Christ-Wisdom and the 'Magis'

The gift of wisdom

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 06:03:12 +0800

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort sought wisdom in his spiritual life. In his search for wisdom, he eventually discovered that Christ was the Eternal Wisdom that really is the wisdom needed by all. Montfort's understanding of Christ as Wisdom is connected with his concept of the Cross and suffering. And this is really scripturally based as we read Christ being mentioned as the wisdom and power of God in the letter of Paul to the Corinthians. In life, we obtain wisdom from our experiences and from much thought and reflection and meditation. The wisdom that we gain is not far from what Montfort obtained especially if our wisdom was obtained from our experiences of suffering, loss, failure and illness. There is a wisdom that comes from the experience of success. But the wisdom that comes from the experience of the Cross is rooted in the compassion and mercy of Christ. There is the gift of understanding incorporated in this type of wisdom. The problems that we encounter everyday in life usually stem from a lack of knowledge, understanding and most of all wisdom. When we see people mired in their problems but have the privilege of seeing it as really not a problem because of the knowledge and wisdom we have already gained through study, reflection and experience, we understand now that life's problems is really just an ignorance of seeing life as God sees it. Since God is Wisdom Himself, He alone knows, understands and sees life as it really is. When we become problematic in our attitude, our vision of life and work is usually constricted and focused on one thing and one aspect of our problem. However, when we seek wisdom and knowledge in prayer, our vision broadens and we are able to see our problem as really just part of the nature and mystery of life. That is why seeking Christ-Wisdom is very important in our lives. With Christ-Wisdom in our souls and being, we will have that gift of understanding, knowledge and wisdom from the Spirit, to help us see our life's problems from the vantage point of God's understanding as revealed in His word and sacrament. Montfort teaches us that it is possible to acquire this wisdom. He mentions four means: 1. an ardent desire for Christ-Wisdom 2. constant and persevering prayer 3. mortification and penitential acts 4. a true devotion to the Blessed Mother With this four means, Montfort mentions the true devotion to Mary as the easiest and fastest way to obtain wisdom.

Increasing Traffic to Your Blog

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 05:55:42 +0800

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Introductory post

Sat, 07 Jan 2006 05:49:31 +0800

This blog will dwell on the subjects of Montfortian spirituality, Ignatian spirituality, writing Catholic eBooks and expanding the Catholic Net mission.

Montfortian and Ignatian spirituality where dwelt upon in the blog Prayer and Discernment. Especially reflected upon are devotion to Mary according to the teachings of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort and discernment according to the teachings of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
This blog will continue along that line but with a special focus on the element of Christ-Wisdom in Montfortian spirituality and the element of the 'magis' in Ignatian spirituality. We are told that Montfort's intuition was of discovering Christ as the Eternal Wisdom of God. And this intuition of his has some basis in Scripture - especially in the first letter to the Corinthians. In that letter of St. Paul, he speaks of Christ as the Wisdom of God in opposition to the wisdom that is being proferred by the world.
As regards the 'magis', this is a term in Ignatian spirituality to mean giving the more in our service to Christ - meaning to follow Him as closely as we are able. From the emotional stimulus of the 'plus of sin' where we try to add a cubit to our stature, we then after conversion, turn to the more, the 'magis', the giving of ourselves totally for the service of Christ and His kingdom. These concepts of the plus of sin and the 'magis' are taught by Fr. Segura in his book, "Eight Days of the Spiritual Exercises". A review of this book is given in this web site, Book Review: Eight Days of the Spiritual Exercises.

The ideal, goal, and purpose of this blog therefore is to invoke the Spirit that we will be able to give the 'magis' to Christ-Wisdom in our lives as Christians. For the purpose of this web site, that 'magis' to Christ-Wisdom will hopefully be the fulfillment of the completion of the web site to its fullest through writing Catholic eBooks and expanding the Catholic Net mission to other areas of the Net. The qualifying factor so that we may not do the 'plus of sin' and add a cubit of stature to our self is always to refer to Christ-Wisdom who always said "No" to the temptations of the devil and the Evil One when we are being deceived by the world and its allures of success and happiness. Christ-Wisdom is our measure for doing the 'magis' for it involves denying ourself, taking up the cross and following Christ even if it means pain and suffering.