Problems with Zen combined with Christianity
The
expression *eastern methods* is used to refer to methods which are inspired by
Hinduism
and Buddhism, Zen, Transcendental Meditation or Yoga.
Barbara
Kralis
February 6, 2006
What
is going on again in the Dallas diocese, again?
Jesuit speaker Fr. Robert E. Kennedy,
S.J. has been invited to be the speaker and the leader of a Zen retreat at St.
Joseph's Parish, Richardson, TX. The talk is scheduled as follows: February 10,
2006, at 7-9 p.m. in the Main Sanctuary, and for February 11th and 12th, in the
St. Joseph Room. Poor St. Joseph is rolling over in his grave.
The following is a bio and a photograph
of Fr. Kennedy in his Zen kimono on the front page of 'Morning Star Zendo,' a center where
Kennedy is affiliated:
"Robert
Kennedy, S.J., Roshi, is a Jesuit priest and Zen teacher in the White Plum
lineage. He studied with Yamada Roshi in Kamakura, Japan, with Maezumi Roshi in
Los Angeles, and with Glassman Roshi in New York. Glassman Roshi installed
Kennedy as sensei in 1991 and conferred Inka (his final seal of approval) in
1997, making him a roshi (master). Kennedy Roshi is the author of Zen Gifts to
Christians and Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit.... To date, Kennedy Roshi has
installed six dharma successors...and Kevin Hunt Sensei, a Trappist monk from
St. Joseph's Abbey at Spencer, Mass.
"For the occasion of Fr. Hunt's
installation, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Peter-Hans
Kolvenbach, S.J., wrote:
"'Because
of the long preparation and training required to become a master of the
demanding Zen training, Fr. Hunt's achievement is one that we can all celebrate
in thanksgiving to God ... Jesuits and other Christians have found Zen to be a
valuable instrument for progressing in the spiritual life. ... By coming to
focus on the present moment through the practice of the techniques of Zen
meditation, the Christian can become aware of God's immediate loving
presence.'"
Cardinal Josef Ratzinger [now Pope
Benedict XVI] addresses the problems with Zen combined with Christianity in the
following [ document at the bottom of this page ] , "Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church
on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation."
Here we clearly see Cardinal Ratzinger,
then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on October 15,
1989, teaching the dangers of Zen, Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation, as
well as some other forms of prayer. See excerpt from Section 3, n.12; also see
Endnote n.1 below:
12.
With the present diffusion of eastern methods of meditation in the Christian
world and in ecclesial communities, we find ourselves faced with a pointed
renewal of an attempt, which is not free from dangers and errors, "to fuse
Christian meditation with that which is non-Christian." Proposals in this
direction are numerous and radical to a greater or lesser extent. Some use
eastern methods solely as a psycho-physical preparation for a truly Christian
contemplation; others go further and, using different techniques, try to
generate spiritual experiences similar to those described in the writings of
certain Catholic mystics. Still others do not hesitate to place that absolute
without image or concepts, which is proper to Buddhist theory, on the same
level as the majesty of God revealed in Christ, which towers above finite
reality. To this end, they make use of a "negative theology," which
transcends every affirmation seeking to express what God is, and denies that
the things of this world can offer traces of the infinity of God. Thus they
propose abandoning not only meditation on the salvific works accomplished in
history by the God of the Old and New Covenant, but also the very idea of the
One and Triune God, who is Love, in favor of an immersion "in the
indeterminate abyss of the divinity." These and similar proposals to
harmonize Christian meditation with eastern techniques need to have their
contents and methods ever subjected to a thorough-going examination so as to
avoid the danger of falling into syncretism.
Why is Bishop Grahmann allowing another
questionable speaker priest to come into our diocese? There are excellent books
giving wonderful examples of learning 'contemplative' Christian prayer, many
written by Canonized Saints of the Church.
This is the same pastor, Fr. Fischer of
St. Joseph's Parish in Richardson, TX, who very recently hosted a two days
retreat given by dissenter priest, Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. Despite the
enormous evidence that Rohr is an unfaithful priest who openly dissents against
Humanae vitae, and who promotes homosexuality, the Bishop of Dallas, Bp.
Charles V. Grahmann, and the pastor, Fr. Fischer, affirmed their support for
this bumfuzzler preacher as well.
Nota Bene: Do not ask this writer what
all of this Zen terminology means. This writer does not know and does not care
to know.
1. The expression "eastern
methods" is used to refer to methods which are inspired by Hinduism and
Buddhism, such as "Zen," "Transcendental Meditation" or
"Yoga." Thus, it indicates methods of meditation of the non-Christian
Far East which today are not infrequently adopted by some Christians also in
their meditation. The orientation of the principles and methods contained in
this present document is intended to serve as a reference point not just for
this problem, but also, in a more general way, for the different forms of
prayer practiced nowadays in ecclesial organizations, particularly in
associations, movements and groups.
Barbara
Kralis, the article's author, writes for various Christian and conservative
publications. She is a regular columnist at RenewAmerica.us, Catholic
Online.com, The Wanderer newspaper, New Oxford Review Magazine, Washington
Dispatch, MichNews, Catholic Citizens of Illinois, Phil Brennan's WOW,
ChronWatch, etc. Her first journalism position was with Boston Herald Traveler,
1964. Barbara published/edited 'Semper Fidelis' Catholic print newsletter. She
and her husband, Mitch, live in the great State of Texas, and co-direct the
Jesus Through Mary Catholic Foundation. She can be reached at: Avemaria@earthlink.net.
© Copyright 2006 by Barbara Kralis
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/kralis/060206
LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
Congregation
for the Doctrine of the Faith
I. Introduction
1.
Many Christians today have a keen desire to learn how to experience a deeper and authentic
prayer life despite the not
inconsiderable difficulties which modern culture places in the way
of the need for silence,
recollection and meditation. The interest which in recent years has been awakened also among some Christians by
forms of meditation associated with some eastern religions and their
particular methods of prayer is a
significant sign of this need for spiritual recollection and a deep contact with the divine mystery.
Nevertheless, faced with this
phenomenon, many feel the need for sure criteria of a doctrinal and pastoral character which might allow them to
instruct others in prayer, in its
numerous manifestations, while remaining
faithful to the truth revealed in Jesus, by means of the genuine Tradition of the Church. This present letter
seeks to reply to this urgent
need, so that in the various particular Churches the many different forms of prayer, including
new ones, may never lose their
correct personal and communitarian nature.
These
indications are addressed in the first place to the Bishops, to be considered in that spirit of
pastoral solicitude for the Churches
entrusted to them, so that the entire people of God‹priests,
religious and laity‹may again be
called to pray, with renewed vigor, to the Father through the Spirit of Christ our Lord.
2.
The ever more frequent contact with other religions and with their different styles and methods of prayer
has, in recent decades, led many
of the faithful to ask themselves what value non-Christian forms of meditation might have for Christians.
Above all, the question concerns
eastern methods.1 Some people today turn to these methods for therapeutic reasons. The spiritual
restlessness arising from a life
subjected to the driving pace of a technologically advanced society also brings a certain number of Christians
to seek in these methods of prayer
a path to interior peace and psychic balance. This psychological
aspect is not dealt with in the
present letter, which instead emphasizes the theological and spiritual implications of the question.
Other Christians, caught up in the
movement towards openness and exchanges
between various religions and cultures, are of the opinion that
their prayer has much to gain from
these methods. Observing that in recent
times many traditional methods of meditation, especially Christian
ones, have fallen into disuse,
they wonder whether it might not now be
possible, by a new training in prayer, to enrich our heritage by incorporating what has until now been
foreign to it.
3.
To answer this question7 one must first of all consider, even if only in a general way, in what does the
intimate nature of Christian
prayer consist. Then one can see if and how it might be enriched by meditation methods which have been
developed in other religions and
cultures. However, in order to achieve this, one needs to start with
a certain clear premise. Christian
prayer is always determined by the
structure of the Christian faith, in which the very truth of God
and creature shines forth. For
this reason, it is defined, properly
speaking, as a personal, intimate and profound dialogue between man
and God. It expresses therefore
the communion of redeemed creatures with the intimate life of the Persons of the Trinity. This communion,
based on Baptism and the
Eucharist, source and summit of the life of the Church, implies an attitude of conversion, a
flight from "self" to the
"You" of God. Thus Christian prayer is at the same time
always authentically personal and
communitarian. It flees from impersonal techniques or from concentrating on
oneself, which can create a kind of
rut, imprisoning the person praying in a spiritual privatism which
is incapable of a free openness to
the transcendental God. Within the
Church, in the legitimate search for new methods of meditation it
must always be borne in mind that
the essential element of authentic
Christian prayer is the meeting of two freedoms, the infinite freedom of
God with the finite freedom of man.
II.
Christian Prayer In The Light Of Revelation
4.
The Bible itself teaches how the man who welcomes biblical revelation should pray. In the Old
Testament there is a marvelous
collection of prayers which have continued to live through the centuries, even within the Church of
Jesus Christ, where they have
become the basis of its official prayer: The Book of Praises or of Psalms.2 Prayers similar to the Psalms
may also be found in earlier Old
Testament texts or re-echoed in later ones.3 The prayers of the book
of Psalms tell in the first place
of God's great works on behalf of the
Chosen People. Israel meditates, contemplates and makes the marvels
of God present again, recalling
them in prayer.
In
biblical revelation Israel came to acknowledge and praise God present in all creation and in the
destiny of every man. Thus he is
invoked, for example, as rescuer in time of danger, in sickness, in persecution, in tribulation. Finally,
and always in the light of his
salvific works, he is exalted in his divine power and goodness, in his
justice and mercy, in his royal grandeur.
5.
Thanks to the words, deeds, passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the "New
Testament" the faith acknowledges in him the definitive self-revelation of God, the Incarnate Word
who reveals the most intimate
depth of his love. It is the Holy Spirit, he who was sent into the hearts of the faithful, he who "searches
everything, even the depths of
God" (1 Cor 2:10), who makes it possible to enter into these divine depths. According to the promise
Jesus made to the disciples, the
Spirit will explain all that he had not yet been able to tell them. However, this Spirit "will not speak on
his own authority," but "he will glorify me, for he will take what
is mine and declare it to
you" (Jn 16:13f.). What Jesus calls
"his" is, as he explains immediately, also God the
Father's because "all that
the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you" (Jn
16:15).
The
authors of the New Testament, with full cognizance, always spoke of the revelation of God in Christ
within the context of a vision
illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The Synoptic Gospels narrate Jesus' deeds and words on the basis of a
deeper understanding, acquired after
Easter, of what the disciples had seen and heard. The entire Gospel
of St. John is taken up with the
contemplation of him who from the beginning is the Word of God made flesh.
Paul, to whom Jesus appeared in
his divine majesty on the road to Damascus, instructs the faithful
so that they "may have power
to comprehend with all the saints what is
the breadth and length and height and depth [of the mystery of
Christ], and to know the love of
Christ which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph 3:18
ff.). For Paul the mystery of God is Christ, "in whom are hidden all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"
(Col 2:3) and, the Apostle
clarifies, "I say this in order that no one may delude you
with beguiling speech" (v.
4).
6.
There exists, then, a strict relationship between revelation and prayer. The Dogmatic Constitution
"Dei Verbum" teaches that by
means of his revelation the invisible God, "from the fullness
of his love, addresses men as his
friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15), and
moves among them (cf. Bar 3:38), in order to invite and receive
them into his own company."4
This revelation takes place through words
and actions which have a constant mutual reference, one to the
other; from the beginning
everything proceeds to converge on Christ, the fullness of revelation and of grace, and on the gift of the
Holy Spirit. These make man
capable of welcoming and contemplating the words and works of God and of thanking him and adoring him, both in
the assembly of the faithful and
in the intimacy of his own heart illuminated by grace.
This
is why the Church recommends the reading of the Word of God as a source of Christian prayer, and at the
same time exhorts all to discover
the deep meaning of Sacred Scripture through prayer "so that a dialogue takes place between God and
man. For, 'we speak to him when we
pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles.'"5
7.
Some consequences derive immediately from what has been called to mind. If the prayer of a Christian has
to be inserted in the Trinitarian
movement of God, then its essential content must also necessarily
be determined by the twofold
direction of such movement. It is in the Holy Spirit that the Son comes into the world to reconcile it to
the Father through his works and
sufferings. On the other hand, in this same movement and in the very same
Spirit, the Son Incarnate returns to the
Father, fulfilling his will through his passion and resurrection.
The "Our Father," Jesus'
own prayer, clearly indicates the unity
of this movement: the will of the Father must be done on earth as it
is in heaven (the petitions for
bread, forgiveness and protection make
explicit the fundamental dimensions of God's will for us), so that
there may be a new earth in the
heavenly Jerusalem.
The
prayer of Jesus6 has been entrusted to the Church ("Pray then like this"‹Lk 11:2). This is
why when a Christian prays, even
if he is alone, his prayer is in fact always within the framework of the "communion of saints"
in which and with which he prays,
whether in a public and liturgical way or in a private manner. Consequently, it must always be offered
within the authentic spirit of the
Church at prayer, and therefore under its guidance, which can sometimes take a concrete form in terms
of a proven spiritual direction.
The Christian, even when he is alone and prays in secret, is
conscious that he always prays for
the good of the Church in union with Christ, in the Holy Spirit and together with all the saints.7
III.
Erroneous Ways Of Praying
8.
Even in the first centuries of the Church some incorrect forms of prayer crept in. Some New Testament
texts (cf. 1 Jn 4:3; 1 Tim 1:3-7 and
4:3-4) already give hints of their existence. Subsequently, two fundamental deviations came to be
identified: Pseudognosticism and
Messalianism, both of concern to the Fathers of the Church. There
is much to be learned from that
experience of primitive Christianity and
the reaction of the Fathers which can help in tackling the current problem.
In
combating the errors of "pseudognosticism"8 the Fathers affirmed that matter is created by God
and as such is not evil. Moreover,
they maintained that grace, which always has the Holy Spirit as its source is not a good proper to
the soul, but must be sought from
God as a gift. Consequently, the illumination or superior knowledge of
the Spirit ("gnosis") does not make Christian faith something superfluous. Finally, for the Fathers,
the authentic sign of a superior
knowledge, the fruit of prayer, is always Christian love.
9.
If the perfection of Christian prayer cannot be evaluated using the sublimity of gnostic knowledge as a
basis, neither can it be judged by
referring to the experience of the divine, as "Messalianism" proposed.9 These false fourth-century
charismatics identified the grace
of the Holy Spirit with the psychological experience of his presence
in the soul. In opposing them, the
Fathers insisted on the fact that the
soul's union with God in prayer is realized in a mysterious way, and
in particular through the
sacraments of the Church. Moreover, it can even be achieved through experiences of affliction or desolation.
Contrary to the view of the
Messalians, these are not necessarily a sign that the Spirit has abandoned a soul. Rather, as masters of
spirituality have always clearly
acknowledged, they may be an authentic participation in the state of abandonment experienced on
the cross by our Lord, who always
remains the model and mediator of prayer.10. Both of these forms of error continue to be a "temptation
for man the sinner." They
incite him to try and overcome the distance separating creature from Creator, as though there ought not
to be such a distance; to consider the way of Christ on earth, by which he
wishes to lead us to the Father,
as something now surpassed; to bring down to the level of natural psychology what has been
regarded as pure grace, considering it
instead as "superior knowledge" or as "experience."
Such
erroneous forms, having reappeared in history from time to time on the fringes of the Church's prayer,
seem once more to impress many
Christians, appealing to them as a kind of remedy, be it
psychological or spiritual, or as
a quick way of finding God.11
11.
However, these forms of error, wherever they arise, "can be diagnosed" very simply. The
meditation of the Christian in prayer
seeks to grasp the depths of the divine in the salvific works of God
in Christ, the Incarnate Word, and
in the gift of his Spirit. These divine
depths are always revealed to him through the human-earthly
dimension. Similar methods of
meditation, on the other hand, including those which have their starting-point
in the words and deeds of Jesus, try as far as possible to put aside everything that is worldly, sense
perceptible or conceptually limited.
It is thus an attempt to ascend to or immerse oneself in the sphere of the divine, which, as such, is
neither terrestrial,
sense-perceptible nor capable of conceptualization.12 This tendency, already
present in the religious sentiments of the later Greek period (especially in
"Neoplatonism"), is found deep in the religious inspiration of many peoples, no sooner than they
become aware of the precarious
character of their representations of the divine and of their attempts to draw close to it.
12.
With the present diffusion of eastern methods of meditation in the Christian world and in ecclesial
communities, we find ourselves
faced with a pointed renewal of an attempt, which is not free from dangers and errors, "to fuse
Christian meditation with that which
is non-Christian." Proposals in this direction are numerous
and radical to a greater or lesser
extent. Some use eastern methods solely
as a psycho-physical preparation for a truly Christian
contemplation; others go further
and, using different techniques, try to generate spiritual experiences similar to those described in the writings
of certain Catholic mystics.13
Still others do not hesitate to place that absolute without image or concepts, which is proper to
Buddhist theory, 14 on the same
level as the majesty of God revealed in Christ, which towers above finite reality. To this end, they make use of
a "negative theology,"
which transcends every affirmation seeking to express what God is, and denies
that the things of this world can
offer traces of the infinity of God. Thus they propose abandoning not only meditation on the salvific
works accomplished in history by the
God of the Old and New Covenant, but also the very idea of the One
and Triune God, who is Love, in
favor of an immersion "in the
indeterminate abyss of the divinity."15 These and similar proposals
to harmonize Christian meditation with eastern techniques need to have their contents and methods ever
subjected to a thorough-going
examination so as to avoid the danger of falling into syncretism.
IV.
The Christian Way To Union With God
13.
To find the right "way" of prayer, the Christian should consider what has been said earlier
regarding the prominent features of
the "way of Christ," whose "food is to do the will of
him who sent [him], and to
accomplish his work" (Jn 4:34). Jesus lives no more intimate or closer a
union with the Father than this, which for him is continually translated into deep prayer. By the will
of the Father he is sent to
mankind, to sinners. to his very executioners, and he could not be more intimately united to the Father than by
obeying his will. This did not in
any way prevent him, however, from also retiring to a solitary place during his earthly sojourn to unite
himself to the Father and receive
from him new strength for his mission in this world. On Mount Tabor, where his union with the Father was
manifest, there was called to mind
his passion (cf. Lk 9:31), and there was not even a consideration of the possibility of remaining in
"three booths" on the
Mount of the Transfiguration. Contemplative Christian prayer always leads to love of neighbor, to action
and to the acceptance of trials,
and precisely because of this it draws one close to God.
14.
In order to draw near to that mystery of union with God, which the Greek Fathers called the
"divinization" of man, and to
grasp accurately the manner in which this is realized, it is
necessary in the first place to
bear in mind that man is essentially a creature,16 and remains such for eternity, so that an absorbing of the
human self into the divine self is
never possible, not even in the highest states of grace. However, one must recognize that the human person
is created in the "image and
likeness" of God, and that the archetype of this image is the Son of God, in whom and through whom we
have been created (cf. Col 1:16).
This archetype reveals the greatest and most beautiful Christian mystery: from
eternity the Son is "other"
with respect to the Father and yet, in the Holy Spirit, he is "of the same substance." Consequently
this otherness, far from being an ill, is rather the greatest of goods. There is otherness in
God himself, who is one single nature in three Persons, and there is also
otherness between God and creatures,
who are by nature different. Finally, in the Holy Eucharist, as in the rest of the sacraments‹and
analogically in his works and in
his words‹Christ gives himself to us and makes us participate in his divine nature,17 without nevertheless
suppressing our created nature, in
which he himself shares through his Incarnation.
15.
A consideration of these truths together brings the wonderful discovery that all the aspirations
which the prayer of other religions
expresses are fulfilled in the reality of Christianity beyond all measure, without the personal self or
the nature of a creature being
dissolved or disappearing into the sea of the Absolute. "God
is love" (1 Jn 4:8). This
profoundly Christian affirmation can
reconcile perfect "union" with the "otherness" existing between lover and loved, with
eternal exchange and eternal dialogue. God is himself this eternal exchange and
we can truly become sharers of
Christ, as "adoptive sons" who cry out with the Son in the Holy Spirit, Abba, Father."
In this sense, the Fathers are
perfectly correct in speaking of the divinization of man who,
having been incorporated into
Christ, the Son of God by nature, may by his grace share in the divine nature
and become a "son in the
Son." Receiving the Holy Spirit, the Christian glorifies the
Father and really shares in the
Trinitarian life of God.
V.
Questions Of Method
16.
The majority of the "great religions" which have sought union with God in prayer have also
pointed out ways to achieve it. Just
as "the Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy
in these religions,"18 neither
should these ways be rejected out of
hand simply because they are not Christian. On the contrary, one
can take from them what is useful
so long as the Christian conception of
prayer, its logic and requirements are never obscured. It is within
the context of all of this that
these bits and pieces should be taken up and expressed anew. Among these one might mention first of all
that of the humble acceptance of a
master who is an expert in the life of prayer, and of the counsels he gives. Christian experience has known
of this practice from earliest
times, from the epoch of the desert Fathers. Such a master, being an expert in "sentire cum
ecclesia," must not only
direct and warn of certain dangers; as a "spiritual father," he has to also lead his
pupil in a dynamic way, heart to
heart, into the life of prayer, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
17.
In the later non-Christian classical period, there was a convenient distinction made between
three stages in the life of
perfection: the purgative way, the illuminative way and the unitive
way. This teaching has served as a
model for many schools of Christian
spirituality. While in itself valid, this analysis nevertheless
requires several clarifications so
as to be interpreted in a correct Christian manner which avoids dangerous misunderstandings.
18.
The seeking of God through prayer has to be preceded and accompanied by an ascetical struggle
and a purification from one's own
sins and errors, since Jesus has said that only "the pure of heart shall see God" (Mt 5:8). The
Gospel aims above all at a moral
purification from the lack of truth and love and, on a deeper level, from all the selfish instincts which
impede man from recognizing and
accepting the will of God in its purity. The passions are not
negative in themselves (as the
Stoics and Neoplatonists thought), but their tendency is to selfishness. It is from this that the
Christian has to free himself in order to arrive at that state of positive
freedom which in classical
Christian times was called "apatheia," in the Middle Ages "Impassibilitas"
and in the Ignatian Spiritual
Exercises "indiferencia."19
This
is impossible without a radical self-denial, as can also be seen in St. Paul who openly uses the word
"mortification" (of sinful
tendencies).20 Only this self-denial renders man free to carry out the will of God and to share in the
freedom of the Holy Spirit.
19.
Therefore, one has to interpret correctly the teaching of those masters who recommend
"emptying" the spirit of all sensible representations and of every concept, while remaining
lovingly attentive to God. In this
way, the person praying creates an empty space which can then be filled by the richness of God.
However, the emptiness which God
requires is that of the renunciation of personal selfishness, not necessarily that of the renunciation of
those created things which he has
given us and among which he has placed us. There is no doubt that in prayer one should concentrate entirely
on God and as far as possible
exclude the things of this world which bind us to our selfishness.
On this topic St. Augustine is an
excellent teacher: if you want to find
God, he says, abandon the exterior world and re-enter into
yourself. However, he continues,
do not remain in yourself, but go beyond yourself because you are not God; he is deeper and greater than you.
"I look for his substance in
my soul and I do not find it; I have however meditated on the search for God and, reaching out to him,
through created things, I have
sought to know 'the invisible perfections of God' (Rom 1:20)."2 "To remain in oneself": this is
the real danger. The great Doctor
of the Church recommends concentrating on
oneself, but also transcending the self which is not God, but only
a creature. God is "deeper
than my inmost being and higher than my
greatest height."22 In fact God is in us and with us, but he transcends us in his mystery.23
20.
"From the dogmatic point of view," it is impossible to arrive at a perfect love of God if one
ignores his giving of himself to
us through his Incarnate Son, who was crucified and rose from the
dead. In him, under the action of
the Holy Spirit, we participate, through
pure grace, in the interior life of God. When Jesus says, "He who
has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9), he does not mean just the sight and exterior knowledge of his
human figure (in the flesh is of
no avail"‹Jn 6:63). What he means is rather a vision made possible by the grace of faith: to see,
through the manifestation of Jesus
perceptible by the senses, just what he, as the Word of the Father, truly wants
to reveal to us of God ("It is the Spirit that gives life [...]; the words that I have spoken to you are
spirit and life"‹ibid.). This
"seeing" is not a matter of a purely human abstraction ("abstractio") from the figure
in which God has revealed himself;
it is rather the grasping of the divine reality in the human figure of Jesus, his eternal divine dimension in
its temporal form. As St. Ignatius
says in the "Spiritual Exercises," we should try to capture "the infinite perfume and the
infinite sweetness of the
divinity" (n. 124), going forward from that finite revealed truth from which we have
begun. While he raises us up, God is
free to "empty" us of all that holds us back in this world,
to draw us completely into the
Trinitarian life of his eternal love. However, this gift can only be granted
"in Christ through the Holy
Spirit," and not through our own efforts, withdrawing
ourselves from his revelation .
21.
On the path of the Christian life, illumination follows on from purification, through the love which
the Father bestows on us in the Son
and the anointing which we receive from him in the Holy Spirit (cf. 1
Jn 2:20). Ever since the early
Christian period, writers have referred to the "illumination" received in Baptism. After
their initiation into the divine
mysteries, this illumination brings the faithful to know Christ by means of the faith which
works through love. Some
ecclesiastical writers even speak explicitly of the illumination received in Baptism as the basis of
that sublime knowledge of Christ
Jesus (cf. Phil 3:8), which is defined as "theoria" or
contemplation.24 The faithful, with the grace of Baptism, are called to progress in the knowledge and witness
of the mysteries of the faith by
"the intimate sense of spiritual realities which they experience."25 No light from God
can render the truths of the faith
redundant. Any subsequent graces of illumination which God may
grant rather help to make clearer
the depth of the mysteries confessed and
celebrated by the Church, as we wait for the day when the Christian
can contemplate God as he is in
glory (cf. 1 Jn 3:2).
22.
Finally, the Christian who prays can, if God so wishes, come to a particular experience of
"union." The Sacraments, especially Baptism and the Eucharist,26 are the objective beginning of
the union of the Christian with
God. Upon this foundation, the person who prays can be called, by a special grace of the Spirit, to that
specific type of union with God
which in Christian terms is called "mystical."
23.
Without doubt, a Christian needs certain periods of retreat into solitude to be recollected and, in
God's presence, rediscover his path.
Nevertheless, given his character as a creature, and as a creature
who knows that only in grace is he
secure, his method of getting closer to
God is not based on any "technique" in the strict sense of
the word. That would contradict
the spirit of childhood called for by the
Gospel. Genuine Christian mysticism has nothing to do with technique:
it is always a gift of God, and
the one who benefits from it knows himself to be unworthy.27
24.
There are certain "mystical graces," conferred on the founders of ecclesial institutes to benefit
their foundation, and on other
saints, too, which characterize their personal experience of prayer and which cannot, as such, be
the object of imitation and
aspiration for other members of the faithful, even those who belong
to the same institutes and those
who seek an ever more perfect way of
prayer.28 There can be different levels and different ways of sharing
in a founder's experience of
prayer, without everything having to be
exactly the same. Besides, the prayer experience that is given a privileged position in all genuinely
ecclesial institutes, ancient and
modern, is always in the last analysis something personal. And it is to the individual person that God gives
his graces for prayer.
25.
With regard to mysticism, one has to distinguish between "the gifts of the Holy Spirit and
the charisms" granted by God
in a totally gratuitous way. The former are something which every Christian can quicken in himself by his
zeal for the life of faith, hope
and charity; and thus, by means of a serious ascetical struggle, he
can reach a certain experience of
God and of the contents of the faith. As
for charisms, St. Paul says that these are, above all, for the
benefit of the Church, of the
other members of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 12:17). With this in mind, it should be remembered
that charisms are not the same
things as extraordinary ("mystical") gifts (cf. Rom 12:3-21), and
that the distinction between the "gifts of the Holy Spirit" and "charisms" can be
flexible. It is certain that a
charism which bears fruit for the Church, cannot, in the context of the New Testament, be
exercised without a certain degree of personal perfection, and that, on the
other hand, every
"living" Christian has a specific task (and in this sense a "charism") "for the
building up of the body of
Christ" (cf. Eph 4:15-16),29 in communion with the hierarchy whose job it is "not indeed to
extinguish the Spirit, but to test all
things and hold fast to what is good" (LG, n. 12).
VI.
Psychological-Corporal Methods
26.
Human experience shows that the "position and demeanor of the body" also have their
influence on the recollection and
dispositions of the spirit. This is a fact to which some eastern
and western Christian spiritual
writers have directed their attention.
Their
reflections, while presenting points in common with eastern non-Christian methods of meditation,
avoid the exaggerations and
partiality of the latter, which, however, are often recommended to people today who are not sufficiently
prepared.
The
spiritual authors have adopted those elements which make recollection in prayer easier, at the
same time recognizing their
relative value: they are useful if reformulated in accordance with
the aim of Christian prayer.30 For
example, the Christian fast signifies,
above all, an exercise of penitence and sacrifice; but, already for
the Fathers, it also had the aim
of rendering man more open to the encounter with God and making a Christian more capable of
self-dominion and at the same time
more attentive to those in need.
In
prayer it is the whole man who must enter into relation with God, and so his body should also take up the
position most suited to
recollection.31 Such a position can in a symbolic way express the
prayer itself, depending on
cultures and personal sensibilities. In some aspects, Christians are today becoming more conscious of how
one's bodily posture can aid
prayer.
27.
Eastern Christian meditation32 has valued "psychophysical symbolism," often absent in western
forms of prayer. It can range from
a specific bodily posture to the basic life functions, such as breathing or the beating of the heart.
The exercise of the "Jesus
Prayer," for example, which adapts itself to the natural rhythm
of breathing can, at least for a
certain time, be of real help to many
people.33 On the other hand, the eastern masters themselves have
also noted that not everyone is
equally suited to making use of this
symbolism, since not everybody is able to pass from the material sign
to the spiritual reality that is
being sought.
Understood
in an inadequate and incorrect way, the symbolism can even become an idol and thus an obstacle to
the raising up of the spirit to
God. To live out in one's prayer the full awareness of one's body as
a symbol is even more difficult:
it can degenerate into a cult of the body
and can lead surreptitiously to considering all bodily sensations as spiritual experiences.
28.
Some physical exercises automatically produce a feeling of quiet and relaxation, pleasing sensations,
perhaps even phenomena of light and
of warmth, which resemble spiritual well-being. To take such
feelings for the authentic
consolations of the Holy Spirit would be a totally erroneous way of conceiving the spiritual life. Giving them
a symbolic significance typical of
the mystical experience, when the moral
condition of the person concerned does not correspond to such an experience, would represent a kind of
mental schizophrenia which could
also lead to psychic disturbance and, at times, to moral deviations.
That
does not mean that genuine practices of meditation which come from the Christian East and from the
great non-Christian religions,
which prove attractive to the man of today who is divided and disoriented, cannot constitute a
suitable means of helping the person
who prays to come before God with an interior peace, even in the
midst of external pressures.
It
should, however, be remembered that habitual union with God, namely that attitude of interior vigilance
and appeal to the divine
assistance which in the New Testament is called "continuous prayer,"34 is not necessarily
interrupted when one devotes oneself also, according to the will of God, to
work and to the care of one's
neighbor. "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do
all to the glory of God," the
Apostle tells us (1 Cor 10:31). In fact,
genuine prayer, as the great spiritual masters teach, stirs up in
the person who prays an ardent
charity which moves him to collaborate in the mission of the Church and to
serve his brothers for the greater glory of God.35
VII.
"I Am The Way"
29.
From the rich variety of Christian prayer as proposed by the Church, each member of the faithful
should seek and find his own way,
his own form of prayer. But all of these personal ways, in the end,
flow into the way to the Father,
which is how Jesus Christ has described
himself. In the search for his own way, each person will, therefore,
let himself be led not so much by
his personal tastes as by the Holy Spirit, who guides him, through Christ, to
the Father.
30.
For the person who makes a serious effort there will, however, be moments in which he seems to be
wandering in a desert and, in spite of
all his efforts, he "feels" nothing of God. He should
know that these trials are not
spared anyone who takes prayer seriously.
However, he should not immediately see this experience, common to all Christians who pray, as the "dark
night" in the mystical sense.
In any case in these moments, his prayer, which he will resolutely strive to keep to, could
give him the impression of a certain
"artificiality," although really it is something totally different: in fact it is at that very
moment an expression of his
fidelity to God, in whose presence he wishes to remain even when he receives no subjective consolation in
return.
In
these apparently negative moments, it becomes clear what the person who is praying really seeks: is
he indeed looking for God who, in
his infinite freedom. always surpasses him; or is he only seeking himself, without managing to go beyond
his own "experiences,"
whether they be positive "experiences" of union with God
or negative
"experiences" of mystical "emptiness ."
31.
The love of God, the sole object of Christian contemplation, is a reality which cannot be
"mastered" by any method or technique. On the contrary, we must always have our sights fixed on
Jesus Christ, in whom God's love
went to the cross for us and there assumed even the condition of estrangement from the Father (cf. Mk 13:34). We
therefore should allow God to
decide the way he wishes to have us participate in his love. But we can never, in any way, seek to place ourselves
on the same level as the object of
our contemplation. the free love of God; not even when, through the mercy of God the Father and the Holy
Spirit sent into our hearts, we
receive in Christ the gracious gift of a sensible reflection of that divine love and we feel drawn by the
truth and beauty and goodness of
the Lord.
The
more a creature is permitted to draw near to God, the greater his reverence before the thrice-holy God.
One then understands those words
of St. Augustine: "You can call me friend; I recognize myself
a servant."36 Or the words
which are even more familiar to us, spoken by her who was rewarded with the highest degree of intimacy
with God: "He has looked upon
his servant in her lowliness" (Lk 1:48).
The
Supreme Pontiff, John Paul II, in an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, gave his
approval to this letter, drawn up
in a plenary session of this Congregation, and ordered its publication.
At
Rome, from the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 15, 1989, the Feast of
Saint Teresa of Jesus.
Joseph
Card. Ratzinger Prefect
Alberto
Bovone Titular Archbishop of Caesarea in Numidia
Secretary
Endnotes
1.
The expression "eastern methods" is used to refer to methods which are inspired by Hinduism
and Buddhism, such as
"Zen," "Transcendental Meditation" or "Yoga." Thus it indicates
methods of meditation of the
non-Christian Far East which today are not infrequently adopted by
some Christians also in their
meditation. The orientation of the principles and methods contained in this present document is intended
to serve as a reference point not
just for this problem, but also, in a more general way. for the different forms of prayer practiced nowadays in
ecclesial organizations,
particularly in associations, movements and groups.
2.
Regarding the Book of Psalms in the prayer of the Church, cf. "Institutio generalis de Liturgia
Horarum," nn. 100-109.
3.
Cf. for example, Ex 15, Deut 32, 1 Sam 2, 2 Sam 22 and some prophetic texts, 1 Chron 16.
4.
Dogmatic Constitution "Dei Verbum," n. 2. This document offers other substantial indications
for a theological and spiritual
understanding of Christian prayer; see also, for example, nn. 3, 5,
8, 21.
5.
Dogmatic Constitution "Dei Verbum," n. 25.
6.
Regarding the prayer of Jesus, see "Institutio generalis de Liturgia Horarum," nn. 3-4.
7.
Cf. "Institutio generalis de Liturgia Horarum," n. 9.
8.
Pseudognosticism considered matter as something impure and degraded which enveloped the soul in an
ignorance from which prayer had to
free it, thereby raising it to true superior knowledge and so to a pure state. Of course not everyone was
capable of this, only those who
were truly spiritual; for simple believers, faith and observance of
the commandments of Christ were
sufficient.
9.
The Messalians were already denounced by Saint Ephraim Syrus ("Hymni contra Haereses" 22,
4, ed. E. Beck, CSCO 169, 1957, p.
79) and later, among others, by Epiphanius of Salamina ("Panarion," also called
"Adversus Haereses": PG 41,
156-1200; PG 42, 9-832), and Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium ("Contra haereticos": G.
Ficker, "Amphilochiana" I,
Leipzig 1906, 21-77).
10.
Cf., for example, St. John of the Cross. "Subida del Monte Carmelo," II, chap. 7. 11.
11.
In the Middle Ages there existed extreme trends on the fringe of the Church. These were described not
without irony, by one of the great
Christian contemplatives, the Flemish Jan van Ruysbroek. He distinguished three types of deviations
in the mystical life ("Die
gheestelike Brulocht" 228. 12-230, 17: 230. 18- 32. 22: 232. 23-236. 6) and made a general critique
of these forms (236, 7-237, 29).
Similar techniques were subsequently identified and dismissed by
St. Teresa of Avila who perceptively
observed that "the very care taken
not to think about anything will arouse the mind to think a great deal," and that the separation of
the mystery of Christ from Christian meditation is always a form of
"betrayal" (see: St.
Teresa of Jesus. Vida 12, 5 and 22, 1-5).
12.
Pope John Paul II has pointed out to the whole Church the example and the doctrine of St. Teresa of Avila
who in her life had to reject the
temptation of certain methods which proposed a leaving aside of the humanity of Christ in favor of a vague
self-immersion in the abyss of the
divinity. In a homily given on November 1, 1982, he said that the call of Teresa of Jesus advocating a
prayer completely centered on Christ "is valid, even in our day, against
some methods of prayer which are
not inspired by the Gospel and which in practice tend to set Christ aside in preference for a mental
void which makes no sense in
Christianity. Any method of prayer is valid insofar as it is inspired
by Christ and leads to Christ who
is the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf.
Jn 14:6)." See: "Homilia Abulae habita in honorem Sanctae Teresiae:" AAS 75 (1983), 256-257.
13.
See, for example. "The Cloud of Unknowing," a spiritual work by an anonymous English writer of
the fourteenth century.
14.
In Buddhist religious texts, the concept of "Nirvana" is understood as a state of quiet consisting
in the extinction of every
tangible reality insofar as it is transient, and as such delusive
and sorrowful.
15.
Meister Eckhart speaks of an immersion "in the indeterminate abyss of the divinity" which is a
"darkness in which the light
of the Trinity never shines." Cf. "Sermo 'Ave Gratia
Plena'" in fine (J. Quint,
"Deutsche Predigten und Traktate" Hanser 1955, 261).
16.
Cf. Pastoral Constitution "Gaudium et spes" n. 19, 1: "The dignity of man rests above
all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is
addressed to man as soon as he
comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues
to hold him in existence. He
cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love
and entrusts himself to his creator."
17.
As St. Thomas writes of the Eucharist: ". . . proprius effectus huius sacramenti est
conversio) hominis in Christum ut dicat
cum Apostolo: Vivo ego iam non ego; vivit vero in me Christus"
(Gal 2:20)" (In IV Sent: d.
12, q. 2, a. 1).
18.
Declaration "Nostra aetate" n. 2.
19.
St. Ignatius of Loyola, "Ejercicios espirituales n. 23 et passim.
20.
Cf. Col 3:5: Rom 6:11ff.: Gal 5:24.
21.
St. Augustine. "Enarrationes in Psalmos" XLI, 8: PL 36. 469.
22.
St. Augustine, "Confessions" 3. 6. 11: PL 32, 688. Cf. "De vera Religione" 39. 72:
PL 34, 154.
23.
The positive Christian sense of the "emptying" of creatures stands out in an exemplary
way in St. Francis of Assisi.
Precisely because he renounced creatures for love of God, he saw
all things as being filled with
his presence and resplendent in their
dignity as God's creatures, and the secret hymn of their being is intoned by him in his "Cantico
delle Creature." Cf. C. Esser,
"Opuscula Sancti Patris Francisci Assisiensis" Ed. Ad
Claras Aquas, Grottaferrata (Roma)
1978, pp. 83-86. In the same way he writes in the "Lettera a Tutti i Fedeli:" "Let every
creature in heaven and on earth
and in the sea and in the depth of the abyss (Rev 5: 13) give praise, glory and honor and blessing to God, for he
is our life and our strength. He
who alone is good (Lk 18: 19), who alone is the most high, who alone is omnipotent and admirable, glorious
and holy, worthy of praise and
blessed for infinite ages of ages. Amen" ("ibid Opuscula" 124). St. Bonaventure shows how
in every creature Francis
perceived the call of God and poured out his soul in the great hymn of thanksgiving and praise (cf. "Legenda
S Francisci" chap. 9, n. 1,
in "Opera Omnia" ed. Quaracchi 1898, Vol. VIII p 530).
24.
See, for example, St. Justin, "Apologia" I 61, 12-13: PG 6 420- 421: Clement of Alexandria,
"Paedagogus" I, 6,
25-31: PG 8, 281- 284; St. Basil of Caesarea, "Homiliae
diversae" 13. 1: PG 31, 424-
425; St. Gregory Nazianzen, "Orationes" 40, 3, 1: PG 36, 361.
25.
Dogmatic Constitution "Dei Verbum" n. 8.
26.
The Eucharist, which the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium" defines as "the
source and summit of the Christian
life" (LG 11), makes us "really share in the body of the Lord": in it "we are taken up
into communion with him" (LG
7).
27.
Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus, "Castillo Interior" IV 1, 2.
28.
No one who prays, unless he receives a special grace, covets an overall vision of the revelations of
God, such as St. Gregory recognized
in St. Benedict. or that mystical impulse with which St. Francis of Assisi would contemplate God in all his
creatures, or an equally global
vision, such as that given to St. Ignatius at the River Cardoner and
of which he said that for him it
could have taken the place of Sacred Scripture. The "dark night"
described by St. John of the Cross
is part of his personal charism of prayer. Not every member of his
order needs to experience it in
the same way so as to reach that perfection of prayer to which God has called him.
29.
The Christian's call to "mystical" experiences can include both what St. Thomas classified
as a living experience of God via
the gifts of the Holy Spirit. and the inimitable forms (and for that reason forms to which one ought not to
aspire) of the granting of grace.
Cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, "Summa Theologiae" Ia, IIae, 1 c, as well as a. 5, ad 1.
30.
See, for example, the early writers, who speak of the postures taken up by Christians while at prayer:
Tertullian, "De
Oratione" XIV PL 1 1170, XVII: PL I 1174-1176: Origen,
"De Oratione" XXXI 2: PG
11, 550-553, and of the meaning of such
gestures; Barnabas, "Epistula" XII, 2-4: PG 2, 760-761:
St. Justin, "Dialogus"
90, 4-5: PG 6, 689-692; St. Hippolytus of
Rome, "Commentarium in Dan" III, 24: GCS I 168, 8-17;
Origen, "Homiliae in Ex"
XI 4: PG 12, 377-378. For the position of the body see also, Origen, "De Oratione" XXXI, 3: PG
11, 553-555.
31.
Cf. St. Ignatius of Loyola, "Ejercicios Espirituales" n. 76.
32.
Such as, for example, that of the Hesychast anchorites. Hesychia or external and internal quiet is
regarded by the anchorites as a
condition of prayer. In its oriental form it is characterized by solitude and techniques of
recollection.
33.
The practice of the "Jesus Prayer," which consists of repeating the formula, rich in biblical
references, of invocation and
supplication (e.g., "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy
on me"), is adapted to the
natural rhythm of breathing. In this regard, see St. Ignatius of Loyola,
"Ejercicios Espirituales"
n. 258.
34.
Cf. 1 Thes 5: 17, also 2 Thes 3: 8-12. From these and other texts there arises the question of how to
reconcile the duty to pray
continually with that of working. See, among others, St. Augustine, "Epistula" 130, 20: PL 33,
501-502 and St. John Cassian,
"De Institutis Coenobiorum" III, 1-3: SC 109, 92-93. Also, the
"Demonstration of Prayer" by Aphraat, the first father of the Syriac Church, and in particular nn.
14-15, which deal with the
so-called "works of Prayer" (cf. the edition of J.
Parisot, "Afraatis Sapientis
Persae Demonstrationes" IV PS 1, pp.
170-174).
35.
Cf. St. Teresa of Jesus, "Castillo Interior" VII, 4, 6.
36.
St. Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos" CXLII 6: PL 37, 1849. Also see: St. Augustine,
"Tract in Ioh." IV 9: PL
35, 1410: "Quando autem nec ad hoc dignum se dicit, vere
plenus Spiritu Sancto erat, qui
sic servus Dominum agnovit, et ex servo amicus fieri meruit."
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