Calvin and St. John of the Cross

"'If that [St. John of the Cross' Ascent to Mount Carmel] is the real Catholic mysticism, it is precisely the religion for which Calvin fought all his life.'"

     Auguste Lecerf (1872-1943) to his (former?) student Louis Bouyer, after "a conversation with [the latter] on the topic of Catholic mysticism," as reported at 63n26 of The memoirs of Louis Bouyer, trans. John Pepino (Kettering, OH:  Angelico Press, 2015), where The spirit and forms of Protestantism, p. 65, as well as Le métier de théologien, pp. 15-17, is cited.

"these rituals . . . bring into play only the cosmic powers, themselves the first to have fallen from grace".

lmschairman.org

     "The fact is that these rituals, which, all of them, are the only really concrete reality of the mysteries, the rest being only insubstantial daydreams about them, bring into play only the cosmic powers, themselves the first to have fallen from grace, as the Gospels will say.  How, then, could the finest promise of these mysteries—the murmur, probably, of the pitiful priests of Attis:  'mystics, take courage, for if the god is saved, there is also an end to your pain'—how could this fail to appear derisory?  For only the Christian Mystery, its content attested to by the Word of the creative God coming down, not falling down, to our level to restore us, or rather to raise us up to his, only this could rescue us from the cosmic cycle of those rebirths, which only set travellers in motion again towards death, and open to us, once for all, the way to the only true immortality, that of the eternal God."

     Louis Bouyer, The Christian mystery:  from pagan myth to Christian mysticism, trans. Illtyd Trethowan (Edinburgh:  T & T Clark, 1990), chap. 5, p. 74.
     The quotation is (though Bouyer does not say so here) from Iulius Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum 22.1, and is translated by Bouyer (or Trethowan) with "if" rather than (as often elsewhere) "since":

     θαρρεῖτε μύσται τοῦ θεοῦ σεσωσμένου·
     ἔσται γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐκ πόνων σωτηρία.

CSEL 2, ed. C. Halm (1867), p. 112.  The variant readings present in CSEL 2 are ΘΑΡΡΙΤΕ ΜΙΣΤΕ and ΕΣΤΕ.  But check also the 1982 edition ed. R. Turcan.

"the best and the most that rational intelligence can do"

"the best and the most that rational intelligence can do is to recognize beyond all doubt the ultimate and irreducible superiority and anteriority of the mystery:  the mystery of things themselves, which prepares us for the all-encompassing mystery of ourselves as well as of the universe. . . ."

     Louis Bouyer, The memoirs of Louis Bouyer:  from youth and conversion to Vatican II, the liturgical reform, and after, trans. John Pepino (Kettering, OH:  Angelico Press, 2015 [2014]), chap. 2, p. 43.

"in terris vicarius filii dei"

     Donation of Constantine (Constitutum/Donatio Constantini) 11.  Critical edition:  MGH, Fontes iuris Germanici antiqui in usum scholarum 10 (Das Constitutum Constantini), ed. Horst Fuhrmann (Hannover:  Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1968), l. 160, p. 81.  The Donation of Constantine (a forgery) dates from the "second half of the 8th cent[ury] . . . and certainly before 850" (ODCC).
     Searches of the 2002 edition of the Library of Latin Texts (e.g. (vicar* OR uicar*) /10 fili* /10 dei) have yielded only the two following additional hits:

-1160:  "ut sicut B. Petrus in terris uicarius Filii Dei esse uidetur constitutus, ita", etc. (Decretum (magistri) Gratiani (Concordia discordantium canonum) pars 1, dist. 96, canon 14 (p. 342, l. 19 in the edition reproduced in the LLT)).

1180s-1215 (Great beginning, p. 1):  "After blessed Gerard, sixth abbot of Clairvaux, had been glorified with the palm of martyrdom, Dom Henry, abbot of Hautecombe, was elected as seventh spiritual father of the congregation at Clairvaux. . . . He passed the days of his youth in such purity and innocence that he gained the gray hairs of wisdom in his tender years, and when he had barely reached the threshold of man's estate, he was made a mediator between God and men . . . and deserved to attain both the title vicar of the Son of God [(uicarius filii dei)] and the office of father and shepherd" (Conrad, Abbot of Eberbach, of Dom Henry, abbot of Hautecombe, in Exordium magnum cisterciense siue Narratio de initio cisterciensis ordinis II.30 (ed. Grießer, SSSOC 2 (1961)); The great beginning of Cîteaux: a narrative of the beginning of the Cistercian Order:  the Exordium Magnum of Conrad of Eberbach, trans. Benedicta Ward & Paul Savage, and ed. E. Rozanne Elder, Cistercian fathers series 72 (Collegeville, MN:  Cistercian Publications, Liturgical Press, 2012), 188-189).

Is the Pope Catholic?

The [London] Times

"Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth!"

"St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross says to us all:  Do not accept anything as the truth if it lacks love. And do not accept anything as love which lacks truth!  One without the other becomes a destructive lie."

"Suor Teresa Benedetta della Croce dice a noi tutti: Non accettate nulla come verità che sia privo di amore. E non accettate nulla come amore che sia privo di verità! L'uno senza l'altra diventa una menzogna distruttiva."

"Schwester Teresia Benedicta vom Kreuz sagt uns allen: Akzeptiert nichts als Wahrheit, was ohne Liebe ist. Aber akzeptiert auch nichts als Liebe, was ohne Wahrheit ist! Eines ohne das andere wird zur Lüge, die zerstört."

     Pope John Paul II, Homily for the canonization of Edith Stein, Sunday, 11 October 1998.  Hat tip:  Dr. Leroy Huizenga.  According to this page on the EWTN site, the homily was delivered in both Italian and German.
     I note that "ohne Liebe"/"privo di amore"|"ohne Wahrheit"/"privo di verità" ("without love"/"destitute of or lacking in love"|"without truth"/"destitute of or lacking in truth") is not necessarily the same thing as "lacks love"/"lacks truth" (though one could argue that the ambiguity is there in the English as well).
     I note also that "lacks truth!" comes last and bears the exclamation point!

"the sort of thing he received at that table, that sort of thing he prepared [to offer]"

     “How glorious a wreath is worn by Lawrence the martyr, and with what a multitude of virtues it is adorned, as with a variety of flowers, the whole city of Rome can testify.  It was in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, that he performed the office of deacon; there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ’s blood; there that he shed his own blood for the name of Christ.

     “He had been prudent as he approached the table of a potentate; that table about which the Proverbs of Solomon were just now speaking to us, where it is written, If you sit down to dine at the table of a potentate, observe what is set before you; and so stretch out your hand, knowing that it behooves you to prepare similar dishes (Prv 23:1-2 LXX).  Saint Lawrence understood this, brothers and sisters, and he did it; and he undoubtedly prepared things similar to what he received at that table.  He loved Christ in his life, he imitated him in his death.  And we too, brothers and sisters, if we truly love him, let us imitate him [(Intellexit hoc, fratres, sanctus Laurentius; intellexit, ac fecit:  et prorsus qualia sumpsit in illa mensa, talia praeparavit.  Amavit Christum in vita sua, imitatus est eum in morte sua.  Et nos ergo, fratres, si veraciter amamus, imitemur)].  After all, we won’t be able to offer a better proof of love than by imitating his example.  For Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, so that we might follow in his footsteps (1 Pt 2:21).  In this sentence the apostle Peter appears to have seen that Christ suffered only for those who follow in his footsteps, and that Christ’s passion profits none but those who follow in his footsteps.  The holy martyrs followed him, to the shedding of their blood, to the similarity of their sufferings.  The martyrs followed, but they were not the only ones.  It’s not the case, I means to say, that after they had crossed, the bridge was cut; or that after they had drunk, the fountain dried up.

     “. . . what hope for all of us, if the only ones who follow Christ are those who shed their blood for him? . . .

     “That garden of the Lord’s, brothers and sisters, includes, yes it includes, it certainly includes not only the roses of martyrs, but also the lilies of virgins, and the ivy of married people, and the violets of widows.  There is absolutely no kind of human beings, dearly beloved, who need to despair of their vocation; Christ suffered for all [(Habet, habet, fratres, habet hortus ille dominicus, non solum rosas martyrum, sed et lilia virginum, et conjugatorum hederas, violasque viduarum.  Prorsus, dilectissimi, nullum genus hominum de sua vocatione desperet:  pro omnibus passus est Christus)].  It was very truly written about him:  who wishes all men to be saved, and to come to the acknowledgment of the truth (1 Tm 2:4).

     “So let us understand how Christians ought to follow Christ, short of the shedding of blood, short of the danger of suffering death.”

     St. Augustine, Sermo 304.1-3, as translated by Edmund Hill in WSA III/8 (1994), pp. 316-317;  PL 38, col. 1395-1396.

Justice (δικαιοσύνη)

     "If you want to be just, assign to each part within you what it deserves, that is, to body and soul.  To the rational part of the soul give spiritual reading and meditation and prayer.  To the irascible part give spiritual love, which is opposed to hate.  To the affective part give temperance and self-mastery.  To the bodily part give food and clothing, and only what is necessary."

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 4.44, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings, Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 80.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 212, where "food and clothing [(διατροφὴν καὶ σκεπάσματα)]" is in italics, indicating the reference to 1 Timothy 6:8 (διατροφὰς καὶ σκεπάσματα) (cf. Mt 6:25, where the Greek is different); PG 90, col. .

"Many passions lie hidden in our souls. They are exposed when their objects appear."

Πολλὰ πάθη ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν κέκρυπται·  πότε δὲ ἐλέγχονται, ὅταν τὰ πράγματα ἀναφαίνωνται.

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 4.52, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings, Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 81.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 216; PG 90, col. .
     Is this a good translation of τὰ πράγματα?  "the things concerned"?  Or even "the actions [consequent upon them]"?

To know in supreme ignorance the supremely unknowable

     "The perfect mind is the one that through genuine faith supremely knows in supreme ignorance the supremely unknowable, and in gazing on the universe of his handiwork has received from God comprehensive knowledge of his Providence and judgment in it, as far as is allowable to men."

     Νοῦς ἐστι τέλειος, ὁ διὰ πίστεως ἀληθοῦς τὸν ὑπεράγνωστον ὑπεραγνώστως ὑπερεγνωκὼς καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ δημιουργημάτων τὰ καθόλου θεασάμενος καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς προνοίας καὶ κρίσεως τὴν περιληπτικὴν γνῶσιν παρὰ θεοῦ εἰληφώς·  ὡς ἀνθρώποις δέ φημι.

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 3.99, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings, Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 75.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 190; PG 90, col. .

Attachment

     "The one who lusts after earthly things lusts after food, or what serves the lower passions, or human applause, or money, or something else associated with them.  And unless the mind can find something better than these to which it can transfer its desire [(εἰ μή τι τούτων εὕρῃ κρεῖττον ὁ νοῦς, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν μετενέγκῃ)], it will not be completely persuaded to disdain [(καταφρονεῖν . . . πεισθῇ)] them. . . .
     "Knowledge of divine things without passion [(Ἠ ἄνευ πάθους τῶν Θείων γνῶσις)] does not persuade the mind to disdain [(πείθει . . . καταφρονεῖν)] material things completely, but rather resembles the mere thought of a thing of sense.  Thus one finds many men with considerable knowledge who yet wallow in the passions of the flesh like pigs in mud [(καὶ ἐν τοῖς τῆς σαρκὸς πάθεσι δίκην χοίρων ἐν βορβόρῳ κυλινδουμένους)]. . . .
     ". . . Hence there is a need for the blessed passion of holy love [(τοῦ μακαρίου πάθους τῆς ἁγίας ἀγάπης)], which binds [(συνδεσμούσης)] the mind to spiritual realities and persuades it to prefer [(πειθούσης προτιμᾶν)] the immaterial to the material and intelligible and divine things to those of sense."

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 3.64, 66, & 67, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings,Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 70.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 174 & 176; PG 90, col. .

"All the dishonorable passions that hold sway over the soul drive out the thought of vanity [(κενοδοξία)] from it, and when all these have given way, they set it loose on the soul."

Πάντα τὰ ἄτιμα πάθη κρατοῦντα τῆς ψυχῆς τὸν τῆς κενοδοξίας ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀπελαύνουσι λογισμόν·  καὶ πάντων τῶν προειρημένων ἡττημένων, ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν αὐτὸν ἀναλύουσιν.

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 3.60, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings,Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 69.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 172; PG 90, col. .

ἕνεκεν δικαιοσύνης, ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ

     "The world has many poor in spirit, but not in the right way; and many who mourn, but over money matters and loss of children; and many who are meek, but in the face of impure passions; and many who hunger and thirst, but to rob another's goods and to profit unjustly.  And there are many who are merciful, but to the body and to its comforts; and clean of heart, but out of vanity; and peacemakers, but who subject the soul to the flesh; and many who suffer persecution, but because they are disorderly; and many who are reproached, but for shameful sins.  Instead, only those are blessed who do and suffer these things for Christ and following his example [(διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ κατὰ Χριστὸν)]. . . .  it is not because they do and suffer these things that they are blessed (since those just mentioned do the same), but because they do and suffer them for Christ and following his example [(διὰ Χριστὸν καὶ κατὰ Χριστὸν)]."

"when we wish to do something good, let us not have human applause in view but rather God, so that always looking to him we might do everything on his account; otherwise we shall undergo the labor and still lose the reward [(δι᾿ αὐτὸν . . . ·  ἴνα μὴ καὶ τὸν κόπον ὑπομείνωμεν καὶ τὸν μισθὸν ἀπολέσωμεν)]."

      Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 3.47 & 48, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings, Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 67.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 164 & 166; PG 90, col. .