I was first introduced to Saint John of the Cross when I was an undergraduate in the Great Books Honors Program at the Franciscan University of Steubenville. It is from him and from Saint Teresa of Avila that I first heard that the highest point of prayer is the transforming union or mystical marriage. Knowing that this was the endpoint of prayer and the culmination of our lives here on earth, when I first started considering my theory on Genesis 1-4, I figured that it would make sense that God would have begun with that end in mind. God would have created us to be married to Him, and that would have been the case right from the beginning with our first parents. These two Doctors of Prayer teach us that the reason we were created was to be married to God. I am saying the same thing, but my argument is drawn first and foremost from Genesis 1-4, secondarily from the rest of Sacred Scripture, and all with a view of the doctrine and dogma of the Catholic Church.
That we are made to have a deep union with God, similar to a husband to his wife, is the teaching of the Church. The highpoint of Father Thomas Dubay’s book, Fire Within, is chapter ten entitled “The Transforming Summit.” The climax of chapter ten is subtitled: “Transfiguration, deification, marriage.” He begins this sections saying: “Actually, this final trait of the summit is far more than a trait. A summation of the whole, it biblically and profoundly expresses the deepest essence of contemplative culmination, the complete reason for the Incarnation and the redemption. It is the fulfillment of the divine plan for the planet. We men and women were never made simply to be men and women on a natural plane. Because God never thinks prosaic thoughts, never condones lukewarm dilutions, He had in mind nothing less than that we should be deified, that is, transfigured and oned with Him in a union beyond human words” (pgs.192-193).
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label transforming union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label transforming union. Show all posts
3.23.2008
Universal Call: Mystical Marriage
Blessed Easter!
I picked up a little book a few weeks ago at church when two Divine Mercy sisters came to speak. The book I bought is called The Spirituality of Saint Faustina: The road to union with God. Years ago I bought her diary; that was before she was even beatified. I read some of it at the time; I figure I must have given it away at some point because I don't remember having seen it for years and years. I was going to buy it from the good sisters the other day, but they were sold out of her diary. I started reading my new little book today.
On page twenty-four I found this beautiful quote from her Diary #1523: "I can never help being amazed that the Lord would have such an intimate relationship with His creatures.... Every time I begin this meditation, I never finish it, because my spirit becomes entirely drowned in Him." That corresponds well with what I am trying to say. One of my main points is that we are all called to such an intimate relationship with God.
The Church teaches that all are called to holiness. Holiness comes through a deep prayer life. The well-known and very faithful spiritual guide and author, Father Thomas Dubay, S.M., has an entire chapter on this question in his classic, Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel--on prayer. He says there is no true holiness without deep, mystical prayer: "Ss. Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross are emphatic that without a deep rooting in a serious prayer life no one comes close to living the Gospel ideals with completeness" (199).
Father Dubay poses the question this way: "Is everyone called by God to infused contemplation and to the very fullness of it, the transforming union? Can a person attain to perfect holiness without this kind of prayer? Are there two ways of sanctity, an active, ascetic way and a passive, mystical way? Or is there only one way meant for all, active and ascetic in the beginning, but becoming passive and mystical in full development?" His answer is that in the Scriptures, Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and the constant teaching of the Church, there is only one way to holiness, and it is the transforming union.
This is what I am trying to say: all are called to mystical marriage with God. I am not saying that many get there; I am only saying that all are called. I am arguing it primarily from the Scriptures with an emphasis on the first few chapters of Genesis. Father Dubay says "...That most people, lay, religious and priestly, assume without study that they are not called to advanced prayer. They take it for granted that the prayer of which Ss. Teresa and John write could not be meant for them. They lose sight of the fact that both of these saints are presented by the Church as universal Doctors precisely because of their teaching about the lofty reaches of the spiritual life. So deeply engrained among us is the minimalistic view that the majority are surprised to hear it said that the heights of prayer are open also to them. Yet people who really want God are, I find, thrilled at the thought that they too can aspire to fullness" (200-201).
I am not a good guide for reaching the heights of prayer; others like Father Dubay are able to do that. My ability is to better enable others to understand the Scriptures; of course, understanding God's Word is helpful in loving Him more and drawing nearer to Him. First and foremost, my goal is to awaken in people the realization that God created us for a marvelous reality. He created us for Himself, to be His spouse. That is why He was willing to become a baby, live an obscure, poor life for thirty years, and die a horrible death as a man nailed naked to a tree. He did all that because He thirsts for you and me.
I'll end with one more quote from the good Father Dubay: "...Once we understand the universal call [to mystical marriage] we are more likely to be willing to pay the price to attain its object. Advancing in prayer is not the result of a mere velleity any more than the selfish loving of another human person issues from wishful thinging. Both demand great detachment from self-centeredness and a strenuous carrying of the cross. If we see that the summit is open to us, we find in the vision a fresh impulse to go sell all that we have and buy the pearl of great price" (201).
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
I picked up a little book a few weeks ago at church when two Divine Mercy sisters came to speak. The book I bought is called The Spirituality of Saint Faustina: The road to union with God. Years ago I bought her diary; that was before she was even beatified. I read some of it at the time; I figure I must have given it away at some point because I don't remember having seen it for years and years. I was going to buy it from the good sisters the other day, but they were sold out of her diary. I started reading my new little book today.
On page twenty-four I found this beautiful quote from her Diary #1523: "I can never help being amazed that the Lord would have such an intimate relationship with His creatures.... Every time I begin this meditation, I never finish it, because my spirit becomes entirely drowned in Him." That corresponds well with what I am trying to say. One of my main points is that we are all called to such an intimate relationship with God.
The Church teaches that all are called to holiness. Holiness comes through a deep prayer life. The well-known and very faithful spiritual guide and author, Father Thomas Dubay, S.M., has an entire chapter on this question in his classic, Fire Within: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and the Gospel--on prayer. He says there is no true holiness without deep, mystical prayer: "Ss. Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross are emphatic that without a deep rooting in a serious prayer life no one comes close to living the Gospel ideals with completeness" (199).
Father Dubay poses the question this way: "Is everyone called by God to infused contemplation and to the very fullness of it, the transforming union? Can a person attain to perfect holiness without this kind of prayer? Are there two ways of sanctity, an active, ascetic way and a passive, mystical way? Or is there only one way meant for all, active and ascetic in the beginning, but becoming passive and mystical in full development?" His answer is that in the Scriptures, Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and the constant teaching of the Church, there is only one way to holiness, and it is the transforming union.
This is what I am trying to say: all are called to mystical marriage with God. I am not saying that many get there; I am only saying that all are called. I am arguing it primarily from the Scriptures with an emphasis on the first few chapters of Genesis. Father Dubay says "...That most people, lay, religious and priestly, assume without study that they are not called to advanced prayer. They take it for granted that the prayer of which Ss. Teresa and John write could not be meant for them. They lose sight of the fact that both of these saints are presented by the Church as universal Doctors precisely because of their teaching about the lofty reaches of the spiritual life. So deeply engrained among us is the minimalistic view that the majority are surprised to hear it said that the heights of prayer are open also to them. Yet people who really want God are, I find, thrilled at the thought that they too can aspire to fullness" (200-201).
I am not a good guide for reaching the heights of prayer; others like Father Dubay are able to do that. My ability is to better enable others to understand the Scriptures; of course, understanding God's Word is helpful in loving Him more and drawing nearer to Him. First and foremost, my goal is to awaken in people the realization that God created us for a marvelous reality. He created us for Himself, to be His spouse. That is why He was willing to become a baby, live an obscure, poor life for thirty years, and die a horrible death as a man nailed naked to a tree. He did all that because He thirsts for you and me.
I'll end with one more quote from the good Father Dubay: "...Once we understand the universal call [to mystical marriage] we are more likely to be willing to pay the price to attain its object. Advancing in prayer is not the result of a mere velleity any more than the selfish loving of another human person issues from wishful thinging. Both demand great detachment from self-centeredness and a strenuous carrying of the cross. If we see that the summit is open to us, we find in the vision a fresh impulse to go sell all that we have and buy the pearl of great price" (201).
Thanks for reading and your prayers.
Copyright 2007.
All rights reserved.
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