"When things change inside you,
things change around you."
(Fr Abiyot Desaleng)
Showing posts with label interior life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interior life. Show all posts
INTERIOR LIFE NEEDED FOR THE PROPHETIC OFFICE
By letting the light of faith shine in our hearts, and by abiding in that light through our daily union with the Lord in prayer and participation in the life-giving sacraments of the Church, we ourselves become light to those around us; we exercise our “prophetic office”; often, without even knowing it, we draw people one step closer to the Lord and his truth. Without the life of prayer, without the interior transformation which takes place through the grace of the sacraments, we cannot, in Newman’s words, “radiate Christ”; we become just another “clashing cymbal” (1 Cor 13:1) in a world filled with growing noise and confusion, filled with false paths leading only to heartbreak and illusion.
--Benedict XVI, Speech in Hyde Park, 18th September 2010
WOE TO THE SOUL WHERE CHRIST DOES NOT DWELL
When God was displeased with the Jews, he delivered Jerusalem to the enemy, and they were conquered by those who hated them; there were no more sacrifices or feasts. Likewise angered at a soul who had broken his commands, God handed it over to its enemies, who corrupted and totally dishonoured it.
When a house has no master living in it, it becomes dark, vile and contemptible, choked with filth and disgusting refuse. So too is a soul which has lost its master, who once rejoiced there with his angels. This soul is darkened with sin, its desires are degraded, and it knows nothing but shame.
Woe to the path that is not walked on, or along which the voices of men are not heard, for then it becomes the haunt of wild animals. Woe to the soul if the Lord does not walk within it to banish with his voice the spiritual beasts of sin. Woe to the house where no master dwells, to the field where no farmer works, to the pilotless ship, storm-tossed and sinking. Woe to the soul without Christ as its true pilot; drifting in the darkness, buffeted by the waves of passion, storm-tossed at the mercy of evil spirits, its end is destruction. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ to cultivate it with care to produce the good fruit of the Holy Spirit. Left to itself, it is choked with thorns and thistles; instead of fruit it produces only what is fit for burning. Woe to the soul that does not have Christ dwelling in it; deserted and foul with the filth of the passions, it becomes a haven for all the vices.
When a farmer prepares to till the soil he must put on clothing and use tools that are suitable. So Christ, our heavenly king, came to till the soil of mankind devastated by sin. He assumed a body and, using the cross as his ploughshare, cultivated the barren soul of man. He removed the thorns and thistles which are the evil spirits and pulled up the weeds of sin. Into the fire he cast the straw of wickedness. And when he had ploughed the soul with the wood of the cross, he planted in it a most lovely garden of the Spirit, that could produce for its Lord and God the sweetest and most pleasant fruit of every kind.
(St Macarius)
3 Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Iesu Christi,
Pater misericordiarum et Deus totius consolationis,
4 qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra,
ut possimus et ipsi consolari eos, qui in omni pressura sunt,
per exhortationem, qua exhortamur et ipsi a Deo.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
a gentle Father [the Father of mercies] and the God of all consolation,
who comforts us in all our sorrows,
so that we can offer others, in their sorrows,
the consolation that we have received from God ourselves.
(II Corinthians 1:3-4)
5 Haec dicit Dominus:
“ Maledictus homo, qui confidit in homine
et ponit carnem brachium suum,
et a Domino recedit cor eius;
6 erit enim quasi myricae in deserto
et non videbit, cum venerit bonum,
sed habitabit in siccitate in deserto,
in terra salsuginis et inhabitabili.
7 Benedictus vir, qui confidit in Domino,
et erit Dominus fiducia eius;
8 et erit quasi lignum,
quod transplantatur super aquas,
quod ad humorem mittit radices suas
et non timebit, cum venerit aestus;
et erit folium eius viride,
et in anno siccitatis non erit sollicitum
nec aliquando desinet facere fructum
5 Thus says the LORD:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
7* "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit."
(Jeremiah 17:5-8)
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