Theological Life

The Travel Mood

Francisco Palau y Quer, witness of the mystery of God incarnate or what is the same in his experience, MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH increases, today, his closeness to us, in order to celebrate his feast.

He was a theological man. He expressed this through the well-known tripod: faith, hope and love.

He lived love from the framework of faith, which looks into the future with genuine interest. For it wants what it longs for to happen. So his hope grows and widens. In certain situations this fullness bursts forth to become a dazzling testimony. Usually, however, this faith is as discreet as it is real. It lives, on the inside, as Paul describes it: excellent charisma. Yes would speak with tongues of all kinds, if he had the gift of prophecy and understood all mysteries., sf I possessed abundant knowledge and a faith that could move mountains, but lacked love, I would be nothing.   

And if only this happens to me, I am as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. Superior to prophecy, to the understanding of mysteries and all knowledge. And if I should distribute my goods to the needy, and give my body to be burned, but have not love, I am nothing. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues shall cease, and knowledge shall cease ..... For it is all partial.

It now looks to the future. It maximises it: When completeness comes, incompleteness will end.. And he gives us an example:  When I was a child, I spoke, thought and judged like a child. When I became a man, I gave up what I was as a child. Now we see as in a mirror, darkly. Then we see face to face. Now I know in part. But then I shall know as I have been known.

He goes on to describe the nature of love: He is patient. He is not envious. It is confused with service; It does not boast, nor is it arrogant. It is not arrogant. It is decorous. It does not seek your interest. It is not irritable. It takes no account of wrong received. Love does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in truth. It excuses all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 Love does not expire. Prophecies and science shall vanish. Tongues shall cease. For our knowledge is partial, and our prophecy is partial. When that which is perfect comes, that which is limited will be done away.. Then we will see face to face. Now I know in a partial way. Then I will know as I am known.

Summit experiences await us! Yes, yes. Eye has not seen, nor ear heard.

Now faith, hope and love remain. These three. But the greatest of these is love.

Yes, Francisco Palau lives love with this Pauline mood, a copy of the triple colouring with which John of the Cross offers it to us: red - love, white - faith and green - hope. A precious cloak to wrap ourselves in and to wrap ourselves in as we walk the path of existence. It is heritage and vocational loyalty in the situations in which it has found itself positioned.

The nuance with which Francis expressed the theological life was one of searching. A characteristic manifestation of his vocational disposition. He was also a tireless traveller. He did not begin his theological journey and remain admiring the route or certain moments or situations along the way. His was a journey into the future. Without looking back. Without interrupting the journey, harassed by distractions. Without ever growing old from fatigue. Without succumbing to the lurks of temptation. A true pilgrim, he was. He did not find the purpose of existence in the goal, nor in the end of the road, but before: in the journey itself. This is why this man was such an attractive traveller.

His search was tenacious. And he was so for two reasons: both for his own condition and as a vocational imperative. His awakened disposition impelled him to extend his gaze further afield. From the vocation he had received, he sought his own particular extension. And from it, he would collaborate in embellishing the singular symphony of his spirit: the inescapable foundation of his charism.

Search Palau most of his life. For a long time. Qualitatively, look for. In the early morning of its existence: Not knowing you I went in pursuit of the good, the beautiful. He searched among the best offers: priesthood, religious life. I went to the cloister in case I might find you there... And the cloister enlarged my heart.

Search in the noon of his journey. The search leads him to new and unexplored levels. By dint of searching and coherence, Palau grows. He grows towards life, towards God. By searching, his qualities are authenticated and increased.

Search yes, in daylight and when the horizon loses diaphanousness and perspective: It was presented under the veil of mystery - the Church. In the half-light, search: I, though in the dark, was looking for you. And it seeks in a closed and prolonged nightAt the age of 31, I started to die while living. .... This situation lasted until I was 50. -No comment! He searches because he wants to find the centre of his vocation: I spent my life in search of my Beloved Thing. Because from there he answers his call, to serve more and better. As he is asked to do.

Palau's searcher's spirit is not extinguished, although it does diminish. And to the extent that he welcomes discoveries with fidelity - including the historical setting - to the same extent numerous personal capacities awaken and unfold. From the Carmelite charism he prioritises what is most genuine: human values, interiority, sobriety, historical realism etc. In a word, what his environment needs most.

From this theological plane he lives in communion with the Church, his Beloved. The darkness and limitations of faith remain: It is a mystery... You will not see the Church's either, as long as you live. The joyful reality manifests itself mostly in semi-darkness. Instantaneous, fleeting is the luminosity. The dialectic of presence - absence remains: When will I see you without veils! When will you receive me, holy Church, into your virginal bosom! The sense of continuous and lasting ecstasy grows in him. Of his belonging to God and to others. With joy he lives such bonds. And from this awareness and desire he often exclaims: Holy Church, open your arms and welcome into your bosom this wretched mortal, who longs to remain in your bosom.. He lives in growing theological hope.

Palau forcefully affirms that in this temporary journey of ours, if no we live in a theological climate, we are not in communion, neither with God nor with others. He lived it and tried to communicate it. Today to us.