Fall 2005
A new Compendium of the Social Teaching of the Church appeared earlier this
year -- it is sort of a catechism of morality devised by the Vatican for
Catholics. Its final paragraph quoted the following words of Saint Thérèse,
Carmel's second Woman Doctor: "In the evening of life, I shall appear before
you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my works. All our
justice is blemished in your eyes, I wish, then, to be clothed in your own
justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself."
(ICS translation by Fr. John Clarke, OCD) From her earliest days she looked
forward to heaven when life on earth would end. Her words are a powerful
summary of what the Vatican wants to teach in its Compendium, namely, that
we act as depositories, but also conduits, of God's saving justice and love
for the world. Our actions on their own do not save others, nor do they
amount to meritorious gestures apart from God -- they need God's grace to crown
their efforts.
Action in the Christian scheme of things must flow from and lead back to
prayer. No one knew this better than Thérèse. It is gratifying to recall
that one of her
texts
also appears in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, precisely as the
banner quotation that begins the
section of "Christian Prayer." Her formulation runs this way in number 2558
of the Catechism:
WHAT IS PRAYER?
"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy."
(see Story of a Soul, ICS 3rd ed., p. 242)
We are happy to announce that ICS Publications, after somewhat of a drought in production, has issued three new volumes in time for the usual September book launch period.
You now can increase your knowledge of and appreciation for such Carmelite personalities as St. Thérèse, by using a new Study Edition of (her) Story of a Soul (prepared by Fr. Marc Foley, OCD). Or you might want to read an eyewitness biography of Edith Stein, Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite (prepared by her niece Susanne Batzdorff and the two Carmelites Sr. Josephine Koeppel and Fr. John Sullivan). Or, finally, you can conduct a retreat for yourself and Listen to the Silence, A Retreat by Père Jacques (prepared by Fr. Francis Murphy).
Orders are now being taken at either 1-800-832-8489 or business@icspublications.org.
A sample from the final work will serve as a brief reflection to conclude this issue of News.
In it Père Jacques speaks of hope, a virtue people wish they had often nowadays with many a danger around springing from nature and human causes:
Did Christ possess the virtue of hope? As formally defined in the Act of Hope, the answer is no. Christ did not hope for grace in this life and glory in the life to come, since he already possessed both. However, he did possess a certain type of hope-- his surrender to God's providential plan. The totality of his human nature, his body and soul, his mind and will, his tenderness and emotions, surrenders to God with tranquil trust. In his immediate vision, Christ contemplates God in his immense power, his infinite wisdom and his limitless love. This discovery stirs up in his heart a total, confident surrender to God. Thus, Christ places his complete self in the hands of God, whom he knows is his Father.
Only rarely do we meet someone who admits offenses against hope. The priest in confession often encounters doubts against faith, lapses of charity, theft, impurity, spite, anger, gluttony, and all the other sins. However, he rarely encounters offenses against hope, in general, and against surrender to Divine Providence, in particular. Nonetheless, such sins are possibly the most painful to God, because they strike at his heart.
Please, excuse me for using human language in speaking of God. Yet, we must make such use of our language, despite its limitations, in reference to God. God is the fullness of love, as Christ said over and over again. We ourselves say the "Good God.".
Yes, God is good and lack of trust in God is a direct denial of his goodness. It is like saying to God: "You have no heart!" Here on earth, when we say: "You have no heart," the other person is deeply hurt, precisely because one of the loftiest human qualities is to "have heart," which makes us good.
The human person is presumably good. If that is not the case, we call the person a beast or a brute. The more fully a person approximates the highest level of human development, the more expansive is the reach of that person's charity. In this sense, the saints and preeminently the Blessed Virgin Mary were singularly good. We spontaneously appeal to the saints because they are good. We can be sure that they will never rebuff us and will always help us. People flock to Saint Thérèse, the Little Flower, because they know how true are her words: "I will spend my heaven doing good on earth."
