Letter 1,25 - to Anastasius, ex-patriarch of Antioch. February, 591.
"(Thus) losing totally all the rectitude of my mind and giving up the sharpness of my contemplation, I may say not in spirit of a prophesy but through experience: 'I have been cast down and humiliated everywhere' (Ps. 118:107).
Indeed so great are the occupational burdens which press me down, that my soul cannot in any way raise itself to things above. I am shaken by many waves of affairs, and after these quiet hours of peace, I am so afflicted by the storms of a tempestuous life that I can rightly say: 'I have come into the depth of the sea; and a tempest has overwhelmed me' (Ps. 68:2).
Stretch out the hand of your prayer to me, therefore, in my time of peril, you who stand firm on the shore of virtues."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 147.
Showing posts with label contemplation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contemplation. Show all posts
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Monday, 26 April 2010
Comfort and Pain
Letter 1,7 - to Bishop Anastasius. October 590.
"I have received your Grace's letters as a tired man receives rest, a sick man health, a thirsty man a spring, and a hot one shade. For those words did not seem to have been expressed through a carnal tongue, but each word so revealed the spiritual love which you bore, it was just as if your mind were speaking all on its own. But what followed was very harsh, as your love ordered me to bear earthly burdens. Whom you loved spiritually before, loving afterwards with a temporal love, in my opinion, you forced me right down to the ground, with the burden placed on top of me, so that totally losing rectitude of mind, and giving away the clarity of contemplation, I can say, not through the spirit of the prophet but through my own experience: 'I have been in every way cast down and humiliated' (Ps 118:107)."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 126.
"I have received your Grace's letters as a tired man receives rest, a sick man health, a thirsty man a spring, and a hot one shade. For those words did not seem to have been expressed through a carnal tongue, but each word so revealed the spiritual love which you bore, it was just as if your mind were speaking all on its own. But what followed was very harsh, as your love ordered me to bear earthly burdens. Whom you loved spiritually before, loving afterwards with a temporal love, in my opinion, you forced me right down to the ground, with the burden placed on top of me, so that totally losing rectitude of mind, and giving away the clarity of contemplation, I can say, not through the spirit of the prophet but through my own experience: 'I have been in every way cast down and humiliated' (Ps 118:107)."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 126.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Everything has a price....
Letter 1,6 - to Narses. October 590.
"As you describe the heights of contemplation, you have made me lament my ruin once again. For I heard what I had lost internally, while I was ascending to the highest command, externally and undeservedly. But realize that I am struck by so much grief that I am scarcely able to speak. For the eyes of my mind are blocked off by the shadows of my grief. Whatever I look at is gloomy, whatever I think is delightful appears lamentable to my heart. For I weigh carefully, falling from the high summit of my repose, to what a low peak of external advancement I have risen. And sent, for my sins, into an occupational exile from the face of the Lord, I say with the prophet in his words, as at the destruction of Judeae: 'He who comforted me has withdrawn far from me' (Lam 1:16)."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 124.
"As you describe the heights of contemplation, you have made me lament my ruin once again. For I heard what I had lost internally, while I was ascending to the highest command, externally and undeservedly. But realize that I am struck by so much grief that I am scarcely able to speak. For the eyes of my mind are blocked off by the shadows of my grief. Whatever I look at is gloomy, whatever I think is delightful appears lamentable to my heart. For I weigh carefully, falling from the high summit of my repose, to what a low peak of external advancement I have risen. And sent, for my sins, into an occupational exile from the face of the Lord, I say with the prophet in his words, as at the destruction of Judeae: 'He who comforted me has withdrawn far from me' (Lam 1:16)."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 124.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
