Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner. The Jesus Prayer
I say the Memorare about twenty-five to thirty times a day - more when I am feeling particularly oafish, vain, self-pitying and ungrateful.
This week I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that Ireland voted over-whelmingly to promote and pay for the slaughter of unborn children. Ireland has wanted to become England ever since Eamon De Valera* fell out of fashion and historical memory. The Catholic De Valera became less culturally attractive than did the secular Marxist pro- terrorist personalities who dominated the Republican zeitgeist in Ireland from the 1970's to the Repeal of the 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution that protected human life from conception to expiration.
55% of Ireland's population voted for abortion. Only County Donegal shouted for 'No' to abortion and repeal of the 8th Amendment.
Yes voters celebrated the birth of Modern Secular Ireland - a highly educated and intrinsically stupid nation of BBC-Euro go-alongs and alcagüetes. In short, Gypo Nolan was a more steadfast stalwart than RTE viewers, or readers of the Irish Times. The lives of unborn children were to 'Shove Wesht' from Cork and Kerry and Wexford to Mayo.
This horror comes as no surprise, anymore than one watching the Triumph of the Will in 1935 could see that big things were happening in Germany. Ireland is no longer your grandfather's Emerald Isle - its will has triumphed over God's will.
In deserts of Egypt, Syria and Gaza around 219 AD, very educated and cultured people left the sophisticated and evolved world of the Roman Empire for caves, trees and pillars out where Christ lost His Sandals and found the means to overcome the very psychological worms that eat at our souls to this day.
According to the Desert Fathers, uncontrolled thoughts are the origins of some of the sicknesses of the soul. They identified eight non-psychological sicknesses of a spiritual origin, classified by the monk Evagrius as: greed of any sort, a pathological relationship to sex, a pathological relationship to money, sadness, aggressiveness, acedia (an illness of the soul expressed by listlessness, boredom, laziness – a precursor to slothfulness) vanity, and pride. These eight generic diseases have a pathological source: narcissism, which the Fathers called philautia, excessive self-love. . . .
Today cognitive sciences are in agreement with the diagnosis established by the Desert Fathers concerning the illnesses of the soul, which are growing rapidly today, along with the therapies which they had already recommended nearly 2000 years ago. It is recognized that today we are all suffering from countless and continuous demands no our attention, and that this trend disturbs our interiority. Xerri lists a variety of areas in which we are over-stimulated, thanks especially to digital media: food, material goods, sex, leisure, self-image, superficiality, criticism…
No one is asking anyone to sit on the Balbo obelisk at Soldier Field, or take up space under the Jane Byrne Interchange and begin a life contemplative, but we can begin to emulate the Greek Fathers of the Desert and guard our hearts.
Guarding the heart, in Greek nepsis (vigilance), is being attentive to everything that happens in our heart. It is a spiritual method which aims to free man of bad or passionate thoughts. It invites us to observe the thoughts which penetrate our soul, and to discern between the good and the bad. Evagrius said: “Take care of yourself, be the gatekeeper to your heart and don’t let any thought enter without questioning it.” As Xerri points out: “The elders noticed that holy thoughts led to a peaceful state, the others to a troubled state.”
The indispensable means of guarding the heart is paying close attention to thoughts and discerning between those which are good and healing, and those which are a source of distraction or obsession. The aim is to gain freedom, and to reach indifference, the ability to not be dominated by our thoughts.
Ireland's collective imagination was Greek Christian before it was Roman Catholic. The Synod of Whitby put an end to Hellanized Celtic Church in favor of the episcopal over-lordship, still extant in that unhappy nation. The secular bishops of the BBC and the state religion of Great Britain has exorcised truth along with 8th Amendment.
America did that in 1973 with Roe v. Wade - more shame on us, Yanks.
Ireland is woke and countless children will be slaughtered for some time to come.
These day, repentance is only a three syllable word. I know I am a sinful louse and work on it daily.
For those who feel they are woke and evolved, maybe The Memorare and the Jesus Prayer might be helpful. A start anyway.
We are never evolved, by the way.
* Under de Valera's rule, the cultural identity of the Irish Republic as Roman Catholic and Gaelic was asserted. Complete independence was secured, but a lasting accommodation with the majority Protestant and British Northern Ireland receded as a result. BBC
