Was on a website a while ago that has a somewhat lengthy quiz which is supposed to reveal your “spirituality type.” Here is my result:
Your Spirituality Type: PATH OF INTELLECT (Thomistic Prayer)
About 12 percent of the population follows this path, using the syllogistic method of Saint Thomas Aquinas known as Scholastic prayer.
The main emphasis is on the orderly progression of thought from cause to effect. People of this prayer type prefer neat, orderly forms of the spiritual life, as opposed to the free-spirit, impulsive attitude of the Franciscan approach. Their spirituality is centered on the earnest pursuit of all the transcendental values: truth, goodness, beauty, unity, love, life, and spirit. Like Saint Teresa of Avila, they are willing to exert superhuman effort to achieve their goal.
Because of their disdain for second best, they seek total truth and authenticity in their lives and work hard to reach the whole truth about themselves, about God, and about sanctity. This intense pursuit of truth colors their whole spiritual life.
Books of prayer frequently call the Thomistic method of prayer ‘discursive meditation.’ In this type of prayer, one takes a virtue or fault or theological truth and studies it from every possibly angle. Change of behavior is an essential part of this prayer – it doesn’t stay at the intellectual level. There is generally a bias against this type of prayer today because it was so much in vogue before Vatican II.
Yikes! This is me! I have the Summa on my bedside table. I think I frequently get disgusted and frustrated with the state of the Church as well as the virulent strains of post-modern philosophy that color our secular world just because of this seeking of total truth. I stagnate spiritually and intellectually because, let’s face it, LE, you were probably born a hundred years too late.
Oh well. Once Transformation in Christ is done I have Chesterton’s St. Thomas on deck. I’ll probably keep that on top of the Summa in my bedroom for a couple minutes’ reading every night.
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1 comment:
I got the same thing too.I am a catholic, but don't know much about catholicism as I lived most of my life in Oman and Dubai.
Can you guide me on how to pray in this way.I have only a basic understanding of the Catechism of the church.I pray the Rosary everyday and read the New Testament, but have never heard of Scholastic prayer
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