Christian contemplation thrown into the muddy highways of the world : encouragement : experiences : resources
On social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X) this past week, the quotes are not exactly from the usual suspects (though they are not unusual around here either), and after an initial exhortation for last week’s Sunday of the Word of God, the overall focus is the efficacy of contemplation for our active life: Every little word Christ …
Continue reading “More Active Life with Contemplation than Without (Quotes Vol. 25)”
This blog has been going for five years now. Hopefully in that time I’ve learned how to write better. (Some of the first posts are dreadful in terms of style.) In that time, I’ve met many people thanks to this blog, and I’m very glad for that. It is important to “go to heaven together …
Crosses are needed to procure the salvation of the world. Louis Lallemant SJ
As our Lord redeemed the world only by His cross, so, too, evangelical labourers apply the grace of the redemption only by their crosses and the persecutions which they suffer. Great returns should not be expected without encountering and enduring obstacles, calumnies, insults, sufferings. Louis Lallemant SJ
As time goes on, the way will gradually be rendered less rough, and the difficulties will be smoothed away, because the purer our hearts become, the more abundantly we shall receive graces. Louis Lallemant SJ (1578–1635)
When we enter on the path of virtue, we walk at first in darkness, but if we faithfully and constantly followed grace, we would infallibly reach great light both for ourselves and for others. Louis Lallemant SJ (1578–1635)
What is the traditional Catholic doctrine regarding action and contemplation? There are many sources we could go to, and this blog has a long list of posts tagged action and contemplation. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that it is a somewhat substantial and varied archive of the subject matter. The gist, if one may find a …
Continue reading “The Traditional Catholic Doctrine about Action and Contemplation”
What is essential to contemplation and what is just sometimes, but not necessarily, associated with it? Louis Lallemant SJ explains: The degrees of contemplation, according to some are, first, recollection of all the powers of the mind; secondly, semi-rapture; thirdly, complete rapture; fourthly, ecstasy But this division expresses not so much the essence of contemplation as its …
By meditation, the soul walks afoot with labour; by contemplation, it flies without trouble. Thus Saint Teresa said, that when God had admitted her to this sort of prayer, her difficulties ceased at once, and she experienced a powerful attraction towards acts of all virtues, attended with a marvellous relish and sweetness. Louis Lallemant SJ (1578–1635)
Contemplation opens a new world to the soul, with the beauty of which it is enraptured… Contemplation leads souls to heroic acts of charity, zeal, penance, and other virtues, as, for example, martyrdom. Louis Lallemant SJ (1578–1635)
Contemplative in the Mud 