Contemplative Haven: A Piece of the Puzzle 
A Piece of the Puzzle
Despite the fact that there is a universal call to contemplation, and before we explore some of the responses to that call, there is one thing that really must be said. Perhaps it is the first of the apparent contradictions, the little puzzles, but here it is: contemplation is not required for salvation.
There are degrees to just about everything - virtue, holiness, prayer, love, union. There are graces given by God, but there is also human free will. There are charisms, but there are also circumstances.
The saints and contemplative writers wish to make it clear to us that if contemplation is not something that we experience, it is no barrier to eternal life with the Lord. Saint Teresa of Avila, in The Way of Perfection, wrote these words for her sisters in the convent:
"...it is very important for us to realize that God does not lead us all by the same road, and perhaps she who believes herself to be going along the lowest of roads is the highest in the Lord's eyes. So it does not follow that ...we are all perforce to be contemplatives. That is impossible; and those of us who are not would be greatly discouraged if we did not grasp the truth that contemplation is something given by God, and, as it is not necessary for salvation and God does not ask it of us before He gives us our reward, we must not suppose that anyone else will require it of us."
And if Saint Teresa's gentle, poetic assurances do not convince us, Thomas Merton, in New Seeds of Contemplation, surely will:
"It is the duty of anyone who has had even the faintest glimpse of God's love to protest against an inhumanly cruel and false psychology of mysticism, this psychology which presents "sanctity" and "contemplation" under the guise of riches to be acquired. As if sanctity and mysticim were "goods" that one must have in order to be acceptable in the Kingdom of God..."
So as we continue, let us keep this in mind. His ways are not our ways. Some receive the gift of contemplation because of their great faith, some because of their weak faith. Some because of their virtue, some because He wants to bring them out of sin. Some because they have heard about it and desired it, some because they just loved God. Some not at all, for His own reasons. Let us respect His choices.
There are degrees to just about everything - virtue, holiness, prayer, love, union. There are graces given by God, but there is also human free will. There are charisms, but there are also circumstances.
The saints and contemplative writers wish to make it clear to us that if contemplation is not something that we experience, it is no barrier to eternal life with the Lord. Saint Teresa of Avila, in The Way of Perfection, wrote these words for her sisters in the convent:
"...it is very important for us to realize that God does not lead us all by the same road, and perhaps she who believes herself to be going along the lowest of roads is the highest in the Lord's eyes. So it does not follow that ...we are all perforce to be contemplatives. That is impossible; and those of us who are not would be greatly discouraged if we did not grasp the truth that contemplation is something given by God, and, as it is not necessary for salvation and God does not ask it of us before He gives us our reward, we must not suppose that anyone else will require it of us."
And if Saint Teresa's gentle, poetic assurances do not convince us, Thomas Merton, in New Seeds of Contemplation, surely will:
"It is the duty of anyone who has had even the faintest glimpse of God's love to protest against an inhumanly cruel and false psychology of mysticism, this psychology which presents "sanctity" and "contemplation" under the guise of riches to be acquired. As if sanctity and mysticim were "goods" that one must have in order to be acceptable in the Kingdom of God..."
So as we continue, let us keep this in mind. His ways are not our ways. Some receive the gift of contemplation because of their great faith, some because of their weak faith. Some because of their virtue, some because He wants to bring them out of sin. Some because they have heard about it and desired it, some because they just loved God. Some not at all, for His own reasons. Let us respect His choices.
posted by Gabrielle at 12:31 AM
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