Mediation of Xt in Prayer 430
Sku: 43000D0E060
Archival Number: A430 V32
Author: Lonergan, B.
Language(s): English
Decade: 1960
Open 43000D0E060.pdf

Description:

5 handwritten schematic pp. May be related to 429, where `Mediating object' is `Xt and His members' and `Mediating principle' is `man under the New Law = w. grace of Holy Spirit.' Obviously related to paper of same name. Each p. written on back of mimeographed page `Loyola College: Department of Theology, Theology 101,' containing readings on revelation, Holy Spirit, and Supernatural. (The latest date in these selections is 1961).
Database and descriptions © Copyright 2017 by Robert M. Doran

Transcription:

A430: Mediation of Xt in Prayer

 

5 handwritten schematic pp. May be related to A429, where ‘Mediating object’ is ‘Xt and His members’ and ‘Mediating principle’ is ‘man under the New Law = w. grace of Holy Spirit.’ Obviously related to paper of same name, final section (CWL 6, 176-82). Each p. written on back of mimeographed page ‘Loyola College: Department of Theology, Theology 101,’ containing readings on revelation, Holy Spirit, and Supernatural. (The latest date in these selections is 1961).

 

My photocopy does not have the reverse of these pp., but I think the dates may be significant: 1961.  Could these notes on the mediation of Christ in prayer be directly related to A429?  Could the two together constitute a new start on De intellectu et methodo?  Did BL in 1961 work out this part of his later longer paper of the same title?   Did he use this as part of the opening lecture of the course?  In other words, are these front pages in the file related to the later pages that clearly are notes for the 1961 De intellectu et methodo?   

Later thoughts (December 27, 2010) after organizing 443-449, which clearly do belong to the 1961 De intellectu et methodo: I don't think 429-432 are part of that course. Just where they do belong remains to be determined. But they are later, I believe.

 

First, then, we reproduce the pages; then we compare them with the corresponding section in the paper ‘The Mediation of Christ in Prayer.’

 

Mediation of XT in Prayer

 

1  Mediation an open notion

                                    pattern of concepts

    can be applied in many manners

 

2  Spontaneously we think of XT objectively: Gal 4.4-6

    the love of Xt: Greater love than this no man hath Jo 14.14

          precept of Xt:

          example of Xt:

          work of Xt: redemption

                              Church

   Xt mediates between us and the Father   1 Tim 2.5

   Spirit mediates between us and Xt           1 Cor 12.3

 

Gilleman          Le primat de la charité

                             Primauté

                        Musaeum Lovanicenses

Vachon & Ryan

 

[page 2]

 

Mediation of Xt in Prayer

 

1  What is immediate

            oneself, as one is; as Existenz: capable of disposing of oneself

                                                             incapable of absolute disposal

            all that is to be known by analysis  insight

                        but not as so known – and has been mediated by inferior [?]

                        rather as the prior given

                                            data of one’s spontaneity

                                                   of one’s deliberate decisions

                        living, loving – not thinking about them

 

2  We are (1) temples of the Holy Spirit – not our own

                (2) members of Xt

                (3) adopted children of God the Father

    There is thus in us the Life of which St John constantly speaks

    Is that life immediate or mediated

 

            (1) It is not immediate in the sense that it is our very own, we originate it in ourselves

                        essentially it is a gift: redemption

                                                            sending of the Spirit  New Law

                        a gift of the Father’s mediated by the Son and the Spirit

 

[page 3]

 

            (2) from another viewpoint it is immediate and to be mediated

                  it can be a merely vegetative living

                        one is in the state of grace

                        one keeps out of sin

                        one does good deeds

                        one does all this only by the grace of God

                        but it does not occur with a label on it

                        and one does not stop to think: how it is one does it

                                                                          that it is the life promised

    fructifying[?]

                        like Topsy “Ah ‘spect Ah just growed”

                it can be a habitually conscious living

                        one is not thinking of it all the time: like being in love

                        one easily reverts to it: one is distracted from worldliness

                        one is engaged in grasping all its aspects       

                                                                    all its implications

 

               not as STUDY

                         ANALYSIS                                                   in consciously living

               But as LIVING – REALIZING – OPENING

 

(3) The transition from the vegetative to the conscious is via prayer

            prayer is: from the Holy Spirit

                                        centered about the Mediator

                                        to the Father through the Son

 

[page 4]

 

3  We are immediate to ourselves

            to be mediated by our acts

                                         our self-objectification

            so also tho not constitutive of us as men

                        the gift of the Spirit

                                        Life in the Spirit, in Xt

                        is to be mediated by its loving [? I don’t think that’s the right word] in us

                                                    by its rising to consciousness

 

4  This mediation is potentially universal – pray always

                                    in loving our neighbor we are loving Xt

                                    in making ourselves good Xtians, we are loving Xt

     but the universality has a center, a focal pt

 

5  The apprehension of Xt, the focal pt, is our own apprehension

     In a sense it is putting on the mind: of the apostles

  of Paul and John

  of the Church

  of Xt

  of the Spirit

     But it is putting it on: in our own way

    in accord with our own capacities and individuality

    in response to our own needs

 


[page 5]

 

6  It is a self-mediation through another

    One is becoming oneself: not just experience insight judgment

                                                but choice decision – conversion

               freely deliberately

               yet deeply, strongly as tho carried along

   One is doing so not alone in isolation

                             but in reference to Xt

                                    qui praedestinavit nos conformes fieri imagini

                                                through the merits of Xt

                                                                   grace of Xt

                                                                   example of Xt

 

7  It is a mutual self-mediation

            not simultaneous (at least in extrinsic time)

            Xt as man chose decided perfected himself

                        he could have had a quite different perfection

                        he chose the mode and manner that is ours

                                    overcoming evil by good

                                    transforming evil into good

                                    death and resurrection

 

[RD: Comparison with part 5 of the paper ‘The Mediation of Christ in Prayer’ shows that that section came from these notes.  BL used these notes in giving that part of that lecture.  When, then, were these notes written?  I do not think they were written in 1961, as part of that year’s course De intellectu et methodo. In the spring of 1962 he taught De methodo theologiae, and in the summer of 1962 applied mediation to the new problems that he had treated in De methodo theologiae. That seems a better context.]