Courtesy of Michael Kenney at Journey Towards Easter:
“Christ consumes with his glance my entire being. And with that same glance, that same presence, he enters into those who are around me and whom I love. Thanks to him therefore I am united with them, as in a divine milieu, through their inmost selves, and I can act upon them with all the resources of my being…
…Once a man has resolved to live generously in love with God and his fellow-men, he realises that so far he has achieved nothing by the generous renunciations he has made in order to perfect his own inner unity. This unity in its turn must, if it is to be born anew in Christ, suffer an eclipse which will seem to annihilate it. For in truth those will be saved who dare to set the center of their being outside themselves, who dare to love Another more than themselves, and in some sense become this Other: which is to say, who dare to pass through death to find life. Si quis vult animam suam salvam facere, perdet eam…
…The salvation of the soul must be bought at the price of a great risk incurred and accepted: we have, without reservation, to stake earth against heaven; we have to give up the secure and tangible unity of the egocentric life and risk everything on God. ‘If the grain of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it remains just a grain.”
Hymn of the Universe (1965), pp.119-121, Harper Collins.
Thanks for the acknowledgement 🙂 I do like this quote – this, and others from Hymn of the Universe, give me the impression sometimes that Teilhard de Chardin will one day be counted among the great mystics of the Church.
In this passage in particular, he examines one of the central sayings of Christ, something almost taken for granted by most of us a lot of the time, and enters into its meaning at a level that opens the words up again for us, reinvigorating them with the freshness and urgency that are always waiting within. This, I think, is the mark of someone with great spiritual vision.
Michael:
I agree with you about Teilhard’s mysticism. I read Hymn of the Universe when I was on a retreat a couple of years ago and was mesmerized by it. Teilhard had a deep relationship with Christ which he wanted to share but sometimes linguistics got in the way.
Peace,
W. Ockham
“For in truth those will be saved who dare…”
Is this verse talking about altruism?
Heather:
Excellent question. Yes, but I believe it is even a few steps beyond altruism. I interpret it as stepping outside the ego-consciousness to a connectiveness of being with God and others where the center of the self shifts from the ego to the otherness. I am a long ways from that but it is a goal worth striving for 🙂
Peace,
W. Ockham
I don’t understand the term “otherness.” Is that like dis embodiment?
Sorry, “otherness” is a bad choice of words. I should a recognition of the unity with others. Psychologist, Biologist and Christian Spiritual Director Philip St. Romain would describe it as shift from the Mental-Conceptual Ego to the Spirit-Centered Ego to the Realization of the True Self.
http://shalomplace.com/res/ground.html
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Okay. I think I got it. It’s a belief system, a transcendental theory.
Reblogged this on Lavender Turquois.
Kenosis. A journey… Thank you for the quote 🙂
🙂
Can relate to this quote by teilhard. Awakening/ enlightenment is not a cake walk…… Yet the only path that makes any sense.
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There are many times I just want to “go back”. I can so relate to the story of Jonah 🙂
“Christ consumes with his glance my entire being.” I could reflect on that sentence for a lifetime, especially the first two words “Christ consumes” because once a person falls in love with Christ, there is no turning back for this love will consume the person. Thank you so much for this post.
Thank you Lynda. Yes, there is a lot to reflect on. I hope your semester is going well.
Peace,
W. Ockham