* * Let your eyes and heart feast on the Bread of Life. Charles+ --------------------------------------------------- LECTIO DIVINA Glory of Paradise Chapter Four (continued) "One of the best known, most frequently copied and edited texts, is St. Peter Damian's On the Glory of Paradise. Its stanzas have a profundity of vocabulary, a musical rhythm which make them all but translatable. The poem opens with twenty stanzas which state the theme: the parched soul thirsts for the fountain of eternal life; imprisoned it longs to see the walls within which the flesh keeps it captive break down; exiled, it aspires to enjoy at last its native land." (73). Here Leclercq points to the passionate devotion to heaven found in monastic lyrical poetry. The passion for Heaven in this life is but a dim reflection of the passion for it in the next. "What Gregory of Nyssa has analyzed under the name of epectasis, St. Peter Damian has also described: "Always eager and always satisfied, the elect have what they desire: satiety never becomes wearisome, and hunger, kept alive by desire, never becomes painful. Desiring they eat constantly, and eating they never cease to desire." (74). This celestial passionate love is reflected in the love spouses have for one another in Holy Matrimony, or the spousal relationship of a consecrated soul to God in the priesthood or religious life, and also of those who, celibate, live a life dedicated to God. The authentic marital union found in the three states of life described here are precious and filled with God's generous, benevolent abd abundant grace that nourishes the soul with celestial passion drawing humanity into the depths of God's own heart and transforming hearts to love as He loves. Lectio divina always has this pure love of God spell out the texts we encounter. Let your eyes and heart feast on these and quench your parched soul on the wellspring that flows from the Word of God. Jean Leclercq, O.S.B., The Love of Learning and the Desire For God. A Study of Monastic Culture. (NY: Fordham University Press, 1961, 1974) ISBN 0-8232-0406-5 * * * * * LECTIO DIVINA Glory of Paradise Chapter Four (continued) "One of the best known, most frequently copied and edited texts, is St. Peter Damian's On the Glory of Paradise. Its stanzas have a profundity of vocabulary, a musical rhythm which make them all but translatable. The poem opens with twenty stanzas which state the theme: the parched soul thirsts for the fountain of eternal life; imprisoned it longs to see the walls within which the flesh keeps it captive break down; exiled, it aspires to enjoy at last its native land." (73). Here Leclercq points to the passionate devotion to heaven found in monastic lyrical poetry. The passion for Heaven in this life is but a dim reflection of the passion for it in the next. "What Gregory of Nyssa has analyzed under the name of epectasis, St. Peter Damian has also described: "Always eager and always satisfied, the elect have what they desire: satiety never becomes wearisome, and hunger, kept alive by desire, never becomes painful. Desiring they eat constantly, and eating they never cease to desire." (74). This celestial passionate love is reflected in the love spouses have for one another in Holy Matrimony, or the spousal relationship of a consecrated soul to God in the priesthood or religious life, and also of those who, celibate, live a life dedicated to God. The authentic marital union found in the three states of life described here are precious and filled with God's generous, benevolent abd abundant grace that nourishes the soul with celestial passion drawing humanity into the depths of God's own heart and transforming hearts to love as He loves. Lectio divina always has this pure love of God spell out the texts we encounter. Let your eyes and heart feast on these and quench your parched soul on the wellspring that flows from the Word of God. Jean Leclercq, O.S.B., The Love of Learning and the Desire For God. A Study of Monastic Culture. (NY: Fordham University Press, 1961, 1974) ISBN 0-8232-0406-5 * * * _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!