Cardinal Ratzinger article - Part2
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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 meditation(32) 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). ln 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
NOTES
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 1, 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 Psalms 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 1, 1174-1176; Origen, De Oratione, XXXL, 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."