In the Western tradition there is an history that helps us to understand a common misunderstanding that forms a cultural narrative. The narrative is this: meditation is an Eastern practice largely based in either the Buddhist or Indian (Hindu) tradition that westerners weren’t aware of until the encounter between the meditative and yogic traditions of […]
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Natural Contemplation: From Being to Divine Love These stages are followed in succession as the focal point of meditation.
Stages of Natural Contemplation Read More »
I have a close friend that doesn’t believe in a god. He, like many of our contemporaries, thinks that to believe in God is to believe in a god. And so then it is more of a game of pick and choose. Evidentally most people do this based on culture and preference. They chose a
Where am I? Where is my God? I didn’t ask it enough. I tried. Hard. I tried. Slipped. I tried. Ecstasy. I tried. Kenosis. I tried. Falling asleep. But there were periods. Extended. Even enough. More than enough. The dark light of shame. And the clear light of enough-ness.
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The result was nil until we let go absolutely… (How it Works, AA) A friend asked me the other day what it means to let go absolutely. He brought up a line in the book Alcoholics Anonymous that says the result was nil until we let go absolutely. Upon immediate analysis it is clear that
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In respect to the subjective gravity of the sin of masturbation the Catechism of the Catholic Church reads, To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that
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Just what is rote prayer? And is it a waste of time? This article will answer these and related questions to better understand the value, purpose, and limits of rote prayer. Let’s start by defining rote. What does it really mean? A brief Google search will reveal that rote is typically used in a way
1) Those monks who have praised solitude wished to bear witness to a mystery, whose riches they had indeed experienced, but whose full penetration is reserved for heaven alone; for in solitude there is ever being enacted the great mystery of Christ and his Church, of which our Lady is the outstanding exemplar, but which
Carthusian Statutes: Guigues’ Praise of Life in Solitude Read More »
Definition of Natural Meditation: Meditation that takes place in reference to the first order of knowledge, nature, rather than the Word of God in Sacred Scripture and Holy Tradition. The ancient Greeks (esp. Plato and Aristotle) and Romans (e.g. Cicero), Buddhists (Buddha and followers, e.g. Thich Nhat Hahn), Hindus (followers of yogic meditative traditions of
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In other posts I have mentioned the similarity between the admission of powerless and unmanageability in the 12 Steps of AA and the essential foundation of the spiritual combat as Dom Lorenzo Scupoli describes in the treatise, “The Spiritual Combat.” The genius of this book is not simply that it reflects this perennial truth of
Healthy Self Distrust Read More »