Writings of the Christian Mystics

[leyh]

Practice of the Presence of God is a 17th century spiritual classic by Brother Lawerence(1611?-1691) who was a lay brother of the Discalced Carmelites of Paris.He had been a soldier,a footman and a hermit before the Carmelites had accepted him.

 

I have posted the following quotes before on a much earlier thread in this Forum.This is a repeat telecast of the nectar. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

"To be with God is not necessary to be always in church.We may make a chapel of our heart whereto we may escape from time to time to talk with him quietly,humbly,lovingly." (FOURTH LETTER To a Woman in the World)

 

"I look upon myself as a leper,full of corruptions,the most wretched of men who has done all sorts of wickedness against his king.Seized by remorse, I confess all my evil deeds to Him,I implore His pardon,I cast myself into his hands that He may do what He wills with me.But this king is full of loving kindness and mercy.Instead of punishing him,He caresses me lovingly,He makes me eat at His table,He serves me with His own hands,He gives me the key to His treasury,He treats me as a favoured child.He talks with me,and His delight is to be with me in a thousand ways;I am forgiven and my iniquities are taken away without talking about them.The more I pray to be acceptable to His heart,the more weak and despicable I seem to myself,and the more I am beloved of God.It is thus that I look upon myself from time to time in His holy presence." (FIFTH LETTER To a Religious)

 

"I only know that God protects me and that I am so tranquil that I fear nothing.What is there to fear when I am with Him?I cling to Him as much as I am able.May He be blessed by all." (SIXTH LETTER To a Nun)

 

A little lifting-up of the heart is enough;a short rememberance of God,an interior act of worship,made in haste and sword in hand,are prayers which,short as they may be,are nevertheless most pleasing to God;and far from lessening a soldier's courage in moments of danger,they increase it." (SEVENTH LETTER To a Woman in the World)

 

"I advise you to avoid much talking in prayer;long speeches often induce distractions.Hold yourself in prayer before God like a dumb or paralysed beggar at a rich man's gate;rivet your attention on keeping your mind in the presence of the Lord.If it wanders away from Him,don't get upset;to worry about it serves rather to distraction than recollection:let the will bring back the mind quietly.If you perservere in this way,God will have pity on you." (EIGHT LETTER To a Nun)

 

"One way of becoming recollected easily at the time of prayer,and of remaining so,is to keep the mind under control at all times---that is,keep it strictly in the presence of God.Being accustomed to think of Him more often,it will then be more easy to remain undisturbed in prayer,or at any rate to recover from distractions." (EIGHT LETTER To a Nun)

 

'We cannot avoid the perils and snares of which life is full without the actual and unceasing help of God;we must then pray for it unremittingly.How can we pray to Him unless we are with Him? How can we be with Him unless we are always thinking of Him?And how can we think of Him often unless we make a holy habit of so doing?You will tell me that I keep on saying the same thing.It is turue.I do not know any better or easier way;and as I follow no other myself I recommend it to everybody.We must know before we can love;and to know God we must often think of Him.And when we love Him,we shall think about Him all the more,"for where thy treasure is,there is thy heart also."Just consider it carefully.'(NINTH LETTER To the Same)

 

"Do remember what I have advised you:that is,to think often of God,by day,by night,whatever you are doing,in your duties,even in your amusements.He is always near you and with you;do not neglect Him.You would think it rude to leave a friend,who came to visit you,alone;why then leave God alone? Do not then forget Him,think about Him often --- to do so is the proper business of a Christian:if we do not know our calling we must learn from it.I will help you with my prayers."(TENTH LETTER To a Woman in the World)

 

I wish you could realize that God is often nearer to us in time of ill-health and weakness than when we are well.Seek no other physician but Him,for to my mind He wishes to heal us Himself;put your whole trust in Him.Whatever remedies you make use of they will only succeed so far as He allows;when pain comes from God,He only can cure it,and He often sends disorders of the body to cure those of the soul.Comfort yourself with the all-powerful Physician of both bodies and souls." (ELEVENTH LETTER To a Nun)

 

"Sometimes I looked upon myself as a poor criminal before his judge;at other times I looked on Him in my heart as My Father and My God,worshipping Him as often as I was able,and recollecting myself whenever my mind was distracted from His holy presence.I found no little difficulty in this exercise,but I perservered in spite of my failures,not worrying or blaming myself when my distractions were involuntary.I did this not only at my set times of prayer,but at all times driving from my mind everything that could displace the thought of God,every hour,every minute,even at my busiest moments." (TWELFTH LETTER To a Nun)

 

 

 

 

[leyh]

Madhudvisa: (repeating question) St. Francis, the founder of this particular order which we have been invited to speak to, found God in the material world. And he used to address the aspects of the material world as "brother" and "sister.Brother tree,sister water," like that. What is your view upon this?

 

Prabhupada: This is real God consciousness. This is real God consciousness, yes, not that "I am God conscious, and I kill the animals." That is not God conscious. To accept the trees, plants, lower animals, insignificant ants even, as brothers... Samah sarvesu bhutesu. This is explained in the Bhagavad-gita.

 

brahma-bhutah prasannatma

na socati na kanksati

samah sarvesu bhutesu

 

Samah. Samah means equal to all living entities, to see the spirit soul, anyone... It doesn't matter whether he is man or cat or dog or tree or ant or insect or big man. They are all parts and parcel of God. They are simply dressed differently. One has got the dress of tree; one has got the dress of king; one has got the, insect. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita. Panditah sama-darsinah: "One who is pandita, learned, his vision is equal." So if St. Francis was thinking like that, that is highest standard of spiritual understanding. Similar expression is there in the Caitanya-caritamrta, that sthavara-jangama dekhe na dekhe tara murti. A spiritually advanced devotee of the Lord, he sees the trees or the animals or the stone or the anything he sees--he sees that it is the energy of God. Na dekhe tara murti. Just like your murti or my murti--murti means form--may be little different, but we are made of the same ingredients. If your body surgically operated, the same blood, stone, or bone, or flesh, everything is there the same because same ingredients. Similarly, our outward covering is covered by these material elements, but inside, within this, there is the spirit soul. Therefore one who is advanced, he does not see that "This is cat, this is dog, this is man, this is elephant, and this is brahmana, this is this..." No. He sees the soul, that "Here is the soul, part and parcel of God." That is his vision. Panditah sama-darsinah. So that is God realization. God is spirit, Supreme Spirit, and he is part and parcel, the living entities. That is real vision. Panditah. Panditah means learned.

(Lecture at St. Pascal's Franciscan Seminary, Melbourne, June 28, 1974)

 

The Little Flowers of St. Francis is an anonymously compiled collection of stories about St Francis and his companions written in Italian.The following are some excerps from the collection:

 

And as he went on his way, with great fervour, St Francis lifted up his eyes, and saw on some trees by the wayside a great multitude of birds; and being much surprised, he said to his companions, "Wait for me here by the way, whilst I go and preach to my little sisters the birds"; and entering into the field, he began to preach to the birds which were on the ground, and suddenly all those also on the trees came round him, and all listened while St Francis preached to them, and did not fly away until he had given them his blessing. And Brother Masseo related afterwards to Brother James of Massa how St Francis went among them and even touched them with his garments, and how none of them moved. Now the substance of the sermon was this: "My little sisters the birds, ye owe much to God, your Creator, and ye ought to sing his praise at all times and in all places, because he has given you liberty to fly about into all places; and though ye neither spin nor sew, he has given you a twofold and a threefold clothing for yourselves and for your offspring. Two of all your species he sent into the Ark with Noe that you might not be lost to the world; besides which, he feeds you, though ye neither sow nor reap. He has given you fountains and rivers to quench your thirst, mountains and valleys in which to take refuge, and trees in which to build your nests; so that your Creator loves you much, having thus favored you with such bounties. Beware, my little sisters, of the sin of ingratitude, and study always to give praise to God." As he said these words, all the birds began to open their beaks, to stretch their necks, to spread their wings, and reverently to bow their heads to the ground, endeavouring by their motions and by their songs to manifest their joy to St Francis. And the saint rejoiced with them. He wondered to see such a multitude of birds, and was charmed with their beautiful variety, with their attention and familiarity, for all which he devoutly gave thanks to the Creator. Having finished his sermon, St Francis made the sign of the cross, and gave them leave to fly away. Then all those birds rose up into the air, singing most sweetly; and, following the sign of the cross, which St Francis had made, they divided themselves into four companies. One company flew towards the east, another towards the west, one towards the south, and one towards the north; each company as it went singing most wonderfully; signifying thereby, that as St Francis, the bearer of the Cross of Christ, had preached to them and made upon them the sign of the cross, after which they had divided among themselves the four parts of the world, so the preaching of the Cross of Christ, renewed by St Francis, would be carried by him and by his brethren over all the world, and that the humble friars, like little birds, should possess nothing in this world, but should cast all the care of their lives on the providence of God....

 

At the time when St Francis was living in the city of Gubbio, a large wolf appeared in the neighbourhood, so terrible and so fierce, that he not only devoured other animals, but made a prey of men also; and since he often approached the town, all the people were in great alarm, and used to go about armed, as if going to battle. Notwithstanding these precautions, if any of the inhabitants ever met him alone, he was sure to be devoured, as all defence was useless: and, through fear of the wolf, they dared not go beyond the city walls. St Francis, feeling great compassion for the people of Gubbio, resolved to go and meet the wolf, though all advised him not to do so. Making the sign of the holy cross, and putting all his confidence in God, he went forth from the city, taking his brethren with him; but these fearing to go any farther, St Francis bent his steps alone towards the spot where the wolf was known to be, while many people followed at a distance, and witnessed the miracle. The wolf, seeing all this multitude, ran towards St Francis with his jaws wide open. As he approached, the saint, making the sign of the cross, cried out: "Come hither, brother wolf; I command thee, in the name of Christ, neither to harm me nor anybody else." Marvellous to tell, no sooner had St Francis made the sign of the cross, than the terrible wolf, closing his jaws, stopped running, and coming up to St Francis, lay down at his feet as meekly as a lamb. And the saint thus addressed him: "Brother wolf, thou hast done much evil in this land, destroying and killing the creatures of God without his permission; yea, not animals only hast thou destroyed, but thou hast even dared to devour men, made after the image of God; for which thing thou art worthy of being hanged like a robber and a murderer. All men cry out against thee, the dogs pursue thee, and all the inhabitants of this city are thy enemies; but I will make peace between them and thee, O brother wolf, if so be thou no more offend them, and they shall forgive thee all thy past offences, and neither men nor dogs shall pursue thee any more." Having listened to these words, the wolf bowed his head, and, by the movements of his body, his tail, and his eyes, made signs that he agreed to what St Francis said. On this St Francis added: "As thou art willing to make this peace, I promise thee that thou shalt be fed every day by the inhabitants of this land so long as thou shalt live among them; thou shalt no longer suffer hunger, as it is hunger which has made thee do so much evil; but if I obtain all this for thee, thou must promise, on thy side, never again to attack any animal or any human being: cost thou make this promise?" Then the wolf, bowing his head, made a sign that he consented. Said St Francis again: "Brother wolf, wilt thou pledge thy faith that I may trust to this thy promise?" and putting out his hand he received the pledge of the wolf; for the latter lifted up his right paw and placed it familiarly in the hand of St Francis, giving him thereby the only pledge which was in his power. Then said St Francis, addressing him again: "Brother wolf, I command thee, in the name of Christ, to follow me immediately, without hesitation or doubting, that we may go together to ratify this peace which we have concluded in the name of God"; and the wolf, obeying him, walked by his side as meekly as a lamb, to the great astonishment of all the people. Now, the news of this most wonderful miracle spreading quickly through the town, all the inhabitants, both men and women, small and great, young and old, flocked to the market-place to see St Francis and the wolf. All the people being assembled, the saint got up to preach, saying, amongst other things, how for our sins God permits such calamities, and how much greater and more dangerous are the flames of hell, which last for ever, than the rage of a wolf, which can kill the body only; and how much we ought to dread the jaws of hell, if the jaws of so small an animal as a wolf can make a whole city tremble through fear. The sermon being ended, St Francis added these words: "Listen, my brethren: the wolf who is here before you has promised and pledged his faith that he consents to make peace with you all, and no more to offend you in aught, and you must promise to give him each day his necessary food; to which, if you consent, I promise in his name that he will most faithfully observe the compact." Then all the people promised with one voice to feed the wolf to the end of his days; and St Francis, addressing the latter, said again: "And thou, brother wolf, dost thou promise to keep the compact, and never again to offend either man or beast, or any other creature?"

 

And the wolf knelt down, bowing his head, and, by the motions of his tail and of his ears, endeavoured to show that he was willing, as far as was in his power, to hold to the compact. Then St Francis continued: "Brother wolf, as thou gavest me a pledge of this thy promise when we were outside the town, so now I will that thou renew it in the sight of all this people, and assure me that I have done well to promise in thy name"; and the wolf lifting up his paw placed it in the hand of St Francis. Now this event caused great joy in all the people, and a great devotion towards St Francis, both because of the novelty of the miracle, and because of the peace which had been concluded with the wolf; and they lifted up their voices to heaven, praising and blessing God, who had sent them St Francis, through whose merits they had been delivered from such a savage beast. The wolf lived two years at Gubbio; he went familiarly from door to door without harming anyone, and all the people received him courteously, feeding him with great pleasure, and no dog barked at him as he went about. At last, after two years, he died of old age, and the people of Gubbio mourned his loss greatly; for when they saw him going about so gently amongst them all, he reminded them of the virtue and sanctity of St Francis.

 

from A Treasury of Catholic Reading, ed. John Chapin (Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1957)

 

 

[ethos]

Leyh, I appreciate your efforts here.

 

But if I may be so bold, I'd like to pass on some advice learned from a very qualified art director I'm married to: don't type entire paragraphs or passages in bold. It is hard on the eyes to read. Rather, rely on grammatical marks to present and emphasize your points.

[leyh]

Dear ethos:

 

Point noted.I'll make the necessary edits.Thank you. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[leyh]

The Cloud of Unknowing is a work by an anonymous English Christian mystic of the 14th century and the entire work can be found online at http://www.ccel.org/u/unknowing/cloud_c.htm

 

The following is a chapter from The Cloud of Unknowing:

 

HERE BEGINNETH THE FOUR AND TWENTIETH CHAPTER

 

What charity is in itself, and how it is truly and perfectly contained in the work of this book

AND as it is said of meekness, how that it is truly and perfectly comprehended in this little blind love pressed, when it is beating upon this dark cloud of unknowing, all other things put down and forgotten: so it is to be understood of all other virtues, and specially of charity.

For charity is nought else to bemean to thine understanding, but love of God for Himself above all creatures, and of man for God even as thyself. And that in this work God is loved for Himself, and above all creatures, it seemeth right well. For as it is said before, that the substance of this work is nought else but a naked intent directed unto God for Himself.

A naked intent I call it. For why, in this work a perfect Prentice asketh neither releasing of pain, nor increasing of meed, nor shortly to say, nought but Himself. Insomuch, that neither he recketh nor looketh after whether that he be in pain or in bliss, else that His will be fulfilled that he loveth. And thus it seemeth that in this work God is perfectly loved for Himself, and that above all creatures. For in this work, a perfect worker may not suffer the memory of the holiest creature that ever God made to commune with him.

And that in this work the second and the lower branch of charity unto thine even-christian is verily and perfectly fulfilled, it seemeth by the proof. For why, in this work a perfect worker hath no special beholding unto any man by himself, whether that he be kin or stranger, friend or foe. For all men him thinks equally kin unto him, and no man stranger. All men him thinks be his friends, and none his foes. Insomuch, that him thinks all those that pain him and do him disease in this life, they be his full and his special friends: and him thinketh, that he is stirred to will them as much good, as he would to the homeliest friend that he hath.

 

[leyh]

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a Catholic Trappist Monk who was born an English citizen and became a naturalized American in the 1950s. He was a prolific writer and widely revered for his spiritual realizations.Thomas Merton was involved in Interfaith dialogue with many Eastern spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama and his comments on Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad-gita As It Is is included in the "Critics Praise Bhagavad-gita As It Is section of the Gita

 

The folowing is an excerpt from one of his writings, which I think is a very fascinating analysis of the difference between the sacred and the secular:

The secular and sacred reflect two kinds of dependence. The secular world depends upon the things it needs to divert itself and escape from its own nothingness. It depends on the creation and multiplication of artificial needs, which it then pretends to "satisfy". Hence the secular world is a world that pretends to exalt man's liberty, but in which man is in fact enslaved by the things on which he depends. In such a society man himself is alienated and becomes a "thing" rather than a person, because he is subject to his ever-increasing needs, to his restlessness, his dissatisfaction, his anxiety and his fear, but above all to the guilt which reproaches him for infidelity to his own inner truth. To escape this guilt, he plunges further into falsity.

 

In the sacred society, on the other hand, man admits no dependence on anything lower than himself, or even "outside" himself in a spatials ense. His only Master is God. Only when God is our Master can we be free, for God is within ourselves as well as above us. he rules us by liberating us and raising us to union with Himself from within. And in so doing He liberates us from our dependence on created things outside us. We use and dominate them, so that they exist for our sakes, and not we for theirs. There is no purely sacred society except in heaven.

 

But the city of God in heaven is reflectd on earth in the society of those who are united not by "enlightened self-interest" but by sacrificial and Christian love, by mercy and compassion, by selfless and divine pity. They liberate themselves from slavery to "diversion" by renouncing their own pleasure and immediate satisfaction in order to help relieve the needs of others, and in order to help others in turn become free and to seek their own inner truth, and thus fulfil their destiny on earth.

 

I have said that even the most sacred of earthly societies tends to have something of a secular character. This is inevitable as we soona s we have a visible society of men in the present fallen condition of human nature. The visible and symbolic expressions of the divine tend to become opaque, in their constant use by men, so that we stop at them and no longer go through them to God. hence Holy Communion, for instance, tends to become a routine and "secularized" activity when it is sought not so much as a mystical contact with the Incarnate Word of God and with all the members of His Mystical Body, but rather as a way of gaining social approval and allaying feelings of anxiety. In this manner even the most sacred realities can be debased and, without totally losing their sacred character, enter into the round of secular "diversion".

 

The truly sacred attitude toward life is in no sense an escape from the sense of nothingness, realizing that the emrcy of God has transformed our nothingness into His temple and believeing that in our darkness His light has hidden itself. Hence the sacred attitude is one which does not recoil from our own inner emptiness, but rather penetrates into it with awe and reverence, and with the awareness of mystery.

 

This is a most important discovery in the interior life. For the external self fears and recoils from what is beyond it, and above it. It dreads the seeming emptiness and darkness of the interior self. the whole tragedy of "diversion" is precisely that it is a flight from all that is real and immediate and genuine in ourselves. It is a flight from life and from experience --- an attempt to put a veil of objects between the mind and its experiecne of itself. It is therefore a matter of great courage and spiritual energy to turn away from diversion and prepare to meet, face to face, that immediate experience of life which is intolerable to the exterior man. This is only possible when, by a gift of God (St Thomas would say it was the Gift of Fear, or sacred awe) we are able to see our inner selves not as a vacuum but as an infinite depth, not as emptiness but s fulness. This change of perspective is impossible as long as we are afraid of our own nothingness, as long as we are afraid of fear, afraid of poverty, afraid of boredom --- as long as we run away from ourselves.

 

What we need is the gift of God which makes us able to find in ourselves not just ourselves but Him: and then our nothingness becomes His all. This is not possible without the liberation effected by compunction and humility. It requires not talent, not mere insight, but sorrow, pouring itself out in love and trust.

The sacred attitude is essentially contemplative, and the secular attitude is essentially active. That does not mean that there cannot be activity that is sacred (based on love). But even such activity is sacred only in so far as it tends to compulsion.

 

The man whose view of life is purely secular, hates himself interiorly, while seeming to love himself. He hates himself in the sense that he cannot stand to be "with" or "by" himself. And because he hates himself, he also tends to hate God, because he cannot abide the inner loneliness which must be suffered and accepted, before God can be found. His rebellion against his own inner loneliness and poverty turns into pride. Pride is the fixation of the exterior self upon itself, and the rejection of all other elements in the self for which it is incapable of assuming responsibility. This includes the rejection of the inmost self, with its apparent emptiness, its indefiniteness, and its general character as that which is dark and unknown. Pride is then a false and evasive self-realization which is in actual act no realization at all, but only the fabrication of an illusory image. The effort which must then be put into the protection and substantiation of this illusion gives an appearance of strength. But in reality, this fixation upon what does not exist merely exhausts and ruins our being.

 

There is a subtle but inescapable connection between the "sacred" attitude and the acceptance of one's imost self. The movement of recognition which accepts our own obscure and unknown self produces thes ensation of a "numinous" presence within us. This sacred awe is no mere magic illusion but the real expression of a release of spiritual energy, testifiying to our own interior reunion and reconciliation with that which is deepest in us, and through the inner self, with the transcendent and invisible power of God. This implies humility, or the fulla cceptance of all that we have tended to reject and ignore in ourselves. The inner self is "purified" by the acknowledgement of sin, not precisely because the inner seat is the seat of sin, but because both our sinfulness and our interiority tend to be rejected in one and the same movement by the exterior self, and relegated back to the same darkness, so that when the inner self is brought back to light, sin emerges and is liquidated by the assuming of responsibility and by sorrow.

 

Thus the man with "sacred" view is one who does not need to hate himself, and is never afraid or ashamed to remain with his own loneliness, for in it he is at peace, and through it he can come to the presence of God. More still, he is able to go out from his own loneliness to find God in other men. That is to say, in his dealings with othershe has no need to identify them with their sins and condemn them for their actions: for he is able, in them also, to see below the surface and to guess at the presence of the inner and innocent self that is the image of God. Such a man is able to help other men to find God in themselves, educating them in confidence by the respect he is able to feel for them. Thus he is capable of allaying some of their fears and helping them to put up with themselves, until they become interiorly quiet and learn to see God in the depths of their poverty. ( The Inner Experience by Thomas Merton, III. Christian Contemplation, 3. Sacred and Secular)

[theist]

leyh,

 

I thought this was thread in which you recommended The Way of a Pilgrim but not I don't see any reference.

 

Anyway, thanks for mentioning.I am just half way through the second narrative and can't put it down.What a gem so far.Wonderful and inspiring vaisnava reading.

 

Hare Krsna

 

[leyh]

Dear Theist:

 

Glad to have been of service. I can't recall offhand the thread where I mentioned The Way of a Pilgrim, but I do remember it was in reply to Bhakta Joy. It was a real transcendental joy for me to read The Way of a Pilgrim as it offers many insights into praying the holy name. However, there is an episoid in the book where the anonymous author of the book mentions that his spiritual master (staret) told him that the prayer methods of the monks of India were imported from the Christian mystics and subsequently garbled. A rather sweeping, not to mention wildly inaccurate statement, I think. But a discerning reader can still overlook this fault and take the nectar from the flower.

[leyh]

"Don't think in that way about this holy book, sir," I answered. "It was not written by simple Greek monks, but by great and very holy men of old time, men whom your Church honours also, such as Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, Mark the spiritual Athlete, John Chrysostom and others. It was from them that the monks of India and Bokhara took over the 'heart method' of interior prayer, only they quite spoilt and garbled it in doing so, as my starets explained to me. (From The Way of a Pilgrim, Chapter 2)

 

The book the anonymous pilgrim is referring to is The Philokalia, an anthology of Christian Orthodox spiritual writings.

[theist]

leyh,

 

I haven't read that yet, but since I am in that chapter I will this morning.I will try to just take the essence.

 

Haribol

[Guest guest]

here is an interesting link about many christian mystics http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/mys/alpha.htm