The Way to Perfection

There is one classic writing which comes to mind as I continue to practice the “meitian spirituality.” I’m referring to the book Abandonment to Divine Providence by Jean-Pierre de Caussade, sj (d. 1751).

Let me share an excerpt, taken from Section IV. This is a very good antidote for inquisitive and obsessive persons like me. Its simple theme is "Perfection consists in doing the will of God, not in understanding His designs."
Writes de Caussade:
The designs of God, the good pleasure of God, the will of God, the operation of God and the gift of His grace are all one and the same thing in the spiritual life. It is God working in the soul to make it like unto Himself. Perfection is neither more nor less than the faithful cooperation of the soul with this work of God, and is begun, grows, and is consummated in the soul unperceived and in secret. The science of theology is full of theories and explanations of the wonders of this state in each soul according to its capacity. One may be conversant with all these speculations, speak and write about them admirably, instruct others and guide souls; yet, if these theories are only in the mind, one is, compared with those who, without any knowledge of these theories, receive the meaning of the designs of God and do His holy will, like a sick physician compared to simple people in perfect health. The designs of God and his divine will accepted by a faithful soul with simplicity produces this divine state in it without its knowledge, just as a medicine taken obediently will produce health, although the sick person neither knows nor wishes to know anything about medicine. As fire gives out heat, and not philosophical discussions about it, nor knowledge of its effects, so the designs of God and His holy will work in the soul for its sanctification, and not speculations of curiosity as to this principle and this state. When one is thirsty one quenches one’s thirst by drinking, not by reading books which treat of this condition. The desire to know does but increase this thirst. Therefore when one thirsts after sanctity, the desire to know about it only drives it further away. Speculation must be laid aside, and everything arranged by God as regards actions and sufferings must be accepted with simplicity, for those things that happen at each moment by the divine command or permission are always the most holy, the best and the most divine for us.

Meitian spirituality

In my Chinese lesson today, I learned that the Chinese word for “everyday” is “meitian.” It just struck me that the same syllable “mei” has also the meaning of “beautiful” (among many other meanings). At any rate, the word stuck and I was even able to “build a spirituality” around the term.
“Meitian,” that is, "everyday,” is a beautiful day. It is a carrier of possibilities, of promises, as this Zen saying goes:

Not twice this day
Inch time foot gem.
This day will not come again.
Each minute is worth a priceless gem. (by Zen Master-Takuan)

“Meitian,” we are called to commit ourselves to live life anew. This is the only day that is ours. This is God’s present to us. Says Ian Stackhouse in his The Day is Yours: "All we can do is to enter into the realities of this day, believing that grace will fill it. The only day I can existentially commit to is today. This is the only day we can live. Tomorrow will arrive, sure enough. But God promises to be there. For now, I am called to embrace this day: its uniqueness, its shape, its context, and its boundaries. God’s unit is a day. "

Indeed, “meitian” is a gift, a miracle, a sacrament. Jean-Pierre De Caussade in The Sacrament of the Present Moment shares this light: “The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams but you will only enjoy them to the extent of your faith and love. The more a soul loves, the more it longs, the more it hopes, the more it finds. The will of God is manifest in each moment, an immense ocean which only the heart fathoms insofar as it overflows with faith, trust and love.”

St. Bernard of Clarvaux - Melifluous Doctor

Today is the feast of my patron saint, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), Abbot and Doctor of the Church. Born in Dijon, France, he was one of the early heroes of the Cistercian Order of Monks. His magnetic personality and preaching attracted hundreds to monastic life including many of his relatives. It was said that his words were so sweet that he came to be known as the Melifluous ("full of honey") Doctor. Here’s one example of his preaching which is proposed as Second Reading for the Office of the Readings today. This is taken from one of his sermons on the Song of Songs:

Love is sufficient of itself, it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself. It is its own merit, its own reward. Love looks for no cause outside itself, no effect beyond itself. Its profit lies in its practice. I love because I love, I love that I may love. Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it.
Of all the movements, sensations and feelings of the soul, love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the Creator and make some sort of similar return however unequal though it be. For when God loves, all he desires is to be loved in return; the sole purpose of his love is to be loved, in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him.
The Bridegroom’s love, or rather the love which is the Bridegroom, asks in return nothing but faithful love. Let the beloved, then, love in return. Should not a bride love, and above all, Love’s bride? Could it be that Love not be loved?
Rightly then does she give up all other feelings and give herself wholly to love alone; in giving love back, all she can do is to respond to love. And when she has poured out her whole being in love, what is that in comparison with the unceasing torrent of that original source? Clearly, lover and Love, soul and Word, bride and Bridegroom, creature and Creator do not flow with the same volume; one might as well equate a thirsty man with the fountain.
What then of the bride’s hope, her aching desire, her passionate love, her confident assurance? Is all this to wilt just because she cannot match stride for stride with her giant, any more than she can vie with honey for sweetness, rival the lamb for gentleness, show herself as white as the lily, burn as bright as the sun, be equal in love with him who is Love? No. It is true that the creature loves less because she is less. But if she loves with her whole being, nothing is lacking where everything is given. To love so ardently then is to share the marriage bond; she cannot love so much and not be totally loved, and it is in the perfect union of two hearts that complete and total marriage consists. Or are we to doubt that the soul is loved by the Word first and with a greater love?

Mary's Assumption 2008

Today's Solemnity of Mary's Assumption inspires me to once more sing with Dante Alighieri parts of Canto 33 of his Paradiso. The poem keeps alive the spirit of prayer and hope that no matter how difficult things may appear, there is always One who knows us best and who is there to lead us to where we, earthly pilgrims, are meant to be one day. May this help us "connect with our lovely and loving intercessor" Mary, our Mother, source of all beauty, compassion and grace.

"Thou Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son,
humble and high beyond all other creature,
the limit fixed of the eternal counsel,
thou art the one who such nobility
to human nature gave,
that its Creator
did not disdain to make himself its creature.

Within thy womb rekindled was the love,
by heat of which in the eternal peace
after such wise this flower has germinated.
Here unto us thou art a noonday torch
of charity, and below there among mortals
thou art the living fountain-head of hope.

Lady, thou art so great, and so prevailing,
that he who wishes grace, nor runs to thee,
his aspirations without wings would fly.
Not only thy benignity gives succour
to him who asketh it, but oftentimes
forerunneth of its own accord the asking.
In thee compassion is, in thee is pity,
in thee magnificence; in thee unites
whate'er of goodness is in any creature.

Now doth this man, who from the lowest depth
of the universe as far as here has seen
one after one the spiritual lives,
supplicate thee through grace for so much power
that with his eyes he may uplift himself
higher towards the uttermost salvation.
And I, who never burned for my own seeing
more than I do for his, all of my prayers
proffer to thee, and pray they come not short,
that thou wouldst scatter from him every cloud
of his mortality so with thy prayers,
that the Chief Pleasure be to him displayed.