BEIRON'S WAY: THE WAIT WATCHER

Composed, Monday, 13 February 2006 Modern, western civilisation as we know it today, with all its flaws or weaknesses, apogee of freedoms or summit of liberalism, is the development of at least 2000 years of prolonged thought and enquiry. We know this, because as the Hellenist school of philosophy faded as the Roman Empire waxed and waned, it was ultimately the springtime of Christian thought which as it grew through conciliar debate and defense, and holding out against the ancient philosophies, formed the foundation of Western civil law and society. Enlightened historians today are willing to attribute to the Catholic Church much of the basis for this development in western thought. In the same way, the biased, popular view that the Inquisition was vast and cruel, or that Galileo was unfairly tried, should be examined with the true facts. The mythologies of conspiracy theories that the church sought to keep a great deal of matters secret to protect its teachings, or adulterate records...

I meditate on these now: "The secret of my identity lies in the mercy and love of God." - Thomas Merton and "The mind of God is forgiveness." - John Paul II The mystery of who I am, and how I become, is part of the dynamic chemistry that relies on the action of Divine mercy and love. What I am, as spirit and flesh, is the resultant manifestation of God's on-going mercy to let me exercise my free choice, even where I am less than perfect and prodigal with opportunity. And, of God's generousity, which allows me to know and be, alive, in the fragile life. But what makes God do this, and why. Because he is ever, always, ready to forgive. But I must approach the throne of Grace. Forgiveness requires repentence. "Turn away from your sin," so the Divine Physician of our souls say. And the Psalmist: "And if you should hear his voice, harden not your hearts...!"

In the last two thousand years since the early Roman Empire brought civil law and Hellenistic philosophy into world civilisation, there have been several "enlightenments". Before this era, we have some idea of the great impact Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had, and through Alexander the Great, how much of these ideas pervaded the ancient world. With the Roman empire, we have some idea of the rule of law, and inspite of the deitification of the Roman emperors and the impact of this on developing thought, we have some reason to thank them for propagating fundamental beliefs in the rights of citizens, fidelity to the state, etc. For a while in the fifth century when Latin began to replace Greek as the language of commerce and thought, we saw the first semblence of the growth of new ideas and philosophies. During the monastic period with Bernard of Clairvaux, Christian doctrines saw some development, which since the time of the first councils convoked by Constantine, we began to ...

St. Aelred of Rievaulx, born 1110 in Northumbria. His biographer, Walter Daniel describes him thus: “He did not attain to great knowledge of the liberal arts at school, but by his own efforts and the exercise of the keen and subtle mind he had, he became more cultured than many who are steeped in secular learning… He was moreover a man of the highest integrity, wise in the ways of the world, witty, eloquent, a pleasant companion, generous and discreet. At the same time no prelate of his day was as gentle and patient as he, or sympathised so deeply with the physical and moral infirmities of others.” Here is the extract from Aelred of Rievaulx’s De spirituali amicitia : “First we must set this spiritual love on a firm foundation in which its beginnings must be anchored, and the greatest care must be exercised, when soaring to the heights of friendship, to keep within the established limits. This foundation is the love of God, to which all things should be referred – whatever love or affe...

my motto motive motivation for the new year: "DO AS NO ONE DOES, AND THE WORLD MARVELS" From St. Bernard Of Clairvaux (Twelve century founder of the Cistercian Order of monks) The Cistercian order has a literary heritage of Christian contemplative and instructional writings which should be re-discovered by today's 3rd Millenium Men. The treatise by Aelred on Friendship, "De Spirituali Amicitia", for instance, is a wonderful work on the nature of neoplatonism, not as St. Augustine proposes - that friendship among men is separate from the friendship of God (John 15:15) - but as the relationship between men with Christ as the third and centre of that friendship, around which persons relate and their relations revolve (John 15:13). In addition, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, whose friendship and affection for others have inspired many writings and reflections, taught explicitly on the wisdom of proper conduct for the Christian disciple. Much is based on the work of St. B...

In the old covenant, under Mosiac Law, the dietary laws ( kashrut ) are well chronicled. Thus Professor Menachem Marc Kellner has referred to Judaism as “a religion of pots and pans in the eyes of those who derogate its concern with actions”. It is in Leviticus (chapter 11) and Deuteronomy (chapter 14) that the Israelites are instructed by Yahweh what they can consume. Oddly, despite the centrality of the paschal meal as the Eucharistic offering by Jesus in the catholic Christian faith, the spirituality of diet is simply “missing”. Faced with the growing health challenges brought about by illness, disease and human technology, interest groups have developed trends that borrow from the mysticism of the Orient to offer organic, biotic diets. The naturalness of these diets are safe and sound, without any extreme. But when cancer is as great a threat to life, then what does the spirituality of a Christian diet suggest? Too much protein, fat, diary, eggs are just as mucous-causing as does t...

Feast of St. Francis Xavier Saturday, 3 December 2005 Is there a better day to contemplate on the truth of Christian spirituality regarding “struggle”? By this word I mean how we are confronted by the realisation of our own inadequacy in dealing with all sorts of problems, challenges, trials, misfortunes, difficulties and all their synonyms that might beset us in daily life. The story of St. Francis, the missionary to the Far East, who did not succeed conventionally in his lifetime, is one of a struggle to persevere. The Far East is not to be won over without great struggle, as ancient roots lie deep. It is an old problem, but each day, and each moment as we experience it, all the wisdom of the sages and collective human knowledge seems forgotten as we are plighted by this great wall that blocks all our senses. To the secular minded, it is a war of the senses, where faculties of intellect and genius is summoned to besiege the problem and over come it. It was St. Francis de Sales of Ann...

Saturday, 27 August 2005 Divine Justice is often overshadowed by modern day evangelists proclaiming the joyful news central to the Gospel of Jesus. As such, the idea of divine justice and law is relegated to small print in the tracts, gospel songs, fellowship and acts of praise and worship. Christ, resurrected, has won for us forever the redemption from sin through his perfect sacrifice on the Cross. We hear professions and personal proclamations of faith in the power of grace from Jesus "who saves". Indeed, "God Saves" is the very name which is Yeshua or Jesus as we know from his Greco-Latinized version. Yahweh Saves. Yet, the history of salvation which reveals the grace of God's great love and faithfulness to his people, the prototype being Israel which is fulfilled in the Church today, is also grounded on his great mercy. We experience his mercy in his love, and we experience his love first because of the Divine Order, which is known as his Law, which is hi...

Dedicated to Kelvin, Craig & Sarah-Ann – for your fascination with Angels. When Yahweh’s creative Word was born (" God from God, Light from Light, One in True Being With The Father "), and all creation came into form, among the primal creation to attend to the divine Word were the choirs of spiritual forces, which we can recognise as angels. The Divine Word, or in Greek Logos , identified by John as Jesus, present in fullness of the Father's glory as the Son. To the Mind of the Most High, and attending to the Word that brought into being all creation, these attendant spirits form a particular function or intelligence. Now the intelligence we speak of here is supernatural, and as spirit is non-corporeal, these species are illuminated solely by Divine grace. Supernatural intelligence is fueled by the Divine Mind, and hence, these catch and reflect the divine light of Yahweh, whereby they have specific presence and abilities. These angelic intelligences have no particula...

Tuesday, 23 August 2005 Recently, I have been asked about angels, and after having overheard some evangelical Christians musing at Borders saying that the hosts of angels were not integral to belief, I feel compelled to put some information on these species for others to review. Referred to in Hebrew as mal’ak and in Greek angelos , or messenger, their function is immediately recognised in Judeo-Christian literature and tradition as being the functionaries of the Divine. Yahweh had created them in the same breath that he formed the cosmos, with his creative Word. Hence, they share in his life by being subject to him, and act according to his will. Biblical, post-biblical and extra-biblical sources form our present speculative philosophy known as angelogy, and Thomas Aquinas summarily formulated much of our accepted notions of the Christian understanding of these supernatural beings. Today, influence from other folk traditions and cultures have added to the spectrum of angelogy, but I ...

T he one distinguishing mark of catholic Christian faith, is the story on which it hinges, where a tribal God, YAHWEH, seeks out his own, and establishes the convenant with the semitic tribe of Abraham, and brings about the singular event with cosmic consequences: the impossible and unthinking incarnation of the Divine into the material world. We think of Christianity as a modern, western faith, and forget its true origins in the Orient as a tribal faith, born firstly in the belief of one God, nameless and unknowable, whose nature is mysterious to men. Yahweh is indeed unique and alone; there is none like Him , as the Psalmist sings. The ancient Hebrews were fearful to profane this sacred name, and therefore, in their oral traditions and later on, scriptures, recorded this name but pronounced the word Adonai or Lord, in its place. Therefore, for thousands of years, the name would remain unspeakable, unknown, and almost forgotten. The word itself is a phrase, oddly created, which co...