Posted on by Kurt Bodling

persistance

"Once a man has set foot on this way, there is no excuse for abandoning it, for to be actually on the way is to recognize without doubt or hesitation that only the way is fully real and that everything else is deception, except insofar as it may in some secret and hidden manner be connected with ‘the way.’

“Thus, far from wishing to abandon this way, the contemplative seeks only to travel farther and farther along it. This journey without maps leads him into rugged mountainous country where there are often mists and storms and where he is more and more alone. Yet at the same time, ascending the slopes in darkness, feeling more and more keenly his own emptiness, and with the winter wind blowing cruelly through his now tattered garments, he meets at times other travelers on the way, poor pilgrims as he is, and as solitary as he, belonging perhaps to other lands and other traditions. There are of course great differences between them, and yet they have much in common. Indeed, the Western contemplative can say that he feels himself much closer to the Zen monks of ancient Japan than to the busy and impatient men of the West, of his own country, who think in terms of money, power, publicity, machines, business, political advantage, military strategy–who seek, in a word, the triumphant affirmation of their own will, their own power, considered as the end for which they exist. Is not this perhaps the most foolish of all dreams, the most tenacious and damaging of illusions?”

Merton, Thomas. “The Contemplative Life in the Modern World.” (1965) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, p. 228.

This is just SO good! And I think that the person who seeks only to travel farther and farther along the way of contemplation may just be the person tending toward the suite of attributes listed by a friend of mine when he wrote (and I’m mashing together bits from two different letters of his) that the fruit of the Spirit is love – which, itself is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not arrogant, nor rude – joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Vaya con Dios!

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

meditate like ants and bees

"In the Christian monastic tradition, meditatio is not primarily a technique for emptying the soul. Meditation is an exercise in attentiveness, purification, and concentration, but its primary goal is the fullness or maturation of God’s Word within us. According to the most ancient tradition, meditation is biblical. And in lectio divina, three important ‘moments’ constitute meditatio: the ant’s work, the bee’s work, and discernment.

"The ant’s work is to harvest the food. Our food is God’s Word. … One who is more familiar with Scripture will have the advantage of recalling a greater number of texts.

"We must not only harvest our food, but also work with it like a bee. … In other words, the monk’s work is to meditate, i.e., to reveal the hidden sense of Scripture, to produce the honey of evangelical wisdom. Monastic tradition calls this second step of meditation ruminatio. …

“God’s Word entering our lives begins a work of discernment, of purification, of krisis–transformation and conversion. Whereas with lectio we read Scripture, during meditatio God’s Word ‘reads’ us. This can prove a painful process.”

Barban, Alessandro. “Lectio Divina and Monastic Theology in Camaldolese Life” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, pp. 56-57.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

a crucial point in the life of prayer

"Infused contemplation, then, sooner or later brings with it a terrible interior revolution. Gone is the sweetness of prayer. Meditation becomes impossible, even hateful. Liturgical functions seem to be an insupportable burden. The mind cannot think. The will seems unable to love. The interior life is filled with darkness and dryness and pain. The soul is tempted to think that all is over and that, in punishment for its infidelities, all spiritual life has come to an end.

"This is a crucial point in the life of prayer. It is very often here that souls, called by God to contemplation, are repelled by this ‘hard saying,’ turn back, and ‘walk no more with Him’ (John 6:61-67). …

“Generally they remain faithful to God: they try to serve Him. But they turn away from interior things and express their service in externals. They externalize themselves in pious practices, or they immerse themselves in work in order to escape the pain and sense of defeat they have experienced in what seems, to them, to be the collapse of all contemplation. ‘The light shineth in darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it’ (John 1).”

Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003, pp. 75-76. (NOTE: Merton wrote this back in 1959!)

It seems like all the tried-and-true recommendations for deepening a spiritual life, recommendations adopted (with more or less benefit) by most people, don’t always cut it any more for those called to the contemplative life. Then there follows the need for balancing the internal and the external, balancing service with growth, balancing action with contemplation. Sometimes, it seems, one serves others best by turning inward.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Bonhoeffer on spiritual disciplines

“Bonhoeffer expressed his personal piety in his reading of Scripture, daily meditation and prayer. These practices influenced his perception and response to external ‘social and political realities.’ Throughout his life, Bonhoeffer used the Moravians’ daily Bible texts called Losungen (“watch words”) for his daily devotions. Each day included verses from both the Old and New Testaments. These texts had a great influence on his life and greatly influenced his decision to return to Germany in 1939. In addition to meditative reading of Scripture, Bonhoeffer’s most powerful discipline was prayer.”

Cannon, Mae Elise. Just Spirituality: How Faith Practices Fuel Social Action. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2013, p. 44.

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what is freedom

"Since true freedom means the ability to desire and choose, always, without error, without defection, what is really good, then freedom can only be found in perfect union and submission to the will of God. …

“Therefore, the simplest definition of freedom is this: it means the ability to do the will of God. To be able to resist His will is not to be free. In sin there is no true freedom.”

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. Introduction by Sue Monk Kidd. New York: New Directions Books, 2007, ©1961, pp. 200-201.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

breadth of Christian scholarship

“So comprehensive are the labors of the ministerial calling, and at so many points do they touch human life, that there is hardly conceivable a domain of human knowledge which may not contribute its quota to the efficiency of pastoral labor. This is, indeed, a wonderful thing.”

Graebner, Theodore. The Pastor as Student and Literary Worker: Lectures Delivered at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Second, revised edition. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing House, 1925, p. 44.

Consecrating the study of virtually any subject (done in the service of the Gospel), Graebner broadens the fields of labor for Christian scholars and encourages us to follow our interests because one never knows how bits and pieces (or chunks and whole slabs) of knowledge can later be used for Christ by pastors. He then gives practical examples.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

growth in solitude and community

“There is a world of difference between primarily need-based living and engaging in the transformative energy of communal life, just as between being isolated and separate–living in fear that we are or will be abandoned–and embracing the life-altering power of solitude intentionally engaged.”

Healey, Bede. “Psychological Investigations and Implications for Living Together Alone.” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002, p. 120.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

simul justus et peccator

“We Christians affirm the communion of saints in the Nicene Creed, but I think there should be an equal belief in the ‘communion of sinners.’ We are all fully a part of both groups.”

Rohr, Richard. Immortal Diamond: the Search for Our True Self. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013, p. xix.

The Lutherans call this idea the “simul justus et peccator” (which, being interpreted, means ‘at the same time, saint and sinner’). In other words, while in this life, we are in a constant cycle of sin and forgiveness, one that moves such that we are always in both states simultaneously.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the death of self

“If your spiritual guides do not talk to you about dying, they are not good spiritual guides!” (p. 85)

Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward: a Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Death, both physical and metaphorical, should find its way into our conversations, especially in spiritual circles, in Christian churches. There are both the death of the Old Adam in us, and the death of our bodies. Both are “real death.” Talking about either can make people feel uncomfortable, but it is so much better to have them out in the open than to hide them in the closet or under the bed.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

Saint Paul the scholar

“More than this, we may say that Paul was the heir of two civilizations. On the one hand, we have, not only in these distinct references, but in his wonderful mastery of Greek, the scholarship of one who lived in the bright after-glow of Greek civilization. On the other hand, his mind was steeped in the Rabbinical learning of his age. … Thus Paul stands forth as the ideal Christian scholar. Ideal, not only as a man who had received into the compass of his mind the treasures of contemporary culture, but who placed all knowledge and every element of intellectual power into the service of the body of Christ, the Church.”

Graebner, Theodore. The Pastor as Student and Literary Worker: Lectures Delivered at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Second, revised edition. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing House, 1925, p. 34-35.

Graebner holds up Saint Paul as “the ideal Christian scholar” because of the way he straddles two civilizations, two cultures, serving as a bridge of communication between them for the good of the Church – and thereby helping create a new civilization and culture.