"Grace, which is charity, contains in itslef all virtues in a hidden and potential manner, like the leaves and the branches of the oak tree hidden in the meat of an acorn. To be an acorn is to have a taste for being an oak tree. Habitual grace brings with it all the Christian virtues in their seed.
Actual grace moves us to actualize these hidden powers and to realize what they mean: Christ acting in us."
-- Thomas Merton from "Thoughts in Solitude"
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Some Perspective on Theology
Reading theology is a wonderful thing. It helps us try to comprehend something about God. The problem is that it's easy to just live in our heads and not make the connection to our hearts. Prayer makes that connection. Prayer, especially contemplative prayer, takes us out of our heads and puts us into our hearts where we can connect with God. That is not to say we don't use our intellect, we do, but we must keep perspective that our intellect is not the end in itself, but a means to develop a thought process that we can use in contemplation.
When we pray we should pray with our entire selves, giving everything we have at that moment in time. On meditative prayer Thomas Merton said, "In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with his mind and lips, but in a certain sense with his whole being. Prayer is then not just a formula of words, or a series of desires springing up in the heart -- it is the orientation of our whole body, mind, and spirit to God in silence, attention, and adoration. All good meditative prayer is a conversion of our entire self to God." (From "Thoughts", p.48)
Merton's words emphasize what I've said above, we must not be content to just theologize about God. We really need to encounter Him and to do that we must use our minds and our hearts and every faculty that He has given us. Everything He has given us has made it possible for us to worship Him more perfectly and to love Him more fully. So if we just stay in our heads and develop an intellectual understanding of God we aren't really allowing ourselves to truly know Him. We are being egotistical thinking we can get to Him through our minds alone. Unfortunately, we are fooling ourselves. We must open our hearts through meditation and prayer. It's the only way to make the connection with our heads that will allow us to experience something of the mystery of God.
When we pray we should pray with our entire selves, giving everything we have at that moment in time. On meditative prayer Thomas Merton said, "In meditative prayer, one thinks and speaks not only with his mind and lips, but in a certain sense with his whole being. Prayer is then not just a formula of words, or a series of desires springing up in the heart -- it is the orientation of our whole body, mind, and spirit to God in silence, attention, and adoration. All good meditative prayer is a conversion of our entire self to God." (From "Thoughts", p.48)
Merton's words emphasize what I've said above, we must not be content to just theologize about God. We really need to encounter Him and to do that we must use our minds and our hearts and every faculty that He has given us. Everything He has given us has made it possible for us to worship Him more perfectly and to love Him more fully. So if we just stay in our heads and develop an intellectual understanding of God we aren't really allowing ourselves to truly know Him. We are being egotistical thinking we can get to Him through our minds alone. Unfortunately, we are fooling ourselves. We must open our hearts through meditation and prayer. It's the only way to make the connection with our heads that will allow us to experience something of the mystery of God.
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