Читать книгу Books and Religious Devotion - Allan F. Westphall - Страница 12
ОглавлениеThomas Connary witnessed something remarkable in Stratford on Tuesday, January 17, 1888.
Read my words of description of the Blessed and Holy Virgin Mother and her Blessed and Holy Company as I saw them very plainly, in this, my own house, on the 17th, of January in the year 1888. . . . I will now give in this a few of my thoughts in viewing the Blessed and Holy Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ, with a few of her Blessed and Holy companions then and there I was much more than very happy thank God. I felt very sure then, that God and His whole heavenly creatures were fully with me for endless Eternity.
These reminiscences, which are recorded, signed, and inserted between pages 54 and 55 of St. Francis of Sales’s Spiritual Conferences, demonstrate remarkable concreteness. In what must be understood as a corporeal vision, Connary sees the blessed company “in this, my own house,” and he asserts the central hermeneutic category for his felt religious experiences, namely that of seeing “very plainly” (a phrase repeated in all of the recorded experiences). This is the succinct record of literal visualization and physical detail, clearly dated, and it shows minimal effort to move beyond the dimensions of the “then and there” in the direction of speculative or abstract reflection. Yet some move toward the abstract is implied, for it is through this vision that Connary finds unequivocal affirmation of his own salvation. The phrase “I was much more than very happy” gives some indication of the deeply emotional nature of the experience and also of the difficulty of conveying it adequately through the resources of conventional language.
We know that Connary records the same experience in his book The Council of the Vatican on November 24, 1890. This shows that he returns reflectively to such episodes over time and records them for his family as the culminating experiences that bring life and devotion into sharp focus. Facing page 25 of The Council of the Vatican (in a chapter on the attendance of the bishops of Ireland at this twentieth ecumenical council), we read the following thoughts about the same occurrence:
Now I will say here, that God’s heavenly visit to this, my Stratford home, Tuesday, January 17, 1888, was to prove to my full satisfaction, that I was then with Him as one, for Endless eternity. Now I cannot ever fear death, here or any where thank God, and my advice to all is this: Never disobey God. Now all must see everywhere as fast as possible that our best human creatures never will disobey God anywhere, their happiness is heavenly pure. Sin is being wrong, is hateful, is senseless, is brutal. Thomas Connary.
This is where Connary brings together the account of a perceived visionary experience and some theological reflection. The precise interpretive path is difficult to discern: the full meaning of the appearance of the Virgin and company seems to have been immediately or intuitively understood, rather than the result of logical reasoning or prolonged contemplation. And the implications are soteriological and ethical, as Connary derives from the visionary impression a deeper understanding and reassurance concerning his own salvation and God’s moral law. In other words, the corporeal vision becomes a mode of instruction for Connary, being also a privileged vision of inclusion in the company of the elect.
As is true of all of Connary’s recorded religious experiences, there is no reason to understand the nature of his “plain seeing” as anything else than a concrete corporeal vision. The experiences are not presented as imagined apparitions, or as visions cultivated through prolonged interior meditation on images, holy persons, or specific events, like the Passion of Christ.1 Manifested to Connary in the “then and there” of familiar surroundings, the appearance of the Virgin and company provides proof “to my full satisfaction” of a role in the divine plan and mission.
