The Mirror of the Eucharist - Homily. Fr. Raymond

Catmint border, 7 Trees in Memorial Grove of Atlas Martys  

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Raymond J. . .>
To: . . .> 
Sent: Sunday, 5 August 2012, 18:34
Subject: The Mirror of the Eucharist

The Mirror of the Eucharist - Sun 18 B 

• The Eucharist is, of course the most precious jewel among the gifts of our faith. But there are many facets to that precious jewel. It is the GREATEST of the Sacraments; it is the most WONDERFUL of the sacraments; It is the most POWERFUL, of the sacraments; It is the most BEAUTIFUL and INSPIRING of the sacraments, and it is so many other things for us.  It sums up the whole meaning of God’s relations with his children.  It is bursting with the promise of an unspeakable destiny of communion with God for us.
• But today we would do well to concentrate on another quite different aspect of the Eucharist; one that’s brought to our attention in today’s first reading. This aspect can hardly be described under any of these terms.  It is neither wonderful nor beautiful nor loving nor inspiring.  The only word to describe it is perhaps – “challenging”.  I don’t mean challenging in the sense that it challenges our faith; although it certainly does that!  From the very first mention Jesus made of eating his flesh and drinking his blood it has been a challenge to our faith.  But there is another way in which it challenges us who do believe in it still further. I mean the challenge we read about in the Book of Exodus. Today’s first reading is about the gift of the Manna in the desert foreshadowing the gift of the Eucharist in the life of the Church ever after.  We read there that when God gave Moses this gift he said that it was given, not so much to feed them as to test them; to test whether it would induce them to follow his Laws.  Now this character of a “Test” is still very much an important aspect of the role of the Eucharist in our lives.  God has given us this unspeakable gift!  Yes, we believe in it!  But do we appreciate it? Do we partake of it?  Do we live by it?  Or do we neglect it?  The Eucharist is a kind of Mirror of our souls.  Jesus looks into that mirror, and he longs and hopes to see the frequent reflection of our faces there.  The original Manna was given to test whether the children of the O.T. would follow the Old Commandments.  The New Manna of the Eucharist is given to test whether we, the Children of the New Testament, will follow the New Commandment To love him as he has loved us.
• Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you cannot have life in you

COMMENT: SAINT JOHN MARY VIANNEY Priest (1786-1859)

HE AND i
August 3 - After communion (absent-minded)
   "I'm here" (In a tone of gentle reproach). [Gabrielle Bossis]


The sense of presence in the Lord in the pages of "HE AND i" is to be encountered in the  Cure d'Ars.
In the communion of souls of special prayer we recognize St. John Mary Vianney who has turned as to St. Francis and St. Collette
And I ask, why St. Collette?
The answer is found in the words. "How I love those noble souls.

Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Collette saw Our Lord and spoke to him as we speak to one another."

The translation is clarified by the Capuchin Friars Website.

http://www.capuchinfriars.org.au/saints/curedears.shtml

St. John Mary Vianney as a member of the Secular Franciscan Order had a great appreciation of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Collette, a reformer of the Poor Clares. This is evident in the instruction on prayer, which follows:

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An Instruction on Prayer  

by St. John Mary Vianney. 

• Consider, children, a Christian's treasure is not on earth, it is in heaven.
• Well then, our thoughts should turn to where our treasure is. 
• Man has a noble task: that o prayer and love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man on earth.
• Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvellous light.
• In this intimate union, God and the soul are like two pieces of wax moulded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature; happiness passing all understanding.
• We had deserved to be left incapable of praying; but God in his goodness has permitted us to speak to him. Our prayer is an incense that is delightful to God.
• My children, your hearts are small, but prayer enlarges them and renders them capable of loving God.
• Prayer is a foretaste of heaven, an overflowing of heaven. It never leaves us without sweetness; it is like honey, it descends into the soul and sweetens everything.
• In a prayer well made, troubles vanish like snow under the rays of the sun.
• Prayer makes time seem to pass quickly, and so pleasantly that one fails to notice how long it is.
• When I was parish priest of Bresse, once, almost all my colleagues were ill, and as I made the long journeys I used to pray to God, and, I assure you, the time did not seem long to me.
• There are those who lose themselves in prayer, like fish in water, because they are absorbed in God. There is no division in their hearts. How I love those noble souls.
• Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Collette saw Our Lord and spoke to him as we speak to one another.
• As for ourselves, how often do we come to church with out thinking what we are doing or for what we are going to ask.
• And yet, when we go to call on someone, we have no difficulty in remembering why it was we came. Some appear as if they were about to say to God: "I am just going to say a couple of words, so I can get away quickly."
• I often think that when we come to adore our Lord we should get all we ask if we asked for it with a lively faith and a pure heart.

COMMENT: Community Refectory and Da Vinci's Last Supper

Dear William,
Thank you for the thoughts.
The minds of the monks may not have been on the Last Supper at
this hour of 12 o'clock above.
Lots of chuckles at your insight.
Yours.
Donald

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W. . .
Sent: Saturday, 4 August 2012, 13:52
Subject: Re: [Blog] Pastoral Visit photograph

Dear Father Donald,

I cannot help being struck by the similarity of the presentation of the Community in the photograph on your Blog with that of Leonardi Da Vinci's Last Supper:

six disciples either side of centre, meal prepared, with even the stools giving the effect of the trestle table!

I have an alabaster model of the Da Vinci and thus look upon it each day. I shall similarly treasure this photograph!

(Forgive me...)

William

Nunraw Commuinity - Festive Meal for Abbot General on Pastoral Visit 1-4 August 2012

Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest

Atlas Rock - Traprain Law

Universalis.org Saturday 4 August 2012   
Saint John Mary Vianney, Priest
 (Saturday of week 17 of the year) 

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Reading	A Catechisn on prayer, by St John Mary Vianney

The noble task of man, to pray and to love

Consider, children, a Christian’s treasure is not on earth, it is in heaven. Well then, our thoughts should turn to where our treasure is.

  Man has a noble task: that of prayer and love. To pray and to love, that is the happiness of man on earth.

  Prayer is nothing else than union with God. When the heart is pure and united with God it is consoled and filled with sweetness; it is dazzled by a marvellous light. In this intimate union God and the soul are like two pieces of wax moulded into one; they cannot any more be separated. It is a very wonderful thing, this union of God with his insignificant creature, a happiness passing all understanding.

  We had deserved to be left incapable of praying; but God in his goodness has permitted us to speak to him. Our prayer is an incense that is delightful to God.

  My children, your hearts are small, but prayer enlarges them and renders them capable of loving God. Prayer is a foretaste of heaven, an overflowing of heaven. It never leaves us without sweetness; it is like honey, it descends into the soul and sweetens everything. In a prayer well made, troubles vanish like snow under the rays of the sun.

  Prayer makes time seem to pass quickly, and so pleasantly that one fails to notice how long it is. When I was parish priest of Bresse, once almost all my colleagues were ill, and as I made long journeys I used to pray to God, and, I assure you, the time did not seem long to me. There are those who lose themselves in prayer, like a fish in water, because they are absorbed in God. There is no division in their hearts. How I love those noble souls! Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Colette saw our Lord and spoke to him as we speak to one another.

  As for ourselves, how often do we come to church without thinking what we are going to do or for what we are going to ask.

  And yet, when we go to call upon someone, we have no difficulty in remembering why it was we came. Some appear as if they were about to say to God: ‘I am just going to say a couple of words, so I can get away quickly.’ I often think that when we come to adore our Lord we should get all we ask if we asked for it with a lively faith and a pure heart.

Responsory

Our troubles are slight and short-lived, and their outcome: an eternal glory which far outweighs our distress.

Things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, things beyond our imagining — all these have been prepared by God for those who love him: an eternal glory which far outweighs our distress.

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Let us pray.

Almighty and merciful God,

  by your grace Saint John Mary Vianney

  was remarkable for his zeal as priest and pastor.

Help us by his example and prayers

  to win our brethren for Christ by love,

  and to share with them in eternal glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

  one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Melrose Abbot - Saint Waldef

Melrose+Waldef.jpg

nunraw.blogspot.com

From: ICN

Saint of the day: 3rd August

Saint Waldef

Cistercian abbot. Of noble birth, St Waldef was born in 1100 and grew up in the Scottish court. He could have become a court cleric, but chose the monastic life, becoming an Austin canon at Nostell in Yorkshire.  In 1134, he became prior of Kirkham. In 1140 he was a favourite to become Archbishop of York but King Stephen prevented this because he felt he would be too sympathetic to Scotland.

St Waldef wanted to bring the Cistercians at Rievaulx and the Austins at Kirkham together, but the canons objected strongly. In 1149 he became abbot of Melrose, taking over from someone who had a notorious temper. St Waldef developed a reputation for great kindness, gentleness and humility.  He went on to found monasteries at Cultram and Kinross. In 1159 he was asked to be bishop of St Andrews but he refused as he knew death was near.

St Waldef was never formally canonised but a popular cult grew around him until the Reformation. During his life, many wonders were said to have taken place including visions at Christmas and Easter and miracles of multiplying food.  

PREVIOUS POST:
http://nunraw.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/st-waldef-abbot-melrose-3rd-august.html 

Abbot General OCSO Pastoral Visit at Nunraw Abbey

ABBAS GENERALIS

Dom Eamon Fitzgerald

Abbas Generalis 2008

Natus 1945

Abbas Mount Melleray 1989

Abbot General Eamon, Abbot Mark
Pastoral Visit 1-4 August 2012

Dom Raymond, Abbot General Eamon, Abbot Mark
Fr. Stephen, Br. Kentigern

Nunraw Commuinity - Festive Meal for Abbot General on Pastoral Visit 1-4 August 2012

Abbot General Eamon introduced the celebrattion of the Community Mass.

Friday, 03 August 2012

Friday of the Seventeenth week in Ordinary Time

Book of Jeremiah 26:1-9.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this message came from the LORD: . . .
 And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the LORD. 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 13:54-58.

He came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. . . .
 But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house."
And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.

The Monks wary of the conventional practices, was the theme taken up by the Abbot  General. 

  

"WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST" by Timothy O'Donnell from Christendom College, Virginia

50th International Eucharistic Congress,   

10-17 June 2012, Dublin, Ireland

THE SACRED HEART AND MARY’S UNIQUE ROLE AS

“WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST”

Dr. Timothy O’Donnell

COMMENT:
Sr. Noreen gave us a first hand impression of the Dublin Eucharistic Congress.
Among the wealth of addresses and workshops, she especially tool to heart the ever resonating "WOMAN OF THE EUCHARIST" by Timothy O'Donnell from Christendom College, Virginia.
The PDF documents are regretfully something of a  hurdle, but not be deterred . We could hope for a Kindle book format. Noreen's enthusiasm on Timothy O'Donnell'address and John Paul II's two documents prompts me imbibe the Spirit. See after ... this much editing and highlighting will take time - present pause.

Dr. Timothy O'Donnell Addresses International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin

Timothy O'Donnell

Christendom College President Dr. Timothy O'Donnell delivered three talks at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress held June 10-17 in Dublin, Ireland. O'Donnell spoke to priests and laity alike on the relevance of the Eucharist to the priesthood, the life of Mary, and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Eucharistic Congress, which was presided over by Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, attracted over 70,000 people."There were people from France, India, the Philippines, South America—from all over," O'Donnell said. "It truly was international."
Participants at the Congress heard from theologians, religious, priests, bishops, and cardinals from across the globe on topics relating to the theme of 2012 Congress, "Communion with Christ and with one another." Even Pope Benedict the XVI addressed the attendees via television broadcast. O'Donnell said that being a part of the congress was an incredible experience were he witnessed "a vibrant living Church."
"I saw how the Eucharist draws us together," he said. "I think everyone who participated experienced the Church's universality and came closer to the Heart of Christ."

O'Donnell's second lecture examined Mary's unique role as, what Blessed John Paul II called, the "Woman of the Eucharist." He explained that Mary was constantly devoted to the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus, which is exactly what the Eucharist is.

"Mary conceives through the Holy Spirit, and at Mass, the Sacrament is confected through the same agent, the Holy Spirit," he said. "As Mary kneels before the Angel in awe and pronounces her fiat, she becomes at that moment a living tabernacle, holding the Creator of the universe within… So Mary, having received our Lord into her body, 'goes in haste' to bring Him to others. It was the first Eucharistic procession."

COMMENT; Saint Alphonus Ligouri 1st August Visit Blessed Sacrament

Motto	Copiosa apud eum redemptio (With him is Plentiful Redemption)

Copiosa apud eum redemptio (With him is Plentiful Redemption)

COMMENT

The Night Office Second Reading was an attractive presentation of Saint Alphonsus C.Ss.R, Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer,

SAINT OF THE DAY Leonard Foley, OFM.

Unfortunately, for the first time, we have encountered detection of malware.
No doubt, Franciscan Media Website will restore the excellent service. 

AUGUST 1 Alphonsus Liguori

Bishop and Doctor (1696-1787)

MEMORIAL

Moral theology, Vatican Il said, should be more thoroughly nourished by Scripture, and show the nobility of the Christian vocation of the faithful and their obligation to bring forth fruit in charity for the life of the world. Alphonsus, declared patron of moral theologians by Pius XII in 1950, would rejoice in that statement. In his day, he fought for the liberation of moral theology from the rigidity of Jansenism. His moral theology, which went through 60 editions in the century following him, concentrated on the practical and concrete problems of pastors and confessors. If a certain legalism and minimalism crept into moral theology, it should not be attributed to this model of moderation and gentleness.

At the University of Naples he received, at the age of 16, a doctorate in both canon and civil law by acclamation, but soon gave up the practice of law for apostolic activity. He was ordained priest and concentrated his pastoral efforts on popular (parish) missions, hearing confessions, forming Christian groups.

He founded the Redemptorist congregation in 1732. It was an association of priests and brothers living a common life, dedicated to the imitation of Christ, and working mainly in popular missions for peasants in rural areas. Almost as an omen of what was to come later, he found himself deserted, after a while, by all his original companions except one lay brother. But the congregation managed to survive and was formally approved 17 years later, though its troubles were not over.

Alphonsus' great pastoral reforms were in the pulpit and confessional-replacing the pompous oratory of the time with simplicity, and the rigourism of Jansenism with kindness. His great fame as a writer has somewhat eclipsed the fact that for 26 years he travelled up and down the kingdom of Naples preaching popular missions.

He was made bishop (after trying to reject the honour) at 66 and at once instituted a thorough reform of the diocese.

His greatest sorrow came at the end of his life. The Redernptorists, precariously continuing after the suppression of the Jesuits, had difficulty in getting their rule approved by the Kingdom of Naples. Alphonsus acceded to the condition that they possess no property in common, but a royal official, with the connivance of a high Redemptorist official, changed the rule substantially. Alphonsus, old, crippled and with very bad sight, signed the document, unaware that he had been betrayed. The Redemptorists in the Papal States then put themselves under the pope, who withdrew those in Naples from the jurisdiction of Alphonsus. It was only after his death that the branches were united.

At 71 he was afflicted with rheumatic pains which left incurable bending of his neck; until it was straightened a little, the pressure of his chin caused a raw wound on his chest. He suffered a final 18 months of "dark night" scruples, fears, temptations against every article of faith and every virtue, interspersed with intervals of light and relief, when ecstasies were frequent.

Alphonsus is best known for his moral theology, but he also wrote well in the field of spiritual and dogmatic theology. His Glories of Mary is one of the great works on that subject, and his book Visits to the Blessed Sacrament went through 40 editions in his lifetime, greatly influencing the practice of this devotion in

the Church.

QUOTE:

Someone once remarked, after a sermon by Alphonsus, “It is a pleasure to listen to your sermons; you forget yourself and preach Jesus Christ.”

SAINT OF THE DAY

Leonard Foley, OFM.

Saint Alphonus Ligouri 1st August Visit Blessed Sacrament

Wednesday, 01 August 2012 St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop and Doctor of the Church (1696-1787)

Saint Alphonus Ligouri
*Many of the quotations are from St. Alphonsus Liguori's books The Holy Eucharist and Visits to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

http://www.acfp2000.com/Saints/St_Alphonsus_Liguori/St_Alphonsus_Liguori.html

Photo Attribution: Andreas F. Borchert (Creative Commons Attribution-Share license)

Photo: Carlow Cathedral, Ireland. Bottom of a right stained glass window, depicting St Alphonsus kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament.

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St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor, Italy (1696-1787) Patron of Arthritis Sufferers—Feast day, August 1 "Outstanding among the forms of prayer fervently recommended by St. Alphonsus is the visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament or, as we would say today, adoration--brief or prolonged, personal or in community--of the Eucharist. 'Certainly,' wrote Alphonsus, 'among all the devotions this one of adoration of the sacramental Jesus is the first after the sacraments, the dearest to God and the most useful to us. O, what a beautiful delight to be before an altar with faith and to present to him our needs, as a friend does to another friend with whom one has full confidence!'" (Pope Benedict XVI, March 30, 2011, General Audience) St. Alphonsus Eucharistic Quotes:                               "Nowhere have holy souls made more admirable resolutions than here at the feet of their hidden God. Out of gratitude to my Jesus, veiled in this great Sacrament, I must declare that it was through this devotion, visiting Him in the tabernacles, that I withdrew from the world where, to my misfortune, I had lived until the age of twenty-six. Happy will you be if you can separate yourself from it earlier than I did and give yourself wholly to that Lord who has given Himself wholly to you." “Suppose that our Lord, Jesus Christ, would be present in only one church in the whole world . . . . What a beautiful tabernacle would be built! What lighting would be placed there! With what immense respect would respond all who succeeded to get close! Well, Jesus is now in every Catholic Church where there are consecrated hosts!” "To souls enamored of God, hours spent before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament appear moments." "This (Blessed) Sacrament above all inflames the soul with divine love. 'God is love' (1Jn.IV,8). And He is the fire which consumes in our hearts all earthly affections: 'The Lord thy God is a consuming fire' (Dt.IV,24). Now the Son of God came precisely to kindle this fire of love: 'I am come to cast fire in the earth'; and He added that He did not desire other that to see ignited this holy fire in our hearts: 'and what will I, but that it be kindled?' (Lk.XII,49). And oh what flames of divine love Jesus Christ ignites in each one who devoutly receives Him in this Sacrament! "Certainly amongst all devotions, after that of receiving the sacraments, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament holds the first place, is the most pleasing to God, and the most useful to ourselves. Do not then, O devout soul, refuse to begin this devotion; and forsaking the conversation of men, dwell each day, from this time forward, for at least half or quarter of an hour, in some church, in the presence of Jesus Christ under the sacramental species. Taste and see how sweet is the Lord." "My Jesus, what a lovable invention this Holy Sacrament is that You would hide under the appearance of bread to make Yourself loved and to be available for visits by anyone who desires You."

NEWS

Abbaye Notre Dame

de Sept-Fonts

Dear Brian,

Thanks for your Facebook.

And of course, we were delighted by your Post Card that you and Mary Pat sent on your cycling trip France.

Yours ....

fr. Donald
Blogspot :http://www.domdonald.org.uk/

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Facebook . . .
To: Donald  . . .
Sent: Tuesday, 31 July 2012, 19:21
Subject: Brian . . .  posted on your Wall

facebook Brian Mc. . .    posted on your Wall "stayed at Sept Fons abbey whilst cycling in France. Hadnt been since I was 19 - over 40 years ago. Beautifully modernised. Largest monastery in the world with nearly 90 monks. Strange to see nearly 80 monks at Terce and the other little hours!!!!! . . .A Czech novice looked after us when we were there and said that when they are professed they have a choice of staying or going to the Czech Republic. Its always been a very strict house with communal reading etc and only one visit per year. We met a couple from Belgium who had a son in the community. We thought he was a novice but 20 years ago he visited and stayed!! His mum is an atheist and found his decision difficult. Really enjoyed the visit and the guest house food was great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Great singing. Good cycling country - covered a lot of miles. Mary Pat

Portiuncula in St. Mary of the Angels

Portiuncula Assisi

Portiuncula in St. Mary of the Angels

http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/archive/resources/stf_portiuncula%20indulgence.htm

Attain the plenary indulgence of the forgiveness of Assisi in honour of Our Lady of the Angels anytime during the 24 hours between Vespers on August 1 through August 2. This indulgence was obtained by St. Francis of Assisi himself from Jesus and approved by Pope Honorius III in the 13th century.

In his 1967 release “Indulgentiarum Doctrina,”Pope Paul VI completely reformed the norms and grants of indulgences, and the Portiuncula Indulgence was again confirmed at that time. The requirements for this indulgence include a devout visit to any Catholic church, chapel, or oratory; recitation of the Apostles Creed, an Our Father, Hail Mary, & Glory Be for the Holy Father's intentions; reception of Holy Communion; and the Sacrament of Reconciliation within 8 days.

The Portiuncula Indulgence...  

    dailywriting.net

Interior of thePortiuncula Chapel.

COMMENT Eckhart 'Paradox versus Dialectics'

The sheep that belong to me
listen to my voice,
there will be only one flock
and one shepherd.

Shepherd House Lammermuir Hills -
a drive for family visitors.

Dear William,

A great challenge, thank you!
You have primed hosing down library shelves. I am thrilled to find the massive resources on Meister Eckhart - not least half a dozen Issues of the Oxford Eckhart Review 1999-2004.

But we do not have @The Rhineland Mystics' and so delighted by your enlightening Email, so Posted on Blog.  

Yours 

fr. Donald   

PS. COMMENT of further "Paradox versus Dialectics" refernces. D.  

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William W- - -
To: Donald - - -
Sent: Sunday, 29 July 2012, 0:10
Subject: Re: [Blog] Meister Eckhart's 'paradox style'

Dear Father Donald,

 Thank you! ....

 You know my fascination with seeking to 'uncover' Eckhart's mysticism for myself! Just very recently I have been reading a book 'The Rhineland Mystics', by Oliver Davies, and in his introduction, he summarises the 'style' of Eckhart so very succinctly - it seems rather long as I type it out in order to delight in sharing it with you, but it is gripping stuff:

 

Meister Eckhart's entire system ... can be summed up as the attempt to expound in terms of an advanced metaphysics the profoundly God-centred experience of the highest mystical union. Eckhart is, and never ceases to be, a mystical theologian... Whereas other famous mystics proclaim their 'nothingness' in the face of the Creator, Meister Eckhart constucts an entire ontology, or philosophy of Being, around the principle that all that exists lacks substantial essence: 'God alone truly exists' and the creature is 'pure nothingness'. A second element emerges at this stage, which is also a result of his experiential grounding: the dynamic character of his thinking.This leads to apparent inconsistencies which, in reality, are simply the deepening of his thought, its gathering momentum, as Eckhart's mind penetrates further into the realities he is exploring.

 

Oliver Davies continues with a fine analysis:

 

Thus the original starting point for his ontology was the view that we possess Being whereas God is Being. From this, as we have seen, he progressed to the view that only God truly exists, and the final stage is reached when Eckhart defines God as puritas essendi, the 'purity' or 'essence' of Being. If God is the cause of Being, Eckhart argues, then he cannot be Being itself; rather he must transcend Being. And so the true nature of God finally becomes intelligere ('to think', 'to know', or 'to understand'), for understanding or knowledge, with the unity that this implies, is the ultimate primacy.The nature of God then for Eckhart is rationality in the sense of self-understanding and self-knowing...

 

His analysis then becomes an explanation:

 

 But what of man, made in God's image? If the nature of God is rationality, then rationality, too, is our own essential nature, since we were created in his image. And this is what Eckhart believes. Our rational nature is not only God-given; it is an immediate reflection of the Divine Nature itself. It participates mysteriously and essentially in the self-reflexive activity of the Godhead. Of course, when Eckhart speaks of 'intellect', he does not mean that faculty which allows us to work out sums or read difficult books; he means rather our own self-reflexive nature as conscious beings, our capacity to understand, to be aware: consciousness itself.

 

Oliver Davies takes us further into Eckhart's system:

 

The root, or source, of that consciousness Eckhart calls the 'ground of the soul', and it is to that innermost space that we must retreat from the world and its images. There human consciousness transcends itself and participates directly in the activity of the Divine Intellect, a unitive process which Eckhart calls the 'the birth of God in the soul'. This potentiality for self-transcendence and union with the Divine Mind which resides within human consciousness Eckhart calls the 'spark of the soul', and it becomes the point of orientation for the spiritual journey which is both a journey within, into our innermost essence, and a journey into the Other, who is God.The manner of this journey in terms of our daily living is 'detachment'. By this Eckhart means a self-freeing from all that is created, not only from the appetites which bind us to created things, but also from the images of created things, as we approach the point of our own self-transcendence where the world, our created and temporal selves fall away to reveal our own bare essence, united to and unified with the Divine essence to the point of its virtual extinction.

 

Oliver Davies hints at the difficulties such a system might have created: "While Eckhart's belief in the immediacy of our union with God is one of his most attractive features as a mystical theologian, the immense weight which he lays upon the absorption of the self into God in the unitive experience was one major reason for the difficulties he experienced with the Church authorities, Christian orthodoxy requiring that a distinction always be preserved between the Creator and the created, even within the context of mystical union".

When I first read this sleep-dispelling explanation, I could only nod at my reflection in the dark window pane but as dawn broke, I began very gadually to be able to see through the glass, albeit darkly! This synopsis is helping me to draw a circle of understanding with the two points of paradox of Eckhart's compass.

 

With my love in Our Lord,

William

 

 COMMENT from Donald     

Excerpt from: http://www.reviewsinculture.com/index.php

The Meaning of Christ and the Meaning of Hegel: Slavoj Žižek and John Milbank’s (A)symmetrical Response to Capitalist Nihilism

by MITCHELL M. HARRIS

 November 15, 2011

... John Milbank’s response to Žižek, “The Double Glory, or Paradox Versus Dialectics: On Not Quite Agreeing with Slavoj Žižek,” directly addresses what he determines to be one of the key components (and flaws) of Žižek’s materialist theology. “My case is that there is a different, latent Žižek,” he argues, “a Žižek who does not see Chesterton as sub-Hegel, but Hegel as sub-Chesterton. A Žižek therefore who has remained with paradox, or rather moved back into paradox from dialectic” (113). Such a Žižek, he claims, would be “able fully to endorse a transcendent God” (113). In order to make this case, however, Milbank necessarily must reject the metanarrative that Žižek embraces regarding the inevitable and undeniable movement of Christianity from Orthodoxy to Catholicism to (ultimately) Protestantism. In rejecting this metanarrative, Milbank realizes the possibility of another modernity that would “persist with the alternative dynamism of paradox and not pass over into the hypocritical sterility of dialectics” (116). ...

. . . For example, at one point, Milbank suggests that Kierkegaard, like Meister Eckhart and G. K. Chesterton (the theologians Žižek most frequently cites in the first chapter), was “radically orthodox” in that he tended to highlight the “aporetic features” of the overall logic of Christian belief “and come to terms with” those features “by suggesting that this overall logic is a paradoxical logic” (177). While the line of reasoning is intelligible in its own right, there can be no doubt that comparing Kierkegaard to Eckhart and Chesterton would give pause even to some of the most conservative theologians and philosophers who, like Milbank, would openly reject altogether Žižek’s metanarrative that sees Hegel as the telos of the Orthodox-Catholic-Protestant trajectory. In short, it is hard to believe that Kierkegaard finds equal company amongst Eckhart and Chesterton. Moreover, Milbank’s reading of Eckhart pushes Western Catholicism to its farthest ends. Yes, one can claim that in Eckhart one finds something that is characteristically Thomistic in nature, but the consistent apologies Milbank must make in aligning Eckhart with Aquinas seems to reveal a special sort of pleading that draws attention to itself.

Despite these criticisms of Milbank’s efforts to call Žižek back to the land of paradox, it is undeniable that Milbank probes, challenges, and provokes Žižek’s “materialist theology” in ways that have not been accomplished before. This is to say that in Milbank, Žižek has clearly met his intellectual match. Nowhere is this more discernable than in Žižek’s response to Milbank, “Dialectical Clarity Versus the Misty Conceit of Paradox.” Here one must note the asymmetry of the collection: Žižek is given the benefit of the last word. And one is tempted to suggest that the asymmetry is unfair. Žižek is given ample opportunity to rebut Milbank, but, here, the asymmetry breaks down. Despite the opportunity for rebuttal, we realize that Žižek is merely shadowboxing, which, in a way, proves Davis’s point that the Žižek/Milbank debate might just be the only debate truly capable of moving beyond the deadlock that prevents the discursive intercourse of rationalism and fideism (7). For after Žižek outlines his points of rebuttal, he quickly leaves them behind, turning instead to a matter “more dark and awful,” quoting Chesterton. Here, Žižek reveals that his philosophical and theological opponent(s) is not Milbank, but rather figures like Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, John Caputo, and Gianni Vattimo. Perhaps no statement is more telling of this true opposition than one he makes while discussing Caputo’s On Religion. “Caputo professes his love for Kierkegaard—but where here,” he asks, “is the central insight of Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments, his insistence on the central paradox of Christianity: eternity is accessible only through time, through the belief in Christ’s Incarnation as a temporal event?” (258; my emphasis). ...

QUOTE
If you pray ONE 'Holy Mary' in the true spirit,
you may say a hundred Psalters to little avail.
Meister Eckhart - remember from Browse