of their call to perfection. And within the providence of God, many such faithful will receive the proximate call and gift of contemplation leading to the Spiritual Marriage. For all Christians are commanded to strive for perfection by Christ, Himself, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

-

Contemplative Prayer provides the greatest happiness, the greatest transformation, the greatest joy, and the greatest Love of God, through Jesus Christ, possible in this life. Because it is a loving communion between the Spirit of God and the spirit of man, it fills us with a supernatural peace that satisfies all the longings of the human heart, and answers all the questions about the meaning of life. Contemplative prayer did not start in the middle ages, nor did it start with the desert fathers, or the Greek philosophers, or even with the Old Testatment Prophets. It started thousands of years before that, at the dawning of "the age of man!"

Contemplative prayer started in the Garden of Eden, when the first man gained consciousness. For it is nothing less than the exchange of Intimate, Self-Giving Love between the soul of the human being, and the Soul of the Beloved One for Whom we were created. It is an Ecstasy of Self-Giving Exchange, a Dynamic Transformation in the Irresistable Beauty, Goodness, and Mysterious Wisdom of the All Powerful Spirit Who Created man and the whole Universe: ".. in the state of innocence all that our first parents saw and said and ate in Paradise furnished them with greater sweetness of contemplation, (St John of the Cross, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel," Bk III, Ch.26)

And Wisdom teaches that it is always a mistake to separate Jesus Christ from the spiritual "Way" built on His Church. In like manner, it is wrong to separate contemplative prayer from the Church and the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ. Such division is the strategy of the angelic spirit who teaches through New Age gurus that Jesus is just an "ascended master," one who has awakened to the divinity within, the same that is in each of us, and sin is just "ignorance" and a failure to recognize that one is already perfect, and already "very God."

Fr. Henri Nouwen:

"The mystery of the Incarnation is that God can be seen in and through Jesus Christ. In and through Christ we know that God is a loving Father who we can see by looking at His Son. Contemplative prayer, therefore, means keeping the Image of the Son ever present in our inner-consciousness so that we live always in the Presence of God."(Henri Nouwen)

Therefore, grateful contemplatives honor the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth, the priesthood, and the hierarchy, even when wounded by scandal and sin, and give thanks to God for the Visible Church, the fullness of His ongoing Living Presence in the world. It is this Church, and Its Holy Spirit, that has preserved the gift of contemplative prayer from Pentacost to the present day, including such modern souls as John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, Bishop Sheen, Jac and Raissa Maritain, Padre Pio, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, Fr. Patrick Peyton, Dorothy Day, Fr. John Arintero, Fr. Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus, the souls in the lay contemplative third orders around the world, as well as the many "hidden" contemplative souls in the secular priesthood, convents and monasteries, including those holy souls who have left enclosures, today, in order to teach this contemplative discipline to the secular, postmodern world. So contrary to what is sometimes taught, in every century, right up to the present time, the Church has brought forth a large body of contemplative souls around the world. And many of these souls have produced significant works on contemplative prayer, which have carried on the contemplative tradition to the present time, and which works are still available today to those who take the time to study the literature.

IMAGES, INCARNATION, AND CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER(from the Book of Wisdom)

"Wherefore I sought God, and "Understanding" was mine,
I called upon Him, and "Wisdom" came upon me,
And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones,
I esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.

For all gold in comparison of her, is as sand,
And silver in respect to her shall be counted as clay,
I loved her above health and beauty,
And I chose to have her instead of light.

Now all good things came to me together with her,
I knew not she was mother of them all,
For she is an infinite treasure to men,
Which they that use become the friends of God."

As St Thomas reminds us, in the Summa Theologica: "The honor given to an image reaches to the prototype," i.e. the exemplar. But the exemplar itself--namely, Christ--is to be adored with the adoration of "latria"; therefore also His image." And the icons and images of the Catholic Church, as St John of the Cross reminds us, ever move us toward union with God, and become the prayerwindows through which we give our adoration to God, Who is the Exemplar and Loving Spirit ultimately behind all the religious images of the Church.

For the images we entertain posses our soul, energize our desires, and give our will an inclination to move toward good or evil. This is an automatic natural process and not dependent on our will. And because images motivate our internal and external behavior, we must take radical steps to eliminate seductive worldly images by the practice of "custody of the eyes" throughout each day. For images activate hormones, desires, and emotions. And just as our will is moved toward divine union, and energized for good through the prayers rising from the images, icons, and objects connected with the worship of the Holy Catholic Church, so our will is energized toward evil by entertaining negative, secular images infected with the "spirit of the world," and which compete with, and eventually destroy the love of God.

However, today, as it was from the beginning, the Good News of Jesus Christ is a threat to the materialistic world, calling all men to be perfect even as God is perfect, by living the New Paradigm of Love, extending even to one's enemies. For such Love has the quality and the nature of the Love among the Persons of the Trinity. It is the hope of the world, the peace of Jerusalem, and the only way mankind will ultimtely rise above the hatred engendered by human selfishness, and the strife caused by racial, national, and religious chauvinism. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus"(Gal. 3:28).

SEEKING THE FACE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST

And, as the Contemplative Fathers would say, "Mark this well!" It is only through participation in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ that Contemplative Prayer sanctifies, and powerfully changes our lives. The Way of the true contemplative is built on the Wisdom of the Cross, i.e., the Way of Overcoming Love, as Suffering is embraced for the love of Christ, and transformed through union with His Suffering into a Royal Road of transformation. The contemplative, in most cases, personally experiences the joy of God's Real Presence, both in the Eucharist and during periods connected with contemplative prayer. Therefore, with the spirit of St Paul, a true contemplative will always "seek the Face of Christ, keeping Him ever present to the inner man, for 'in Him are to be found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.'"(Col.2:3)

However, some of us, like the Samaritan woman at the well, live in grey uncertainty, with the expectation of one day knowing the truth. Like her, we say, "I know that Messiah is coming. And when he comes he will proclaim all things to us." But then, as He did with her, Jesus turns and looks at us and says: "I am He, the one who is speaking to you." (John 4:26).

Imagine, if you can, how appealing Christ would have been to a suffering world, where a great proportion of humanity live daily with poverty, disease, hunger, death, and humiliation, if He had appeared to mankind in only His Kingly role. Imagine if Christ were the same as the impoverished vision of God of other religions, or the God of ancient philosophies. Imagine, yourself, coming from a background of misery and despair, and praying to this Godly King for forgiveness of your sins, and for His Merciful Understanding of your problems and your desire to be happy, when all He ever knew was riches, power, joy and adulation.

Then take another look at Jesus, the only One who, by His Life, shows us the Face of the True God, the Face of Compassionate, Beatific Beauty Who gives everything away to the Beloved, an Ecstasy of Self-giving Exchange among Persons. Compare the Spirit of His Father to the Solitary, Uncaring, Hermit-King, God of other religions. Then, if you want to see what the word "sin" really means, look at Jesus' broken Body. Look at His Blood spilled out for you on the Earth. Look at the Sacred Wounds of the One who, as was prophesied, was "pierced" for our sins.

Look at His Sacred Heart, beating life into a world in love with sin and death. Look at His painful visage represented to the world by the Holy Shroud! Look!...look on Him and begin to bless the Name of this Jesus as tears of love and admiration fill you with joy. For the God we worship deigned for Love of us to take our pain and suffering on Himself. He looked with mercy on our misery and despair and redeemed it; He took our suffering and poverty and made it a Royal Road, the mystery of the Holy Cross leading to Life Everlasting.

So we are not ashamed of this God! We are not ashamed to confess before men our love for such a Friend! We are not ashamed to kneel before Jesus Christ with expressions of joyful thanksgiving! How can we ever repay such a Love that "emptied itself" of Godliness, and in Humility and Mercy delivered itself up to the pain and fury of hell, taking our place on a Cross, and hanging there for all the world to see... in place of you and me!

And today, Jesus once again calls us back to Him, in these times of scandal and religious crisis, much of which has been born of lukewarm spirituality built on an Eastern or New Age "mantra," rather than "the Fullness of Revealed Truth" in Jesus Christ. For as Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger have re-emphasized in their "Letter to the Bishops on Some Aspects of Meditation, l989," we are all called to perfection through meditation and contemplation based on the teachings of the Doctors and saints of the Church, i.e., "always centered on the doctrine of the Trinity, and the Person of the Word made Flesh, Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life." This Way is the true path leading to the gift of contemplation and the "Living Flame of Love!":

O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter! (St. John of the Cross, "The Living Flame of Love.)

And in the midst of our Contemplation, we hear the voice of the Bridegroom adjuring us, once again, as He did in Matthew 5:13: "If ye are to transform the World with my Love, then nothing less than the fullness of Truth will do!"

"For Ye are the salt of the earth;" "But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" For if you, by means of whom the nations are to be preserved from corruption, shall lose the kingdom,...where will we find the men through whom error may be removed from you? For God has chosen you, in order that through you He might remove the error of others! But if you fear to speak the truth, and your salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? For then it is good for nothing,...and it will be cast out, and trodden under-foot by men." (St Augustine)(1Peter 2:9)

For each of us living today, looking at the beauty and majesty of the Universe, cannot help but ask ourselves an age-old question: "What is the purpose of our existence?" Why were we created? And whence come these cravings within our souls, these longings for answers to ultimate questions?

And contemplative prayer teaches us that the answer to our existence is: "Love"... Infinite, Self-Giving Love!" And it says the answer to our existence is: "Goodness!"... for God is Goodness!" And it says the answer to our existence is: "Infinite Beauty!"...for the Being of God dwells in Indescribable Beauty. And the Self-Giving Love among the persons of the Trinity Eternally Diffuses Goodness upon the realm of existence, a profusion of created beings, which, like we ourselves, are visible manifestations of Invisible Glory.

However, in our religious enthusiasm, we must be on guard against hatred of those with different views based on partial truths, remembering that God loves all men whether they be Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, Buddhists, pagans, atheists, or agnostics. And, in particular, as John Paul II has reitereated:

"The Jews are our elder brothers within the household of Faith. With them, we also worship the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. To them were given God's irrevocable promises, and they are beloved of God. It is not lawful to say they are repudiated or cursed based on Old or New Testatment Scripture. They bear no ancestral or collective blame for what happened in Christ's passion."(see Nostra Aetate in Resources)

Participation in the "infused unknowing," with emptiness of the faculties, characteristic of pure faith and apophatic contemplative prayer, fills the substance of the contemplative's soul with the Spirit of Truth. And that Truth comes to the advanced contemplative through, in, and with the Person of "Jesus Christ." So, as St Teresa has told us, the advanced contemplative does not find His spirit filled with "apophatic" nothingness, or "the Abyss," or "Undifferentiaed Simplicity," or "No-self," or the "Oneness" supposedly found by the mystics of all religions. Even though he may, from time to time, have such experiences, in the end, he finds a "Loving Person and Companion" Who goes by the Name of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh.

In his letter to the Bishops on meditation and Jesus Christ, Cardinal Ratziner states:

"Pope John Paul II has pointed out to the whole Church the example and the doctrine of St. Teresa of Avila who in her life had to reject the temptation of certain methods which proposed a leaving aside of the humanity of Christ in favor of a vague self-immersion in the abyss of the divinity. In a homily given on November 1, 1982, he said that the call of Teresa of Jesus advocating a prayer completely centered on Christ "is valid, even in our day, against some methods of prayer which are not inspired by the Gospel and which in practice tend to set Christ aside in preference for a mental void which makes no sense in Christianity. Any method of prayer is valid insofar as it is inspired by Christ and leads to Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6) (Letter to Bishops, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger)

The "Transforming Union," or sanctity, wherein our souls are brought into complete conformity with the Will and Mind of Christ, or the perfection of charity, is the final stage of contemplative development. It follows the final purification of the night of the spirit, and is the ultimate stage of loving union between two in love, who remain two, the soul and God through Jesus Christ. It is the stage of "deification," or perfection of the soul in the moral and theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity as attested to by the writings of the mystical theologians, saints and Doctors of the Church. This stage, even though the final one, may deepen over time, as explained by St John of the Cross in "the Living Flame of Love," as charity continues to grow through the ongoing activity of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the love of the two, the soul and God, grows ever stronger.

And in spite of individual psychological experiences, or what those who have been influenced by Buddhist and Eastern theology hold, the Christian saint never loses his "self" through some sort of ultimate "absorption in God." Such absorption is the Eastern dream of peace through "Nirvana," characterized as a final spiritual stage of "no-self," held by those who believe the "self" is a fiction and unreal in the first place. As St Teresa, a Doctor of the Church, said, the transformed Christian saint, although forgetful of self for much of the time, remains consciously separate from God. This is evidenced, she said, by the saint's occasional misery when God seems to abandon him to the power of the lower mansions for a short period of time, as well as by his remaining capacity to commit sin. Therefore, even though transformed in perfection, the saint is one who is conscious of his poverty and weakness, and like St Paul ever saying, "Not that I have arrived, but I press on to the goal!"

So as St Teresa taught us, our voluntary contemplative life and practices, outside of the actual act of infused apophatic contemplation, when God Wills to suspend all our intellectual activity, are built around both natures of the Godman, Jesus Christ. Unless we have gone off track, His Sacred Humanity is paramount in our "thoughts" and "religious practices" as the foundation of the contemplative day, whether we are longtime saints or brand new Christians. In contrast to all other religions and partial truths, we Christians walk and talk and share our life with "the fullness of truth," our Good Friend and Constant Companion, Jesus Christ. For it was not the the God of "Invisible Presence," as found in apophatic contemplative prayer, and all other religions, which Divine Revelation gave us as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, even though it contains significant spiritual truth. Rather, it was Jesus Christ, the Visible Image of the Invisible God, Our Blessed Lord, the Godman, hanging on a Cross. That's why we find the Crucifix in the Church, over the altar. And in this same Self-Revelation He gave us the Eucharist, the Sacraments, the Mother of God, and the doctrines and practices that give the Catholic spirtual life all the elements necessary for transformation of human beings from the self-centered, Old Man, into the self-giving, "New Man" in conformity with Jesus Christ. So, although it might seem a paradox, the deepest mystery of love's transforming power is "manifest to mankind in the transfigured, blood-stained features of Jesus Christ, with the glory of God streaming forth as the beauty of the love that will save the world." (Aidan Nichols O.P.)

And in order to understand how the saints function in the world, it is important to remember that St Teresa told us about the consciousness of two distinct levels within the soul of the transformed saint, i.e., the natural and the supernatural. Such a soul finds its center, and its peace, and its strength to undertake radical detachment, as proposed by St John of the Cross and the Gospels, from its participative union with supernatural being. The joy and peace of this supernatural union only grows stronger, and more supernaturalized, as one seeks the Cross, and the annihilation recommeded by St John, at the level of the natural self. Now this peace, usually imbued with joy, perdures even though the faculties and emotions may be undergoing business worries, trials, and suffering at a lower, purely natural level. Or in the metaphor used by St Teresa, "The king "abides" happily in the castle even though he hears of wars going on outside." And, as also pointed out, when these trials pass, the transformed soul returns to the "fullness" of peace and happiness found in the supernaturalized center of the soul, where the Trinity, by grace, Indwells.

And as Cardinal Ratzinger points out, faith is not inert, spiritual "Presence," for it requires specific behaviours necessary for fruitful Interreligious Relations and Dialogue, And we should be good listeners to the lessons taught by other faiths so that we may grow in the understanding of the very truths we hold in our own Faith:

"Does this mean that missionary activity must cease and be replaced by dialogue, in which we do not speak of truth, but help one another be better Christians, Jews, Moslems, Hindus, and Buddhists? My answer is no. For this would be yet another form of the complete lack of belief. Under the pretext of fostering the best in another, we would fail to take both ourselves and the other seriouslyand would end up renouncing truth. The answer, I think, is that mission and dialogue must no longer be antitheses, but must penetrate each other."

Bishop Benson has some interesting thoughts about our relationship with Jesus Christ in the "transforming union.":

"The final stage of ccntemplation deals with those actual relations between Christ and the soul that are involved in the Divine Friendship which becomes the object of actual intelligence and contemplation. It is henceforth not only enjoyed, but in a certain degree consciously perceived and understood.

"Life is changed by it: all relations are altered by it; Christ begins to be indeed the Light that irradiates every object of the soul's attention: He becomes the background, or the medium, by whose help all things are seen.(Bishop Robert Hugh Benson)

Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange emphasizes that those who embraced the heresy of "Quietism" went off the spiritual rails because they lost sight of the ongoing importance of the Divine Mediator, Jesus Christ. In error they said:

"It is an imperfection to think of Jesus Christ and his mysteries, it is necessary and sufficient to lose oneself in the divine essence. He who makes use of images or ideas does not adore God in spirit and in truth."

Whereas, against the Quietist heresy, correct Catholic Doctrine says:

"...outside of the (apophatic)contemplative act one is not dispensed from thinking about Jesus Christ, the necessary Mediator, or from going to God through Him."(Fr. garrigou-Lagrange, Three Ages of the Interior Life, p 291)

"He that descended is the same also that ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things...That henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive But doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in him who is the head, even Christ. (St Paul, Ephesians, Ch.4)

St Paul speaks of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.(St Paul, Romans 9)

"Behold, I am placing in Zion a stone to make men stumble and a rock to make them fall; but he who believes in him will not be put to shame"...

St Paul is telling us that the stumbling stone is the fact that man's justification comes as a gift of God, i.e., "faith," and is not the reward of works, nor of man's efforts, such as might be found in worldly success, nor in a self-righteous following of the law, nor by Eastern feats of mental concentration.(lest any man might boast). And the faith that justifies is not faith in "invisible, outer space," rather, "Faith" consists in holding as true what God has revealed and proposes through His Church to man's acceptance. It is specifically faith in "Jesus Christ" as God, along with belief in His Resurrection!" (And the grace of such a living gift of faith is informed by God's charity and manifests itself through reception of the sacrament of Baptism and by good works).

In short, the power in this supernatural dimension of the "gift" of faith in Jesus Christ, Whose authority is guaranteed by His Resurrection, can be seen in clear relief, in all its astounding, transformative, loving power, when seen against the entrenched attitude and mind-set of Saul of Tarsus. Such an act of faith can only take place after a miracle of grace brings a mysterious death to self-righteousness, for a new "birth from above" can only penetrate a hardened soul after it has been broken, "broken open" by the power of God, dissolving its proud hardness in the furnace of humiliation. For Saul became blind through the Vision of Jesus on the Road to Damascus. And for the next few days he experienced total helplessness and dependence on others for everything. In the furnace of humiliation and grace, "Saul the Persecutor" becomes "Paul the Apostle," and, falling on his knees confesses, "I believe, I believe in Jesus Christ, True God and True man!"

Moreover, speaking of his whole life before this time, including his religious standing, and the things he formerly considered important, St Paul says,

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith...I press onward toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."(Philippians 3)

Then, Paul goes on with words relevant to today's inter-religious dialogue:

"But how shall they call upon him whom they have not believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard of him? And how can they hear unless there is someone to preach? And how can men preach unless they are sent? Scripture says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who announce good news!" And it's the same today as it has been down through the centuries. The Christian, as Pope John Paul II has affirmed, must preach the Good News, even as part of the respectful exchange of ideas in inter-faith dialogue. And the Christian, although he may learn from them, does not preach an Eastern God, Buddhism, or a Cosmic, Invisible Presence which seems the same in all religions, and which is not really concerned with the problems of this world. Rather, with single-minded resolution like St Paul, the Christian preaches "Jesus Christ," and him crucified! Why crucified? Because the essence of the true "Way" Jesus taught involves "dying to self" through embracing the Cross(the strait-gate), that through "losing our lives we might find them unto life everlasting." To teach only partial truths, or any other "Way," is to effectively emasculate the power of "spiritual transformation" engendered by the loving embrace of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

CURRENT SCANDALS AMONG SOME OF THE CLERGY

There are some in today's Church who would like to seek a deeper spiritual life, and even contemplative prayer, but who are put off by the current "crisis in the clergy." So we should take a few minutes to consider this issue before returning to the power of contemplative prayer:

"The Church," says Cardinal Newman, "is ever ailing, and lingers on in weakness, 'always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in her body.'" It is an essential property of the Church to be so, because of her vocation involving men. Nowhere else does evil become so visible, because nowhere else is it so keenly fought. "She can never work out of the sphere of evil." As her Master came not for the whole, but for the sick, so the Church in this world will always have her sick, will always have sores in her members, great and small.(Karl Adam, "Spirit of Catholicism," Resources)

"It is because of this essential union of truth and life, of authority and community, that when Church authority has sometimes and in some places failed in its trust, the life of the community has been the fresh source whence the life of the Church has been renewed. In fact history testifies that when truth has seemed barren and authority overcome by human frailty, the grace of Christ, its Head, has brought forth from the womb of the living community members who by the power of their faith have given new life, not only to their own immediate environment, but to the whole Church.(Ibid)

"It is in this that the providential and salutary influence and the historical importance of so many saints are manifest. St. Bernard and St. Francis, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Clement Maria Hofbauer and so many others. What else did they do but bring forth from within themselves "streams of living water"? (cf. Jn. vii, 38); Did not the living ardor of their faith give to wide regions of the Church new growth, new youth, a second spring?"(Ibid)

Many of the faithful believe God is, today, calling "the laity" to take new roles of prominence and sanctity within the Church. Up until recently, the laity have left it up to the clergy to seek "holiness" within the Body of Christ. It is now clear that, if the Church is to fulfill its mission in the postmodern world, the laity must join with clergy and religious, and bring forth a "New Pentacost," in which God pours forth His Spirit upon all flesh. In today's Church, "sanctity" is going to be "everyone's business." As one Bishop put it:

"Those who commit scandals are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder," destroying other people's faith in God by their terrible example. But I'm here among you to prevent something far worse for you. While those who give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal, who allow scandals to destroy their faith, are guilty of "spiritual suicide." (St Francis de Sales)

It is true that there are, today, and always have been, a small number of clergy, including some bishops and a Pope or two, who, like Judas, have given sad evidence of the frailty of human nature. But their number fades into insignificance before the company of the thousands of faithful priests and bishops serving today, as well as the the hundreds of thousands who have carried the Faith throughout the known world since the beginning of Christianity. And while we rightly condemn the scandal of the few, should we not also proclaim our debt of gratitude to the many, who have given us Hope and Love, by bringing Jesus Christ into our lives? And does anyone doubt that Almighty God will use this time of humiliation and spiritual agony for these faithful bishops, priests, and religious, who are now with "broken spirits" drinking deeply of Christ's agony, passion, humiliation and death, to usher in through their sacrifice the "New Pentacost" for all of us?

We recall that a "broken spirit" is one wherein the hardness of spiritual pride, exaggerated self-reliance, and practical atheism, the inheritance of all of us through Original Sin, are soundly and permanently wounded, and thereby provide the necessary "opening" in the soul for the spiritual fire of God's transforming grace and love. As King David reminds us, in Psalm 51:

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."

Just as out of Judas' betrayal, Jesus achieved our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection, so out of present day scandals He will bring about the final perfection of holiness among the Body of Christ, priests and laity alike. For in the Church, "Man is only an instrument...through whom Christ Himself... teaches and sanctifies and governs. ...Not any human personality, but the redemptive might of Jesus controls the Church" (Karl Adam)

So, in the words of John Paul II, "Fear Not!" For while scandals must come, Christ has assured us that the "gates of hell" will never prevail against the Holy Spirit within the Church. And it is well to remember:

"The greatness achieved by successful people, and successful religious and clergy, often is best understood by the lives of those who have tried and failed, or by pondering the abysmal depths to which the lives of some, starting with the same ability and opportunity, have finally come."

And as St Augustine warned us:

"I believed that continence lay within a man's own powers, and such powers I was not conscious of within myself. I was so foolish that I did not know that, as it is written, no man can be continent unless you grant it to him."(St Augustine)

Moreover, we must remember this! The highest form of heroic sanctity and courage is found in accepting the humiliation of the Crosses God sends to us, no matter how much they hurt. And to prove our courage, we must get in the habit of saying, "Thank you God, I praise you for this specific, terrible Cross. I know you will bring good for me from it, and I know I am not able to bear it without you. 'Thy Will be done!

Just think of the attitude of St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius of Loyola, Mother Teresa, St Catherine of Siena, St Dominic, St Thomas Aquinas, St Peter, St Paul, St John of the Cross, St Teresa of Avila, or your favorite saint. They are imbued with Jesus' overcoming attitude. That must become our attitude in all circumstances, for in the midst of deep poverty and humility, in God, "we are more than conquerors!"

So though we must always respect the religious hierarchy and priesthood, we must not place them on the superhuman pedestal reserved for One Person Alone, Jesus Christ. For they are not yet saints. Like us, they commit sin and must regularly go to Confession. They are on a difficult spiritual journey to the top of a mountain where God dwells in indescribeable splendor. But sometimes they, like us, get tired and angry, get sick of climbing, or "fall" back down the slope. And when a very small number of them commit crimes with the innocent, and cause scandal, as Christ said, and as other priests and religious would agree, "It would have been better for them had they been thrown into the sea with a millstone around their neck."

But aside from these extreme few, priests and religious in general do remarkably well under very difficult circumstances, even though they, like us, are "wounded" by the residue of Original Sin, an inclination to sinful behavior called concupiscense:

And we should not forget that we are all wounded healers who live in hope, and who are called to be "overcomers" in Jesus Christ. Moreover, as wounded healers we, priests, religious, and laity, all need more love and support than criticism when engaged in the difficult and, sometimes perilous, task of climbing the spiritual mountain.

THE OPPOSITIOIN OF EVIL PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS

And we must keep in mind that our opposition is supremely intelligent; his forces have all been mobilized, and, assisted by our own sins and weaknesses, his plan for the total destruction of the Faith is now in place, with a new dimension of global ferocity. And St Paul confirms the warning of St Peter: "For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places."

So John Paul II is calling all of us to take up this latest and most heavy Cross and lead a fierce counterattack, with a new level of spirituality and commitment to Jesus Christ never seen before in the world. "For ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. (Peter 2:9)

"No weapon fashioned against you shall prevail; every tongue you shall prove false that launches an accusation against you. This is the lot of the servants of the LORD, their vindication from me, says the LORD."(Isaiah 54)

For each of Christ's spiritual warriors, lay and clerical, will know he has joined the battle, and triumphing counterattack, when he makes a firm commitment, come what may, to anchor each day in two periods of prayer, twenty minutes to one-half hour at a time, morning and night, and to stay recollected throughout the day, in the constant presence of an interior image(or sense of Presence) of Our Lord, made possible by the Power of the Holy Name, and the silent repetition of the phrase "Jesus have Mercy," the shortened form of the Jesus prayer. The Catechism of the Catholic Church recommends such Prayer to Catholics in 2667, 2668. And Pope John Paul II tells us: "To contemplate the face of Christ, and to contemplate it with Mary, is the programme which I have set before the Church at the dawn of the third millennium."(Pope John Paul II, "Ecclesia De Eucharistia")

And to keep God's power alive in us during the day we must stay recollected through repetition of the Holy Name. For As Dietrich von Hildebrand tells us:

"Without recollection, all good resolutions - all honest endeavors to overcome a defect or to achieve a supernatural transfiguration of natural virtues - are bound to remain impotent and sterile."(Dietrich von Hildebrand). Moreover, through such recollection, we are able to maintain our defenses against "mood changes" and "temptations against the Faith."

"Now Faith...is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods." (C.S. Lewis, "Mere Christianity") For your moods will attack your Faith as they change from light to darkness, from purity to desire, from peacefulness to rancor and anger. And through recollection, you must do battle with your moods if you are to retain your Faith.

The only way truth can be confirmed in this world is by its power in our own lives, and in the lives of the saints, i.e., its power for good, transformation in love, and in overcoming evil and sin, in the day-to-day struggles of our life. That's why there's over a billion people in the world today going by the Name that developed from a little group of men who lived two thousand years ago. They are Christians because Christianity works!

Now Jesus spoke with conviction and authority in regard to sin, and we must do the same if we are to have any part with Him. In our personal lives, we must implement all of the commandments of the Church, and stand fast against sin, including the spiritual aberrations that were birthed in the drug and cultural revolution of the sixties. Today, these attitudes support a "culture of death" attitude in regard to human life, and give a free pass to all manner of sexual sins.

In contrast to standing authoritatively against all sin, look at how the "enjoyment" of forbidden fruit has degraded the lives of some contemporary Christians. Look at the fruit of sadness, despair, and scandal caused by spiritual tepidity, and the open-minded, lukewarm, equal embrace of all beliefs, and the stand-for-anything because one stands-for-nothing, attitude of easy-going, religious syncretism. The lesson is obvious, the same as seen in any human endeavor or walk of life. Truth is authoritative and divisive. And while we must always respect the belief of others, we, when necessary, must be willing to speak the truth, even though we might be labeled as authoritative and divisive. And if we will, Christ's Holy Spirit will continue to transform us, in good times and bad, to the very end.

"So though our mother be travel-stained with long journeying, though her countenance be furrowed with care and trouble yet, she is our mother. In her heart burns the ancient love. Out of her eyes shines the ancient faith. From her hands flow ever the ancient blessings. What would heaven be without God? What would the earth be without this Holy Roman Church? To it, alone, God has given the fullness of Truth, the Keys of the Kingdom, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. We are obliged, therefore, as we honor Him, to honor it, and for the good of our souls to remain loyal members of it, and to follow all of its infallible teachings. I believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.(Ibid, Karl Adam)

ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS ON TRANSFORMING UNION

"Oh Living Flame of Love that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest center!"...The soul in the state of Transforming Union with the Bridegroom Christ "feels that it is all inflamed by the union, its palate is all bathed in glory and love, and in the intimate part of its substance it is flooded with no less than rivers of living water...This flame of love is the Spirit of its Bridegroom, the Holy Spirit...The fire of His love shoots up flames...which bathe the soul in glory and refresh it with the quality of divine life...'O enkindled love, with your loving movements you are pleasantly glorifying me...communicating love...and rejoicing the substance of my soul with the torrent of your delight, each time this flame of love rises within me.'"{John of the Cross: Living Flame of Love; Ch. 1(Resources)}

St John of the Cross admonishes us, "O Christian souls who are made for such happiness! "O souls created for this and called to this, what are you doing? What are your occupations? Your aim is meanness, and your enjoyments misery. Oh, wretched blindness of the children of Adam, blind to so great a light, and deaf to so clear a voice; you do not see that, while seeking after greatness and glory, you are miserable and contemptible, ignorant, and unworthy of blessings so great."

And this is what St. Catherine of Siena says at the end of her Dialogue :

"O eternal Trinity, O Godhead, O divine Nature that gavest to the Blood of Thy Son so great a price, Thou, O eternal Trinity, art a bottomless sea into which the more I plunge the more I find, and the more I find the more I seek Thee still.... Thou art the fire that burns ever and is never quenched, the fire that consumes in itself all the self-love of souls, that melts all ice and gives all light. This light is an ocean into which the soul plunges ever more deeply and there finds peace."

And Fr. John Arintero adjures us, "Here you have the inestimable hidden treasure; here is the precious pearl that the Lord speaks of in His Holy Gospel. Do not hesitate to give all you are and all you possess in order to acquire it, because in it you will find whatever you sacrificed to acquire it, deified and multiplied a hundred times. This perfect and consummate union of mystical marriage is a kind of foretaste of glory and the greatest blessing that can be had in this life. The death of these souls is a precious victory, a joyous going-forth to the arms of the Beloved, a manifestation of the hiden glory of the children of God, whose presence in the world has been like a fountain of blessings." (Fr. J. Arintero, "Song of Songs," p. 555)

From what has been said touching the absolutely supernatural character of the gift of faith, it is easy to understand what is meant by the loss of faith. God's gift is simply withdrawn. And this withdrawal must needs be punitive, "He will not desert His own work, if He be not deserted by His own work." And when the light of faith is withdrawn, there inevitably follows a darkening of the mind regarding even the very motives of credibility which before seemed so convincing.

If I am mistaken in anything I have written, I submit it for correction to our Mother, the Holy Catholic Church...Adrew Richards

[New Paragraph]