#monasticlife — Public Fediverse posts

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

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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

🌱 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

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✉ 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

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

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

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/

#courage #FatherJerónimoGraciánOfTheMotherOfGod #hope #Jesus #MariaDeSanJoséSalazar #mercy #monasticLife #persecution #StTeresaOfAvila #storm

🌱 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

🌱 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

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

#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

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

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

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

🌱 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.…”

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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.…”

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

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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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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Dhp 311–314 from Niriya Vagga: Hell

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

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📖 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…”

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

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

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

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 10.6 Vaṅgantaputtaupasenattheragāthā: Upasena son of Vaṅgantā

“They should be content even with coarse food…”

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

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

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📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Thag 1.36 Kumāputtattheragāthā: Kumāputta

“This is the ascetic life for one who has nothing.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/thag-1-36-kumaputtattheragatha-kumaputta/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

Snp 2.6 Kapilasutta: A Righteous Life

“A righteous life, a spiritual life, they call this the supreme treasure.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/snp-2-6-kapilasutta-a-righteous-life/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64:

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

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📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64/?=MDS

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🌱 Today’s #DailySutta:

AN 2.64:

“There are, mendicants, these two kinds of happiness.…”

Read the sutta
📖 https://daily.readingfaithfully.org/an-2-64/?=MDS

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https://www.ilpost.it/2023/06/29/monaci-medioevo-distrazioni/
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#StruggleAgainstDistraction

https://www.ilpost.it/2023/06/29/monaci-medioevo-distrazioni/
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#StruggleAgainstDistraction

🌱 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. …”

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

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🌱 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/?=MDS

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