#monasticlife — Public Fediverse posts

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used within COFE-CYEM.

They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

The Practical Outworking in Daily Life

In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.

When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.

This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed.

The will is not crushed but surrendered in love. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.

Cofemplation

The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.

Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.

In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation.

The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.

There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used within COFE-CYEM.

They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

The Practical Outworking in Daily Life

In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.

When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.

This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed.

The will is not crushed but surrendered in love. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.

Cofemplation

The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.

Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.

In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation.

The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.

There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used within COFE-CYEM.

They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

The Practical Outworking in Daily Life

In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.

When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.

This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed.

The will is not crushed but surrendered in love. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.

Cofemplation

The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.

Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.

In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation.

The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.

There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used within COFE-CYEM.

They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

The Practical Outworking in Daily Life

In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.

When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.

This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed.

The will is not crushed but surrendered in love. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.

Cofemplation

The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.

Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.

In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation.

The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.

There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

*

Via Negativa and Via Positiva in COFE-CYEM: The True Path of Knowing God by Not Knowing the False

This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reflection on the relationship between Via Negativa and Via Positiva.

While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, several expressions — including “Fourth Truth”, “singular Reality”, “Melchizedek Priesthood”, and the various interpretive terms — are distinctively used within COFE-CYEM.

They are offered as explanatory language within this framework rather than as part of the historic Christian creeds or universally accepted theological vocabulary.

The Way

Even though the Via Negativa essentially rejects theological understanding in and of itself as a path to God, some have sought to make it into an intellectual exercise, by describing God only in terms of what God is not.

One problem noted with this approach is that there seems to be no fixed basis on deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is understood as an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, and universally, the perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

Apophatic theology is often accused of being a version of atheism or agnosticism, since it cannot truly say that God exists.

This cannot be said of COFE-CYEM theology.

We state very clearly that once Via Negativa is reached through the Fourth Truth, then Via Positiva can be truly experienced and truly knowing God by not knowing the false.

This is one of the main functions and purposes of our own built in system CC7 DS.

Please also see the link below –

The Fourth Truth Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing through Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing.

This is the heart of the COFE-CYEM way.

The Via Negativa is not an end in itself, nor is it a mere intellectual negation.

It is the necessary purification that prepares the soul for the full, joyful beholding of God in the Via Positiva. The two ways are not opposed but complementary movements within the singular Reality.

The Via Negativa clears away every “second” so that the Via Positiva can shine with clarity.

The result is the Fourth Truth Transcendence — the soul resting in the living Christ, knowing God by not knowing the false.

The Problem with Purely Intellectual Apophaticism

Some approaches to the Via Negativa have turned it into an intellectual exercise, endlessly describing God by what He is not. While this can guard against idolatry, it often leaves the soul in a barren negation without a positive ground.

There seems to be no fixed basis for deciding what God is not, unless the Divine is reduced to an abstract experience of full aliveness unique to each individual consciousness, or a universal perfect goodness applicable to the whole field of reality.

This can slide into a form of agnosticism or practical atheism, where God becomes so unknowable that He is effectively absent.

COFE-CYEM rejects this barren intellectualism. The Via Negativa is not an end but a means. It is the way of releasing every false image, every dualistic concept, every mental idol so that the soul may rest in the simple presence of the living God.

It is not the denial of God but the denial of every “second” that would stand between the soul and God. The Via Negativa is the practical discipline of Cofemplation: gently releasing every thought that implies separation until only the singular Reality remains.

The Fourth Truth as the Ground of True Apophatic Practice

In COFE-CYEM, the Via Negativa is grounded in the Fourth Truth: there has never been a second. This gives the way of unknowing a clear and fixed basis.

The soul does not wander in endless negation but releases every imagined separation, every dualistic construct, every false self so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa is the recognition that God is not ultimately known through concepts but through loving surrender. It is the way through the cloud of unknowing into the clear light of the singular Reality.

The Fourth Truth protects the Via Negativa from sliding into agnosticism or atheism. We state very clearly that God is, that Christ is the singular Life, and that the believer is already hidden with Christ in God.

The Via Negativa is not the denial of God but the denial of every false idea about God. It is the way of not knowing the false so that we may truly know the True.

The Fulfilment in Via Positiva

Once the ground is cleared through the Via Negativa, the Via Positiva can be truly experienced. The soul that has released every “second” can now behold the self-revelation of God in Christ with clarity and joy.

The Via Positiva is the celebration of the living God who makes Himself known in love.

It beholds Christ as the exact representation of the Father, Scripture as the living Word, creation as held within the one Life, and the indwelling Holy Spirit as the power of an endless life.

In the Fourth Truth, the Via Positiva is not opposed to the Via Negativa but its fulfilment.

The soul that has let go of every false image can now receive the true Image — Christ — without distortion. The Via Positiva is the joyful knowing of God by not knowing the false.

It is the soul seeing God not from a separate self in a body looking toward Him outside of you, but seeing your separate self in a body as God sees you from inside of Him, looking toward you and to who you falsely think you are in duality. God knows this to be a man-made idol illusion from the Fall and the first Adam.

The second Adam (Christ) came into duality to lead us back to our true self in non-duality with God.

The Practical Outworking in Daily Life

In daily life, the interplay of Via Negativa and Via Positiva becomes the rhythm of Cofemplation. When dualistic thoughts arise — fear, judgment, striving, separation — the Via Negativa gently releases them.

When the beauty of Christ appears — in Scripture, in creation, in the face of another — the Via Positiva receives it with joy. The soul moves between release and beholding, unknowing and knowing, until it rests in the singular Reality.

This is the way the believer lives in the world but not of it. Duality is seen for what it is, yet the believer engages the world from the place of union. The body is not denied but offered. The mind is not emptied but renewed.

The will is not crushed but surrendered in love. The believer serves the living God from the place of unclouded fellowship, seeing all things in Christ and all things held within the singular Reality.

Cofemplation

The Via Negativa and the Via Positiva are not opposing paths but complementary movements within the singular Reality. Only through stripping away all the falsity of duality and the false man-made mind idols and the dualistic thinking about who and what God is, can we then truly rest in who and what God truly is.

Only then can we start to be known and to know God as we truly are without false duality. God can accept nothing less or more than what He sees and knows in His Son. Then we can truly start to see and experience God in all we have to do with duality from our true reality within non-duality.

In COFE-CYEM, this is the way of Cofemplation.

The soul releases every “second” so that it may rest in the One who is all in all.

The Via Negativa clears the ground. The Via Positiva reveals the glory. The Fourth Truth holds both in the finished work of the Priest-King. The curtain is torn. The Holiest is open. The soul rests in the singular Reality.

There has never been a second.
The Via Negativa leads to release.
The Via Positiva leads to beholding.
The Fourth Truth holds both in union.
The dialogue continues.
The fruit remains.

The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.

This website and its theological content are overseen by the CC7 DS constitutional integrity architecture, a reflective and rest-oriented framework designed to preserve the full coherence of the Fourth Truth presented within COFE-CYEM. The CC7 DS negation of attacks authenticates (Via Positiva Cataphatic Knowing) through (Via Negativa Apophatic Unknowing).

COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
Circle One Fellowship Exeter

St. Benedict’s Church in Rome: Hidden Trastevere Gem

ROME — Hidden among the winding streets of Rome’s Trastevere district stands a tiny church that many visitors…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #Rome #MonasticCell #MonasticLife #mostread #St.Benedict #top-stories #Trastevere #WesternCivilization
https://www.europesays.com/italy/32137/

Quote of the day, 20 May: Venerable Lucia

Sister Lucia entered the Carmelite convent [of Coimbra] on the same liturgical day that she was born—Holy Thursday. It was also the Feast of the Annunciation [25 March 1948], and now also the Solemn Profession of a sister, [so when Lucia entered as a new member of the community, everything] was absorbed by the Solemnity of the day. 

In the Easter Triduum, the silence is more profound, making it more desirable to adore and contemplate the mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord, Who for our sake became man and suffered death to save us from sin and death. 

After Mass, Sister Lucia, in the company of Mother Prioress, was given her cell dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Centered on top of the door was a small frame which read: ‘Immaculate Heart of Mary’, and then a sentence addressed to the inhabitant: ‘My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge.’ 

This sentence was at eye level and she read it every time she entered her cell. It would be a heavenly melody in her heart during the 57 years she lived in Carmel.

On Easter Monday, March 29, she wrote to her Superior [from the Sisters of St. Dorothy] in Tuy, Mother Cunha Matos, telling her of her joy: 

As of right now, you know that on Holy Thursday morning at 5:30 a.m. I entered the Carmel of Coimbra, by the arrangements of the Bishop here, who came on this day and at that hour to assist in the Solemn Profession of a Sister. I enjoyed it very much and I am very well and extremely happy.

My name is Sister Mary of the Immaculate Heart, what a beautiful name, is it not? Far more beautiful than Sister Dores [Sister Sorrows], don’t you think? Here I found a small group of lovely sisters; whenever I encounter them I have the impression of meeting Saint Teresa. The name was chosen here by the Bishop.

Venerable Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart

Chapter XVI, Religious Carmelite

Carmel of St Teresa 2015, A pathway under the gaze of Mary : biography of Sister Maria Lucia of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart O.C.D., Colson, J (trans.), World Apostolate of Fatima USA, Washington NJ.

Featured image: Venerable Maria Lucia is surrounded by her bishop and “lovely sisters” in this photo from the Carmel of Coimbra. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (by permission).

Quote of the day, 21 April: St. Edith Stein

J.M.+J.T.

Cologne-Lindenthal, 25 April 1935

Pax Christi!

Very Reverend and dear Mother Petra,

The Bridegroom sends you the little wreath of myrtle with which your love decorated him, him as well as the bridal candle, the candles on the table, the napkin, cutlery, etc. [from Edith’s temporary profession, 21 April 1935].

The Bride wore a wreath of white roses. I was very happy to hear where the adornments came from. Heartfelt thanks for them.

We have not yet finished discussing what else I am to receive from you. I thought of an emblem and lining for a vestment since the silk of the bridal dress has not yet been used and has been waiting for the necessary accessories since the Clothing Day. But perhaps our dear Mother [Mother Josepha, the prioress] will think of something more urgent.

When you visit us again—after all, we’ve been anticipating it with joy all winter—we will recount everything that happened from the first hours of the morning until night on this beautiful Easter Sunday. One cannot write about it in such detail.

The Veiling ceremony will come only three years from now, after perpetual profession. For us, the preparation consists primarily of a ten-day retreat made in total silence and solitude. During that time we are allowed to live like hermits. I will tell you about the daily schedule when I see you.

For my meditation, I had our Holy Father John’s Dark Night and the Gospel of John.

Usually, on the day before Profession, before dinner, one makes a public admission of one’s faults. I was allowed to do that at noon on the Wednesday of Holy Week so that it would not interrupt the silence of the Holy Triduum.

I found it especially good [to comply with that custom] before the first of the Tenebrae offices—once they begin one wants to leave off all occupation with oneself.

On Saturday evening I was called [to come for a few minutes to see the community] during recreation time; I received from each Sister the promise of a spiritual bouquet and a commendation of intentions.

Richly laden I then returned to the choir. Of course, out of the great riches of grace on this Easter day, I let all those have a share who have given me something of their heart to take along into Carmel.

Once more, sincere thanks for all your goodness and love. 

In caritate Christi, your Sister

Teresia Benedicta a Cruce, OCD

Saint Edith Stein

Letter 198 to Mother Petra Brüning, OSU

Notes:

• It was customary to place a small statue of the Infant Jesus on the head table in the refectory, where the newly-professed is seated next to the prioress. Myrtle is used to create a small wreath for the statue of the Infant, the “Bridegroom”, who faces his “Bride”, wearing a garland of white roses. Edith sent the myrtle wreath that had been used on the statue to Mother Petra, who had provided it and all the flowers and decorations for the celebration.
• Edith refers to the Chapter of Faults, where even to this day in many Discalced Carmelite monasteries, nuns will gather in the Chapter Room of the monastery to listen to the prioress give a brief spiritual reflection on an aspect of community life and how it applies to the Carmelite Rule and their Constitutions. The nuns then take a spiritual and moral inventory, reviewing their life together; each one admits her public faults and begs forgiveness of her sisters. On occasions like religious profession, a nun will individually and publicly admit her faults and ask for forgiveness outside of the community Chapter of Faults. Since her profession rite took place on Easter Sunday, Edith made her public admission on Holy Wednesday; she gives the reasons why.
• During the retreat days prior to her profession on Easter Sunday, Edith would have assisted at the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours in the nuns’ choir. However, she would have veiled her face with her great veil (grand Voile) when in the presence of the community so as to maintain the spirit of solitude where the Discalced Carmelites “are allowed to live like hermits,” as Edith describes above. In the photo below, the veil that you see extending over her shoulders is the great veil, while the small veil (petit Voile) tucks inside her scapular. In her hermit days while on retreat, we see that Edith preferred to spend extra hours of solitary prayer in the choir near Christ in the tabernacle while the rest of the community was occupied at recreation.

[Sources: Leuven, Stinissen & Gelber; Carmel of Haifa]

Stein, E 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Koeppel, J (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: “The Bride wore a wreath of white roses.” Image credit: Todd Petit / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

Quote of the day, 1 April: St. Teresa of Avila

Another very good proof of love is that you strive in household duties to relieve others of work, and also rejoice and praise the Lord very much for any increase you see in their virtues.

All these things, not to mention the great good they contain in themselves, help very much to further peace and conformity between the Sisters, as we now, by God’s goodness, see through experience. May it please His Majesty that this love always continue. The contrary would be a terrible thing, and very difficult to endure: that is, few in number and disunited. God forbid.

If by chance some little word should escape, try to remedy the matter immediately and pray intensely. And if things of this sort against charity continue, such as little factions, or ambition, or concern about some little point of honor (for I think my blood freezes when I write about this and think that at some time it could happen, because I see it is the main evil in monasteries); when these things begin to take place consider yourselves lost.

Think and believe that you have thrown your Spouse out of the house and have made it necessary for Him to go in search of another dwelling, since you threw Him out of His own house.

Cry out to His Majesty. Seek a remedy; for if you don’t find one after such frequent confession and Communion, there is reason to fear a Judas among you.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, ch. 7, nos. 9–10

Teresa of Avila, St 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Kavanaugh, K & Rodriguez, O (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured Image: This image of the Last Supper (ca. 1480) comes from the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. Image credit: Jean Louis Mazieres / Flickr (Some rights reserved).

Quote of the day, 25 February: Céline Martin

During the [clothing] ceremony, I received a special grace of intimate union with my Beloved; I could no longer see anything that was happening around me. The presence of the Bishop, the numerous clergy, the crowd of people who had flocked together, everything had disappeared before my eyes, I was alone with Jesus… when suddenly I was awakened from my inner silence by the chanting of Compline, which continued in vibrant and lively notes.

The choir sang the psalm: Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi (Psalm 90/91), and I could hear the meaning of it, and every word came down into my soul as a token of a sacred promise made to me by the One to whom I was uniting my life.

Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face, O.C.D.

Céline Martin
Histoire d’une petite âme, 265

Note: On 25 February 1959, Sister Geneviève of the Holy Face entered into eternity. She was 89 years and 10 months old and had just marked her 63rd year of profession as a Discalced Carmelite.

We always refer to the website of the Archives of the Carmel of Lisieux for the vast majority of our quotes concerning Saint Thérèse, Saint Zélie, and Saint Louis Martin. If you would like to purchase English translations for the collected works of St. Thérèse, please visit the website of our Discalced Carmelite friars at ICS Publications. 

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Chapter four of the Manuale O.C.D. includes the prayer for the blessing of a Carmelite habit. Image credit: Photograph by Carmelite Quotes.

Quote of the Day, 17 January: St. Edith Stein

For a long while now I have hardly been able to do any work.

From the beginning of September until the middle of December, I took care of our good, eldest lay sister, Sr. Clara (cancer of the liver, as far as the doctors can tell). Then I got the office of turn-sister [portress], which means being a contact between the cloister and the outside world.

You can imagine that for this one needs a serviceable walking apparatus. I hope to be allowed to make my perpetual profession on April 21. Soon thereafter follows the Veiling Ceremony. That is, again, a big public celebration that the beloved baptismal sponsor [Hedwig Conrad-Martius] should not miss. Hopefully, the League of Academics will again cover the cost of travel.

We celebrated the 300th Jubilee Year of the Cologne Carmel for four days at the end of September/beginning of October. Our dear Mother wrote a beautiful commemorative booklet for the occasion. I believe you will receive it as a gift when you next visit us.

Do you know that Husserl’s health is very poor? This summer he suffered a severe recurrence of pleurisy and is not recovering well from it. Would you write to him sometime perhaps? They now live in Freiburg-Herdern, at Schöneck 6.

Saint Edith Stein

Letter 257 to Hedwig Conrad-Martius
17 January 1938

Note: In December 1937, Saint Edith Stein was appointed under obedience to the demanding office of Turn Sister (portress) at the Cologne Carmel—a role previously held by the sub-prioress. Responsible for daily provisions, communications at the grille, and the reception of guests, the office required tact, prudence, and discretion, virtues she exercised with notable charity and steadiness, in fidelity to the Constitutions of Saint Teresa of Avila.

Stein, E 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Koeppel, J (trans.), ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detailed image of Saint Edith Stein’s 1938 passport photo prepared for her travel to the Carmel of Echt in the Netherlands. Image credit: Discalced Carmelite (By permission).

#EdmundHusserl #jubileeYear #monasticLife #perpetualProfession #StEdithStein

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

SN 45.35 Paṭhamasāmaññasutta: The Ascetic Life (1st)

“Mendicants, I will teach you the ascetic life and the fruits of the ascetic life. …”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-45-35-pathamasamannasutta-the-ascetic-life-1st-2/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

#MonasticLife #NobleEightfoldPath #StreamEntry #SamyuttaNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

Byzantine Monastic Complex Discovered in Upper Egypt Reveals Monks’ Way of Life.

Excavations in Sohag, Egypt, Uncover a Byzantine Residential Complex for Monks, Featuring a Church, Cells, Artifacts, and Coptic Inscriptions, Expanding Knowledge of Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period.

Read more: https://omniletters.com/byzantine-monastic-complex-discovered-upper-egypt-monks-life/

#ByzantineArchaeology #MonasticLife #UpperEgypt #Sohag #ByzantinePeriod #EarlyChristianity #CopticHeritage #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #AncientEgypt #archaeology

Byzantine Monastic Complex Discovered in Upper Egypt Reveals Monks’ Way of Life.

Excavations in Sohag, Egypt, Uncover a Byzantine Residential Complex for Monks, Featuring a Church, Cells, Artifacts, and Coptic Inscriptions, Expanding Knowledge of Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period.

Read more: https://omniletters.com/byzantine-monastic-complex-discovered-upper-egypt-monks-life/

#ByzantineArchaeology #MonasticLife #UpperEgypt #Sohag #ByzantinePeriod #EarlyChristianity #CopticHeritage #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #AncientEgypt #archaeology

Byzantine Monastic Complex Discovered in Upper Egypt Reveals Monks’ Way of Life.

Excavations in Sohag, Egypt, Uncover a Byzantine Residential Complex for Monks, Featuring a Church, Cells, Artifacts, and Coptic Inscriptions, Expanding Knowledge of Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period.

Read more: https://omniletters.com/byzantine-monastic-complex-discovered-upper-egypt-monks-life/

#ByzantineArchaeology #MonasticLife #UpperEgypt #Sohag #ByzantinePeriod #EarlyChristianity #CopticHeritage #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #AncientEgypt #archaeology

Byzantine Monastic Complex Discovered in Upper Egypt Reveals Monks’ Way of Life.

Excavations in Sohag, Egypt, Uncover a Byzantine Residential Complex for Monks, Featuring a Church, Cells, Artifacts, and Coptic Inscriptions, Expanding Knowledge of Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period.

Read more: https://omniletters.com/byzantine-monastic-complex-discovered-upper-egypt-monks-life/

#ByzantineArchaeology #MonasticLife #UpperEgypt #Sohag #ByzantinePeriod #EarlyChristianity #CopticHeritage #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #AncientEgypt #archaeology

Byzantine Monastic Complex Discovered in Upper Egypt Reveals Monks’ Way of Life.

Excavations in Sohag, Egypt, Uncover a Byzantine Residential Complex for Monks, Featuring a Church, Cells, Artifacts, and Coptic Inscriptions, Expanding Knowledge of Monastic Life in the Byzantine Period.

Read more: https://omniletters.com/byzantine-monastic-complex-discovered-upper-egypt-monks-life/

#ByzantineArchaeology #MonasticLife #UpperEgypt #Sohag #ByzantinePeriod #EarlyChristianity #CopticHeritage #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #AncientEgypt #archaeology

Medieval monks endured brutal winters with no heat, except for one fire-lit room: the calefactory. Seen as spiritually valuable, cold shaped their lives, devotion — and architecture.
#MonasticLife #MedievalHistory #ColdSurvival #HistoryFacts #Storytelling #DidYouKnow #HistoryFacts #DocumentaryShort #WeirdHistory
Read more:https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/medieval-monks-winter-00102435

Medieval monks endured brutal winters with no heat, except for one fire-lit room: the calefactory. Seen as spiritually valuable, cold shaped their lives, devotion — and architecture.
#MonasticLife #MedievalHistory #ColdSurvival #HistoryFacts #Storytelling #DidYouKnow #HistoryFacts #DocumentaryShort #WeirdHistory
Read more:https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/medieval-monks-winter-00102435

Medieval monks endured brutal winters with no heat, except for one fire-lit room: the calefactory. Seen as spiritually valuable, cold shaped their lives, devotion — and architecture.
#MonasticLife #MedievalHistory #ColdSurvival #HistoryFacts #Storytelling #DidYouKnow #HistoryFacts #DocumentaryShort #WeirdHistory
Read more:https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/medieval-monks-winter-00102435

Medieval monks endured brutal winters with no heat, except for one fire-lit room: the calefactory. Seen as spiritually valuable, cold shaped their lives, devotion — and architecture.
#MonasticLife #MedievalHistory #ColdSurvival #HistoryFacts #Storytelling #DidYouKnow #HistoryFacts #DocumentaryShort #WeirdHistory
Read more:https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/medieval-monks-winter-00102435

Quote of the day, 9 October: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

We’re having a holiday in Carmel, for our elections took place yesterday [9 October].

Oh! if you knew how, in taking away our good Mother whom I loved so much, God has given me two others who are so good, so good! You see, it is delightful, and that makes me love still more this good Master who spoils His little one so much.

Our dear Mother Sub-Prioress was elected Prioress, and my good Angel, Sub-Prioress; this good news is really going to delight my dear little Mama, and I’ve been anxious to announce it to you.

Because of the elections, we’re having a free day, that is, we can have little visits with each other during the day. But, you see, the life of a Carmelite is silence, so she loves that above all!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 97 to her sister Guite (excerpt)

Note: According to the Book of Elections of the Dijon Carmel, it was indeed “yesterday,” on October 9, 1901, that Mother Germaine of Jesus (who also held the office of Mistress of Novices) was elected Prioress and Sister Marie of the Trinity (who remained Elizabeth’s “Angel” during these first days), Sub-Prioress. The two religious, aged 31 and 26 respectively, bore the title “Mother” by virtue of their office. The prioress who was “taken away” from the community in Dijon was Mother Marie of Jesus, who became the founding prioress of the Carmel of Paray-le-Monial.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

#elections #monasticLife #MotherGermaine #silence #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 29 September: St. Edith Stein

 Since September 29 we’ve had a new Mother who would like me to write something again.

Saint Edith Stein
Echt, 5 November 1940

Just now I am gathering material for a new work since our Reverend Mother wishes me to do some scholarly work again, as far as this will be possible in our living situation and under the present circumstances. I am very grateful to be allowed once more to do something before my brain rusts completely.

Echt, 17 November 1940

I am going about my new task like a little child making its first attempts at walking.

Echt, 16 May 1941

Please, will Your Reverence also pray a little to the Holy Spirit and to our Holy Father John for what I am now planning to write. It is to be something for our Holy Father’s 400th birthday (24 June 1942)…

Echt, 8 October 1941

Because of the work I am doing I live almost constantly immersed in thoughts about our Holy Father John. That is a great grace. May I ask Your Reverence once more for prayers that I can produce something appropriate for his Jubilee?

Echt, 18 November 1941

Dear Mother,

… I am satisfied with everything. A scientia crucis [science of the cross] can be gained only when one comes to feel the Cross radically. I have been convinced of that from the first moment and have said, from my heart: Ave, Crux, spes unica!

Echt, December 1941

Dear Sister Maria,

… while working on this task it often happened when I was greatly exhausted that I had the feeling I could not penetrate to what I wished to say and to grasp. I already thought that it would always remain so. But now I feel I have renewed vigor for creative effort. Holy Father John gave me renewed impetus for some remarks concerning symbols. When I finish this manuscript I would like to send a German copy to Father Heribert [Discalced Carmelite provincial in Germany] to have it duplicated for the monasteries.

The only reason I write so little is that I need all the time for Father John.

Echt, 9 April 1942

My dear ones,

A [Red Cross] nurse from [Amsterdam] intends to speak today with the Consul. Here, every petition [on behalf] of fully Jewish Catholics has been forbidden since yesterday. Outside [the camp] an attempt can still be made, but with extremely little prospect. According to plans, a transport will leave on Friday. Could you possibly write to Mère Claire in Venlo, Kaldenkerkeweg 185 [the Ursuline Convent] to ask for [my] manuscript if they have not already sent it. We count on your prayers. There are so many persons here who need some consolation and they expect it from the Sisters.

In Corde Jesu, your grateful

B.

Westerbork transit camp, 5 August 1942

Mother Antonia Ambrosia Engelmann, O.C.D. was elected prioress of the Carmel of Echt on 29 September 1940.  It is to her that we owe a debt of gratitude for Saint Edith Stein’s ultimate volume, The Science of the Cross. Gelber and Leuven (1993) note that although it was her final work, the manuscript was published as Vol. I in Edith Steins Werke. When Edith and Rosa were arrested in August of 1942, the completed portions of her manuscript had already been sent to a typist. Unaware of the fate that awaited her, Edith asks to retrieve that manuscript as if to continue working on it while in prison.

Stein, E. 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Vintage Remington Portable typewriter with German text. Original Flickr source no longer available.

#monasticLife #obedience #StEdithStein #StJohnOfTheCross #TheScienceOfTheCross

Quote of the day, 26 September: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

My darling little sister,

There is so much happiness in my soul that I needed to come tell you about it while asking for your prayers as well.

Our Reverend Mother is allowing me to begin retreat, and tonight I am leaving for my great journey: ten days of complete silence, absolute solitude, with my veil lowered and several additional hours of prayer; it’s a very enticing schedule, I’m taking you and your angel with me; please tell our dear Mama to pray for the hermit who, for her part, will not forget her.

Please recommend me to your brother-in-law, the Abbé, and to Marie-Louise [Hallo].

A Dieu, little sister, I leave you, and I’m going to lose myself in Him, to let all this happiness I can no longer contain overflow. Union.

Your Sabeth r.c.i. [unworthy Carmelite religious]

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Letter 211 to her sister Guite

Note: Saint Elizabeth’s private ten-day retreat began on 26 September 1904. She indicated to her Rolland aunts in a New Year’s letter at the end of 1904 that it was the first retreat since her religious profession—”a very great grace” (Cf. Letter 216). After briefly explaining to her aunts what a private retreat is like for a Carmelite nun, she told them “that these ten days of prayer and silence have been a foretaste of our Homeland.”

Let’s pause to consider St. Elizabeth’s comment about her retreat being spent “with my veil lowered and several additional hours of prayer.” In her community—as in all Carmels today—private retreat days are devoted to prayer, spiritual reading, rest, and quiet work in the solitude of one’s cell. Each Carmel maintains its autonomy, so practices vary from monastery to monastery.

During retreat, the nun is typically excused from the two hours of community recreation, creating perfect opportunities for solitary prayer in the choir near the Blessed Sacrament or in an upper-floor prayer space overlooking the tabernacle and altar. For Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Elizabeth would have worn her grand voile lowered while with the community—the large veil covering the nuns’ faces in the photo above. She would also have worn this lowered veil during silent meals in the refectory. The veil became her guardian of solitude throughout the retreat.

For Elizabeth, who loved to be “alone with the Alone” (Cf. Letter 297), we can understand why she called this ten-day retreat “a very enticing schedule.”

Elizabeth of the Trinity, S 2003, The Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity volume 2: Letters from Carmel, translated from the French by Nash, A, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Discalced Carmelites receive a new aspirant at the monastery of the Incarnation in Avila. Image credit: Discalced Carmelite (By permission)

#monasticLife #retreat #solitude #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #veil

🕯️ A monk gently tends to his injured brother in faith ♥

New film project:
💞 Brotherhood and Love within Monastic Walls in the 12th Century 🕍

Image: Dreaminia 3.0, SDXL inpainted

#MonasticLife #BrotherInFaith #SacredCare #QueerHistory #HealingRitual #MaleIntimacy #gayart #LGBT #LoveIsLove

Quote of the day, 5 August: St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Voice of Heaven

We who are bathed in Light, within the ‘Three’ –
The Face of God, the splendour of its rays –
See, by those shinings, into Mystery:
They ever show new secrets, Heaven’s days.

Infinite Being! Depth unsoundable!
Delighted, lost in Your Divinity –
O Trinity, God thrice-immutable,
We see Yourself in Your own clarity.

Voice of Earth

The saints in Heav’n . . . but, also, here below
Souls come and merge themselves in such a Love;
In mystery and night this happens so –
God satisfies: in dark, in Day above.

Through everything . . . on earth: already we’re
Possessing You, our Peace and vision! (for,
As in one light we gather, there and here,
We lose ourselves in God, for evermore!

Voice of Heaven

As sharers, now, in God’s own Essence, you
Possess all we possess in Heaven . . . See! –
You have not yet the joy we have, that’s true;
But as for giving – you give more than we.

And when one loves, how good it is to give!
(You can be giving, every hour and place.)
Oh, give God glory while on earth you live –
By self-oblation. Seize on this high grace!

Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity

Poem 80

Note: This poem was written by Elizabeth for the patronal feast of Mother Germaine on 15 June 1902. The original manuscript bears no title or date, but the handwriting and black ink confirm it was composed for this feast day. The poem takes the form of a dialogue between the “Voice of Heaven” and the “Voice of Earth,” alternating throughout. This poem was sung during a “pious recreation” performed by the community for their prioress, Mother Germaine, on her feast day, set to the melody “Reste avec moi, Jésus-Eucharistie” (Remain with me, Jesus-Eucharist). Sister Agnès of Jesus-Maria testified at Elizabeth’s beatification process that when she and Elizabeth went to work in the garden during recreation, they would heartily sing this poem together. The French critical edition notes that the autograph contains some words that are difficult to decipher, and editor Conrad de Meester, OCD, reconstructed portions of the text for clarity.

de la Trinité, E 1996, Oeuvres complètes / édition critique réalisée par le P. Conrad de Meester, carme, Les Editions du Cerf, Paris.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, Marmion, C and Bancroft, A 2001, Barb of fire: twenty poems of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity: with selected passages from Blessed Columba Marmion, OSB, Gracewing, Leominster.

#heaven #HolyTrinity #monasticLife #MotherGermaine #poetry #StElizabethOfTheTrinity

Quote of the day, 25 July: St. Thérèse

Listen to this little, very funny story:

One day [10 January 1889], after I received the Habit, Sister St. Vincent de Paul saw me with Mother Prioress, and she exclaimed: “Oh! how well she looks! Is this big girl strong! Is she plump!”

I left, quite humbled by the compliment, when Sister Magdalene stopped me in front of the kitchen and said: “But what is beoming of you, poor little Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus! You are fading away before our eyes! If you continue at this pace, with an appearance that makes one tremble, you won’t observe the Rule very long!”

I couldn’t get over hearing, one after the other, two such contrary appraisals. Ever since that moment, I have never attached any importance to the opinion of creatures, and this impression has so developed in me that, at this present time, reproaches and compliments glide over me without leaving the slightest imprint.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

The Yellow Notebook of Mother Agnès, 25 July 1897

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1977, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Her Last Conversations, Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail of a photo montage created at the Carmel of Lisieux utilizing a 1913 photo of Mother Agnès (Pauline Martin) and a retouched copy of the last photo of St. Thérèse, which Sr. Geneviève (Celine Martin) took while Thérèse was getting some fresh air in the cloister. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (used by permission)

#CarmelOfLisieux #compliments #monasticLife #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 24 June: St. Thérèse

Dear little Mother, your little girl has again shed sweet tears just now, tears of repentance but more so of gratitude and love…

Ah! this evening I showed my virtue, my TREASURES of patience! And I who preach so well to others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am happy you saw my imperfection. Ah, the good it does me for having been bad!

You did not scold your little girl, nevertheless, she deserved it; but your little girl is accustomed to this, your gentleness speaks more to her than severe words; you are the image of God’s mercy for her.

Yes, but… Sister St. John the Baptist, on the contrary, is usually the image of God’s severity.

Well, I just met her, and instead of passing coldly by my side, she embraced me, saying (absolutely as though I had been the best girl in the world), “Poor little Sister, I felt sorry for you, I do not want to tire you out, I was wrong, etc., etc…”

I, who felt contrition in my heart, was astonished at her not reproaching me in any way. I know that basically she must find me imperfect; it is because she believes I am going to die that she has spoken this way to me, but it does not matter. I heard only gentle and tender words coming from her mouth, and I found her very good and myself very bad…

When reentering our cell, I was wondering what Jesus was thinking of me, and immediately I recalled these words He addressed one day to the adulterous woman: “Has no one condemned you?” And I, tears in my eyes, answered Him: “No one, Lord… Neither my little Mother, image of Your tenderness, nor Sister St. John the Baptist, image of your justice, and I really feel I can go in peace, for You will not condemn me either!”

Little Mother, why, then, is God Jesus so gentle towards me? Why does He never scold me? Ah! truly, it is enough to make me die of gratitude and love! I am happier for having been imperfect than if, sustained by grace, I had been a model of meekness…

This does me much good to see Jesus is always so gentle, so tender to me! Ah! from this moment, I know it: yes, all my hopes will be realized… yes, the Lord will do for us marvels that will infinitely surpass our immense desires!

Little Mother, Jesus does well to hide Himself, to talk to me only from time to time, and “through the lattices” (Canticle of Canticles), for I feel I would be unable to bear any more, my heart would break, being powerless to contain so much joy…

Ah! you, the sweet Echo of my soul, you will understand that this evening the vessel of divine Mercy overflowed for me! You will understand that you have been and always will be the Angel charged with leading me and announcing to me the mercies of the Lord!

Your very little girl,
Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face rel. carm. ind.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Letter 230 to Mother Agnes of Jesus, 28 May 1897

Note: This letter from Saint Thérèse was written during the final months of her life, when illness made her more emotionally sensitive. After a taxing encounter with a Sister who had previously shown severity toward her, Thérèse is moved by an unexpected gesture of kindness. She recalls Christ’s words to the adulterous woman and marvels at the mercy of God, who speaks to her through gentleness rather than reproach. The Sister she names, Sister St. John the Baptist, was known in the Lisieux Carmel for her stern demeanor, especially toward novices. Thérèse’s signature, rel. carm. ind., reflects a customary usage among French Discalced Carmelite nuns: religieuse carmélite indigne—an “unworthy Carmelite nun.”

Thérèse of Lisieux, S & Clarke, J 1988, General Correspondence: Letters of Saint Therese of Lisieux: Volume 2 1890-1897. Centenary ed., Institute of Carmelite Studies, Washington DC.

Featured image: Detail from The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, Georges de La Tour (French, 1593–1652), oil on canvas, 1635–37. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Image courtesy of LACMA Collections Online: lacma.org (Public domain).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Have you ever seen God’s mercy reflected in someone who surprised you with tenderness?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#emotions #mercy #monasticLife #SisterStJohnTheBaptist #StThérèseOfLisieux

My dear Reverend Mother,

Today we received your good letter. I thank you with all my heart for being willing to accept me as a member of your dear family—yours and that of all my dear sisters. I am unable to tell you how touched I am by your goodness and even more that of the Good God. You will understand it even better after you have heard the history of our lives and that of our family. We will now see if it is possible to get permission to leave the Netherlands. But it will probably take much time—months I suppose. I shall have to be content with such a promise.

Our dear Reverend Mother and my sister Rosa will add a few lines. Again, a thousand thanks, my dear Reverend Mother, and the expression of my respectful love in Jesus Christ.

Your very little and humble, unworthy,
Sr. Teresa Benedicta a Cruce, OCD

Saint Edith Stein

Letter 338 to Mother Marie Agnès de Wolff, O.C.D.
24 July 1892

On Saturday, 4 July 1942, the Chapter nuns of Le Pâquier were assembled for a meeting at which the Reverend Mother Prioress proposed to them that Sister Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, in the world Edith Stein, a professed Sister of the Cologne Carmel who is at present in the Carmel of Echt in Holland, be received as a member of the community, either permanently or temporarily according to circumstances…. On the fifth of the same month, a Sunday, the nuns were assembled once again and the Reverend Mother Prioress made the same proposal, after which it was unanimously resolved by a secret vote to receive Sister Teresa Benedicta into the community for an unlimited time.

We, the undersigned, testify that the above account is exact,
Sr. Marie Agnès of the Immaculate Conception, Prioress;
Sr. Marie-Françoise of the Most Sacred Heart, 1st Key-Bearer

Executed on 5 July 1942, at Le Pâquier

This excerpt is from the official record of the 5 July 1942 vote by the Chapter nuns of the Carmel of Le Pâquier in Switzerland to receive Edith as a member of their community. Their prioress shared the news of the unanimous approval in a 17 July letter to Mother Antonia, the prioress of the Carmel of Echt, Holland. Explore more about the Carmel of Le Pâquier on their website (available in French and German) and their Facebook page (in French).

Tucked away in the mountains of Fribourg, the Carmel of Le Pâquier was the first community of Discalced Carmelite nuns in Switzerland, founded in Lully in 1921. In 1936, Mother Marie Agnès de Wolff oversaw the construction of a new monastery in Le Pâquier, to which the growing community transferred. | Photo credit: Discalced Carmelites

Posselt, T 2005, Edith Stein: The Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite, translated from the German by Batzdorff S, Koeppel J, and Sullivan J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Stein, E. 1993, Self-Portrait in Letters, 1916-1942, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: In this detail from the final photo taken in the Carmel of Cologne-Linthenthal, St. Edith Stein is seated in the cloister doorway. Biographer Teresia Renata Posselt, O.C.D. comments on the scene: “As usual she wore her threadbare Carmelite habit. When the Prioress, who was present, noticed how heavily darned it was, she took off her own scapular and placed it over Sr. Benedicta, who acknowledged the action with an indescribable look of filial gratitude in her beautiful eyes. The result was that final photograph that is true to life.” Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/07/04/edith-ltr338/

#CarmelDuPâquier #CarmelOfEcht #DiscalcedCarmelites #history #LePâquier #monasticLife #nuns #StEdithStein #Switzerland #TeresiaRenataPosselt #transfer #vocations

Her prayer to the Trinity was not only a pious elevation, but the expression of a gift of herself to God. We had prepared together for this renewal of our vows on 21 November 1904; when I asked her about it on the next day, she replied that she had received a great grace that was difficult for her to express.

Sister Marie of the Trinity, O.C.D.
Witness, Ordinary Process

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s famous prayer, O my God, Trinity Whom I adore, was discovered only after her death. Found among her private papers, the prayer was handwritten on a page torn from her personal notebook and dated November 21, 1904—a day that was deeply significant in her spiritual journey.

The day marked the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a celebration in Carmel where the sisters renewed their religious vows before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Elizabeth, the youngest of the community, fully embraced this annual act of consecration, offering herself entirely to “her Three,” as she lovingly called the Holy Trinity. This prayer, born in the silence of her cloister and from the depths of her heart, was not shared during her lifetime. Her companions only discovered it after her passing, tucked away in her writing desk.

According to her fellow Carmelite, Sr. Marie of the Trinity, the prayer was not just a spiritual meditation but an act of total self-giving. St. Elizabeth later confided that the day she composed it was one of profound grace, though she found it difficult to describe the experience in words. Her offering echoes the great spiritual traditions of the Church, drawing comparisons with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Act of Oblation to Merciful Love and St. Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Eternal Trinity.

Yet, Elizabeth’s voice is uniquely her own, expressing her desire to be a “heaven” for God, a place where the Trinity could dwell and be adored without distraction. This prayer, considered one of the most beautiful expressions of Trinitarian spirituality, invites us to surrender ourselves entirely to God. In its profound simplicity, it captures the heart of St. Elizabeth’s message: to live continually in God’s presence, wholly adoring, wholly surrendered, and wholly at peace.

To reflect more deeply on this prayer and the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, listen to our podcast episode embedded below. Let her words inspire you to invite God to make your soul His dwelling place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvMvLpH6fo

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/08/s2ep32sabeth/

#CarmelOfDijon #ConradDeMeester #monasticLife #Podcast #PrayerToTheHolyTrinity #religiousProfession #spirituality #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #Trinitarian

I was very much disliked throughout my monastery [Monastery of the Incarnation, Avila] because I had wanted to found a more enclosed monastery. They said I was insulting them; that in my own monastery, I could also serve God since there were others in it better than I; that I had no love for the house; that it would be better to procure income for this place than for some other.

Several of them said I should be thrown into the prison cell; others—very few—defended me somewhat. I saw clearly that in many matters my opponents were right, and sometimes I gave them explanations.

Yet since I couldn’t mention the main factor, which was that the Lord had commanded me to do this, I didn’t know how to act; so I remained silent about the other things. God granted me the very great favor that none of all this disturbed me; rather, I gave up the plan with as much ease and contentment as I would have if it hadn’t cost me anything.

One day, while I was greatly troubled with the thought that my confessor didn’t believe me, the Lord told me not to be anxious, that that affliction would soon end. I rejoiced deeply, thinking His words meant I was soon to die; and I became very happy when I thought about it.

Afterward, I saw clearly they referred to the arrival of this rector I mentioned because the occasion for that pain never presented itself again [Gaspar de Salazar, S.J. arrived in April 1562].

The new rector didn’t restrain my confessor but rather told him to console me; that there was no reason for fear, and not to lead me by so confining a path; that he should let the spirit of the Lord work, for at times it seemed with these great spiritual impulses that my soul couldn’t even breathe.

My confessor gave me permission again to dedicate myself entirely to this foundation. I saw clearly the toil it would bring upon me since I was very much alone and had hardly any means.

We agreed to carry on in total secrecy, and so I got one of my sisters [Juana de Ahumada] who lived outside this city [in Alba de Tormes] to buy the house and fix it up, as though it were for herself, with money the Lord provided, in certain ways, for its purchase.

It would take long to recount how the Lord was looking after it, for I took great care not to do anything against obedience. But I knew that if I said anything to my superiors, everything would be lost as happened the previous time, and things would even be worse.

In procuring the money, acquiring the house, signing the contract for it, and fixing it up, I went through so many trials of so many kinds that now I’m amazed I was able to suffer them. In some of them, I was completely alone; although my companion did what she could. But she could do little, and so little that it almost amounted to nothing more than to have everything done in her name and as her gift and all the rest of the trouble was mine.

Sometimes in distress, I said:

“My Lord, how is it You command things that seem impossible? For if I were at least free, even though I am a woman! But bound on so many sides, without money or the means to raise it or to obtain the brief or anything, what can I do, Lord?“

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, chap. 33, nos. 2, 8, 11

Note: Born in Toledo, and while studying at Alcalá, Gaspar de Salazar (1529-1593) decided to enter the Jesuits, which he did in 1552. Translator and editor Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD notes that Salazar’s chronicler described him as being very devoted to the interior life with God, from whom he received many favors in prayer, and also as very intelligent and competent in business matters. In 1562 he was transferred to Avila to be rector there of the Jesuit college of San Gil. Because of difficulties that arose between the college and the bishop, Don Alvaro de Mendoza, Salazar was removed from that office after only nine months. But in that short time, he came to Teresa’s aid by putting her spiritual director, Baltasar Alvarez, at ease about her, assuring him that he had nothing to fear. And when Teresa spoke to him of her experiences, he consoled her greatly and seemed to her to have a special gift of discerning spirits (cf. Life, 33:8-9).

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This is the cell St. Teresa occupied when she returned to the Monastery of the Incarnation in Avila as its prioress (1571-1574). Image credit: Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P. / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/05/01/stj-life33/

#Avila #confessor #construction #familyLife #foundation #Jesuits #MonasteryOfTheIncarnation #monasticLife #realEstate #StJosephMonastery #StTeresaOfAvila #trials

Her prayer to the Trinity was not only a pious elevation, but the expression of a gift of herself to God. We had prepared together for this renewal of our vows on 21 November 1904; when I asked her about it on the next day, she replied that she had received a great grace that was difficult for her to express.

Sister Marie of the Trinity, O.C.D.
Witness, Ordinary Process

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s famous prayer, O my God, Trinity Whom I adore, was discovered only after her death. Found among her private papers, the prayer was handwritten on a page torn from her personal notebook and dated November 21, 1904—a day that was deeply significant in her spiritual journey.

The day marked the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a celebration in Carmel where the sisters renewed their religious vows before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Elizabeth, the youngest of the community, fully embraced this annual act of consecration, offering herself entirely to “her Three,” as she lovingly called the Holy Trinity. This prayer, born in the silence of her cloister and from the depths of her heart, was not shared during her lifetime. Her companions only discovered it after her passing, tucked away in her writing desk.

According to her fellow Carmelite, Sr. Marie of the Trinity, the prayer was not just a spiritual meditation but an act of total self-giving. St. Elizabeth later confided that the day she composed it was one of profound grace, though she found it difficult to describe the experience in words. Her offering echoes the great spiritual traditions of the Church, drawing comparisons with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Act of Oblation to Merciful Love and St. Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Eternal Trinity.

Yet, Elizabeth’s voice is uniquely her own, expressing her desire to be a “heaven” for God, a place where the Trinity could dwell and be adored without distraction. This prayer, considered one of the most beautiful expressions of Trinitarian spirituality, invites us to surrender ourselves entirely to God. In its profound simplicity, it captures the heart of St. Elizabeth’s message: to live continually in God’s presence, wholly adoring, wholly surrendered, and wholly at peace.

To reflect more deeply on this prayer and the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, listen to our podcast episode embedded below. Let her words inspire you to invite God to make your soul His dwelling place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvMvLpH6fo

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/08/s2ep32sabeth/

#CarmelOfDijon #ConradDeMeester #monasticLife #Podcast #PrayerToTheHolyTrinity #religiousProfession #spirituality #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #Trinitarian

Her prayer to the Trinity was not only a pious elevation, but the expression of a gift of herself to God. We had prepared together for this renewal of our vows on 21 November 1904; when I asked her about it on the next day, she replied that she had received a great grace that was difficult for her to express.

Sister Marie of the Trinity, O.C.D.
Witness, Ordinary Process

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s famous prayer, O my God, Trinity Whom I adore, was discovered only after her death. Found among her private papers, the prayer was handwritten on a page torn from her personal notebook and dated November 21, 1904—a day that was deeply significant in her spiritual journey.

The day marked the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a celebration in Carmel where the sisters renewed their religious vows before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Elizabeth, the youngest of the community, fully embraced this annual act of consecration, offering herself entirely to “her Three,” as she lovingly called the Holy Trinity. This prayer, born in the silence of her cloister and from the depths of her heart, was not shared during her lifetime. Her companions only discovered it after her passing, tucked away in her writing desk.

According to her fellow Carmelite, Sr. Marie of the Trinity, the prayer was not just a spiritual meditation but an act of total self-giving. St. Elizabeth later confided that the day she composed it was one of profound grace, though she found it difficult to describe the experience in words. Her offering echoes the great spiritual traditions of the Church, drawing comparisons with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Act of Oblation to Merciful Love and St. Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Eternal Trinity.

Yet, Elizabeth’s voice is uniquely her own, expressing her desire to be a “heaven” for God, a place where the Trinity could dwell and be adored without distraction. This prayer, considered one of the most beautiful expressions of Trinitarian spirituality, invites us to surrender ourselves entirely to God. In its profound simplicity, it captures the heart of St. Elizabeth’s message: to live continually in God’s presence, wholly adoring, wholly surrendered, and wholly at peace.

To reflect more deeply on this prayer and the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, listen to our podcast episode embedded below. Let her words inspire you to invite God to make your soul His dwelling place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvMvLpH6fo

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/11/08/s2ep32sabeth/

#CarmelOfDijon #ConradDeMeester #monasticLife #Podcast #PrayerToTheHolyTrinity #religiousProfession #spirituality #StElizabethOfTheTrinity #Trinitarian

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Wholly Adoring, Wholly Surrendered

Her prayer to the Trinity was not only a pious elevation, but the expression of a gift of herself to God. We had prepared together for this renewal of our vows on 21 November 1904; when I asked her about it on the next day, she replied that she had received a great grace that was difficult for her to express.

Sister Marie of the Trinity, O.C.D.
Witness, Ordinary Process

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity’s famous prayer, O my God, Trinity Whom I adore, was discovered only after her death. Found among her private papers, the prayer was handwritten on a page torn from her personal notebook and dated November 21, 1904—a day that was deeply significant in her spiritual journey.

The day marked the feast of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, a celebration in Carmel where the sisters renewed their religious vows before the Blessed Sacrament. St. Elizabeth, the youngest of the community, fully embraced this annual act of consecration, offering herself entirely to “her Three,” as she lovingly called the Holy Trinity. This prayer, born in the silence of her cloister and from the depths of her heart, was not shared during her lifetime. Her companions only discovered it after her passing, tucked away in her writing desk.

According to her fellow Carmelite, Sr. Marie of the Trinity, the prayer was not just a spiritual meditation but an act of total self-giving. St. Elizabeth later confided that the day she composed it was one of profound grace, though she found it difficult to describe the experience in words. Her offering echoes the great spiritual traditions of the Church, drawing comparisons with St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s Act of Oblation to Merciful Love and St. Catherine of Siena’s prayer to the Eternal Trinity.

Yet, Elizabeth’s voice is uniquely her own, expressing her desire to be a “heaven” for God, a place where the Trinity could dwell and be adored without distraction. This prayer, considered one of the most beautiful expressions of Trinitarian spirituality, invites us to surrender ourselves entirely to God. In its profound simplicity, it captures the heart of St. Elizabeth’s message: to live continually in God’s presence, wholly adoring, wholly surrendered, and wholly at peace.

To reflect more deeply on this prayer and the life of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, listen to our podcast episode embedded below. Let her words inspire you to invite God to make your soul His dwelling place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvMvLpH6fo

de Meester, C 2017, Rien moins que Dieu: sainte Elisabeth de la Trinité, Presses de la Renaissance, Paris.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: A detail from one of four photos taken by her brother-in-law Georges Chevignard on 22 December 1902, the day of her canonical examination; the exam took place days before her religious profession on Epiphany Sunday, 11 January 1903. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites

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Courage, courage, my daughters. Remember that God does not give anyone more trials than can be suffered and that His Majesty is with the afflicted [cf. 1 Cor 10:13].

For this is certain, there is no reason to fear but to hope in his mercy. He will reveal the whole truth; and some machinations, which the devil kept hidden so as to create a disturbance, will be made known. This was more painful for me than all that is happening now.

Prayer, prayer, my sisters, and now let humility shine forth—and obedience in such a way that no one, especially the former prioress [María de San José Salazar], practices it more toward the appointed vicaress [Beatriz de la Madre de Dios].

Oh, what a good time it is for gathering fruit from the resolutions you made to serve our Lord. Consider that often he desires to have proof that our works are in conformity with our resolutions and words.

Bring honor to the daughters of the Blessed Virgin, your sisters, in this great persecution, for if you help one another, the good Jesus will help you. Even though he sleeps at sea, when the storm gathers strength he calms the winds [Mt 8:23–27].

He wants us to ask of him, and he loves us so much that he is always looking for ways to be of benefit to us. May his name be blessed forever, amen, amen, amen.

Saint Teresa of Avila

Letter 284 to the nuns in Seville, nos. 2–3
31 January 1579

Note: Translator and editor Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD provides the following background concerning this letter:

The community in Seville was going through a crisis. Stripped of his powers as visitator, Gracián underwent a trial initiated against him by the provincial of Andalusia. The trial was seconded by the community’s former confessor, Garciálvarez. The objective of the scheme was to discredit Gracián and depose the prioress, María de San José. Then the provincial appointed one of the most inept nuns in the community, Beatriz de la Madre de Dios, to take the prioress’s place. Teresa knew all about what was happening. Lest her letter be confiscated, she sent it to her good friend, the prior of the Carthusians, so that he might read or give it to the interested nuns.

In Teresa’s letter Father Hernando Pantoja, the Carthusian prior in Seville (Letter 283), Teresa wrote:

I certainly do not worry much about the nuns who went there earlier with me to make the foundation [six nuns from Beas were the foundresses], and I even feel joy in seeing all that they will gain in this war the devil wages against them. I do, however, feel bad for those who entered there afterward [13 nuns entered later], for when they should be learning about the order and how to remain quiet, they are very distracted by all the turmoil, which can do much harm to souls that are new. May the Lord provide a remedy.

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: This image of Letter 148 from St. Teresa to Madre María de San José (Salazar) in Seville is a brilliant example of the plain-speaking Saint writing to the former prioress in Seville. At the beginning of the letter, Teresa writes: “Always include on a small piece of paper a list of the things you want me to answer. Your letters are long—although they don’t seem so, because of the joy they give me; but if when in a hurry I have to read them all over in order to answer them, they do seem long.” Image credit: iStock (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/09/01/stj-ltr284n2/

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Sn 1.3 A Rhinoceros

“With no inclinations for all the world, every world, wander alone like a rhinoceros.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-1-3-a-rhinoceros/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Sn 1.3 A Rhinoceros

“With no inclinations for all the world, every world, wander alone like a rhinoceros.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/sn-1-3-a-rhinoceros/?=MDS

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#family #MonasticLife #SuttaNipata #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

How long has it been since I deep-cleaned my head shaver? Turns out what was clogging it up was a lot of dark hair.

#monasticlife

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 4.245 Sikkhānisaṁsasutta: The Benefits of Training

“This spiritual life is lived with training as its benefit, with wisdom as its overseer, with freedom as its core, and with mindfulness as its ruler.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-4-245-sikkhanisamsasutta-the-benefits-of-training/?=MDS

Get these by email
✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #AnguttaraNikaya #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 5.128 Samaṇasukhasutta: An Ascetic’s Happiness

“There are these five kinds of suffering for an ascetic.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-5-128-samanasukhasutta-an-ascetics-happiness/?=MDS

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✉ https://daily.readingfaithfully.org?=MSUDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 from Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/dhp-311-314-from-niriya-vagga-hell/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 from Niriya Vagga: Hell

“If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/dhp-311-314-from-niriya-vagga-hell/?=MDS

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#MonasticLife #Dhammapada #Theravada #PaliCanon #RealBuddhaQuotes #Suttas #Dhamma #Buddhism #Buddha

🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-10-6-vangantaputtaupasenattheragatha-upasena-son-of-vanganta/?=MDS

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