“The
human intellect has a greater desire, and love, and pleasure, in knowing divine matters than it has in the perfect knowledge of lowest things, even though it can grasp but little concerning divine things. So the ultimate end of human beings is to understand God, in some fashion.”
- Thomas Aquinas -
(How have you been developing your understanding of God lately?)
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Christianity and Spirituality monthly forum
May 2nd: 7:30 - 8:30 p.m. CDT
Topic: "The Gift of the Spirit"
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1 Pt 5:5b-14; Psalm 89:2-3, 6-7, 16-17
Mk 16:15-20
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them:
“Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
Reflection on the Scriptures
Quiz Time! Which of the following passage(s) are from the Gospel of Mark? - Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
- When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them
many things.
- And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him off by himself away from the crowd. He put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue; then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”) And [immediately] the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was
removed, and he spoke plainly.
- They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them.
- Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.
- All the above are from the Gospel of Mark
You may not have expected a quiz today, but I hope everyone correctly answered, 6.
Mark’s Jesus is blue-collared, compassionate, earthy, and constantly on the move. He’s a carpenter who’s not afraid
to get his hands dirty by touching bodily fluids and other people’s wounds. Jesus is always on a journey, a step ahead of his disciples so you feel an urgency in Mark’s gospel account (the word, “immediately” occurs 27 times in Mark’s gospel). His followers are often confused, afraid and, in some cases, run around naked! We see these themes in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus tells his followers that they too will get their hands dirty, touching serpents and laying hands on the sick. Jesus then ascends to Heaven while his followers (immediately) get to work, preaching the Good News.
Psychic Energy and Contemplation by James
Arraj From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part III, Chapter 7. Inner Growth Books, 1986. Outbursts of Sense What energy the sensual contents lose in consciousness by neglect, they pick up in the unconscious. This means that the sensual content
in the unconscious should increase in constellating power because its energy charge is higher. This constellation is not only manifested by the emergence of the impure contents, which we have just seen, but also by the emotional affects connected with these contents which now emerge. The constellated content tends to gather around it a growing number of associative satellites held in its orbit by its new energetic intensity. The result is "that those who are affected by this dare not even look
at anything or meditate upon anything because they immediately encounter this temptation" (14). This, as I have said, is a result of the high energy level of the neglected content which can immediately capture and transform innocent objects.
"And upon those who are inclined to melancholy this acts with such effect that they become greatly to be pitied since they
are suffering so sadly; for this trial reaches such a point in certain persons, when they have this evil humour, that they believe it to be clear that the devil is ever present with them and that they have no power to prevent this." (15)
Melancholy in this context can be understood as a lack of energy available to consciousness for the pursuit of its activities;
therefore, this class of person would fall prey more easily to the energized contents in the unconscious. Melancholy remains a generic classification which does not indicate the origins of this lack of conscious libido. The ultimate phase of opposition, the continual presence of the devil, can be equated with the emergence of the counter-function. The unconscious is in open opposition to the conscious attitude and gives it no peace. Consciousness is on the defensive, and its very fear and
exertions to free itself from these temptations only render them more intensive, for it increases their energy, and so St. John very aptly describes the fear these people have as one of the sources for these impure motions.
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