Friends for Jesus

[lovebeloved]

The Twentieth Chapter
The Love of Solitude and Silence
SEEK a suitable time for leisure and meditate often on the favors of God. Leave curiosities alone. Read such matters as bring sorrow to the heart rather than occupation to the mind. If you withdraw yourself from unnecessary talking and idle running about, from listening to gossip and rumors, you will find enough time that is suitable for holy meditation.

Very many great saints avoided the company of men wherever possible and chose to serve God in retirement. “As often as I have been among men,” said one writer, “I have returned less a man.” We often find this to be true when we take part in long conversations. It is easier to be silent altogether than not to speak too much. To stay at home is easier than to be sufficiently on guard while away. Anyone, then, who aims to live the inner and spiritual life must go apart, with Jesus, from the crowd.
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In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[CathNancy]

[lovebeloved]

No man appears in safety before the public eye unless he first relishes obscurity. No man is safe in 30 speaking unless he loves to be silent. No man rules safely unless he is willing to be ruled. No man commands safely unless he has learned well how to obey. No man rejoices safely unless he has within him the testimony of a good conscience.

More than this, the security of the saints was always enveloped in the fear of God, nor were they less cautious and humble because they were conspicuous for great virtues and graces. The security of the wicked, on the contrary, springs from pride and presumption, and will end in their own deception.

Never promise yourself security in this life, even though you seem to be a good religious, or a devout hermit. It happens very often that those whom men esteem highly are more seriously endangered by their own excessive confidence. Hence, for many it is better not to be too free from temptations, but often to be tried lest they become too secure, too filled with pride, or even too eager to fall back upon external comforts.

If only a man would never seek passing joys or entangle himself with worldly affairs, what a good conscience he would have. What great peace and tranquillity would be his, if he cut himself off from all empty care and thought only of things divine, things helpful to his soul, and put all his trust in God.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[Lisabeth]

[lovebeloved]

No man deserves the consolation of heaven unless he persistently arouses himself to holy contrition. 31 If you desire true sorrow of heart, seek the privacy of your cell and shut out the uproar of the world, as it is written: “In your chamber bewail your sins.” There you will find what too often you lose abroad.

Your cell will become dear to you if you remain in it, but if you do not, it will become wearisome. If in the beginning of your religious life, you live within your cell and keep to it, it will soon become a special friend and a very great comfort.

In silence and quiet the devout soul advances in virtue and learns the hidden truths of Scripture. There she finds a flood of tears with which to bathe and cleanse herself nightly, that she may become the more intimate with her Creator the farther she withdraws from all the tumult of the world. For God and His holy angels will draw near to him who withdraws from friends and acquaintances.

It is better for a man to be obscure and to attend to his salvation than to neglect it and work miracles. It is praiseworthy for a religious seldom to go abroad, to flee the sight of men and have no wish to see them.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[lovebeloved]

Why wish to see what you are not permitted to have? “The world passes away and the concupiscence thereof.” Sensual craving sometimes entices you to wander around, but when the moment is past, what do you bring back with you save a disturbed conscience and heavy heart? A happy going often leads to a sad return, a merry evening to a mournful dawn. Thus, all carnal joy begins sweetly but in the end brings remorse and death.

What can you find elsewhere that you cannot find here in your cell? Behold heaven and earth and all the elements, for of these all things are made. What can you see anywhere under the sun that will remain long? Perhaps you think you will completely satisfy yourself, but you cannot do so, for if you should see all existing things, what would they be but an empty vision?

Raise your eyes to God in heaven and pray because of your sins and shortcomings. Leave vanity to the vain. Set yourself to the things which God has commanded you to do. Close the door upon yourself and call to you Jesus, your Beloved. Remain with Him in your cell, for nowhere else will you find such peace. If you had not left it, and had not listened to idle gossip, you would have remained in greater peace. But since you love, sometimes, to hear news, it is only right that you should suffer sorrow of heart from it.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
Daily Readings
Journey Home

[lovebeloved]

Why wish to see what you are not permitted to have? “The world passes away and the concupiscence thereof.”

Our woes and miseries usually constitute in not being able to enjoy what IS because of our craving for what is NOT, which includes what we want to have but does not have yet or cannot have or what we had but cannot acknowledge to have (e.g. pain, suffering)

If we learn to see that both joy and sorrow come from the same loving hands, we would gladly receive them because we trust the hands that allowed them... Or, we trust that those hands hold us fast in moments when we are greatly distressed by what IS or what we have.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[Lisabeth]

[lovebeloved]

[lovebeloved]

The Twenty-First Chapter
Sorrow of Heart

IF YOU wish to make progress in virtue, live in the fear of the Lord, do not look for too much freedom, discipline your senses, and shun inane 34 silliness. Sorrow opens the door to many a blessing which dissoluteness usually destroys.

It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates on his exiled state and the many dangers to his soul, can ever be perfectly happy in this life. Lighthearted and heedless of our defects, we do not feel the real sorrows of our souls, but often indulge in empty laughter when we have good reason to weep. No liberty is true and no joy is genuine unless it is founded in the fear of the Lord and a good conscience.

Happy is the man who can throw off the weight of every care and recollect himself in holy contrition. Happy is the man who casts from him all that can stain or burden his conscience.

Fight like a man. Habit is overcome by habit. If you leave men alone, they will leave you alone to do what you have to do. Do not busy yourself about the affairs of others and do not become entangled in the business of your superiors. Keep an eye primarily on yourself and admonish yourself instead of your friends.

If you do not enjoy the favor of men, do not let it sadden you; but consider it a serious matter if you do not conduct yourself as well or as carefully as is becoming for a servant of God and a devout religious.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
Daily Readings
Journey Home

[lovebeloved]

IF YOU wish to make progress in virtue, live in the fear of the Lord, do not look for too much freedom, discipline your senses, and shun inane silliness. Sorrow opens the door to many a blessing which dissoluteness usually destroys.

Fear of the Lord...

For those who see God as punitive, well... there's so much fear already but i do not think that is really what FEAR of the Lord means... It is in the context of a love relationship that this FEAR is suppose to be taken into account....

If we love someone, we FEAR offending him/her not because s/he will scold us or walk away from us... but simply because we love him/her that we do not want him/her to get hurt...

My reading of fearing the Lord is that because of my love for Him and His lso great love for me that I do not wish at all--nay, I TREMBLE at the thought of hurting the One I love and who loves me... it is this and only this that I fear and nothing more...

do not look for too much freedom...

Again, in the context of love...even a counterfeit love and not supernatural love--we are thrown to a level of exhiliration and freedom that mimics the REAL thing... (think about the deep and strong emotion of your first infatuation and you know what i mean...)

But then when we truly love, that is when we are truly FREE... there is no greater freedom than being able to love and in loving...

If we find ourselves in a bind because of our loving, it is a tell-tale sign that perhaps our love is not at all purem that there are still string attached to our loving...

One of the signs that our love is REAL is when we can let thing BE... we let our love ones and our love One just BE... we do not put them in a box, we do not try to control their behavior, we do not expect them to be who they are not... we also let them FREE... and we set them FREE by our loving...

There is no greater freedom... There is no other way of knowing how free we really are or how much others are truly set free than by our loving--loving as God does--unconditionally and freely...

so why seek for greater freedom outsie that?

discipline your senses, and shun inane silliness

Corollary to "Let It BE," well, isn't it that we cannot accept things/persons as they are that is when our sense are undisciplined the most because we focus on things that are not suppose to be our business... things that are not in our control are not our business...

Remember the Serenity Prayer? serenity to accept the things I cannot change... courage to change the things I can.... and the wisdom to know the difference....

and isn't it inane silliness to control the things we cannot control like other people's behavior...the weather... GOD? Yeah, admit it sometimes even God, we try to control... we try to bribe Him and bargain with Him--thank Him that He understands our inanity ....

but when real love captures our hearts--that same love purifies our hearts to focus only on its Beloved...and therefore it cannot but put its senses only on pleasing HIm and shun those that does not at all contribute to that goal--LOVE.

Sorrow opens the door to many a blessing which dissoluteness usually destroys

Part of those things we need to accept with serenity is that we live in a broken world and sorrow is part of it... It does opens the door to many blessings, again in the context of a love relationship... for when we are in sorrow, even in our human relations--the first person that comes up to mind to share it with is no one but the One who love us most--those we know who would understand our hearts the most... and the One whom we wanna reveal ourselves to more and more in the same way that we want to know Him more and more--no other than the ones and the One we love...

and in sharing our sorrows, we get to be INTIMATE... for more than joy and laughter, it is sorrow and pain that reveals more the true disposition and nature of our hearts... It is in those times that we are more vulnerable and therefore, more open to intimacy if we let others know what is really going on in us and open our hearts to them...

That is the reason why the mystics say that loneliness is an invitation to solitude--it there that we gain more familiarity with the Lord and with ourselves when we share ourselves to Him in our sorrow. We shall know the heart of Him who loves us most and when we do, we cannot but love Him more. Now tell me, if that isn't a great blessing at all... That is the cry of our hearts and it is satisfied while it is burning for more...of Him, His love and of love for Him...
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[Lisabeth]

Thank you for your beautiful sharing lovebeloved.

[lovebeloved]

It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates on his exiled state and the many dangers to his soul, can ever be perfectly happy in this life. Lighthearted and heedless of our defects, we do not feel the real sorrows of our souls, but often indulge in empty laughter when we have good reason to weep. No liberty is true and no joy is genuine unless it is founded in the fear of the Lord and a good conscience.

It is a wonder that any man who considers and meditates on his exiled state and the many dangers to his soul, can ever be perfectly happy in this life.

Again, in reading this with the context of having a love relationship with God..Well, how can we ever be truly happy here on earth when our very souls longs to be one with our Lover...and that can only be accomplished in heaven.

Besides that, there are so many things that prostitute itslef as a substitute to the transcendent feeling we have in being in communion with God--our self-made little glories--e.g. accomplishments, medals, honors, fame, money... oh, even our relationships, our marriages, our securities...

Our hearts are so idolatrous that when we fail to bow down for a second to the One who made me, i am sure that i am prostrating and prostituting myself to another god(s)...

Not only that, our enemy-the devil, never ceases to work for us to forget where we truly belong--that we are on a journey... so that we can never be reunited with Him who loves us-our own Prince Charming waiting and doing everything He can to lead us to His Palace and to our Wedding Feast cannot be thwarted by the witches (evil) in our lives...

So, the witches dealt with us instead and let us fall into a trance in any way she can (like Sleeping Beauty) to forget our journey...or berate us like evil stepsisters to believe we are not princesses meant for the Prince...

Lighthearted and heedless of our defects, we do not feel the real sorrows of our souls, but often indulge in empty laughter when we have good reason to weep.

If only we search really what is happening to us, we cannot but weep especailly when we have already fallen asleep from our journey and cannot wake up anymore except by a kiss from the Prince to awake our hearts once more for love of Him...

Otherwise, we thought we are living a life when in fact, we are simply in a dream or worse, a nightmare--and would indeed feel hopeless and life would be meaningless--since we do not live it but simply let it go by.

Even in the midst of laughter, if we listen carefully to our hearts, which keeps a memory of where we belong, of the love we once knew and what is meant for us... we knew we have good reason indeed to weep...if we have forgotten where we are going, what is the purpose of the journey and what and Who awaits us in the end.

No liberty is true and no joy is genuine unless it is founded in the fear of the Lord and a good conscience.

Our hearts can only fly in freedom to journey home when it has been kissed by God...and when it is held captive again by witches, much like POWs..it knows it won't be long that it will be set free again...for this is Love's mission.

Liberty is fought for already and won on the Cross by our Prince. It is the foundation of our HOPE and JOY--that our Prince is already victorious... what that liberates us from is freedom from fear... fear that our Prince will not come to rescue us, fear that we will not make the journey for He is with us, fear that we will not arrive at our destination because of the many times we would stumble and fall and the witches telling that we won't make it (IT"S A LIE!)... we won't arrive on our own efforts but ONLY by the Mercy of the Lord we will, for He will lift us up from the pits we have dug ourselves in (to escape life itself)...the only question is do we really want to reach our destiny to be one with our Beloved and go on with the journey?

The only thing we need in this journey is the Fear of the Lord---the fear of losing Him...and of losing sight of and faith in His love for me as manifested in the gospels (than of my little love for Him,if there ever is) and, the memory of His kisses i.e. His faithfulness... is the foundation of a good conscience...and of a worthwhile journey.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[lovebeloved]

it is often better and safer for us to have few consolations in this life, especially comforts of the body. Yet if we do not have divine consolation or 35 experience it rarely, it is our own fault because we seek no sorrow of heart and do not forsake vain outward satisfaction.

Consider yourself unworthy of divine solace and deserving rather of much tribulation. When a man is perfectly contrite, the whole world is bitter and wearisome to him.

A good man always finds enough over which to mourn and weep; whether he thinks of himself or of his neighbor he knows that no one lives here without suffering, and the closer he examines himself the more he grieves.

The sins and vices in which we are so entangled that we can rarely apply ourselves to the contemplation of heaven are matters for just sorrow and inner remorse.

I do not doubt that you would correct yourself more earnestly if you would think more of an early death than of a long life. And if you pondered in your heart the future pains of hell or of purgatory, I believe you would willingly endure labor and trouble and would fear no hardship. But since these thoughts never pierce the heart and since we are enamored of flattering pleasure, we remain very cold and indifferent. Our wretched body complains so easily because our soul is altogether too lifeless.

Pray humbly to the Lord, therefore, that He may give you the spirit of contrition and say with the Prophet: “Feed me, Lord, with the bread of 36 mourning and give me to drink of tears in full measure.”6[/i]
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
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[lovebeloved]

Thoughts on the Misery of Man

WHEREVER you are, wherever you go, you are miserable unless you turn to God. So why be dismayed when things do not happen as you wish and desire? Is there anyone who has everything as he wishes? No—neither I, nor you, nor any man on earth. There is no one in the world, be he Pope or king, who does not suffer trial and anguish.

Who is the better off then? Surely, it is the man who will suffer something for God. Many unstable and weak-minded people say: “See how well that man lives, how rich, how great he is, how powerful and mighty.” But you must lift up your eyes to the riches of heaven and realize that the material goods of which they speak are nothing. These things are uncertain and very burdensome because they are never possessed without anxiety and fear. Man’s happiness does not consist in the possession of abundant goods; a very little is enough.
_________________
In the Divinity of Christ the Church has already attained Her Holiness.
In the humanity of the Church, the Bride of Christ redeemed by Her Lord.
In Her Divinity, She is Holy, in Her humanity, She longs to become Holy.

The Imitation of Christ
Daily Readings
Journey Home

[lucyna]

Somehow this thread got lost here it is now!
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God bless you all!