Friends:
The recent feast of All Saints [November 1] and its companion feast All Souls [Nov. 2] remind me of the importance of holiness for ecumenism.
I firmly believe that we need saints to guide us.
This is especially true as we get closer to full communion and we are walking uphill.
These saints are present in all Christian traditions.
We need their sure guidance.
Brother Roger of Taize is often cited as an example--but there are many others.
I don't think that holiness is perfection. From my own [Salesian Catholic] tradition I recall that St. Francis de Sales was dissatisfied with the biographies of saints that excluded their weaknesses. These hagiographies made their holiness unattainable, unreal. Rather holy ones among us are quite sensitive to their own failures and weaknesses. They know they rely completely on the guidance of the Spirit.
All of this can conveniently be 'pushed away' by thinking--"I'll keep my eye out for these folks"
Perhaps we should be thinking--"I'll follow them" or more profoundly "I am open to the Spirit should I be called"
Peace,
John
posted by Larry Golemon @ 2:45 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
I agree with what you say about holiness and perfection. In 2005 (I think) the BBC broadcast a series of programmes called 'The Monastery' where 5 men spent 40 days and 40 nights at Worth Abbey. I missed it but hear it was an interesting programme. Abbot Christopher Jamison, of Worth Abbey, published a book about Benedictine spirituality, in 2006 as a follow up to the series. 'finding sanctuary: Monastic steps for everyday life'. The publishers were secular, Weidenfeld and Nicholson: London and the first print run sold out in a week.
The author writes about humility at length and describes the ladder of humility, which has 12 rungs, which you ascend by falling. The top rung (or the bottom depending on which way up you think you are) is where the monk's humility is evident 'i nhis beaqring no less than in his heart'. Jamison calles this integrity and it is not spectaular, not heroic, simply saying in the heart 'Lord, I am a sinner'. The conatant mindfulness of sin is the mark of the saint according to Benedict.
This excited me as a Methodist local preacher because Benedict called this state 'perfect love'. John wesley courted much argument in his day (and since) by his insistence on Christian perfection, but it was this state of constant mindfulness of sin that he meant I am sure.
Wesley's ministry as spiritual director is not as widely recognised as his work as an evangelist. He organised his fellow Methodists, from the poor working classes into self-help groups to follow, maybe not Benedict's way but something like it.
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