glorycloud's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- old journal entry August 21, 2008 clinging all the more attentively to the Mediator It is 10:21 AM Thursday morning in the flow of existence. I have been up since 6 o'clock AM. This morning around 7 o'clock AM Carol and I went downtown for breakfast. After breakfast we came home. Carol has gone to bed for the day and I have been wandering my cell not sure what to do next. Yesterday was a quiet day and today looks like it is going to be another quiet day. Right now as I sit here writing I feel myself falling asleep. I have been reading these books lately--- "On Contemplating God Prayer Meditations" by William of St. Thierry "The Golden Epistle" by William Of St Thierry "The Wound Of Love: A Carthusian Miscellany" "The Eucharist in the Reformation: Incarnation and Liturgy" by Lee Palmer Wandel "This Is My Body: The Presence Of Christ In Reformation Thought" by Thomas J. Davis "Carthusian Spirituality: The Writings Of Hugh Of Balma & Guigo De Ponte" [The Classics of Western Spirituality] I am reading the treatise "On Contemplation" by Guigo De Ponte in this volume. Well since I am not able to stay awake I will close to feel like a ton of horse crap. "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." John 8:12 music: The Walkmen "You & Me" It is 11:26 AM Thursday morning in the flow of existence. I took Rudy for a walk at Van Raalte Farm in hopes it would wake me up. It is warm outside but not unbearable. I forgot to mention that last night Carol and I looked at these commentaries on the Gospel of John on John 8:1-11--- "John" [Baker Exegetical Commentary On The New Testament] by Andreas J. Kostenberger "The Gospel Of John: A Commentary" Volume One by Craig S. Keener "The Gospel Of John: A Commentary" Volume Two by Craig S. Keener "John 1-10" [Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture-New Testament IVa] Edited by Joel C. Elowsky "John 11-21" [Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture-New Testament IVb] Edited by Joel C. Elowsky I have about 25 commentaries on the Gospel of John. I wonder why not everybody has not at least one good solid biblical commentary on the Gospel of John in their personal library? "This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen." John 21:24,25 I have no plans for the afternoon hours. I might take a nap down in the basement? I took a nap yesterday during the afternoon hours. A weird deep dream woke me up yesterday afternoon. Well I will close to wait. "To enter truly into the desert to which God calls us, we have an initial decision to make: to build everything on the Son of God who came to receive everything from his Father in the solitude of the Judaean wilderness. All our natural tendencies must be sanctified and divinized by him so that our solitude becomes simply an entry into the heart of the eternally silent dialogue between Father and Son." pg.100,101 "The Wound Of Love" music: Acid Mothers Temple "Recurring Dream and Apocalypse of Darkness" This morning while Carol and I were downtown having breakfast I read Guigo De Ponte's treatise "On Contemplation". I remember reading what is quoted below four or five years ago and having this Experience where I saw "the light of divine glory" and afterwards my theological system went up in smoke. I realized God can not be known for who He is by knowing Reformed theology. God can not be made known for who He is by a man-made theological system. Several years ago I received the wound of love described in the writings of St. John of the Cross. Because I have been wounded by divine love I continue to thirst and hunger for the Lord.
Finally, a person gazing on God in the hidden tranquillity of the spirit's eye needs humble and godly devotion so that, having taken up with godly yearning a single word of divine material, he can with utmost devotion, goodness, and simplicity of heart work more wisely at a God-given taste of what God is like. This always takes place, according to the soul's capacity, on the path of sweetness and love in the dewdrops of the Holy Spirit. When by God's grace the godly spirit is in the aforementioned state, the understanding follows behind a thirsty affectus quickened by the Spirit, striving to discover a ray of purest truth. If the coarser worldly fog be dispersed from the viewer's heart, she sometimes sees ineffably that ineffable light which truly is God. Two things are altogether necessary if this blessed vision is to be seen: The spirit must become even purer and, in her growing purity, let the innermost sprinkling of celestial dew make her fecund. Moreover, this blessed vision occurs with wavering and unsteady sight, not with a fixed or firm gaze. It takes place in a fleeting transit in which the pious spirit hurriedly and mementarily glimpses the light of divine glory, the flash of blessed and divine reflection. This occurs by means of the sweetness of godly devotion and of burning, envisioning live. Indeed, to be more accurate, she sees that she is unable to see on account of her great weakness and incapacity, an incapacity which ineffably stretches almost but not quite to the point of seeing-she sees within her limits as she is lifted up in spirit. How absolutely lucid this most brilliant brightness is, and, as the Scripture says, how far removed it is from every thought of human effort, understanding, prudence, investigation, and estimation. Christ alone reveals it to whomever he wishes and when he wishes, for he hides it from the wise and prudent and reveals it to infants as he pleases. Whoever wishes to attain this unspeakable light, which really is God, should strive to be cleansed, clinging all the more attentively to the Mediator between God and man who unites the lowest to the hightest." pg. 204,205 Guigo De Ponte Book Two "On Contemplation" 7:08 p.m. - 2008-08-21 10:04 a.m. - 2012-03-28 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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