Anam Cara

Started by Yankee, May 16, 2018, 06:37:37 AM

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Yankee

May 16, 2018, 06:37:37 AM
Anyone believe in this?
"What bad taste You have, Lord, to love me, hideous as I am; but do not, on any account, change that bad taste, lest I be exposed to the danger of Your putting an angel in my place." -St Teresa

St.Justin

#1
May 16, 2018, 11:01:07 AM
Lordy, Lordy. What next? It ain't like we don't already have enough crazies in this world. People giving each other spiritual direction?. Sounds like a astra-logical operation. call me and I will tell you all about you.

Gardener

#2
May 16, 2018, 11:07:22 AM
No.

Read the history of it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anam_Cara

Its modern usage is NOT what the Irish ascetics and early Desert Fathers were doing.

The modern variant is a spiritual director, and the ancient usage is analogous to this.

It's NOT just random laity giving each other advice as if able to read someone's heart or soul.

D.A.N.G.E.R.O.U.S.

"If anyone does not wish to have Mary Immaculate for his Mother, he will not have Christ for his Brother." - St. Maximilian Kolbe

Yankee

#3
May 16, 2018, 04:03:08 PM
Maybe I misunderstood it? I read that it was just an intense bond between souls. I assumed it meant like between David and Jonathan
"What bad taste You have, Lord, to love me, hideous as I am; but do not, on any account, change that bad taste, lest I be exposed to the danger of Your putting an angel in my place." -St Teresa

Michael Wilson

#4
May 16, 2018, 06:27:13 PM
The ability to read another's soul or conscience is almost always a gift that Our Lord only gives to Confessors and spiritual directors; not to best friends.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

MundaCorMeum

#5
May 16, 2018, 07:03:26 PM
never heard of it

lauermar

#6
May 16, 2018, 07:31:25 PM
http://www.basaltheritage.org/anamcaradesigns.com/meaningofaramcara.html

"Anam Cara refers to the Celtic spiritual belief of souls connecting and bonding.

In Celtic Spiritual tradition, it is believed that the soul radiates all about the physical body, what some refer to as an aura. When you connect with another person and become completely open and trusting with that individual, your two souls begin to flow together. Should such a deep bond be formed, it is said you have found your Anam Cara or soul friend.

Your Anam Cara always accepts you as you truly are, holding you in beauty and light. In order to appreciate this relationship, you must first recognize your own inner light and beauty. This is not always easy to do. The Celts believed that forming an Anam Cara friendship would help you to awaken your awareness of your own nature and experience the joys of others.

According to John O'Donahue, an accomplished Irish poet, philosopher and Catholic priest, "...You are joined in an ancient and eternal union with humanity that cuts across all barriers of time, convention, philosophy and definition. When you are blessed with an anam cara, the Irish believe, you have arrived at that most sacred place: home."

I think it sounds like New Age or a type of indigenous pagan belief system.
"I am not a pessimist. I am not an optimist. I am a realist." Father Malachi Martin (1921-1999)

St.Justin

#7
May 16, 2018, 07:34:56 PM
John O'Donohue (1 January 1956 – 4 January 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher.

Non Nobis

#8
May 16, 2018, 09:30:13 PM
Maybe it would be misleading to use the same expression Anum Cara, but I think our Guardian Angel should be an intimate friend of our soul, even if we cannot know his mind (and must share ours with him). I know the meaning is not the same, but the expression sounds rather beautiful.  How about the Latin "animae amicum"?
[Matthew 8:26]  And Jesus saith to them: Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith? Then rising up he commanded the winds, and the sea, and there came a great calm.

[Job  38:1-5]  Then the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind, and said: [2] Who is this that wrappeth up sentences in unskillful words? [3] Gird up thy loins like a man: I will ask thee, and answer thou me. [4] Where wast thou when I laid up the foundations of the earth? tell me if thou hast understanding. [5] Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it?

Jesus, Mary, I love Thee! Save souls!

Yankee

#9
May 17, 2018, 04:51:13 AM
I guess some of the modern things seem New Agey but what about in the way St. Briget mentioned it? Just two souls very closely united?
"What bad taste You have, Lord, to love me, hideous as I am; but do not, on any account, change that bad taste, lest I be exposed to the danger of Your putting an angel in my place." -St Teresa

Maximilian

#10
May 17, 2018, 11:40:49 AM
Quote from: Yankee on May 17, 2018, 04:51:13 AM

what about in the way St. Briget mentioned it? Just two souls very closely united?

Sounds very intriguing. What would be useful is to have evidence of a tradition of this practice in between St. Bridget and today.

One could have confidence that this was not a New Age creation if there were some sort of lineage of practice through the Middle Ages.

Perhaps the book you mention by John O'Donohue goes into that aspect?
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