Letters of Saint Bruno - A series on Carthusian Spirituality

 

I’ll be posting a series on Carthusian spirituality over the next few weeks.

There is something of Advent within Carthusian spirituality. A hiddenness, like the hiddenness of the divine child, born into obscurity and poverty. 

The hiddenness of the life of the Holy family who nurtured Him on earth.

The spiritual poverty of the three kings going forth into the desert night with only the light of the Heavenly star to guide their steps.

The first meditation is an extract from a letter from Saint Bruno (The founder of the order) to his Carthusian sons. The second is an extract from Saint Bruno to his friend Raoul Le Verd - Dean of the Cathedral Chapter at Rheims.

Rejoice then my brothers over the lot of overflowing happiness that has fallen to you and for the grace of God that you have received in such abundance. Rejoice that you have succeeded in escaping the countless dangers and shipwrecks of this storm-tossed world and have reached a quiet anchorage in the security of a hidden harbor.

Such a way of life is exemplified by Rachel, who was preferred by Jacob for her beauty, even though she bore fewer children than Leah, with her less penetrating eyes. Contemplation, to be sure has fewer offspring than does action, and yet Joseph and Benjamin were the favourites of their father. This life is the best part chosen by Mary, never to be taken away from her. It is also that extraordinary beautiful Shunammite, the only one in Israel to take care of David and keep him warm in his old age. I could only wish, brother, that you too, had such an exclusive love for her, so that lost in her embrace, you burned with divine love. If only a love like this would take possession of you! Immediately, all the glory in the world would seem like so much dirt to you, whatever the smooth words and false attractions she offered to deceive you. Wealth and its concomitant anxieties you would cast off without a thought, as a burden to the freedom of the spirit. You would want no more of pleasure either, harmful as it is to both body and soul.

You know very well who it is that says to us: "He who loves the world, and the things of the world, such as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and ambition, does not have the love of the Father abiding in him"; also "Friendship with the world is enmity with God". What could be so evil and destructive then, so unfortunate, or so much the mark of a crazed and headstrong spirit, as to put yourself at odds with the one whose power you cannot resist and whose righteous vengeance you could never hope to escape? Surely we are not stronger than he! Surely you do not think he will leave unpunished in the end all the affronts and contempt he receives, merely because his patient solicitude now incites us to repentance! For what could be more perverted, more reckless and contrary to nature and right order, than to love the creature more than the Creator, what passes away more than what lasts forever, or to seek rather the goods of earth than those of heaven ?