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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...

An invincible Light inside

In the darkest days of winter, ancient populations performed rituals to the sun, invoking its return.

​In Rome, in 274 CE, Emperor Aurelian merged Eastern solar traditions with Roman ones and declared they be celebrated on the winter solstice. 
"Dies Natalis Solis Invicti" (Birthday of the Unconquered Sun) represented the invincibility, eternal power, and life-giving force of the sun, associated with the emperor's divine authority. Later, it became the celebration of Jesus' birth.

Natural cycles teach us that nothing lasts forever; rebirth comes again and again. We must be strong and develop resilience to overcome tough times.

​But people tend to remain trapped in deep negative emotions that keep returning to the mind and devastating the heart, making a true rebirth impossible. Not only are difficult situations often powerful challenges, but even after they are technically over, they persist because we cling to them in our memory.

And yet, if we could only make a clean break from them, we would indeed experience the blessing of that divine spark within, the one that passionately regenerates everything and transforms each negativity into something precious we have learned!

​«In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that…
In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.» (Albert Camus)

Here the original:
​« Au milieu de la haine, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un amour invincible.
Au milieu des larmes, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un sourire invincible.
Au milieu du chaos, je trouvais qu’il y avait en moi un calme invincible.
Je comprenais enfin, au milieu de l’hiver, qu’il y avait en moi un été invincible.
Et cela me rend heureux. Car cela dit que peu importe si le monde pousse fort contre moi, il y a en moi quelque chose de plus fort, quelque chose de meilleur, qui pousse en retour. »

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