Back in seminary days, an older priest, and well known scripture scholar, who was leading us in a retreat, stopped his train of thought, perhaps perceiving we were having difficulty, and said, “Do you know what is the biggest obstacle for us in understanding the Word of God?” I was expecting a geeky answer like, “We don’t know enough Greek,” or “We haven’t studied the Historical Critical Method carefully enough.” But the priest pleasantly surprised me we he paused, looked around the room and then said, “The biggest obstacle we have to understanding the Word of God, is our sin.” (Fr. Francis Martin, who has a video ministry here: Fr. Francis Martin YouTube Page). Scholars, academicians, even unbelievers, to some extent, can tell you what a biblical text is talking about, about its historical context etc. But only the holy, the Saints, can tell you what the text really means. He went on to encourage us in the discipline of study, but warned us that all the study in the world could not be of great help, if we did not have a clean heart. Indeed, a theologian who does not pray is a dangerous man.
And Old Gospel song says, “None can walk up there, but the pure in heart.” In the plainest sense, “up there” means heaven. But “up there” also refers to the higher things of God and the spiritual life. To walk “up there” means to be able to see and grasp the things of God, and, increasingly, God himself.
Fulton Sheen was famous for saying toward the end of his life something to the effect, that we have tried, in modern times, every possible way to build up the Church: committees, study groups, task forces, seminars, advanced degrees in every sort of theology and religious study. But there is only one thing that we have not tried, and that is holiness. He went on to recommend that every priest commit to make a daily Holy Hour.
This week in the Office of Readings from the Breviary the following reading recalls of all these things:
God is seen by those who have the capacity to see him…. All have eyes, but some have eyes that are shrouded in darkness, unable to see the light of the sun. Because the blind cannot see it, it does not follow that the sun does not shine. The blind must trace the cause back to themselves and their eyes.
In the same way, you have eyes in your mind that are shrouded in darkness because of your sins and evil deeds. A person’s soul should be clean, like a mirror reflecting light. If there is rust on the mirror his face cannot be seen in it.
In the same way, no one who has sin within him can see God. But if you will you can be healed. Hand yourself over to the doctor, and he will open the eyes of your mind and heart. Who is to be the doctor? It is God, who heals and gives life through his Word and wisdom…. If you understand this, and live in purity and holiness and justice, you may see God. But, before all, faith and the fear of God must take the first place in your heart.
From the book addressed to Autolycus by Saint Theophilus of Antioch, bishop
So there it is, None can walk up there, but the pure in heart. Blessed are the Pure of Heart, for they shall see God (Matt 5:8).
Biblical Portrait – This coming Sunday we will read the Gospel of the man born blind. In a pivotal moment, Jesus smeared this man’s eyelids with clay and sent him to the Pool of Siloam to wash. He comes back able to see. When asked how he came to see he says, in effect, “I went, I washed and now I see.” This is baptismal theology even if in seminal form. We cannot see until we are washed. In the end it is Baptism, Confession and a holy life by God’s grace that give the greatest light, that lay the foundation to enable us to “walk up there.”
Testimony of St Cyprian – One of the great theologians and Fathers of the Church, St. Cyprian, experienced the vision that Baptism and holiness brings:
And I myself was bound fast, held by so many errors of my past life, from which I did not believe I could extricate myself. I was disposed therefore to yield to my clinging vices; and, despairing of better ways, I indulged my sins…But afterwards, when the stain of my past life had been washed away by means of the waters of rebirth, a light from above poured itself upon my chastened and now pure heart; afterwards, through the Spirit which is breathed from heaven, a second birth made of me a new man. And then in marvelous manner, doubts immediately clarified themselves, the closed opened…and what had been thought impossible was able to be done (“Letter to Donatus,” 4).
St. Cyprian was a learned man. He knew his theology, had studied law and rhetoric. But only after baptism did some things make sense, seem possible and enable Cyprian to “walk up there.”
I too am a witness of this. I have come to understand some things only after many years of prayer and growth: daily holy hours, daily mass and the liturgy of the hours, weekly confession, only then do some things clarify and does that which had been in darkness come to light. Studies have had their place in my life to be sure, But only the path to holiness (combined with study) can ever really bring light.
We’ve tried everything else, how about holiness? Study is great, don’t neglect to study the faith, but holiness is even greater. I have some people in spiritual direction who have not spent years studying theology, but they grasp well, almost as if by infused knowledge, the things of God. This is wisdom. A great intellect is a wonderful gift, but a pure heart is the greatest gift of all.
Photo Credit: Jeff Geerling via Creative Commons
Here’s a video on the beauty of prayer especially before the Blessed Sacrament. It is set to the words of a beautiful Eucharistic Hymn “Jesus My Lord, My God, My All” directed by the late Richard Proulx (RIP).
Thanks for waking me up to the basic truths of spirituality. I have spend so many years acquiring Academic qualifications, BUT failed to spend hours(time) to aquire my spiritual qualifications the essence of my LIFE. what a shame.. Thanks
Thanks, and behold, now is a very acceptable time!
Saint Solomon is a good example of what not to do when given wisdom and holiness.
Amen!
I often think of this passage when it comes to grasping the mysteries of God.
“And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this? But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine.”
Acts:2:1-13
Some had the gift of faith and believed, while others witnessing the very same miracle, mocked it and did not believe. I think your blog post speaks to this difference. Sin.
Yes, this is an excellent addition to the post
Although, left to my own devices, I certainly don’t think I have any great grasp of the higher things of God but hope to some day (this blog certainly always helps), I’m lucky to have a couple of parishes near me that offer weekly and First Friday adoration. I know some may not be as lucky and I was reminded of the second promise given to St. Bridget of Sweden for those that would say daily the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. After adoration and the rosary, two of my favorite devotions are devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus and the Seven Sorrows of Mary. Since I enjoy sharing these devotions where ever I can, I thought I’d slip them in here.
According to St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), seven promises were made to those who meditate on Our Lady’s Tears and Dolors. The Blessed Virgin grants seven graces to the souls who honor her daily by saying seven Hail Marys while meditating on her tears and dolors. These are:
1. “I will grant peace to their families.”
2. “They will be enlightened about the Divine Mysteries.”
3. “I will console them in their pains and I will accompany them in their work.”
4. “I will give them as much as they ask for as long as it does not oppose the adorable will of my Divine Son or the sanctification of their souls.”
5. “I will defend them in their spiritual battles with the infernal enemy and I will protect them at every instant of their lives.”
6. “I will visibly help them at the moment of their death – they will see the face of their mother.”
7. “I have obtained this grace from my Divine Son, that those who propagate this devotion to my tears and dolors will be taken directly from this earthly life to eternal happiness, since all their sins will be forgiven and my Son will be their eternal consolation and joy.”
Anyone interested can obtain a rosary/chaplet and also become a member of the Confraternity of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Order of Friar Servants of Mary (Servites) website:
http://gifts.servitedevelopment.org/gifts/black-rosary-w-tri-fold-prayer-card.aspx
http://www.servite.org/confrat.htm
Sometimes I wonder if this is the reason that many Catholic theologians in academia today have strayed so far from Tradition and foster such a… hostile attitude toward the Magisterium?
It is a temptation for us all, of course, to trust our own intellect rather than practicing the virtue of humility– coming to know who we are before God… which of course can only be found/developed in prayer.
Which Saint is it that said, “Theology begins on your knees”?
At any rate, I wish this was something I had learned earlier on in my own academic career.
Hans Urs von Balthasar advocated for “a kneeling theology” to heal the “fatal cleavaes” between faith and reason, grace and nature, academia and the Magesterium that have bedeviled the Church since the Renaissance….
Thank you for this reflection. I grew up in a Protestant church that valued intellect above all else. (We, ironically, didn’t actually use our intellects, because people who used them left that church.) I still tend to try to take in information rather than doing the difficult work of inner transformation. It took a major illness for me to realize that IQ isn’t what gives us dignity. And it’s taken me longer than that to realize that much of my own struggle has to be in daily mortification, not in reading frantically to try to learn it all before I die.
Heart Above Matter.
GREAT TALK, MONSIGNORE!
If you follow the Covenant, forgive what you can and try to avoid greed as far as humanly possible, I guess that would make an ok start, don`t you think?
I also would like you to consider writing a book on true happiness.
A kind of oposite to the book called “The Secret”.
As we all know, “The Secret” is a greed based piece of unholy cr@p, based on the notion that people are curious and greedy and if you claim to have some sort of formula for getting rich, people will buy this formula and thus make the author rich instead of the reader.
And thats the “The Secret”.
Maybe a man like yourself could write someting different?
That happiness does not follow in the footsteps of materialism and plastic-worship, but in the honor that lies in poverty and dedication to our Lord.
A kind of self-help through dedication to others, charity and God?
Personally I would reccomend the following steps to true happiness/ holiness:
1. Quit your job (unless your a priest)
2. Throw all your stuff, or sell what you can for charity. (get rid of it somehow.)
3. Buy a bible.
Personally, I was lucky enough to have my home foreclosed & 6 police officers drag me out of my appartment by the throat. So I packed my 3 cats, my computer and my bible, nothing else and made for the wild mountains of northern europe, were I now live in a 250 year old cabin:
That used to be a church, no less.
And last night, a wild red fox ate from my hand.
Maybe you could call your book “The Truth”?
Thanks for being there for so many, Monsignore.
Love from GABRIEL.
This is a truth which has recently been impressing itself upon my mind more and more. I find more and more passages in Scripture which allude to this truth (e.g. John 7:17; Romans 12:2).
I have heard it put this way: we need certain instruments to see certain objects like a telescope to look at the stars and a microscope to look at microbes. The instrument we use to see God is our whole self. A self that is dirty and out of focus will have a distorted view of God, but a self that is clean and bright will have a good view of God.
What do you think?
If every Catholic tried holiness–we probably would not have the world wide problems we must cope with daily. Chesterton put it so well, ” It isn’t that Christianity has been tried and found wanting, but that it has been found difficult and left untried.” It starts with holiness. Thank you for the reminder!