How To Deal With The Nasty And Cunning Ones

Christ turned the other cheek, suffered for them on the cross and asked God to forgive them while dying in pain because of them, but no human today can be expected to accomplish anything this selfless.  To deal with them, you need not be nasty and cunning in return.  If you become nasty and cunning yourself, you would be ugly just like them and you do not want to be ugly.

Who wants to turn into an ugly monster and see that image in the mirror?  You want to be beautiful inside and out.  I believe that if you are beautiful inside, like Christ, the you will be beautiful in the image of Christ on the outside as well.  The more you are like Christ, the more beautiful your personal trinity, your mind, your body and your soul will become.

What about the nasty and cunning ones? You know and can see that they are already ugly.  The nastier and more cunning they become the uglier and uglier they will turn, inside and out.  The secret is that they do not have to be nastier or more cunning to appear uglier and uglier in front of you.  Their minds, bodies and souls will naturally be uglier and uglier relative to your mind, body and soul when you become kinder and kinder, more and more compassionate and forgiving, more and more loving and beautiful as you become more and more like Christ.  Their punishment is painfully, and sadly, apparent to them for they also see how more and more beautiful you have become and your ever increasing beauty has unwittingly become a mirror for them reflecting their ever increasing ugliness, heightening their envy and deepening their bitterness.

All you can do is pray for them, that they too would follow Christ and become loving and beautiful like Christ, and not turn their anger into vengeance against Christ and His faithful ones and become captives of Satan.

A Sublime Imagery By Dante

"We were received into the elements of the eternal pearl as water takes light into itself, with no change in its substance" [Emphasis added] is from Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by John Ciardi who explained that Dante and Beatrice entered the Sphere of the Moon "as light [enters] into water, as God incarnated himself into man, or as the saved soul reenters God, without disruption of the substance thus entered. [Emphasis added] " [1]


[1] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Paradiso, Canto II, pages 606-7. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.

Knowing Versus Serving God's Truth

Saint Augustine said it best [1]:

"I could no longer claim that I had no clear perception of the truth - the excuse which I used to make myself for postponing my renunciation of the world and my entry into your service - for by now I was quite certain of it.  But I was still bound to earth and refused to serve in your army.  Instead of fearing, as I ought, to be held back by all that encumbered me, I was frightened to be free of it  [Emphasis added.] ... I was quite sure that it was better for me to give myself up to your love than to surrender to my own lust.  But while I wanted to follow the first course and was convinced that it was right, I was still a slave to the pleasures of the second.  I had no answer to make when you said Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.  You used all means to prove the truth of your words, and now that I was convinced that they were true, the only answers I could give were the drowsy words of an idler - 'Soon', 'Presently', 'Let me wait a little longer'.  But 'soon' was not soon and 'a little longer' grew much longer.  It was in vain that inwardly I applauded your disposition, when that other disposition in my lower self raised war against the disposition of my conscience and handed me over as a captive to that disposition towards sin, which my lower self contained.  For the rule of sin is the force of habit, by which the mind is swept along and held fast even against its will, yet deservedly, because it fell into the habit of its own accord.  Pitiable creature that I was, who was to set me free from a nature thus doomed to death?  Nothing else than the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  [Emphasis original.]"

[1] Saint Augustine, Confessions, translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin.  Page 165.  England: Clays, Ltd, St Ives, plc, 1961.

Clare of Assisi

Below is quoted verbatim (emphasis original) from The First Book, Chapter VIII, How He Built The Church of San Damiano, And Of The Way Of Life Of The Ladies Living In That Place by Thomas of Celano [1]:

The first work that blessed Francis undertook,

after he had gained his freedom

from the hands of his carnally-minded father,

was to build a house of God.

He did not try to build a new one,

but he repaired an old one,

restored an ancient one.

He did not tear out the foundation,

but he built upon it,

always reserving to Christ his prerogative,

although unaware of it,

for no one can lay another foundation,

but that which has been laid,

which is Christ Jesus.

When he had returned to the place mentioned where

the church of San Damiano had been built in ancient times,

he repaired it zealously within a short time,

aided by the grace of the Most High.

This is the blessed and holy place where

the glorious religion and most excellent Order

of Poor Ladies and holy virgins

had its happy beginning,

about six years after the conversion of the blessed Francis

and through that same blessed man.

The Lady Clare,

a native of the city of Assisi,

the most precious and strongest stone of the whole structure,

stands as the foundation for all the other stones.

For

after the beginning of the Order of Brothers,

when this lady was converted to God

through the counsel of the holy man,

she lived for the good of many

and as an example to countless others.

Noble by lineage, but more noble by grace,

chaste in body, most chaste in mind,

young in age, mature in spirit,

steadfast in purpose and most eager in her desire for divine love,

endowed with wisdom and excelling in humility,

bright in name, more brilliant in life, most brilliant in character.

A noble structure of precious pearls arose above this woman,

whose praise comes not from mortals but from God,

since our limited understanding is not sufficient to imagine it,

nor our scanty vocabulary to utter it.

First of all,

the virtue of mutual and continual charity

that binds their wills together

flourishes among them.

Forty or fifty of them can dwell together in one place,

wanting and not wanting the same things

forming one spirit in them out of many.

Second,

the gem of humility,

preserving the good things bestowed by heaven

so sparkles in each one

that they merit other virtues as well.

Third,

the lily of virginity and chastity

diffuses such a wondrous fragrance among them

that they forget earthly thoughts

and desire to meditate only on heavenly things.

So great a love of their eternal Spouse arises in their hearts

that the integrity of their holy feelings keeps them

from every habit of their former life.

Fourth,

all of them have become so distinguished

by their title of highest poverty

that their food and clothing

rarely or never

manage to satisfy extreme necessity.

Fifth,

they have so attained the unique grace

of abstinence and silence

that they scarcely need to exert any effort

to check the prompting of the flesh

and to restrain their tongues.

Sixth,

they are so adorned with the virtue of patience

in all these things,

that adversity of tribulation,

or injury of vexation

never breaks or changes their spirit.

Seventh,

and finally,

they have so merited the height of contemplation

that they learn in it everything they should do or avoid,

and they know how to go beyond the mind to God with joy,

persevering night and day

in praising Him and praying to Him.

For the moment

let this suffice

concerning these virgins dedicated to God

and most devout servants of Christ.

Their wondrous life

and their renowned practices received from the Lord Pope Gregory,

at the time Bishop of Ostia,

would require another book

and the leisure in which to write it.

[1] Armstrong, Regis J. O.F.M. Cap. et.al. Francis of Assisi: Early Documents, Volume I, The Saint. Pages 196-9. New York: New York City Press, 2000.

Serving God With His Extreme Intellect - Reluctantly

The one most capable who was able to see clearly the cancer of Satan festering in his soul and then to rid this disease by his confessions and thereby sanctifying his entire being was Augustine of Hippo, later known as Saint Augustine. Even as Augustine was successful in cleansing his soul of the cancer of Sin and having a clear view of God, in truth he wrote: "in an instant of awe, my mind attained to the sight of God who IS.  Then, at last, I caught sight of your invisible nature....But I had no strength to fix my gaze upon them.  In my weakness I recoiled and fell back into my old ways, carrying with me nothing but the memory of something that I loved and longed for, as though I had sensed the fragrance of the fare but was not yet able to eat it." Emphasis original.  [1]




[1] Saint Augustine, Confessions, translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin.  Pages 151-2.  England: Clays, Ltd, St Ives, plc, 1961.

The Bigger Evil

Evil is an insatiable desire to win by any means necessary even at the cost of disobeying God.  When the Serpent proposed to Eve and Adam that they could be like God, imagine the intensity of their desires to be like God.  Adam and Eve were not perfect. They were creatures of dust and so are we and therefore on Ash Wednesdays, the Catholic priest would say something like: "you are dust and to dust you will return" when he makes a cross with ash on the forehead.  Indeed people do return to dust after death. [1], [2]

Here we are, millenia later, we too can be afflicted with an insatiable desire to win, not necessarily by any means necessary but necessarily by disobeying God by not believing in God enough, by not being humble enough, by not turning the other cheek enough and by not loving (thy enemies) enough.  Having the affliction means we want to win because we have our ego to satisfy, because we believe we are righteous and the non-righteous must lose otherwise all hell would break loose, because we are addicted to winning since winning makes us feel that we are powerful and in control and we must be powerful and in control since we are right and righteous.

To win not by love but by unjust laws, by might, by deceit or by treachery is to play into the hands of Satan.  There will always be the bigger evil somewhere on this planet.  The bigger evil could be the loser in the first round and come back the winner the second time around.  The cycle never ends because vengeance and the desire to win are insatiable.  The insatiability on earth is just like that in Hell where there is a constant void and every desire that is seemingly fulfilled is devoid of fulfillment.

If the desire to win is fulfilled, then the manner in which it was fulfilled must have been perfect for no bigger evil could unseat you in your throne to bring back the desire to get back on it and the only way that can happen is through unconditional love.  Since that is not going to happen any time soon, there will always be a bigger evil to claim the win and the throne, perhaps an old rival or a new kid on the block.

While jostling for superiority, people focus so much on the bigger evil, to prevent it from bringing defeat or to defeat it that they lose sight of the obvious, Satan, the biggest evil.  Those who are continuously devising strategies and mobilizing to win against the bigger evil on earth, Satan in Hell is claiming a bigger and bigger part of those souls that are in the cycle of insatiability.  Satan was the creator of and a current participant in this insatiable vortex of void.  Lucifer, presently known as Satan, created the vortex of void when it left Heaven.  In Hell, Satan has the insatiable desire to beat God in collecting souls.  Take part in Satan's game of insatiable desires now and take the heat in Satan's Hell for in eternity later. [3]


[1] In contrast, Mary, Mother of God and Jesus, Son of God were perfect.  They never disobeyed God and their bodies never became dust.
[2] Literally and figuratively.  Aside from artificial attempts to preserve the corpse, the flesh decays and becomes dust.  Even well-preserved corpses are usually buried in the ground (dust) and not displayed on the living room table.  Even the body of Saint Bernardette of Lourdes was first placed in the ground after she died but her flesh did not become dust when she was exhumed approximately 30 years later.  Parts of body did return to dust after she was first exhumed, washed and re-buried.  That became known after she was exhumed a second time.  For details, see http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/bernbody.htm
[3] It is not certain if Hell is hot or cold or both.  Perhaps the temperature varies with the location like real estate on earth, or perhaps it is so cold that it burns.  Would that not be hell?

Two Masters

This quote:  "You cannot serve both God and mammon" is so true.  To serve God fully, one has to be willing to give up one's life and life's comforts.  There are not too many people who do that, not priests, not preachers, not anyone in my life but they exist.  I would love to befriend such a person because spending time with this person would be like spending time in heaven except that any person who serve God fully would not have time for me.

Unwilling to part with life and life's comforts one can only enjoy being with God part-time.  The other and much bigger part of one's day has to be spent on the demands of daily life in a financially driven society that is far more adversarial than communal, competitive than cooperative and deceitful than truthful. [1]  Putting it bluntly, this world is a Satanic world, far, far away from Heaven.

There is no true joy or true peace in this Satanic world.  Only God has them and only deep in prayer [2] can one find God's joy and peace.  It is important to take a few moments (15 minutes at least) a day to spend with God in prayer, in addition to saying the rosary.  During this time, make that a very quiet time, allow God's peace to enter the soul and the mind and the body, and then allow the human trinity to feel very gradually the Holy Trinity's gift of complete fulfillment.  That moment may not always arrive but when such a moment arrives, realize the richness of that sensation has nothing to do with Satan's worthless mammon that buys artificial and ephemeral happiness but has everything to do with God's infinite, genuine, priceless and addictive joy that cannot be bought. [3]




[1] Capitalism need not be based on competition and deceit as people are taught to believe.  I postulate that capitalism works far better and is far more rewarding if it is based on cooperation and mutual benefit.  Unfortunately, that is only theory and will remain a theory because of human greed and selfishness both of which stem from Satan.

[2] Being deep in prayer does not mean reciting a litany of mundane earthly wishes but rather asking God to re-direct one's path back to God should one stray and praying for the ability to do everything and relate to everyone with the love of God in heart and in mind.

[3] None of God's gifts can be bought.  One has to live in God's truth with humility and with love to have them.