The Evergetinos - Vol. I, Hypothesis XVIII, Part I

This evening we began Hypothesis 18 on the importance of seeking the company of virtuous people and the benefits of questioning them with zeal and desiring to learn from them. In many ways this is an important hypothesis for the modern mind; to understand the need to be docile, that is, teachable. We must learn to be humble in our approach to the mystery of God‘s revelation of himself to us and his son. We will always be in the position of learners. Likewise, we will never be beyond needing instruction in the life of faith from those who have an experiential knowledge of striving to enter by the narrow path. 

In fact, we have the distinct responsibility, the fathers tell us, to either learn with sincerity what we do not know or to teach with clarity whatever we have learned. There is no static position in the life of faith. If we believe so, we fall into a kind of madness that ends with apostasy. Part of our desire for instruction is our desire for God and our yearning for him. We should always be thirsty to understand the ways of the Lord. 

It has been said that a starving man has no sense of taste. We see this in our own generation. The failure to teach the faith and the pass on an understanding of the spiritual life has led to a void so deep that men and women have begun to search far and wide for something to nourish them; despite the fact that they have what is most precious already in their possession. Even if we seem to understand nothing or we see no immediate change within us - as if we ignored the teaching of the elders - we should be confident that the seed they planted will eventually bear fruit. Furthermore, simply being in the presence of those who are holy engraves on the soul the immutable archetype of virtue. Simply being in the presence of one who loves God can instill that same love and devotion within our hearts.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:10:06 FrDavid Abernethy, CO: page 134 Hypothesis XVIII

 

00:24:00 Forrest Cavalier: Mt 13:12 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

 

00:31:44 Ashley Kaschl: Gotta run 👋

 

00:37:01 Erick: that liturgical culture is still there at your local FSSP Latin mass parish

 

00:38:10 Erick: even rogation days don't make sense in the present day liturgical calendar

 

00:38:34 Erick: it did make sense in the 1962 calendar.... we have lost the syntax

 

00:38:53 Carol Nypaver: Or Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Latin Mass. 😇

 

00:39:07 Erick: indeed carol!

 

00:39:40 Eric Williams: I’m worried that Traditionis Custodes will make it harder for Westerners to rediscover traditions like rogation days or more “rigorous” fasting. (I don’t bring TC up to be controversial. I’m really quite sad for the future of venerable traditions in the West.)

 

00:39:57 Forrest Cavalier: I attend FSSP, Ordinary Form, and Byzantine. No one is safe from new deceits of Satan, at any parish.

 

00:41:05 Erick: it's funny because TC is making it easier to access rogation days etc in the short run. but in the long run agreed.

 

00:41:37 Erick: (because TLM attendance has gone up since TC came out)

 

01:09:57 Rachel: That is the exact thing that stuck with me as well! I went to a Mass many years before my conversion and everyone was kneeling and focused on Our Lord. I had no. idea. what was happening before me. Bit it stuck with me.

 

01:11:46 Forrest Cavalier: She might be Byzantine. They stand for that part of Liturgy!

 

01:13:17 Rachel: lol

 

01:15:33 Ambrose Little: Well, I’m gonna be the odd man out here.. I too have gone to TLM masses for years, and I like it and appreciate it, but… 

 

One doesn’t need rogation days, particular ways of celebrating the mass, or the old calendar to imbue one’s daily life with the Faith. We have a current Church calendar. It is packed with memorials and feasts for saints, Our Lady, and the life of Christ. We have Lent. We have Advent. We have Eastertide. We have Christmastide. We have the Divine Office—you can fill your day with prayer, seven times a day if you wish—and more. The Holy Mass is remarkably available for most of us—even I here in the boonies have two reasonably close daily masses. There are many third orders, institutes, associations, and more (e.g., programs like This Man is You, King’s Men, etc.) that offer ways of more fully practicing the faith with the help of others.

 

If we can’t imbue our lives with the Faith with all these available to us, then the problem isn’t with the Church, it is with us.

 

01:17:01 Vicki Nichols: I agree with you Ambrose

 

01:17:55 Erick: we are human ambrose LOL. The Church should make it easier, not harder

 

01:20:16 Rachel: The Liturgy affects the way you pray and what a person believes and how understands and relates to God and the world around them. It all starts there and ends there, from Communion to Communion.

 

01:20:34 Erick: and the Church, when she takes things away or alters them to be less helpful, actually hurts our process of becoming imbued with the faith. as st Thomas says, we learn through the senses

 

01:22:14 Rachel: Yes!

 

01:22:22 Ambrose Little: Everything I listed is there to help, and more. There are oodles of helps. Many people live vibrant, faith-filled lives happily without missing the older forms/devotions. Have to be careful about projecting personal preferences out as if they are objectively superior.

 

01:23:22 Rachel: Thank you all and Father!