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Since I first heard of John Duns Scotus and Franciscan theology of the Incarnation I have been captivated by what Seamus Mulholland, OFM has written about it. I have attempted a couple of times lately to put it in my own words and I’ve not articulated it as well as I’d like so here it is in the words of Seamus himself.

The Incarnation is the model for creation: there is a creation only because of the Incarnation. In this schema, the universe is for Christ and not Christ for the universe. Scotus finds it inconceivable that the ‘greatest good in the universe’ i.e. the Incarnation, can be determined by some lesser good i.e. Man’s redemption. This is because such a sin-centred view of the Incarnation suggests that the primary rôle of Christ is as an assuager of the universe’s guilt. In the Absolute Primacy, Christ is the beginning, middle and end of creation. He stands at the centre of the universe as the reason for its existence. In this sense the universe has realised its creational potential more than Man, since it is created with the potential to bear the God-Man and the Incarnation has taken place historically and existentially. Man, as yet, has failed to reach his potential to ‘love one another as I have loved you’.

If you look at the universe from a different theological perspective it is possible to live and react differently and still be a Christian. If you want to read the full article by Mulholland click here.

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incarnation, franciscan, spirituality

Two regular readers of this blog have suggested that I read Aldous Huxley. One went so far as to name a book. I think that means I should read “Perennial Philosophy” by Huxley. Paula says Thomas Merton mentions Huxley in Seven Storey Mountain. It’s been 27 years since I read the book from cover to cover. It’s part of my library and I refer to it many times, but I don’t remember that part. Sure enough on pages 101 and 202 are references to Aldous Huxley’s works.

Since I’m writing about Merton, here is one of my favorites quotes from Seven Storey Mountain.

“I will give you what you desire. I will lead you into solitude. I will lead you by the way that you cannot possibly understand, because I want it to be the quickest way.

“Therefore all things around you will be armed against you, to deny you, to hurt you and reduce you to solitude.

“Because of their enmity, you will soon be left alone. They will cast you out and forsake you and reject you and you will be alone. Everything that touches you shall burn you, and you will draw your hand in pain, until you have withdrawn yourself from all things. Then you will be alone.

“Everything that touches you shall burn you, and you will draw your hand away in pain, until you have withdrawn yourself from all things. Then you will be alone.

“Everything that can be desired will sear you, and brand you with a cautery, and you will fly from it in pain, to be alone. Every created joy will only come to you as pain, and you will die to all joy and be left alone. All the good things that other people love and desire and seek will come to you, but only as murderers to cut you off from the world and its occupations.

“You will praised and it will be like burning at the stake. You will be loved and it will murder your heart and drive you into the desert.

“You will have gifts, and they will break you with their burden. You will have pleasures of prayer, and they will sicken you and you will fly from them.

“And when you have been praised a little and loved a little I will take away all your gifts and all your love and all your praise and you will be utterly forgotten and abandoned and you will be nothing, a dead thing, a rejection. And in that day you shall begin to possess the solitude you have so long desired. And your solitude will bear immense fruit in the souls of men you will never see on earth.

“Do not ask when it will be or where it will be or how it will be: On a mountain, or in a prison, in a desert or in a concentration camp or in a hospital or at Gethsemani. It does not matter. So do not ask me, because I am not going to tell you. You will not know until you are in it.

“But you shall taste the true solitude of my anguish and my poverty and I shall lead you into the high places of my joy and you shall die in Me and find all things in My mercy which has created you for this end and brought you from Prades to Bermuda to St. Antonin to Oakham to London to Cambridge to Rome to New York to Columbia to Corpus Christi to St. Bonaventure to the Cistercian Abbey of the poor men who labor in Gethsemani:

“That you may become the brother of God and learn to know the Christ of the burnt men.”

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huxley, merton, seven storey mountain, perennial philosophy

“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…”

That’s today’s gospel. I remember an earlier post I had on “Just War”. This is what Jesus said, before it was watered down by Augustine and Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. After Constantine accepted Christianity as the state religion you can see a “watering down” of the Jesus message that has continued up to the present day. Earlier this week, the gospel was about the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes, Matthew 25 and today’s Gospel form the core of what Jesus taught and lived. In a post on Sunday I wrote that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was more about living in relationship with our brothers and sisters than it is his death on the cross.

In a book I read several years ago the author stated that in the first millenium after the resurrection the emphasis was on living in relationship and that in the second millenia the emphasis switched to more of an emphasis on the atoning death. Perhaps that is why so many who profess Christianity today talk only of his death and pay little attention to what he actually said.

St. Francis of Assisi incorporated the entire life of Christ into all that he did and that is the basis of the Franciscan Rule. St. Francis’ “Canticle of Creation” is about living in relationship with all creation. That’s interesting isn’t it. Pax et Bonum.

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gospel, beatitudes, st. francis, franciscan

A reader left a comment on a post I had written in January. At the time I stated that I was uncomfortable killing anything and that even taking the life of a little field mouse that had wandered into our home bothered me. The reader left a link a human mouse trap. Click here for details on that trap. Peace.

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humane, mouse trap

It’s time for a new look and maybe fresh ideas. I got in another 5 mile run this morning. When I first awoke, the idea of running five miles didn’t appeal to me. Good habits are difficult to break. I drove to the track, walked from my car to the running surface and slowly jogged the first four-hundred meters. Gradually I got into the run and when it was finished I was glad to have gotten it accomplished. I thanked God after the run because without the Holy Spirit I doubt I’d walk five miles let alone run five.

I installed Google Earth on my Ubuntu Linux laptop. Google Earth works well on Ubuntu. Google has released Picasa for Linux as well. You can get them by going to Google Earth or Picasa for Linux. I got to get back to work. Peace.

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ubuntu, linux, google earth, picasa

Another great post from Plain Foolish. I love what is being said here and I remember having many of the same thoughts about the Russians. Now, we here the same hatred and prejudice being preached about Arabs, Iranians, Iraqis etc. They are now the acceptable scape goats.

Just Plain Foolish: Peace and “holiness”

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peace, holiness

I came across an interesting site. It might interest you also. It’s an online personality test. You can get there by clicking here.

According to the test I’m a benevolent idealist. My wife just laughed and said I was an old son of a pup. Peace.

Jeff’s comment about Father Joe got me to thinking of another book that I read last year. In fact I purchased it in Portland, Oregon in early June of last year as a high school graduation present. It’s entitled, “Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation.” by Parker Palmer. I’ve read or partly read one of Parker Palmer’s other books “To Know as We are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey.” I didn’t enjoy that book as much as “Let Your Life Speak.”

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parker palmer, vocation, listening

I’m a user and advocate for OpenOffice. Here is a great site with lots of help for users of OpenOffice. Click here for OpenOffice.org Training, Tips and Ideas. It’s a great product and an even greater price. Peace.

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openoffice, productivity software, open source

This came to me in an email from the Merton Foundation.

“Prayers and sacrifice must be used as the most effective spiritual weapons in the war against war, and like all weapons they must be used with deliberate aim: not just with a vague aspiration for peace and security, but against violence and against war. This implies that we are also willing to sacrifice and restrain our own instinct for violence and aggressiveness in our relations with other people. We may never succeed in this campaign, but whether we succeed or not, the duty is evident. It is the great Christian task of our time. Everything else is secondary, for the survival of the human race itself depends upon it. We must at least face this responsibility and do something about it. And the first job of all is to understand the psychological forces at work in ourselves and in society. “
From Seeds by Thomas Merton
(Shambhala Publication, Inc., Boston, 2002) Page 142.

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merton, spiritual weapon, peace, war