Lectio et Oratio

Episode 23 -- Imitation of Christ I.23 -- Thinking about death

What should we ponder each day?

Our death. In chapter 23, Thomas a Kempis tries to persuade us of the advantages of thinking about the day of our death. He tries to show how short this life is. He shows how foolish it is to assume we will live a long life. He wants us to value this life for its main purpose: preparing us for eternity.

Episode 22 -- Imitation of Christ I.22 -- A View of Man’s Misery

What should we think about this life?

A gift from God and A Misery due to sin. In chapter 22, The Imitation paints a very clear picture of our fallen condition. The main objective is to encourage us to stand strong in the face of disappointments. Every life, even the life of the most famous people, has difficulties. Then we must also consider all the sufferings caused by our sins. Truly this life cannot be all there is. Truly this life will not make us fully happy. Let us beg the Lord for the grace to run the race that is set before us.

Episode 21 -- Imitation of Christ I.21 -- On Holy Sorrow and Fear of the Lord

Besides wanting to be close to God, what other inward disposition should we pray for, especially in Holy Week?

Holy Sorrow. In chapter 21, Thomas a Kempis places before us our need to pray for the fear of the Lord. Why? The fear of the Lord, the Psalms teach, is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Fear of the Lord has different degrees. But building on our faith in God's goodness, fear makes us feel REVERENCE towards God. Fear makes us afraid of sinning because we do not want to be separated from His love. From this fear of the Lord, we grow to hate our sins and all the ways we block out His mercy. This holy hatred leads us to a holy sorrow, a true sadness at sin.

Episode 20 -- Imitation of Christ I.20 -- Solitude, Silence, and Living in Divine Intimacy

What are some of the best means of growing in intimacy with our Creator?

Learning to love solitude. In this episode's reading, Thomas a Kempis stresses the need to love being along with Jesus. Once again he is first and foremost talking to monks and priests. But he lays down principles that are crucial for all those who want to live in greater familiarity with the Lord. What is clear is that this chapter is the fruit of experience. When he speaks of the remorse and regret for forgetting about God"s will and just trying to have a good time, his words suggest that Thomas a Kempis is writing from what he knows first hand. He is passing on to us what he had learned about the best use of one"s time.

Episode 19 -- Imitation of Christ I.19 -- On the Pious Practices of a Good Monk (and Good Laymen)

Can people in the world profit from knowing how a monk should live? 

Yes! We read about advice for the daily life of a monk. But really the advice is very general advice that almost all people can follow. What is especially useful is his suggestions for what to do every morning (resolutions) and evening (taking account of the day's behaviour). We should never forget that lay people for centuries have been reading and profiting from this masterpiece.

Episode 18 -- Imitation of Christ I.18 -- On The Example of the Saints of Old

To whom can we look for human inspiration?

The saints who have gone before us! We read an exhortation to order the example of the ancient holy men who followed Christ so bravely and prayerfully. St Philip Neri, for example, was called, "man of primitive times." Why? He longed to have contact with the saints of the early Church. He longed to love God the way they did. So can we!

Episode 17 -- Imitation of Christ I.17 -- On Joining a Monastery

Why should one become a monk?

To seek God and to save one's soul. This episode's reading describes what life in a monastery or community is like. The description might not appear at first to be useful for people in the world. But there are many lessons for everyone in this reading. What is the way to true peace in this world? Self-abasement out of love of Jesus.

Episode 16 -- Imitation of Christ I.16 -- On Putting up with other People’s Faults

What is the Lord's frequent ways of helping us grow in patience?

The faults of other people. We will receive instruction on the best way to react to the mistakes and sins of those around us. The Imitation gives us reasons to welcome the faults of others in terms of our own spiritual growth. The book then tackles a couple of our favourite objections to putting up with others. The Imitation helps us see our inconsistencies and hypocrisy in how demanding we can be of others.

Episode 15 -- Imitation of Christ I.15 -- On Charity as the Motive of Our Actions

What matters most to God in our actions?

The charity behind the action. Charity means divine love. "Charity is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). Charity enables us to prefer God to all other things and to love all things on account of God who made them. The great commandment of Christ is to love one another as He loves us.

Episode 14 -- Imitation of Christ I.14 -- Avoiding Hasty Estimations

What does our hidden self-seeking and personal preferences often make us form?

Hasty estimates of situations and people. Instead of waiting for all the evidence to appear and to make a fair assessment, we often too quickly form an estimation of others. We rush to criticize. Thomas a Kempis warns us in chapter 14 about some of the hidden motivations for such estimates. He helps to uncover some of reasons we lack objectivity.

Episode 13 -- Imitation of Christ I.13 -- Value of Temptations

We read the long and wonderful chapter on the value of temptations for the spiritual life. Among the points that The Imitation makes is this one: temptations, rightly understood, can help us grow in humility. God even allows us to fall into small sins so that we will grow in our awareness of our inherent weakness. If we are so prone to fall through small temptations, how much more vigilant do we need to be in regards to more dangerous temptations to more serious sins? All of us will face temptations, some more than others. But all these temptations, these trials, are known and allowed by God for our sanctification. He never allows us to be tempted beyond our strength, the strength that he offers us.

Episode 12 -- Imitation of Christ I.12 -- Why Things Sometimes Go Against Us

Is it good sometimes to have our own will thwarted?

Yes. The Imitation of Christ discusses some of the reasons why God allows us to go through difficult situations and to have our own desires frustrated. This chapter even discusses why God allows us to undergo more interior trials. God has many things to teach us about this life (an exile) and about ourselves.

Episode 11 -- Imitation of Christ I.11 -- Holy Ambition for Spiritual Progress

Why do we seem to make such little spiritual progress?

Lack of ambition, desire. We read about The Imitation's advice on growing in holiness. This chapter offers various considerations to help attract our hearts for making up our minds to seek after spiritual progress. In trying to encourage us, Thomas a Kempis also helps us to see ourselves in a clearer light, especially the ways we deceive ourselves about our true state of soul.

Last episode we read about what The Imitation of Christ above all wants us to experience: inward comfort from God. Instead of turning to God for our consolations, we often turn to useless talking. Yes we need friendships. Yes, we need conversations with others. In fact, there is a small virtue called friendliness by which we give delight to others in word and deed. We are supposed to give delight to those with whom we live and interact. We are supposed "to say the good things that men need to hear," St Paul says. May the Lord give us holy discretion to know when to speak and when to be silent so as to commune with the Lord.

Episode 10 -- Imitation of Christ I.10 -- About Useless Gossiping

What is one of the most common ways to lose the inward comfort of God?

Useless talking. We read about what the Imitation calls useless gossiping. The book does not mean what we commonly mean by gossiping: talking badly about people behind their backs. Gossiping in this chapter means any kind of idle talk, talking that does not serve any good.

Episode 9 -- Imitation of Christ I.9 -- On Obedience and Submissiveness

We read about the need for obedience to a superior. The chapter is obviously directed primarily to monks. The chapter has excellent advice, however, about the more general temptation to think that we will be happy if we just go somewhere else. How beneficial it is to live a stable life with someone to guide us, with someone under whose direction we can be obedient. How wise it is to seek to live in harmony with others and conform our lives to the common good of a community.

Episode 8 -- Imitation of Christ I.8 -- On the Danger of Being Too Familiar

Is there a difference between kindness and being too familiar?

Yes. In this reading, the Imitation of Christ distinguishes the kindness that vowed religious in monasteries owe to all and a dangerous familiarity that can arise. In other words, chapter 8 is directed especially to men who have made public vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The Imitation warns them about certain dangers of "crossing the line" with various kinds of people whom the Lord is not asking such priests to help. The whole focus of a man's life who is dedicated to God has to be on God and drawing others to God. He must not be too worried about spending time with people that will pull him away from the Lord's humble service. This reading is good for all as a reminder to pray for priests and has some application for all people.

Last episode we read about the dangers of self-conceit, about having a too high opinion of oneself. The biggest reason for avoiding this trap in the spiritual life is that our happiness is not to be found in a creature. Creatures are finite, limited, incomplete. But we are made for the infinite, the unlimited, the perfect. God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will be our happiness. This happiness we will share with others in heaven. But no mere human being will ever make us perfectly happy, including ourselves! No amount of self-admiration will satisfy us, especially when it is not built on truth! We need self-knowledge, but self-knowledge that is rooted in God and our relationship to Him. Riches, famous people, skills, beauty, health can be good, if loved in relation to God. Lord show us you will!

Episode 7 -- Imitation of Christ I.7 -- About False Self-Confidence How to Rid of Self-Conceit

In what should be our true confidence?

In Jesus Christ. In chapter seven, The Imitation of Christ describes various things that human beings like to boast about: wealth, important friends, skills, beauty, health, etc. Are these things really able to give us true self-confidence? How easily they can be lost! The Imitation points us in another direction for true self-confidence. Our Lord said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

Last episode we read about the need to moderate our passions. The whole focus of Thomas a Kempis' spirituality is to help us have peace of soul. Without peace of soul, no spiritual growth can happen. The emotions or passions are not good or bad in themselves. The are a vital part of our human nature. Passions or emotions are good or bad depending on their object. May the Lord help us to desire and to fear, to enjoy and to be sad, at the right things, in the right way, at the right time!

Episode 6 -- Imitation of Christ I.6 -- About Moderating the Passions

In trying to grow closer to Christ what is a common enemy?

Immoderate passions. The word, passions, is from a Latin root meaning to undergo or to suffer. Passions are things that we feel when we encounter something in the world that attracts or repels us. Passions are feelings that "happen to us" as a result of some object that we see or hear or touch or imagine or taste or smell. Thomas a Kempis understanding of the passions of the soul is what we usually speak of at a popular level as emotions. The main passions or emotions are desire, fear, hope, sorrow, anger, joy. Because of original sin our passions or emotions are easily immoderate. They are all over the place swinging from one extreme to another. The Imitation of Christ tries to persuade us to bring these passions under control lest we are led away by their forcefulness from Christ.

Episode 5 -- Imitation of Christ I.5 -- How to Approach the Scriptures to Find Christ

We read about Sacred Scripture. Thomas a Kempis has a high view of Scripture as one of the main means for encountering Christ. The Scriptures are made up of many thousands and thousands of words. But in all these words, God is speaking one Word to us, his Son. His Son is the fullness off Divine Revelation, the fullness of God's speaking to us about Himself and His plans. The Scriptures make present Christ himself so that we can enter more deeply into a relationship with Him. But there are many obstacles to the reading the Scriptures in the right light. We must read them with the same inspiration with which they were written. We must read them humbly with the help of the Holy Spirit. Let us hear what the Lord has to say to us!

Episode 4 -- Imitation of Christ I.4 -- Caution in Our Undertakings

How does a well formed Christian react to what he hears?

Cautiously. The Imitation of Christ gives a description of how a follower of Christ should approach all the things he or she hears about others. All the wonderful advice that we read in this episode about being cautious and careful in our reactions presumes a profound awareness of how weak and fallen human nature is. How we need to ask the Lord to teach us true wisdom and true knowledge about the world.

Last episode we read about how Christ, true God and true man, is the secret to all true learning. How we need the eternal Word to show Himself to us. How we need to believe that God has a Son, a Word. The true measure of our lives is the degree of charity we have for Christ. All that we accomplish apart from Him and His love counts for nothing eternally. But our relationship with Christ is something that grows and deepens. We are striving to win Christ, to deepen our contact with Him. We are striving by His grace to know more and more His power and mercy.