Lectio et Oratio

Episode 70 -- Imitation of Christ III.32 -- On Self-Denial and Giving Up Our Own Desires

We read about the importance of God's will. The only thing permanent in this world is God's will. What we do in accord with His will lasts forever. But to do his will, we need to desire His will. And to desire his will requires grace from God. Let us ask for the grace to want to be faithful. Becoming faithful in all things is the work of our whole lives. Let us not be impatient with God’s timetable and the work of our sanctification.

Episode 69 -- Imitation of Christ III.31 -- On Disregarding Creatures to Find the Creator

If we want to become contemplatives, to find God in prayer, what must we do?

Guard against unruly impulses. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis distinguishes the Creator from the creature. He helps us to see that our spirits, the high part of our souls, the part in which we are open to God, can be blocked by our constant ignoring of God. If we focus on creatures apart from God, we stop the upward movement of our souls. God wants us for himself. He wants to be All in All to us. This chapter highlights the deep connection between our prayer life and our daily life. "We live as we pray and we pray as we live."

Episode 68 -- Imitation of Christ III.30 -- On Calling on God in Distress and Being Confident in His Help

When we are feeling down and depressed, should we think that God had abandoned us?

No! In this chapter, Thomas a Kempis portrays Christ speaking to someone who is discouraged and feeling low. Our Lord assures such persons that our feelings are not a good guide to our true state. We are often closer to God than we might think. And God knows how to allow our spirits to sink lest we get puffed up by mistaken notions of our own spiritual greatness. This is a very encouraging chapter for those who face interior difficulties.

Episode 67 -- Imitation of Christ III.29 -- How We Should Call on God and Bless Him in Times of Trouble

In distress and time of trouble, what should we do?

Call on the Lord. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis shows us what to do when times of trouble seem to entrap us. He directs us to turn to the Lord in prayer. He offers us the kinds of prayers we should especially say. Above all, we need to seek to accept His will.

Episode 66 -- Imitation of Christ III.28 -- Against Slanderous Talk

In chapter 28, Thomas a Kempis encouraged us to look for peace within ourselves. This inward turn is not turning to ourselves but to the One who dwells in our hearts. By our baptism, we have becoming dwelling places of God in the Spirit. Christ and His Father have made their dwelling place in our hearts. The danger is that we look for our affirmation and self-worth primarily from the outside, from the words and actions of other human beings. Yes, we need human help and encouragement. But the true source of our peace and self-worth is found in God.

Episode 65 -- Imitation of Christ III.27 -- Self-love as the great Hinderance in Our Quest for the Highest God

In chapter 27, Thomas a Kempis warns us about the danger of bad self-love. Bad self-love tries to create a private set of concerns for which God is not involved. We tend to thing of ourselves as isolated individuals rather than as members of a vast Body, the Body of Christ. We have been inserted into a share of God"s own life. We must seek above all to be filled with God's wisdom.

Episode 64 -- Imitation of Christ III.26 -- On the Excellence of a Free Mind The Reward of Humble Prayer Rather than of Reading

In chapter 26, Thomas a Kempis speaks of the need to ask God to make certain things "sour" to our hearts. If there are things we really do not need or things that hurt us or things that take us away from true peace, let us ask the Lord to make them distasteful to us. Let us ask for the Lord to change our preferences of heart. What used taste so sweet can now taste sour! This kind of change will help us avoid those unnecessary and even sinful matters. Thomas a Kempis is so balanced in this chapter.

Episode 63 -- Imitation of Christ III.25 -- On Sure Peace of Mind and True Progress

What is the solid foundation for peace of mind?

Patience, humility, gentleness. There are practices, deliberate actions, that lead to peace, great peace. But these practices lead to peace of mind by building up virtues, stable dispositions of soul for good actions. The more we seek the lowest place the more we grow in humility. The more we seek to do the will of others the more we grow in gentleness. The more we hold ourselves back from the anger and revenge we desire the more we grow in patience. In this reading we think more about how true peace of mind involves growth in these virtues.

Episode 62 -- Imitation of Christ III.24 -- On Avoiding Curiosity About the Lives of Others

What is the sin of excessively seeking to know things about others?

Curiosity. There is a good desire to know that is at the root of all wisdom. There is also a harmless curiosity about why things are as they are. But then there is the disordered, harmful, excessive desire to know things, especially about others. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis explains why such sinful curiosity actually harms us and why its roots are often in vain glory.

Last episode we read about the causes of great peace in the soul. Notice how the four pieces of advice relate us to the following: other people, ourselves, the things of this world, and God. 1) By seeking to do the will of others, we have peace with them. 2) In not seeking more but rather less of this world's goods, we have harmony with the other creatures as being in the right relation to them. 3) In not seeking higher places, we are at peace with ourselves. We live within ourselves, our own limits. 4) In always praying and desires God"s will to be accomplished in ourselves, we are at peace with God.

Episode 61 -- Imitation of Christ III.23 -- Four Things that Lead to Greater Peace

Is there anything we can do to help our hearts be full of great peace?

We read about four basic tips for growing in peace. These tips all have to do with the desires of our heart. Peace arises from desires being ordered, directed to what is truly good. When we want what we should want, great peace follows. Among these tips, there is one that is most important: praying to do God's will.

Episode 60 -- Imitation of Christ III.22 -- On Recalling God’s Manifold Blessings

We read about God's manifold blessings. If we want to grow in God's love, we must ponder his blessings. St Philip used to tell people that when we fail to consider all that God does for us, we chill His love in our hearts. At the same time, considering God's blessings helps us to avoid speaking about ourselves in a boastful way. St Philip learned the lessons of this chapter. Very rarely did he ever say, I said or I did. St Philip and Thomas a Kempis want us to speak about ourselves in ways that are necessary for our salvation, the salvation of others, and the glory of God.

Episode 59 -- Imitation of Christ III.21 -- We must rest in God above all His Gifts and Favours

Will our hearts fully rest in the gifts of God?

No. Our hearts will only rest fully in the Giver of all these great spiritual gifts. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis presents a dialogue between Christ and his disciple regarding the true object of all our longing. Our hearts are made for Christ, the eternal Wisdom of the Father. He alone can set us free from our selfishness and loneliness.

Episode 58 -- Imitation of Christ III.20 -- On Acknowledging our Own Weakness; the Miseries of this Life

We read about the need to acknowledge our own weaknesses. We are so apt to sin. The Church speaks of this tendency to sin as concupiscence. We want to do what is right. We know what is right. And yet we keep putting ourselves in situations where our ability to resist temptation is so small. How frail we are. But how powerful the Lord is!

Episode 57 -- Imitation of Christ III.19 -- On Bearing Injuries and How to Tell Whether you Are Really Patient

We read about the need to bear injuries well. Patience develops in our souls as we face trials and difficulties. The person who truly wants to become patient like Christ must face many such trials. Patience is a crown that is won at a great price. The secret is to remember that others have even more trials and that God's Providence guides all things. Let us not focus so much on secondary causes of our sufferings. Let us think of the Primary Cause of all things who works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Episode 56 -- Imitation of Christ III.18 -- We Must Follow Christ Patiently in Bearing the Sorrows of this Life

We read the need we have to keep Christ's example before our eyes if we wish to be patient. The patience we long to possess is not some kind of abstract excellence. Our patience will look like Christ's. Our patience is in fact a share in his own patience. Patience emerges in the midst of sorrows. Christ is the man of sorrows. We must think about Him as sorrows happen to us.

Episode 55 -- Imitation of Christ III.17 -- We Must Put Our Whole Trust in God

We read about the need to think of things from God's perspective. The path to patience requires us to think a great deal about how things happen as they do. But if we only have a human approach to the events of our life, we will miss the many wonderful things God is doing. God wants us to have our minds fixed on His will. We knows what He is doing. He knows what plans He has for us.

Episode 54 -- Imitation of Christ III.16 -- True Comfort Should Be in God Alone

Where should we seek our true comfort amidst the trials on this life?

In God. Thomas a Kempis has warned us against seeking comforts in this life apart from the will of God. He was warned us about loving the things of this world only insofar as they lead us to our true happiness in the Lord Jesus. When we follow His will, we begin to taste in this life the fruits of the Holy Spirit, especially, love, joy, peace, and patience. There are true comforts in this life, comforts that arise from the Lord Himself. In today"s reading, we will hear about how to seek the comforts of the Lord.

Episode 53 -- Imitation of Christ III.15 -- On How We Ought to Prayer and Act In Regard to Our Desires

We read about the need to be careful about our desires. Due to original sin, not all of our desires are from the Holy Spirit. Not all the sudden inspirations are from above. We have to sift through our desires. We have to consult the Lord as to whether He really wants this or that activity from us. His food was to do the will of His Father in Heaven. Our food must be to do the will of the Lord Jesus. Through Him, we are brought to the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Episode 52 -- Imitation of Christ III.14 -- On the Need to Consider the Secret Judgements of God

In trying to understand ourselves, what must we keep in mind?

God's assessment of things. In this reading, Thomas a Kempis puts before God's perspective on our good qualities. Instead of being our own judges, let us ponder what God in all his infinite wisdom will say about us. The Lord does give us gifts of grace that transform us. Christ enables us to cooperate in our own salvation and those of others. But as we reflect on any good qualities the Lord had given us, we have to remember all the ways we constantly depend on God lest we over estimate our own excellence and want to manifest our own excellence to others.

Episode 51 -- Imitation of Christ III.13 -- On Humble Obedience after Example of Christ

We read about the need to obey. Thomas a Kempis makes the case for obedience in light of Christ himself. If He submitted himself to human persons, we can do so too. We should not try to ponder humility and obedience apart from Christ. Christ shows us what God can do in the hearts of those who seek Him.