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I am
a lawyer and father of six. I am thus very occupied most of the time. I know
being holy is for all the faithful and I strive to incorporate prayer and
penance throughout my day, revolving around the Eucharist. My question is:
Are the ascetical practices of St. John of the Cross, as you mention on your
website, meant for all or only for the few religious who can devote their
entire life to them? or for occasional periods in our life (e.g. lent, to
overcome addictions, etc.)? Is it dangerous for an ordinary mortal like myself
to try to scale this Mount? Is it even possible in a normal “lay”
life?
 hrist Himself told us what He requires
of us:
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When the Pharisees
heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one
of them [a scholar of the law] tested Him by asking, “Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall
love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second
is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the
prophets depend on these two commandments. |
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—Matthew 22:34–40 |
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So what does it really mean,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your
soul, and with all your mind”? Can an “ordinary mortal” do
this? How much is enough? Well, I can tell you what the Catholic mystics
through the ages have said it takes: everything you have. That’s something
anyone can afford.
Of course, as Saint Francis de
Sales wrote, it would be “ridiculous, unorganized and intolerable”
for “married people to be no more concerned than a Capuchin about increasing
their income; or for a working man to spend his whole day in church like
a religious.” Still, he explains,
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 The
bee collects honey from flowers in such a way as to do the least damage or
destruction to them, and he leaves them whole, undamaged and fresh, just
as he found them. True devotion does still better. Not only does it not injure
any sort of calling or occupation, it even embellishes and enhances it.
Moreover, just as every sort of gem, cast in honey, becomes
brighter and more sparkling, each according to its color, so each person
becomes more acceptable and fitting in his own vocation when he sets his
vocation in the context of devotion. Through devotion your family cares become
more peaceful, mutual love between husband and wife becomes more
sincere. . . .
Therefore, in whatever situations we happen to be, we
can and we must aspire to the life of perfection. |
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—From The Introduction to
the Devout Life
by Saint Francis de Sales, bishop
Office of Readings, 24 January |
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And the
need to aspire to a life of perfection is the whole point of my website.
Catholic mysticism is simply a matter of living a
humble and devout
lifestyle so as to seek holiness in everything
you do, letting nothing interfere with a life of constant prayer—not
even family.
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If anyone comes
to Me without
hating [1]
his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even
his own life, he cannot be My disciple. |
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—Luke 14:26 |
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Beyond that encouragement, I
can offer you one final image in your own language that you might understand.
When you say, “Is it dangerous for an ordinary mortal like myself to
try to scale this Mount? Is it even possible in a normal ‘lay’
life?” you express a subtle doubt in a way that sounds as if you were
arguing a case in court before a jury, with a preconceived answer already
in your mind.
So imagine standing before Christ
the Judge on the last day. You will have to stand in your own defense. If
you walk into the court with humility and say,
“My Lord, I can offer no defense. I have already given you everything
I have—my occupation, my family, my entire life—and I have nothing
left with which to defend myself,” Christ might just say,
“That’s true. Case dismissed.” But, if you have hidden doubts,
He might just say, “I don’t think so. Let’s hear what your
Accuser has to say.” There you will be, empty and broken, with a fool
for an attorney, standing next to the opposing counsel: Satan himself. And
Satan, a master psychologist, will trample all of
your psychological excuses and defenses into the
dirt. It won’t be pretty.
Therefore, if you can’t
make room—and I mean real room, not just a small closet—for Christ
in your busy life, then do you really think He will make room for you in
the Kingdom of Heaven?
Now, there are some who will
tell you that this last statment lacks charity, and you can listen to them,
if you want, as they tell you that a genuine Christian faith does not have
to be lived 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And you can follow them into
purgatory where this ignorance will be burned out
of them, or, even worse, into hell where their
disdain for self-sacrifice will cause them eternal misery.
But, if you accept the fact that
you—indeed, anyone—can and should ascend Mount Carmel, and if you
make the sacrifices to make the climb, then you
will discover the ineffable glory awaiting you at the summit.
Notes
1.
Hate as used here does not mean “to wish harm to.” Instead
it means “to remove your emotional dependence on.”
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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