"Blessed is the servant of God who exhibits confidence in clerics who live uprightly according to the form of the holy Roman Church. And woe to those who despise them: for even though they [the clerics] may be sinners, nevertheless no one ought to judge them, because the Lord Himself reserves to Himself alone the right of judging them. For as the administration with which they are charged, to wit, of the most holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they receive and which they alone administer to others—is greater than all others, even so the sin of those who offend against them is greater than any against all the other men in this world." - The Counsels of the Holy Father St. Francis, Admonition 26.
Well I'm only going to reply to you this once and then I will leave you to it. I am not one for arguing for arguments sake. Clearly you are deeply committed to the unfortunate road you are on. Aside from the Heresy of Religious Indifferentism which I will leave to one side. In order to progress into mystical contemplation at the very least mortal sin needs to be left to one side. What he did was a huge source of scandal and a breech of his vow of celibacy and a grave hurt to his monastic community and the Church in general. None of these are minor things. Now I'll leave you and this thread and Thomas Merton and whatever else modern Catholic authors who are reading to it. Bye.
Please pray for my soul then, I may not be seeing something clearly as you are. Also I meant you no offense, I merely like to discuss things from time to time.
This is a worthwhile book for those who practice contemplation in the style of the CoU. It was recently discovered in an Orthodox monastery in the late 70's. It was allegedly written by an unknown monastic, similar to the cloud, on Mt. Athos. In 2014 it was translated into English.
Be a little careful sometimes. Contemplative prayer can sometimes be misinterpreted as a kind of spiritual or mental vacuum which allows God to rush on in. But the prelude to contemplative prayer is meditation, the doorway through which we must past. Later on the soul can enter contemplation easily but it should not be forced. This is one of the many , many reasons I love the Holy Rosary, it covers all this effortlessly.
I think this is a good way to approach meditation and contemplation. https://praymoreretreat.org/how-god-speaks-to-us-lent-2025/
There is a point in the video where the author tells us that eventually the Jesus prayer eventually becomes one word, Jesus. So it does appear to ultimately be the same practice.
Anyone who is into the practice of the presence of God, anything St. Teresa of Avila, or the Cloud of Unknowing will love "On Union with God" by church doctor St. Albert the Great. It's crazy how this saint was the master of St. Aquinas, became a doctor of the church, had great in his title and still was entirely overshadowed by St. Aquinas. This book is incredible and I cannot stress it enough.
