Foreword
Tomorrow sees the beginning of a period of preparation for the renewal of our* consecration to Jesus through Mary in 2020. The thirty-three days will culminate, Deo volente, with the Feast of the Annunciation. St. Louis de Montfort recommends this Feast most of all as it commemorates God Himself taking on flesh and thereby subjecting even Himself to trust in and dependency on Our Lady
*PB & his family: E, Em, K, P, T, Ed & Es; El & A.
The materials used will incorporate those of the first preparation which began on the 8th of January 2019 and culminated with the Feast of the Apparition of the Immaculate Virgin Mary at Lourdes.on the 11th of February.
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| Woman, behold thy son...Behold thy mother. J-J Tissot |
First comes a preliminary period of twelve days where we strive to ''empty ourselves of the spirit of the world'' through penance and mortification.
1st Epistle of St John, Chapter 2
[16] quoniam omne quod est in mundo, concupiscentia carnis est, et concupiscentia oculorum, et superbia vitae : quae non est ex Patre, sed ex mundo est.[16] For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world.
[17] Et mundus transit, et concupiscentia ejus : qui autem facit voluntatem Dei manet in aeternum. [1 Jn 2 ]
[17] And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever. [1 Jn 2]
Commentary from Cornelius A Lapide
1. For men of the world, see John 1:10, 14:18; and S. Augustine on Ps. lv., “the wicked and ungodly in the world,” in which sense S. John uses it in his Gospel.
2. It means this created world, in which, as being inanimate, there is not, properly speaking, any concupiscence. But these are provocative of concupiscence. For everything we see affects our senses and lures us on to love it.
3. It signifies a worldly life, consisting in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is the whole body of sin consisting of these several parts or members. As S. Antony of Padua said, “The earth is avarice, water is luxury, the air is inconstancy, fire is pride.” These three kinds of concupiscence are embraced in the general term concupiscence. As is added, “It is not of the Father but of the world.”
The world can be taken in all these senses, and S. John first takes up one and then another.
But the second of these meanings is most to the point. And S. John wishes to withdraw the minds of the faithful from all objects of desire which the world contains (for they are the roots of every evil), and to fix them on God.
All these worldly things estrange our hearts from the love of God, and relate only to the perishing goods of the world, or rather to the shadows and phantoms of good.
1. Here notice that as the lust of the eyes is avarice, so that which creates the desire is gold, silver, jewels, &c. As S. Augustine says (Lib. iii. de Symb. cap. i.), “To the lust of the flesh belong the allurements of pleasure; to the lust of the eye, foolish spectacles; to the ambition of the world, the madness of pride.” It is called the lust of the eyes, because it provokes the eyes, and through the eyes the fancy and the mind. “The eyes,” says S. Augustine in Ps. xli., “are members of the body, the windows of the mind. It is the inner man who sees by their means.” The covetous lays up riches, he does not spend them, and his only pleasure is looking at them. An exceeding wretchedness and fatuity. For he might just as well look at the gold, silver, and jewels in the temples, and feed himself on them. Whereas he would feed himself the more with his own wealth, and enjoy it the more, if he expended it on his friends and the poor.
2. As the lust of the flesh is gluttony, so is it wine, delicate and sensual pleasure, which provoke it. It hence appears how vile it is, as being common to the beasts; how little, because it feeds not the mind, but the flesh alone; short-lived, perishing in the very act, and bringing after it foul and filthy diseases. Whence S. Augustine (de Vera. Relig. cap. lv.) says, “Let us not delight in corrupting or being corrupted by carnal pleasure, lest we should come at last to the more miserable corruption of pain and suffering.”
3. As the pride of life is ambition, haughtiness, desire of preeminence and glory, so are its provocatives superb dresses, grand houses, attendants, carriages, &c. We speak of being as proud as a peacock, who spreads its wings and struts along. S. Bernard (on Ps. 11 Serm. vi.) says, “Ambition is a subtle evil, a secret poison, a hidden pest, the contriver of craft, the parent of hypocrisy, the fruit of envy, the source of sin, the fosterer of crime, the destroyer (ærugo) of virtues, the devourer of sanctity, the blinder of hearts, generating disease from the very remedies, and sickness from that which should heal.” S. Basil terms it the “whetstone of wickedness.” See S. Gregory, Mor. xxxiv. 14, xxxi. 17. These three passions are the threefold sources of all temptations and sin. See S. Augustine, Confess. x. 30. S. Thomas, i. 2, q. lxxv. art. 5. As the Poet says:—
“Ambition, wealth, and foul desires,
These three as gods the world admires.”
Our first parents were tempted by them, and so was our Lord. See S. Augustine, de Vera Relig. cap. xxxviii.
This threefold desire is opposed to the Holy Trinity.
- Avarice to the Father, who is most liberal in communicating His essence and all His attributes to the Son and the Holy Spirit essentially, but to creatures only by way of participation.
- The lust of the flesh is opposed to the Son, who was begotten not carnally but spiritually from the mind of the Father, and who hates all carnal impurity.
- The pride of life is opposed to the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of humility and gentleness.
- lust of the eyes to charity and kindness,
- lust of the flesh to continence,
- pride of life to humility.
Which is not of the Father, but is of the world. This refers not merely to the pride of life, but to the threefold lust just spoken of. Moreover, concupiscence or lust comes from the world, from the corruption and vice of those who cleave to the world. Just as the word ‘flesh’ signifies in Scripture the corruption of the flesh, so in like manner does ‘world’ signify here the corrupt manners and lust of worldly men.
The reason is that concupiscence arises from a worldly life. Good things become objects of desire, by reason of man’s concupiscence. For before the Fall there were no objects for concupiscence, but man’s fall caused them to be such. And it is from hence that we derive our concupiscence together with original sin, and accordingly all the things that God gave for the good of man are now become allurements and excitements of concupiscence, when we see after and desire them immoderately. See Wisdom 14:11, 4:12. For the pleasure which arises from desire fascinates the mind, and prevents its seeing the filthiness and the punishment of sin, or the beauty and rewards of virtue. See James 1:14. Œcumenius understands by the ‘world’ Satan himself—“as Christ said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, that is devoted to worldly pursuits, the seeds of which the devil sows within us”—who accordingly is called the Prince of this world. See John 11:31, 14:30, 16:11.
And the world passeth away and the lust thereof. See Matt. 24:35; 1 Cor. 7:31; 2. Pet. 3:11. See also Wisdom 5:7; S. Bernard, Epist. cvii., &c.
As S. Jerome says (Epist. iii.): “If we were granted the years of Methusalem, yet the previous length would be nothing when it ceased to be, for when the end of life arrives, there will be no difference between the child of ten and the man of a thousand years, except that the old man goes out of life bearing a heavier burden of sin.”
S. Cyprian (ad Demetriad) shows at great length that the world is growing old: “The labourer is failing in the field, the mariner at sea, the soldier in camp, honesty in the market, justice in the courts, firmness in friendships, skill in arts, discipline in morals, for the sentence has been passed on the world that all things born should die, all things which have grown up should wax old, strong things should become weak, great things become small, and when they are thus weakened and diminished they come to an end.”
And S. Anselm, in Rom. 12, says, “Be not constant in love for the world, for, since that which thou lovest abideth not, it is in vain for thee to fix thy heart firmly on it, while that which thou lovest is flying away.” This is the reason a posteriori; but the a priori reason is that the world is created from nothing, and therefore tends to become nothing, returning to that from whence it came. But, on the other hand, eternity belongs only to God, He having an uncreated, unchangeable, and eternal nature. Again, the world is not simple, but compounded of various elements; but everything which is so composed is resolved into its own elements or component parts. And the final cause of its being so is that we should turn our thoughts from transient and changing creatures to the Creator, who is unchangeable, and always the same. All creatures silently proclaim this by their changeableness, and our own heart also, as S. Augustine says (Confess. i. 1), “Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it rests in Thee.” S. John adds,
But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Because the soul which doeth the will of God will, on leaving the body, be blessed for ever, and the body will after death rise immortal and glorious. See Ps. 119:96, and John 5:42. The reason is that love, like the chameleon, conforms the one who loves into the pattern of the thing which he loves, love being an impulse of the mind, and a going out of itself towards the beloved object, whereas understanding and knowledge are, on the contrary, the entering of the thing which is known into the understanding which embraces it.
As S. Augustine says, “Every one is like the object he loves. Thou lovest the earth: thou wilt be earthy. Thou lovest God. What shall I say? Wilt thou be God? I dare not say it of myself. Let us hear the scriptures, ‘I have said ye are gods, and are all the children of the Most Highest.’ If then ye wish to be gods and sons of the Most Highest, love not the world, nor the things that are in the world.”
The object which is here loved is God, and the will of God which is stable and eternal, and therefore he that loveth it becomes eternal. See Hos. 9:10, and Sam. 1:8, and note. Dost thou wish to be eternal? love eternal good. Dost thou wish to enjoy for ever the beloved object? Love that which is eternal. For if thou lovest a perishable thing, thou wilt perish together with it. But if thou fixest thy mind on an object which is stable, heavenly, divine, and eternal, thou wilt become the same. This is true wisdom, the wisdom of Saints. Fools then are lovers of the world, who in the place of these love transitory and perishable things, and accordingly they pass away, and in truth perish with them for ever.
“O ye sons of men, why do ye love vanity and seek after a lie?” (Ps. 4) Why follow ye after—not real things, but—the empty and feeling shadows of things? Ye cannot grasp a shadow, nor yet hold fast shadowy wealth and honours. Grant us, Lord, this wisdom, “that among all the changes of the world our hearts may there be fixed where there are true joys.” S. Augustine says beautifully (in loc.), “Why should not I love that which God made? But what dost thou wish? to love temporal things, and to pass away with them, or not to love the world, and to live for ever with God?” He then compares lovers of the world to a bride who loves the ring her husband has given her, more than she does her husband himself; which is assuredly a spurious love, since he gave it in order that he might be loved in his gift. God gave thee all these things: love Him that made them. He wishes to give thee something more, namely Himself; but if thou lovest these things (though God made them) and neglectest thy Maker, and lovest the world, will it not be regarded as a spurious love?
And Didymus says, “Whosoever despises all things will be above the world. For righteousness endureth for ever, for it is so written.” See also Prov. 10:25. The old Philosophers had some shadowy notion of this. See Seneca, Ep. lix.
Addendum
In a remarkable instance of Providence, my decision to renew our consecration to Jesus through Mary this year coincides exactly with a 33 day initiative aiming towards the re-dedication of England to Our Lady.
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| The Wilton Diptych. National Gallery, London. |
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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