Patristic Era & Latin Church (Roman Rite) Spirituality & Monasticism

Be like a monk; replace your will with God’s, and be one with Him on Earth.

Email: conchristos@protonmail.com or Text/Call/Voicemail: (516) 595-2777

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“Be still and see that I am God.” – “Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus” (Psalms XLV, 11)

This fledgling group is for persons who are interested in learning and practicing Patristic and Roman Catholic mental prayer. Mental prayer is instrumental in subordinating the passions and the will to the dominance of right reason, which participates in God's Eternal Law (Divine Wisdom) when true and proper. Mental prayer nourishes and habituates all the virtues, chiefly the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity), by focusing the soul on God and detaching it from lower goods. Mental prayer offers intimacy with God, disposes the soul to grace, and maximizes spiritual progress.

This group offers the opportunity (on Long Island, NY) for in-person instruction, discussion, and practice of authoritative Patristic and Roman Catholic methods to the science (systematic knowledge) of mental prayer in order for participants (1.) to develop the virtues requisite to subjugate their passions and wills to the dominance of their intellects and to God’s will; (2.) to internally develop, habituate, and fortify the virtues; (3.) and to assist and support each other on their progress in asceticism, mysticism, sanctification, and spiritual perfection. Other opportunities include reading (silently or aloud) and presenting findings from authoritative ascetical and mystical theology books; debating the validity of “acquired contemplation” as a distinct category in acsetical-mystical experience (whether it represents a genuine stage of prayer or is merely a refined form of meditation); praying the (pre-modernist) Most Holy Rosary; learning and praying other Church-sanctioned devotions such as the Stations of the Cross, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the Holy Ghost, to Christ the King, to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to Our Lady of La Salette; privately consecrating oneself (making consecration oblations without a valid priest witnessing for the Mystical Body) such as to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, to the Holy Ghost, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or St. Michael the Archangel; learning and practicing Gregorian chants; learning how to recite the Divine Office (not the Liturgy of the Hours) – possibly in anticipation of emulating its celebration and perhaps in hope to consecrate every canonical hour of every day to God. The loftiest and far-off goal of this group, or club, is for its participants to become a society of oblates emulating the monastic and contemplative life of religious (monks, nuns, etc.) – but that is not expected of every participant. Presently this group can range in form from a casual discussion group, to a book club, to a prayer group, to a morality support group, to a spirituality club, or to a catechetical instruction conference (i.e., catechesis, catechism class).

This group is in-person only; video-calling is not available. Sessions will be held on Long Island (N.Y., U.S.A.). To inquire about this group, please email conchristos@protonmail.com or text/call/voicemail (516) 595-2777. In your initial correspondence, please include your first name and the town/locality in which you live.

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The Saints & Pope Pius XII on mental prayer:

“The solitary that would attain to God must pray continually in his heart, not trusting to the tongue alone.”

-St. John Cassian (The Conferences of the Fathers 9.13; c. A.D. 420)

“Without continuance in interior [mental] prayer, no virtue can stand firm.”

-St. John Climacus (Scala Paradisi 4.1; c. A.D. 600)

“Prayer of the mind [oratio mentis] is necessary for the soul’s growth, for it perfects the infused virtues and prepares us for infused gifts.”

-St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae II-II, Q. 83, a. 1; c. A.D. 1271)

“Mental prayer is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him Whom we know loves us.”

-St. Teresa of Ávila (The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus 8.5; c. A.D. 1562)

“Contemplation is nothing else but a secret, peaceful, and loving infusion of God, which, if admitted, will set the soul on fire with the Spirit of love.”

-St. John of the Cross (The Ascent of Mount Carmel II.23.4; c. A.D. 1578)

“It is best to learn to silence the faculties and to cause them to be still so that God may speak.”

-St. John of the Cross (The Ascent of Mount Carmel III.2.2; c. A.D. 1578)

“Neglect of mental prayer is the chief cause of lukewarmness among religious and laity.”

-St. Alphonsus de Liguori (Theologia Moralis IV.6; c. A.D. 1757)

“Interior prayer, or mental prayer, is the soul’s elevation of mind and heart to God… an indispensable complement to liturgical worship.”

-Pope Pius XII, Encyclical Mediator Dei (A.D. 1947)

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Sacred Scripture, St. John of the Cross, et al. on Catholic spirituality:

“Oh souls created for such glories, and called to them, of what are you thinking? With what are you occupied? How mediocre are your aspirations, and how wretched your pretended good! How sad is the blindness of your soul! You are blind to the most dazzling light and deaf to the powerful voices which solicit you. By allowing yourselves to be led on by what you consider happiness and glory, you do not see that you remain plunged in your wretchedness and your mediocrity, and you render yourselves ignorant and unworthy of the treasures destined for you.”

-Prologue, Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross (c. A.D. 1584)

“Know you not, that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

-First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians III, 16 (1st C.)

“God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.”

-Anonymous (often misattributed to St. Augustine)

“Sine intermissione orate.” [“Pray without ceasing.”]

-First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians V, 17 (1st C.)

“Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the concupiscence thereof: but he that doth the will of God, abideth for ever.”

-First Epistle of St. John II, 15-17 (1st C.)

“We always remain beginners, because the soul, like a school, always demands more instruction and exercise.”

-Anonymous (often misattributed to St. Teresa of Ávila)

“And I will put my spirit in the midst of you: and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them.”

-Prophecy of Ezechiel XXXVI, 27 (6th C. B.C.)

“But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”

-The Apocalypse of St. John III, 16 (1st C.)

“Let the whole community of monks be bound together in a single robe of charity.”

-The Rule, Chapter 72, St. Benedict of Nursia (c. A.D. 530)

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Meditation for Conversion to Belief in God (for New or Prospective Converts),

or, Initial Meditation for Beginners to Mental Prayer:

“Initial Communication Meditation”

Note that for this exercise there is no prefatory prayer for divine, saintly, or angelic assistance as it is meant for those who have never prayed before, who do not necessarily believe in God, the saints, or the angels, or who know nothing of holy things.

Preliminary Procedure

Sit back. Close your eyes. Relax your body — Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique (P.M.R.T.), especially relaxing your forehead, jaw, and shoulders.

Guided Meditation Transcript

God is outside and above time and space. Time and space are creations by God. Being outside and above time and space, and being their Creator, God sees all of the past and all of the future below Him. God sees every atom, every electromagnetic wave, every subatomic particle, and quantum phenomena. God sees the position and orientation of every atom, every electromagnetic wave, subatomic particle, and quantum phenomena. And He know the past and future of them all. God knows your thoughts and intentions. He remembers all of your thoughts, including the vast majority of them which you have forgotten. And He knows your intentions better than you do. Although He properly resides outside and above time and space, He is also present everywhere and in everything because He has created time and space in His immediate presence. You could say, He created time and space within Him because nothing can exist outside of Him. Truly empty space, devoid of any particle or wave, exists in the physical realm that God sustains by His infinite immensity; effectively, everything is within God, but that does not make everything holy. We exist in God. He exists in Himself. Know that God sustains all existence. Know that if God were to stop thinking about you that you would disappear from existence. Recognize God’s omnipresence; He exists everywhere. Recognize God’s omniscience; He knows everything. Recognize God’s omnipotence; He is all-powerful, almighty, and He maintains all of existence and all of creation. Know that God is here, present. You do not need to imagine Him, as He has no physical form as the Creator and Father, but acknowledge His presence here, in front of you, all around you, and especially within you. Recognize His presence, and say something to Him. And if you have nothing to say to Him, say, “Hello.” A mere hello makes formal communication, makes a conduit to Him, makes your awareness or acknowledgement of His presence a real thing that you have created by your will, literally making or forming or inventing a connection to Him, manufacturing a conduit to Him — you have chosen to be aware of Him; you have assented to awareness of His presence. And if you have nothing to say beyond, “Hello,” learn more about Him. Learn that you ought to love Him. In order to love God, learn about Him and about the proper relationship man has to Him — what your proper relationship to Him ought to be.

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Syllabus Outline

[Under development. A draft copy is available upon request.]

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Aquinas, Angela of Foligno, St. Gertrude the Great, Jan van Ruysbroeck, Henry Suso, Johannes Tauler, Richard Rolle, Birgitta of Sweden, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, St. Catherine of Genoa, St. John of the Cross, Venerable Luis de Lapuente, St. Francis de Sales, Anne Catherine Emmerich, St. Catherine Labouré, St. Gemma Galgani, Padre Pio, discursive, vocal prayer, affective prayer, prayer of simplicity, simple prayer, purgative way, illumative way, unitive way, transforming union, infused contemplation, prayer of quiet, prayer of union, transforming union, spiritual marriage, acquired recollection, affective prayer, discursive meditation, christian perfection, passive purification, active purification, spiritual combat, interior castle, mansions, ecstasy, vision, revelation, stigmata, bilocation, levitation, lectio divina, devotio moderna, ignatian prayer, augustinian prayer, franciscan prayer, thomistic prayer, gifts of the holy spirit, theological virtues, 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