José Pereira and Robert Fastiggi on Augustinian Spirituality during the Catholic Reformation, Part 2 of 2

Baroque Augustinian Fray. Luis de León

The last post concerned the writings of José Pereira and Robert Fastiggi on Augustinian spirituality during the Catholic Reformation. This post concerns a part of their writings where St. Augustine posits the degrees of the spiritual life, which is numbered at seven grades of progress, and are closely linked to the Beatitudes (which are eight though apparently two are grouped together to make seven main points). I am cautious about what is contained in this reading of St. Augustine's work since I've not yet read St. Augustine's sermons on the Sermon on the Mount, nor am I too familiar with St. Augustine's writings on spiritual progress. All the less however, I will post this forward in an attempt to bring a scholarly (and costly) work to the public. The work again is The Mystical Theology of the Catholic Reformation. Which is about $48 on Amazon.

José Pereira and Robert Fastiggi on Augustinian Spirituality during the Catholic Reformation, Part 1 of 2

Luis de León, a Baroque Augustinian theologian

This excerpt comes from Pereira and Fastiggi's book "The Mystical Theology of the Catholic Reformation: An Overview of Baroque Spirituality" published in 2006. The book is quite fascinating though it is a light read for a scholarly book, and from what it looks like it is a partial view into the mystical theology of the Catholic Reformation. There are quite a number of long lists of authors and their lives throughout the book which is a bit off-putting if you want to dive directly into the theme of the book, and even then the book seems a bit generic at times, though with sure nuggets of many Baroque authors' views on Catholic spirituality. The book covers an overview of Baroque thought first, including Baroque Scholasticism, Baroque modernity, Baroque Positive Theology, and Baroque Sacred Oratory. Following these sections are chapters that actually deal with the title's topic, spirituality. They include a chapter titled, "Unfolding of Baroque Spirituality", then followed by the Spirituality of the Monastic Orders (Benedictine, Cistercian, Carthusian), Spirituality of the Mendicant Friars (Franciscan, Dominican), Spirituality of the clerics Regular (Augustinian, Theatine, Barnabite), Spirituality of the Major Orders of the Baroque age (Jesuit, Oratorian), and the final sections deal with Carmelite Spirituality (Calced Carmelite, Discalced Carmelite, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross).

I Am the Living Bread which has come down from Heaven. A brief commentary on this Sunday's Readings

This Sunday’s readings in the Ordinary Form Catholic mass will be:

6th century icon of Christ
from St. Catherine Monastery
at Mount Sinai*

1 Kings 19:4-8

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Ephesians 4:30- 5:2

John 6:41-51

Below I only hope to offer a small reflection on such a great amount of Our Lord’s word’s to us. I am very new to reading Scripture, and so most of my focus will be on reading the New Testament works in the context of the Psalms and then perhaps the Old Testament works. A Christian who is deep in his faith would understand these texts far better than I do. I hope to look somewhat to the Patristic texts as well to get a view of the Church’s faith regarding the Sacred Mystery of Jesus the Living Bread from Heaven.

St. Augustine’s Sermon 63, wake up Christ in your heart

Rembrandt painting of Jesus calming the storm

Among one of St. Augustine’s shortest sermons, Sermon 63 is not a sermon that we know when it was composed. There are multiple sermons that exist from St. Augustine’s preaching on the story of Matthew 8 where the Apostles go with Christ in a boat only to have a storm brew up, wherein they wake up Jesus who calms the storm and chastises them for their lack of faith. Being among the shortest of St. Augustine’s sermons it is entirely possible that this is a later sermon of St. Augustine’s which had a tendency to be much shorter than his earlier sermons. Just as well if this sermon is a repeated lesson on earlier sermons it is likely that his parish already knew what he was going to say about Matthew 8, and so there was no need to say more. In any regard, let us listen to the Doctore Caritatis (Doctor of Charity).

“And Jesus Took with Him” a Carthusian reflection on the prayer of Jesus in the Transfiguration

Icon of the Transfiguration at St. Catherine Monastery
at Mt. Sinai. It is an apse mosaic commissioned in the
6th century by Emperor Justinian the Great.

This essay is for a reflection on today’s feast, the feast of the Transfiguration, in which Jesus took up with Him Sts. Peter, James, and John up to Mount Tabor to pray. This is a great feast and is the moment in which Jesus showed forth His divinity to His disciples as well as making Moses and Elijah spring forth to see Him. The theme of this essay concerns less regarding the Transfiguration itself but Christ’s model of prayer in bringing His disciples with Him to pray and embrace His divinity. There is much mystery to the Transfiguration, and much of our own life is played out in the hope that we will see Jesus in His divinity and that that Light which shined forth from Him in all holiness might shine upon our souls and make us holy.

Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John and climbed the mountain to pray. (Luke 9:28)

St. Thomas of Aquinas on God’s Omnipotence (Summa Theologiae Part 1 Question 25 Article 3)

St. Thomas of Aquinas

This article regards St. Thomas of Aquinas the Common view of the way in which we can think of God as being omnipotent, that is, all-powerful. There is much thought in modern days especially amongst those who do not hold the Faith that God’s omnipotence is incomprehensibly great or that God cannot possibly be omnipotent. This article here is intended as both a means to illuminate our faith and as a way to better comprehend the outstanding quality of God’s greatness. This is not a scholarly article, one ought to note, and so the inaccuracies to be found in my analysis of highly technical scholastic philosophy and theology are on account of my own inability to read the saint’s work. For those unaware of who St. Thomas of Aquinas is, I note that he is one of the most celebrated saints of the Catholic Church in regards to his teachings on theology and philosophy. His Summa Theologiae is the Doctor of the Church’s compendium of topics of theology and philosophy for theology students at the university he taught at. The life of St. Thomas of Aquinas is quite interesting and one can read more about it here. All in all then, let us learn from the saint and may God enlighten us to learn more about Him through His holy saints!

Bl. John Duns Scotus on God’s Omnipotence (Oxford Lectures on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, Book I Distinction 42-43)

Bl. John Duns Scotus

This article is a part of a series of medieval scholastic theology regarding the topic of God’s omnipotence. This isn’t intended as a scholarly article but only a layman’s opinion and reading of a very small snippet of a holy man’s complex labyrinth of thought and devotion. It is very likely that I will make mistakes regarding the interpretation of the Subtle Doctor’s theology, but hopefully God will make an opportunity of this article to help us better know Him in our hearts and in our minds.

Now in this regard Bl. John Duns Scotus’ remarks on the power of God’s omnipotence comes from some of his lectures at Oxford regarding the Sentences in Four Books by Peter Lombard, an early Catholic who strove to assemble authorities and arguments for various doctrines of the Faith. Commenting and lecturing on the Sentences was mandatory for any person to become a doctor in theology or philosophy, etc. And so these Oxford Lectures, as I understand it are some of Bl. Scotus’ earlier work on these theological and philosophical issues, though I think it rivals St. Thomas of Aquinas’ later work in the matter of philosophical distinctions. To be fair however, Bl. Scotus was some time after St. Thomas and the universities were likely to have increased in rigor, and understanding of Aristotle and other key philosophical texts.

Here is the link by the way to the Oxford Commentary on Distinction 42 and 43.