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| Saint Hugh of Grenoble in the Carthusian Refectory (1630-35) by Francisco de Zurbarán |
O BEATA SOLITUDO
“O beata solitudo, o sola beatitudo!”
Beata solitudo, sola beatitudo: Falsely attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, now known to come from the work of Cornelius Muys (1500-1572), a Dutch priest, humanist, poet, and contemporary of the well-known humanist Desiderius Erasmus
Original source of quote: Cornelius Muys, Vigilate et orate. Solitudo siue Vita solitaria, laudata: Cornelio Musio Delpho Encomiaste (1566)
Publisher: Antuerpiae: ex officina Christophori Plantini
See:
TinyURL: https://tinyurl.com/znk3g25
When a person is fully in the presence of God, he discovers he is not alone but rather fully alive in communion with the angels and saints.
When a person is fully in the presence of God, he discovers he is not alone but rather fully alive in communion with the angels and saints.
SOLITUDE VERSUS ISOLATION
ReplyDeleteWhen a person maintains in habitual grace and in constant prayer to God, he is not alone. He lives in communion with God in a bond of love. He is united to the Mystical Body of Christ.
When in the state of sanctifying grace he perseveres in prayer, applying himself to the ascetical struggle and seeking the face of God in all things, he is joined in love to God in the communion of the saints. He exists not in isolation but rather in unity. It is the solitude of the monk.
In contrast, the soul in hell exists in utter isolation. There is no love in hell. Souls exist only in the aggregate, and they cannot relate to each other in love. It is the most unspeakable and damnable isolation possible and conceivable.
See 1:49:
“I have a question for you. In the name of Jesus Christ, you must answer me.” …The demon said this. …“How stupid you are, priest. …Now listen to this. Down here, everyone lives folded in on himself and torn apart by his regrets. There is no relationship with anyone. Everyone finds themselves in the most profound ‘solitude’ and desperately weeps for the evil that they have committed.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_K2RufW-cI
—Armor of God: Spiritual Warfare, “Catholic priest explains: When the kids are obsessed with KPOP BTS | You should definitely be afraid,” YouTube video, 30:33 minutes, June 15, 2024
Gonzalinho
The demons are compelled to answer the exorcist, who is a Roman Catholic priest conducting a major exorcism—only priests with exorcism faculties from a Roman Catholic bishop can do major exorcisms. The priest asks the demon in the name of Jesus Christ to reveal information that is related in a necessary way to the exorcism underway, so that the demon is compelled to answer truthfully. As a rule, demons lie. However, under the aforementioned special conditions, they are compelled to tell the truth and cannot do otherwise. Demons in themselves are a worthless source of information, which is generally entirely false or tainted by falsehood, but under the special conditions of revelation that have been described, they are compelled to reveal their knowledge normally inaccessible to human beings.
DeleteGonzalinho
Zurbarán’s famous painting depicts the moment Saint Bruno and his first six companions awakened from a trance and witnessed Saint Hugh’s gift of meat to the community turn into ash, a miracle which confirmed the Carthusian rule to abstain entirely from meat.
ReplyDeleteCarthusian legend holds that when Saint Hugh had sent them a gift of meat one day, they began to discuss among themselves whether they should break the rule of total abstinence from meat. Suddenly, they all fell into a trance at the dining table, so that forty-five days later when Saint Hugh sent them a message during Lent that he was coming to visit, his messenger returned and reported that the monks were still facing the food at the dining table. Once Saint Hugh arrived at the monastery, they all woke up and then everyone watched the meat turn into ash. They were all thereby convinced that there should be absolutely no exception to their rule against eating meat.
Despite the rule, the monks are allowed to eat meat whenever they are offered it outside the monastery, leave which is normally not permitted.
Notice that in the painting Saint Hugh is pointing to a piece of meat.
Gonzalinho
At noon a brother puts the monk’s daily meal in his hatch. The Carthusian eats alone after having recited the office of Sext. With the exception of meat, from which he abstains all his life in a spirit of sacrifice, everything is provided so that the main meal meets the nutritional needs of the day (vegetables, cereals, fish, eggs, cheese and fruit).
DeleteOnce a week, normally on Friday, he keeps “abstinence”, that is. he contents himself with bread and water.
...After Vespers and before the office of Compline, the Carthusian takes a supper or light meal. During the great fast, which we call the “fast of the Order” (from 14 September, feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, to Easter) this supper is reduced to bread with a beverage, except on Sundays and solemnities. On Fridays not falling on a solemnity, it is bread and water.
https://chartreux.org/moines/en/a-carthusian-day/
—“The Day,” The Carthusian Monks
Sundays and solemnities are more communal days. ...We take dinner together in the refectory in silence (while listening to a reading).
https://chartreux.org/moines/en/the-carthusian-way/
—“The Carthusian Way,” The Carthusian Monks
Gonzalinho