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Wisdom of St Columbanus

11/23/2013

 

Excerpts from a "Letter to a Young Disciple"
by St Columbanus

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Be helpful when you are at the bottom of the ladder and be the lowest when you are in authority.

Be simple in faith but well trained in manners.

Be demanding in your own affairs but unconcerned in those of others.

Be guileless in friendship, astute in the face of deceit.

Be tough in times of ease, tender in hard times.

Keep your options open when there is no problem, but did in when you must choose.

Be pleasant when things are unpleasant, and sorrowful when they are pleasant.

Disagree when necessary, but be in agreement about the truth.

Be serious in pleasures, but kindly when things are bitter.

Be strong in trials, weak in dissensions.

Be slow to anger, swift to learn, slow also to speak, as St James says, equally swift to hear.

Be up and doing to make progress, slack to take revenge, careful in word, eager in work.

Be friendly with men of honour, stiff with rascals.

Be gentle to the weak, firm to the stubborn, steadfast to the proud, humble to the lowly.

Be ever sober, ever chaste, ever modest.

Be patient as far as is compatible with zeal.

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Chapel of St Columbanus in the Vatican Grottoes, Rome
Never be greedy, but always generous – if not in money, then in spirit.

Be timely in fasting, timely in the night-offices, discreet in duty.

Be persistent in study, unshaken in turmoil, joyful in suffering.

Be vigilant in the cause of truth, cautious in time of strife.

Be submissive to good, unbending to evil

Be gentle in generosity, untiring in love, just in all things.

Be respectful to the worthy, merciful to the poor.

Be mindful of favours, unmindful of wrongs.

Be a lover of the ordinary man, and do not wish for riches.

Instead, cool down excitement and speak your mind.

Obey your seniors, keep up with your juniors, equal your equals, emulate the perfect.

Do not envy your betters, or grieve at those who surpass you, or censure those who fall behind, but agree with those who urge you all.

Though weary, do not give up.

Weep and rejoice at the same time, out of zeal and hope.

Advance with determination, for always fear for the end.

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Statue of St Columbanus, Bobbio, Italy

A prayer attributed to St Columbanus

'Lord, grant me, I pray thee in the name of Jesus Christ thy Son, my God, that love which knows no fall, so that my lamp may feel the kindling touch and know no quenching, may burn for me and for others may give light. Do thou, Christ, deign to kindle our lamps, our Saviour most sweet to us, that they may shine continually in thy temple, and receive perpetual light from thee the Light perpetual, so that our darkness may be enlightened, and yet the world's darkness may be driven from us. Thus do thou enrich my lantern with the light, I pray thee, Jesus mine, so that by its light there may be disclosed to me those holy places of the holy, which hold thee the eternal priest of the eternal things, entering there in the pillars of that great temple of thine, that constantly I may see, observe, desire thee only, and loving thee only may behold, and before thee my lamp may ever shine and burn. Be it thine, I beg, most loving Saviour, to reveal thyself to us who beseech thee, so that knowing thee, we may love thee only, love thee alone, hold thee in our thoughts; and do thou deign so far to inspire us with thy love, as it befits thee to be loved and cherished as our God; that thy charity may possess all our inward parts, and thy love may own us all, and thine affection may fill all our senses, so that we may know no other love apart from thee who art eternal; that such affection may be in us impossible of quenching by the many waters of this air and land and sea, according to that saying "And many waters are not able to quench love", which in us also can be fulfilled even in part, by the gift of thee our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory unto ages of ages. Amen'.

A selection of quotes from Meister Eckhart

11/6/2013

 
Meister Eckhart was a German theologian in the 13th century. Though his works were condemned by the Roman church for years, Christians worldwide have found his discourses to be inspirational and the work of a being in deep connection with his maker.
_______________________________

I maintain by God's eternal truth that God must pour himself, without reservation, with all his powers, into everyone who has sunk completely into himself and has touched bottom. For it is God's very nature to give himself to all those who are empty. And God will give himself so fully and completely  that nothing will be left of Himself. Nothing will be left of His essence, His nature, nor His creation. God must pour everything, His totality, into that person who has completely given himself to Him.

_______________________________

By aligning with God's will, a person takes on the taste 
of God: grief and joy, bitterness and sweetness, darkness 
and light- and all of life- become a divine gift.

_______________________________

I will never ask God to give Himself to me. All I ask
is that He makes me pure and empty. For it is God's very
nature to give Himself to those who are pure, and to 
fill those who are empty.

_______________________________

When the soul is totally lost it finds that it is the
very Self it had sought for so long in vain. 
Here the soul is God. Here it enjoys supreme bliss.
Here it is sufficient unto itself. 
Here it shines with it's own radiance. Here, at last,
it has found that the Kingdom of God is itself.

_______________________________

There is no need to look for God here or there.
He is no farther away than the door of your own heart.

_______________________________

In this divine birth I find that God and I are the same:
I am what I was and what I shall remain, now and forever. 
I am carried above the highest angels. I neither increase 
nor decrease, for in this birth I have become the motionless cause of all that moves. I have won back what has always been mine. Here, in my own soul, the greatest of  all miracles has taken place-god has returned to God!

_______________________________

Truly, I am so content with God's care of me with whatever He gives or does not give me that there is not the slightest difference between what I have and the best I could ever wish for myself.
_______________________________

So , if God is to give, He must first find someone who will receive, and none but the humble can receive the gift of God.
_______________________________

Completely surrender your will to God and in return
He will give you his will, so fully and without reserve 
that it will become your own.

_______________________________

If I were to say God exists, this would not be true. He is being beyond being. He is nothingness beyond being. This is why St. Augustine says the best thing to be said about God is Silence.
_______________________________

The only work we should rightly undertake is eradication of self. 
_______________________________

Could you completely forget your self even for
just an instant, you would be given everything.

_______________________________

God is nearer to me than I am to myself.
_______________________________

I Am can be spoken by no creature, but by
God alone. I must become God and God must become me,
so completely that we share the same "I" eternally. 
Our truest "I" is God.

_______________________________
Only someone who wills nothing, knows nothing, 
and desires nothing has true spiritual poverty.

_______________________________
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something Icelandic for a change

11/5/2013

 
This beautiful prayer was written in the 12th or early 13th century by Kolbeinn Tumason, who was one of the most powerful chieftains (goði) in Iceland. Kolbeinn was a devoutly religious man of some education and he composed this hymn on his deathbed.

"Listen, smith of the heavens,
what the poet asks.
May softly come unto me
thy mercy.
So I call on thee,
for thou hast created me.
I am thy slave,
thou art my Lord.
God, I call on thee
to heal me.
Remember me, mild one, 
Most we need thee.
Drive out, O king of suns,
generous and great,
every human sorrow
from the city of the heart.
Watch over me, mild one,
Most we need thee,
truly every moment
in the world of men.
send us, son of the virgin,
good causes,
all aid is from thee,
in my heart."


(contributed by Rowan Lewgallon. 
Photo:  site of the Battle of Haugsnes, Iceland) 
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from "New Seeds of Comtemplation" by Thomas Merton

11/4/2013

 
"The lakes hidden among the hills are saints, and the sea too is a saint who praises God without interruption in her majestic dance. The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God's saints. . . For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self. Trees and animals have no problem. God makes them what they are without consulting them, and they are perfectly satisfied. With us it is different. God leaves us free to be whatever we like. We can be ourselves or not, as we please. We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours."
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    This blog is simply a selection of  quotes, some long some short, from various spiritual authors. Our Journal "In Hoc Signo Vinces" may be found on the Holy Cross Benedictines page.

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