Inwards and Outwards

Question: if a sacrament is "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace," doesn't the doctrine of Transusbstantiation violate this definition given that the outward sign (bread and wine) is obliterated by the presence of the Body of Christ.

It's a lovely question, but it is important that we do not allow ourselves to be influenced by a particular philosophy of physics. This is why the Roman definition of Transubstantiation causes problems with people who have a different understanding of what it is to be. It has to be remembered that we owe this definition to St Augustine of Hippo who himself is influenced heavily by Platonism, and the idea of Transubstantiation comes from St Thomas Aquinas' reading of Aristotelian physics.

Anglicans and Romans ascribe to the Augustinian definition of sacrament, and so the burden of answering the question will largely fall upon those who hold the Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation. However, not every Transubstantiation need to be Roman. For many orthodox and catholic Christians, it is sufficient to say that before Mass they behold wafer and wine and that after Mass they say that they have truly received the Body and Blood of Christ which were indeed present in that Mass. Nonetheless the Real Presence of Christ does seem to mix up what we mean by inward and outward.

Let us therefore be as clear as we can and go back to first principles. I preached on Corpus Christi that it is the word "indeed" that is vitally important when it comes to understanding the Presence of the Lord in the Sacrament of the altar. It means that, whatever a Christian understands to be real, Christ is as present in the Elements as that Christian is in the Church. The doctrine of the Real Presence is scriptural and exists soundly within the Tradition of the Primitive Church. It is a literal presence, as Our Lord intends it to be, but it is not an observable presence as no change has occurred in the outward appearance of the Elements.

That a physicist (nor I for that matter!) would not be able to distinguish a consecrated Host from an unconsecrated wafer means that we really are pointing to a reality that exists beyond Space and Time which dwarf Space and Time so as to render them thinner than tissue paper. This gives us an interesting conundrum because, in the Reality of God, there isn't enough room "inside" our reality for God to be present. Of course, the problem goes away with the Incarnation which shows that it is entirely possible for God to be within His Creation and yet beyond it. Christ Himself becomes the Sacrament that generates all the others. As He walks among us, His human nature is the outward sign that presents itself to us allowing us to receive the "inward" spiritual grace of His Divine nature - literally Emmanuel.

Holy Scripture and the Fathers make it clear that "outwards" and "inwards" can only be used metaphorically when it comes to the relationship of God with Man. In the Holy Mass, Scripture tells us categorically that we indeed eat of the Body of Christ, that we indeed drink of the blood of Christ and that in so doing we receive the substance of God Himself. In attending our Mass and receiving these Sacred things, we are given sufficient substance to say that Christ is within us. Indeed, we actually exist more fully as a result of taking Christ into us, and plugging ourselves into the Church which is itself His Body.

Whether this actually obliterates the existence of bread and wine is difficult to determine and, in some sense, is utterly irrelevant. Before Consecration, bread and wine; After Consecration, Body and Blood - that is all that is necessary. In that sense, and perhaps Schillebeeckx might say this, the significance of the wafer and wine is completely nullified. Of course, this is unprovable, especially from Scripture. Personally, I affirm the objective obliteration of the bread and wine for the reason that I cannot understand them any further as bread and wine any more than I can understand them as bread and wine in the state of digestion within me. I affirm that what I see in the monstrance is nor wafer, but the True Christ Himself hidden "inwardly" or, more properly, beyond the evidence of my senses. I cannot require anyone to hold this view, though I believe it to be wholesome.

At the very least, one must simply embrace the mystery as a Mystery and learn to focus on what is truly necessary, namely our encounter of our not-so-real and vaguely present selves with the truly Real and objectively Present Lord and God.

At the top of the ladder?

Having climbed all these steps of humility, therefore, the monk will presently come to that perfect love of God which casts out fear. And all those precepts which formerly he had not observed without fear, he will now begin to keep by reason of that love, without any effort, as though naturally and by habit. No longer will his motive be the fear of hell, but rather the love of Christ, good habit and delight in the virtues which the Lord will deign to show forth by the Holy Spirit in His servant now cleansed from vice and sin.

The trouble is that climbing all the steps of humility is incredibly difficult. Humility is about the truth of our human condition and its failure to conform to the sinless life. St Benedict is right that whoso does master all twelve degrees will have that coveted perfect love of God because he will have rooted out all vice and error. This is something that seems only to have been achieved by few.

However, St Benedict sees this ascent as a work in progress. We are on the road to perfection. The destiny of the Church is sainthood for all its members, and none may be excluded from membership save those who exclude themselves. St Benedict offers us a vision of ourselves and of our relationship with God to which we can aspire. We can achieve this, we shall achieve this, but only with God's presence with us.

All the way through these degrees, we have seen the relationship between humility and love. We have seen them perfectly united in Christ's two natures in one human being. He displays perfect humility and perfect love and invites us to the same. Let us always seek the truth about ourselves, and realise that God shows us that we are worth loving even in our darkest moments.

Humility in the twelfth degree

The twelfth degree of humility is that a monk not only have humility in his heart but also by his very appearance make it always manifest to those who see him. That is to say that whether he is at the Work of God, in the oratory, in the monastery, in the garden, on the road, in the fields or anywhere else, and whether sitting, walking or standing, he should always have his head bowed and his eyes toward the ground. Feeling the guilt of his sins at every moment, he should consider himself already present at the dread Judgment and constantly say in his heart what the publican in the Gospel said with his eyes fixed on the earth: Lord, I am a sinner and not worthy to lift up my eyes to heaven; and again with the Prophet: I am bowed down and humbled everywhere.

In short, St Benedict tells us to live our humility visibly. This is not an ostentatious humility, for Our Lord warns us against such behaviour.

...when ye fast , be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast . Verily I say unto you *, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast , but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt , and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is , there will your heart be also. (St Matthew vi.16-21)

An ostentatious humility is a false humility borne on the wings of wanting to appear impressive in our humility to others. Our Lord bids us receive humility as a treasure, something to be cherished and cultivated. As we have seen throughout this adventure through Chapter Seven of the Rule, Humility is about what is real, authentic, and true about ourselves. We are to love ourselves and we do so by cultivating humility for then we accept ourselves for who we are.

St Benedict bids our humility break out from our heart and into our lives. For the monk, this means keeping the head bowed before God - all the monks are to do that, so it will not be seen as ostentatious in a monastery. All those who behold the monks should be able to recognise the source of their humility. For those of us in the secular sphere, we have to ensure that our humility is lived out in our lives in such a way as to point away from ourselves and towards the God who loves us. We are still to feel the guilt of our sin, and to examine our consciences critically and severely. Repentance is obligatory for the Christian life. People need to see that repentance, that acknowledgement of sin, and find in that sight the fact that repentance leads to God.

If there is no love of God in our aspect, then the Light of Christ will not shine through us. This is why an ostentatious humility is an oxymoron. Humility bids us focus on our humanity so that we become receptive vessels for God's Divinity and Love.

Another Lie of Offence

One aspect about taking offence that I alluded to below is its relationship with forgiveness and with patience. Oh how we seethe when someone offends us! Oh how it becomes the sole focus of our ire to the exclusion of all else! When we take offence we narrow our horizons. In so doing we narrow our minds and, crucially, our hearts.

We do so because we go into defensive mode - that's only natural when something we hold dear is threatened. The trouble is that Love bids us do the opposite. To love someone truly means to keep oneself open to them, irrespective of who they are, what they do, or their opinions. Love doesn't bear a record of wrongs; it is patient and kind. Of course, Love rejoices in the truth, but when we are offended, our perception of what is true or real becomes pinpoint small.

The true challenge, when we are offended, is to be patient and forgive. Patience, here, means longsuffering - being prepared to stick with our offender, refusing to identify them with what is offensive. Boy, does it take some doing! But it is necessary, especially when we pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us". If God were to identify us with our offences, then who may abide it?

However, if we live life like that, then we are in danger of this misidentification taking us over. It is another pathway to Hell for this reason. There is a sense in which we become what we do. Our Lord makes this point when he say that those who show mercy shall receive it, those who forgive shall be forgive. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" Our doing does influence our being, and it will be God's task to extricate the person He created from their free-actions if that is indeed possible. Our free-will does inhibit God because God's love for us inhibits God.

Of course, like Salvation, forgiveness is a process. It has to be for us little time-bound beings. Soem can forgive quickly, others slowly, depending on the magnitude of the offence. That trouble is that, in most cases, being offended by what someone says is just not as big a deal as we think. This is another aspect of the Lie of Offence. Offence blows itself out of proportion.

That's not to say that offensive words are not a serious issue. The one who says, "all gays go to Hell" is saying something unsupported by Christian doctrine, and is displaying his own hatred for a myriad of human personalities, making the inhomogeneous homogeneous. Yet, such a one is the more to be pitied for this. He is the one losing out on the warmth of God's Love from within, and preventing himself from receiving God's Love from without. Sadly, his belief in the value of this offensive statement may cause him to fall over into homophobic action. For the object of this man's hatred, his words will sting, rankle, offend, It will hurt, yet Christ bids us turn the other cheek, to stop the hatred there, put a cap on it and allow it to propagate no further. Living life despite having offensive language thrown at you is a life to which the Christian is called.

However, as I said below, we still need to listen to those words we deem offensive, and to check ourselves that we are not in a state of sin. Not all things we believe to be offensive are truly offensive. If we have a series of one-night-stands, then we are, by definition, a fornicator. There's no two ways around that. If we force people to give us money, or overcharge them, then we are guilty of extortion. We cannot allow ourselves to hear words of criticism and immediately put them in the box marked "offensive waste" and thus try and be all self-righteous. The reality is that all those who prefer fornication to God, or money to God, or anything whatsoever else to God, will be given exactly what they want - an Eternity of it, and that is Hell! For those who repent and turn to God, there will be an Eternity of that, and that is Heaven.

We Christians are charged with the task of bringing a taste of Heaven to Earth. People will take offence at our sayings because they will go against what the world has instilled in them. We have to be prepared to be seen as offensive even when we're not. Our Lord's name even offends people these days. The key thing is to ensure that we narrow our focus to all that is true, and open our scope to allow a flow of God's Love into the world. We should not seek to offend deliberately and thus push people away by our words. Both St Benedict and St Francis agree that a life that is lived in the Love of God will draw more people to God's light, than much wordy preaching. We can only admonish those whom we know to be willing to be admonished because we have a good relationship with them.

Perhaps it's time to put the megaphones down, and seek to live what we believe. Let us think about how God's word challenges us, warns us, convicts us, offends us, and seek to submit ourselves to His judgment so that His will be done, and all people may feel the warmth of His light on them by what we do for them.

Another blog

I'd just like to link to another confrere of mine, Canon Charles Nalls Obl.SB.

His blog, The Cathedral Close, is here.

Humility in the eleventh degree

The eleventh degree of humility is that when a monk speaks he do so gently and without laughter, humbly and seriously, in few and sensible words, and that he be not noisy in his speech. It is written, A wise man is known by the fewness of his words

We often forget that the purpose of every Christian is to be an instrument for God's blessing on the world. It is forgetting this that takes us away from both humility and love because we forget both who we are and who God is. The Religious have a calling to become part of a community in which the focus of their lives is the life of prayer. They are the ones whose purpose is to connect with God so that we might all connect with God.

The first duty of every Christian is to pray. St Benedict says that even our words in prayer should be few so that we can listen. The Rule begins with the word "listen", and it is clear that, in order to serve God truly, we need to listen well and hard. We cannot do that if we are yammering away to each other, and even to Him.

In order to be humble and thus know ourselves, we have to listen and to make space for the voices of others, making sure that the first voice we hear is God's. In order to become loving, we need to listen and make space for the pain of others to come to our ears, and thus present these words to God. For those of us who are not cloistered, the noise of the secular world is deafening: bright neon voices, garish slogans, and over-painted soundbites constantly vie for attention, and demand a response. St Benedict tells us that we need not give a response unless our response is focussed and comes from listening carefully. We are allowed to be silent, though the world might find that rude, or even intolerable.

Religious communities exist for the good of the Church. They strip themselves of unnecessary noise and speech in order that Christians may come and visit and find their busy secular lives challenged and their spiritual prayer lives enriched. Yet, these communities are in decline and need our prayers. We need monks, nuns, friars, and sisters to continue that consecrated life for the good of the lives of all in the Church, so that all in the Church may live out their lives as a blessing for God's good world.

The Lie of Offence?

I hear many things on the internet which often seem blown out of all proportion. One such story that grabbed my attention is this story of a professor being censured by New York University for being deliberately politically incorrect. He has been deemed to be offensive to the underlying received philosophy of the university.

There are three ideas behind what we mean by "offence"; it is the opposite of defence; it is an illegal act; it is a perceived personal insult. The essence in these three ideas is that of active opposition whether justified or not. For someone to take offence means that an action is perceived to be an active opposition to their views as an attack and thus feel that they have a position to defend.

The professor in question has said that does not support the idea that people should have a "safe space" in which people can be protected from "uncomfortable speech". He also objects to people being allowed to choose any alternative pronoun. The key to understanding the nature of what is offensive is in what it is saying about a person's worth.

Each of us has some set of values that we hold dear. The fact is that, given some value judgment, there is always another value judgment that goes against that. We hold different values. This can be as trivial as the rating of football teams and as serious as valuations of other human beings. The moment that two different value judgments come together spawns debate, controversy, and even demonisation. Offence comes when someone makes a statement that trivialises something we hold dear or denies something that we hold to be fundamentally true.

The trouble is that our preoccupation with abstract things such as rights, duties, privileges, and entitlements tears us away from a deeper truth that we are in discussion with another human being. Human beings disagree: this is why some form of government that permits a forum is vitally necessary in the West. It is when that discussion is shut down by people who cannot listen to what they deem to be offensive that causes the system to break down.

In recent years, there have been calls to be allowed to criticise, even ridicule, religious beliefs. The modern secularists state that our beliefs should not be immune from criticism by anyone. I quite agree. I believe that anyone can be allowed to speak out against the Church. In so doing, they can and often do reveal our shortcomings and hypocrises by measuring us up to the standard we preach. That I see as a true instrument of God's grace that He can speak to us through any of His children whether they believe in Him or not. That's not to say that it's easy listening sometimes.

I recently lost a friend on Facebook to my sorrow, because I stated that while I respected her veganism, I was not going to become one. She could not believe that I held the welfare of the unborn as a more pressing concern than that of animals going to the slaughter.  Of course, I want both! However, human beings require salvation from the evil that they propagate while animals do not.

I expect that I have just said something offensive. If you are offended, then why? What is at the heart of your offence?That I apparently don't care as much about animals and the planet as you do? If you are offended, then I'm proud of you because you actually bother to care about something, but what are you going to do with your offence? Hate me? Am I now that loathsome and incapable of doing any good ever in your eyes?

At the heart of our offence is something that we believe is not allowed to be opposed, should always be kept safe, and protected at any cost. This is noble, but it does mean that we are clinging on to something which will be broken or damaged or wounded. There are things that should offend each of us, and they should all be motivated by that most basic of human capacities - Love.

We have a love for animals, for protecting the unborn, the poor, the destitute, the despised, the broken, the marginalised. This is the testament to the innate good within each and every human being - they care about something! Yet, we disagree on what is best for these vulnerable beings. One person stands up for transgender rights; another disagrees but seeks to help those who suffer from what he believes to be a gender focussed dysmorphia.

I am a Catholic, and many people will take offence even at that. There are Roman Catholics who would deny me that because I'm not Roman. There are Protestants who would regard me as a minion of Satan himself. Rather than seek peace, they will shriek and denounce and hurl insults and spew rhetoric. I can't agree with them, and often I find myself foolishly engaged in arguments with them. I have come to the conclusion that such arguments don't get anywhere. Debate is fine in Oxbridge debating societies, but if we are to convince people that we are right, then we had better'd live out our beliefs fully and well thought through.

There is a big difference in not wanting to read an account of World War II Concentration Camps because of the terrible experiences of a beloved family member rather than refusing to do so because Fascism is offensive. To stifle debate, discussion and conversation prevents us from moving forward. If anything this is why Brexit and Mr Trump winning the presidential election came as a shock to the media. Brexit voters and Trump supporters were too scared of revealing their thoughts because of the shrill, aggressive behaviour of their opponents. That rioting has been taking place in the US shows that some people have forgotten the art of discussion in respect for the opposing position.

I see that behaviour even in the Anglican Catholic Church. I was deeply offended by the picture in one of our papers of two children holding a banner saying "Abortion kills children". I was offended because it made no mention of mothers, that children were being involved in a largely political protest, and that they were also engaged in that shrill mike-dropping put-downs which demonise others and shut out debate. Of course, I am pro-life and deeply committed to the protection of unborn babies and their mothers, but I seek to find ways of preventing the need for abortion from arising in the first place, not by demonising the vulnerable. Yes I was offended, even by my own church, but I love my church and think that the whole business of offence lies in Satan's desire to keep people separated so that the spread of God's love and grace can be stymied.

The Lie that Offence engenders is that the opposing voice is so demonic that it should not be heard. There is some truth in that: Our Lord shut the mouths of demons. So did St Paul for that matter. There are some truly offensive ideas out there, but the only way that the universality of that offense can be revealed is for it to be heard in full, its motives exposed, its ramifications probed. Yet, if the account of Job is to teach us anything, even Satan gets to have his say in God's Heavenly court.

We need to be charitable with our opponents and remember that Love does not insist on its own way. Our goal is to live in Truth AND Love. The two cannot be separated. When we engage with our opponent, we must see another human being: in fact, Our Lord would have us see our own sibling, or parent, or child in the person of our opponent.

When we are offended, we must check our pride first and see that we are not holding on to something in preference to God Himself. We need to be able to look into the eyes of our opponents and recognise not only ourselves within them, but also Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our words can be hard or cutting at times, especially when we are using the truth, but if we are working in God's love then this cutting will be seen as a way to grow further into God Himself. Let us stop burning bridges and build them to be stronger instead so that traffic can pass from side to side and thus draw us closer.

Trumping Clinton

I have no say in the U.S. Election and, given the sad spectre of Brexit in this country, I have had my share in the experience of voting for two wrong answers. The Americans have had the same problem, and the holes in the Democratic processes in both countries have become very obvious. Unlike Fr Chadwick, I do not believe that I could have voted even if I possessed the right to do so, though I applaud my confrere's ability to be able to express a coherent opinion on the matter. Perhaps I might have gone for a third party, but I know too little of them. In conscience, I could not have voted for either candidate. Perhaps that makes me a coward, but I simply could not vote for candidates whom I believe to be inappropriately chosen.

How this will affect the world is yet to be seen. However, we must remember that God sets people in authority, even the most unsuitable, in order to effect His will in the world to the eventual destruction of evil and the salvation of souls. Sometimes, we need to experience exactly how bad things can get in order to realise how far gone we are from God and thus return. We are all prodigal sons and need to become aware of our own depravity before we truly know how to repent.

Now we have Donald Trump as president of the United States, and we have a UK that is committed to leaving the European Union. These may be the beginning of our realisation of how far we fall, or they can be the active instruments for our return to God. Either way, we have lessons here that we can and must learn in order to work out our salvation in God through the movement of the Holy Ghost within us.

The two candidates have demonstrated very troubling attitudes to the human race which reflect well our own secret thoughts. I could not vote for Mrs Clinton because of her liberal views which essentially allow the Human Will to triumph over the bounds of Common Sense, and to exceed the limits of its remit. Her support of Abortion, curtailing of religious liberties, and the right of a human being to define their own gender, fly in the face of what is real and obvious: that mother and baby each have their own separate existences as living human beings; that the U.S Constitution is built on religious liberty and should thus work for cooperation of different religions, even if they are mutually antithetic, rather than override the consciences of individuals; that the vast majority of human beings are either male or female with only a few that are biologically intersex.

I could not vote for Mr Trump because of his dismissal of the sick, poor, and destitute, his raising of barriers to refugees, and his obscene attitude towards women. These, in my mind, are offences against the nature of charity, and thus just as bad as Mrs Clinton's policies. Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump, in my uneducated opinion, represent the opposite extremes of the spectrum, the acceptability of those extremes is yet to be realised. Both are equally intolerant of that which they oppose.

I say this knowing that I am not a political expert: indeed, I deny that I am a political animal, seeking rather to find ways of living under authorities that get set over me. It is possible that the only way of truly living under an authority stands as a subversion to that authority. Our Lord showed us that this was very possible.

I pray for Mr Trump in his success, for Mrs Clinton's next step, and I pray for the sovereign rule of God to be more apparent in the world. Let us all pray for the Holy Ghost not just to dwell within us, but to burn and shine more fiercely that the Kingdom of God may influence the nations to their salvation.

Humility in the tenth degree

The tenth degree of humility is that he be not ready and quick to laugh, for it is written, The fool lifts up his voice in laughter.

Whose side would Holy Father Benedict be on? William of Baskerville or the Venerable Yorge?

The question that St Benedict would want us to answer is, what purpose does laughter hold in the community? How does it build it up, edify it, bring it closer to God?

The fact of the matter, as St Paul would concur is that the Human soul is meant to rejoice! Again I say, rejoice! It's difficult to imagine joy without a smile, without laughter.  But there is another laughter too, and this is more sinister.

A joke is that which everyone who hears it would find funny. To be the butt of a joke renders the joke meaningless, not only idle but destructive. Is is funny to tease a foolish monk for being afraid of a mouse? If the murophobic monastic sees the occurrence as funny and his colleagues honestly love him, then laughter is probably the appropriate response. However, if anyone think less of the monk because of his fear of mice, love is lost, and the humour is inappropriate.

Often we tell jokes at others' expense or, by our silence, we tacitly allow such unkind humour to propagate. This is the sort of laughter that St Benedict wants stamped out, and why he is so forcefully succinct in saying so. Derogatory laughter may puncture the balloon of the proud, but to take it upon ourselves to be that drawing-pin is an act of prideful presumption and thus completely contrary to the whole business of Humility.

Love will seek to ensure that others can live with joy in their hearts. This is not something that can arise easily, but must be worked at carefully and in the fear of the Love of God. The fool certainly lifts up his voice in laughter indifferent to the cost it has for others. Yet, for fear of false inference in Holy Scripture, the wise also can lift up his voice in laughter but only in situations which true wisdom discerns to be worth laughing at. Love is the key in this discernment. It will ensure that laughter has its proper place and is controlled.

In our practice of Humility, we must look carefully at the things we find funny. If they are at another's expense, we must consider seriously whether they are willing and indeed able to meet that expense. Most of the time, they cannot. In these situations, silence is best, and the humour re-educated in the Love of God. Love breeds true joy for everyone, not sorrow for a few.

Humility in the ninth degree

The ninth degree of humility is that a monk restrain his tongue and keep silence, not speaking until he is questioned. For the Scripture shows that in much speaking there is no escape from sin and that the talkative man is not stable on the earth.

It would seem that St Benedict is so severe here, yet the question raises itself: if everyone keeps silence, then how can anyone ask a question of another? Is St Benedict be entirely serious here, or is he employing the same literary device as His master who said, "if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out"? St Benedict has the words of St James ringing in his ears:

...the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things . Behold , how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed , and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame ; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

However, surely talking is a basic means of communicating with each other. How can we offer the words "I love you" to our neighbour, or to God for that matter, without uttering those immortal words? Actually, this is the challenge that Humility throws down at us. Rather than pay-lip service, should we not actually live out our "I love you"s with sincerity and authenticity. St Benedict challenges us to guard our very words, preferring even silence to good words, because the words of true love are ultimately inexpressible.

The first Word, the Divine Logos is only uttered by God Himself in an act of pure love. This is the Eternal Begetting of the Son in which both Father and Son precisely gain their identities as Father and Son. This is wholly inexpressible in Human terms. We must pass over in silence and stand in fear and trembling before God.

The thing to note is that the magnificent presence of God is stupefying and stultifying: thought and intellect are lost, Reason loses its power, Understanding its grasp; what is left can only be Faith, Hope and Love. This is where the Christian is to live and the challenge that Humility gives us. We must prefer our actions to speak louder than our words. There is no room for disingenuous lip-service with God, nor even with our brothers. The language of True Love must be learned in silence.

The Lie of Death

I hope that in my previous post, I made clear something that I believe about the passage from this life to the next: I believe in a form of Purgatory, but not really one that might be understood by Roman Doctrine. It's not a definition that I can pin down at all: Death is still a mystery to everyone except the departed, and any statements about what may happen afterwards must be questions of faith. One can understand how it can be a source of controversy both within Christianity and without.

Today is All Souls' Day in which we set time aside to pray for the dead. The Benedictine Offices are those of the Dead; Glorias are omitted; and everything concentrates on the words of Holy Scripture about this mystery. The first Nocturn consists of the words of Job, lamenting the frailty of this life and the certainty of death. The second Nocturn consists of words of St Augustine of Hippo on the fitness of praying for the dead. The third Nocturn comes from St Paul who describes the futility of being Christian if there is no resurrection from the dead.

For us who are still alive, the Mystery of Death only has the certainty of bereavement, the nature of mourning, the horror of decay. In a secular world, Death is something to run away from, to stave off as long as possible. We seek anti-aging creams and cosmetic surgery; we try to prop up that which sags, medicate to prolong life, replace faulty parts with varying degrees of success. In the UK, the old are hidden away from society in homes which do not always give them the care that they need. Death is the subject of many horror films (indeed Death is the central villain in the Final Destination series) and the fear of a life cut short affects many of us.

The Exixtentialist can only focus on the now and the absurdity of a life that will end while trying to create her own meaning of life. Such a meaning can only be arbitrary and solipsist: there is no objective meaning, no objective good and thus no good at all. In an existentialist reality, Adolph Hitler is no more or less moral than the Dalai Lama or David Cameron. All it takes is for one person to say that Hitler had sound morals and that opinion is just as valid as the one who says that Hitler was a moral monster. One subscribes to one's own moral code, but it is no more or less valid than another's. If this life is all there is, then this is all we have. Death renders all opinions irrelevant.

One thing that many people don't quite get right is the notion of the soul. Too many people go to Aristotle, or to Plato to think that a soul is independent of our physical body. We still say "body and soul" as if to render them as antitheses. The writer I will call Pseudo-C.S. Lewis put it nicely when he said, "You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." The Greek word psuche when we get psychology and psychic is being used to translate the Hebrew nephesh which really means life. Even then, when we think of life we think of the period in which we are not dead. Yet, we can still say things about dead people and refer back to their lives. We can think of the Adolph Hitler and C.S. Lewis and imagine what they would be saying or doing. While we can still do that of fictional characters, people who have existed still possess some life even after they are dead. This life comes mainly from the vivid memories that the have left behind.

The soul is more than our life on this planet. Our soul is immortal because we exist in the mind of God and God is Eternal. Our death is the end of our physical life, yet our existence is still there in Time: we just don't have the means to go back and observe it. Our Soul is us independent of Time.

This is why we should fear the second Death, for this is the Death of the Soul. It is the cutting off of of the soul from the Life given by God. It is a petrifying of existence in the Hell of our own making, stuck in the darkness perpetually able to see those in the freedom of life with God and yet unable to interact; cold from being frozen into inactivity, yet burning with hunger to exist but on one's own terms. The Second Death is both a lake of ice and fire.

Our souls pass from this world, but although we may not live and breathe, there is still a thing called "us". If Our Lord is to be believed, then this life just isn't life - it is only a half life. My soul is the totality of my life. I mentioned yesterday the Saints being pulled out from Time into Eternity. This new life is the soul: it exists timelessly and, through the Incarnation of Our Lord, in the glorious presence of God.

The Lie of Death is that it is the literal end-all of our existence. Too often, we live life as if death were the end. This is how Hitler believed he could escape judgment, by ending his life. Likewise, Judas.

Prayer for the dead then becomes an affirmation of the continued existence of life after the death of the body. No, we cannot be complete without the body, for we are indeed corporeal beings. Nor should we be afraid of the notion that our minds are linked with our brains. Our God holds our souls precious in His sight. The ministry of the Lord is clear: we are to be moral beings not for the good of society, but rather to fit us for Heaven. Our morality ultimately benefits our society, but that's not why we should be moral: we are to be moral because God is. Any human being can be good, but many are good in order to benefit from a mortal society which will look after them if they contribute. The Christian is called to be Good to be like God, for God is Love and we are to Love Him with all our soul and our neighbours as ourselves.

In praying for the dead, we do something scandalous. We are saying that we don't belong in a society which, though potentially good, will end in Death. We are declaring that we are still in solidarity with the dead, that we still care, and love them, that they are part of our greater society long after their bones have turned to dust and blown away to oblivion. We are declaring that what many perceive as Death is a release into the Freedom of Eternity of God. This means renunciation of sin, the world, the Devil, and the Lie that Death is the end.

I offered the Sacrifice of the Mass today for each and every soul, particularly remembering the souls of those dear to me and dear to my parish. I felt an intense sense of oneness with them, knowing that they are "out there, somewhere". I pray for them at their Purgatory and stand with them. I trust that they will do the same for me. We are in this together: even Death will not part us. May we all find that wonderful life beyond this existence in Our Lord and Saviour.

Humility in the eighth degree

The eighth degree of humility is that a monk do nothing except what is commended by the common Rule of the monastery and the example of the elders.

The eighth step is brief, but no less profound. We have already seen that if we want to walk with God, then we cannot walk our own way, unless our wills be perfectly aligned to God's. St Benedict points out that his Rule is for beginners, not for the adept. If our wills are perfectly aligned to God's, then we have no need of Rule, or even of Holy Scripture itself because we are already united with the Divine.

This is true for the saints, but even then the Rule is so deeply embedded in their hearts that they have no need to refer to text. We are saints in the making and thus we still need perfection. The Rule is there for us to pull us back when we stray. It is rooted in Holy Scripture so that it keeps us on the path of Salvation, guiding us and correcting us when we stray as long as we submit ourselves to its authority. The saints are our examples, our lights pointing out the way in the darkness.

Our perfection is the acquisition of Love; Love etches the Will of God into our hearts to render the Rule and Scripture part of us rather than texts to memorise, scrutinise, and study.

Eternity and Sanctity

AND I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth, and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed; and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand, of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen; Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

We know very well that the number 144,000 is largely figurative incorporating the Twelve tribes of Israel with the Twelve Apostles and the many-ness of a thousand. I could go into the study of the number from a mathematical point of view, for example that it's a square by a cube, but the point of these 144,000 people is that they are Jewish Christians whose heritage has been completed by the teaching of the twelve apostles. These are joined by a numberless group of Christians in Eternity.

Eternity is a funny thing. The Orthodox version of the Gloria Patri talks of the age of ages where the West says, "and ever shall be". That is not Eternity, for Eternity is beyond Time. God created Time, He begot His Son from beyond Time. This is so hard for us mere mortals to contemplate. All of our existence is enshrined in this thing called Time. Our mental processes follow the sequential nature of Time, yet some physicists say that it doesn't exist. This sounds like the old arguments by Zeno and Parmenides to say that change and motion are illusions. In some ways they are right.

From God's point of view Time is part of Creation, and so He must look at past, present and future as one glorious whole. The morning and the evening of the first day can only happen once God has pronounced, "Let there be light!" There is a beginning, a ne plus ultra, a North pole beyond which there is no North. To God, Time is as fleeting an aspect of His Creation as anything else. What has this to do with the saints?

The saints are holy, they are separated out of Creation to be with God. Their Theosis instils them with an aspect of God's Eternity. They view Creation just as the Holy Anchoress known as Julian of Norwich did in her vision:

"In this vision he showed me a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, and it was round as a ball. I looked at it with the eye of my understanding and thought "What may this be?" And it was generally answered thus: "It is all that is made." I marvelled how it might last, for it seemed it might suddenly have sunk into nothing because of its littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: "It lasts and ever shall, because God loves it."

This is the joy of the saints, for their existence intersects with Creation and yet is extended from it in God. Their work, their merits make Creation ring like a bell as the good that God does through them ripples across all that is backwards and forwards in Time. We pray by the merits of the Saints, not because we are saved by good works, but that the good that the saints have done, do and always will do, make God's presence more real to us as their first cause. The merits of the saints are devices that God uses to bring us to Him. Some of us come to faith because of another's act of selfless love, or by a sermon, by the invitation to come to Church. All of these are vehicles that the Holy Ghost uses to bring us to Salvation through the Holy Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ which itself straddles Time and Eternity. The merits of the saints are only means; the end, and the efficient cause, and the final cause is God.

And theirs is the joy to see Creation as a whole, perfected by God Himself. Thus they exist in the perpetual Now of Eternity seeing all of His intricate work falling into place. They stand with us, yet they stand beyond us, drawing our prayers from the confines of our prison out into the perfect freedom of Eternity. Yet we too, by cooperating with the Divine Will, shall find ourselves with them, through the same perfection.

We cannot say how temporal being can be made Eternal. We cannot understand how our languages with all their tenses, perfect, future, aorist, present, future-perfect, can make any sense when applied to the Great Being Himself. Any tense can only be use in analogy with Him, and our reading of Scripture must take this temporal inscrutability into account. We cannot imagine, at least not now, but we shall when now ceases to be now, but rather always now.

May all the Heavenly Host pray for us. The Angelic Choirs, all Prophets, Patriarchs, Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, Virgins, Doctors, Confessors, Monks, Nuns, Widows, Holy Husbands and Wives, may they all pray for us and, through the solidarity of Church in Union with her beloved Bridegroom, may we be pulled out from Time and into the Glorious Light of God's Eternity.

Humility in the seventh degree: a personal reflection

(Image from the BBC)

It's telling when one reflects on the teaching of St Benedict about humility and then events immediately give an answer.

It is heartbreaking for a little Benedictine Oblate (a not-very-good Benedictine Oblate) like me to see the Basilica of St Benedict levelled by an Earthquake. No monks were hurt, but there were injuries elsewhere. Thankfully, no-one has died.

I could start to see judgments that might apply. St Benedict is the patron saint of Europe, and that seems to be falling apart. Is this prophetic? Is this God's judgement on the Benedictine Order?

No. It just is the way God's world works.

It's what comes out of this that matters. As St Benedict says, semper incipiemus - always we begin again.

I reflected yesterday on the nature of learning about Humility through humiliations that happen to us. This certainly brings the monastic community of Norcia back to their holy founder, back to humility, back to Christ.

Recent disaster movies have had the world boiled, the White House blown up, the Royal Family frozen to death in Balmoral, London flooded. The fact of the matter is that none of our beautiful buildings or works of art, or even computer technology will last. At the end of the game, it's all got to go back in the box. Christ bids us detach ourselves from whatever we hold dear so that we cling only to that which does not perish - God Himself.

I know this personally, though not to the same degree as my poor, dear brothers in Norcia. I find myself having left beautiful buildings, gorgeous music, and many friends to join a tiny, unknown and truth-be-told unpopular little Church in my search for Our Lord's kingdom. Sometimes it does sting when I hear Bairstow's Blessed City Heavenly Salem sung and I'm not part of it.

In the U.K., the Anglican Catholic Church sits amid the ruins of Anglicanism which is falling apart quite clearly. In the entirety of our Diocese of the United Kingdom, there are not enough of us to fill an average parish church. There are precious few laity, though the ones we have are faithful, true, and know the score, supporting their clergy well. With the few laity we have, we clergy are truly blessed.

Do I really have the gall and audacity to compare my situation with those poor people in Italy? Ah, but I'm not making a comparison - I couldn't begin to think what these poor folk are going through! For the people of Norcia, and indeed all those who have suffered from the other Earthquakes in that region, especially the loss of life, they need our support, prayers, and tender loving care. The monks will need to rebuild, reflecting carefully on the situation and seeking the Humility in the opportunity given to them. I pray earnestly for them and will be looking to see how I can help. I am not comparing: I am trying to empathise and thus find as much solidarity that I can muster for my beloved brethren.

What about the ACC's humiliation? Are we learning humility from that? We should. We have an opportunity here to do something of great worth in God's sense of the word, not ours. We are tiny, and this means we have to strip ourselves of each and every piece of bombast, bluster, and superficiality. We can aspire to a Ritual-Notes-perfect High Mass, but must learn to be content with a small pewter chalice on a trestle-table. We need to approach people with honesty, trying to find ways of explaining our confusing name with people who don't really understand the difference. There is no magic formula that will bring people into our pews. There is no catch-all apologetic that will convince the unbeliever to see us as a true expression of the Church. There is but one thing.

We need to seek out and trust the will of God. Our faith only means anything if we put it into practice, for that is how we are to be justified in the eyes of God. Our personal quests for holiness mean quiet conversations with people who have questions over a cup of tea, visits to old folk's homes, offering a kind word. Because we are tiny, we must not despise tiny things, for it is in the tiny things done well that we begin to see Christ's work. This is not newsworthy stuff: we meet with God in the ordinary and commonplace. Indeed, we must seek God in the non-newsworthy stuff because, while we may have joyful occasions, that joy is only local, not a global thing. We can't be puffed up, because there is nothing to puff up, otherwise we just look ridiculous. We can build up with Love, and that means patience and long-suffering.

As I prepare for pastures new, leaving my old and dearly beloved parish for uncertainty, I see my own humiliation as I seek to be a priest with no building, no congregation, and no standing in my new community. The challenge is great, and I, like my confreres, must start small, supporting my beautiful little family, and seeking out little opportunities to put a happy smile on someone's face by being an instrument of God's blessing to them. I need your prayers, but beg that you would more readily pray for my Benedictine Confraternity of Norcia in their hour of need. If you then have a prayer left over, please spare one for me.

Humility in the seventh degree

The seventh degree of humility is, when, not only with his tongue he declareth, but also in his inmost soul believeth, that he is the lowest and vilest of men, humbling himself and saying with the Prophet: But I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people. I have been exalted and humbled and confounded. And also: It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy commandments.

In the sixth step, we learn that we are to throw out our earthly notions of worth so as to become completely indifferent to any values that Society might put upon us or require us to hold. It is one thing to be able to do this intellectually, but can we do this from the heart?

It is only from within the very depths of our heart that we can hope to meet God. If our heart is cluttered by the world, then we will not be able to see Him. It is not enough to pay lip-service to Humility, it must come from within.

This requires a purge of even our own values, even if they are good values. We must empty ourselves of all pretense and pretention. We have to believe that we are insubstantial and own up to needing God's love in order just to be.

The trouble is that while only a part of humility can be practised, the majority of it can only come through humiliation, and honestly accepting that humiliation.  Each time we are humiliated, we must recognise it as an opportunity for emptying of ourselves for the Love of God to combine with our human nature and further us on the path to theosis.

People will hate us because we love God -that's Our Lord’s promise. The resulting humiliation will only make us more like Him if we let it.

Managing Mediating Muddles

Yes, I’ve been arguing with Protestants again. There are many, many Protestants that I do really like, who appreciate that things aren’t as clear cut and with whom I disagree profoundly, yet know that they are visibly motivated by the Holy Ghost. There are others who tear their bibles to bits to prove their points and do so in a way in which they become as infallible as the Pope that they are demonising. These will rail at the “false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church” and declare that it is leading people into Hell. With the death of Jack Chick, that ardent and spectacularly ill-informed champion of all things anti-Catholic, this has been much on my mind. The tendancy that some Protestants have for throwing the baby out of the bathwater when declaring the Church of Rome "Hell-bound" is unhelpful and shortsighted.

If I believed that the Roman Catholic Church is never wrong, then I would be damnably (literally) foolish not to join her ranks. As an Anglican Papalist, though, while I stand alongside my Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in many ways, there are issues which I simply cannot defend. In that sense, I believe that Rome does have false teaching which embellishes the faith more than necessary. Yet, if I were to accept the basic assumptions of the Papacy which go beyond the definitions of the Councils, logic would dictate that what the Roman Church teaches is necessarily true. It is because I believe that what she teaches is not necessarily true that I cannot accept those basic assumptions of the Papacy which go beyond the definitions of the Councils.

That makes me and the Pope mutual heretics in the technical sense of the word, but I strongly renounce any pejorative sense here.

One issue is that of the role of Our Lady. Pope St John-Paul II calls Mary the Mediatrix of all Graces, and this troubles the Protestant soul. There is also the notion of Our Lady as Coredemptrix which started out as a largely medieval expression of Our Lady’s role in our Salvation. It was this notion that certainly the Reformers took pains to reject and, it has to be said, even though it took on a louder voice at the time of the Second Vatican Council, it has never been dogmatic Roman Catholic Teaching.

The argument for the Mary the Coredemptrix can be summarised as:

1)      Mary agrees to become the mother of Jesus.
2)      Jesus is our Redeemer.
3)      In freely saying “yes”, Our Lady plays an active part in our redemption.
4)      In freely saying “yes”, Our Lady is uniquely united with her Son.
5)      Thus Our Lady shares the title of Redeemer with Our Lord.
6)      Therefore she is Coredemptrix.

The trouble is that this argument can be used of St Anne and St Joachim in respect of Our Lady, mutatis mutandis and, by an inductive argument, the whole lineage of Mary all the way back become Coredemptors and Coredemptriges.

The issues lie in 3 and 4. Our Lady is not the primary cause of our redemption. She is a secondary cause, just as her ancestry are all secondary causes. The primary cause of our redemption is Our Lord. I cannot say that the hammer is a co-smasher of the vase, nor can I say that it was my brain that smashed the vase. These are arguments that lead schoolchildren into detention!

As worthy as Our Lady is of all honour pertaining to her unique position as Theotokos, she simply cannot receive the title of Coredemptrix. This takes things too far. We are all participants in our own salvation, but not in our redemption. Lumen Gentium is very clear on the subordinate role of Mary in the ministry of Our Lord.

What about the troublesome Mediatrix of All Graces?

Again, this can be spun too much by some Catholics. Did Pope St John-Paul II go too far when he declared Our Lady to possess this title? This depends on what he means by mediation.

Catholic teaching is clear. There is only one Mediator between God and Man. St Paul, in writing to St Timothy says:

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. (I Tim ii.1-8)

Yet it seems there is a bit of a quandary there. At times, haven’t Moses and the prophets interceded for us? Have they not acted as mediators on our behalf? Mediation implies a two-way street between the two parties through the mediator (in the Greek literally the one standing in the middles). We have Abraham pleading for the city of Sodom. We have Moses pleading for the Israelites. Do these not count?

Not quite; they are indeed mediators in the sense of negotiation, but there is another mediation needed for our salvation. Remember that Our Lord is unique in His mediation: He stands between God and Man by being both! It is through this unique position that Man can be reconciled with God through the entirety of His Holy Incarnation and most visibly in His death on the Cross. This makes His mediation absolutely unique and absolutely effective for the salvation of all people. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, et c. could never make this mediation, nor could Our Lady.

This means that as Mediatrix, she can only ever act as a mediator between us and Christ the Mediator. She can only ever bring us to the Person who alone saves us through His mediation. This is actually vital, for St Paul in the above text urges prayer and supplication for all men. He urges all Christians to act as mediators, a knotted string of mediation that stretches back and forth through Time and Space binding people to God in Christ Jesus. This is why the Church that the Mediator built is necessary: both sides need to approach the Mediator for true mediation to occur.

But Mediatrix of All Graces? As we always say “Hail Mary, full of grace”. But how does that mean ALL graces? This, I contend, comes from her position of giving birth to Our Lord and through this act, bringing the Cause of all Grace into the world. Through this act of Our Lady’s mediation, we are given Him Who sanctifies the waters of Baptism by being Baptised, Who gives the sweet wine of Holiness to the wedding guests at Cana, Who forgives sins, Who calls disciples, Who gives the gift of the Holy Ghost, Who sanctifies the deathbed with His own body, Who gives us His very flesh and blood to eat and drink so that we might be truly whole. If there are any other graces to be received, then we receive them only at the hands of God Himself via Christ our Mediator and then through the mediation of the Church as the body of Christ.

The position of Our Lady as Mediatrix of All Graces is clear and encouraging, for we in all things should seek to emulate her example by bringing the Great Mediator to all people so that they might receive His Grace, Salvation, and Blessing. Our Lady shows our duty and our joy by showing us Christ. May we learn to do the same!

Humility in the sixth degree

The sixth degree of humility is that a monk be content with the poorest and worst of everything, and that in every occupation assigned him he consider himself a bad and worthless workman, saying with the Prophet, "I am brought to nothing and I am without understanding; I have become as a beast of burden before You, and I am always with You".

In an age in which we are encouraged to be self-affirming and self-confident in order to find peace with ourselves, St Benedict’s words seem to be severe and negative of our existence. He even seems to contradict Our Lord’s teaching that we are worth more than many sparrows. Does St Benedict really mean that we should berate ourselves, demean ourselves, wallow in a pit of being “ever so ‘umble” like the great hypocrite Uriah Heap?

Not at all, and it is misreading this verse that leads us to the idea that Humility is a constant doing ourselves down. It is not true, for this leads us to a greater pride of believing that God is wrong to love us and create us as He has.

What is St Benedict saying? What is worthless but that which has no worth attributed to it? If we attribute our own sense of worth to our actions and possessions, then we fail to see the truth of the blindness of our sight, and the fallibility of our own estimation. St Benedict challenges our whole value system of attributing worth and importance to things. It’s this that we need to shed in order to find God, for it is God that makes things truly worthy. We are to cultivate that sense of God’s worth. He does not see that worth in chasubles or chalices, but sees only the dedication that their makers have in making things beautiful for Him. He will spurn the chasuble and chalice of a heart dedicated only to “doing things right” in favour of a dirty old surplice and a tin mug of a heart in poverty, yet even seeking the Real Presence of Christ with intensity and passion.

In the Humility of losing the worth defined by the world, we gain the worth that is defined by pure Love. We know that new worth to be topsy-turvy, upending even the ladder of Humility so that ascending this ladder we end up with our feet on the ground of Truth rather than in the air of our own devices and desires.

If we take pleasure in something that we do, then let it be because we have sought God’s good pleasure first and bask in His mercy in bringing our task to its end. If we find nothing disappointment in what we do, then this is a good thing as it will teach us to find Worth where it resides more truly – in the Sacred Heart of Our Lord.

Humility in the fifth degree

The fifth degree of humility is that he hide from his Abbot none of the evil thoughts that enter his heart or the sins committed in secret, but that he humbly confess them. The Scripture urges us to this when it says, "Reveal your way to the Lord and hope in Him" and again, "Confess to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever" And the Prophet likewise says, "My offense I have made known to You, and my iniquities I have not covered up. I said: 'I will declare against myself my iniquities to the Lord;' and 'You forgave the wickedness of my heart'".

Nothing less than the truth matters in Christianity, call it Truth, Reality, Authenticity, et c, only what really is lies at the centre of the Christian life. This means that the Christian needs to take very seriously the idea that in order to love God, he must look carefully at what God has created in Him. This means delving down into the depths of one’s being and seeing what is really there, and what is really not there, and being honest about it.

On the journey into the self, we open doors behind which lie things of which we are proud. These doors are well-oiled and open easily without any difficulty. They are kept unlocked and we are very ready to open them, especially to other people. There are other doors which do not open so well and behind which lie things of which we aren’t that proud, but which people know anyway. There are also doors which are very stiff, which we open only during Confession. And there are doors in our soul which are locked and bolted, the hinges rusted, the keys lost.

In order to be ourselves in the eyes of God, to present Him with His own Creation as it really is, these doors will have to be opened too. Within there are things about ourselves which we are afraid to face up to, things we refuse to accept, things we want destroyed in ourselves. God gives us no choice. These doors must be opened too and what’s behind revealed.

God created us. Only He gets to say what must be destroyed in us. The only thing that needs to be destroyed is Evil, and the only thing that destroys Evil is Love, the presence of Almighty God Himself. Our honesty about ourselves is uncomfortable, but our continual repentance, our continual turning towards God will allow us to be filled with the Holy Ghost Who certainly dwells within every Baptised person. The more doors we open to Him, the more we allow Him to shed His life into our lives, and the more He will shine out of our lives too.

God gave us the priesthood so that if anyone needs to confess their sins, they can find the ear of Christ present in the ear of the priest. Any priest who takes that ministry lightly or, horror of horrors, as a position of power over the penitent will gravely endanger his soul. We should not then fear Confession but see it as an opportunity to force open those doors to our selves. When the final door is forced open, we will see the eye of God Himself peering back at us.

Purgatory and punishment

The question of Purgatory has vexed Christians throughout the ages. The Romans have it as part of the doctrine, yet it is rejected by the Orthodox and the Protestants. This in itself is quite reasonable: the Roman doctrine of Purgatory is largely 12th Century in origin. There are allusions to an intermediate state by Origen (whose doctrine on the Last Things was not renowned for its orthodoxy), St Ambrose, and St Gregory the Great. This is not exactly what one might call a Catholic consensus as demanded by the Vincentian Canon.

Yet, I don’t think one can just throw the concept away as easily as that. There are some very puzzling thoughts in Holy Scripture that suggest that there is an intermediate state or rather, perhaps, mode of being that will test the soul and for whom the prayers for the dead will be efficacious.

St Luke says: For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear : for whosoever hath , to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. (viii.17-18)

St Matthew says: But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  (x.23-28)

And St Paul, famously, says on the issue: According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid , which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is . If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned , he shall suffer loss : but he himself shall be saved ; yet so as by fire. (I Corinthians iii.10-15)

Scripture seems to be quite clear. Human beings will answer for their deeds. Even in Psalm xcix, we have:

O magnify the Lord our God : and fall down before his footstool, for he is holy.
Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among such as call upon his Name : these called upon the Lord, and he heard them.
He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar : for they kept his testimonies, and the law that he gave them.
Thou heardest them, O Lord our God : thou forgavest them, O God, and punishedst their own inventions.
O magnify the Lord our God, and worship him upon his holy hill : for the Lord our God is holy.

I mentioned below about how ferocious God is about Evil. There is war even in Heaven, but it is a foregone conclusions. The issue at hand is God’s justice as well as His mercy. Only God is capable of wielding these two ideas with appropriate deftness so as to make all things new. We really have to get out of the courtroom here. Justice is not quite the same as we might understand from the point of view of the Crown Court. Justice is synonymous with Righteousness and Righteousness burns with Pure Love. The mercy that God has shown us is that we can indeed be saved from Evil, yet if we reject His salvation, His justice cannot allow us into His Eternal presence.

What we read above is that the Lord knowest the secrets of our hearts, and that these will be revealed to the company of Heaven, and to us. Oh who may abide the day of His coming?! This should make us very uncomfortable. If we have any shame at all, then we will burn with it when these secrets are revealed in Heaven. It will be unpleasant and distressing, and yet, completely transforming! This is God at His most merciful. Just as we undress in front of the doctor, so will we be stripped in front of the company of Heaven so that the salvation of our soul can take place. It is the only way that our transformation can occur and it requires our repentance for it to work. This is probably what Purgatory is – at least in my humble reading of things.

It seems that we must be aware of this process so that we may indeed be ashamed of our sins, yet we find complete and utter acceptance in the arms of a forgiving God. We see the consequences of our actions, yet we are given the strength to bear those consequences through the love of God and the support of the Church. It seems to me that our prayers for the dead are precisely an expression of that support for all those standing before God weeping for their sins, as we all must.

Yet, Scripture is quite clear. God will wipe every tear from our eyes. He only does this because He loves us and wants for us all to be reconciled.

As I look back at my life, I see people that I even now struggle to forgive. I bear them no malice. Indeed, I pray earnestly for their eternal presence in Heaven with God, enjoying unending bliss and joy. I have absolutely no wish for them to spend even a microsecond in The Other Place. However, if I want the same for myself, then I will have to share God’s presence with them. Thus, this transformation, this final theosis, becomes vital both for me and for them if we are to spend Eternity in God’s presence and in mutual love. There will be people who will regard me in the same way, I’m sure. Reconciliation and the healing of harms have to take place for love to be perfected in us. For me, this is a comfort.

Of course, this is speculation on my reading of Scripture, and thus unlikely to be completely sound doctrine. Yet, it seems the most reasonable reading if there is to be any true notion of Justice at the end of time. For our part, we must cleanse our way even by ruling ourselves after God’s word. We must also continue to pray for the dead. That, too, is an expression of Christian Charity for we are in solidarity with all who die. Likewise, we will stand in solidarity with them before the face of Almighty God on that dread day!

St Luke at war!

Christian, dost thou see them
on the holy ground,
how the powers of darkness
compass thee around?
Christian, up and smite them,
counting gain but loss,
smite them by the merit
of the holy cross.

Christian, dost thou feel them,
how they work within,
striving, tempting, luring,
goading into sin?
Christian, never tremble;
never be downcast;
gird thee for the battle,
watch and pray and fast.

Christian, dost thou hear them,
how they speak thee fair?
"Always fast and vigil?
Always watch and prayer?"
Christian, answer boldly:
"While I breathe I pray!"
Peace shall follow battle,
night shall end in day.

"Well I know thy trouble,
O my servant true;
thou art very weary,
I was weary, too;
But that toil shall make thee
some day all mine own,
and the end of sorrow
shall be near my throne."
Translated from the Seventh Century Greek by Fr John Mason Neale

It seems strange to reflect on these words on St Luke's Day, especially when we are celebrating a compiler of Good News. There is no good news in smiting one's enemies, is there?

One thing that St Luke presses for more than anything else is the Truth. He is a seeker of what really occurs in the life of Our Lord.

Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. (St Luke i.1-4)

He speaks to the eyewitnesses, hears the narrative and even uses his own personal testimony to bring together the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. He has been described as an historian in the spirit of Thucydides, an historian of great accuracy and trustworthiness. Modern historians disagree mainly on the grounds that his history makes sense only if it fits one’s worldview. A materialist would regard tales of miracle and resurrection as superstition as being historically inaccurate to say the least.

The fact of the matter is that no evidence, no matter how obvious, will convince the hardened materialist that miracles happen. Of course, they will turn that around and say of us that no scientific evidence, no matter how obvious, will convinced the hardened Christian that miracles don’t happen. Crossing the worldview is a very difficult thing to do. Some manage it, either to their cost or to their benefit.

There is more to St Luke’s truth than just meets the eye, and it is an important and unpalatable point. Until we are all perfected, Truth will be inconvenient and difficult to swallow. Our Lord is, these days, portrayed in the secular sphere as a nice guy, and in many liberal Churches as a nice guy who saved everyone from their since so that we will all go to heaven and be happy together. St Luke paints a different picture of Our Lord:

…a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in , and sat down to meat . And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have ; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done , and not to leave the other undone.  Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. (St Luke xi.37-44)

It is in St Matthew’s Gospel where the Lord calls the Pharisees children of Hell (xxiii.15). This is important. The Good News contains the truth about ourselves. It is Good News because recognising the evil that is in us is the first step to our recovery. We can only recover once we know that we are ill. The trouble is that this takes some doing.

In this passage from St Luke’s Gospel, we see the God of both the Old and New Testaments. This is a God who will not tolerate any scrap of Evil. His very being fights against it and, being the only whole substance, automatically prevails. God’s very being is an act of war against Evil and Evil must flee from His presence. This has devastating consequences for all who hold to Evil. God will not suspend His hatred of Evil in order to allow those who will not repent of sin to be part of His kingdom. If there is no desire of repentance, then there is no possibility other than Hell itself.

This is so difficult for the modern mind to hear precisely because it is so against our notions of love, compassion, and tolerance. However, think about it. Would we want a Heaven in which Joseph Stalin, Osama Bin Laden and Adolph Hitler were allowed to be present regardless of whatever atrocities they instigated in the same place as their victims? Would Heaven be Heaven if members ISIS were allowed to receive their apocryphal seventy-two virgins, just because God is good and kind? Our Lord testifies to the existence of Hell and it is to our Good News – Evil will not be tolerated! Hell is not empty – Judas Iscariot (called the son of perdition by the Lord). Lucifer and the Demons are there. We may not know who else. Without Hell, there is no justice.

We have got so used to this idea of tolerance that we are becoming intolerant of people who are intolerant. What do we mean if we are tolerant? We hear hate the sin and love the sinner. This is true. God loves even the denizens of Hell – it is because they reject Him that they suffer. However much we love the sinner, we must hate the sin. This puts a strain upon us because Love brings people together whilst Sin forces them apart. The pain of this is precisely borne upon the Cross. It is a tearing of the flesh of Christ which must take place in order for any reconciliation.

It is interesting that only St Luke records the words of the thieves crucified with Jesus. In a conversation lost to the other Gospellers amid the noise of mockery and jeering, only St Luke hears (possibly from Our Lady or St John) the salvation of a penitent thief at the eleventh hour. This is the Good News indeed! While there is life, there is hope for us! The other thief dies without the words of comfort that the penitent receives before his legs are broken and his life ebbs away next to the already dead body of Our Lord. If that thief were not penitent after that, there can be no salvation for him – but we CAN’T know that!

The Good News of St Luke and the other Evangelists is clear. We walk in darkness with its powers trying to lay claim to our lives. We walk appropriating the darkness for ourselves and call it good. The Light of God comes and shows us that we are indeed in darkness, that we love darkness, that we even revere it! He shows us that we but need only turn to the light and walk as children of the light, bringing light into the darkness. He makes the way to light through Himself – we see that light of God through the holes in Christ’s body. And then, as children of light, we rise with Christ.

We must truly and viscerally hate Evil and wickedness. We have to loathe our sins and really must seek to die before we commit them again. We have to fear that our sins have become so habitual that they have an effect on our lives. We have to worry about any stain of sin in us. We are not to judge others because we have no capacity to know their hearts. We must judge ourselves in our own actions and bitterly bewail the wrong we have done, and make true repentance!

We must also have hope. God does not desire the death of a sinner but rather he turn from his wickedness and live. If he will not turn, he will die, that’s true, however if he does turn to Christ honestly, truly, and fully, he will be saved. The hope is that any battle against Evil that we undergo for love of Christ will be met with unmitigated victory, though in the eyes of the world that victory may seem like the defeat of the Cross. We have to be deadly serious about getting rid of Evil in our lives. We must seek what is truly good, and not let the World deceive us that its good is the True Good: it is not, but rather so far from truly good as to be sickeningly twisted. The World would have us believe that morality is a human construct. It is not. Good deeds can be done by all, but only those done from good intentions will matter to God.

St Luke, the physician, brings us the Good News of our hellish sickness and its Holy Cure. Let us pay heed to its words for they come from The Word Himself. We may tire and falter in our intentions, but God really is good, a true fighter against evil and a mighty warrior in battle against the forces of darkness. Under His command, we will obtain victory, then true, lasting, loving peace.