Many people consider Lent a time to deny ourselves. Thomas Merton offers us the following quote:
"St. Gregory Nazianzen speaks of the Christian as an "instrument played by the Holy Spirit."
The aim of asceticism is to keep this instrument in tune.
Mortification is not simply the progressive control of instinct by deadening the appetites of the heart.
That is too crude a view.
It is rather like the tightening of a violin string.
We do not just go on twisting and twisting until the string breaks.
That would not be sanctity, but insanity.
No: What we must do is bring the strings of the delicate instrument,
which is our whole being,
to the exact pitch which the Holy Spirit desires of us
in order that the Spirit
may produce in us the exquisite melody of divine love that we
were created to sing before the face of our heavenly Father."
The aim of asceticism is to keep this instrument in tune.
Mortification is not simply the progressive control of instinct by deadening the appetites of the heart.
That is too crude a view.
It is rather like the tightening of a violin string.
We do not just go on twisting and twisting until the string breaks.
That would not be sanctity, but insanity.
No: What we must do is bring the strings of the delicate instrument,
which is our whole being,
to the exact pitch which the Holy Spirit desires of us
in order that the Spirit
may produce in us the exquisite melody of divine love that we
were created to sing before the face of our heavenly Father."
Thomas Merton
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment