Well, St. Paul started me on this whole thing, so I can't think of a better place to pick up the thread of this thought than the Holy Father's recent comments on Paul's words about the Holy Spirit. We have been discussing this idea that we are created body, created soul, and something else - something Uncreated - and I think we have drawn ourselves to the truth that this Other is the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And just as we were coming to this, Pope Benedict's Wednesday audience concurred, confirmed, explained in ways for which we were groping. It is worth reading in its entirety, but I will quote it at length:
"[I]n his letters St. Paul ... does not limit himself to illustrate only the dynamic and operative dimension of the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, but also analyzes his presence in the life of the Christian, whose identity is marked by him. That is, Paul reflects on the Spirit showing his influence not only on the Christian's action but over his very being. In fact, he says that the Spirit of God dwells in us (cf. Rom 8:9; 2 Cor 3:16) and that "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6). For Paul, therefore, the Spirit penetrates our most intimate personal depths...
Paul also teaches us another important thing. He says that there can be no authentic prayer without the presence of the Spirit in us...
It is as if saying that the Holy Spirit, namely, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, becomes the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which rises incessantly to God a movement of prayer, of which we cannot even specify the terms. The Spirit, in fact, ever awake in us, makes up for our deficiencies and offers the Father our adoration, along with our most profound aspirations. Obviously this calls for a level of great vital communion with the Spirit. It is an invitation to be ever more sensitive, more attentive to this presence of the Spirit in us, to transform it into prayer, to experience this presence and to learn in this way to pray, to speak with the Father as children in the Holy Spirit. ...
The Spirit places us in the very rhythm of divine life, which is a life of love, making us participate personally in the relations that exist between the Father and the Son. ...
Thus let us learn from Paul that the action of the Spirit orients our life toward the great values of love, joy, communion and hope. It is for us to experience this every day, seconding the interior suggestions of the Spirit, helped in discernment by the illuminating guidance of the Apostle."
This is a long way from, and high above, vivisecting spirit and soul!
I am struck (in light of our conversation) by these words:
"God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Galatians 4:6). For Paul, therefore, the Spirit penetrates our most intimate personal depths.
This identifies the "heart," which we considered a possibility for the third element of a trichotomy, as "our most intimate personal depths." As indeed it is.
"[I]n his letters St. Paul ... does not limit himself to illustrate only the dynamic and operative dimension of the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, but also analyzes his presence in the life of the Christian, whose identity is marked by him. That is, Paul reflects on the Spirit showing his influence not only on the Christian's action but over his very being. In fact, he says that the Spirit of God dwells in us (cf. Rom 8:9; 2 Cor 3:16) and that "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6). For Paul, therefore, the Spirit penetrates our most intimate personal depths...
Paul also teaches us another important thing. He says that there can be no authentic prayer without the presence of the Spirit in us...
It is as if saying that the Holy Spirit, namely, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, becomes the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which rises incessantly to God a movement of prayer, of which we cannot even specify the terms. The Spirit, in fact, ever awake in us, makes up for our deficiencies and offers the Father our adoration, along with our most profound aspirations. Obviously this calls for a level of great vital communion with the Spirit. It is an invitation to be ever more sensitive, more attentive to this presence of the Spirit in us, to transform it into prayer, to experience this presence and to learn in this way to pray, to speak with the Father as children in the Holy Spirit. ...
The Spirit places us in the very rhythm of divine life, which is a life of love, making us participate personally in the relations that exist between the Father and the Son. ...
Thus let us learn from Paul that the action of the Spirit orients our life toward the great values of love, joy, communion and hope. It is for us to experience this every day, seconding the interior suggestions of the Spirit, helped in discernment by the illuminating guidance of the Apostle."
This is a long way from, and high above, vivisecting spirit and soul!
I am struck (in light of our conversation) by these words:
"God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Galatians 4:6). For Paul, therefore, the Spirit penetrates our most intimate personal depths.
This identifies the "heart," which we considered a possibility for the third element of a trichotomy, as "our most intimate personal depths." As indeed it is.
posted by KathrynTherese at 4:40 PM
86 Comments:
I read somewhere that it's not God that dwells in us but we that dwell in Him. I thought that was fascinating, now if I could only remember where I saw it...!
But both are true, are they not? The Spirit of God dwells in us, but we are also in God:
John 17:21 That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me.
If we really comprehended this, how would we be changed? How could we continue in our selfwardness, our lack of charity, if we kept before us the truth that all we do is done IN GOD?
How could we remain attached to our own personal preferences, our own personal expedients, any activity, any idea, recognizing that all is Love's, Love is all, and we exist within Love? We are born of Love, enfolded in Love, drawn by Love tothe fulfillment of love, which is complete union...
And every act of pride, of self-assertion, of selfishness, wounds the very Heart of Love, defiles the Mystical Body of Love, disrupts the unity of the members of this Body.
If every sin and selfishness were understood in this way, we might act differently and care for one another as we should.
Is the Cross not enough to teach us this? Love Incarnate, torn and broken, His Heart emptied for us? This is what sin is, this is what sin does.
Yes, Tess, that is it. We are made in His image and likeness, and we "participate in" the very life of God, by the presence of His Spirit, given to us, dwelling within us. And this is poured into us at Baptism, which is why we should celebrate that sacrament, and remind ourselves often (like when we bless ourselves with holy water on entering a church).
I'm intrigued by your reference to 2 Peter, which I find the most profound of Peter's writings...
Share more of that.
kt, as I'm preparing my notes for the Seventh Mansions, I must say how much the discussion in your previous post has helped me to see some of what St. Teresa is saying in a new light, in a way that I had not in previous readings. This has been very timely for me.
Yes, forget me not, both are true. Maybe part of what you're remembering is from the Sixth Mansions recently, where St. Teresa explains how all things are contained within God? And she talks about the horror of committing sin, if we truly understood this reality, since it too is committed within God.
Well, Tess/Tabitha/Theresa, thanks for the thumbs up on good taste. We all here think our taste in friends, frivolity and conversation is excellent ;-) and we're glad you agree. As your taste seems to agree with ours, you may share and invite others as the Spirit moves you. From within. Where He dwells.
Gabrielle, I look forward to the next "installment" at Contemplative Haven. Your summaries have been excellent.
I have been thinking much about the Pope's words, about how the Spirit influences not only the Christian's activity, but also "his very being..." From "our most intimate personal depths," the Spirit prays and fills in the gaps, as it were.
These lines resonate profoundly:
Obviously this calls for a level of great vital communion with the Spirit. It is an invitation to be ever more sensitive, more attentive to this presence of the Spirit in us, to transform it into prayer, to experience this presence and to learn in this way to pray, to speak with the Father as children in the Holy Spirit. ...
We participate in the very life of the Trinity through the Spirit dwelling in our hearts...
kt, I feel here that the Pope is basically describing contemplative prayer, in language very familiar to us from Fr. Keating, Thomas Merton, Fr. Dubay, and many others; how the Spirit prays within us, for us, making up for our deficiencies, bringing us into the Divine rhythm of the Holy Trinity, etc., and then the fruits of this becoming apparent. Did the Pope mention contemplative prayer in his audience from which you took this extract?
Mea culpa. Internet is giving me fits again, so I've not been able to log in and respond...
Fiat voluntas Tua.
But to answer your question, Gabrielle, no, the Holy Father was only discussing the Holy Spirit's activity within us. He did not specifically refer to contemplative prayer.
I pray that my inability to respond does not dampen the discussion here. Or the profiteroles, as they are no good soggy.
May the Americans among us enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with their loved ones tomorrow. Canadians, have a nice Thursday. Italians - well, every day is beautiful in Italy!
Thanks for your patience, co-conspirators. Back soon.
Wishing you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving, kt.
Could Tess or any one of you come to my aid? I cannot find Tess in the blogosphere; I've checked the three blogs mentioned on her profile, but am coming up empty-handed re current entries. Are you taking a blogging-break, Tess?
G, did you check Catacombers?
Tess can often be found there...
Or can I help?
Oh my goodness, I do have a very peculiar way of expressing myself sometimes, don't I? Upon re-reading that, I sounded rather desperate. Come to my aid! Au secours! No, no, it's just that Tess had said she might work out something about 2 Peter on her blog, but I couldn't find it.
But since I'm still up, and giggly-tired, and talking about Peter, let me share this line about him that I just read in Interior Castle, a line that I would dearly love to put in my final post tomorrow, but just can't find an appropriate place:
"He went straight to his death; and the Lord showed him no small mercy in providing someone to kill him."
Ah, St. Teresa. I'm imagining the faces of the novices.
Thank you, Tess. I completely understand about the working-my-face-off mode. I can't keep up either!
Here is an interesting quote from St. John of the Cross (The Spiritual Canticle), referencing the very Scripture verses you and Tess are talking about, kt. Here it is:
"…St. Peter…clearly indicates [2 Pt. 1:2-5] that the soul will participate in God Himself by performing in Him, in company with Him, the work of the Most Blessed Trinity, because of the substantial union between the soul and God. Although this participation will be perfectly accomplished in the next life, still in this life when the soul has reached the state of perfection…she obtains a foretaste and noticeable trace of it…"
I also would like to share two quotes from the Philokalia, re the heart:
"The heart governs all the organs and when grace fills all the pastures of the heart it governs all thoughts and all members. For there are to be found the mind and all the thoughts of the soul; therefore it is there that one must look to see whether the grace of the most holy Spirit has inscribed therein its laws. There; where? In the ruling organ, the throne of grace where the mind and all the thoughts of the soul are to be found, that is, in the heart."
"If the heart is completely freed of fantasies, it begins to give birth to Divine and mysterious thoughts, which play within it as fishes play and dolphins leap in a calm sea. The sea is fanned by a light breeze, but the depths of the heart – by the Holy Spirit."
Well, the thought of the East is so much more "poetic" than Western thought. They are not afraid of "layering" thoughts, and do not need to categorize everything. The SUMMA (necessarily) categorized but flattened everything for the sake of clarity; Eastern thought refuses to keep everything in neat boxes, for clarity.
They can keep two thoughts in their heads at once, over there ;-)
And so, the Philokalia doesn't invest any words in delineating the difference between the heart and the spirit or whatever. It is content to refer to the heart as the place "where the mind and all the thoughts of the soul are to be found," without fretting about the lack of distinction. It doesn't neurotically ask, "But then is the heart the mind, or are thoughts in the soul? Aren't thoughts in the mind? What exactly is the difference between the thoughts of the soul and the thoughts of the mind?" Aquinas probably knew, but there are no closet Thomists here, are there?
I'm being silly, because Thomism has its place, of course. But the point I'm making (poorly) is that we've perhaps been working in the wrong direction in this discussion.
I am still intrigued by the body-soul-spirit idea, as referenced by St. Paul and Edith Stein and others. But perhaps we should be focusing our meditations on the Trinity WITHIN us, rather than the possibility that we ourselves are a trichotomy. We are more than we know. We have capacities within us that we must learn to open to the Spirit within us, the Spirit who "penetrates our most intimate personal depths," according to Benedetto.
We must learn to put every power of our soul (and mind, and body, and heart) under the gentle influence of this Spirit, so that His will might be done fully in us, and we might glorify Him as He intended.
This is my focus this Advent - to let go even more of my own thoughts and desires (even desires for good, for God) and free my internal energies for peaceful receptivity. All is gift, all is grace.
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