Be not earthly minded - final

Prayer

"O my God, a fatal experience gives me more than sufficiently to understand that my soul is too feeble to break all the chains which attach it to the earth, to creatures, to the body, and to itself. Thou alone by Thy grace canst operate wonders so far above nature. Thou alone canst change me from an exterior and sensual, into an interior and spiritual man; Thou alone canst pour down on the objects I love, a salutary bitterness, in order to detach me from them; Thou alone canst make me adhere entirely to Thee, by making me see and relish how sweet Thou art to such as fear, and still more to such as love Thee. Grant me this favour, O my Lord and my God, and I will quietly wait in profound peace for that most happy moment, which will unite and attach me entirely to Thee for all eternity. Amen+"

Be not earthly minded IV

Practical Reflections

"To enjoy both the favours and graces of God, we must separate from creatures by a volunatary retreat; we must separate both with heart and mind by a perfect detachment from them; we must renounce ourselves, and make it our time with God in the spiritual exercizes of meditation and prayer. We advance in an interior and spiritual life, in proportion as we are detached from exterior and sensible things. As self-love is the principal of all our attachments, we must of necessity apply the axe to its root. When once we have conquered this vice of self-love, we shall easily destroy all the rest. Such are the salutary advices of our pious author; let us avail ourselves of them, and put them in practice."

Be not earthly minded III

"If thou longest to climb this eminence, thou must begin manfully, and lay the axe to the root, in order to pluck out and destroy secret and inordinate inclinations to thyself and to every private and material good.

From this vice, that man loveth self too inordinately, depends almost all, whatsoever must he radically overcome; which being vanquished and brought under, a great peace and tranquility will immediately ensue. But because few labour to die perfectly to themselves, or fully to come out of themselves, therefore do they remain entangled in themselves, nor can they be elevated in spirit above themselves.

But whoever desireth to walk freely with Me, it is necessary tha the mortify all his perverse and inordinate affections, and not cleave with particular love or concupiscence to anything created."

Be not earthly minded II

"Esteem the whole world as nothing; prefer attendance on God before all external occupations. For thou canst not both attend to Me and at the same time delight thyself in transitory things. Thou must be sequestered from thy acquaintance and from thy dearest friends, and keep thy mind disengaged from all temporal consolation.

So the blessed Apostle Peter beseeches the faithful of Christ to keep themselves as strangers and pilgrims in this world.

Oh, what great confidence shall he have at death, who is not detained by an affection to anything in the world! But an infirm soul is not yet capable of having a heart thus perfectly disengaged from all things, neither doth the animal man understand the liberty of the interior man. But if he will be truly spiritual, he must renounce as well those that are near as those that are afar off, and beware of none more than of himself.

If thoug perferctly overcomest thyself, thou shalt more easily subdue all things else. The perfect victory is to triumph over oneself.

For whoever keepeth himself in subjection, so that sensuality obeyeth reason, and reason in all things is obedient to Me, he is indeed a conqueror of himself, and lord of the world."

One cannot state emphatically enough how counter-culteral these wise and holy words are. We are not to seek happiness for self, for left to our own devices we lead ourselves to misery. If we instead seek to please God and Him alone, then we find true peace and happiness - that deep beneath the ocean peace that if found only when you are conformed to His holy will.

Be not earthly minded I

St. Thomas a Kempis Painting on Mount Agnes by an unknown 17th c. painter

Let me begin by stating utterly and clearly that I am the most wretched of sinners. BUT - I do love the Lord and rely completely on His Mercy to uphold me, otherwise quickly a slave of hell - do I become.

I find it profitable to read holy writings. Among the best are many of the "classics" such as Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence , Imitation of Christ , The Blessed Virgin Mary, Divine Mercy in my Soul, Secret of the Rosary - I have also a great debt of thanks to pay to the writers of St Bernadette Soubirous, The Last Four Things, and most especially, Purgatory Explained by Fr. Schouppe - now this book irrevocably changed my life and started me down the path of devotion to the holy souls.

In my feeble attempts to become a better Catholic, I have been reading little excerpts of a beautiful old 1925 edition of Imitation of Christ, except that its called instead "Following of Christ" also "translated from the original Latin by Rev. R. Challoner, in accordance with recent Pontifical decrees." Oddly enough this english book was publised in Czechoslovakia and bears the Imprimatur if Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop, New York. I find the old beauty of the languange in this version to be superb and helps to lift my soul to God rather than remain tethered here in the banal language of most modern books. Here starts a new series of excerpts from this book, which I've heard by some was dictated to Thomas a Kempis by Jesus. That may or may not be true, but if I were to find this was true, I would not be a bit surprised.

That the Grace of God is not Communicated to the Earthly Minded.

"Son, My grace is precious; it suffereth not itself to be mingled with external things nor with earthly consolations."

"Thou must, therefore, cast away every obstacle to grace, if thou desire to receive its infusion."

"Choose for thyself a retired place; love to dwell with thyself alone; seek not to be talking with any one, but rather pour forth devout prayer to God, that thou mayst keep thy mind in compunction, and they conscience pure."

Source: The Following of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Book III, chapter LIII. New York, 1925.

Annihilation of Self VIII

(Catholic priestly ordination)

Topic ~ Fruits of Self Annihilation

"I may add that this way of annihilation, against which nature cries out so strongly, is not really so painful as we imagine, and it is even sweet. For, first of all, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has said so. "Take My yoke upon you," He says, "for it is easy and light." However heavy this yoke may be in itself, God will lighten it to those who willingly take it up, and who consent to bear it for the love of Him. Love does not prevent us from suffering, but it makes us love our sufferings and prefer them to all pleasures."

"The reward, even in this world, of annihilating ourselves, is a peace of heart, a calm in our passions, a cessation of all the agitations of our mind, of all murmurs of interior revolts."

"Let us examine the proof of this in detail. What is the greatest evil of suffering? It is not the suffering itself, but it is our rebellion against it, it is the state of interior revolt which so often accompanies it. A soul that is perfectly annihilated will suffer all the evils imaginable without losing the sweet repose of its blessed state: this is a matter of experience. It costs a great deal to attain to this state of annihilation, we must make the greatest efforts over ourselves; but when we have once attained it we enjoy a peace and repose proportionate to the victories we have gained. The habit of renouncing ourselves and of dying to ourselves becomes every day more and more easy, and we are astonished at last to find that what seemed to us once intolerable, what so frightened our imaginations, raised up our passions, and put our whole nature in rebellion, does not even give us the least pain after a certain time."

(Source: Manual for Interior Souls by Fr. Grou. 3rd Ed. St. Anselm's Society, London. 1905.)

Let us strive everywhere and in all things to practice self renunciation. Jesus said anyone who wishes to follow Him must deny himself and pick up his cross.

When you see self - renounce self. Amen+

Self Annihilation VII

On the Annilhilation of Self

(Topic: More on how we are to deal with offenses to self.)

"If we were always to look upon things thus, only as they regard God's side of the question, and not ours, we should not be so easily wounded, so sensitive, so given to complaining and getting angry. All our disturbances come from thinking ourselves to be something of importance and assuming rights which we do not possess, and because we will always, and in all things, begin by considering ourselves directly, and will not attend to the rights and interests of God, which alone are offended in our persons. "

"I confess that this {annihilation of self} is a very difficult practice, and that to attain to it we must be dead to ourselves. But indeed it is a just thing, and reason has nothing to oppose it. For God requires of us nothing but what is reasonable when He requires of us that we should behave to Him and to our neighbour as if we were nothing, had nothing, and expected nothing."

"This would be quite just, as I have already said, even if we had preserved our first innocence. But if we were born in original sin, if we have stained ourselves over and over again with actual sins, if we have contracted innumerable debts against Divine justice, if we have deserved, I know not how many times, eternal damnation - is it not a chastisement far too mild for us to be treated as if we were nothing, and is not a sinner infinately beneath that which is nothing? Whatever trail he may suffer from God, whatever ill-treatment he may have to bear from his neighbour, has he any right to complain? Can he accuse God of severity, or man of injustice? Ought he not to think himself too happy to be able to save himself from eternal torments by patiently bearing these small temporal trials? If religion is not a delusion altogether, if what faith teaches us about sin and the punishments it incurs is really true, how can a sinner whom God wishes to pardon dare to think that he does not deserve whatever he may have to endure here below, even if his life were to last for millions of ages? Yes, it is a sovereign injustice, it is a montrous ingratitude, for any one who has offended God - and which of us has not offended Him? - not to accept with a good heart and most thankfully, which love and zeal for the interests of God, all that it may please the Divine Goodness to send him in the way of sufferings and humiliations."

(Source: Manual for Interior Souls by Fr. Grou. 3rd Ed. St. Anselm's Society, London. 1905.)

If we are to learn anything from the above excerpt, we have no reason whatsoever to ever be offended by what anyone says or does. We are nothing, so what is that nothing requires? When our fellow men sin against us, let us make prayers of reparation and sacrifices to appease God, who alone has the right to be offended. Amen+

Self Annihilation VI

Scrooge meeting the Ghost of Christmas Past - an appropriate image of annihilation.

Topic - Treatment of contempt and humiliation from others.

"As to what concerns men, I agree that of themselves they have no authority over us, and that any contempt or humiliation or outrage on their part is an injustice. But we have not any the more for that the right to complain of this injustice, because in reality it is not an injustice against us, who are nothing, and to whom nothing is due; but it is an injustice against God, Whose commands they violate when they despise us, or humble us, or outrage us. It is therefore God who should resent the injury they to to Him by ill-treating us; it is not for us to resent it, for in all that happens to us we ought only to feel the injury that is done to God.

My neighbor despises me; he is wrong, because he is of no more importance than I am, and God has forbidden him to despise me. But is he wrong because I am really worthy of esteem, and because there is nothing in me that deserves contempt? No. If he takes away from me my goods, if he blackens my reputation, if he attempts my life, he is guilty, and very guilty, towards God; but is he so towards me? Am I justified in wishing him ill for it, or in seeking revenge? No. Because all that I possess, all that I am, is not properly mine, who have nothing of my own but nothingness, and from whom therefore nothing can be taken away."

~Manual for Interior Souls by Fr. Grou. 3rd Ed. St. Anselm's Society, London. 1905.

Is that not some of the most politically incorrect words you've ever heard? This is simply the antithesis of our "self-esteem", "accolade seeking" culture. Let us strive to live in simple humility and acknowledge God's power over all and our own nothingness. Amen+

Self Annihilation V

(Image: Man praying outside the Holy Father's Residence after his death was announced)

"What does God ask of us, when He commands us to annilhilate ourselves and to renounce ourselves? He asks of us to do ourselves justice, to put ourselves in our proper place and to acknowledge ourselves otherwise for what we really are. Even if we had been born and had always lived in a state of innocence, even if we had never lost original grace, we should still be nothing else but utter nothingness from our very nature; we could not look upon ourselves otherwise without making a great mistake; and we should be unjust if we expected God or men to look upon us in any other light. What rights can a thing have that is nothing? What can a thing require that is nothing? If his very existence is a free gift, certainly everything else he has is much more so. It is then a formal injustice on our part to refuse to be treated, or to refuse to treat ourselves, as if we were really nothing.....if we could mould our conduct upon this {avowal of nothingness} and allow God to exersise over us all the rights which belong to Him; if we freely consent that He shall dispose of us as He pleases, of our mind, our heart, and our whole being, it will cost us a great deal, and we shall even find a difficulty in not saying that it is injustice. Therefore, God has pity on our weakness; He does not make use of His rights in all their severity, and He never puts us to certain annilhilating trails without first having obtained our free consent."

~Manual for Interior Souls by Fr. Grou. 3rd Ed. St. Anselm's Society, London. 1905.

It seems to me that annihilation of self is a sort of "super truth", the height, or a rather advanced humility. We acknowledge ourselves before God and our fellow man to be nothing. One prayer I try to offer frequently goes something like this: "God, give me to know now and always that I am nothing, truly the least of all" When prayed in the spirit of love of God and wishing to know Him and serve Him, I have found this prayer to be one of the most satisfying. I often find my soul granted some degree of consolation from this prayer. God lowers Himself down to the soul who abases herself before Him who is Almighty.

Self Annihilation IV

On the Annihilation of Self

"I am before Thee as one that is not." -Psalms

"When we are spoken to of dying to ourselves, of annihilating ourselves, when we are told that that in the foundation of Christian morality, and that is it consists the adoration of God in spirit and in truth, we do not with to receive this saying; it seems to us hard and even unjust, and we rebel against those who announce it to us on the aprt of God. Let us convince ourselves once and for all that this saying has nothing but what is just and right in itself, and that the practice of it is infinitely sweeter than we think for. Afterwards let us humble ourselves if we hav not the courage to put it in practice; and instead of condemning the words of wisdom, let us condemn ourselves."

-Exerpt from Manual for Interior Souls. A Collection of Unpublished Writings by the Reverend Father Grou, SJ. London: St Anselm's Society, 18 Ashley Place, Westminster. 1905. Third Edition.

Does this not sound very much similar to "The Imitation of Christ"? I have found this book to have the same components; lofty spiritual guidance, interwoven with solid Catholic teaching in a very accessible and readily understood format. This book, however us much longer at 415 pages and was written some hundred years later.

This book, Manual for Interior Souls, was written by one Fr. Grou of the Society of Jesus in Paris, France. John Grou was born in the diocese of Boulogne, on November 24, 1731 and entered the Jesuit novitiate at the age of 15. He made is first vows at 17 and was then employed at a teacher according to the then custom of the Jesuits. He was a student of Plato and Cicero, whose writings he was particularly fond for their pure code of morals. John Grou completed a translation of Plato's Republic into French, which was followed by Laws and Dialogues - also by Plato. After becoming a priest and many accomplishments, Fr. Grou became a highly sought after spiritual director. This book, is a collection of his writings, compiled after his death.

Queen Isabella of England ~ et Famille

Daughter of King Phillip IV of France and Jeanne of Navarre

Capetian French Monarchy (House of Capet)

Born c. 1295 Died August 22, 1358

(photo credit)

King Edward the II, 1284-1327

son of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castille

House of Plantagenet
Married Isabella at Boulugne-sur-Mer on January 25, 1308

(photo credit)

Great Book

Night Time Reading Lately

Just finished this great book. I picked this up at an airport bookstore in Newark NJ waiting for a flight to Montreal a few weeks ago. I am a great lover of the Medieval times. I'm also a terrible book buyer - endlessly perusing book stores and very rarely finding one a might actually read. Imagine my shock when I came across this beauty! My husband's jaw dropped when I told him I'd actually found something I wanted to buy! Anyway, this is not a novel, but rather a historical account of Queen Isabella of England, consort to King Edward II, mother of King Edward III who started the 100 years war with France. I find these times absolutely facsicnating and I honestly have no idea why. I thank God I found this book and this author and I plan to obtain and read each of her books.

Thank you in advance for your patience as I now post pictures of these souls who lived long ago in CATHOLIC England. May God rest their souls and I hope to meet each one in heaven.