ATLANTA WKSHP: Models of Contemplation – Fr. Wm. Meninger

Reply

Models of Contemplation workshop

Fr. William Meninger – “Models of Contemplation”

“Be still and know that I am God.”Psalm 46:10

Workshop Date & Location: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church(515 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur, GA 30030)

In 1974 Fr. William Meninger, internationally known Trappist monk, priest, and retreat leader, began teaching contemplative prayer according to the 14th century work, The Cloud of Unknowing. His later collaboration with fellow Trappists, Fr. Thomas Keating and Fr. Basil Pennington led to the development of the method leading to contemplation now commonly known as Centering Prayer. Presently, Fr. Meninger takes a limited time each year from his monastic life to travel the world and teach contemplative prayer.

The Atlanta Chapter of Contemplative Outreach is pleased to be able to sponsor A day-long workshop on Tuesday May 29 at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church(515 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur, GA 30030)
R
entitled “Models of Contemplation from the Mystics”. Registration is at 9:00 AM. Workshop will begin at 9:30 AM and will conclude at 4:30 PM. Preregistration is encouraged as this event is expected to fill up quickly. Preregistered cost is $30 which includes a box lunch. The cost on the day of the workshop is $35.

Make checks payable to Contemplative Outreach of Atlanta and mail checks and registration form below to Reverend Cynthia Hizer, Epiphany Episcopal Church, 2089 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30307.

For questions, contact Rusty Weitzel, Coordinator of Atlanta Chapter of Contemplative Outreach. Email: rustyw05@hotmail.com. Phone: 859-319-1009.

These are all ecumenical events sponsored by the Atlanta Chapter of Contemplative Outreach.

NAME ____________________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS___________________________________________________________________

CITY_____________________________________________STATE_____________ZIP_____

EMAIL ___________________________________________ See Fr. Wm Meninger and attend his day long symposium on Contemplative prayer. Open link, send your registration & $30.00.

WHEN: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 – 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM

WHERE: ATLANTA – Holy Trinity Episcopal Church

Share This Post

New Links and site updates

Reply

New links to Fr. Wm. Meninger’s (OSCO) website – “Contemplative Prayer” where you can buy books, DVDs, mp3s of his workshops and teaching, as well as see his schedule for workshops.

Another for Phil Stone’s website – “Find the Divine”, an event resource of Retreats, Conference Centers, Presentors, etc.

Plus new user functionality allowing anyone to register.

Bill
Webmaster

Share This Post

Lenten Prayer Before the Crucifix

Reply

A plenary indulgence is offered on Fridays in Lent (like today) for the Christian faithful who piously pray the below prayer before a Crucifix:

BEHOLD, O good and sweetest Jesus,
I cast myself upon my knees in Thy sight,
and with the most fervent desire of my soul
I pray and beseech Thee
to impress upon my heart
lively sentiments of faith,
hope and charity,
with true repentance for my sins
and a most firm desire of amendment:
whilst with deep affection and grief of soul
I consider within myself
and mentally contemplate Thy five most precious Wounds,
having before mine eyes that which David, the prophet,
long ago spoke in Thine own person concerning Thee,
my Jesus: “They have pierced My hands and My feet,
they have numbered all My bones.”

The indulgence is just icing on an the cake. It’s a beautiful prayerful meditation on the Cross anyway.

Also can be seen at: http://catholicdefense.blogspot.com/2012/03/lenten-prayer-before-crucifix.html

Share This Post

Thomas Merton’s Prayer for Deliverance from 7 Deadly Sins

Reply

They are called deadly because they stamp out life from our living. They are the thieves and murderers who beguile and trick us into believing their illusion is real.  They are at the source of our separation from our intimate relationship with God, which is the source of our life.  We are human and will commit each and every one of these.   God is forgiving eternally and will forgive us for committing them.  We can strive to overcome these human traits, but mostly that means we should practice the opposite virtues instead.  That requires seeing the world from a most different perspective.   The same challenges confront us living in the world or living in a monastery.   Learning to practice the virtues is the real battle.  (To see a full description scroll down below the prayer, or go to the page at our link:

Following is a prayer by Thomas Merton (OSB) asking for deliverance from these 7 illusions.

Thomas Merton, Trappist Monk, 20th Century

The following prayer is from his book, “New Seeds of Contemplation.” It is widely available. For Merton, the word illusion could be substituted freely for sin. This makes sense in many ways: we often lament our past sins and say, “How could I have not seen how horrible this was?” or “What was I thinking of?” Here is a prayer from his book:

Let me use all things for one sole reason: to find my joy in giving You glory.

Therefore, keep me, above all things, from sin. Keep me from the death of deadly sin which puts hell in my soul. Keep me from the murder of lust that blinds and poisons my heart. Keep me from the sins that eat a man’s flesh with irresistible fire until he is devoured. Keep me from loving money in which is hatred, from avarice [greed] and ambition that suffocate my life. Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation, and saints are smothered under the avalanche of their own importunate zeal. Staunch in me the rank wound of covetousness and the hungers that exhaust my nature with their bleeding. Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison and kills all joy.

Untie my hands and deliver my heart from sloth. Set me free from the laziness that goes about disguised as activity when activity is not required of me, and from the cowardice that does what is not demanded, in order to escape sacrifice.

But give me the strength that waits upon You in silence and peace. Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens. And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for You alone.

Thomas Merton, 1961, Gethsemani. Imprimatur Francis Cardinal Spellman, Archbishop of New York

The Seven Deadly Sins – A List of Capital Sins
(for more visit:  http://whitestonejournal.com/index.php/seven-deadly-sins)

The table below lists The Seven Deadly Sins (vices) in the traditional order with the virtues against which they are sins. The history of this list goes back at least to Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. John Cassian, but while the list itself is not strictly biblical, the Bible proscribes all seven. If one or more of these doesn’t seem like a big sin to you, it almost certainly means you have already rationalized it. Work on that one first. By the way, there is no set list of virtues corresponding to these, what follows below reflect our choices.

If you need additional information on Dante’s views of these, it is after the table.

Deadly Sin * **
Opposing Virtue
Brief description
Pride
(1) (18%)		 Humility Seeing ourselves as we are and not comparing ourselves to others is humility. Pride and vanity are competitive. If someone else’s pride really bothers you, you have a lot of pride.
Avarice/Greed
(5) (5%)		 Generosity This is about more than money. Generosity means letting others get the credit or praise. It is giving without having expectations of the other person. Greed wants to get its “fair share” or a bit more.
Envy
(2) (5%)		 Love “Love is patient, love is kind…” Love actively seeks the good of others for their sake. Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times.
Wrath/Anger
(3) (20%)		 Kindness Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this.
Lust
(7) (31%)		 Self control Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete’s muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control.
Gluttony
(6) (8%)		 Faith and Temperance Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others.
Sloth
(4) (13%)		 Zeal Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God’s commands. The other sins work together to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency.
* Numbers in parenthesis indicate position in Dante. ** Percentages indicate results of our poll as of October 25, 2009.
Share This Post

The Divine Beauty of Purgatory

Reply

There is certainly a purgatory! The souls who are there are making things right with God so they can enter heaven. That is the simplest explanation there is. Further, because no stain of sin is allowed in heaven, most souls choose to seek the justice provided in the place of spiritual preparation that God has lovingly provided. We on Earth can still work out a lot of our own expiation of our sins. Those souls in Purgatory cannot pray for themselves. Our prayers can speed up the satisfaction of the justice needed to cleanse or remove the last of any residue of their sins before entering heaven.

Why have Purgatory? Most people will continue sinning in the course of the human condition, even if they try everything to stop it or avoid it. Yes Jesus did die for our sins. But we need to satisfy the debt because of the ongoing sinful nature we perpetuate through our imperfect nature. Jesus is like the dad who pays for the window broken by his son’s baseball gone astray. Jesus paid for the damage and debt, but like any loving father he wants us to ‘settle up’ with him to satisfy the debt he cleared for us. But Jesus died for me and he is my personal savior! I thought I was saved!? Well, what if you never paid your dad back or served some sort of justice to make it right? You would not truly appreciate what he did for you.

While on earth we have no certainty of even making it to purgatory -because we have free will. Those in purgatory at least have the certainty of being released to enter heaven. The others not capable of choosing to be with God, at any expense, will truly go to hell with no hope of ever completing the journey to God’s perfect and spotless presence.

I would choose purgatory any day over reincarnation, as I am closer to settling up there than in an unPredictable next life. Because Jesus HAS saved those who have chosen him, we are on the right path. Through his love and continual offering of himself for us, we too, can have the certainty of the future promise of heaven. Without his self sacrifice, we would not have the door opened as such for us.

Jesus’ holy mother Mary consoles the suffering souls in purgatory and asks for us still in a body on this earth to pray for them. Such sacrifices accrue to our credit, along with any suffering of our own that we offer up as an offering for those souls in purgatory. So we can actually use our earthly lives to help others already passed on, as well as expand our own growth. Sure we will fall, and sin again, but as any good sportsman knows, you must get up again to master the game. Jesus showed us that mastery can be achieved. So, if we haven’t totally mastered it by the time we die, we still have the opportunity to satisfy our final judgement. Hopefully, we will have chosen to take every opportunity to earn a lighter debt, or skip it altogether by the graces from loving all, and selfless service and sacrifice.

I know all this sound rather strict and un-warm and fuzzy. Jesus never promised us warm and fuzzy. He said many would be called, but few would be chosen. What do you think would help to make you be chosen?

Are you starting to get the picture? We should learn about this subject early on, but sadly most don’t want to discuss it, or take the belief that it is all worked out for us, or don’tbelieve anything at all.

For me, now that I have begun to learn about purgatory, I understand what it is and how to prepare for it. I am grateful for Gods grace to have led me to question, have the curiosity and desire to learn what it is and how I can help myself and others too.

Prayer for our loved ones is needed. The Rosary can be said for great results for those in Purgatory, as are Masses said specifically for named deceased.

My prayer journey just amped up because of this understanding. There are many good writings about purgatory. I encourage you to check them out. Just do a search on the Internet. You will find plenty, as did I.

Share This Post

Loreena McKennitt – Contemplative Soul Music

Posted on by
Reply

The Dark Night of the Soul, performed by Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt performs a song called “Dark Night of the Soul” inspired by St. John of the Cross.  She sings about the love of God and the pursuit of it in this song.

If you like ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’ and all that it implies, you should look into reading ‘The Cloud of Unknowing’ by an anonymous author in 1375.   There are more than a few present day English translations that make for a bit more easy reading than the 14th century English in which it was written.  It speaks of the apophatic approach to ‘knowing’, trusting and allowing God.  It is precisely pursuit of the internal mystical relationship with God via the path of allowing and consenting to God being with you through the vehicle of trust.  The Dark Night of the Soul will make more sense after reading this!  I have the olde english version here as a free download, and it can be bought on some of the web bookstores for only a few dollars.  I am re-reading it after many times.

Share This Post

The Will to Will

Posted on by
Reply

The greatest gift we have is free will.  The greatest give we can give is our will, our intent – freely, and with love.

God loves us so much that he gives us free will.  Duly so, he will never intrude upon our own free will.   We think we are free because we have free will.  We are right… free to choose our destiny, free to choose as we please, and God loves us any way we choose.

God’s will is grand, ultimate, absolute and infinite.  Why do we resist God’s will?  We are afraid of what will happen to us.  We are afraid because we do not have the faith or the trust to completely allow God’s will to have ascendency in our lives.

My challenge to you is to give your will up to God’s will.  The gift of our own free will is the ultimate gift of faith and trust, as well as being the most powerful and humbling gift we can give.  

What happens when you invite God’s will?  Did you think you could plan things any better?  What would you worry about, that it might not turn out the way you wanted it to?  If you are still wrestling with this, you have not ever fully released your will to will God’s will.

If you have ever given your will up to God’s will you know that what happens when God’s will is moving – - it  is infinitely more potent that any plans you could make.   The movement and manifestation of his will is like a huge cosmic mosaic that moves like a fine watch – moving each piece into place so elegantly and smoothly,  that when you experience it, you are awestruck.  So there is no place for fear, only trust.  Just know that the One who created all the infinitude of the universe, is so willing to love you, and overcome your every trial – just for receiving your consent to allow His will in your world!

I challenge you to walk the walk of trust in the power of God’s will which will lay the road down before you, and move events around you so smoothly you will forget it is God’s will.  Stay in tune with God’s will simply by offering freely your will to will God’s will.

Share This Post

Happy Easter!

Posted on by
Reply
Jesus Christ
For the next 60 seconds, set aside whatever you’re doing and take this opportunity!
Let’s see if Satan can stop this.
THE (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.
At the time, crucifixion was the “worst” death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.
The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed.. There’s a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.
Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breath. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.
He was simply pouring water from his wounds.
From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body. A hammer driving large nails through the wrists, the feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.. But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have survived this torture.
He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.
The human adult body contains about 3..5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.
Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into his members; a crown of thorns on his head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into his chest.
All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where his hands were nailed).
Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.
So that your sins could be washed away by the blood of Chirst. All of them, with no exception! Don’t ignore this situation. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU! For you, who now reads this e-mail. If you will be obedient to His will, you can have eternal salvation.  But you must follow His commandments.  Jesus said: “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Jesus said:
1.  You must believe that He is the Son of God.
2.  You must repent of your sins.
3.  You must confess Him before men.
He died for you! It is easy to pass jokes or foolish photos by e-mail, but when it comes to God, sometimes you feel ashamed to forward it to others because you are worried what they may think about you.
Accept the reality, the truth that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.
God has plans for you, show all your friends what He experienced to save you. Now think about this! May God bless your life!
60 seconds with God…
For the next 60 seconds, set aside what you’re doing and take this opportunity! Let’s see if Satan can stop this.
All you have to do is:
1. Simply pray for the person who sent this message to you:
Lord, you know the life of my friends. I ask You to bless them in all things and help them to be obedient to your will. Take care of their family, their health, their work and all their future plans. Lead them not into temptation, but deliver them from evil. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
2.Then, send this message to 10 people.
3. 10 people will pray for you and you will make that many people pray to God for other people.
4. Take a moment to appreciate the power of God in your life, for doing what pleases Him.
If you are not ashamed to do this, please, follow Jesus’ instructions. He said (Matthew 10:32 & 33): “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whosoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven”.
If you believe, send this message… But send it only if you believe Christ Jesus is your Lord and Savior.
Yes, I love God.. He is my source of life and my Saviour. He keeps me alive day and night.
Without Him I am nothing, but with Him “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”.
Philippians 4:13.
This is the simple proof. If you love God and you believe and trust in salvation through Christ Jesus, send this to all those you love.

Tags, , , , , , ,, , , , , , , ,, , , 

Share This Post

The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila

Posted on by
Reply

This amazing classic can be downloaded for free (or for a small donation of $2.95 for a PDF version) from http://ccel.org  Classic Christian Ethereal Library.  This is a great site as iit has many public domain books that are classics in Christian Literature.  I have been using this site for years, and have found many of the great classics there.

The Interior Castle by St. Theresa of Avila seems as if it were written yesterday, instead of 1583.  Her metaphors and descriptions of one’s various stages of spiritual capacity (mansions) are well done, and brilliantly illustrate the spiritual light and passion to which she is so well attuned.

Please pick this book up for free or download it for free (or PDF).  If you have a nook, it can be downloaded to your My B&N folder on your computer from http://www.ccel.org and next time you update your nook, you can copy it over.  OR you can download a free e-reader from Barnes and Noble and read the text version which is free.

This book is worth your time and investment of it, much the same as The Cloud of Unknowing.  It is one of the mystical classics.

Share This Post