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Monday, July 21, 2008

Christ Mystical


A book that I repeatedly return to is Christ Mystical by Joseph Hall (1647).

I found a very rough copy last year, and it has been a constant companion, particularly on trips up to Newcastle.

The little I know of Joseph Hall comes from wikipedia.

The main point of the book is union with Christ: The kind, the resemblance, the certainty, the privilege and benefits of this union.

Here are my favourite bits:

Ye are wide O ye great wits while you spend yourselves in curious questions and learned extravagancies Ye shall find one touch of Christ more worth to your souls than all your deep and laboursome disquisitions one dram of faith more precious than a pound of knowledge In vain shall ye seek for this in your books if you miss it in your bosoms If you know all things and cannot truly say I know whom I have believed 2 Tim i 12 you have but knowledge enough to know yourselves truly miserable
It is our faith that must raise our thoughts to a due estimation of our greatness and must shew us how highly we are descended how royally we are allied how gloriously cstated That only U it that must advance us to heaven and heaven down to us
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This last section is of particular beauty and relevance for me. On the days when I feel distant from Christ, I remind myself that He is always present. I remind myself of the wonder of His presence in the Holy Eucharist.
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