From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   On Self-Denial, and Renunciation of all Cupidity [I]   
      
   CHRIST.   
      My son, complete self-denial is the only road to perfect liberty.   
   Those who are obsessed by self-interest and self-love are   
   slaves of their own desires; (2 Tim.3:2) they are greedy, inquisitive,   
   and discontented. They spend themselves in pleasures,   
   but never in the service of Jesus Christ,   
   their whole interest being in passing affairs.   
   But all that is not of God shall perish utterly.   
      Observe this simple counsel of perfection: Forsake all and you   
   shall find all.   
   Renounce desire and you shall find peace. Give this due thought and   
   when you have put it into practice, you will understand all things.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ  Bk 3, Ch 32   
      
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   27 February – St Gregory of Narek   
      
    (950-1003)   
    Doctor of the Church – Armenian monk, poet, mystical philosopher,   
   theologian, writer and saint of the Armenian Apostolic Church and   
   Catholic Church, born into a family of writers. Based in the monastery   
   of Narek (Narekavank), he was “Armenia’s first great poet” and as “the   
   watchful angel in human form”.   
      
   Born circa 950 to a family of scholarly churchmen, St Gregory entered   
   Narek Monastery on the south-east shore of Lake Van at a young age.   
   Shortly before the first millennium of Christianity, Narek Monastery   
   was a thriving centre of learning. These were the relatively quiet,   
   creative times before the Turkic and Mongol invasions that changed   
   Armenian life forever. Armenia was experiencing a renaissance in   
   literature, painting, architecture and theology, of which St Gregory   
   was a leading figure. The Prayer Book is the work of his mature years.   
   He called it his last testament:  “its letters like my body, its   
   message like my soul.”  His best-known writings include a commentary   
   on the Song of Songs and his “Book of Lamentations,” more commonly   
   known as “Narek.” St Gregory left this world in 1003 but his voice   
   continues to speak to us for all earthly time.   
      
   Pope Francis named the tenth century Armenian monk, St Gregory Narek,   
   the 36th Doctor of the Church on 21 Feb 2015. I love the writing of St   
   Gregory! He’s a poet to the core and demonstrated amply, like the   
   Hebrew prophets, that beauty is the truest form of divine discourse.   
   Many of his theological and mystical-ascetical works are written as a   
   colloquy -- a dialogue with God -- as was St Augustine’s   
   autobiography, the Confessions. Theological colloquy offers such a   
   deep insight into the nature of theological discourse which must   
   always be, in the first instance, a dialogue with the revealing God   
   Himself. God reveals to us not mere data for speculative consideration   
   but Himself for consummating union.   
      
   And, true to Pope Francis’ pastoral style, this doctor is chosen from   
   the “margins” of the suffering church. (Incidentally, in 2012 Pope   
   Benedict named a “marginal” medieval woman as Doctor of the Church,   
   the twelfth century Abbess Saint Hildegard of Bingen.  A genius.   
   Sadly, so little fuss was made subsequently.   
      
   The Armenian Apostolic Church (great documentary here), that traces   
   its origins back to the first century, has a rich monastic, liturgical   
   and theological tradition and a rich history of saints and culture.   
   But Armenian Christians also have a long history of oppression,   
   climaxing in the horrors of the “Armenian Holocaust” genocide of 1915,   
   carried out by the Ottoman Turks who slaughtered more than one million   
   Armenian Christians.   
      
   The Armenian Divine Liturgy is magnificent in its poetry, sense of   
   mystery, and theological depth. One of the most cherished hymns of the   
   Liturgy is called Khorhoort Khoreen, “O Mystery Deep.” (Dr Tom Neal)   
   O Mystery deep, inscrutable, without beginning. Thou hast decked Thy   
   supernatural realm as a chamber unto the light unapproachable and hast   
   adorned with splendid glory the ranks of Thy fiery spirits.   
      
   St Gregory has shown up a couple of times in Magisterial writings. The   
   Catechism of the Catholic Church, for instance, contains a reference   
   to him:   
      
   Medieval piety in the West developed the prayer of the rosary as a   
   popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours. In the East, the   
   litany called the Akathistos and the Paraclesis remained closer to the   
   choral office in the Byzantine churches, while the Armenian, Coptic,   
   and Syriac traditions preferred popular hymns and songs to the Mother   
   of God. But in the Ave Maria, the theotokia, the hymns of St Ephrem or   
   St Gregory of Narek, the tradition of prayer is basically the same.   
   (§2678)   
      
   St Pope John Paul II also referred to him in his encyclical, Redemptoris Mater:   
      
   In his panegyric of the Theotokos, Saint Gregory of Narek, one of the   
   outstanding glories of Armenia, with powerful poetic inspiration   
   ponders the different aspects of the mystery of the Incarnation, and   
   each of them is for him an occasion to sing and extol the   
   extraordinary dignity and magnificent beauty of the Virgin Mary,   
   Mother of the Word made flesh.   
      
   With the formation of the Armenian Catholic Church St Gregory received   
   his first liturgical veneration within the Catholic Church. He has not   
   been officially canonised by the pope. Some have speculated that the   
   declaration of Gregory as a Doctor of the Church might have served as   
   an equipollent canonization (see more on this below). Others have   
   simply stated that the recognition of the Armenian liturgy and   
   liturgical calendar by the Catholic Church served as a confirmation of   
   the cultus of saints in that rite. Though it appears that he was   
   placed in the Roman Martyrology, prior to the declaration on 12 April   
   2015.   
      
   St. Gregory’s proclamation as a Doctor of the Church was commemorated   
   by the Vatican City state with a postage stamp issued 2 September   
   2015.   
      
   https://anastpaul.com/2018/02/27/   
      
      
   “I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of   
   judgement for every empty word they have spoken…“…Matthew 12:36.   
      
   REFLECTION – “But so that I do not become tedious and long-winded, let   
   me compress my words, words I say echoing the blessed David in his   
   inspired voice, “I seek you with all my heart.”…St Gregory of Narek   
      
   Quote of the Day – 27 February – The Memorial of St Gregory of Narek   
   “You found me, a sinner,   
   lost in darkness crying like   
   the psalmist in prayer,   
   and because of Your willing care   
   you were called Shepherd,   
   for not only did You care   
   but You sought, not only did You find,   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)