Fr. Benedict was a friend of mine. An amazing man. Humble and spiritual. During a retreat at Trinity Retreat House in Larchmont, NY I literally watched him levitate during a talk. And I don’t believe in such things, but I saw it. It was so natural. Fr. Benedict, please pray for us.
I visited at his place he was staying near the end of his life. My brief encounter... I walked in and saw a picture of him and Mother Teresa on his fridge, and jokingly said, pointing to Mother Teresa, “Who’s that Fr.?” He said immediately, “Yea right! Rather, who is that guy!” Pointing to himself.
Wonderful teacher! I'm a Protestant. I believe the title Theotokos! I LOVE the title! I think his story highlights the fact that we Protestants don't do enough to explain theological terms. Once there is understanding, there is usually agreement. May the Holy Spirit lead us into full Communion with God and each other and may we follow! Thank you for posting this!!!! Blessings to you and yours!
Please remember, including myself, to pray for Father Benedict's soul. He was concerned that after he died, people would not pray for him,probably thinking he would go straight to Heaven.
I pray for him everyday and also ask his intercession for me. He taught me so much during very trying times. I wanted to share his lectures with many protestants and Catholics who left the church. They were too focused on being right. My goal is not to be right but to share the gift of the Catholic Church and the many deep layers of the mystery of the Holy Trinity. There is such a superficial understanding of the Catholic Church and it's doctrines. The Holy Spirit if you allow will take you deep into really knowing God and not just believing in God. Seek with all your heart mind and soul.
I love the Dies Ira. It's beautiful and poignant and yes the possibility of hell is scary. But if Father would remember fully it is a most hopeful prayer calling upon God to have mercy on the soul of the person who has diedand by the end of it ones is comforted.. There is no harm in facing the Truth. I had the joy of meeting Father in Washington when I was a student 😊 Such a gifted, wise and gentle man. He had so much presence.
Interesting. During the 1900 there were so few a priests in Mexico, If they were there, They were underground. There were instances where lay people were allowed to perform/witness some limited sacraments like marriage and baptism and probably funerals. It’s really interesting to read about. I’ve read a couple books on the Cristero Wars
I like this sermon about how the day of pentecost gifts believers in the U.K. too both in the past and today. You can recognize them by how they are so welcoming to newcomers and how unassuming they are towards people who come from different backgrounds than themselves. North America has been taking in English and the French believers whom the English mystics were loyal to as well for way longer than the secular world acknowledges. I am already onto fakes instead who only pretend to be welcoming to newcomers.
Fr. Benedict speaks eloquently about the history and context of Christian mysticism but appears to belittle the author of the Cloud of Unknowing and, more importantly, to miss or deny the very point of mysticism itself - that a person may, through contemplation, have a direct relationship with God.
Christianity still keeps that non believers are unsaved, thereby being guilty of exclusionary intolerance. Jesus himself did not start a new religion and was Jewish, not a Christian. All are God's own, all faiths and creeds. Christian acceptance of this is long overdue. We are all begotten and beloved of the Creator. Worship, adore and emulate Jesus to find your own inner Christ Self. We are all an aspect of Christ conciousness. All of us are Christed beings on the path of Self realization and God realization. Just like Jesus.
I wonder if the voluntarism of William of Occam was derived in some sense from Sunni Islam? Ash'arism teaches the exact same doctrine: God's will determines what is good and will.
Those Medieval mystics were working within a Norman Latin World, as much as an English one. But good lecture, within the framework of Catholic piety and 19th century national identities.
@@marcokite Cloud of Unknowing was indebted to Pseudo-Dionysius and a Sorbonne Irish or Scottish Scholar. Works wrote in Latin and Greek. Though the books were written in Middle English, they bore the heavy print of the Latin heritage.
No it wasn't Martin Luther, but John Calvin who came up with the idea of extreme predestination. Luther came behind Calvin in some since on that topic, but not as extreme. Further, it was John Calvin's interpreters who held to his theology who did worse yet in teaching the doctrine of double predestination. Double predestination is the belief that God ordains certain individuals to salvation and nothing will alter it, and that He ordains others to eternal damnation, which is unalterable. It was the Calvinists'' that came after him that were the worse offenders. St. Augustine taught predestination, but not as Calvin thought of it.
Anyone who wants to live their entire life in a tiny cell has got to be "odd" This kind of lifestyle would drive most people crazy. Maybe her "visions" were hysterical / psychotic delusions.
There is only One true God - Three persons in One God - Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the second person of the Holy Trinity who became incarnate as man so that mankind can be redeemed. He is pure love and loves you. God has chiseled in our souls the burning desire to search for Him , because we came from Him. And He wants us to know Him, love Him and be happy with Him in this life and for eternity after. He has revealed Himself through Holy scriptures and in Christ. Mankind in the quest for God has come up with their own explanations and names for God. And their own stories and false idols. Fallen angels can give you great feelings and experiences to make you feel that the false religion you are following is true and good. Realise the truth. You were created by God with so much love. Jesus loves you so much that He took on your sins and atoned for them with His precious blood, so that you can be redeemed. Seek and you shall find.
He made it very clear that He felt that way Himself, and in a way that was the very antithesis of 'humorous'. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! biblehub.com/matthew/23-37.htm
We are saved from sin and death when we trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his bodily resurrection. His sinless blood pays for our sins, earns forgiveness, and gives us eternal life. Salvation is the gift of God by grace. It is not a product of: * - Prayer * - Popes * - Baptism * - Confession * - Good works * - Turning from sin * - Commandments * - Church membership * - Mass or the Lord’s Supper Salvation is free to the ungodly who will put their faith in the death, blood, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for their sins (Romans 4:5; Romans 4:24-25; 1 Cor 15:1-4).
protestants always get this wrong - it isn't either/or. we are saved only by the Most Precious Blood but we MUST also co-operate, this means for example the works of mercy AND the Seven Sacraments. the problem with protestants is that they throw out the baby with the bath water. 'saved by faith alone' and 'once saved always saved' are dangerous heresies
