In Girardian lingo this meditation could read: False Transcendence vs. True Transcendence. And the desire that mystic Angela of Foligno talks of can easily be mimetic desire - where the compulsive, pre-occupation of the other stagnates one in negative mimesis relating to the false harmony vs. true harmony which is grounded in positive mimesis of a compulsive, pre-occupation with the True Transcendent Other as it frees one into obedience to the One who stands outside the mimetic whirlwind.Meditation of the Day
The Desire the Pharisees Lacked
In the felt experience wherein the soul finds the certitude that God is within it, the soul is given the grace of wanting God so perfectly that everything in it is in true and not false harmony. False harmony exists when the soul says that it wants God but does not really mean it, because its desire for God is not true in everything, in every way, or in every respect. Its desire for God is true when all the members of the body are in harmony with the soul, and the soul in turn is in such harmony with the heart and with the entire body that it becomes one with them and responds as one for all of them. Then the soul truly wants God, and this desire is granted to it through grace.
Hence when the soul is told: “What do you want?” it can respond: “I want God.” God then tells it, “I am the one making you feel that desire.” Until it reaches this point, the soul’s desire is not true nor integral. This form of desire is granted to the soul by a grace by which it knows that God is within it, and that is in companionship with God. This gift is to have a desire, now a unified one, in which it feels that it loves God in a way analogous to the true love with which God has loved us. The soul feels God merging with it and becoming its companion.
Blessed Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) was a wife and mother who later became a Franciscan tertiary and an esteemed mystical writer.
tip to the Magnificat and Doctors of the Catholic Church
4 comments:
Good find, Aramis. It is all related, too, to conversion, isn't it? As Gil has said, it is often when we are very close to an authentic conversion, we peel off and settle for a false one.
This, I think, is what today passes for "love" -- folk settle for the physical/sexual/sensual union with the guy or gal instead of asking, or even having the vaguest notion, about the True Source of the Call, the wooing, the Divine Lover who invites us to the wedding feast of the Lamb.
Alas. The secularist desert in which sad, false liaisons of the he/she camel settle for pale, greasy, oily gruel instead of the Wine of Redemption. But that was rejected a long time ago for "reality".
Yes Athos, I think your understanding is good, rubbing up ever so close to the mystics.
I want to get into Schwager sometime here, as I feel that he is a mystic as well. But that will have to wait a bit.
I like this lady. Never heard of her. Good stuff!
You may find a little more about her at Magnificat.ca Lives of the Saints.
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