A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Today's the Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time in the new Church calendar, the 8th Sunday after Pentecost in the old. In both, tomorrow, July 16th, will be the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Devotion to Our Lady as patroness of the Carmelite Order traditionally centered on the Brown Scapular. This devotion has somehow managed to survive our current modernist tidal wave. Other traditional devotions - regretfully - have not. There was a time when this loss of tradition irked me to no end. In recent years, however, I'm less irked.
It's not that I don't think the loss matters anymore. It's more the result of what I've learned from spiritual works I've read. Putting too much emphasis on those traditional devotions some of us prefer has its own pitfalls. For example, Father John Grou counsels us not to place too much emphasis on formal devotions. Not that there's anything wrong with them. It's just that we should not rely strictly on formal devotions to grow closer to God. Note that he wrote these words in the 18th century, well before our modernist tidal wave.
“Be simple in your piety. Do not rely upon your mind, nor on the subtlety and depth of your reasoning. Solid piety is not founded on thoughts, but on the affections. And do not use many books, exercises, and methods. Look into your heart for what you wish to say to God and say it to Him simply, without being too particular about the words. It is absurd to aim at eloquence when you are speaking to Him, and to confine yourself to well-composed prayers instead of using those that are more natural to you. Simplicity is the characteristic of all real prayer, and nothing is more pleasing to God. He does not desire so much formality in His service: the reduction of devotion to an art and the use of so much method has had a very injurious effect. After all, everything depends on the Holy Spirit. He alone teaches the true way of conversing with God, and we see that when He takes possession of a soul the first thing He does is to withdraw it from all the methods devised by man. It is generally considered very profitable to hear Mass, and make one’s confession, and communicate in accordance with certain fixed forms in books. I shall always believe that to accustom oneself to these forms to the point of being unable to do without them is a great hindrance; since those who count on this help do not think of drawing on the resources of their own heart, or of appealing to the Holy Spirit, though real prayer is created by the co-operation of the two. I recommend the reader, therefore, to accustom himself gradually to praying without books, even though we should feel rather dry and out of his element for some time; to ask Jesus Christ confidently for the thoughts and feelings He desires him to have during the offering of the Holy Sacrifice; to appeal to the Holy Spirit for the dispositions necessary for a good confession; and – above all – in Communion to surrender himself entirely to Our Lord, depending upon Him to inspire the best preparation and act of thanksgiving. Oh, how much we should do by doing nothing of ourselves and appealing to God to do everything in us! I am convinced that we should find it far more profitable and I have made the experiment more than once."
We see that, even if certain traditional practices had not been pushed aside, or if - by some miracle - many of those practices are revived, that's not necessarily going to provide us with some magic key to ease our journey to Heaven. And, after all, shouldn't that journey be our primary focus in this life? Sure, it might seem that traditional devotions might make the journey a bit more assured, if not even more enjoyable. But, really, as Catholics, shouldn't we here remember that the Cross provides the most concrete image and example for our own journey? The Cross was His way, and He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Neither some modernist wave, nor being bereft of our traditional devotions, can ever change that.
Keeping traditional devotions alive can be a worthy endeavor. Just keep in mind these helpful words from Father Grou:
I shall always believe that to accustom oneself to these forms to the point of being unable to do without them is a great hindrance; since those who count on this help do not think of drawing on the resources of their own heart, or of appealing to the Holy Spirit, though real prayer is created by the co-operation of the two.
It's not that I don't think the loss matters anymore. It's more the result of what I've learned from spiritual works I've read. Putting too much emphasis on those traditional devotions some of us prefer has its own pitfalls. For example, Father John Grou counsels us not to place too much emphasis on formal devotions. Not that there's anything wrong with them. It's just that we should not rely strictly on formal devotions to grow closer to God. Note that he wrote these words in the 18th century, well before our modernist tidal wave.
“Be simple in your piety. Do not rely upon your mind, nor on the subtlety and depth of your reasoning. Solid piety is not founded on thoughts, but on the affections. And do not use many books, exercises, and methods. Look into your heart for what you wish to say to God and say it to Him simply, without being too particular about the words. It is absurd to aim at eloquence when you are speaking to Him, and to confine yourself to well-composed prayers instead of using those that are more natural to you. Simplicity is the characteristic of all real prayer, and nothing is more pleasing to God. He does not desire so much formality in His service: the reduction of devotion to an art and the use of so much method has had a very injurious effect. After all, everything depends on the Holy Spirit. He alone teaches the true way of conversing with God, and we see that when He takes possession of a soul the first thing He does is to withdraw it from all the methods devised by man. It is generally considered very profitable to hear Mass, and make one’s confession, and communicate in accordance with certain fixed forms in books. I shall always believe that to accustom oneself to these forms to the point of being unable to do without them is a great hindrance; since those who count on this help do not think of drawing on the resources of their own heart, or of appealing to the Holy Spirit, though real prayer is created by the co-operation of the two. I recommend the reader, therefore, to accustom himself gradually to praying without books, even though we should feel rather dry and out of his element for some time; to ask Jesus Christ confidently for the thoughts and feelings He desires him to have during the offering of the Holy Sacrifice; to appeal to the Holy Spirit for the dispositions necessary for a good confession; and – above all – in Communion to surrender himself entirely to Our Lord, depending upon Him to inspire the best preparation and act of thanksgiving. Oh, how much we should do by doing nothing of ourselves and appealing to God to do everything in us! I am convinced that we should find it far more profitable and I have made the experiment more than once."
We see that, even if certain traditional practices had not been pushed aside, or if - by some miracle - many of those practices are revived, that's not necessarily going to provide us with some magic key to ease our journey to Heaven. And, after all, shouldn't that journey be our primary focus in this life? Sure, it might seem that traditional devotions might make the journey a bit more assured, if not even more enjoyable. But, really, as Catholics, shouldn't we here remember that the Cross provides the most concrete image and example for our own journey? The Cross was His way, and He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Neither some modernist wave, nor being bereft of our traditional devotions, can ever change that.
Keeping traditional devotions alive can be a worthy endeavor. Just keep in mind these helpful words from Father Grou:
I shall always believe that to accustom oneself to these forms to the point of being unable to do without them is a great hindrance; since those who count on this help do not think of drawing on the resources of their own heart, or of appealing to the Holy Spirit, though real prayer is created by the co-operation of the two.
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