Skip to main content

Most Recent

Angustia: no way out!

  Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae describes anxiety as a narrowing (from Latin angustia - narrowness): "Anxiety is that which so takes possession of the mind as to leave no opening for escape" It is sorrow so intense it "binds the soul" and "shuts out all hope" The soul becomes trapped, unable to find a way out. This image is precise: anxiety feels like being in a space that keeps getting smaller, the walls pressing in. Aquinas's proposed remedies all point towards "dilatatio" (expansion) : -Grace as "enlargement and strengthening" of the soul. A distraction that provokes a "dilatatio" (expansion) and therefore:  -Joy and love causing the heart to widen -Hope opening what anxiety has closed -Contemplation of truth delighting more than pain saddens This is grace - not as theological abstraction, but as lived experience of sudden release. My frustration:  Around my 20s when I was trying to deepen Catholicism, I bega...
Post a Comment
Read more
Labels

Sending love to them

 

Almost out of all the hustle and bustle of my life I can conciliate my everyday, now, with the things and situations which bring harmony to my heart.

Yesterday was the Day of the Dead, dedicated to remember the beloved ones living now on the other side. Being our family so tremendously scattered, also the dead ones are scattered here and there. Besides I hate cemeteries, especially in Italy. Although they are considered very artistic, and quite a few are even suggested in the guide tours for tourists, I really dislike them. Most of them are in the Neoclassical style of the nineteenth century. Which strongly reminds me of my grandparents house: neoclassic, cold, austere… Just like them.

And yet, in my commemoration, everyone is included. Because I know that life is hard to cope with, and in the mess that we have to face, many people forget the real priorities, that can’t – or better said: shouldn’t be put aside. As otherwise, the family will bear the consequences.

Sharpness, coldness, detachment, incorrectness, and even dishonesty… these are unfortunately the wrongdoings that far too often are manifested in one’s family.

For my commemoration I bought a yellow-gold chrysanthemum plant and a very red cyclamen. If I am not mistaken, chrysanthemum represents eternal life, while cyclamen love. And this is what I am sending them all, out of my heart.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts