Lanspergius the Carthusian - Short Meditations III

Solitariness, silence, purity, and simplicity of heart, do prepare a place for Me to dwell in. Keep yourself, therefore, withdrawn from all creatures, in silence and quietness of heart. Neither vouchsafing to content, nor yet to hearken to the unlawful appetites of your will, the wandering cogitations of your mind, or the vain desires of your heart. For your nature is ever inclined to delight in consolation, and is always occupied, sometimes with outward labour in your body, and sometimes with inward care in your mind, seeking consolation in My creatures, whereby you come to be many and sundry ways distracted. Remember, therefore, to strive with all your force against all your sensual and carnal inclinations, and keep yourself alone, being withdrawn from all creatures, and remaining ever, both in outward solitariness of your body and inward contemplation of your mind, as far as discretion, which must be your guide, and charity to your neighbours will permit you.

Lanspergius the Carthusian - Short Meditations III

Solitariness, silence, purity, and simplicity of heart, do prepare a place for Me to dwell in. Keep yourself, therefore, withdrawn from all creatures, in silence and quietness of heart. Neither vouchsafing to content, nor yet to hearken to the unlawful appetites of your will, the wandering cogitations of your mind, or the vain desires of your heart. For your nature is ever inclined to delight in consolation, and is always occupied, sometimes with outward labour in your body, and sometimes with inward care in your mind, seeking consolation in My creatures, whereby you come to be many and sundry ways distracted. Remember, therefore, to strive with all your force against all your sensual and carnal inclinations, and keep yourself alone, being withdrawn from all creatures, and remaining ever, both in outward solitariness of your body and inward contemplation of your mind, as far as discretion, which must be your guide, and charity to your neighbours will permit you.

In Honour of the Baptizer

O house of Zachary greeted with a voice

The barren one’s infant leaps in her womb

Reproach removed, thy child doth rejoice

‘Tis the Ark, carrying the Victor over the tomb



Elizabeth, thy husband at the altar of incense

Met with great fear the angel hailed as Gabriel

Zachary, thy prayer has been heard, hence

Your wife bears a son, thinkest thou surreal



Armed with the spirit and power of Elias

His voice in the wilderness will cry for penance

More than a prophet, your son, and pious

Thy disbelief has reduced thee to silence



O priestly voice cut off from the outside world

Hear the inner Voice of God speaking to thee

His plan of salvation is about to be unfurled

Thy son preparing the way for this mystery



At thy house is the blessed who has believed

For three months she will stay with thy wife

She too, although a Virgin, has conceived

And she shall bring forth the Bread of Life



O house of Zachary thy kindred greets thy son

Circumcised before witnesses more than a few

Isaias foretold of this child of God’s creation

The dividing line of Testaments Old and New



What shall he be called, a kinfolk’s name no less

Zachary, the name given to his father the priest

Nay, the pronouncement of angelic lips: Ioannes

His name be, on locusts and honey shall he feast



Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Zachary speaks

For salvation from our enemies is made present

Ninety-nine may be safe, but one lost He seeks

Whether that be man or woman, rich or peasant



You, my son, prophet of the Appeaser of wrath

Prepare ye the way for heaven to meet earth

From the desert shall you make straight His path

This Child of Spirit presented by Virgin birth



The repentant shall come to thee to be baptized

The Jordan shall hear many confessions of guilt

And now comes to thee prophecies now realized

The Cornerstone on which the house of God is built



I should be baptized by Thee, the precursor pleads

For within Thee there is found not spot or stain

Suffer it be so now, fulfilling all justice’s needs

That which I do My heavenly Father ordain



Thou brood of vipers O Pharisee and Sadducee

Think ye not Abraham an enemy of the Lamb

Faith’s Father longed to hear: “Ecce Agnus Dei”

And see Him Who’ll be sacrificed for thy scam



The Tetrarch’s fear renders the baptizer incarcerated

The femme fatale of Herodias, a promise discussed

Dance for me and I give thee till thy heart is sated

The man of God beheaded because of Herod’s lust



The netherworld where waits Patriarch and Prophet

Ye men of God, let us continue with prayer and fasting

For He Whom thou have preached of, thus have I met

He will soon join us here and take us to life everlasting

In Honour of the Baptizer

O house of Zachary greeted with a voice

The barren one’s infant leaps in her womb

Reproach removed, thy child doth rejoice

‘Tis the Ark, carrying the Victor over the tomb



Elizabeth, thy husband at the altar of incense

Met with great fear the angel hailed as Gabriel

Zachary, thy prayer has been heard, hence

Your wife bears a son, thinkest thou surreal



Armed with the spirit and power of Elias

His voice in the wilderness will cry for penance

More than a prophet, your son, and pious

Thy disbelief has reduced thee to silence



O priestly voice cut off from the outside world

Hear the inner Voice of God speaking to thee

His plan of salvation is about to be unfurled

Thy son preparing the way for this mystery



At thy house is the blessed who has believed

For three months she will stay with thy wife

She too, although a Virgin, has conceived

And she shall bring forth the Bread of Life



O house of Zachary thy kindred greets thy son

Circumcised before witnesses more than a few

Isaias foretold of this child of God’s creation

The dividing line of Testaments Old and New



What shall he be called, a kinfolk’s name no less

Zachary, the name given to his father the priest

Nay, the pronouncement of angelic lips: Ioannes

His name be, on locusts and honey shall he feast



Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel, Zachary speaks

For salvation from our enemies is made present

Ninety-nine may be safe, but one lost He seeks

Whether that be man or woman, rich or peasant



You, my son, prophet of the Appeaser of wrath

Prepare ye the way for heaven to meet earth

From the desert shall you make straight His path

This Child of Spirit presented by Virgin birth



The repentant shall come to thee to be baptized

The Jordan shall hear many confessions of guilt

And now comes to thee prophecies now realized

The Cornerstone on which the house of God is built



I should be baptized by Thee, the precursor pleads

For within Thee there is found not spot or stain

Suffer it be so now, fulfilling all justice’s needs

That which I do My heavenly Father ordain



Thou brood of vipers O Pharisee and Sadducee

Think ye not Abraham an enemy of the Lamb

Faith’s Father longed to hear: “Ecce Agnus Dei”

And see Him Who’ll be sacrificed for thy scam



The Tetrarch’s fear renders the baptizer incarcerated

The femme fatale of Herodias, a promise discussed

Dance for me and I give thee till thy heart is sated

The man of God beheaded because of Herod’s lust



The netherworld where waits Patriarch and Prophet

Ye men of God, let us continue with prayer and fasting

For He Whom thou have preached of, thus have I met

He will soon join us here and take us to life everlasting

The Carthusian Order and Saint John the Baptist

The beautiful artwork for this post is attributed to Jan Provoost, a mid-to-late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Flemish painter. In this piece our Blessed Mother is enthroned beneath a canopy. The Child Jesus is holding a book in His right Hand, perhaps the Sacred Scriptures, while in His left Hand He is holding a Rosary. In the background on the right is a figure enclosed in a garden, symbolizing our Lady’s virginity and chastity. A Carthusian monk is kneeling, apparently to be the recipient of the Rosary. The life of a Carthusian, that of silence and solitude, of both communal and eremitical life, is reflected in the iconography of this painting. The Carthusian is accompanied by Saint John the Baptist, a hermit of the desert. Behind him is the Lamb of God. Also accompanying the Carthusian is Saint Jerome, which symbolizes asceticism.



In the Statutes of the Carthusian Order we read: “One should note that all our hermitages are dedicated in the first place to the Blessed Mary ever Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, our principal heavenly patrons.”



An example of Carthusian Profession goes like this: “I, Brother ______, promise stability, obedience, and conversion of my life, before God, His saints, and the relics belonging to this hermitage, which was built in honor of God, the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and Saint John the Baptist, in the presence of Dom ______, Prior.”



For the Carthusian, Saint John the Baptist is a hermit in the desert, a solitary, and one who is focused on God alone.



Also in the Statutes of the Order are these words: “John the Baptist, greater than whom, the Savior tells us, has not risen among those born of women, is another striking example of the safety and value of solitude. Trusting not in the fact that divine prophecy had foretold that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and that he would go before Christ the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah; nor in the fact that his birth had been miraculous, and that his parents were saints, he fled the society of men as something dangerous and chose the security of desert solitude: and, in actual fact, as long as he dwelt alone in the desert, he knew neither danger nor death. Moreover the virtue and merit he attained there are amply attested by his unique call to baptize Christ, and by his acceptance of death for the sake of justice. For, schooled in sanctity in solitude, he, alone of all men, became worthy to wash Christ — Christ Who washes all things clean — and worthy, too, to undergo prison bonds and death itself in the cause of truth.”



And then the Statutes give us something to think about: “And now, dear reader, ponder and reflect on the great spiritual benefits derived from solitude by the holy and venerable Fathers, Paul, Anthony, Hilarion, Benedict, and others beyond number, and you will readily agree that for tasting the spiritual savor of psalmody; for penetrating the message of the written page; for kindling the fire of fervent prayer; for engaging in profound meditation; for losing oneself in mystic contemplation; for obtaining the heavenly dew of purifying tears — nothing is more helpful than solitude.”



Sancte Ioannes Baptista, ora pro nobis!

The Carthusian Order and Saint John the Baptist

The beautiful artwork for this post is attributed to Jan Provoost, a mid-to-late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Flemish painter. In this piece our Blessed Mother is enthroned beneath a canopy. The Child Jesus is holding a book in His right Hand, perhaps the Sacred Scriptures, while in His left Hand He is holding a Rosary. In the background on the right is a figure enclosed in a garden, symbolizing our Lady’s virginity and chastity. A Carthusian monk is kneeling, apparently to be the recipient of the Rosary. The life of a Carthusian, that of silence and solitude, of both communal and eremitical life, is reflected in the iconography of this painting. The Carthusian is accompanied by Saint John the Baptist, a hermit of the desert. Behind him is the Lamb of God. Also accompanying the Carthusian is Saint Jerome, which symbolizes asceticism.



In the Statutes of the Carthusian Order we read: “One should note that all our hermitages are dedicated in the first place to the Blessed Mary ever Virgin and Saint John the Baptist, our principal heavenly patrons.”



An example of Carthusian Profession goes like this: “I, Brother ______, promise stability, obedience, and conversion of my life, before God, His saints, and the relics belonging to this hermitage, which was built in honor of God, the Blessed Mary ever Virgin, and Saint John the Baptist, in the presence of Dom ______, Prior.”



For the Carthusian, Saint John the Baptist is a hermit in the desert, a solitary, and one who is focused on God alone.



Also in the Statutes of the Order are these words: “John the Baptist, greater than whom, the Savior tells us, has not risen among those born of women, is another striking example of the safety and value of solitude. Trusting not in the fact that divine prophecy had foretold that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, and that he would go before Christ the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah; nor in the fact that his birth had been miraculous, and that his parents were saints, he fled the society of men as something dangerous and chose the security of desert solitude: and, in actual fact, as long as he dwelt alone in the desert, he knew neither danger nor death. Moreover the virtue and merit he attained there are amply attested by his unique call to baptize Christ, and by his acceptance of death for the sake of justice. For, schooled in sanctity in solitude, he, alone of all men, became worthy to wash Christ — Christ Who washes all things clean — and worthy, too, to undergo prison bonds and death itself in the cause of truth.”



And then the Statutes give us something to think about: “And now, dear reader, ponder and reflect on the great spiritual benefits derived from solitude by the holy and venerable Fathers, Paul, Anthony, Hilarion, Benedict, and others beyond number, and you will readily agree that for tasting the spiritual savor of psalmody; for penetrating the message of the written page; for kindling the fire of fervent prayer; for engaging in profound meditation; for losing oneself in mystic contemplation; for obtaining the heavenly dew of purifying tears — nothing is more helpful than solitude.”



Sancte Ioannes Baptista, ora pro nobis!

Lanspergius the Carthusian - Short Meditations II

Abstain from all words that are in any way hurtful, backbiting, grudging, unclean, or contentious, as from a mortal sin. Having a special regard to keep yourself from all jesting, lightness, immoderate laughter, and idle words, and be so careful in this behalf, as neither you use them yourself, nor yet hear them of any other, as far as it lies in your power to avoid it. And to the end you may be free from that great vice of backbiting, resolve in your own heart never to speak anything of those who are absent, but such things as you are sure do tend to the edifying of men's souls. Ever have some means at hand to break off that talk by bringing aptly in a discourse of some other matter, before there be any word uttered either in backbiting or dispraising of them.

Lanspergius the Carthusian - Short Meditations II

Abstain from all words that are in any way hurtful, backbiting, grudging, unclean, or contentious, as from a mortal sin. Having a special regard to keep yourself from all jesting, lightness, immoderate laughter, and idle words, and be so careful in this behalf, as neither you use them yourself, nor yet hear them of any other, as far as it lies in your power to avoid it. And to the end you may be free from that great vice of backbiting, resolve in your own heart never to speak anything of those who are absent, but such things as you are sure do tend to the edifying of men's souls. Ever have some means at hand to break off that talk by bringing aptly in a discourse of some other matter, before there be any word uttered either in backbiting or dispraising of them.