Guigo II’s Ladder of Monks

Bodleian Library MS Douce 322

HAPPILY, the practice of lectio divina has become more common amongst Catholics in the last 20 years. While lectio divina itself is very ancient, the most popular form consists of the four steps of lectio (reading), meditatio (meditation), oratio (prayer) and contemplatio (contemplation).  This form comes from the writings of the Carthusian, Guigo II (fl. c. 1170), 9th prior of the Grand Chartreuse monastery.

Guigo explains his method in a letter to a friend. The short (a little over 10 pages) letter is a spiritual masterpiece and deserves to be read entirely.  Perhaps due in part to copyright reasons, the excellent English translation of Colledge and Walsh is not freely available on the web.  Instead, people have reposted a few excerpts in various places.

Fortunately there’s another option.  A translation of Guigo’s letter into Middle English was made in the 14th century, the full title of which is A Ladder of Foure Ronges by the Which Men Mowe Clyme to Heven. Not only is it a good translation, but both the spiritual insight and literary skills of the anonymous author are formidable.  He or she also added about 20% new materiel in the form of explanations and quaint analogies that explain Guigo’s points better.  It is a very ‘poetic’ work, just as we find in the writings of other Middle English mystics like Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton and the anonymous Cloud of Unknowing author.

The complete transcription of the Middle English version made by James Hogg is also not freely available.  However on a website dedicated to Julian of Norwich is what appears to be a modernized version of Ladder of Foure Ronges.  It’s not a simple word-for-word modernization (which in this case I would personally prefer), however, and might actually be an amalgam of Guigo’s letter and the Middle English version.  In any case, it appears to include all of Guigo’s original content as well as the new material in Four Ronges.

To demonstrate the style of the Middle English version, here’s a paragraph where the anonymous author likens contemplation to a delicious and intoxicating rare wine and God to a savvy taverner:

So doth God Almyʒty to his loveris in contemplacion as a tauerner that good wyne hath to selle dooth to good drynkeris that wolle drynke wele of his wyne & largely spende. Wele he knowith what they be there he seeth hem in the strete. Pryvely he wendyth and rowndith hem in the eere & seyth to them that he hath a clarete, & that alle fyne for ther owyn mouth. He tollyth hem to howse & ʒevyth hem a taast. Sone whanno they haue tastyd therof and that they thynke the drynke good & gretly to ther plesauns, thann

they drynke dayly & nyʒtly,
and the more they drynke, the more they may.
Suche lykyng they haue of that drynke
that of none other wyne they thynke,
but oonly for to drynke their fylle
and to haue of this drynke alle their wylle.

And so they spende that they haue, and syth they spende or lene [pawn] to wedde surcote [coat] or hode [hood] & alle that they may for to drynke with lykyng whiles that them it good thynkith. Thus it faryth sumtyme by Goddis loveris that from the tyme that they hadde tastyd of this pyment, that is of the swettnesse of God, such lykyng þei founde theryn that as drunkyn men they did spende that they hadde, and ʒafe themself to fastyng and to wakyng & to other penauns [penance] doyng. And whann they hadde no more to spende they leyde their weddys, as apostelys, martyrys, & maydenys ʒounge of ʒeris dyd in their tyme (Source: Hodgson, 1949; p. 466)

In modern English the passage is:

So does God Almighty to his Lovers in contemplation like a taverner, who has good wine to sell, to good drinkers who will drink well of his wine and spend well. He knows them well when he sees them in the street. Quietly he goes to them and whispers in their ear and says to them that he has a claret, and of good taste in the mouth. He entices them to his house and gives them a taste. Soon when they have tasted of it and think the drink good and greatly to their pleasure, then

They drink all night, they drink all day;

And the more they drink, the more they may.

Such liking they have of that drink

That of none other wine they think,

But only for to drink their fill

And to have of this drink all their will.

And so they spend what they have, and then they sell or pawn their coat, their hood and all they may, for to drink with liking while they think it good.

Thus it fares sometimes with God’s lovers that from the time that they had tasted of this potion, that is, of the sweetness of God, such liking they found in it that as drunken men they spent what they had and gave themselves to fasting and to watching and to doing other penance. And when they had not more to spend they pledged their clothes, as apostles, martyrs, and young maidens did in their time.

Hodgson comments:

The Ladder of Four Rungs reads like original prose, expressive of the writer. It is not merely a clear reproduction of a Latin treatise in another tongue, but a distinct piece of creative writing. Sentence by sentence comparison with the Latin, far from blunting the edge of the translation, throws into more pointed emphasis its verve and originality.

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Bibliography

Anonymous.  The Ladder of Four Rungs, Guigo II on Contemplation.  Ultima website. umilta.net/ladder.html Accessed: 22 Nov. 2022.

Colledge, Edmund; Walsh, James (trs.). Guigo II: The Ladder of Monks and Twelve Meditations. Cistercian Studies 48. Kalamazoo, 1981. (= Image Books, 1978). [free e-borrow at arhive.org]

Hodgson, Phyllis. A Ladder of Foure Ronges by the Whiche Men mowe wele clyme to Heven. A study of the prose style of a Middle English translation. Modern Language Review 44.4, 1949, 465−475.

Hodgson, Phyllis. Deonise Hid Divinite and Other Treatises on Contemplative Prayer. Early English Text Society 231. Oxford University Press, 1955. Appendix B (pp. 100−117) is a transcription of Ladder of Foure Ronges.

Hogg, James (ed.). The Rewyll of Seynt Sauioure and A Ladder of Foure Ronges by the which Men Mowe Clyme to Heven. Edited from the MSS. Cambridge University Library Ff. 6. 33 and London Guildhall 25524, Volume 1. Salzburg, 2003.

Iguchi, Atsushi. Translating grace: the Scala Claustralium and A Ladder of Foure Ronges. Review of English Studies, vol. 59, no. 242, 2008, pp. 659–676.

McCann, Justin. (tr.) A Ladder of Four Rungs. London, 1926. (McCann rearranges the Middle English translation to follow the order of Guigo II’s original.)

McCann, Justin (ed.). A Ladder of Four Rungs, being a treatise on prayer by Dom Guy II, ninth prior of the Grande Chartreuse, in a Middle English Version. Stanforth Abbey, 1953.

Nau, Pascale-Dominique (tr.).  Guigo II: The Ladder of Monks. Lulu Press, 2013.

Wilmart, André. Auteurs spirituels et textes dévots du moyen âge latin: études d’histoire littéraire. Auteurs spirituels et textes devotes de moyen age latin. Paris, 1932.

Latin text

Guigonis Carthusiensis. Scala claustralium (Ladder of Monks). J. P. Migne Patrologia Latina 184 cols 475−484. Paris, 1854.

Manuscripts of Ladder of Foure Ronges

Cambridge, University Library, Ff.6.33

Bodleian Library MS Douce 322

British Museum MS Harley 1706

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St. Alphonsus Liguori: On the Efficacy of Prayer

Albrecht Dürer, Praying Hands (detail)

St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1787) wrote many works, but considered none more valuable than his Short Treatise on Prayer.  In the Introduction to the Reader (which he calls “highly important”), he writes: “Were it in my power, I would publish as many copies of this little work, as there are Catholics on earth, and would give to each a copy, that each might be convinced of the absolute necessity of prayer for salvation.”  Below is Chapter 2, On the Efficacy of Prayer.

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SO DEAR are our prayers to God, that He has destined His angels to present them to Him as soon as they are offered. ‘The angels,’ says St. Hilary, ‘preside over the prayers of the faithful, and offer them daily to God.’ The prayers of the saints are that sacred smoke of incense which St. John saw ascending before the Lord from the hands of the angels.—Rev. 8. The same apostle, in the fifth chapter of the Apocalypse, compares the prayers of the saints to golden vials full of odours, which are exceedingly sweet and acceptable to God. But, to be convinced of the efficacy of prayer before God, it is sufficient to read the numberless promises which He has made in the old as well as in the New Testament, to all who invoke His aid.

‘Call upon Me and I will hear.’—Job.

‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee.’—Psalm 49:15.

‘Ask and it shall be given unto you: seek and you shall find: knock and it shall be opened to you.’—Matt. 7:7.

‘how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask.’—Matt. 7:11.

‘for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth.’—Luke, 11:10.

‘Whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father.’—Matt. 18:19.

‘All things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come unto you.’—Mark, 11:24.

‘If you shall ask any thing in my name, that I will do.’—John, 14:14.

‘You shall ask whatsoever you will, and it shall be done to you.’—John, 15:7.

‘Amen, Amen, I say to you; if you ask the Father any thing in my name, He will give it to you.’—John, 16:28.

A thousand similar passages might be cited, which for the sake of brevity, I omit.

God ardently desires our salvation, but for our greater good, He wishes that we should be saved by our victories. While on this earth we must live in continual warfare, and to be saved, we must fight and conquer. ‘No one, ‘ says St. Chrysostom, ‘can be crowned without victory.’—S Chry. Ser. 1 de Mart. We are very weak; our enemies are numerous and exceedingly powerful; how shall we be able to combat and defeat them: Let each one animate his courage, by addressing to himself the words of the apostle, ‘I can do all things in Him who strengthen me.’ We can do all things by prayer, which will procure for us from God strength which we do not possess. Theodoret says that prayer is omnipotent; it is one, but it can do all things: ‘Oratio cum sit una, omnia potest.’ St. Bonaventure teaches, that ‘by prayer, is obtained possession of every good, and deliverance from every evil.’ St. Lawrence Justinian says, by the practice of prayer we can construct an impregnable citadel, in which we shall be securely protected against all the snares and violence of the enemy.—S Lau. Just de Casto. connub. Cap. 22. The powers of hell are strong, but St. Bernard says, prayer is much stronger. ‘Prayer,’ he says, ‘is more powerful than all the devils;’ because by prayer the soul obtains the divine assistance, which is infinitely superior to every created power. It was this that encouraged David in all his fears and dangers. ‘Praising,’ he said, ‘I will call upon the Lord: and I shall be saved from my enemies.’—Psalm 17:4. ‘Prayer,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘is a great armour, a strong defense, a safe harbour, an inexhaustible treasure.’—S Chry. In Psalm 145. Prayer is an armour capable of resisting all the assaults of the devil; it is a defense which preserves us in every danger, a port which saves us in every storm, and a treasure which supplies us with every good.

Knowing the great advantages which we derive from the necessity of prayer, God permits the enemy to assail us, that we may seek the assistance which He offers and promises to us. But the neglect of prayer is as displeasing to God, as the invocation of His name in the time of danger, is acceptable in His sight. As, says, St. Bonaventure, a king considers a general to be unfaithful, who, when besieged by the enemy, does not seek assistance, so God regards as traitors those Christians who, when beset by temptations, do not apply to Him for aid. For He desires to succour them abundantly, and only waits to be asked for support. The willingness of almighty God to grant us the protection we stand in need of, was strikingly evinced in His conduct to the faithless Achaz. He told that king, by the mouth of the prophet Isaias, to ask a sign of the readiness and eagerness of the Lord to come to his assistance. ‘Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God.’—Isaias, 7:11. Trusting in his own strength, and expecting to defeat the enemy without the divine aid, the impious king answered, ‘I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord.’—Isaias, 7:12. But to show how much Go is offended by the neglect of those who ask not the graces which He offers, the prophet exclaimed, ‘Hear you therefore, O house of David: is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also.’—Isaias, 7:13.

‘Come to me all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.’—Matt 11:28. My dear children, says the Redeemer, do not lose courage, when assailed by your enemies, and oppressed by the weight of your sins, have recourse to me by prayer, and I will give you strength to resist their attacks, and will repair all your losses. In another place He says by the mouth of Isaias, ‘come and accuse me, saith the Lord: if your sins be as scarlet they shall be made white as snow.’—Isaias, 1:18. O ye children of men, He says, have recourse to me; however burdened your consciences may be, do not cease to supplicate my mercy: if, after having called upon me, I do not give you my grace, and make you white as snow, I shall patiently submit to your reproaches. What is prayer? ‘Prayer,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘is an anchor to those who are tossed by the tempest, it is the treasure of the poor, the remedy of sickness, and the safeguard of health.’—S. Chry. Hom. 31. Ad. Pop. An. In the time of storm, prayer is a secure anchor; in poverty, an inexhaustible treasure of riches; in infirmity, a most efficacious remedy; and in health, an infallible preservative. What is the effect of prayer? ‘It appeases God,’ says St. Laurence Justinian, ‘it obtains what is asked, it subdues adversaries, it changes men.’—S. Laur. Just. de Perf. cap. 12. Prayer pacifies the anger of God, who immediately pardons all who humbly ask forgiveness; it obtains every grace which is sought; it overcomes all the forces of the enemy; and changes men, by giving light to the blind, strength to the weak, and sanctity to sinners. If any one stand in need of light, let him ask from God, and it will be given to him. As soon as I had recourse to God, says Solomon, He granted me wisdom. ‘I called on the Lord, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me.’—Wisd. 7:7. If any one is weak, let him ask for strength, and it will be given to him. As soon as I opened my mouth to pray, says holy David, I obtained succour from God. ‘I opened my mouth and panted.’—Ps. 118:131. And how, except by prayer, which procured strength to overcome torments and death, were the holy martyrs enabled to withstand the persecutions of tyrants.

‘Whoever,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘practices prayer, fears not death, leaves the earth, enters heaven, and lives with God.’—S. Chrys. Ser. 43. He sins not; and divested of every earthly affection, he begins to dwell in heaven, and to enjoy the conversation of God. Why then should such a one be disturbed by vain apprehensions that his name may not be written in the book of life; that God may not give him efficacious graces, or the gift of final perseverance. ‘Be not,’ says St. Paul, ‘solicitous about any thing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your petitions be known unto God.’—Phil. 4:6. Do not allow yourselves to be agitated by groundless fears: banish all uneasiness and solicitude, which only lessen confidence, and increase tepidity and sloth, in the work of salvation. Pray always, make your prayers acceptable to God, thank Him continually for His promises to grant to your prayers efficacious graces, perseverance, salvation, and whatsoever may be necessary for you. The Lord has placed us in battle array to contend with powerful enemies; but He is faithful to His promises, and will not permit their attacks to surpass our strength. ‘And God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able.’—1 Cor 10:13. He is faithful, and instantly affords succour to all who call upon Him. The learned Cardinal Gotti asserts, that ‘when in our temptations we fly to the divine protection, God is bound to grant strength, by which we can and will actually resist; for we can do all things in Him who strengthens us by grace, provided we ask it with humility.’—Gotti. Theol. Tom. 2. de grat. tract. 6. q. 2 § 3. n. 30. Being able to procure by humble prayer the divine aid, which will enable us to do all things, we are inexcusable if we yield to temptation. It is our own fault if we be vanquished: our defeats are the result of the neglect of prayer. By prayer we might repel all the attacks of the enemy. ‘By Prayer,’ says St. Augustine, ‘all evils are put to flight.’—S. Aug. Ser. de Orat.

St. Bernadine of Sienna says, that prayer is a most faithful ambassador, well known to the King of heaven, accustomed to enter His chamber, and by its importunity to incline His pious will to grant every assistance to us miserable sinners, who groan amidst combats, and under the weight of our miseries in this valley of tears.—S. Ber. Serm. In Dom. 3. Isaias assures us, that as soon as the Lord hears our prayers, He is moved to compassion; that He does not allow our sorrows to continue long, but instantly grants what we ask from Him. ‘Weeping thou shalt not weep; He will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, as soon as He shall hear, He will answer thee.’—Isa. 30:19. The Lord complains of His people by the Prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Am I become a wilderness to Israel, or a lateward springing land? Why then have my people said, we are revolted, and we will come to thee no more?’—Jer. 2:31. Why, says the Lord, do you say you will have recourse to me no more? Is my mercy a barren land, which can produce no fruits of grace in your behalf? Or a soil which gives its fruit too late? Such is the tender and affecting language in which our loving Lord represents His immediate and unceasing attention to our supplications, and in which He sharply rebukes the tepidity of those who, through diffidence of being heard, abandon prayer.

To be permitted once in the month to present our petitions before the throne of God, would be a great favour. Earthly monarchs seldom give audience to their subjects; but God is ready at all times to listen to the petitions of His servants. St. Chrysostom says, that ‘God is always prepared to hear our prayers, and that a petition presented to Him, and accompanied with the necessary conditions, never fails to attain its object.’ In another place he says, that what we ask is obtained before the conclusion of our prayers.—S. Chry. Hom. 52. in Matt. This is confirmed by God’s own promise: ‘As they are yet speaking I will answer.’—Isaias, 65:24. The Lord, says David, is near to all who pray to Him, and ready to console, to favour, and save them. The Lord is night to all them that call on Him, to all that call upon Him in truth. He will do the will of them that fear Him, and He will hear their prayer and save them.’—Ps. 144:19. It was in the privilege of constant access to the Lord, that Moses gloried. ‘Neither,’ said he, ‘is there any other nation so great, that hath God so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.’—Deut. 4:7. The gods of the gentiles being miserable and impotent creatures, disregarded the prayers of their votaries; but the God of Israel being omnipotent, is not inattentive to our cries, but is nigh to us, and ready to grant all the graces ask from Him. ‘In what day soever says the Psalmist, ‘I shall call upon thee, behold I know thou art my God.’—Ps. 55:11. As if he said, Lord, in this I know you are to me a God of goodness and of mercy, that whensoever I have recourse to you, I shall obtain immediate relief.

We indeed are poor, but by prayer our wants may be speedily supplied. If we are poor, God is rich, and liberal beyond measure, to all who invoke His assistance. ‘He is rich,’ says St. Paul, ‘to all who call upon Him.’—Rom. 10:12. Since, then, our petitions are presented to a God of infinite power, and of infinite riches, let us ask not for trifles, but for valuable and important favours. ‘You ask from the omnipotent,’ says St. Augustine, ‘ask for something grand and magnificent.’ He that asks the king for a trifle, casts an imputation on his power and generosity, and dishonors his majesty. But we honour God, we adore His mercy and liberality, when, notwithstanding our misery and our unworthiness to receive any favour from Him, we ask His graces with confidence in His goodness, and in the fidelity of His promises to grant whatever is sought in the name of Jesus Christ. ‘You shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you.’—John 15:7. St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzis says, that God feels honored and consoled, and even grateful, when we ask His graces; because, by praying to Him we afford Him an opportunity of pouring out His benefits, and manifesting His bounty, which prompts Him to bestow His favours on all. We may be persuaded that He always grants more than we ask. ‘But if any one,’ says St. James, ‘want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraided not.’—St. James 1:5. St. James speaks in this manner to denote, that God does not, like man, dispense His favours with a parsimonious hand. Human riches being finite, are diminished by every contribution to the poor; and therefore men, however opulent, compassionate, and liberal, are always sparing of their alms, and seldom grant the full prayer of their petitioners. But the treasures of God being infinite, the more He bestows, the more He still has to give; and therefore He distributes His graces with a liberal hand, always granting more than is sought. ‘For thou, O Lord are sweet and mild, and plenteous to all that call upon thee.’—Ps. 85:5. You, O my God, said holy David, are sweet and liberal beyond measure to all who invoke you; the superabundant mercies which you pour down upon your servants, far exceed their demands.

Being assured, then, that prayer opens all the treasures of heaven, we should be careful, to pray with unbounded confidence. ‘Let us attend to this,’ says St. Chrysostom, ‘and we shall open heaven to ourselves.’ Prayer is a treasure from which each derives advantages in proportion to the frequency and fervour of his supplications. St. Bonaventure says that a Christian, as often as he has recourse to God by fervent prayer, obtains graces which are more valuable than the entire world.—S. Bon. In Luc. 18. There are some fervent souls who devote a great deal of time to reading and meditation, but attend very little to prayer. Spiritual reading and meditation are certainly very profitable; but St. Augustine says that prayer is much more beneficial to the soul. Spiritual reading and meditation teach us our obligations, but prayer obtains grace to fulfill them. ‘Prayer’ says St. Augustine, ‘is better than reading; by reading we learn what we ought to do, by prayer we receive what we ask.’—S. Aug. in Ps. 75. To know our duties and not perform them, only renders us more guilty before God. Though our spiritual lectures and meditations should be very long and frequent, we shall never discharge our duties, unless we ask God’s assistance to fulfill them.

Hence, observes St. Isidore, the devil is never so vigorous in his efforts to suggest to our minds worldly thought, as when we are employed in seeking God’s grace by holy prayer. And why?, because the enemy sees that it is by prayer we procure the choicest gifts of heaven. The principal advantage of meditation is, that it stimulates us to ask of God the graces necessary for perseverance and for eternal salvation. Hence, the chief reason of the moral necessity of mental prayer to preserve the life of grace is, that he who is not reminded by meditation of his obligation to pray for the helps necessary for perseverance and eternal life, will never remember it: unless he meditates he will never think of the necessity of seeking assistance from above, and therefore will never ask it. But he that meditates every day, perceives his own wants; he sees the dangers by which he is encompassed, and the absolute necessity of prayer to save his soul. The lights received in meditation teach him to pray, and by prayer he will obtain grace, which will ensure his perseverance and salvation. Father Segneri said that in the beginning of his mental prayer, which was long and frequent, he was accustomed to direct his efforts more to the excitation of pious affections than to humble petition; but being convinced in the course of his reflections, of the necessity and immense advantages of prayer, he then generally devoted the remainder of his meditation to fervent supplication of God’s mercy.

‘I will cry like a young swallow,’ (Is. 38:14) said the devout king Ezechias. As the young swallow is continually crying to its mother for help and food, so should our prayers and tears, if we desire to preserve the life of grace, be constantly poured forth to God for protection against the death of sin, and for assistance to advance in His holy love. Father Rodriguez relates that the ancient Fathers, the first spiritual masters, having consulted together, came to the conclusion that the best and most indispensable means of salvation consisted in the frequent repetition of the short prayer of holy David. ‘Incline unto my aid, O God.’ With them Cassian [Conferences 10.10] agrees; he says that whoever desires to be saved, should be continually occupied in reciting the following prayer: Assist me, O my God; assist me, O my God. [Ps. 70.1] We ought to begin the day by reciting that prayer the instant we awake; we should repeat it, in all our necessities, in all our occupations spiritual as well as temporal, and especially when we are molested by any passion or temptation. St. Bonaventure says that sometimes grace is more readily obtained by one short prayer than by many good works.—S. Bon. de Prof. rel. lib. 2. c. 68. ‘Sometimes’, he says, ‘a person very easily procures by a short prayer what he would scarcely obtain by pious works.’ St. Ambrose declares that he who asks receives whilst he is praying, because to pray and to receive are one and the same! S. Am. 84. ad. Demet. Hence, St. Chrysostom asserts that ‘nothing is more powerful than a man who prays,’ because he partakes of the power of God. St. Bernard teaches that to arrive at perfection, prayer and meditation are necessary; by meditation we see our wants, and through prayer we receive what is necessary for us. ‘Let us,’ he says, ‘ascend by meditation and prayer; the former points out what is wanted, and the latter obtains it.’—S. Ber. ser. 1. de S. Andrea.

In a word, to be saved without prayer, is, as we have seen, most difficult, and in God’s ordinary providence, impossible. But prayer renders salvation most easy and secure. To be saved, it is not necessary, like the martyrs, to expose our lives for the faith; nor, like the holy anchorets, to retire into the desert, and live on wild herbs. No; it is sufficient to send forth our cries frequently to heaven, saying, Assist me, O Lord; O my God, assist me and have mercy on me: and what more easy than continually to invoke the Lord? St. Laurence Justinian exhorts us to make an effort to pray at least at the beginning of all our actions. ‘We should,’ he says, ‘endeavour to pour forth our prayer in the beginning at least of every work.’ Cassian says, that the ancient Fathers recommended, in a particular manner, the practice of having recourse to God by short but frequent prayers. ‘Let no person,’ says St. Bernard, ‘make little of his prayer, since God sets a high value on it; He will give what we ask, or what He knows will be more useful to us.’—S. Ber. Serm. 5. de Quad. If we do not pray, we shall certainly be without excuse; for the grace of prayer is given to all; it is in our power to pray whenever we wish. ‘With me,’ says David, ‘is prayer to the God of my life; I will say to God, thou art my support.’—Ps. 41:9-10. This point is fully discussed in the second part of this work, in which it is clearly demonstrated, that God bestows on all the grace of prayer, to enable them by pious supplications to obtain abundant aid to observe the divine law, and to persevere unto death in God’s service. For the present, I will only say, that if we be not saved, it will be our own fault: we shall be lost, only because we shall not have prayed.

Source: St. Alphonsus Liguori. A Short Treatise on Prayer (Chapter 2); tr. A Catholic Clergyman.

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Bibliography

St. Alphonsus Liguori. A Short Treatise on Prayer (On The Great Means of Prayer). Tr. A Catholic Clergyman. Dublin, 1834.

St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Great Means of Salvation and of Perfection. In: Complete Works of Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, The Ascetical Works, Volume 3, ed. Eugene Grimm, New York, 1886 (repr. 1927).  Audiobook version.

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Active Imagination and the Mysteries of the Rosary

Artist unkown: The Annunciation

LET’S continue the topic of experimenting with meditation on the Rosary Mysteries as tools for personal growth — spiritual, psychological and philosophical. To repeat in brief what I’ve said before, the guiding premise is that the ‘author’ of the Rosary Mysteries is the collective unconscious. They represent a cumulative attempt, crafted and refined by countless inspired individuals, to express in symbolic form stages or components of ones spiritual self-realization.  They are therefore of universal value.  One need not be a practicing Roman Catholic to benefit from them.  They concern universal and (what a follower of Jungian psychology would call) archetypal principles of the human psyche.

There is a standard formula by which Roman Catholics consider these mysteries while praying the Rosary.  However one is entirely free to experiment and improvise, and there are advantages with this. In particular, one might apply the Jungian technique of active imagination to this task — for example, by looking at artistic portrayals of these Gospel events — and creatively ‘engaging’ with them.  Almost the whole point of active imagination is spontaneity.  Nevertheless, another element of Jungian psychology can be used profitably here, namely his well-known distinction between four kinds of cognitive activity: sensing, thinking, feeling and intuiting.  (These of course are the four personality dimension of the Meyers-Briggs inventory).

Elsewhere I’ve related what was explained to me by a retreat director years ago — how these four cognitive activities can be used in connection with the traditional practice of lectio divina (holy reading) for interpreting Scripture. As understanding the complex messages of art is much like interpreting Scripture, it’s plausible to apply this approach to the former.

Accordingly, this works as follows.  Quiet your mind, and arrange time to devote to studying some work of art that portrays one of the Sorrowful, Joyful, Glorious or Luminous Rosary Mysteries.  In succession, spend some amount of time considering it exclusively by each cognitive function:

Sensing.  Examine the literal details without analyzing them.  Notice every important object and detail.  Scan the entire image so nothing is missed.  Notice shapes, colors, shadings, arrangement of figures, foreground and background, etc.

Thinking.  Now think about the objects in the painting.  Don’t force things or be overly analytical; in fact, more of a playful approach might be most appropriate.  For example, applying this process to interpret Scripture, one technique is to make puns or find alternative, varied meanings — however implausible — in the actual words.  Something similar might be done here.  The idea is not to form any definite conclusions, but rather to activate and exercise the rational faculty.

Feeling.  Here again, one should feel free to experiment. How does the art make you feel? One possibility is to cycle through the characters portrayed, and to imagine what that figure is feeling towards each of the others — or try to have the same feeling yourself.

Intuiting. Pause, take a breath, close your eyes.  Put yourself in the loving ‘shalom’ of God’s presence.  Now open your eyes and let the picture speak to you.  Imagine, if you like, it speaking directly to your heart, without specific words, giving intuitions and insights.

This is enough to say.  Of necessity this should be a completely personal method, and each person will need to discover what works best for them.  I would just encourage you to make the experiment.  Regardless of ones religious affiliation, these Mysteries and their associated art are a great cultural resource available to help your process of self-realization.

As for the picture above, I don’t know it’s source, but it is a rather unusual representation of the Annunciation.  What I like about it is that it –somewhat uniquely — focuses on Mary experiencing an ecstasy.  As such, it can be interpreted as an allegory for deep religious contemplation — as, perhaps, do the other Joyful Mysteries (and Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries).

 

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Adam of St. Victor − Sequences

The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs, Fra Angelico, 1423-1424, National Gallery, London

THE Abbey of St. Victor outside of Paris during the 12th and 13th centuries produced several noteworthy figures in the history of Christian spirituality, including Hugh and Richard of St. Victor and Thomas Gallus.  The high achievements of the Victorines in the area of contemplation did not occur in isolation, but rather in an integral context that included such things as regular participation in the Mass and Catholic sacramental life.  A lesser known figure, Adam of St. Victor, a contemporary of Hugh, left us many examples of Latin Sequences that were sung during daily masses there.  Studying these helps give us some insight into the spiritual milieu of the Abbey.  The poetic quality of Adam’s Sequences is somewhat variable, but here are two gems: the first for All Saints Day, and the second for the commemoration day of St. Augustine.  The English translations of Wrangham are shown; newer translations have recently been made by Mousseau.

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All Saints Day

November 1

CIII

THE Church on earth those joys pourtrays,
Which heavenly Mother-Church displays;
Keeping her annual holydays,
For endless ones she sighs and prays.

SUPERNAE matris gaudia
Repraesentat Ecclesia:
Dum festa colit annua,
Suspirat ad perpetua.

In this dark vale of woe to-day, 5
That Mother must her daughter stay;
Here Angel-guardians’ bright array
Must stand beside us in the fray.

In hac valle miseriae 5
Mater succurrat filiae;
Hie coelestes excubiae
Nobiscum stent in acie.

The world, the flesh, the devil’s spite
By different methods wars excite: 10
Such countless phantoms’ rush destroys
The sabbath that the heart enjoys.

Mundus, caro, daemonia
Diversa movent praelia: l0
Incursu tot phantasmatum
Turbatur cordis sabbatum.

This evil kindred hate displays
Alike against all holydays.
As, one and all, they fight and strive 15
Peace from the face of earth to drive.

Dies festos cognatio
Simul haec habet odio
Certatque pari foedere 15
Pacem de terra tollere.

Things strangely mingle here below,
Hope, terror, happiness, and pain;
While scarce for half an hour, we know.
Is silence kept in heaven’s domain. 20

Confusa sunt hie omnia,
Spes, metus, moeror, gaudium:
Vix hora vel dimidia
Fit in coelo silentium. 20

How blest that city is, wherein
Unceasing feast-days still begin!
How happy that assembly, where
Is utter ignorance of care!

Quam felix illa civitas
In qua jugis solemnitas!
Et quam jocunda curia,
Quae curae prorsus nescia!

Nor languor here, nor age, they know, 25
Nor fraud, nor terror of a foe:
But with one voice their joy they show;
One ardour makes all hearts to glow.

Nec languor hic, nec senium, 25
Nec fraus, nec terror hostium,
Sed una vox laetantium,
Et unus ardor cordium.

The angel-citizens on high
There, ‘neath a triple hierarchy, 30
The Trinity in Unity
Serve and obey rejoicingly.

Illic cives angelici
Sub hierarchia triplici 30
Trinae gaudent et simplici
Se Monarchiae subjici.

With wonder, — never giving o’er! —
They, seeing Him whom they adore,
Enjoy what, craving as before, 35
They thirst but to enjoy the more.

Mirantur, nec deficiunt,
In ilium quem prospiciunt;
Fruuntur, nec fastidiunt, 35
Quo frui magis sitiunt.

There all the Fathers stand around,
Ranking as worthy they are found;
The darkness now removed of night,
In light they look upon the light. 40

Illic patres dispositi
Pro qualitate meriti,
Semota jam caligine,
Lumen vident in lumine. 40

These Saints, whose feast to-day we grace
With solemn service as of old,
The King, unveiled and face to face,
In all His glory now behold.

Hi sancti quorum hodie
Recensentur solemnia,
Nunc, revelata facie,
Regem cernunt in gloria.

There may the virgins’ queen, in light 45
Transcending far heaven’s orders bright,
Plead our excuses in God’s sight
For all our failures to do right.

Illic regina virginum, 45
Transcendens culmen ordinum,
Excuset apud Dominum
Nostrorum lapsus criminum.

When this life’s troubles all are past,
Through prayer by them to God addressed. 50
May Christ’s grace bring us at the last
To where the Saints in glory rest! Amen.

Nos ad sanctorum gloriam,
Per ipsorum suffragia, 50
Post praesentem miseriam
Christi perducat gratia! Amen.

Source: Wrangham, vol. 3, pp. 170−175.

St. Augustine

Scenes from the Life of Saint Augustine of Hippo, ca. 1490, Master of Saint Augustine, Netherlandish, Metropolitan Museum of Art

August 28

LXVIII

OUR tuneful strains let us upraise
That endless feast’s delights to praise,
When, since thereon no trouble weighs,
The heart observes true sabbath days;

AETERNI festi gaudia
Nostra sonet harmonia,
Quo mens in se pacifica
Vera frequentat sabbata;

The rapture of a conscience clear, 5
That perfumes all those joys sincere,
By which it hath rich foretaste here
Of saints’ unending glory there,

Mundi cordis laetitia 5
Odorans vera gaudia,
Quibus praegustat avida
Quae sit sanctorum gloria,

Where the celestial company
Joys in its home exultingly; 10
And, giving crowns, their King they see
In all his glorious majesty.

Qua laetatur in patria
Coelicolarum curia, 10
Regem donantem praemia
Sua cernens in gloria.

O happy land! how great its bliss,
That knoweth nought but happiness!
For all the dwellers on that shore 15
One ceaseless song of praise outpour;

Beata illa patria
Quae nescit nisi gaudia!
Nam cives hujus patriae 15
Non cessant laudes canere.

Who those delights’ full sweetness feel,
Which not a trace of grief conceal;
‘Gainst whom no foeman draws the steel,
And who beneath no tempest reel: 20

Quos ille dulcor afficit
Quern nullus moeror inficit;
Quos nullus hostit impetit
Nullusque turbo concutit; 20

Where one day, clear from cloudlet’s haze,
Is better than a thousand days;
Bright with true light’s transcendent rays;
Filled with that knowledge of God’s ways,

Ubi dies clarissima
Melior est quam millia,
Luce lucens praefulgida,
Plena Dei notitia;

To grasp which human reason fails, 25
Nor human tongue to tell avails.
Till this mortality shall be
Absorbed in that life’s victory;

Quam mens humana capere, 25
Nec lingua valet promere,
Donec vitae victoria
Commutet haec mortalia.

When God shall all in all appear,
Life, righteousness, and knowledge clear; 30
Victuals and vesture and whate’er
The pious mind would wish to share!

Quando Deus est omnia:
Vita, virtus, scientia, 30
Victus, vestis et caetera,
Quae velle potest mens pia!

This in this vale of misery
The sober mind’s chief thought should be;
This should it feel, while rest it takes, 35
This should be with it when it wakes;

Hoc in hac valle misera
Meditetur mens sobria;
Hoc per soporem sentiat, 35
Hoc attendat dum vigilat;

How it will in that home, — its days
Of earthly exile past, — fond lays
For ever, crowned, the King to praise
In all His glorious beauty, raise. 40

Quo mundi post exilia
Coronetur iu patria,
Ac in decoris gloria
Regem laudet per saecula. 40

These praises, sounding loud and clear,
The Church now imitateth here;
As, in due order, year by year,
The birthdays of her saints appear;

Harum laudum praeconia
Imitatur Ecclesia,
Dum recensentur annua
Sanctorum natalitia;

When, after they have fought their fight, 45
With worth-won honours they are dight;
The martyr crowned with roses bright;
The virgin clad in robes of white.

Cum post peracta praelia 45
Digna redduntur praemia
Pro passione rosea,
Pro castitate candida.

They too receive a golden chain,
Who doctrines Catholic maintain: 50
In which Augustine now doth reign.
One of the great King’s shining train;

Datur et torques aurea
Pro doctrina catholica: 50
Qua praefulget Augustinus
In summi regis curia.

Whose written volumes’ full array
Are now the one Faith’s strength and stay:
Hence Mother Church avoids the way 55
Where errors lead mankind astray.

Cujus librorum copia
Fides firmatur unica;
Hinc et mater Ecclesia 55
Vitat errorum devia.

To follow where his steps precede,
And preach the truths He taught indeed.
Mother! may grace thy servants lead,
And grant the pure warm faith we need! Amen. 60

Hujus sequi vestigia
Ac praedicare dogmata
Fide recta ac fervida,
Det nobis mater gratia! Amen. 60

Source: Wrangham, vol. 2, pp. 186−191.

Readings

Blune, Clemens; Dreves, Guido Maria; Bannister, Henry K. Thesauri Hymnologici Prosarium.(Analecta Hymnica LIII, LIV, and LV), Leipzig, 1911, 1915, 1922. Latin text critical editions.

Fassler, Margot E. Who was Adam of Saint Victor? The evidence of the Sequence manuscripts. Journal of the American Musicological Society 37, 1984, 233−269.

Fassler, Margot E. The Victorines and the medieval liturgy. In: Eds. Hugh Feiss & Juliet Mousseau, A Companion to the Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris. Brill, 2018; 389-421.

Grosfillier, Jean. Les séquences d’Adam de Saint-Victor: étude littéraire (poétique et rhétorique), textes et traductions, commentaries. Bibliotheca Victorina 20. Turnhout: Brepols, 2008; 773−784.

Mousseau, Juliet. Adam of St Victor: Sequences. Introduction. In: Eds. Boyd Taylor Coolman & Dale M. Coulter, Trinity and Creation: a selection of works of Hugh, Richard and Adam of St Victor (VTT 1), New City Press, 2011; pp. 181−184.  Latin text and English translations.

Mousseau, Juliet. Adam of St Victor: Sequences. Peeters, 2013.

Neale, John Mason (ed.). Mediæval Hymns and Sequences. 3rd ed. London, 1867; pp.128−130 (Supernæ Matris Gaudia).

Shigo, Marie B. Study of the sequences ascribed to Adam of St. Victor. Dissertation. Loyola University Chicago, 1954.

Wrangham,Digby S. (ed.). The liturgical poetry of Adam of St. Victor. 3 vols. London, 1881. Latin and English. vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3.

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Evelyn Underhill on the Profound Mystical Meaning of Christian Liturgy

IN the following excerpt from Evelyn Underhill’s book, The Mystic Way, she makes some insightful and important observations concerning the Christian Liturgy.  Three points in particular are: (1) the Christian Liturgy is a supreme work of art; (2) it has evolved and adapted itself over the centuries as a marvelous accumulation of contributions by countless individuals (and hence, by implication, expresses the great spiritual truths of human nature more than anything designed by a few human beings); and (3) in it one may find a profound symbol for the mystic’s quest for union with God.

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ALITURGY, says Dom Cabrol, is “the external and official manifestation of a religion”: and the Mass, the typical liturgic rite of the Catholic world, is “the synthesis of Christianity.”[1] If, then, our discovery of the mystic life at the heart of the Christian religion be a discovery indeed and not a fantasy, it is here that we may expect to find its corroboration. Here, in that most characteristic of the art-products of Christendom, the ceremonial with which the love and intuition of centuries have gradually adorned the primitive sacrament of the Eucharist, we may find the test which shall confirm or discredit our conclusions as to the character of that life which descends from Jesus of Nazareth. … [I]n the ceremony of the Mass, we have a work of art designed and adapted by the racial consciousness of Christendom for the keeping and revealing of somethings claiming descent from that same source, which lives: lives, not in the arid security of liturgical museums, but in the thick of diurnal existence — in the cathedral and the mission hut, in the city and the cloister, in the slums and lonely places of our little twisting earth. This “something is still the true focus of that Christian consciousness which has not broken away from tradition. The great dramatic poem of the liturgy is still for that consciousness the shrine in which the primal secret of transcendence is preserved. …

The Christian Church has often been likened, and not without reason, to a ship: a ship, launched nineteen hundred years ago upon that great stream of Becoming which sets towards the “Sea Pacific” of Reality. Though she goes upon inland waters, yet hints of the ocean magic, the romance of wide horizons, mysterious tides and undiscovered countries, hang about her. In the course of her long voyage, carried upon the current of the river, she has sometimes taken fresh and strange cargo on board; sometimes discharged that which she brought with her from the past. She has changed the trim of her sails to meet new conditions, as the river ran now between hard and narrow banks and now spread itself to flow through fields. But through all these changes and developments, she kept safe the one treasure which she was built to preserve: the mystical secret of deification, of the ever-renewed and ever-fruitful interweaving of two orders of reality, the emergence of the Eternal into the temporal, the perpetually repeated “wonder of wonders, the human made divine.” She kept this secret and handed it on, as all life’s secrets have ever been preserved and imparted, by giving it supreme artistic form. In the Christian liturgy, the deepest intuitions, the rich personal experiences, not only of the primitive but of the patristic and mediaeval epochs, have found their perfect expression. Herein has been distilled, age by age, drop by drop, the very essence of the mystical consciousness.

“The rites and symbols of the external Christian church,” says Eckartshausen [2], “were formed after the pattern of the great, unchangeable, and fundamental truths, announcing things of a strength and of an importance impossible to describe, and revealed only to those who knew the innermost sanctuary.” Each fresh addition made to this living work of art has but elaborated and enriched the one central idea that runs through the whole. Here it is that Life’s instinct for recapitulation is found at work: here she has dramatised her methods, told in little the story of her supreme ascent. The fact that the framework of the Mass is essentially a mystical drama, the Christian equivalent of those Mysteries which enacted before the Pagan neophyte the necessary adventures of his soul, was implicitly if not directly recognised in very early times. It was the “theatre of the pious,” said Tertullian (De Spectaculis 29, 30; see Hirn, The Sacred Shrine, p. 493) in the second century; and the steady set of its development from the Pauline sacrament of feeding on the Spiritual Order, the Fractio Panis of the catacombs, to the solemn drama of the Greek or Roman liturgy, was always in the direction of more and more symbolic action, of perpetual elaborations of the ritual and theatrical element. To the sacramental meal of apostolic times, understood as a foretaste and assurance of the “Messianic banquet” in the coming Parousia, there was soon prefixed a religious exercise — modelled perhaps on the common worship of the Synagogue — which implied just those preparatory acts of penance, purification and desirous stretching out towards the Infinite, which precede in the experience of the growing soul the establishment of communion with the Spiritual World. Further, the classic exhibition of such communion — the earthly life of Jesus — naturally suggested the form taken by this “initiation of initiations” when its ritual development once began; the allegory under which the facts of the Christian mystery should be exhibited before men. The Mass therefore became for devout imagination during the succeeding centuries, not only the supreme medium through which the Christian consciousness could stretch out to, and lay hold on, the Eternal Order, not only the story of the soul’s regeneration and growth, but also the story of the actual career of Jesus, told, as it were, in holy pantomime: indirect evidence that the intuitive mind of the Church saw these as two aspects of one truth.  Hence every development of the original rite was made by minds attuned to these ideas; with the result that psychological and historical meanings run in parallel strands through the developed ceremony, of which many a manual act and ritual gesture, meaningless for us, had for earlier minds a poignant appeal as being the direct commemoration of some detail in the Passion of Christ.

As Europe now has it, then, in the Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox and the Mass of the Catholic Church, this ceremony is the great living witness to — the great artistic expression of — those organic facts which we call mystical Christianity: the “transplanting of man into a new world over against the nearest-at-hand world,” the “fundamental inner renewal,” the “union of the human and the divine.” All the thoughts that gather about this select series of acts — apparently so simple, sometimes almost fortuitous, yet charged with immense meanings for the brooding soul — all the elaborate, even fantastic symbolic interpretations placed upon these acts in mediaeval times, have arisen at one time or another within the collective consciousness of Christendom. Sometimes true organic developments, sometimes the result of abrupt intuitions, the reward of that receptivity which great rituals help to produce, they owe their place in or about the ceremony to the fact that they help it in the performance of its function, the stimulation of man’s spiritual sense; emphasising or enriching some aspect of its central and fundamentally mystical idea.

1. Les Origines Liturgiques, pp. 17, 140.
2. The Cloud upon the Sanctuary, Letter II.

Readings

Cabrol, Fernand (Domr). Les Origines Liturgiques. Letouzey et Ané, 1905.

Eckartshausen, Karl. The Cloud upon the Sanctuary. London, 1909.

Hirn, Yrjö. The Sacred Shrine a Study of the Poetry and Art of the Catholic Church. Macmillan, 1912.

Underhill, Evelyn. The Witness of the Liturgy. In: The Mystic Way: A Psychological Study in Christian Origins. London: Dent, 1913; ch. 6, pp. 331−371.

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My Mystical Experience

Mourning Dove, (c) Donna Pomeroy  

RECENTLY I read a quote attributed to the psychologist, Roberto Assaglio, to the effect that a problem with most books about mysticism is that they weren’t written by mystics. I certainly see his point, and agree. His quote prompted me to overcome some earlier hesitation to post about a recent mystical experience of mine. It’s representative of many I’ve had, though a little stronger than most. The details are as follows.

After working on my computer for a couple of hours, I felt I needed to take a break outside and get some fresh air. Accordingly I stepped out onto my front porch and began to mentally recite and meditate on the interior meaning of the Beatitudes (a regular spiritual exercise for me). I approached the second beatitude (Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted) with special attention. It had special relevance, as I’d been experiencing distress involving my teeth and was concerned that I might be facing an impending root canal. I found myself thinking, “Lord I’m trying to do the best I can, and you know what a setback this would be. I’m trying to do work for you. Why would you put such an obstacle in my way?”

I then experienced what seemed like a direct answer. In a way as never before, it was as though I felt God’s presence. Moreover, it seemed as though God  wanted to make it very clear that I understood he was present, and was saying, or as much as saying, “Fear not, for I am with you.”

Immediately what came to mind was something I’ve heard before in my  Catholic upbringing: that never is God more present with us than in our times of distress and trials. I also recall reading a quote attributed to scripture, wherein God asks, “Am I not enough for you?” (cf. 1 Sam 1:8).

I realized that, yes God’s presence — and my ability to feel that directly — was enough. It was more than enough —in fact, all I could ever want, the sum of all my desires. I could see directly that if God was with me during trials, the trials did not matter. Even were I to lose my life, if God were with me and I were certain of that, it would not matter. If you have God you have everything

Suddenly a mourning dove flew onto to my roof, perching two or three feet directly above me, I have many doves on the lot where I live, and I make it a practice to avoid disturbing them when I walk in the yard.  Sometimes this is successful, and other times not. But never before have I had a one actually approach me like this. I stood motionless, trying as long as possible to keep the dove there.  But within a minute or two, I felt my consciousness shift, and the dove flew away.

When I first became interested in mysticism many years ago, my great desire was to obtain the ultimate mystical experience — Cosmic Consciousness, or a blinding flash that reveals the knowledge of everything on Heaven and Earth. Yet the truth is that here I found the ‘simple’ experience of God’s loving presence more appealing, satisfying and fulfilling even than such a dramatic peak experience.

This left a lasting impression on me. I have not since felt God’s presence so directly, but neither have I lost the strong conviction that this experience is so fulfilling and worth seeking.  It also has occurred to me that the experience has elements of both kataphatic (the prayer and meditation that led up to it) and apophatic (the wordless, expressible sense of God’s loving concern) mystical experience.  For me, at least, it renders that distinction of little practical importance.

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Pitirim Sorokin: Techniques for the Altruistic Transformation of Individuals and Society

I just posted this at Satyagraha, my cultural psychology blog, but it’s relevant here also, especially since it considers prayer and contemplation (among other things) as practical and scientific means to effect moral and spiritual transformation.  The key ingredients for the individual and social changes most needed today, Sorokin argues persuasively, are agape love and techniques that help subordinate egoistic modes of thought to what he called the supraconscious. He based his conclusions on detailed studies of cultural history, the lives of great reformers like St. Francis, St. Teresa of Avila and Gandhi, and the ascetical-mystical traditions of East and West.

Satyagraha

OUR earlier article about Pitirim Sorokin (Culture in Crisis) explained the crises of modern culture as he understood them.  Especially in the wake of the Covid pandemic, it’s evident that, since that article was written (over a decade ago), crises have multiplied and intensified.  It’s appropriate, then, that we now direct attention more closely to the solutions Sorokin proposed.  Whereas in the past cultural transitions have occurred at the whim of chance and Fate, we must now, he argued, think in terms of intentional change, of active steps to produce an Idealistic culture.  This would involve a simultaneous transformation of individuals and society, but with the former as more primary.

Under the rubric of “Idealism” Sorokin understood the broad Platonic view of the unity of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. Inseparable from these, he believed, is the principle of Love.  For personal and social transformation…

View original post 2,357 more words

Allegorical Meaning of the High Priest’s Clothing

Furtmeyr Bible

EXODUS is a great presentation of the timeless philosophy, an inspired and extremely relevant allegory for the journey of the soul to God and to authentic human life. Within the larger narrative the story of the Tabernacal in the desert recapitulates and elaborates many of the central themes. Amongst all commentators of Exodus, Philo of Alexandria stands pre-eminent in psychological and mystical insight. Here he addresses the meaning of the High Priest’s clothing.  The High Priest symbolizes our interior person as it enters truer states of consciousness.  First comes a state of the Sacred Union of sensory and spiritual realms, the ethical summum bonum: living in the world restored to its true, miraculous condition.  We need not, like strict ascetics, deny the pleasures of the sensory world.  Rather, so long as we keep spiritual concerns foremost in our minds the sensory realm becomes divinized.

If again you examine the High Priest the Logos, you will find … his holy vesture to have a variegated beauty derived from powers belonging some to the realm of pure intellect, some to that of sense-perception. … On the head, then, there is “a plate of pure gold, bearing as an engraving of a signet, ‘a holy thing to the Lord'” (Ex. xxviii. 32); and at the feet on the end of the skirt, bells and flower patterns (Ex. xxviii. 29 f.). The signet spoken of is the original principle behind all principles, after which God shaped or formed the universe, incorporeal, we know, and discerned by the intellect alone; whereas the flower patterns and bells are symbols of qualities recognized by the senses and tested by sight and hearing. And [Moses] has well weighed his words when he adds: “His sound shall be audible when he is about to enter into the Holy Place” (Ex. xxviii. 31), to the end that when the soul is about to enter the truly holy place, the divine place which only mind can apprehend, the senses also may be aided to join in the hymn with their best, and that our whole composite being, like a full choir all in tune, may chant together one harmonious strain rising from varied voices blending one with another; the thoughts of the mind inspiring the keynotes — for the leaders of this choir are the truths perceived by mind alone — while the objects of sense-perception, which resemble the individual members of the choir, chime in with their accordant tuneful notes.
~ Philo, Migration of Abraham 100−104 (tr. Colson & Whitaker)

Integral to this experience is maintenance of a continuous attitude of thanks and praise to God.

The fire on the altar, [Moses] tells us, will burn continuously and not be extinguished (Lev. vi. 13). That, I think, is natural and fitting, for since the gracious gifts of God granted daily and nightly to men are perennial, unfailing and unceasing, the symbol of thankfulness also, the sacred flame, should be kept alight and remain unextinguished for ever.
~ Philo, Special Laws 1.284 f. (tr. Colson)

Beyond this level of consciousness is entrance into the Holy of Holies — which we understand as pure contemplation, completely detached from sensory concerns.

There is an amazing amount of material from Philo about the allegorical meaning of Exodus, barely explored by modern readers.

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Reference

F. H. Colson; G. H. Whitaker; Ralph Marcus (eds.). The Works of Philo. 12 vols. Loeb Classical Library. Harvard University Press, 1929−1953.

Psalm 23

Dominus pascit me

Psalm 23 (KJV)

THE LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

[2] He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

[3] He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

[4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

[5] Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

[6] Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

[14] Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.

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Hebrew, Latin, Greek versions, tools, commentaries

Psalm 1

Psalm 1, illuminated Manuscript

Psalm 1 (KJV)

BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

[2] But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

[3] And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

[4] The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

[5] Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

[6] For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

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