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On the Need for Recollection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2024

H. C. Graef
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Extract

Nothing is really necessary for us except God. To find God means recollecting our mind in him. And in order better to recollect one’s mind, all superfluous intercourse and friendships as well as unnecessary talk must be cut out; nor should a man desire to learn novelties; but he should rather shun all things by which the mind is distracted, and begin to consider the abyss of his miseries… for in all the world I delight only in two things, namely in knowing God and myself.

Bl. Angela de Foligno.

These words were written in the fourteenth century, when Europe and Christendom were still synonymous terms. They speak of a state of mind and soul almost unknown in our modern world save to the few who profess to lead the contemplative life. Yet this state, which is called recollection, or the ‘gathering together’ of one’s thoughts and desires, is perhaps more necessary now than in other times, for it is the one means by which our age can be restored to sanity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Life of the Spirit , Volume 1 , Issue 8 , February 1947 , pp. 245 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © 1964 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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