Sometimes we are like the Athenians of whom the Acts of the Apostles says that they spent their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. Various new opinions are often circulated among us about methods of Eastern meditation such as yoga, Zen, and the like, by which people claim that a man can bring himself by his own effort into such a state of mind that, free from every disturbance and emptied of every human affection, he may raise himself, if he wishes, to the highest degree of contemplative life and to the supreme quiet of his soul, which they call nirvana.

As it is written, there is nothing new under the sun, nor can anyone say, "See, this is new." Speaking of the ancients who gave themselves to such things and claimed that they had "risen to such heights of virtue that they mocked the works of the flesh," and whose "mind is moved by no disturbance whatever, so that, to speak simply, he is either a stone or a god," Saint Jerome says:

They assert that what the Greeks call passions, and what we may call disturbances, namely grief and joy, hope and fear, of which two concern the present and two the future, can be uprooted from the mind, and that no fiber or root of vice remains at all in a man, by meditation and constant exercise in virtue. But this is to take the man out of the man, and to be in a man as though without a body; it is to wish for such a thing rather than to teach it, as the Apostle says: "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" For who can avoid being stirred by joy, contracted by sorrow, lifted up by hope, or shaken by fear?

Christian prayer, by contrast, is the turning of a soul seeking union with God in charity. Here I judge sincerity of heart to be worth much more than method. Does sanctification depend on some singular extrasensory state of mind, or on similar things contrived by human cleverness? Is not God alone holy, and Christ the only way to God, according to the words, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me"? Who sanctifies himself? The Son of God alone sanctifies. Our prayer is founded in His name, and from Him it receives its efficacy, as Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe teaches:

We must first note that in the conclusion of the prayer we say, "through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord." We never say, "through the Holy Spirit." This is certainly not done without reason by the Catholic Church, because of that mystery by which Jesus Christ, the mediator of God and men, became man, a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, who entered once into the holy places by His own blood, not into man-made copies of the true sanctuary, but into heaven itself, where He is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.

Considering this office of His priesthood, the Apostle says, "Through Him then let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name." Through Him, therefore, we offer the sacrifice of praise and prayer, because through His death we were reconciled when we were enemies. Through Him who deigned to become a sacrifice for us, our own sacrifice can be made acceptable in the sight of God. For this reason blessed Peter admonishes us, saying, "You yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." For this reason we say to God the Father: "Through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Our sanctification and the Church's veneration of the saints depend on these truths, and each in turn depends on the other, as is explained in the Roman Martyrology:

The Master and exemplar is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is celebrated as "alone holy," the source of all holiness and the origin of virtues. He proclaimed holiness of life to each and every disciple, and He Himself is both its author and its perfecter: "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." In Christ, who is the mystery of the Father, the Holy Spirit strengthens the faithful by the communion of all the saints and impels them to the contest set before them, so that they may obtain the unfading crown of glory. The faithful themselves, in Christ Jesus, according to His command, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me," strive to be imitators of the Savior, so that, supported by faith, hope, and charity, they may find in the lives of brothers already living in Christ patterns for fulfilling the mysteries of salvation, be stirred by their notable example, and be continually commended by their loving intercession.

The lives of the saints through the course of time shine forth in this world as a continuation and remembrance of the life of Christ, and in heavenly glory too they are proposed to the faithful, one differing from another in brightness like star from star.

Let us therefore consider our own purpose, whose saving power inspires us, by which we are exhorted to cultivate intensely and faithfully the spiritual life that leads to intimate union with God, following the teaching and footsteps of so many saints. What else is this but to propose a perennial and truly Christian way of spirituality, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine?

On this day, 26 January, the Church also commemorates the falling asleep of Saint Paula, widow, who, though born from one of the noblest senatorial families, renounced the world and, after distributing her wealth to the poor, withdrew with the blessed virgin Eustochium, her daughter, to the manger of the Lord at Bethlehem. Saint Jerome beautifully recounts her life in Letter 108 to Eustochium. Since there is not time to present that letter here in full, at least its ending should be added:

Farewell, Paula, and help the last old age of your admirer, Jerome, by your prayers. Your faith and works unite you to Christ; being present there, you will more easily obtain what you ask.

God, who gladden us by the memory of your saints and stir us to progress by their imitation, grant that those whom we honor with reverence we may also follow by the example of holy living; through Christ our Lord. Amen.