Via Vitae of St. Benedict e-bog

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Divine things and on God. With Cassian, he was far from thinking that the attainment of contempla tion - that is to say, of anything like continuous and intense application of the spirit to God - was an easy matter. All the means and instruments for the gradual acquisition of such a Spiritual condition, which are entered into at great length by Cassian in the Conference I have quoted, and in the ninth Conference, were, without doubt, insisted on and explained at Monte Cassino. But we find no trace of methods, if by methods we mean a business like marshalling of the mental powers and faculties to produce a special effect in a given time. It would be absurd to suppose that St. Benedict and his school of Spirituality did not give a novice useful directions as to how to use the imagination, the reason, and the will. This kind of instruction is of the essence of all methods; and the methods which have been devised and delivered to the world by great Saints and masters in all ages have invariably dealt with these essential factors in contemplation.