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© Joseph Azize
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Maronite Meditations is a regular podcast harvesting the wealth of the legacy and contemplative tradition of the Maronite, Syriac, Catholic Church, an ancient Eastern church, with the Apostolic succession, which traces its faith back to our Lord himself.
48 Episodes
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We delve more deeply into the concept of Wisdom in the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, and explore how it not only anticipates the Incarnation of Christ, but also theDescent of the Holy Spirit. We return to lectio divina, considering not only the first stage, reading; but also the second, meditation.
We present an overview of St J.H. Newman's first novel, "Loss and Gain," 1848. We see how Charles Reding, a young man with a desire to live life consciously in the presence of God, moves - in both mind and heart - to Catholicism, and the peace he thereby finds. This under-appreciated novel anticipates the later deep ideas on belief and its development in an individual.
It might seem at first sight paradoxical that The Tamworth Reading Room is itself a logical argument. Logic can be quite useful in showing the weakness of arguments, and where they cannot look to philosophy for vindication. But St Newman never said that logic had no legitimate place, no critical role. What he said was that it does, but then, so too does faith, and the one should not usurp the role of the other. It is the privilege of the well-formed and balanced Christian to live in both worlds simultaneously: that of nature and the supernatural, that of reason and of faith.
In this section look at The Tamworth Reading Room, we see how St J.H. Newman explains that faith is the basis of action, and is more fundamental even than knowledge (to the extent that knowledge does not fall within faith). It is faith, not secular knowledge, which we need.
In the first part of our analysis of St JHN's "Tamworth Reading Room," we see what he says about the need for something higher than science and intellectual knowledge to bring order to the internal chaos of man, and to teach virtue. True moral achievement comes from active self-conquest, not passively learning things, no matter how "scientific."
St John Henry Newman not only selects some powerful teachings from St Ignatius' epistles, but he also shows us how to think about reading the Fathers and about religion in general. His attention to method is absolutely necessary for us today.
We now consider St J.H. Newman's concise but powerful "Short Road to Perfection" from his Meditations and devotional writings.
We begin a study of the life and work of St John Henry Newman with what was perhaps his major poetical achievement, The Dream of Gerontius, a lengthy poem concerning the passing from this world into thenext. It is called a "Dream" but it is in fact an imaginative, almost prophetic glimpse of eternity. We then meditate upon its theme. (N.B. The Apologia was published in 1864 and the Dream in 1865)
We see how the super-meaning of the Book of Ecclesiasticus is that whatever we do, we should remember why we are living and what we hope for at death. With that, everything in this sprawling book finds it place. Once more, we end with further study of lectio divina.
We begin our study of the Book of Ecclesiasticus with some words about its date and authorship, and placing it in relation to other Wisdom books. We then begin to see how it develops the Wisdom tradition. We touch on its teaching about patience, and end with some lectio divina.
We introduce the Book of Wisdom, also known as The Wisdom of Solomon. We read the first chapters with their sublime teaching on the world being filled with the Spirit of God, which means that divine justice pervades the entire universe, in both space and in time, so that justice is worked out over eternity, and not in front of our very noses, as we say. At the end of this talk, we begin to study lectio divina, godly or divine reading.
We continue our study of the Book of Job, and ask, why does God not immediately punish evil deeds and reward good ones?
In this episode we examine the Book of Job, taking a bird's-eye view of the message of the entire book.
We look at the three Solomonic books (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs) as one whole, and then meditate on their message.
In our third podcast on the Song of Songs, we investigate its mystic meaning, and its teaching of love as the means to reach God.
We read the contents of the Song of Songs, and see how natural the mystic understanding of it is. We discover that the many dazzling images form one super-image of the beauty of God and the desirability of uniting with Him (in so far as is possible). The meditation takes us in this direction.
Between any sense of the presence and of the absence of God, there is not any void - love waits in hope. This nourishes our contemplation.
In our third episode on the Book of Proverbs, we ask the elusive question: what exactly is Wisdom? Then we contemplate wisdom, so as to have more of it in our lives.
Today we learn about Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs, the instrument of God created in the creation before the creation! And then we meditate upon this mystery.
We begin to read the Book of Proverbs, and examine the almost astounding meaning of the "Fear of God," and close with a contemplation to benefit from this new understanding.
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