The rose is neighbor to the thorn...

Urticae proxima saepa rosa est

That which is beautiful may be dangerous.  That wich is beautiful needs protection so that harm isn't done to it.  That which is worthwhile, one has to pay for.  There is, it's said, no such thing as a free lunch.

What is most worthwhile, of course, is love.  Anyone who has really loved knows the pain that goes right aong with it:  watching the beloved suffer, unable to really help.  Letting go and watching a child, now almost grown up, walk free into the world. 

The joy of the resurrection follows the pain of crucifixion.  The beauty and wholeness of eternal life is borne for us out of the suffering of the One who loved.  The gift is offered, perfect and undeserved, but never can we forget what made it possible:  the Son of God, crowned with thorns.

from Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect

Estote ergo vos perfecti, sicut et Pater

vester caelestis perfectus est

("Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect")

Jesus Christ

(Matthew 5:48)

The heavenly Father is God.  He can't be better.

You and I can be better all the time -- so much so that  we can grow in goodness until we die.

The very word "perfect" comes from two Latin words -- per ("through") and facere ("to make").  Perfect, then, means we're made all the way through towhat we're supposed to be. 

We're not there yet.  The journey requires constancy and fortitude.

The perfection demanded of us by Christ is only possible with His help.  It becomes our constant goal to be united with Christ.  St. Paul, who as a Pharisee had longed to master perfection found that in Christ alone he could be made perfect.

This is our goal too, so that in the end, we are able to say with Paul, "It is no longer I who lives, but it's Christ who lives in me" (Galations 2:20).

When that Father who is pefect can see Christ made in and through us, then perfection will be ours.  And on the day of days, we hope to hear Him say:  "Come in; I see my son in you."

from Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

Your inmost being must be renewed...

Renovamini autem spiritu mentis vestrae

et induite novum hominem

("Your inmost being must be renewed,

and you must put on the new man")

St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 4:23-24

In so many different ways, this message comes across in the Holy Word.  It's an ongoing, unending thought.  It's tied to the thought of Newman:  "To live is to change, to change often is to have become perfect."

The renovating power is the Spirit and the fount, for it is Christ Jesus.  He is the source from whom all good flows.  We are to be putting on always that which is good, that which is better.  No matter how old we are, Jesus opens to us challenge and promise of newness.  "Your attitude," Pauls writes tothe Philippians, "should be the same as that of Christ Jesus" (Phillippians 2:5, New International Version).

Another way to think about it is to see that we're all called to a mind transplant, and that Mind is infinite, without end, and so the change is constant, and the change is ever calling us.

from Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

I am the light of the world...

Ego sum lux mundi;

qui sequitur me,

non ambulat in tenebris,

sed habebit lumen vitae

("I am the light of the world;

the one who follows me does not walk in darkness,

but has the light of life")

John 8:12

One doesn't accept these words at face value.  One has to have faith that enables these words to sink in with meaning.

So much of life appears dark and unclear, and if we believe that the appearance is all that really is, then we're in trouble.  But if we regularly refer our thoughts to the correcting value of the mind of Christ, then we're walking with clarity and precision.  Jesus is the light of the world.  He lights up the world.  He lights up our lives.  That light shows the way even when our mightiest powers of reason fail us.

But this is His promise, and believing Him who can do anything, and believing Him who can neither deceive nor be deceived, turns a spotlight on our steps, choices, and decisions that is flashed our way from heaven itself.

From Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Rt. Rev. Lambert Reilly, OSB

I am the light of the world...

Ego sum lux mundi; qui sequitur me, non

ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae

("I am the light of the world;

the one who follows me 

does not walk in darkness,

but has the light of life")

John 8:12

One doesn't accept these words at face value.  One has to have faith that enables these words to sink in with meaning.

So much of life appears dark and unclear, and if we believe that the appearance is all that really is, then we're in trouble.  But if we regularly refer our thoughts to the correcting value of the mind of Christ, then we're walking with clarity and precision.  Jesus is the light of the world.  He lights up the world.  He lights up our lives.  That light shows the way even when our mightiest powers of reason fail us.

But this is His promise, and believing Him who can do anything, and believing Him who can neither deceive nor be deceived, turns a spotlight on our steps, choices, and decisions that is flashed our way from heaven itself.

from Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

One Day Is Sometimes Better Than a Whole Year

Solet hora, quod multi anni

obstulerint, reddere

("One day is sometimes better than a whole year")

A change for the good can take place in our life in a single moment and it's far more than has been accomplished in a long time.  What has happened is that God has offered His grace and, at last, we have been open.  Then an insight comes and we can't be as we were.

God's grace comes regularly, but necessarily connected with this gift that Jesus calls docibiles Dei -- "being teachable of God."  People can watch a gift being set down on a table before them.  Opening the gift, being grateful for it, and then putting it to use in one's life takes something more.

When the gift of grace is accepted, life isn't like it was before.  That moment may be dramatic, as with the vows embraced in religious or married life.  Or it may be a glimmer, a whisper, or a thought coming deep in a quiet night that changes everything for years to come because in that single brief moment, we accept the gift with faith in the Giver.

Never Less Alone Than When Alone

Numquam minus solus, quam cum solus

(Never less alone than when alone)

When one is alone, one can invite into his life anyone he wishes.

Alone, we have the opportunity to invite God into the silence.  When we open our hearts in faith to that presence of God, we can also do something quite paradoxical.  Alone with God, we can tap the reality of any and every person and every situation in the world.

This is why the contemplative life is dedicated so much to the benefit of the world.  This is why those behind the walls, so to speak, are so much for those who live outside of them in the world.  They invite them in.

We are never really alone when we see with the eys of faith.  If we do not perceive this truth we then need to join the prayer of the two blind men of Jericho, "Lord, let our eyes be opened" (Matthew 20:33).

Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

Whatever happens has a cause...

Quidquid fit, causam habet

(Whatever happens has a cause)

When something takes place, there is something or someone behind it. 

The person of strong faith is able to see that God is behind whatever happens.  Nothing occurs except for a reason.

If we believe that God is behind the events of our day we will not take lightly what seem to be unbeliever accidents.  Everything has a purpose.  Reflection with the eyes of faith searches for the meaning, confident that it can be found.

If God is the cause of every event in our lives, then nothing that happens to us is without meaning.  There are no distractions, no intrusions in my day.  Rather there are visitations and moments of encounter to be experienced.

If we believe, we will never be tempted to use the excuse of those who say, "Lord, when did we see thee...?" (Matt 25:44).

Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth

by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB

Hastening to Christ...

A small book, Latin Sayings for Spiritual Growth by Archabbot Lambert Reilly, OSB found its way into our hands recently and we found some of what Archabbot Lambert wrote to be something well worth sharing with you.  We hope you enjoy his wisdom (and wit) as much as we do...

 

Festinamus ad Christu, non currendo

sed credendo

("We hasten to Christ not by running

but by believing")

St. Augustine

Movement toward Christ involves belief in Him before actual steps are ever taken.  In the same way that an infant will take his first steps toward someone he trusts, so too in the life of faith.

Why do we believe anyone about anything?  For two reasons:  What's told us is possible and the witness is reliable.

Isn't it true, though, that some ofwhat Jesus tells us doesn't always seem possible or even reasonable?  "Whoever would save his life will lose it" (Matthew 16:25); "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44); "Sell all that you have and give to the poor" (Mark 10:21).

These words are hard to believe at first, but an honest heart sees their truth, and for two reasons:  First, living has taught us that letting go, loving, and generosity always bring more peace than grasping, hating, and selfishness.  Second, there is the Witness Himself, One whose resurrections from the dead makes Him the most reliable of all.

Faith in the words starts with faith in the Speaker.