Reading a bit of St. Catherine of Siena, and here it is--not just from a marvelous Opus Dei priest who enlivened with spiritual enthusiams when the nothing mentioned being nothing as opposed to be even a little something in whatever the Bishop might desire for the vocation's unfolding.
"...when the Lord Jesus Christ first began to appear to her, He once came to her while she was praying and said, 'Do you know, daughter, who you are, and who I am? If you know these two things, you will be blessed. You are she who is not; whereas I am He who is. Have this knowledge in your soul and the Enemy will never deceive you and you will escape all his wiles; you will never disobey My commandments and will acquire all grace, truth and light.'"
Some who read these blogs of a nothing Catholic hermit have struggled to the point of disagreement with the whole identity of nothingness. One felt it would scandalize others to read anything from a nothing. Another felt it terrible especially at Easter to deny being something, for God created us. But there are temporal ways to view and spiritual ways to view. We must learn to view--and to be--spiritual.
Can't think of any better words to use to explain this except by those of Christ Himself to St. Catherine of Siena--and to us through the writings of her life by her spiritual director, himself a Blessed (Bl. Raymond of Capua).
But words being what they are (other than the Word Who was made flesh), it remains that to call oneself nothing does indeed require the effort and prayers and graces to actually be nothing, to know one is nothing, and to accept the nothing state. For, God is everything and all and He Is.
2 comments:
Welcome back! - hope your retreat went well - I am glad you are affirmed in your vocation, and yes, the whole "nothing" thing is something to ponder. I do not mind the concept,and even embrace it, of being small and tiny, like St. Therese of Liseux, the tiniest of flowers at God's feet. Even if He steps on me! But I have to admit I, too, struggle with whether God created us to be "nothing" in every sense. Why create then? Still, I understand your desire to acknowledge that God is everything; certainly agree with that. Blessings as your continue this journey along with the rest of us out here in cyberspace...
The retreat was "an experience." Perhaps there will be a sharing, but doubt if the confessor will go for that. It was a bit of two Stephens--King and Spielberg, that is! Bizarre. Learned much!
The canon lawyer spoke a bit last evening after Mass. He commented on the nothing stuff. Yes, God did create us out of nothing, and we return to nothing. He mentioned that many people struggle with the concept because it is not considered in the spiritual view. We humans put the temporal in, and while we have temporal bodies and thus are "something" in the form of matter--what is matter? It is nothing in the spiritual sense, other than what is perceived from God's having created it. And we are created by God for love. Love is not tangible, yet it is reflected. But the point of being nothing and knowing we are nothing, is to comprehend that God is Everything and All. So I think you comprehend. It is a simple acceptance of a fact that makes sense if we do not remain in physics but think with the "heart"!
Am certainly terrible at explaining, but Jesus did it perfectly (of course) when He told St. Catherine she is not and He Is!
So good to hear from you! I love your image of being stepped on in God's garden! We love images, and that is another reason why nothingness is difficult to absorb since it is imageless. Am now pondering that since God is everything, is it feasible, really, to place temporal conditions of "every thing" as we perceive "things", on a concept of God Who Is? Hmm! Better get back out in the Mary Garden to plant and ponder!
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