The Virtue of Penance (1)

Many Christian communities observe the forty-day Season of Lent, modelled on the long period Jesus spent alone in the desert overcoming the devil's temptations before embarking on his public ministry. In the first week of Lent this year Fr Ian explores the particular value of the Old Testament in understanding the Christian virtue of penance.   

Calling of St Peter and St Andrew by Juan De las Roelas (c. 1570 - 1625)

The Unitive Way

By Fr Ian

This is the last of four articles on the three main stages of Christian spiritual life, as understood in the tradition of Catholic spiritual theology

Saint Thomas Aquinas in Prayer by Stefano di Giovanni (c. 1400-1450)
© Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

‘The third endeavour and pursuit of man should be to rest in God and enjoy Him; and this belongs to the perfect who desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ.’ [1]

In the final, unitive, phase, the individual reaches the point of being free from even minor sins and imperfections, with only the most trivial and inconsequential exceptions, and now enjoys a relationship of constant loving contemplative union with God, perfect love of neighbour and a positive loving regard for the world and everything made by God.

The Illuminative Way

By Fr Ian 

This is the third of four articles on the three main stages of Christian spiritual life, as understood in the tradition of Catholic spiritual theology

‘The second duty of man is to apply his energies chiefly to advance in virtue; this belongs to those who are making progress and who are principally concerned that charity may be increased and strengthened in them.’ [1]

Jesus said: ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life’ (Jn 8:12). Pride, greed, lust, the will to power, or any kind of sinful, self-serving desire clouds our spiritual vision. If we allow appetites like these to take root and dominate our heart and conscience we become spiritually blind (Mk 7:21-23). Similarly, the tendency that some people have to to rationalise and deceive themselves about the essential virtuousness of their motives is another form of clouded spiritual vision.

The Purgative Way

By Fr Ian

This is the second of four articles on the three main stages of Christian spiritual life, as understood in the tradition of Catholic spiritual theology 

‘The first duty which is incumbent on man is to give up sin and resist concupiscence, which are opposed to charity; this belongs to beginners, in whose hearts charity is to be nursed and cherished lest it be corrupted.’ [1]

The initial phase of Christian spiritual growth is the period of consciously and deliberately dying to sin and self. It’s a process of eliminating sinful tendencies and moderating our attachment to various pleasures, which aren’t necessarily sinful in themselves, but which easily lead to self-indulgence and obstruct our ultimate goal of living in a close communion of love with God. (Our natural attraction to pleasure, which can over-ride the demands of love and our moral duties towards others, is what the Christian spiritual tradition calls ‘concupiscence’).

Conversion: awakening to God, awakening to love

by Fr Ian 

This is the first of four articles on the three main stages of Christian spiritual life, as understood in the tradition of Catholic spiritual theology   

 

Preaching of St John the Baptist by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494)

Metanoia, repentance, conversion

Christian spiritual life begins with what Jesus and the gospel writers called metanoia, a Greek noun usually translated into English as repentance or conversion. They also frequently used the verb metanoein, ‘to repent’.

My Faith Journey (Conversion Stories 2)

by Alan Lorrimer-Riley

Alan is pastor of the Snowdonia Christian Fellowship (website here). In this personal testimony he looks back at his journey from a Catholic upbringing to his vocation as Evangelical preacher and pastoral leader. 

    

Miners in County Durham in the 19th Century (photo: The Northern Echo)

I was born and brought up on Tyneside – a part of the post-war ‘baby boomer’ generation.

My dad was part of a family who had immigrated to the area from Ireland in the 1840s. They lived in an Irish enclave in one of the mining communities in County Durham. The Catholic Church was a central part of their community life. My dad, and his brother and sister, recalled getting abuse from other local children while they walked the 2 miles to the nearby Catholic school.