How Familiar is this to You? Flattery, Intimacy and Imitation

Book 1: Chapter 8. Shunning Too Much Familiarity



Too Familiar!

 In this chapter, Thomas discusses familiarity in the sense of being overly familiar in situations that are better avoided. It’s that notion of avoiding the near-occasion of sin. Rather, we should guard our hearts and secrets. Thomas spends a few sentences on flattery – which is a concept related to imitation, isn’t it? Oftentimes flattery is false and disingenuous, whereas imitation is a true attempt at faithful mimicry. The language in this chapter was challenging in that it did not lend itself to direct equivalencies....luckily, Thomas gave us some biblical references to get a grip on what he was trying to teach us!

“Open not your heart readily to any man ”(Sirach 8:19), but handle your affairs with those who are wise and fear God.


Keep regular company with mature people but not with strangers.

Do not be a flatterer with the rich, nor willingly appear before the great.

Associate yourself with the humble and the simple, with the devout and the virtuous and deal with those things which edify one another (Rom 14:19).

Do not be overly familiar with a person of the opposite sex, but recommend them in their goodness, to God.

Therefore, desire to be familiar only with God and His angels, and avoid the acquaintance of others.

And from here, Thomas takes us int the next logical step, that of distinguishing charity from familiarity. But again, when we over-do it, people see through the flattery and this ruins their otherwise good reputation.

2. We must have charity for all, but familiarity is not advisable.

It sometimes happens that a person, when not know, shines by a good reputation, who, when he is present, is disagreeable to them that sees him.


We think sometimes to please others by being with them; and we begin, rather to disgust them by the evil behavior which they discover in us.

Thanks for praying with me.

Until next time, be Imitators of Christ!

Check out my web site: faithandfidelity.com
tim

God and Contract Law: The Invitation to a Promise, the Promise, Accord & Satisfaction vs. A Gift

The Most Blessed Sacrament

Warning: Do not read this series of postings unless you are prepared to see The Sacrament in a whole new Light.  Start slow, and chew on the meditation.  More prayer than thoughtfulness is in order here to absorb the themes Good Thomas is revealing to us.

As we move into Pentecost and Corpus Christi, I'm going to go a bit out of order, skipping to Book 4, on The Blessed Sacrament.  Here goes!   (For those going in order, Book 1, Ch 3,  is here).

Book 4, Chapter 1: On How Great Reverence is to be Shown When Christ is to be Received

Book 4 opens with five New Testament quotes.  While the other books have many Scriptural references in the opening, only Book 4 opens with Christ, as part of a prayerful conversation, directly quoting from the New Testament. 

Thomas always gets it right in that he sees The Word, The Eternal Word (Jesus) and The Blessed Sacrament as intimately intertwined.  You cannot have one without the other and have a complete meal.  Without one, you will always leave the banquet hungry.

Therefore, Thomas opens the book on The Eucharist with a meditation on the Words of Christ, offering an invitation from Jesus to believe and then rely upon His True Presence in The Blessed Sacrament.  The result of that reliance? Spirit and Life. So, first the quotes:

The Voice of Christ:
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28
"[T]he bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." John 6:51
"This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." 1 Cor 11:24
"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." John 6:56
"The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." John 6:63

Thomas will now make his case with a question and a comparison: How can we dare to approach the Altar of God and receive Holy Communion when we don’t measure up to the likes and efforts of Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, The Angels, and The Saints? His conclusion will be that we can never be worthy or measure up. But as Thomas will repeat throughout this chapter, God keeps inviting and reminding us: “Of course you don’t qualify to be here, but come anyway! Come because My Son has opened the gates of Heaven and Grace for you.”

Disciple:

The Breaking of the Bread by Ariel Agemian



These are your words, O Christ, the Eternal Truth, though not all delivered at one time, nor written in one place.

Since, therefore, these are Your words, and true, all are to be received by me with thanks and with faith.


These are Your words and You have spoken them; and these words are also mine because you have delivered these for my salvation.


I willingly receive Your words from Your mouth that these may be more integrated, yes even grafted into my heart forever.

Such great and tender words! Full of sweetness and love - this encourages me; but my sins terrify me and my unclean conscience keeps me back from approaching such great mysteries. The sweetness of your words invites me, but the multitude of my sins weighs me down.

I find these words of Thomas particularly personal from Thomas.  He is truly edified by Christ's words and yet fully aware of his unworthiness created by his sins. Still, he believes upon the Promises and joyfully approaches the Altar, aware of his fear, his shortcomings and The Lord's Grace.



Professor Kingsfield from "The Paper Chase"
portrayed by John Houseman

This whole first line of quotes and discussion reminds me of the first year of law school, Contracts class, where we discuss the foundation of Contract law, which is the notions of Offer, Acceptance and Consideration:  An offer is supported by a promise, and has to have consideration (a giving up of something of value).  For the contract to be complete, there must be acceptance by the person the offer is being made to - that's us.



In the opening quotes, we have Jesus' invitation to a promise, the promise, the fulfillment of the promise.  His 'consideration' was his death on the cross.  Our consideration is the 'giving up' of our selfish lives for following Him. In imitating Him, we find out how much more He gives us and how we can never give back enough. 

So God binds Himself to an eternal contract - a covenant, really, which is essentially unilateral (He must do it even if we do not perfectly perform our end of the bargain!).  So, it is an enforceable Gift. Wow!  Who said studying the law wasn't profitable?

Next time, we will look at God's invitation to us....

Thank you for reading and praying along with me. 'Til next time, be Imitators of Christ!

tim

Everyone wants to belong - listening is the hard part

The next few reflections will cover a single chapter - Chapter 3, Book I: The Doctrine of Truth.

In reading chapters like this (and there are many!) it is difficult to isolate a single verse without commentary.  And so breaking it up and praying on each seems the better way.

It is profitable, therefore, to look at one of several places in Scripture where our Lord discusses Truth.  This one with Pilate.  I note that Jesus never wastes His time, not even on pagans.  He's always sharing the Truth:

John 18:37-38

"So Pilate said to Him 'Then you are a king?'  Jesus answered, 'You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."  Pilate said to him, "What is truth?"

Good Thomas opens this chapter with the following:

"Happy is he whom Truth teaches by itself, not by figures and words that pass, but as Truth is in itself.  Ps 18:36, Is 28:26"

Sometimes, we get wrapped up in ideas and experiences which supposedly show us who God is.  We think we know the Him because someone told us how it is supposed to feel.....or we bowed our head and said the magic words.  But instead of investigating the matter, we quickly form an opinion or try to replicate the feeling through our eyes or other senses...even our ears, without listening for the God's still, small Voice (1 Kings 19:12-13).

Thomas refers to two Scriptures from which he makes this claim.  In Psalm 18, David personifies truth as a protecting shield, or even God's right Hand.  A protecting shield in ancient times covered the soldier's vital parts from his neck to his thigh.  Other shields were even larger, requiring a shield bearer who held the shield for the fighter.  These shields were heavy and durable and could withstand any weapon of the time.  It is thought that the Star of David comes from this verse, as does the rabbinic phrase "Shield of Abraham" which was a direct reference to God.

When God teaches us directly (like Jeseus did Pilate), the teaching is clear and reliable.  We can boldly stand behind the Truth, just as a soldier can rely on his shield to protect him against the onslaught of the enemy. A reckless disregard for the dangers of the battlefield will quickly expose the soldier to pain or death: even from small weapons. 

And so Thomas continues:

"Our opinion and our senses often deceive us and discover but little."

Confused, we may become indifferent or drop into old habits....  We step out from behind the Shield and get nicked by a piece of debris that infects us.  An infected wound can kill just as well as a spear - only slower.

We don't even know we are infected until the wound's poison has reached other aspects of our health.  At that point, we need major surgery.  Our soul needs The Great Physician.

The Lord will reach out to us, not with weak slivers of a conceptual framework, but with Truth that we can easily stand behind to defend our families, our lives... our very souls.  That is our prescription for being healed.

Until next time.
tim

Ps 18:36 reads:  You have given me your protecting shield; Your right Hand has upheld me; You stooped to make me great.

Is 28:26 reads: He has learned this rule, instructed by his God.

When you can't pray, wash the dishes!

In the walk of faith, we often engage in gatherings for prayer or teaching or spiritual exercises, or adoration.  From these we receive spiritual consolation or we attain indescribable feelings or confirmations where we simply know that God is present, listening to us, remembering us, praying with us, lifting us up in His Hands (Is 49:14-16). 

At other times, we experience nothing.  A dryness.  We get bored or, during a prayer cycle, decide that this litany being offered is tiresome and not fruitful.

Here, good Thomas has some advice for us:  Get over yourself!  Get to work!  Go out and help someone!  Wash the dishes without complaint - maybe even at your own house or at the bread line(Jas2:26).  Jesus may show up.

Here's what today's reflection says - I am copying the whole chapter because it is short.  See my note at the end about the Psalm citation.

Book III, Ch 51: Exercise in Humility - We Must Exercise Ourselves in Humble Works When We Cannot Attain to the Highest

Christ:
  Son, thou canst not always continue in the most fervent desire of virtue, nor stand in the highest degree of contemplation; but it must needs be that thou sometimes descend to lower things by reason of original corruption, and though bear the burden of this corruptible life, even against thy will, and with irksomeness.
  As long as though carriest about with thee thy mortal body thou shalt feel trouble and heaviness of heart.
  Thou oughtst, therefore, as long as thou art in the flesh, oftentimes to bewail the burden of the flesh: that thou canst not without intermission be employed in spiritual exercises and divine contemplation.
  2.  At these times, it is expedient for thee to fly to humble and exterior works, and to refresh thyself in good actions, to look for My coming and My heavenly visitation with an assured hope; to bear with patience thy banishment, and the aridity of thy mind, till thou be visited again by Me, and delivered from all anguish.
  For I will make thee forget thy pains and enjoy internal rest.
  I will lay open before thee the pleasant fields of the Scriptures, that thy heart being enlarged though mayst begin to run in the way of My commandments (Ps 119:32).
  And then thall shalt say that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us (Rm 8:18).

A note on citations to the Psalms:  when you are looking up the verse, if it is after Psalm 9, you need to add one chapter.  Here's why -

The version of The Imitation of Christ being used here cites to Psalms in Roman Numerals.  However, the citation is usually one chapter LESS than modern translations of the Psalms.  Thus, in the passage above, the translation I am using is: CXVIII, 32  or 118:32.  Most modern translations of Scripture renumber the Psalms beginning with Psalm 9 & 10, whereas the translation used by this edition of The Imitation, has the older version.  So, when you are looking up the verse, if it is after Psalm 9, you need to add one chapter.