The 7 Pillars of Catholicism
The Seven Pillars of CatholicismThe Seven Pillars of Catholicism is the product of decades of my own personal spiritual growth and development -- something that will always be a work-in-progress. While this book can be useful to both Catholics and non-Catholics, it is primarily a Roman Catholic philosophy of spirituality.
The driving concept is that we have no lasting city here on earth, and that worldly attachments, human and material, keep us trapped and locked into this very temporary existence. We are here only in transit, yet
we are totally absorbed in the ride rather than the destination. If we are flying across the ocean to an all-expense-paid vacation to Bora Bora, do we care more about the plane trip or Bora Bora? Would we focus on the journey and forget about Bora Bora? Of course, not. We are on a journey to a far more pleasant (and eternal) destination than Bora Bora, yet we hang on to the journey as if it were all there is.
We are too wrapped up in and consumed with the things of this world. We all, at least in the United States, have too much “stuff.” The extreme of this has been made the topic of a Reality TV series called “Hoarders.” These people are obsessed with their possessions. Their possessions possess them. Yet a lot of us fall into that category to some extent. I’ve personally known people who have gone into near meltdown when they have to move from a house they have occupied for twenty or thirty years and the sudden realization of how much junk they have accumulated hits them like a freight train going downhill backwards. It’s insane and, yes, it is a form of insanity.
I have come to the conclusion that the ideal life, the only REAL life, is that of the monastery and convent. Cloistered monks and nuns see life in perfect clarity and perspective. Their lives are stress free as they live a perfect rhythm of prayer, work, study, and rest. They have mastered simplicity and deta chment, faith, and trust in God, together with an understanding of what life is really all about and why we are here.
I was going to title this book, “A Monastery of One,” but it would be unrealistic in today’s world to try to emulate the monastic life outside of a real monastery.
We can incorporate many monastic principles into our daily lives. We can develop a monastic mindset that the practice of the Seven Pillars will provide.
The Seven Pillars may seem simple, but they require a great deal of prayer, practice, and commitment to achieve. But once they become embedded in our souls and form the underpinnings of our spirituality, we will begin to experience that peace which the world cannot give, the peace that only comes from Jesus Christ.
All Scriptural quotations come from the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible.