The angelic man, Francis, like the heavenly spirits on Jacob's ladder, ascended to God and descended to his neighbor. In fact, he had learned to divide the time given him to gain merit in such a way, that he labored manfully spending part of it helping his neighbor and part in the sweet withdrawal into contamplation.
St. Bonaventure - Major Life
Recommended readings:
The Ladder of Monks and Meditation - Guigo the Carthusian
Cautelas and Avison - St. John of the Cross
Sunday, October 08, 2006
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Thank you, ccheryl.
ReplyDeleteBrother Francis writes that we must become both Martha and Mary, simultaneously. We pray, we listen, we contamplate, but once our gas tanks are full, we need to rev up our engines and burn that fuel off by doing the work of our Father. All too often, we seek to simply keep filling our gas tanks over and over again and never leave the garage!
I would like to read more of St. Bonaventure, but I find his works difficult to locate. I haven't looked too hard online yet, though. I think he was one of the big influences on Merton.
ReplyDeleteIf you get a chance, gabrielle, may I suggest "The Ladder of the Four Rungs" by Guigo on Contemplation? It's short but very, very informative...
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