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    Urban Monks: 1, #4
    Urban Monks: 1, #4
    Urban Monks: 1, #4
    Ebook262 pages2 hours

    Urban Monks: 1, #4

    By Hermano Esteban de Emaús

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    About this ebook

       Road to Experience

       There is a radical difference between the spiritual life guided by belief, from that which has its foundation in experience.

       But belief is the way to experience. Just as doubt precedes belief, faith comes before the experience of the divine.

       Mere belief is transformed into faith when it is put into practice, when it is lived. And if this practice is sustained in a persevering way, the experience is accessed.

       When the experience of the divine is lived, it is no longer believed, it is known. The irrefutable proof is lived in the intimacy of the heart, certainty is installed.

       This form of evidence is personal and although it tries to be transmitted, it can only be translated.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBadPress
    Release dateJan 19, 2020
    ISBN9781071519226
    Urban Monks: 1, #4

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      Book preview

      Urban Monks - Hermano Esteban de Emaús

      URBAN MONKS 

      Third Book of Father Esteban

      ––––––––

      Brother Esteban de Emaus

      INTRODUCTION

      Road to Experience

      There is a radical difference between the spiritual life guided by belief, from that which has its foundation in experience.

      But belief is the way to experience. Just as doubt precedes belief, faith comes before the experience of the divine.

      Mere belief is transformed into faith when it is put into practice, when it is lived. And if this practice is sustained in a persevering way, the experience is accessed.

      When the experience of the divine is lived, it is no longer believed, it is known. The irrefutable proof is lived in the intimacy of the heart, certainty is installed.

      This form of evidence is personal and although it tries to be transmitted, it can only be translated.

      If someone feels stuck in their spiritual life, they should review the behavior, their practice of life, that is, the coherence between what they do and the faith they profess. If I say that I believe in Christ and I do not try to put his doctrine to work, the safest thing is that sooner or later, I will lose faith.

      Spiritual life is not the same as shopping, where you put something –money-, and get something in return –the object-. The fullness of the human experience, the joyful life of grace is available, what is required is to be interested in it, look for the essentials every day and not engage in secondary matters.

      If I worry too much about the accessory I will never be able to concentrate on the important ... and then life goes by quickly, spasmodically, somewhat disturbed, like a bad nap on a hot afternoon.

      INDEX

      Part 1a - Texts on the Way of the Name

      Introduction—

      Way to experience. Doubt - Belief - Practice - Faith - Certainty - Experience of God - Offering of life

      1. - The doubt. The basic lack. The meaning of life.

      Without handles

      Transit station

      About the meaning

      About depression

      Confusion

      2. - Belief. Perception Human freedom Choice.

      Grace and freedom

      Influences

      The basic lack -The central issue

      3. - The practice of belief. Asceticism. Purification. Attention. Acceptance.

      Three aspects of asceticism

      Purify

      Ego

      Spiritual direction

      Fasting and freedom

      You will not judge

      Of action and feeling

      Restlessness

      4. - Faith. Trust in God. I abandon in His hands. Understanding the Truth. God's will. Grace. Spiritual Senses

      Where the breeze blows

      Dialogues in the booth

      Discouragement

      5. - Certainty. Persevering practice. The vocation. God's plan

      On acceptance

      Vocation

      Road issues

      6. - Experience of God. Perception of the sacred. Manifestation of love in one's life. Spiritual look.

      Signs of the sacred

      Fear and presence

      7. - Life Offering

      Eremita interview

      Questions

      Part 2 - The practice of Jesus' prayer

      Introduction - Tasteful Effort

      About reading the second part of the book

      The practice of the Holy Name prayer

      The secret enclosure

      The sentence of prayer and reconciliation

      1. - Preparing the scope

      Simplicity

      Search the little

      Stripping

      Cell stay

      Evaluation

      2. - What do you want me to do for you?

      But he screamed louder

      Remove what opposes

      3. - Disposition of the heart

      Stop

      Fabio's query

      Heart layout

      Direct attention to the essential

      4. - Austerity as a way

      Comment from Fabio

      Something of the fathers

      Desert

      Consultation of Maria Victoria

      5. - Continuous intention

      He who anticipates

      Continuous intention

      Cares

      Exterior and interior application

      Set the mind

      The soul softens

      The new man is possible

      6. - Absence

      Devotion

      Change Issues

      7. - Attitude necessary

      The tool of the moment

      The order of his live

      The sense of asceticism

      Avoid forgetting

      8. - The presence of God I

      Virtual Monacato

      Three pillars of spirituality

      Prayer in action

      Boldness of the human soul

      The place of trust

      9. - Ascetic and lectio

      Ascetic with the Gospel of St. Mark

      Strong moments of prayer

      Spiritual training

      Build the habit

      10. - Get out of the dark

      The invocation of the Name as spiritual change

      Twinned by Name

      Oliver Clement article

      11. - Decision of the heart

      Revision

      Manifestations of the soul

      Spiritual name

      The breeze of your intention

      The quality of our actions

      12. - The perception of the Presence of God

      Final address

      13. - Where do I put faith?

      Good triumphs

      14. - Personal unification

      Letter to the Cenobites

      Personal unification

      Focus on the Name

      15. - Brotherhood the Holy Name

      Our journey in the Fraternity of the Holy Name

      The office of Jesus' Prayer

      Continuing

      Gabriel's comment

      16. - Life makes sense

      Herald comment

      The applied action

      What happens?

      Learn to live

      Before you

      Place the heart

      Day of recollection

      Maria's eyes

      17. - The step we need

      Incomprehensible attraction

      A confident heart

      A friendly company

      The concern retains

      Herald's comment

      18. - A single wish

      Herald's Inquiry

      From the present we have

      Leave yourself

      Herald's Inquiry

      19. - Memory Dei

      Attitude of acceptance

      Choose the convenient

      Attention

      Don't let it mute

      Not worry

      Strengthen the intention

      20. - The acedia

      Increasing slavery

      Prepare the scope

      Herald's consultation on Acedia

      21. - Strengthen the basics

      Every day a liturgy

      The attitude of the walker

      22. - Find the contradiction

      Not look outside

      Prayer of Staretz Sofronio

      23. - The action as an offering

      On acceptance

      24. - Vocation

      Settle in the heart

      A fire of love

      Do without disturbance

      Transfigure the world

      25. - Spiritual exercise

      Glossary of terms

      1st PART

      TEXTS ON THE ROAD OF THE NAME

      THE DOUBT

      The basic lack. The meaning of life. Without handles

      Our particular internal situation is clear when we are in the middle of the desert. When we are unable to dispose of what we cling to.

      Suddenly, we cannot repeat the execution of that habit, or start a conversation with that person, we can no longer count on what we had.

      The desert may come when illness, unemployment, unwanted loneliness arise, or a sudden variation in the mood that leaves us in the heart.

      The desert, that which has no boundaries, leaves us without handles, rips us out of dependencies, undresses us; He shows us his own face, the one we don't want to see, so as not to feel the pain of our constant postponement of change.

      This figure - that of the desert - which is always mentioned in the history of spirituality, reflects the situation of the human soul: we are here, in the midst of immensity.

      It is in this situation of perplexity before the mysterious existence, when the real questions can be manifested in us. Therefore, the Voice cries out in the desert (John 1:23), calling us to profound transformation, to a more true life, inspires us with the desire to sacralize life.

      Does life perhaps make sense without the sacredness in it?

      The emergence of the desert in our lives - the rise of the unwanted, or the fall of illusions - is a way in which God calls us upon awakening of the spirit. The emptiness of the desert annihilates us, dismantles false assurances, reveals what It Is.

      What happens if I am not going to make that purchase? Or if I'm not going to talk with that person? Or if I don't turn on the television? What happens if I allow the desert to enter my life?

      Let us clear the way, so that the Light of which John was a witness (John 1, 6-8) may manifest in our lives.

      TRANSIT STATION

      From your experience attending terminally ill patients, what do you find most remarkable?

      Several things, no doubt. The first is the huge change in perspective that occurs in one next to someone's deathbed. This change does not depend on whether the one who is going to die is a relative or unknown, someone particularly loved or not. It is the result of closeness, of the imminence of death.

      The ancient Fathers spoke of the memory of death as a way of being useful for spiritual development, a way of not being dazzled by the mirages of the world. Well, next to someone who is dying, this memory is present and the valuations that one has in everyday life change a lot.

      It is as if one could not worry so much about what he now does, he warns as secondary, as something accessory. When the experience of accompanying dying people becomes frequent, this change in assessment tends to be installed as a permanent look. One begins to look for the meaning of actions, to try to make one's life have meaning.

      I would also highlight the clear awareness that is acquired thanks to what the other is living, of the postponement in which we live mired, postponement of what we feel important.

      When the patient has several days of agony - with periods of lucidity -, one of the things I try to do is allow you to perform a catharsis, a download of what oppresses you and that you may not have had time or could not comment with the confessor. It is probably not about sins, but only about experiences that need integration in the mind and spirit.

      And it is common rule that almost all talk about the non-demonstration of the affection they feel for the beings they have had close in life. It is a common regret and many times there is no time to let someone know how much it has been valued.

      Do not wait for extreme situations. It is important for one ‒ and for others’ that clear expression of affection and appreciation beyond circumstantial distances that everyday life can interpose.

      Another issue that comes to light in the face of the imminence of death itself is the betrayal of itself or the abandonment of the talents that have been incurred due to the urgencies, which society usually imposes on us. When we die, it seems that we understand that those urgencies were not such and that it was worth carrying out some act of boldness, in pursuit of the concretion of what allowed the deep manifestation of our being.

      It is linked to the theme of the gifts that have been received and their development. It seems that recognizing what God has given us as a particularity, as personal talent is important, is something very related to the meaning of life.

      I could talk to you for hours, since there are many interior events that are accompanied and

      Saying goodbye to people who are in the trance of dying. I highlight only three more:

      - I have seen how faith in God, in his goodness and in the sense of his creation, allowed some people to die in a state that he would define as celebration; there are people who die happily and open the arms of the soul to meet the Father. Seeing that has been a huge gift that life has given me, a great comfort. It has endowed me with certain certainties that are difficult to convey.

      - What we consider important in our biography seems not to be so important in those moments before the transit. It is striking how, when asking for the best moments they remember of their whole life, they are surprised and answer facts or anecdotes that one would not imagine as outstanding.

      Made by others simple, where the sacred was hidden, and that now is clearly revealed to the clean look of those who no longer have expectations of personal achievements or ambitions.

      It is as if the I surrendered to show, before the eyes of the heart, a reality that was always accompanying us and that carried a meaning in everything we were doing.

      That is, it feels that everything has had a meaning; that everything, in a way, has been fine. Suddenly everything stable, and the person sees his own death as part of a major plan that encompasses and exalts him.

      I have seen this last experience happen in both believers and non-believers, I have seen the mercy of God flowing through this new interpretation that the person could make of what was lived.

      -ͳBy last, and far from any celebration, and even further from all encounters with the meaning of life, many people die in pain, contracted, dying in body and soul. I saw them die without faith, without family warmth, rejecting all comfort, from so much pain that they harbored for their frustrations and anger. They left without being able to understand everything that had happened to them.

      Those nights with those brothers who felt helpless, I lived, perhaps, the most important experiences. It seemed to me than that, at that time, one was the humble and imperfect instrument of great mercy. A loving look took mine and spilled over the one who cringed in pain.

      I have felt tremendous inner commotions there, deep emotions of compassion that were presented as redeemers. The secret invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ was like a dye that unfolded throughout the room and wrapped the human being, the one who synthesized everyone's pain.

      As I walked away at some dawn, after such experiences, the world appeared to me like a great Golgotha ​​where day after day the mystery of the resurrection was anticipated.

      ABOUT THE SENSE

      What can make sense of my life? How to find meaning in everything?

      Life has a meaning and one can align with that sense. One can tune in with the meaning of life, echo it.

      If the meaning of life is discovered and acted upon according to that purpose, meaning and fullness can be given to individual life. I refer to a discovery of meaning as an intimate personal experience, and not as a concept, information, or mere belief.

      Observing nature, we see that there is a process of permanent transformation. That death is present in each process and that life happens to him continuously in increasing expansion.

      The bud emerges vigorously, anticipating the flower; explodes later, is in a harmony of perfect color, unrepeatable. At the time it decays and dies, giving way to the seeds that, looking for a new site, guided by the wind, seek to eternalize the process.

      In everything there is this emergence, this will be revealed later as a peculiarity that brings its diversity, to then move on to a stage of consummation, in which the acquired is reproduced but in a more perfect way.

      The life of Christ shows, in an exemplary way, this way of unfolding the meaning of life. The development of his mission, his passion and necessary death, to enlighten the infinite grace of the resurrection.

      Everything has a meaning, life and one inserted in it. It is not necessary to create it, it is necessary to discover it. It seems veiled by the multiple mirages in which we place our attention.

      In addition to as a reason, concept or postulate, the meaning of life is an experience, a way of living in connection with the sacred, which springs from the abundant and present divine grace in everything.

      We continually look at things and people and

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