Real Presence: a Method for Finding God in All Things

By Robert Colacurcio PhD

This book is written with Christians principally in mind, folks whose spiritual life has been nurtured by the sacraments.
The Christians I have in mind are also seeking a practical way to enter more deeply into the sacred mystery of the divine presence on a daily basis in their walk-about lives. The sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, Penance and Eucharist are considered from the viewpoint of the method they reveal for developing an habitual state of mind and heart that gives entry into a deeper daily connection with the mysterious presence of the divine in all things.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 19, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479748662

Robert Colacurcio PhD

With this book Robert Colacurcio has brought the series of his previous nine books full circle. The concept of the “virtual self” from his first book, The Virtual Self: Beyond the Gap in Buddhist Philosophy is now used to give the reader a way to ponder the question, “What is it that takes rebirth?” This question takes its place in a long line of questions that have guided the author’s approach to spirituality from an early age. He trained as a Jesuit for eleven years, earned a doctorate in philosophy from Fordham University and explored every aspect of The Human Potential Movement available in NYC in the ‘70’s. After practicing Zen and the methods of G.I. Gurdjieff in a Sufi commune, he discovered the spiritual technology of the Buddha. For the past thirty years, the Buddha’s methodology has provided his path to deeper study and contemplation of life’s most important questions. He currently lives with his wife, Carol Jo, on a mountain top in Virginia. Together they share a partnership in the spirit which they believe was begun many lifetimes ago.

Book preview

Copyright © 2012 by Robert Colacurcio, PhD.

ISBN:             Softcover             978-1-4797-4865-5

                       Ebook                   978-1-4797-4866-2

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

123654

Contents

Introduction to Real Presence

Chapter One Baptism As Initiation

Chapter Two Confirma Me, Domine

Chapter Three Order Up Some Space

Chapter Four Misalignment

Chapter Five Realignment Of The Spiritual Vehicle

Chapter Six The Wisdom Of Spacious Graciousness

Chapter Seven Eucharistic Presence

Chapter Eight The Wisdom Of Emptiness

Chapter Nine Epilogue

Afterword

Footnotes to Real Presence

Dedication

Introduction to Real Presence

This book is written with devout Christians, especially Catholic Christians in mind, for adults seeking an entry into a deeper daily connection with the mysterious presence of the divine in all things. I write for Catholics in particular because I know them best. I was raised a devout Catholic, entered the Society of Jesus after being taught by the Jesuits in high school, and received my doctorate in philosophy from the Jesuit university of Fordham.

Three years shy of ordination I left. When asked why I left the Jesuits, I first give the short answer: because it stopped being real food. If pressed to say more, I ask, How do you know when you’re hungry? This question is not meant to be rhetorical, but it usually evokes the same silent response. When you are hungry, it is undeniable. You would dismiss the sophist as a fool if he tried to persuade you otherwise. Physical hunger is not satisfied by argument, and neither is spiritual hunger.

In my case, the experience of the monastic life was paradoxically luxurious. I loved the strict disciplined routine. I loved the asceticism of rigorous study. I loved the idea of the magis, doing more and being more ad majorem dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God). The monastic experience for me was a satisfying feast for the mind and heart… until it wasn’t. Slowly, slowly a conceptualized awareness arose into consciousness of a deep dissatisfaction and spiritual hunger. The best had given me the best they had to offer, and it wasn’t sufficient. It didn’t suffice to give me a way to enter into a deeper daily connection with the mysterious presence of the divine in all things.

The Jesuits were certainly not deficient in their effort to make it suffice. I am not faulting the genuine integrity and devotion of my Jesuit instructors and professors. By and large, they all were witnessing to the life they had been trained for. My problem was deeper. I found the spiritual methodology unsatisfactory. The church and St. Ignatius offered me the best they had, and what can I say except that it left me hungry. I wanted more.

I had taken to heart the Catholic vision of what life is all about. I was given the best philosophical and theological superstructure that could articulate and support that vision. I applied the soundest spiritual technology the Jesuits could offer that was grounded in the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola. After working the program from the time my mother used to take my hand and walk with me to daily mass and communion until I left the Society of Jesus in 1971 at the age of twenty eight, I then had to conclude that I was hungry. This diet was not satisfying that hunger.

This book, however, in no way advocates leaving the church. In fact, its intent is just the opposite. I write intending to present the sacraments as a method for entering more deeply into the sacred mystery as a member of that sacramental body, the church. From the vantage point that I have now, reflecting on the way I was taught to make use of the sacraments and the spiritual technology that I have learned since, I want to offer some ideas for guiding devout Catholics to go deeper into the sacred mystery of the divine presence.

A final word about method before we start our exploration of a more methodical way of making use of the sacraments. The prayer practices taught by St. Ignatius in the Spiritual Exercises are intended, when applied with diligence and perseverance, to produce contemplatives in action. My observation and personal experience, however, is that they are not a powerful enough tool to consistently do what they are intended to do. They need to be supplemented, in my experience, with a spiritual technology practical and powerful enough to give entry and deep familiarity with what I call the wisdom of emptiness. It is the development and habitual practice of this state of mind that does give entry into that deeper daily connection with the mysterious presence of the divine in all things.

Chapter One

BAPTISM AS INITIATION

Catholic theologians combine both Baptism and Confirmation as sacraments of initiation(1). These symbolic actions are efficacious signs. That is, given the proper disposition on the part of the recipients (or in the case of infants, on the part of the parents or others who stand up for the child), these signs effect what they signify.

Through the immersion in water and in the presence of the community of believers represented by the priest, Baptism initiates one into the saving mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection. The newly baptized person thus begins a journey of faith that is meant to lead to an ever deeper entry into the mystery of God’s presence in the world, in the church, and in one’s own individual life in a deeply personal way.

Subsequent to the ceremony at the baptismal font, however, it has been my experience that what one is initiated into is the catechism, not the mystery of God’s presence. From (a) the mystery of the Word made flesh in the Son of God becoming incarnate in the person of Jesus through (b) the words of the various creedal statements and their dogmatic explications all the way down to (c) the catechism’s distilled formulations designed for memorization, the church puts a lot of trust in words.

I would like to expand on the symbolic meaning of Baptism by starting with the word initiation. Our word initial also has its root in that word. One’s initials stand in for the rest of one’s name because they are the beginning of each name. They initiate the name in a secondary meaning of that word. We have probably all been part of some initiation ceremony since Baptism. My first was in the Boy Scouts as a webelo candidate. The honor of becoming a webelo scout was a distinct kind of merit badge. It signified that the scout first initiated a request to undergo a rather scary test. I was eleven years old. It was summer scout camp. After a campfire ceremony, I remember being marched single file in the dark. We were allowed to take only our sleeping bag, and were not told anything else. The leader at the front of our column of about twenty boys had the only light. We walked, stumbling really, for about a half hour in pitch blackness—or so it seemed to me as