Session II – Growth in Prayer Depth

Session II: Growth in Prayer Depth

1. Introduction
2. Meditation Follow-Up
   • Resources for further instruction on Christian meditation
     • St. Francis de Sales: “Introduction to the Devout Life,” second part. There is no better guide to this subject than what is given by St. Francis.
   • How does one begin the time dedicated to prayer?
     • “Place yourself in the presence of God and invoke His assistance” (De Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, p, 84).
       • St. Francis suggests four ways of doing this:
         • “The first consists of a lively, attentive realization of God’s absolute presence, that is, that God is in all things and all places” (Ibid., p. 84).
     • Having acknowledged the presence of God, “the soul prostrates itself before Him with the most profound reverence. It acknowledges that it is most unworthy to appear before such sovereign Majesty” (Ibid., p. 86).
       • “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘[O] God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified” (Lk 18:13-14).
     • Make a brief examination of conscience:
       • Speaking of the time assigned to private prayer Teresa writes:
         • “Let your prayer always begin and end with self-knowledge [i.e., an examen, per Fr. Dubay, Fire Within, p. 230).
     • Take on a spirit of repentance, as directed by the Gospel (the examination of conscience should lead to this):
       • “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mk 1:14-15).
         • That is, repent so that you can believe in the Gospel (Per Fr. Dubay, Palm Sunday retreat, 2004).
       • “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32).
   • How long, how often and when should I meditate?
     • “Set aside an hour every day before dinner [the noon meal], if possible early in the morning, when your mind is less distracted and fresher after the night’s rest. Don’t extend it for more than an hour unless your spiritual director expressly tells you to do so” (Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 82).
       • “He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread”’” (Lk 11:1-3).
       • “Many Scriptural passages, the example of the saints, and natural reason all strongly recommend to us the morning as the best and most profitable part of the day. Our Lord himself is named ‘the rising sun,’ and our Lady is called ‘the dawning of the day.’ Hence I think that it is prudent for us to go to rest early in the evening so we can awaken and get up early in the morning. Certainly it is the brightest, most pleasant and least troubled part of the day. The very birds invite us to awake and praise God so that early rising is helpful to both health and holiness” (Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, p. 187).
     • We must provide ample time for prayer as the Lord did:
       • “Rising early the next morning, he went off to a lonely place in the desert; there he was absorbed in prayer” (Mk 1:35).
       • “Then he went out to the mountain to pray, spending the night in communion with God” (Lk 6:12).
       • “He often retired to deserted places and prayed” (Lk 5:16).
   • A Healthy Fraction
     • Fr. Dubay: “If you feel you don’t have time to give even a healthy fraction of what the saints will do, then you must examine how you use the rest of your day. How much time do you spend with TV, how much time do you spend in chatter and so on, in recreations of diverse types. You will see that you have ample time for prayer” (Fr. Dubay, CVS)
     • For additional motivation, consider the case of Martha and Mary: “The Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her’” (Lk 10:41-42)
   • A Note on the Second Stage of Meditation
     • Affections (i.e., movements of the will toward God, not emotions) are the heart of meditation and the heart of prayer in general. Thus, priority should always be given to the affections.
       • Whenever an affection presents itself, even if in the stage of consideration or resolution, one should follow the lead of that affection. The entire purpose of the stage of consideration is to bring about the stage of affection.
     • The affections can be understood as the “forms of prayer” referred to in the Catechism as blessing and adoration, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise (CCC 2625 -2643).
     • If one thinks of these forms as “acts” of prayer, the acronym ACTS can be used to group them alternately as:
       • A – Adoration
       • C – Contrition
       • T – Thanksgiving
       • S – Supplication
3. The Universal Call
   • An Open Question in Recent Centuries
     • There has been a theological controversy in recent centuries regarding the question as to whether experience of the fullness of mystical prayer should be considered a normal development in the ordinary person’s spiritual life.
     • The controversy has produced comments like the following:
       • In an otherwise excellent biography of St. John Vianney, patron of parish priests, published in 1927, Francis Trochu writes:
         • “The sanctity that obtains the honors of canonization is not a universal vocation common to all Christians” (Fr. Francis Trochu, The Cure D’Ars, p. 437).
       • In an otherwise excellent book on the spiritual life published in 1930, Adolphe Tanquerry, a Sulpician priest, wrote the following:
         • “In almost every parish one finds chosen souls whom God calls to perfection” (Adolphe Tanquerey, The Spiritual Life, p. 20, 1930).
         • “We ask whether all souls in the state of grace are remotely and sufficiently called to [mystical prayer]. Once more we meet with two very different answers” (Ibid.. p. 731).
       • In a book on mental prayer, published in 1988, Bede Frost, a Benedictine monk, wrote the following:
         • “[Mystical prayer] is a pure gift of God, which the soul can do nothing to attain to and which is not bestowed, according to St. John [of the Cross], but to a few” (Bede Frost, The Art of Mental Prayer, p. 207, 1988).
     • The theory that lies behind these comments is that there are two “ways” in the spiritual life:
       • The first way is for the common man. It terminates in “acquired contemplation,” which is something humanly produced.
       • The second way is for the specially favored soul. It terminates in mystical prayer, which is something divinely produced.
   • Resolution of the Controversy
     • Regarding the “two ways” thesis itself, Fr. Dubay writes:
       • “Scripture knows nothing of two ways to God and two differing prayer paths, one for the many, the other for the few. Nor have I found in patristic and medieval literature anything suggesting the two-way theory of recent centuries” (Dubay, Fire Within, p. 199).
       • Consequently, it is a relatively recent innovation.
     • Not only is it a recent innovation, it is contrary to Scripture and human experience:
       • Fr. Dubay writes of this: “[The ‘two ways’ thesis] implies a two-tiered concept of sanctity itself. . . . [whereas, in fact] there is really no comparison between the holiness we can achieve by our active efforts (‘one way’) and the holiness given along with [mystical] prayer (‘another way’)” (Dubay, Fire Within, p. 200).
       • Hence, the two-way thesis contradicts the Great Commandment, for it proposes that we cannot attain the perfection of charity even though the Great Commandment calls us precisely to the perfection of charity.
         • “[Jesus] answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself’” (Lk 10:27).
     • The controversy was put to rest by the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium. In a chapter fittingly titled, The Universal Call to Holiness in the Church. We read there:
       • “In the Church, everyone whether belonging to the hierarchy, or being cared for by it, is called to holiness, according to the saying of the Apostle: ‘This is the will of God, your sanctification’” (Lumen Gentium, # 39; 1 Thes 4:3).
     • Later in the document the teaching is repeated:
       • “Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium, #40).
     • Commenting on these passages in Lumen Gentium Fr. Dubay writes:
       • “Today, no serious theologian doubts the universal call to holiness. . . . [Any doubts that formerly existed] have been laid to rest in . . . chapter 5 of Lumen Gentium” (Dubay, Fire Within, p. 199).
       • “Those who think that fullness of [mystical prayer] is meant to be confined to an elite few do not understand the contents of Sacred Scripture” (Dubay, Fire Within, p. 11).
   • A Lingering Doubt Resolved
     • Despite this teaching of the Council and Fr. Dubay, there could still be a doubt raised as to whether holiness means the holiness of canonized saints or something else. This doubt can be raised by the number of references to “saints” in the New Testament, especially considering that the word was used of people who were still alive. There are approximately fifty such references.
       • “I am going to Jerusalem with aid for the saints” (Rom 15:15).
     • Technically, anyone who is in the state of sanctifying grace is in a state of holiness. But the word “holiness,” as used in the context of Lumen Gentium, means something much more than that. It refers to the degree of holiness that is characteristic of canonized saints. Turning again to Fr. Dubay:
       • “As Vatican Council II reminded us so forcefully and persuasively, the gospel calls all of us to holiness, and holiness means saintliness, not something less” (Dubay, Saints: A Closer Look, p. 13).
   • Importance of the Question
     • Does the controversy matter? It certainly does to those who desire to follow the Gospel completely, and this for several reasons:
       • First, as noted above, the difference in virtue between one who has attained the heights of mystical prayer and one who has no experience of mystical prayer is dramatic.
       • Second, though Vatican II definitively resolved the controversy, you will still run into people who are not familiar with the definitive teaching of the Council. You cannot let those people dissuade you from thinking that you are called to the heights of holiness.
       • Third, advancement in the spiritual life is difficult enough without discouraging words from others, especially discouraging words that are simply mistaken.
         • “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1 DR).
4. The Saints and Heroic Sanctity
   • Canonization of Saints
     • The word “canon” means rule, so when the Church “canonizes” an individual , thus, declaring that person to be a saint, it is setting that person’s life before us as a “guide” or a “rule of life” for our own spiritual lives.
     • The reason for setting the saints before us as spiritual guides is because we find an extraordinary harmony among Revelation, the teaching of the Church and the moral lives of the saints.
     • This harmony is a profound witness to the authentic nature of the Church’s teaching, for the numerous good works of the saints are both repugnant to fallen human nature and beyond the capacity of unaided human nature to perform them.
     • Yet, in every culture and vocation throughout the Church’s history we see this same uniform witness among the saints. Such uniformity in thought and deed exists nowhere else. Fr. Dubay explains why this is so:
       • “The same Holy Spirit who inspired our Scriptures also enlightens those who love much, that they might understand this revelation correctly (Dubay, Saints: A Closer Look, p. 75). For this reason “they are the master exegetes” (Ibid., p. 77).
       • It follows that if you want to know what is at the heart of the Scriptures, read the lives of the saints.
   • Criteria for Canonization
     • The dominating characteristic of the saints taken as a whole is the unfailing practice of virtue to such a remarkable degree that it is called heroic virtue.
       • “The Church will not canonize a candidate unless all the virtues are present to a heroic degree” (Fr. Dubay, Saints: A Closer Look, p. 22).
     • What is heroic virtue? Fr. John Hardon, a saintly man himself, defines it like this:
       • “The performance of extraordinary virtuous actions with readiness and over a period of time. The moral virtues are exercised with ease, while faith, hope, and charity are practiced to an eminent degree” (Fr. John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, online).
     • To this definition, Fr. Dubay adds:
       • “Heroism in holiness [i.e., heroic sanctity] is itself a moral miracle, impossible to unaided human nature. This is apparent to anyone who knows well both himself . . . and heroic virtue” (Dubay, Seeking Spiritual Direction, p. 155; also p. 26).
       • One who is at this level of the spiritual life is free of mortal sin, venial sin and imperfections, as well as the disordered inclinations of the emotions.
         • “[Such a person] does not even ‘experience the first motions of sin’” and “the emotions . . . are well under the guidance of reason and thus lose their excessive and disordered tendencies” (Dubay, Fire Within, p. 183).
   • Examples of Heroic Virtue
     • “As a hard working layman, judge, soldier, husband, St. Nicholas von Flue fasted four days a week (and the whole of lent, of course) on a daily piece of bread or a few dried pears. His health did not suffer nor did his long hours of contemplative prayer. Later as a hermit Nicholas ate nothing for years on end. Agents of the civil government for an entire month kept strict watch to make sure he received no food. The local bishop tested the saint once by asking him what virtue was most meritorious. ‘When he replied obedience, he was bidden to eat a sop of bread soaked in blessed wine. He obeyed, but at the cost of such agonies that he was never again asked to eat anything’” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 101).
     • “St. Margaret Clitherow, a married English convert, was a beautiful woman, witty and cheerful. She fasted four days a week and spent an hour and a half in prayer each morning. She died a cheerful martyr in her thirties by being pressed to death for harboring priests and attending Mass” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 73).
     • “St. Hedwig, a married woman, wore a hairshirt and the same tunic and cloak winter and summer. She walked to church barefooted over ice and snow, and in case she met anyone on the way carried her shoes for possible use” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 101).
     • “In order to give to the poor [St. John Vianney] sold all personal property including furniture and linen. In his later years ‘he was paying the rent for at least thirty families’” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 66).
     • “St. Peter of Alcantara so restricted his diet that he is said to have lost the sense of taste, ‘for when vinegar and salt was (sic) thrown into a porringer of warm water, he took it for his usual bean soup’” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 82).
     • “[St. John the Baptist de la Salle] had naturally a very delicate palate [to overcome this weakness] he deliberately starved himself until hunger enabled him to swallow any food, however coarse or ill-prepared” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints, vol. II, 316).
     • “[St. Robert Bellarmine,] would not keep in his possession as trifling a thing as a holy picture or a blessed medal, except the one attached to his rosary beads” (Dubay, Happy Are You Poor, p. 77).
     • Along these same lines, once when I asked Fr. Dubay for a picture of himself for a retreat brochure, he sent me a small, old black and white photo taken in someone’s home and asked that I return it when finished with it because it was the only picture he had.
   • Glorious Lives from Humble Beginnings
     • Fr. Dubay writes: “Saints are a revolution, peaceful but mighty. Their lives are not merely improvements on Aristotelian, Platonic or contemporary moral systems. Their ways of thinking and acting are not simply somewhat loftier than those of other sincere men and women. Their moral beauty is vastly more splendid. Our saints not only surpass the exhortatory descriptions of other worldviews, secular or religious. They are moral miracles far beyond the capacities of human nature left to itself” (Fr. Dubay, Saints: A Closer Look, p. 1).
     • However, lest one get the mistaken idea that the saints start out holy, Fr. Dubay points out that “the saints – [with the exception of] Mary, the Mother of God – are as naturally weak as we are” in their “original equipment” as human beings. . . . “[they] were and are converted sinners. Some were converted from . . . mortal sins, while all had to give up at least venial sins in a[n ongoing and] deepening conversion” (Fr. Dubay, Saints: A Closer Look, p. 18).
     • We find a famous example of this in St. Augustine, whom we know as one of the four great Latin Fathers, and who is considered to be the greatest theologian of the Early Church. In this passage, Augustine is speaking to God:
       • “But I, miserable young man, supremely miserable even in the very outset of my youth, had entreated chastity of You, and said, Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet. For I was afraid lest You should hear me soon, and soon deliver me from the disease of concupiscence, which I desired to have satisfied rather than extinguished” (Confessions, Book 8, VII)
     • If those who have become saints were not born that way, then it should be clear that what we see in their lives is growth from weak beginnings to heroic virtue. Let’s take a closer look at this idea of growth.
5. Living Things Should Grow to Maturity
   • The Soul: A Living and Growing Thing
     • In the material world that surrounds us, there is a principle of growth for all living things. That is living things grow, and they grow to a state of maturity unless something impedes their growth.
       • When we see something that has not grown to maturity, we immediately conclude that something went wrong in the process of development.
     • What about spiritual things, in particular the human soul.
       • Because the soul is a spirit, it has no material characteristics. That is, it can’t be seen with the eyes for it has no size (this doesn’t simply mean the soul is small – it’s neither small nor large for it has no size).
       • It has no shape, color, taste, fragrance, or any other material characteristic. Clearly, growth of the soul could not consist of a change in physical attributes.
       • So, can the soul be a living thing, and, if so, can it grow?
     • To answer the first question, the soul is, in fact, the life principle of the body. If there were no life in the soul, there would be no life in the body. When the soul is separated from the body, the body becomes a corpse, while the soul continues to live either in heaven, purgatory or hell.
       • To better understand the soul as a life principle, compare it to a battery in an electric circuit that has a light bulb. The battery is analogous to the soul, and the circuit is analogous to the body.
       • As long as the battery (the “life” principle) is in the circuit, the circuit is energized and the light glows. When the battery is removed, the light goes out; the circuit is dead.
     • Because the soul is the life principle of the body, the soul must be a living thing, for that which is not living cannot give life to something else.
     • What about the second question: can the soul, a spirit, grow? If yes, in what manner does it grow?
   • Growth of the Soul: Sanity and Sanctity
     • If we consider the soul’s principle operations and the faculties responsible for those operations, we can see that the soul does indeed, have a mode of growth; in fact, it has two modes of growth.
     • The soul’s principle operations are knowing and loving, and the faculties responsible for those operations are the intellect, by which we know, and the will, by which we love.
       • As an aside, it is these two faculties that are most responsible for us being made in the image and likeness of God, for the Son proceeds from the Father by way of knowledge, an intellectual activity, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of love, a volitional activity (i.e., an activity of the will).
     • The task of the intellect is to know what is true; this we call sanity. The task of the will is to love the source of truth; this we call sanctity.
     • So we have two possible modes of growth for the soul; it can grow intellectually and it can grow volitionally (i.e., with respect to the will).
     • We need to note here that a difference between the growth of a material thing and the growth of a spiritual thing is that with material things, we see their growth directly. With the soul, we discern its growth by observing the effects of its growth.
     • Growth in the intellect occurs as we learn more things and are capable of greater degrees of reasoning and understanding. These effects of intellectual growth are easy to see over time.
     • Growth in the will occurs through practice of the virtues by which a person becomes more patient, humble, caring for others, etc. These effects are also easily seen over time, for the observer who knows what to look for. It’s not as obvious as one might think.
       • For example, Jesus was the most virtuous man who ever lived:
         • “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak’” (Mk 7:37).
       • Yet, the Jewish authorities charged Him with blasphemy and had Him crucified.
         • “You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death” (Mk 14:64).
       • Clearly, His own people were divided over Him. Many of them were unable to see His extraordinary virtue.
         • “So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him” (Jn 7:43-44).
       • As St. Therese of Lisieux was dying some the sisters in her Carmelite monastery asked what they could possibly write about her in the obituary. They didn’t realize they were living in the presence of a saint and a future Doctor of the Church.
       • Once in the convent where St. Bernadette (of Lourdes fame) resided, Bernadette was standing next to another sister when a third sister came up and spoke to the sister standing next to Bernadette. She said she heard that the person who received the visions at Lourdes was one of the sisters in the convent. The sister standing next to Bernadette replied by pointing at Bernadette with a nod. In disbelief, the sister who approached the two responded to the gesture: “That!”
     • The Gospel’s interest in the soul’s growth revolves around the soul’s relationship with God, in which intellectual growth corresponds primarily to growth in the theological virtue of faith and volitional growth corresponds primarily to growth in the theological virtues of hope and charity.
   • The Sower: A Paradigm of Growth
     • This series of lectures will be continued next week with “The Sower: A Paradigm of Growth,” which will take us to the topic: “The Gospel’s Vision of Maturity in the Spiritual Life.”