SPIRITUAL LIFE AND PRAYER
FROM SCRIPTURE
AND THE MONASTIC TRADITION
CHAPTER ONE
A few general notions.
The only interest
Unum corpus et unus Spíritus, sicut et vocáti estis in una spe vocatiónis vestrae; unus Dóminus, una fides, unum baptísma;unus Deus et Pater ómnium, qui super omnes et per ómnia et in ómnibus.
Donec occurrámus omnes in unitátem fídei et agnitiónis Fílii Dei, in virum perféctum, in mensúram aetátis plenitúdinis Christi.
The search for happiness
Lucérna pédibus meis verbum tuum, et lumen sémitis meis.
Beáti qui lugent... Beáti qui persecutiónem patiúntur propter justítiam.
Gaudete et exsultate
Rejoice and be glad (Ibid., 12).
For there is a happiness other than that which consists in the enjoyment of the good that is seen: for us, we do not consent to seek any other good than God, nor any other beatitude than the outpouring in us of his eternal bliss :
Intra in gaudium Domini tui
Enter into the joy of thy master (Mt 25:21).
This happiness, being borrowed from naught created, is not subordinate unto the events of this world. As such, it is superior to everything else, and subsists in the midst of the most diverse external opportunities. Still imperfect in this world, forasmuch as the sovereign good is not fully delivered unto us, and forasmuch as we live in faith, naught external can diminish it in us: only the failings of our will could compromise it.
