Contemplative in the Mud

Knowledge – Love – Transformation in Christ

1–2 minutes

Benjamin Embley

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4 comments on Knowledge – Love – Transformation in Christ

Jacques Maritain

The doctrine of Saint Thomas… may be summarized in these words: charity, as it increases, transforms us in God, whom it attains immediately in Himself, and since this increasingly perfect spiritualization cannot be achieved without its repercussions in knowledge, because spirit is interior to itself, the Holy Spirit uses this very loving transformation in God, this supernatural connaturality, as the proper means to delectable and penetrating knowledge which, in turn, renders the love of charity as possessive and fruitful as is possible here below.
Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)

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Benjamin Embley

With backgrounds in engineering (BSc PhD) and philosophy (MA), Ben has lived and worked in England, France, and Thailand and is now back home as a settler in the unceded traditional territory of the Wabanaki peoples in Canada. He is a Laudato Si’ Animator and currently studying an MTS Peace & Justice in Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.

4 responses to “Knowledge – Love – Transformation in Christ”

  1. Sr. Dorcee Avatar
    Sr. Dorcee

    Have you read Raissa’s journals?

    Reply
    1. Ben (เบ็น) Avatar
      Ben (เบ็น)

      Yes, quite a while ago, though. I recently got my copy of her books back in hand and want to go back through them. =) What I remember is liking a lot of the comments of Raissa from the perspective of a contemplative in the world…

      Have you read them?

      Reply
      1. Sr. Dorcee Avatar
        Sr. Dorcee

        Yes, quite awhile ago as well. It was during a period in my life when I had much, much more time for prayer, and her journal really fed me. Glad you have them.

        Reply
        1. Ben (เบ็น) Avatar
          Ben (เบ็น)

          =)

          I think this is one of the quotes (looking back through what I’ve marked) that most struck me in the whole work:

          “Contemplation is like a pump that pulls up water and makes it pass into canals. If contemplation were to entirely cease, hearts would be soon dried up…

          “Love of neighbour, like the love of God, obliges the contemplative to remain close to the divine source… Contemplation must bear fruit for our neighbour, even if it should oftentimes dispense with exterior works. This fruit is the Savour of God that we come to know in loving every creature with a love of charity, in forgetting ourselves, to remember only God who is in all, who does not despise anything he has made, who suffers patiently our offences, who corrects us only in love. No defence of self. No discouragement above all. No abandoning of prayer.”

          =)

          Reply

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