Contemplative Haven

Moving Day

2007-03-26T00:40:00.001-04:00

Friends, you can now find me here, a move precipitated by the discovery of some very alarming and abhorrent facts. You can read them for yourselves, although it makes my stomach churn to have to show you.

"Freedom negates and destroys itself, and becomes a factor leading to the destruction of others, when it no longer recognizes and respects its essential link with the truth. When freedom, out of a desire to emancipate itself from all forms of tradition and authority, shuts out even the most obvious evidence of an objective and universal truth...then the person ends up by no longer taking as the sole and indisputable point of reference for his own choices the truth about good and evil, but only his subjective and changeable opinion or, indeed, his selfish interest and whim." (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae)

I can no longer remain with a service provider that refuses to protect our children.

Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

2007-03-25T14:20:00.000-04:00

Talk of shrines led to longings for some readers and wonderful memories for others, so here is the beautiful site for Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, which will celebrate its 350th Anniversary in 2008. Stop by, take a tour, linger awhile.

Prayer of the Year at Ste. Anne's:

Grant Us Peace In Our Day

O Good Saint Anne, grandmother of the “Prince of Peace”, we come to you in prayer. We offer you our world, our families, and ourselves. Men, women, and children of this world are longing to live in peace. Many are innocent victims of division, violence, and hate. In communion with you and your daughter Mary, we turn to your grandson, the Lord Jesus. We implore him to place his Spirit in the hearts of all people. May the Lord grant us peace in our day. O Good Saint Anne, through your intercession, may we all be “peacemakers”.

Brother André

2007-03-20T11:45:00.001-04:00

In the previous post I gave a link to St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal. For any of you who may be interested in learning more about the Oratory and Brother André in particular, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has eight short clips (from both t.v. and radio) in its archives which you might enjoy.

Feastday of St. Joseph

2007-03-19T01:10:00.000-04:00

St. Joseph was named the patron saint of Canada in 1637 by Pope Urban VIII.

St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal is dedicated to this humble, silent saint, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-father of Jesus.

The Oratory is filled with unused crutches, similar to at Lourdes; they are wooden and metal witnesses to the miracles that have taken place there.

St. Teresa of Avila was a recipient of just such a miracle. As a young woman she was paralyzed for more than two years following an illness. In her autobiography, she tells us that it was St. Joseph who was responsible for her cure, that he, "was true to his own nature when he cured my paralysis and gave me the power to rise and walk..."

St. Teresa of Avila had a very special devotion to St. Joseph. She writes, "To other saints the Lord seems to have given grace to succour us in some of our necessities but of this glorious saint my experience is that he succours us in them all..." She explains that Jesus, in Heaven, wishes to do everything that his guardian and foster-father asks of Him, just as He did on earth.

St. Teresa tells us that, "those who practise prayer should have a special affection for him always", and that if, "anyone cannot find a master to teach him how to pray, let him take this glorious saint as his master and he will not go astray."

Feastday of St. Patrick

2007-03-17T12:10:00.000-04:00

We generally hear of St. Patrick as being a missionary, driving the snakes out of Ireland and teaching the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

Not as much is said of the fact that St. Patrick was a man of deep prayer, and a contemplative. Yet he was.

This is Croagh Patrick, Ireland's Holy Mountain, formerly known as Crochan Aigh, "the mount of the eagle." St. Patrick stayed there for forty days and nights in contemplation, prayer and fasting.

This is an aerial view of the summit of the holy mountain. We can see St. Patrick's Oratory which was built in 1905, and make out the Celtic Hillfort of pre-Christian days, which archeologists discovered in 1994.

And this is a short video about St. Patrick and his writings.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY, EVERYONE!

Okay, okay, being three-quarters Irish, I just couldn't resist: I'll Tell My Ma

St. Brigid

2007-03-15T13:25:00.000-04:00

A couple of posts and several comments ago, Carol mentioned one of her many loves; you can find out more about St. Brigid here, and also over at Lily's today! I would like to share this (a curious but beautiful mixture of Latin and Gaelic), sung by Katy Taylor on her CD entitled, "Welcome Brigid". The first time I heard it I was startled, thinking that the lyrics were identifying St. Brigid and the Blessed Virgin Mary as being one and the same. Then I realized that the song was being addressed to the Blessed Virgin, in praise of St. Brigid. The appropriateness of this became more apparent when I came across an excerpt from an article written by Father Denis Murphy, S.J. in The Journal of the County of Kildare Archeological Society (Vol. I, No. 3; 1893):

Anyway, I hope you enjoy listening to the song! I really love the ending.

Ave Maris Stella/Ode to Brigid

Ave Maris Stella, Dei mater alma
Atque semper virgo, felix, coeli porta
Gabhaim molta Brighde, Iníon í le hÉireann,
Iníon le gach tír í, molaiimís go léir í
Lóchrann geal na Laighneach, soils’ ar feadh na tire,
Ceann ar óigheacht Éireann, ceann na mban ar mine
Tig an geimhreadh dian dubh, gearra lena géire,
Ach ar lá le Brighde, gar duinn Earrach Éireann
Monstra t’esse matrem sumat per te preces
Qui pro nobis natus tulit esse tuus.

Translation

Hail, star of the sea, sweet mother of God
And always virgin, favorable gate of heaven
I sing loudly the praises of Bridget,
she it is who is a daughter not just of Ireland,
but of all the countries of the world.
Let us all praise her.
A shining lantern of Lenster,
a flame throughout the land,
leader of the women of Ireland,
one of the finest women ever.
The hard dark winter comes, short and sharp,
but once Bridget’s day appears,
Ireland’s Spring is not far behind.
Show yourself to be a mother,
prayers ascend through you
Which for us your Son accepted.

(Gregorian chant and anonymous Irish Gaelic song, 1900, learned from the singing of Nóiirin Ní Riain)

Lend Me Your Flashlight

2007-02-28T01:19:00.000-05:00

You may be wondering where the posts on detachment are. And the Lectio. Not to mention, God forbid, a prompt response to an email or a comment.

Look down. Look way down. Into the abyss. Do you see me? Yes, that's me, waving my calculator at you. The abyss of the fiscal-year-end, accompanied, ever so thoughtfully, by income tax season.

But wait! There's one good thing I must share with you. A fellow at the coffee shop today called me "Miss". Yup. Maybe all this hard work agrees with me. Or maybe, maybe it's just one-too-many large Vanilla Hazelnuts.

A Blessed Lent to All

2007-02-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

Lay Aside Your Passing Pleasures

Lay aside your passing pleasures
Look beyond what cannot last
Shallow hopes are mere distractions
Earthly comforts soon are past
See in Christ a grand horizon
Find a life more rich and vast.

Raise your eyes and see the Savior
Feel His love, and hear His call
Follow Him in self-denial
Find your Father all in all
Take the cross, accept the suffering
Soon the cost will seem so small.

Gladly trade your crumbling treasure
Gain the pearl of greatest price

Life is more than pain and pleasure
Life in Him is true delight
Find your freedom, find your glory
Find yourself in Jesus Christ.

El Greco's "Penance of Mary Magdalene", c. 1587-97

Satyagraha (Truthforce)

2007-02-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

When Pope John Paul II visited India in February of 1986, he described his visit as a, "pilgrimage of good will and peace, and the fulfilment of a desire to experience personally the very soul of your country."

One of his stops was at the funerary monument of Mahatma Gandhi, whom Pope John Paul II referred to as the, "apostle of non-violence." In his address on this occasion, the Pope stated that the, "figure of Mahatma Gandhi and the meaning of his life's work have penetrated the consciousness of humanity." He went on to say this:

"...I wish to express to the people of India and of the world my profound conviction that the peace and justice of which contemporary society has such great need will be achieved only along the path which was at the core of his [Gandhi's] teaching: the supremacy of the spirit and Satyagraha, the "truthforce", which conquers without violence by the dynamism instrinsic to just action."

What is "Satyagraha"? It can be broken down into "Satya" (Truth) and "Agraha" (Firmness). Truth, Gandhi said, implies Love, and firmness can be seen as a force. He stated, "I thus began to call the Indian movement Satyagraha, that is to say, the Force which is born of Truth and Love or non-violence..."

In his address at Gandhi's funerary monument, Pope John Paul II stated that, "leaders of peoples, and all men and women of good will, must believe and act of the belief that the solution lies within the human heart." He went on to recall to the people the words of Jesus, the Beatitudes, of which he attested that Gandhi, "was very familiar and in which he found the confirmation of the deep thoughts of his heart." It was Pope John Paul II's desire that the Beatitudes, as well as, "other expressions in the sacred books of the great religious traditions" of India, "be a source of inspiration to all peoples."

And so we have Pope John Paul II instructing us that, "the solution lies within the human heart", and we can also call upon another of Mahatma Gandhi's oft-quoted teachings: "Become the change you seek in the world."

Something to ponder - what would I like to see changed in the world? An end to war and other violence, addictions, poverty, sin, disease, pollution, global warming, discrimination and hatred?

How will it happen? Can I,

Become Peace **** Become Freedom **** Become Generosity ****Become Purity **** Become Health **** Become Perfect Creation **** Become Compassion **** Become Love

Become. Become. Become. I must become, or how shall I ask it of anyone else?

[Quotations from Pope John Paul II are found in, "Address of John Paul II on Occasion of the Visit to the Funerary Monument of Raj Ghat Dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi", on the Vatican website.]

Feastday of Our Lady of Lourdes

2007-02-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

This image can be found in the underground
basilica at Lourdes (Basilica of St. Pius X),
which also houses the Indoor Way of the Cross.

As always with our Blessed Mother, even at Lourdes she turns our gaze directly towards Her Son, Jesus.

Among the many other activities at Lourdes between the months of April and October, there is a daily Procession of the Blessed Sacrament.

As described on the website Lourdes-france, it is "one of the oldest traditions of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, to which has been added the Blessing of the Sick." The website goes on to tell us that "this celebration affirms three things: the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacred Host consecrated, our need to see the One who loves us, and that the Son of God is always among us in our joys and sorrows."

Ave Regina Caelorum

Traditionally used from the Feast of the Purification (February 2nd) until Wednesday in the Holy Week.

Hail, Queen of heaven;
Hail, Mistress of the Angels;
Hail, root of Jesus.
Hail, the gate through which the Light rose over the earth.
Rejoice, Virgin most renowned and of unsurpassed beauty,
and pray for us to Christ.

Huge, huge apologies

2007-02-07T14:05:00.000-05:00

I just got a big shock. I switched the blog over to the new blogger, and in blue, beside many of my former posts, there was the word "comment" appearing. When I clicked on these comments, they were from people over the months whose comments I had never seen. They never appeared on my Haloscan, nor on the blog. I know this happened a couple of times when I first started to blog, and people told me their comments didn't appear, but I had no idea it was continuing to happen. These fine people must have thought I deleted their comments, but in fact, I never even saw them. Where were they? That's what I'd like to know.

So, now all sorts of people out there think I never responded to their comments. I have absolutely no idea how this happened, and I am very sorry. I'm going to go through the list and try to contact everyone to apologize. I feel just terrible.

I guess I'll be upgrading the template soon, in which case I think all of my design/comments will be lost anyway. I have printed them all out though, since April, so I can go back and read them on hard-copy and smile whenever I'm feeling blue.

In case I entirely disappear by accident, I just want to tell you all how much I've loved being here since last April.

A Trappist Gift

2007-02-04T13:10:00.000-05:00

I would like to share with you today one of the most beautiful websites I have ever come across, that of the Trappist monks of Our Lady of the Prairies Monastery, situated in western Canada, in Holland, Manitoba.

The website was created with the help of the St. Norbert Arts Centre and the Canadian federal government department of Canadian Heritage, for the Virtual Museum of Canada. Called, A Day in the Life of a Trappist Monk, the site is, in my opinion, a work of art on every level, be it spiritual, aesthetics, information, music, history - a place I will return to time and time again.

Among other things, you will find overviews of the seven prayertimes the monks participate in daily, with a short video clip for each, as well as overviews of the main components of the monastic life, with video clips as well as diagrams/printed instructions of the pertinent Trappist sign language. As well, there is information and audio clips/videos of chant, in both Latin and French.

All this, and so much more. A treasure trove of the Cistercian/Trappist life. Enjoy. Spend a few hours sometime, if you can. I think you may want to.

Five Things You Don't Know About Me

2007-02-01T10:35:00.000-05:00

I was tagged for this meme by my friend forget-me-not a few days ago, so let's see...

- I am fascinated by crop circles.

- I have no sense of direction, so please don't take me to see a crop circle and then abandon me.

- My one dream before I die is to see the Northern Lights. I know I'm Canadian, but I've never seen them.

- I enjoy whistling, and am quite good at it. I sound particularly fine in a large room with no furniture.

- I love old movies. Like this, and this.

Well, that's five, and I'm glad it's over. You know, these kinds of things are nervewracking when you're a very private person. Oh, there is something else, in the interest of full disclosure:

Silent Friend of Many Distances

2007-01-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

Silent friend of many distances, feel
how your breath enlarges all of space.
Let your presence ring out like a bell
into the night. What feeds upon your face

grows mighty from the nourishment thus offered.
Move through transformation, out and in.
What is the deepest loss that you have suffered?
If drinking is bitter, change yourself to wine.

"Lonely Road", Melanie Rocan

In this immeasurable darkness, be the power
that rounds your senses in their magic ring,
the sense of their mysterious encounter.

And if the earthly no longer knows your name,
whisper to the silent earth: I'm flowing.
To the flashing water say: I am.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

Song of the Sea

2007-01-26T12:20:00.000-05:00

Timeless sea breezes,
sea-wind of the night:
you come for no one;
if someone should wake,
he must be prepared
how to survive you.
Timeless sea breezes,
that for aeons have
blown ancient rocks,
you are purest space
coming from afar...
Oh, how a fruit-bearing
fig tree feels your coming
high up in the moonlight.

(Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926)

Feastday of St. Francis de Sales

2007-01-24T22:50:00.000-05:00

I inherited a copy of, "The Life of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva", by Robert Ornsby, M.A., published in 1859. I think it may be a 1st edition, having come into my possession through my maternal great-grandparents, via a box of books I was given when my grandmother died.

This 1st edition (if it is indeed a 1st edition) would likely not catch any great sum though, if one were in the business of collecting 1st editions for that purpose. Someone has scribbled on a few of the opening and ending blank pages, and another has, quite unbelievably, pasted newspaper obituary notices on the insides of the front and back covers.

I was sadly noting this peculiar state of affairs for the umpteenth time this evening, thinking, is that any way to treat a book, any book, let alone, "The Life of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Prince of Geneva"? Suddenly it occurred to me that there must be a reason why these particular obituary clippings were glued to this particular book; it could not be a random act of obit-pasting, could it? They are yellowed with age, the obits (two different ones of the same person) being from the 1800s. And so I read them, perhaps not for the first time, but for the first time with undivided attention.

They tell a sad story of a young priest, ordained only the previous year, who suddenly dies after a mysterious three-day illness. He was up-and-coming, of "very great intellectual ability", and "much beloved by the Catholics" of his city, appointed Secretary to his Bishop almost immediately upon ordination. (May I just say that the reason why I'm posting this so late on the Feastday is because I have been googling these two people all evening). Now, I cannot give away all the details, but suffice to say the plot thickens, leading (take a deep breath) to the 1st Vatican Council. Ah, could it not be the makings of a novel, thought I, a Catholic historical thriller? And what, pray tell, has it all got to do with my family? Why did one of my ancestors lovingly keep this young priest's obits, and paste them tenderly into, "The Life of St. Francis de Sales"? Whose book was this, and what is the relationship between the book and the young priest's death? Oh, St. Francis de Sales, you've got my heart and imagination all fired up, which is only fitting, isn't it, since you are the Patron Saint of Writers!

"Dear St. Francis de Sales, please continue to guide all of our wonderful and dedicated Catholic writers over the course of this coming year, and most especially, please bless and encourage the gifted one who emailed me tonight. Amen."

Charity

2007-01-23T14:52:00.000-05:00

"The contemplative, in his investigation of Divine things, is actuated by love for those things, and to increase this love is his ultimate purpose, as well as the firstfruits of his contemplation; in other words the theological virtue of charity is the mainspring as well as the outcome of the act of contemplation. "

"The principal means contemplatives have of proving their love for others are prayer and penance. By prayer they draw down from Heaven on struggling and suffering humanity manifold graces, light, strength, courage and comfort, blessings for time and for eternity. By penance they strive to atone for the offenses of sinful humanity, to appease wrath and ward off its direful effects, by giving vicarious satisfaction to the demands of His justice. Their lives of perpetual abnegation and privation, of hardship cheerfully endured, of self-inflicted suffering, joined to the sufferings of their Divine Master and Model help to repair the evil men do and obtain God's mercy for the evildoers. They plead and make reparation for all men."
(From: New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, “Contemplative Life”)

John Henry Cardinal Newman

2007-01-21T23:19:00.000-05:00

“There is an inward world into which they enter who come near to Christ, though to men in general they seem the same as before….if they have drunk of Christ’s cup, and tasted the bread of His Table in sincerity, it is not with them as in time past. A change has come over them, unknown indeed to themselves, except in its effects, but they have a portion in destinies to which other men are strangers, and, as having destinies, they have conflicts also. They drank what looked like a draught of this world, but it associated them in hopes and fears, trials and purposes, above this world. They came as for a blessing, and they have found a work.”

John Henry Cardinal Newman was declared Venerable on January 22, 1991 by Pope John Paul II.

Hope

2007-01-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

"One of the reasons why contemplatives have always been in the minority in this world is because contemplation involves a surrender of one's whole self, not just a period of time set aside each day for some form of prayer or meditation. It is a commitment of immense proportions and requires an eminent trust that God will bring us where we hope to go if we submit to this inner conviction or urging that we have to start. It does not matter how many difficulties there are, we have to go. There is no turning back once we have started because the sky is a big place, and we had better stay with the flock... In our case, however, taking to the air is not based on instinct, but rather on the theological virtue of hope. The movement, call, or attraction that God has given us is a promise that is just as reliable as the instinct of the birds as they surrender to their migratory instinct. Instead of surrendering to a migratory instinct, we surrender to God's transforming process....

The theological virtue of hope is the anticipation of the end, here and now. According to Jesus, we already have eternal life if we believe in him. We just have not realized it yet because we have not completed the flight."

From: "Intimacy with God. A Contemplative Vision for Our Times" (Father Thomas Keating)

Faith

2007-01-16T23:05:00.000-05:00

Eleven stayed in the boat, although it was an uncertain safety.

Eleven stayed in the boat, intuiting that there might be more for them outside its carefully-crafted sides, yet unable to risk those first moments of feeling nothing underneath them. Eleven stayed in the boat, reaching out their hands, leaning over the edge, as if to say, we are with you, we are with you, almost.

One climbed over, throwing himself into an abyss of darkness, fearful that what was below would not support his weight. But the Master had called, and he could do nothing else. The Master had called, and he would rather sink, he would rather drown, he would rather plunge through the depths of the desperate waters than hold back anymore, for he had held back all his life - had held back his very life.

Oh, the joy of those first few steps; Master, see me! Lord, I will be with you any moment! Then the crashing waves of confusion and doubt. Lord, I am nothing like You. Lord, You are too far away. Sea salt in the eyes, burning and blurring; water in the lungs, helpless, helpless.

But an arm's breadth away He is standing, Sovereign; Sovereign Lord over the wind, the waves, and the brine of treacherous seas at night. His hand will grasp, His strength will lift, His knowing will lead to shore. The eleven will follow, and there will be the warmth of fires.

They sleep, knowing that the boat will go out again. Perhaps tomorrow.

Gems of the Months

2007-01-11T10:45:00.000-05:00

Now, don't go getting your heads all in a spin; this isn't "New Age". It's something I came across in a little book entitled, "My Prayer-Book. Happiness in Goodness. Reflections, Counsels, Prayers, and Devotions", by Father R. Lasance, published in 1908, and it has the Nihil Obstat. This book is a little gem in itself, filled with things from Catholic days gone by, some of which I would like to share from time to time. Now, on to the monthly gems:

January.........Garnet.........Perseverance; Constancy.

February........Pearl...........Faith and Innocence.

March...........Hyacinth......Moral Beauty - Moral Goodness.

April.............Diamond......Purity and Fortitude.

May..............Emerald.......Faith in God and Faithfulness in Friendship.

June.............Amethyst......Peace of Mind; also Sincerity.

July..............Ruby...........Success; Devotedness to Duty.

August..........Sardonyx.......Felicity; Conformity to the Will of God.

September......Sapphire.......Divine Love and Mercy. Love and Repentance in Man.

October.........Opal............Happiness of a Pure Life; also Hope.

November......Topaz...........Divine Providence; Resignation; Fidelity.

December.......Turquoise.....Piety; Fervor in God's Service; Prosperity.

Since we are starting a new year, I thought it might be a good time to share this, so that we could reflect on the description and significance of the particular gem in our own lives. Perhaps it might speak to us this year of something which requires attention, or of something with which the Lord has already blessed us, preparing us to move forward to grow and blossom in other areas.

Mine is August. Felicity. Happiness. I am to try to be happy? Is not that rather lacking in depth? Conformity to the Will of God. This I desire and strive for, despite ongoing struggles with discernment.

Yet, if I put the two together, it becomes clearer. Felicity, happiness, in conforming to the will of God. Now that is something I can sink my teeth into, and my whole heart and soul. That is not the happiness of the world; that is a happiness for which I can pray, for which I can strive, with His grace. That is a felicity which does not preclude sharing in His suffering, or the suffering of my neighbour, but rather, demands it. That is a felicity I can live with, a felicity many saints and martyrs have died for. Oh, to be happy, to be truly happy, with true Christian joy.

Just look at that list. Imagine being adorned with all of those jewels as we stand before the Lord.

From Isaiah (61:10)
"I rejoice heartily in the Lord,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation,
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels."

(Just as an aside, I have never heard of "hyacinth" as a gem, but only as a flower. Have any of you ever heard of it as a gem? Also, upon looking it up in the dictionary, I see that gemstones can only be used in jewelry after they have been cut and polished. Well, we know all about that, don't we?)

Prince of Peace, We Need You

2007-01-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

In the desert, where the stars are bright / And constellations rule your life / Long ago, three kings set out / To follow a peculiar light / What did they see up in the sky? / That made them take leave of their land / And carry gifts on camelback / Over hills of endless sand / Through cloudless days and cloudless nights / The bells upon the camel ring / And the wind play'n on ribs of sand / Must be the voices of angels singing /
Gold to crown his loftiness / Myrrh for the man upon his death / Frankincense for godliness

"Wisemen" (by Kate & Anna McGarrigle)

Black smoke hides the stars tonight / And mines explode in golden sand /
Underground black gold does flow / In Afghan fields the poppies grow /

Gold to crown his loftiness / Myrrh for the man upon his death / Frankincense for godliness.

From Psalm 71 (72):

In his days justice shall flourish

and peace till the moon fails.

He shall rule from sea to sea,

from the Great River to earth's bounds.

Questions for a New Year

2007-01-04T16:55:00.000-05:00

“If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully the thing I want to live for."

Thomas Merton
(My Argument with the Gestapo)

These two questions will be points of personal reflection for me in 2007. No more foolin' around.

Woman on a Chair (1955)

Michael Kmit (1910-1981)

Happy New Year Everyone!

2006-12-31T19:20:00.000-05:00

Wishing all my dear readers a safe, healthy, peaceful and prayerful 2007!

A Blessing for the New Year:

Remember us, O God; from age to age be our comforter. You have given us the wonder of time, blessings in days and nights, seasons and years.

Bless your children at the turning of
the year and fill the months ahead with the bright hope that is ours in the coming of Christ.

You are our God, living and reigning, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Devotions Meme

2006-12-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

I've been ~~maimed~~ memed by dear Honora, so here goes:

1. Favourite devotion or prayer to Jesus?
In recent years, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Jesus Prayer, but also many of the devotions to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

2. Favourite Marian devotion or prayer?
Absolutely the Memorare, since childhood.

3. Do you wear a scapular or medal?
I have a brown scapular which was my mother's and that I've carried for decades in my wallet, simply because the thread-like string bothers me when I wear it (so I guess the hair-shirt is definitely out). I have an assortment of medals, but I most frequently wear the Sacred Heart.

4. Do you have holy water in your home?
Yes, several bottles, and last year I bought a small holy water font at the little giftshop of a Polish parish we visited. I thought it would look lovely above the calendar in the kitchen, where we could all see it and reach it. The first time I filled it, it overflowed, ran down the wall, and drenched the calendar. I tried to wipe up the mess, smeared everything handwritten on the calendar, and had no idea what I was doing for the entire month. I fill more cautiously now.

5. Do you 'offer up' your sufferings?
I always try to.

6. Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
I have tried. I have tried. I have failed. I observe them go by, having failed.

7. Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration?
Yes, as often as possible, but not as much as I would like.

8. Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Mass attendance generally has to correspond to family/parish commitments. Also, I enjoy mixing it up, because we have five Masses per weekend, with five different choirs, and I love the wide variety of music.

9. Do you say prayers at mealtime?
When we do, it's only at suppertime. Always on special occasions, quite frequently inbetween, but something we forget to do regularly...

10. Favourite saints?
St. Faustina, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Gertrude the Great, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, and many more.

11. Can you recite the Apostles' Creed by heart?
Yes, in both English and French, but the Nicene Creed I only know in English, for some reason.

12. Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
Not really, but I think it was a matter of conditioning (and intonation). I had a fiesty Irish grandmother, who could make every short prayer sound the exact opposite of a benediction or aspiration. When she said, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!", we were well-advised to get out of the room! It's just not my way of praying.

13. Where is your favourite place to pray?
In front of the Blessed Sacrament, alone in a dimly-lit church, outside in any grotto-like setting, or at home if everyone else is asleep.

14. Bonus Question #1: When you pass by an automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
Always.

15. Bonus Question #2: If you could visit any of Our Lady's apparition sites, which one would you choose?
I have already been lucky enough to have visited Lourdes, so I think it would be Zeitoun, Egypt.

Feast of the Holy Family

2006-12-30T23:15:00.000-05:00

Prayer to the Holy Family:

O most loving Jesus, Who by Thy sublime and beautiful virtues of humility, obedience, poverty, modesty, charity, patience, and gentleness, and by the example of Thy domestic life, didst bless with peace and happiness the family which Thou didst choose on earth; in Thy clemency look down upon this household, humbly prostrate before Thee and imploring Thy mercy. Remember that this family belongs to Thee; for to Thee we have in a special way dedicated and devoted ourselves. Look upon us in Thy loving-kindness, preserve us from danger, give us help in time of need, and grant us the grace to persevere to the end in the imitation of Thy Holy Family; that having revered Thee and loved Thee faithfully on earth, we may bless and praise Thee eternally in heaven. O Mary, most sweet Mother, to thy intercession we have recourse, knowing that thy divine Son will hear thy prayers. And do thou, O glorious Patriarch, St. Joseph, assist us by thy powerful mediation and offer, by the hands of Mary, our prayers to Jesus. Amen.

The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn

2006-12-28T22:40:00.000-05:00

We have a special someone in our house who turned 15 today! The past few days, I've been wondering what the Blessed Virgin may have sung while she rocked the Baby Jesus to sleep. Although we'll probably never know that, I did find this one, "The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn". It is a Latin hymn originally found on a print of the Virgin Mary in Germany, and translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (better known for such poems as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan"). It was published in 1817, in "Sibylline Leaves".

Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling:
Mother sits beside thee smiling;
Sleep, my darling, tenderly!
If thou sleep not, mother mourneth,
Singing as her wheel she turneth:
Come, soft slumber, balmily!

Dormi, Jesu! Mater ridet
Quae tam dulcem somnum videt,
Dormi, Jesu! blandule!
Si non dormis, Mater plorat,
Inter fila cantans orat,
Blande, veni, somnule.

You may listen to the hymn in Latin Here, performed by the Dale Warland Singers.

Today Christ is Born

2006-12-25T00:30:00.000-05:00

Hodie Christus natus est: hodie Salvator apparuit: hodie in terra canunt Angeli, laetantur Archangeli: hodie exsultant justi, dicentes: Gloria in excelsis Deo, alleluia.

Today Christ is born: today the Savior appeared: today on earth the Angels sing, Archangels rejoice: today the righteous rejoice, saying: Glory to God in the highest, alleluia.

Little Lamb of God

2006-12-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei
Dona nobis pacem.

Lamb of God

Grant us peace.

You may listen here to the boys' choir "Libera" of Norbury, UK with soloist Liam O'Kane.

Chanson pour Marie Cecile

2006-12-17T23:55:00.000-05:00

In her post of Dec. 16/06, Marie Cecile of Soulful Longings mentions a 'French song' she used to know. It is a Christmas carol I grew up with, having constantly alternated between English and French parishes: Il est né le divin enfant.

There are several more verses, but I've just typed out the ones which correspond to the recording to which I've linked, so if you minimize the music once you click on it, you can follow along. It is a carol we normally sing at all Christmas Masses.

If you do not already know it, just think - you have a whole week to memorize it and surprise your loved ones!

Il est né le divin enfant,
Jouez hautbois, résonnez musettes!
Il est né le divin enfant,
Chantons tous son avènement!

Depuis plus de quatre mille ans,
Nous le promettaient les prophètes
Depuis plus de quatre mille ans,
Nous attendions cet heureux temps. {au Refrain}

Une étable est son logement
Un peu de paille est sa couchette,
Une étable est son logement
Pour un dieu quel abaissement! {au Refrain}

O Jésus! O Roi tout-puissant
Tout petit enfant que vous êtes,
O Jésus! O Roi tout-puissant,
Régnez sur nous entièrement! {au Refrain}

Feastday of St. John of the Cross

2006-12-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

The Living Flame of Love

O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul
in its deepest center! Since
now you are not oppressive,
now consummate! if it be your will:
tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound!
O gentle hand! O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life
and pays every debt!
In killing you changed death to life.

O lamps of fire!
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their Beloved.

How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone;
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

Anniversaries of Thomas Merton

2006-12-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

Advent: December 10, 1941
Thomas Merton arrives at the Monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemani.

Advent: December 10, 1968
Thomas Merton dies in Bangkok, Thailand

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. (Thoughts in Solitude)

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

2006-12-08T10:25:00.000-05:00

"Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee."

I will be attending a Living Rosary this evening. All the intentions of my dear blogger friends, and those I have received by e-mail, will be on my mind, heart and lips tonight.

The Winter Time of Growth

2006-12-06T23:40:00.000-05:00

An excerpt from Caryll Houselander's, "Lift Up Your Hearts":

"We shall sometimes be surrounded by forces that threaten the inward life, forces stronger than we are ourselves. But though only faith can convince us of this, they are not so strong as the unheard, unseen, unfelt, unimaginably sensitive Christ-life within us, that is stronger than the storming, parching, freezing or blighting of any possible environment.

We must not abandon the struggle that the secret growing demands, or doubt its purpose: the getting up early on dark mornings for mass when our presence at mass has become only a losing fight with distractions, the offering of our daily work to form Christ in us when the monotony of our daily work makes it seem incapable of any meaning at all.

But neither must we refuse the slumber, the repose, of the winter time of growth, the stillness, the silence, the acceptance of the times set by God, God's law of growth, the contented folding of our life upon the hidden life within us."

Taken from the section called "Advent - Growth"

Thomas Merton's "Advent"

2006-12-05T00:07:00.000-05:00

Advent

Charm with your stainlessness these winter nights,
Skies, and be perfect! Fly vivider in the fiery dark, you quiet meteors,
And disappear.
You moon, be slow to go down,
This is your full!

The four white roads make off in silence
Towards the four parts of the starry universe. Time falls like manna at the corners of the wintry earth.
We have become more humble than the rocks,
More wakeful than the patient hills.

Charm with your stainlessness these nights in Advent,
holy spheres,
While minds, as meek as beasts,
Stay close at home in the sweet hay;
And intellects are quieter than the flocks that feed by starlight.

Oh pour your darkness and your brightness over all our
solemn valleys,
You skies: and travel like the gentle Virgin,
Toward the planets' stately setting.

Oh white full moon as quiet as Bethlehem!

Thomas Merton (1946)

Finding Time "To Be"

2006-12-04T00:05:00.000-05:00

During Advent, a time of wonder and waiting, we might take a lesson from the children, amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations. Here is a little excerpt from the book, Born Contemplative:

"Two friends of mine were sitting on the sand at Whitley Bay while Katie, the two-and-a-half-year old daughter of one of them, occupied herself nearby. Having found a gull's feather she spent a long time looking at it, feeling it and turning it every way. She then rested it on the water and watched it being carried a little way away and then being brought back on a wave. She picked it up again and continued to play with it like this for the best part of half an hour. The two friends were forcibly struck by the sheer wonder which had taken possession of that child for so long, and they realized how much they, as adults, were missing out on. They had, however, provided this wonderful opportunity for Katie just TO BE, without interference, in communion with the universe." (Sister Madeleine Simon)

One of my wishes for all of us this Advent is that we may find a little bit of time every day just "to be" - to watch the sparrows and chickadees at the birdfeeder, to admire a pinecone as we fashion a wreath, to gaze at the intricate frost patterns on our windows, or whatever captures our fancy and sense of wonder in our part of the world. May we be a little bit as children, as we await the coming of the Christchild.

Children and Contemplation

2006-11-30T22:50:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a book entitled, "Born Contemplative", written by Sister Madeleine Simon in 1993. It talks of how to introduce children to Christian meditation, following the teachings of Benedictine monk Dom John Main, in order to support and sustain their "inborn sense of wonder". Sister Simon, in her book, "demonstrates that it is never too early to learn the way of contemplative prayer, because children are able in their simplicity to catch and hold God by love." She quotes Pope John Paul II, from his discourse to participants of the National Congress of the Italian Association of Catholic Teachers in 1984. She tells us the Pope stated that the attitude of "attention" is the first that should be developed in children, and he continued:

"This requires that you help your students not to suffocate but rather to nourish their innate amazement in the face of creation and to reflect on it in order to grasp its perfection. To educate to this attitude, it is indispensible that the child be led to a real and profound interior silence which is the first requisite for listening."

The desire to foster the contemplative gifts of children is something which is also at the core of The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which originated in Rome in 1954. A Catholic childrens' religious education program, it was inspired by the Montessori principles of education, and quickly spread throughout the world. You can find out more about it here, at The National Association of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd .

In Canada, on the website of the Archdiocese of Toronto, where the program was established more than twenty-five years ago, we are told that The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, "highlights essential aspects of the Christian message that nurture the child’s need to love and be loved and the child’s capacity to enjoy God’s presence in her/his life. It is rooted in the Bible, the liturgy of the Church, and the educational principles of Maria Montessori." The Archdiocese of Toronto website goes on to say:

"... young children live their relationship with God in enchanted wonder and profound joy which gives peace, in the satisfaction - it could be said - of a deep and vital need. In our view, the "vital need" is for relationship, which the Bible expresses as "covenant". It is the joy of the children's encounter with God that has given birth to the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd which, always and everywhere, is nourished by the same joy. It has also been observed that children of the same developmental stage respond to certain themes of the Christian Message in the same way, though belonging to different cultural backgrounds."

Over the decades, The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has been adapted by numerous Christian denominations - Anglican, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist, to name a few - most recently being adapted for Protestant Evangelicals, by [long, contemplative drumroll here] fellow-blogger TrueVyne. When TrueVyne left a comment on my blog back in April 06 to the effect that she would have some things to "share" of a contemplative nature by the fall, I had no idea what she was working so busily on. In October, TrueVyne attended a wonderful conference which you can read about Here, and she has opened a website dedicated to this work at her beautiful new site named The Shepherd's Call.

The sharing of The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is probably the finest, and most successful, example of practising Christian unity that I have ever come across. Fostering, nurturing, supporting and sustaining the contemplative gifts of our children, in Christian unity. Now that is something I can understand.

Children in Prayer

In the House of Tomorrow

2006-11-29T23:35:00.000-05:00

Children

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons
and daughters of Life's longing for
itself.
They come through you, but
not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to
you.
You may give them your love, but not your thoughts,
For they have their
own thoughts.
You may house their bodies, but not their souls.
For their
souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in
your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them
like you.

For life goes not backwards, nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living
arrows are sent
forth.
The Archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite
and He
bends you with His might,
So that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness.
For even as
He loves the arrow that flies,
So He loves also the bow that is
stable.

Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

Our Songs

2006-11-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

Forget me not, friend and fellow-blogger (at Beyond the Horizon II), has re-posted, at my request, her very moving poem, All I Can Give. Forget me not has acknowledged that her heart-gripping imagery and cries to the Lord stem from years of childhood abuse. Her original posting of this poem, back in July on her old blog, was also intended to introduce us to Mary's Hope, an organization dedicated to offering spiritual healing and recovery for childhood abuse of any kind.

Forget me not relates how her poem was based on a reflection by the French poet Marie Noel, entitled, "The Rag Collector". Profoundly moved by forget me not's poem, and never having heard of Marie Noel before, I searched for her poetry online. I was not able to find any in English to which I could link, but here is a site with some of her poetry in French: Marie Noel

As I read through her poetry, one line stayed with me for days from her poem entitled, 'Prière du poète' (The Poet's Prayer): "Donne-moi du bonheur, s'il faut que je le chante", she says to the Lord. "Donne-moi du bonheur, s'il faut que je le chante" - "Give me happiness if I must sing of it."

I began to realize how blessed we are by all those who sing anyway, of the grief and of the pain, even though they may believe the Lord would prefer them to sing of joy, or they would naturally prefer that themselves. Are not the Psalms abundant with songs of both kinds? Each one of us has a unique song; some are written and sung while in the depths of despair, while enduring the anguish of a dark night. Others are written and sung during the process of healing. Still others go beyond the process of healing, to the glory of the Lord, for there are many whom He has called to triumph over man's evil and show others the way. I think of these words of Jean-Pierre de Caussade, in Abandonment to Divine Providence:

"Souls who walk in light sing the hymns of light; those who walk in the shadows chant the hymns of darkness. Each must be allowed to sing through to the end the words and melody which God has given him. Nothing must be changed in what he has composed."

Forget me not, by the grace of God and through her own sweet soul and hard work, has triumphed over man's evil. She herself is like a song that the Lord is singing, and she desires to help many, not only through her online writing but perhaps in other venues.

As a description for her blog, forget me not uses a quote from Etty Hillesum: "One would wish to be a balm for so many wounds." There is no doubt in my mind that forget me not is, and will be, exactly that. I don't think she would mind if I shared a little something she told me, since forget me not has already spoken of her experiences online; it is something she revealed to me recently, before she knew the exact subject-matter of my reflection on Marie Noel. She said, "My Soul Magnifies the Lord is the song I sing deep inside as I ponder God's goodness to me."

I thank God for forget me not's powerful healing. May she continue to sing all the days of her life.

Just the Love

2006-11-25T23:25:00.000-05:00

As we went through Interior Castle, one of my biggest regrets was that so much had to remain unsaid. Before moving along to other topics, and then some contemplative reflections for Advent, I would just like to add something in reference to my last post.

Our service, whether before or after the Spiritual Marriage, can be humble, can be hidden. We are not all called to some of the more visible ways of serving our neighbour, such as building orphanages, working in hospices, or helping with inner-city ministries. Let us thank God for the ones who are, and let us listen for what God may be asking us to do in our state in life.

Our service may be to give our children a loving, nurturing environment, and help them come to know the Lord. It may be intercessory prayer. It may be to remain focused on contemplative prayer, whether in the world or in a cloister, because contemplative prayer itself aids our brothers and sisters. Our service may be to build houses for Habitat for Humanity, or it may be to remain on our knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Our service may be to write, to console, to lead, to follow, to teach, to listen, to heal.

Let us listen for the call of the Lord, for the whispers of the Holy Spirit, as we remember what St. Teresa taught:

"...the Lord does not look so much at the magnitude of anything we do as at the love with which we do it."

Seventh Mansions (Part 3 of 3)

2006-11-24T11:25:00.000-05:00

Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do?

As with the stages of prayer throughout each of the Mansions, the benefit of attaining the Spiritual Marriage can only be seen by the effects and the fruits.

St. Teresa outlines eight main effects of the Spiritual Marriage: self-forgetfulness; a great desire to suffer, but only if it is God’s will; interior joy when persecuted along with a love for enemies; a great desire to live in order to serve Him; no desire for favours and consolations and no more raptures, transports or flights of the spirit; a marked detachment; no aridities or interior trials; and caution, through humility, concerning the possibility of slipping back into sin. St. Teresa wishes to make it clear that all of these effects are not necessarily present in the soul at all times, and for this reason she refers to them as being “habitually present”.

But why does the Lord give the soul so many favours and consolations along the journey, finally bringing it into the Transforming Union, the Spiritual Marriage? Is it simply to give a soul the glory and joy of being One with the Lord? No, says St. Teresa. She wants no one to believe that, “He does it simply to give these souls pleasure.” She tells us that she is certain that it is to strengthen the soul, so that one is able to imitate Christ’s sufferings: “For His Majesty can do nothing greater for us than grant us a life which is an imitation of that lived by His Beloved Son.” In the Transforming Union the soul is, “made one with the Strong”, and shall “gain strength through the most sovereign union of spirit with Spirit.”

St. Teresa refutes the notion that souls who have reached the heights of contemplation spend the rest of their lives simply enjoying the Lord for their own peace and personal fulfillment. She writes, “…the only repose that these souls enjoy is of an interior kind; of outward repose they get less and less, and they have no wish to get more.”

Why are they getting less and less outward repose? Here is perhaps the startling answer, the reason why the soul has undergone this steady stream of strengthening in contemplative prayer: not for our enjoyment, says St. Teresa, “but for the sake of acquiring this strength which fits us for service.”

St. Teresa tells us, “…if the Lord makes His special abode in the soul…its whole thought will be concentrated upon finding ways to please Him and upon showing Him how it loves Him. This, my daughters, is the aim of prayer: this is the purpose of the Spiritual Marriage, of which are born good works and good works alone.”

But has not the soul surpassed this requirement now, of performing service, since it has reached the heights of contemplation? Have we not been taught to imitate Mary rather than Martha – Mary, who is said to have chosen the better part?

Yes, says St. Teresa, we are to imitate Mary, but that is not the whole of it, for “…Martha and Mary must work together when they offer the Lord lodging, and must have Him ever with them, and they must not entertain Him badly and give Him nothing to eat. And how can Mary give Him anything, seated as she is at His feet, unless her sister helps her? His food consists in our bringing Him souls, in every possible way, so that they may be saved and may praise Him for ever.”

Martha’s service, although well intended, was not performed in full union with the Lord. Mary’s contemplation, her union with the Lord, had not yet born fruit. It is only after the Spiritual Marriage that both Martha and Mary will be brought to perfection. It is only after the Transforming Union that one's personal contemplative Mary will bear fruit, a spiritualized Martha-like service. The better part will be elevated to the best.

Is it any wonder that the Catholic church believes there is a universal call to contemplation, for the result of the Transforming Union is nothing less than the fulfillment of the Great Commandment, perfect contemplation resulting in perfect service: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. The Lord brings the soul to the heights of contemplation for one purpose only, to make the soul One with the Lord, so that it can imitate Christ by pouring itself out for others.

St. Teresa asks how we know when people truly become spiritual. This is her answer:

“It is when they become the slaves of God and are branded with His sign, which is the sign of the Cross, in token that they have given Him their freedom. Then He can sell them as slaves to the whole world, as He Himself was sold.”

Seventh Mansions (Part 2 of 3)

2006-11-21T08:45:00.000-05:00

The Divine and Spiritual Marriage:

St. Teresa describes the Spiritual Marriage as a, “secret union [which] takes place in the deepest centre of the soul, which must be where God Himself dwells.” Through an intellectual vision, in an “instantaneous communication”, Jesus appears in the soul’s centre. The soul is filled with an indescribable delight, and Jesus shows the soul the glory of Heaven. Then:

“the soul (I mean the spirit of this soul) is made one with God, Who, being likewise a Spirit…has been pleased to unite Himself with His creature in such a way that they have become like two who cannot be separated from one another: even so He will not separate Himself from her.”

Although there had been a type of union earlier on, in the spiritual betrothal, at that time the divine companionship was intermittent, and when not in union (insofar as the soul could understand), the two parties could, “be separated and remain a thing by itself.” Not so after the Spiritual Marriage, where the soul, “remains all the time in that centre with its God.” God and the soul have become as one, and can be no more separated, says St. Teresa, than one could separate rain from a river into which it has fallen, or a stream that has entered the sea, or light that has entered a room from two different windows.

St. Teresa is reminded of St. Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians Ch. VI:17: “He who is joined to God becomes one spirit with Him.” She thinks perhaps he is referring to, “this sovereign Marriage, which presupposes the entrance of His Majesty into the soul by union.” It is at this point, St. Teresa tells us, that the little butterfly which has been flitting from Mansion to Mansion throughout this journey, finally dies, “and with the greatest joy, because Christ is now its life.”

St. Teresa speaks of the soul at this point as being, "in a state of pure spirituality, so that it might be joined with Uncreated Spirit in this celestial union."

She reiterates the Martha/Mary analogy, explaining that the Spiritual Marriage does not mean that the faculties, senses and passions will always be in a state of peace, but only the soul itself. Conflicts, trials and weariness will undoubtedly continue, but will not disturb the peace of the soul.

St. Teresa realizes how difficult this is to understand – the fact that the soul can be in complete peace after the Spiritual Marriage no matter what chaos may be going on all around it - and admits that “this ‘centre’ of our soul, or ‘spirit’, is something so difficult to describe…”. Yet she is adamant, to the point where this ever-humble, always cautious woman is capable of saying: “Think what you will; what I have said is the truth.”

Here, in the Seventh Mansions, says St. Teresa, is where God grants the bride’s request of, “Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth!”, the first line of “The Song of Songs”. Here is part of that beautiful song/poem, from the verse called, “Love’s Union” :

I belong to my lover
and for me he yearns.
Come, my lover, let us go forth
to the fields
and spend the night among
the villages.
Let us go early to the vineyards,
and see
if the vines are in bloom,
If the buds have opened
if the pomegranates have
blossomed;
There will I give you my love.

(Eva Cassidy, singer and artist, died in 1996 of melanoma, at the age of 33)

Seventh Mansions (Part 1 of 3)

2006-11-18T14:45:00.000-05:00

Although the soul will continue to advance in love once in the Seventh Mansions, and as St. Teresa says, “will be greatly assisted to go onward in perfection”, there is no higher spiritual state while on earth. It is also known as the Transforming Union, and can be surpassed only after death, with the Beatific Vision.

The Soul is Brought In:

“When our Lord is pleased to have pity upon this soul, which suffers and has suffered so much out of desire for Him, and which He has now taken spiritually to be His bride, He brings her into this Mansion of His, which is the seventh, before consummating the Spiritual Marriage.”

The soul is brought into this last mansion by “a representation of the truth”, by the granting of an intellectual vision of the Holy Trinity in which It reveals Itself in all three Persons. Saint Teresa tells us, “First of all the spirit becomes enkindled and is illumined, as it were, by a cloud of the greatest brightness. It sees these three Persons, individually, and yet, by a wonderful kind of knowledge which is given to it, the soul realizes that most certainly and truly all these three Persons are one Substance and one Power and one Knowledge and one God alone; so that what we hold by faith the soul may be said here to grasp by sight…” In this intellectual vision, all Three Persons, “communicate Themselves to the soul and speak to the soul…”

From this day forward, the soul “perceives quite clearly” that the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, “are in the interior of her heart – in the most interior place of all and in its greatest depths.” The soul now has complete confidence that God will never leave her, never allow her to fall out of His hand, but even so, says St. Teresa, the soul is, “walking more carefully than ever, so that she may displease Him in nothing.” St. Teresa believes that it is possible to lose this favour of having been brought into the Seventh Mansions, if the soul, “fails God”, and in this respect differs from St. John of the Cross, for example, who teaches that once a soul is in the Transforming Union there is no possibility of returning to a lower spiritual state, that it is confirmed in grace. Father Dubay notes that this is, "one of the rare differences between the two Carmelite Doctors."

After this initial intellectual vision, this “Presence is not of course always realized so fully”, nor so clearly, admits St. Teresa, but the soul feels a constant Divine companionship nevertheless. Something else comes into being now, something which Father Thomas Dubay calls “dual awareness and operation”, and which St. Teresa describes by using a ‘Martha-Mary’ analogy. The person will be functioning quite normally in day-to-day life, even experiencing many trials and worries, yet, “the essential part of her soul [seems] never to move from that dwelling-place.”. The part of oneself that is busily undergoing trials and worries will actually wish to complain about the part of oneself that is experiencing the peaceful and quiet Divine companionship, just as Martha complained about Mary. St. Teresa attempts to explain this, saying that it almost seems as if the soul is divided, although it really is not; she goes on to say that she believes there is, “some kind of difference, and a very definite one, between the soul and the spirit, although they are both one.” She finds herself incapable of explaining this, nor the fact that she believes that, “the soul is a different thing from the faculties”. It is apparent that she has reflected deeply on these things, but does not dwell on what she calls the "subtle things in the interior life". She writes:

“But we shall see everything in the life to come if the Lord, of His mercy, grants us the favour of bringing us to the place where we shall understand these secrets.”

Like Purgatory on Earth (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-11-15T23:42:00.000-05:00

In the final chapter of the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa gives an account of the state of the soul just prior to its being brought into the last of the Mansions.

The soul has generally received many favours by this time, usually over a number of years, although St. Teresa tells us that because God has no limitations, “He can raise a soul to the highest point here mentioned in a single moment.”

The favours bestowed on the soul cause more pain than joy at this point. The soul, continually learning more about God’s greatness, experiences longing, love and desire for Him to such a degree and with such intensity, that the unfulfillment of complete union is almost unbearable.

St. Teresa again describes the smouldering fire within the soul - how the soul is interiorly burning. It is hypersensitive to its inability to totally enjoy the Lord, and all it takes is a “mere fleeting thought” or a remark overheard about “death’s long tarrying” for the soul to feel as if it has been struck a blow, or wounded by an arrow of fire (as discussed in an earlier post). The wound is deep, but, “not, I think, in any region where physical pain can be felt, but in the soul’s most intimate depths.” St. Teresa describes how the senses and faculties are enraptured when this occurs, except in whatever way allows the soul to experience this pain and distress, a distress of the soul so powerful that one will cry aloud.

This suffering of the soul, says St. Teresa, “resembles that of souls in purgatory”. It involves “great peril of death”, leaving “the limbs quite disjointed, and, for as long as it continues, the pulse is as feeble as though the soul were about to render itself up to God.”

Although the soul may have spent nearly a lifetime in abandonment to God, that is not now the case. All the soul knows now is that, “she is absent from her Good”, and the only question becomes, “why should she wish to live?” The soul finds itself in a “strange solitude”, with no companions on earth, desiring only His companionship in heaven. One feels suspended, “unable either to come down and rest anywhere on earth or to ascend into Heaven.” The soul experiences an intolerable, unquenchable thirst.

What is really happening here, just prior to entering the Seventh Mansions? We must remember that what will occur in the Seventh Mansions, the Spiritual Marriage, is the highest possible spiritual state attainable while in the body. For a soul who has attained to this spiritual level, a purification similar to that which occurs in Purgatory must take place. St. Teresa tells us, “It is well that great things should cost a great deal, especially if the soul can be purified by suffering and enabled to enter the seventh Mansion, just as those who are to enter Heaven are cleansed in purgatory. If this is possible, its suffering is no more than a drop of water in the sea.”

This type of distress of the soul comes and goes, and as St. Teresa recounts, can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to three or four hours. There is no way of, “dispelling the distress until the Lord Himself dispels it for her. This He does, as a general rule, by granting her a deep rapture or some kind of vision, in which the true Comforter comforts and strengthens her so that she can wish to live for as long as He wills.”

At this point, souls have reached the heights of suffering but not the heights of joy, for they are about to be brought into the Seventh Mansions, where, “He repays them for everything at once.”

2006-11-13T13:47:00.000-05:00

Arms of Love

Sin and Truth (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-11-11T22:35:00.000-05:00

In Chapter 10 of the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa speaks of two very important points.

The first is that God will sometimes, in an intellectual vision, communicate secret things to the soul which it, “seems to see within God Himself.” It is revealed to the soul, “how all things are seen in God, and how within Himself He contains them all.”

St. Teresa goes directly to the heart of the matter, to the deepest ramifications of this truth, the horror of sin. For if all things are contained within God, then, she says, this is, “showing us clearly how wrongly we are acting when we offend God, since it is within God Himself – because we dwell within Him.”

Although God cannot sin, although He can be in the midst of sin yet be untouched by it, all of the sins we commit are committed within Him. Since all things are contained in God, it is impossible to go away from Him while we are committing sin. St. Teresa tells us that if we really, truly understood this reality of sinning within God, “I do not think we could possibly be so presumptuous.” It is certainly a horrific thing upon which to meditate, and would do much to spur us on in trying to practise virtuous lives, if we dwell on St. Teresa’s words: “these abominations and dishonourable actions and evil deeds which we sinners commit are done within the palace itself – that is, within God.”

The second point is that God will sometimes very suddenly, “reveal a truth that is in Himself and that makes any truth to be found in the creatures seem like thick darkness.” Here St. Teresa is speaking of the Lord revealing one, or more, of His Divine Attributes. We see this also, for example, in the Diary of St. Faustina, where she tells us that one time, during Advent, her “spirit rushed toward God with all its might. During that time, the Lord gave me much light to know His attributes.” Sr. Faustina, at that time, was given knowledge of God in four of His Divine Attributes: Holiness, Justice, Love and Mercy.

St. Teresa, in the Sixth Mansions, goes on to tell us that not only will God reveal truths that are in Himself, but that, “He will also manifest very clearly that He alone is truth and cannot lie.”

St. Teresa recounts, “I remember that story about Pilate, who asked Our Lord so many questions, and at the time of His Passion said to Him: ‘What is truth?’ And then I reflect how little we understand of this Sovereign Truth here on earth.”

Feastday of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

2006-11-08T00:45:00.000-05:00

For ccheryl

"I no longer know anything, I do not want to know anything except to know Him, to share in His sufferings, to become like Him in His death. Those whom God has foreknown He has also predestined to become conformed to the image of His divine Son, the One crucified by love. When I am wholly identified with this divine Exemplar, when I have wholly passed into Him and He into me, then I will fulfill my eternal vocation: the one for which God has chosen me in Him in principio, the one I will continue in aeternum when, immersed in the bosom of my Trinity, I will be the unceasing praise of His glory, Laudem gloriae ejus."
(From the First Day of her Last Retreat)

Intellectual Visions (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-11-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

"Most perfect of all visions are the intellectual. They are immaterial, spiritual and without the traits of sense; as the name indicates, they are seen by the intellect alone."

Father Thomas Dubay (Fire Within)

St. Teresa refers to intellectual visions as 'sublime', and tells us that, "it is not fitting for those who live on earth to understand them in such a way that they can describe them." She writes that, in an intellectual vision, one may be shown many things which are indescribable, such as, "a host of angels, with their Lord", but that it is not with the eyes of the body [corporeal vision] or with the eyes of the soul [imaginary vision], but "by means of an admirable kind of knowledge."

In, "Christian Perfection and Contemplation", Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange explains that with an intellectual vision, an object is manifested to the intellect, "without any actual dependance on sensible images." It can be brought about either by ideas which the intellect has already acquired, and which are then, "supernaturally co-ordinated or modified", or by ideas infused by God, "which are sometimes of angelic order." Father Garrigou-Lagrange tells us that intellectual visions require infused light, "that of the gift of wisdom or prophecy."

Sometimes an intellectual vision is rapid in nature, and in this case Father Garrigou-Lagrange explains that it will be clear and distinct, "a sort of intuition of divine truths or of created things in God." St. Teresa describes this type of intellectual vision in Chapter 28 of her Autobiography; she writes: "...through the intellectual vision...we are given an understanding of how God is powerful, that He can do all things, that He commands all and governs all, and that His love permeates all things."

But in, Interior Castle, St. Teresa concentrates on a different type of intellectual vision, one that can last, "for many days - sometimes for more than a year." She tells us that it may happen that the soul becomes, “conscious that Jesus Christ Our Lord is near to it, though it cannot see Him either with the eyes of the body or with those of the soul." St. Teresa experienced this prolonged intellectual vision of the Lord herself, although she uses the third person when describing the experience: "She was conscious that He was walking at her right hand, but this consciousness arose, not from those senses which tell us that another person is near us, but in another and a subtler way which is indescribable."

As opposed to a rapid intellectual vision, which we have seen is clear and distinct, Father Garrigou-Lagrange explains that this type of prolonged intellectual vision is obscure and indistinct. St. Teresa was very aware that Jesus was beside her for extended periods, and although she could not understand how she knew this to be true, she was absolutely certain about it. Father Garrigou-Lagrange tells us that an intellectual vision of this type, "manifests with certitude the presence of the object without any detail as to its intimate nature."

Sometimes, rather than Jesus, the felt presence is that of a saint or the Blessed Virgin Mary. The soul knows exactly who it is, even though the presence is not visible. The purpose of this type of intellectual vision appears to be the companionship it provides, which strengthens and gladdens the soul. St. Teresa describes this, again in the third person: “For she saw plainly that it was a great help to her to be habitually thinking of God wherever she went and to be taking such care to do nothing which would displease Him because she felt that He was always looking at her.”

In, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, St. John of the Cross tells us that we can recognize the divine origin of these intellectual visions by their effects, which are deep peace, holy joy, profound humility, and unshakable attachment to virtue.

Of the prolonged intellectual vision, St. Teresa says:

“[it] brings a special knowledge of God, and from this constant companionship is born a most tender love toward His Majesty, and yearnings, even deeper than those already described, to give oneself wholly up to His service, and a great purity of conscience; for the Presence Which the soul has at its side makes it sensitive to everything.”

Imaginary Visions (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-11-02T11:05:00.000-05:00

Note: Anyone who wishes to leave a comment, please feel free to do so; but just to let you know that the next post will be on "Intellectual Visions", if you wish to wait and see how St. Teresa explains the difference between the two.

When a soul receives an imaginary vision, the Lord gives it, "a clear revelation of His sacred Humanity, either as He was when He lived in the world, or as He was after His resurrection; ... he does this so quickly that we might liken the action to a flash of lightning..." An imaginary vision, "far exceeds all that our imagination and understanding can compass," and the soul knows that it is Jesus in the vision because, "He reveals Himself quite clearly as the Lord of Heaven and earth."

Speed is one of the telltale signs that marks an imaginary vision. It must pass quickly, because the soul's interior sight could not withstand the radiance of this type of vision any more than one's human eyes could withstand staring directly at the sun: "The brilliance of this vision is like that of infused light or of a sun covered with some material of the transparency of a diamond..."

St. Teresa explains that if a person is able to look for a long time at the Lord, she believes that this would not be an imaginary vision, but only a, "striking idea [which] creates a picture in the imagination: but this will be a dead image by comparison with the other." With the simple imagination, explains St. Teresa, a person usually builds up the picture little by little, whereas with an imaginary vision, "all of a sudden the whole vision is revealed." Another distinguishing feature of a true imaginary vision is that the individual is not only, "far from expecting to see anything", but the essence of the vision is something which has never even entered the person's mind. The person has no control over the vision; as Father Thomas Dubay explains in, Fire Within:

"It all happens exactly as the Lord wishes; there is no inducing or stopping it. Desire to see or not to see has no effect. If the recipient even tries to focus on some specific aspect of the vision, it simply ceases. God is in entire control."

Neither are these to be confused with corporeal visions, those seen with the human eye. St. Teresa says that, "the medium by which all such things [imaginary visions] are seen", is "interior sight". St. Teresa emphasizes that an imaginary vision is not like a painting; she describes it as being, "really alive, and sometimes even speaks to the soul and shows it things both great and secret." She tells us: "Almost invariably the soul on which God bestows this favour remains in rapture..."

One must never, "beseech or desire Him to lead you along this road" of imaginary visions. St. Teresa gives us six reasons why not:

it shows a lack of humility;
a person desirous of visions would be "quite certain" to be deceived by the devil;
the desire would cause the imagination to persuade the person that he is really having imaginary visions, when in reality, he is not;
it is presumptuous to wish to choose one's own path instead of allowing the Lord to lead us;
the trials of those who receive imaginary visions are heavy and of many kinds, and one does not know whether or not one could bear them;
they may bring one loss rather than the gain that one desired.

As always, St. Teresa reminds us of the fact that imaginary visions, as with any consolations or favours, are bestowed according to the will of the Lord:

"And you must note that you will merit no more glory for having received many of these favours; on the contrary, the fact that you are receiving more imposes on you greater obligations to serve."

The Humanity of Jesus (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-10-29T11:21:00.000-05:00

The growing love and deepening union which occurs in the Sixth Mansions does not preclude the soul from fearing and weeping over its sins. This, says St. Teresa, is because the more a soul receives from the Lord, the more it realizes its sin, and sorrows over it.

The soul experiences perfect contrition, no longer thinking, “of the pain which it is bound to suffer on account of its sins, but only of how ungrateful it has been to Him Whom it owes so much, and Who so greatly merits our service.” There is no fear of hell, only the fear that if God does not hold it up, it may fall into sin again.

The soul has received, “a much deeper knowledge of the greatness of God” and grieves now, over its past sins in particular: its boldness in doing its own will, its lack of reverence, its foolish mistakes which seem to grow in the remembrance of them, and its forsaking of the Lord. “A heavy cross”, St. Teresa tells us.

The depth of infused contemplation, the manifestations of His greatness and the ‘sublime’ favours received by the soul do not preclude meditation on “the most sacred Humanity of Our Lord Jesus Christ” either, St. Teresa informs us. She remains adamant about this, despite having been contradicted by those who insist that at this stage, “we shall do better to occupy ourselves with matters concerning the Godhead and to flee from corporeal things”. St. Teresa’s stance is based on her belief that while we are in the body, we cannot, “remain permanently enkindled in love”, as are angelic spirits, and so must, in order to bring ourselves profit and encouragement, continue to meditate and reflect on the Humanity of Christ, His Passion, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints.

St. Teresa admits, however, that there are souls on whom the Lord has bestowed ‘perfect contemplation’, and although they cannot remain in this state of perfect contemplation perpetually while in the body, they find that they, “can no longer meditate upon the mysteries of the Passion and the life of Christ, as they could before.” If, when they begin to meditate on these things, they are almost immediately swept up into perfect contemplation, this is understandable, she says, for by meditation she means, “prolonged reasoning with the understanding”, and many people who have been raised to perfect contemplation are not able to practise this type of meditation any longer. However, St. Teresa tells us, they can certainly still, “dwell upon these mysteries…especially when they are being celebrated by the Catholic Church”.

For all others, St. Teresa insists that meditation on the Humanity of Christ, His Passion, the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the angels and saints is no hindrance to the soul but brings it great benefit. She fears that if a soul abandons this type of meditation, “the devil might end by causing us to lose our devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament.” St. Teresa advises us to avoid the mistake she herself once made, of “going about in [a] state of absorption, expecting to receive spiritual consolation”, for as she learned:

“…life is long and there are many trials in it and we have need to look at Christ our Pattern, and also at His Apostles and Saints, and to reflect how they bore these trials, so that we, too, may bear them perfectly. The good Jesus is too good company for us to forsake Him and His most sacred Mother. He is very glad when we grieve for His afflictions although sometimes we may be forsaking our own pleasures and consolations in order to do so – though for that matter, daughters, consolations in prayer are not so frequent that there is not time for everything.”

Tears and Laughter (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-10-26T11:20:00.000-04:00

There are many gifts bestowed upon souls in the Sixth Mansions, two more of which are the gift of tears and spiritual inebriation.

Although St. Teresa describes herself as, “not in the least emotional”, she tells us that there were times when the tears would flow. She writes, “when the fire within my soul is strong, however hard my heart may be, it distils as if in an alembic.” Let’s take a look at this imagery. An alembic was an apparatus formerly used in distillation, the process whereby gas or vapours are driven from liquids or solids by heat, ultimately causing them to condense into a liquid product. What a wonderful image, St. Teresa’s ‘hard’ heart in the fiery alembic of her soul in infused contemplation, being transformed, distilled, the resulting liquid being her flowing tears. She states that tears which come forth in this manner are “comforting and tranquillizing”, not disturbing, but that one should not strive to bring these tears about. Allow God to give them as He sees fit, she tells us, for these tears are, “water which comes from heaven.” St. Teresa warns us that these tears, though, must be distinguished from the tears of overly emotional people who, “weep for the slightest thing; again and again they will think they are weeping for reasons which have to do with God but this will not be so in reality.”

The second gift of which we speak is described by St. Teresa as, “a jubilation and a strange kind of prayer.” She feels the nature of the gift is that the Lord brings the soul into close union while allowing the faculties and the senses to ‘enjoy’ this blissful state. The soul cannot remain silent in this happiness, but is compelled to shout out its joy and to praise the Lord so that all will know of His greatness. The person may actually appear to be intoxicated. In, Fire Within, Father Thomas Dubay writes that St. Teresa had mentioned in a letter to her brother that, “latterly I have been going about almost as if I were drunk”, and Father Dubay gives us a further explanation:

“Mystics speak of this experience as a sober inebriation: one remains with the use of reason and thus is “sober” but at the same time is quite overcome with delight after drinking deeply of the divine. The aftereffect of having tasted this potent cup of God’s goodness is something akin to reeling from drunkenness without having any of the demeaning defects of that disagreeable state.”

In The Spiritual Canticle, St. John of the Cross also describes this gift, referring to it as, ‘spiced wine’.

As far as St. Teresa is concerned, we should not look askance at souls in this state or desire to be more “sensible” than they, for the bottom line is that it is a state of prayer bestowed by God, in which the soul is incapable of speaking anything which does not arise out of its joy and desire to praise the Lord.

He's Full of Surprises

2006-10-24T11:38:00.000-04:00

I am helping with a fundraiser this evening. As a lay contemplative, I am always conscious of striving for an appropriate balance between active and passive, between reaching out and going within. It is often a source of anxiety. But what, at pretty much the last moment, have they told me I may be doing tonight? Running a silent auction table. Ha ha. He does indeed have a marvellous sense of humour.

Portrait of a Soul in Love (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:00

What is a soul in the Sixth Mansions really like? How does one feel, what are one's desires, how does one relate to others, how does one function in the world? Well, the soul in the Sixth Mansions is finding it very difficult to accept its place in the world, desiring only complete fruition of union with God. The soul is unable, as yet, to comprehend that if it continues along this path to union and reaches the Seventh Mansions where the Spiritual Marriage will take place, all this unrest will dissipate, and it may desire to live on earth forever, praising and serving the Lord. St. Teresa paints us a picture of this restless soul in Chapter VI of the Sixth Mansions, so let us study her sketch:

- Desire for commencement of eternal life: “the soul is so anxious to have complete fruition of [the Lord] that its life becomes sheer, though delectable, torture. It has the keenest longings for death, and so it frequently and tearfully begs God to take it out of this exile.”

- Weariness with the world: “Everything in this life that it sees wearies it; when it finds itself alone it experiences great relief, but immediately this distress returns till it hardly knows itself when it is without it.”

- Increase in ecstatic prayer: “…her love is so full of tenderness that any occasion whatever which serves to increase the strength of this fire causes the soul to take flight; and thus in this Mansion raptures occur continually and there is no way of avoiding them, even in public.”

- Horror of sin: “…she feels that she would not intentionally commit so much as a venial sin, even were she to be cut in pieces; and thus she is greatly distressed to find that, without being aware of the fact, she cannot avoid committing a great many.”

- Conflicting desires: “…the soul would like to flee from other people, and greatly envies those who live, or have lived, in deserts. On the other hand it would like to plunge right into the heart of the world, to see if by doing this it could help one soul to praise God more…”

- Disheartened by impediments: “…a woman in this state will be distressed at being prevented from doing this [plunging right into the heart of the world] by the obstacle of sex and very envious of those who are free to cry aloud and proclaim abroad Who is this great God of Hosts.”

These, says St. Teresa, are the effects of ecstatic prayer, “without any kind of doubt.” One can understand then, when considering a soul who is this much in love with the Lord yet unable to go any further on its own, St. Teresa is moved to cry out:

"Have pity on her, my God; and dispose things so that she may be able to do something towards fulfilling her desires to Thy honour and glory."

Ecstatic Prayer (Part 2 of 2): A Snippet from the 6th

2006-10-22T20:06:00.000-04:00

Another kind of rapture, different from what has already been described, is often referred to as, “flight of the spirit.” Let us look at what St. Teresa says about it:

“Sometimes the soul becomes conscious of such rapid motion that the spirit seems to be transported with a speed which, especially at first, fills it with fear…”. She also writes, “as quickly as a bullet leaves a gun when the trigger is pulled, there begins within the soul a flight…”

Referring back to the Fourth Mansions, St. Teresa recalls the metaphor she used, that of the soul as a basin, being gently filled with water (the beginnings of infused contemplation). Now, she says, it is as if God has loosed the source of the water, which comes rushing into the soul, “and with tremendous force there rises up so powerful a wave that this little ship – our soul – is lifted up on high.”

St. Teresa tells us that with this flight, or transport, of the spirit, “the soul really seems to have left the body; on the other hand, it is clear that the person is not dead, though for a few moments he cannot even himself be sure if the soul is in the body or no. He feels as if he has been in another world, very different from this in which we live, and has been shown a fresh light there…”

St. Teresa expresses some frustration at her inability to describe this phenomenon. She tells us, “If the soul is in the body or not while all this is happening I cannot say; I would not myself swear that the soul is in the body, nor that the body is bereft of the soul.” She goes on to say that she believes it is possible for the soul and the spirit to still be inside the body, but for some “higher part of them to rise above itself.”

Although St. Teresa does not use the word ‘levitation’ specifically, she tells us that sometimes, “the body is transported as well as the soul”. One can imagine the fear associated with this, for as St. Teresa says, the person does not know where he is going or who is taking him away, for at the outset there is no assurance that it is God.

One purpose of ‘flights of the spirit’, according to St. Teresa, appears to be that God desires to show the soul that He is all-powerful, and that, since the person has offered himself to the Lord unconditionally many times, the Lord decides to, so to speak, 'take him up on the offer.' St. Teresa reveals that no resistance is possible, and “only makes matters worse.” She describes these experiences as, “jewels which the Spouse is beginning to give to His bride”, but jewels which require great courage to accept: “Do you suppose it causes but little perturbation to a person in complete possession of his senses when he experiences these transports of the soul?”

St. Teresa warns us that not only great courage is required, but faith, confidence and great resignation, “so that Our Lord may do with the soul as He wills.”

Don't eat that, it's for the company!

2006-10-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

Oh, excuse me. Welcome to the haven. So happy you could make it to this little get-together to celebrate my six months of blogging. I can't really express how much you have enriched my life since I started this blog, but I'm going to try, and what better way than with the very words (slightly but lovingly edited) with which you have brought me such joy? So here we are, at my first-ever, "Totally Out-of-Context Comment" party. In other words, what a fly on the wall at the haven might hear. So come on in, give your coats to the little lad,

The Mature One

and make yourselves at home. Eat, drink and be merry. And mingle. Don't forget to mingle.

From forget me not's vineyard to our lips! **** And this, courtesy of brother lesser!

Desert Dreamer: "Sorry I've been away so long."
forget me not: "If you don't belong here, I certainly don't."
ccheryl: “Where am I now?”

Honora: "It's taking forever to fill these water balloons."
forget me not: “I want some brie and Bordeaux.”
Honora: “Let’s roast a chicken. She's got some cool machines.”

Monica: “It’s really helpful to come here and jump right in.”
Honora: “Lead on!”
ccheryl: “I will end up in the Slough of Despond.”
kathryntherese: "I hope I can jump in..."
forget me not: “God willing, the weather will be good.”

Honora: “I tried to sing once.”
Terry: "I usually keep my mouth shut."
ccheryl: "Personality type 'A'."
Terry: “So be it. ‘Nuff said.”

Honora: “Are you having surgery, Gabrielle?”
Gabrielle: “I knew I forgot something. Where did I put those knitting needles?”
Terry: "Yikes!"
Honora: "...some chutzpah, huh? We may have to up Gabrielle's cheesecake dosage."
Gabrielle: "Chocolate works for me, but we'll need quite a bit."
brother lesser: "What a great conversation!"

Deacon Dan: “During college I immersed myself…”
Monica: “Oh, that’s funny!”
forget me not: “Oh, gosh, how many times have I done that?”

Terry: “I did call the 800 number.”
Owen: “I am not at all surprised who it turned out to be.”
Monica: “If you can broker some kind of deal…”
Honora: “I dare not say anything to this.”

What the Conspiracy's been waiting for...

truevyne: “Golly, I love that Merton quote.”
Terry: "I have a friend who...wouldn't know a mystic from a fish stick."
brother lesser: “We don’t have to worry about him.”
Desert Dreamer: “There are a myriad of writers out there.”

Terry: “Of course, I was not very disciplined.”
ccheryl: “Did anyone else get that first impression?”
Desert Dreamer: “I can tell Honora feels the same way.”
penni: “Go into detail.”

truevyne: “I practically drool thinking of eating a summer tomato.”
Honora: “I feel that as an old married lady, I maybe shouldn’t have one…”

brother lesser: “I thought I would share something concerning mist.”
Gabrielle: “Oh yuk.”

truevyne: “My boys drive their bikes into my flowerpots.”
Deacon Dan: “Considering the outcome, I’d say let them fly.”
Honora: “I can only fly by the seat of my pants.”
forget me not: “Now that’s not good.”

Gabrielle: “The picture is a bit distorted.”
Terry: “And that’s a good thing!”
ccheryl: "Could it be the focus?"
Gabrielle: "Quick, let's blame Honora!"

penni: “Yikes, I am tired.”
Honora: “Oh, my aching category.”

forget me not: “I had less free time today to navigate.”
Terry: “Wow! Are you spying on me?”
brother lesser: “Boy can I relate to this!”
Monica: “Which goes to show…I don’t know what…but it’s interesting.”

Gabrielle: “Yes, of course, idols and attachments.”
Owen: “Can you e-mail me with the source, please?”
penni: “Give it up.”

kathryntherese: “I have struggled with these issues AD NAUSEUM.”
Gabrielle: “It’s only soccer.”
forget me not: “That too, takes experience.”
ccheryl: “I learned it’ll drive you nuts.”

I was up all night...

ccheryl: “Strong meat here, Gabrielle.”
Honora: “There is nothing worse on earth.”
ccheryl: “Looks good.”
Monica: “Avoid the worms at all costs!”
Gabrielle: “How gruesome!”
truevyne: “Love this, sister.”
kathryntherese: “I need to know if she’ll eat…”
Terry: “Gave me chills actually.”
kathryntherese: "Will we continue to say YES?"

Honora: “I am sitting here looking as uncomprehending as an eggplant.”
Monica: “That’s beautiful!”
kathryntherese: “I never thought of it like that, but it is a good visual.”

Monica: "A friend of mine made eyeballs out of some kind of feta cheese and olives."
Terry: "Beautiful and inspirational."
ccheryl: "Consider yourself blessed with a true bargain!"
penni: "Sounds like someone needs to hang out in a cave this weekend."

Gabrielle: "Yes, such a relief when we find out we are not nuts."
Monica: "I need to get this book."
Honora: "Snugglepuss and Bert Lahr (of Wizard of Oz fame) both used it."
Joanne: "I have received comfort from such readings."
Owen: "[send] the link along to my Mom as well."
penni: "Moi? Sender of things?"

ccheryl: "There is the sheer inability to explain the experience with mere words."
kathryntherese: "I could go on and on."
penni: "Don't steal my blessing, girl."
forget me not: "Exponential multiplication."
ccheryl: "That's a tough one for me."

brother lesser: "I experienced this about a month ago as I was sitting on the front porch watching the cars drive by."
Gabrielle: "It sounds like a disease."
forget me not: "It's made mashed potatoes out of me."
Terry: "A couple more coincidences to enjoy."

forget me not: "Starting to feel lightheaded. Buona notte!"
Honora: "Maranatha!"
Joanne: "God bless you."
brother lesser: "Oh, mea culpa!"

Joanne: "Well I was thinking maybe I will stay."
forget me not: "I may come back in disguise."

Feastday of St. Marguerite d'Youville and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

2006-10-16T01:00:00.000-04:00

St. Marguerite d'Youville (1701-1771) is the first Canadian-born saint. In 1737 she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, known as the Grey Nuns, in Montréal, Québec.

Pope John XXIII beatified her in 1959, calling her the Mother of Universal Charity. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1990, and gave her to the world as an example of an unconditionally loving person who helped all who needed her. She opened her heart and home to the poor, the sick, the elderly, wounded soldiers, abandoned infants, prostitutes, and the mentally ill. (Taken from a pamphlet published by the Marguerite d'Youville Centre, Montréal, Québec)

"Now I can die content, for the Sacred Heart of my Saviour is beginning to become known. Also because it seems to me that, through His mercy, I am nearly destroyed and annihilated as far as my reputation and the esteem of men is concerned. This consoles me more than I can say."

(Taken from, The Letters of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Apostle of the Sacred Heart)

Getting to Know Me

2006-10-16T00:40:00.000-04:00

This woman with the lamp is pretty much my hero. I'm assuming wireless Internet, and the laptop battery appears to be actually functioning. Not a scrap of paper in sight, pastel walls, cheery smile. Yes, she certainly appears to have everything under control. Skin's glowing, good haircut, and she looks well-rested. I bet all the children are asleep.

And then there's me.

But just because I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment doesn't mean I can't throw a party, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. So you're all invited to the haven on October 19th, to celebrate my six-month anniversary of blogging. I know people usually wait a year, but hey, just call me madcap. Casual cocktail attire, unless you wear religious clothing, in which case you may keep it on. Please. And I'll have a surprise post. Maybe. Maybe not. It's a surprise.

Feastday of St. Teresa of Avila

2006-10-15T01:58:00.000-04:00

"O Life, You give life to all! Do not deny me this most sweet water that You have promised to those who love You. I want it, Lord, and I ask for it, and I come to You. Do not hide Yourself, Lord, from me, since You know my needs and that is the true medicine for this soul that has been wounded by You. O Lord, how many kinds of fires are there in this life? O what great reason there is for us to live in fear. Some fires consume the soul, others purify it so that it can joyfully live forever in You. O living Fountains of the Wounds of my God, how you always flow in great abundance for our support, and how secure he will go through the dangers of this miserable life who is nourished by the divine Blood."

(Excerpt from "Lingering with my Lord. Post-Communion Experiences of St. Teresa of Avila", Introduction and Translation by Michael D. Griffin, O.C.D.)

Ecstatic Prayer (Part 1 of 2): A Snippet from the 6th

2006-10-13T01:03:00.000-04:00

Through all of the dryness, heartache and yearning desires, we have been leading up to this: the spiritual betrothal. St. Teresa tells us that, “now you are going to see what His Majesty does to confirm this betrothal, for this, as I understand it, is what happens when He bestows raptures, which carry the soul out of its senses; for if, while still in possession of its senses, the soul saw that it was so near to such great majesty, it might perhaps be unable to remain alive.”

St. Teresa believes that rapture, ecstasy and trance are basically the same thing. This is supported in a footnote by E. Allison Peers, the translator of Interior Castle, who writes: “The mystics concur with St. Thomas in holding that ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, etc., are in substance one and the same, though there are accidental differences between them…”

What is the reason for ecstatic prayer? St. Teresa teaches that, because the soul desires “ever-increasing fruition of its Spouse”, the Lord grants it ecstatic prayer in order to strengthen it and give it courage to attain complete union.

Sometimes a rapture will occur because a soul is, “struck by some word, which it either remembers or hears spoken by God.” The Lord takes pity on the suffering soul, and the “spark”, which we learned of in an earlier Snippet, grows and “catches fire and springs into new life.” St. Teresa believes that a soul is forgiven of its sins at that moment, “assuming that it is in the proper disposition and has used the means of grace, as the Church teaches.” Then the Lord brings the soul into union with Himself, “in a way which none can understand save it and He, and even the soul itself does not understand this in such a way as to be able to speak of it afterwards…”

St. Teresa tells us that, even though the senses and the faculties, “are so completely absorbed that we might describe them as dead”, the soul itself, “has never before been so fully awake to the things of God or had such light or such knowledge of His Majesty.”

When the soul is in ecstatic prayer, imaginary and/or intellectual visions are sometimes granted. These will be dealt with in separate Snippets, but for the moment, let us just note that St. Teresa says imaginary visions are, “so deeply impressed upon the memory that they can never again be forgotten,” and that afterwards, one is able to describe them. Intellectual visions, however, are so “sublime” that they cannot be described afterwards, but they are “clearly imprinted in the very depths of the soul.”

According to St. Teresa, when a soul is enraptured, one temporarily loses the power of breathing, cannot speak and sometimes grows so cold in the hands and feet that it appears there is no soul left in the body. One can go in and out of this state, each time for short periods, but the ecstasy is giving, “fuller life to the soul.”

Even after coming out of ecstatic prayer, St. Teresa writes that the will is left completely absorbed and the understanding remains completely transported, sometimes for a day or even several days. The person is, during this time, completely incapable of grasping anything in its world that, “does not awaken the will to love.”

The ongoing effects of ecstatic prayer are significant. The soul desires to be used by God for any purpose, longs now to have “a thousand” lives to use for the Lord, and wishes only to praise Him. The soul desires to do penance, is never satisfied with the penance it performs, begins to understand how and why the martyrs were able to suffer, and complains to the Lord when, “He offers [it] no means of suffering.”

When ecstatic prayer occurs in public, as it sometimes does, St. Teresa is aware that it causes shame, confusion, distress and anxiety, but she teaches that this is really a lack of humility, and that the soul should be content whether it receives criticism or whether the Lord receives praise. She has her own opinion as to why the Lord would allow ecstatic prayer to be witnessed, and it should bring us much comfort:

“It seems that Our Lord wants everyone to realize that such a person’s soul is now His and that no one must touch it. People are welcome to attack her body, her honour, and her possessions, for any of these attacks will be to His Majesty’s honour. But her soul they may not attack, for unless, with most blameworthy presumption, it tears itself away from its Spouse, He will protect it from the whole world, and indeed from all hell.”

Feastday of St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament

2006-10-05T01:30:00.000-04:00

Excerpts from her Diary, May 1937:

"I am dying of yearning for God today. This longing fills all my soul. How very much I feel I am in exile. O Jesus, when will the longed-for moment come?"

"My tormented soul finds aid nowhere but in You, O Living Host. I place all my trust in Your merciful heart. I am waiting patiently for Your word, Lord."

Excerpt from her Diary, June 1938:

"Today, a living flame of divine love entered my soul; if it had lasted any longer, I would have been consumed by the fire, freeing myself of the bonds of the present. It seemed to me that, if it had lasted an instant longer, I would have been drowned in the ocean of love. I cannot describe these arrows of love that pierce my soul."

Locutions (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-10-04T07:50:00.000-04:00

Locutions are another means by which God awakens the soul, and there are many different kinds. Some come from outside the soul, St. Teresa tells us, some from the innermost depths of the soul, some from the higher part, and others so completely outside the soul that they are audible.

St. Teresa says that locutions may appear to be a great favour, but that they are also, "more perilous". It is important to emphasize here that we are discussing locutions as experienced by people of sound mental health, and St. Teresa herself wishes to be clear about this: "Sometimes - often, indeed - this may be a fancy, especially in persons who are melancholy - I mean, are affected by real melancholy - or have feeble imaginations."

A footnote in Interior Castle, which contains a description of various kinds of locutions, may help us to distinguish among them. This quotation is from Médula mystica, written by P. Francisco de Santo Tomas, OCD:

"Some are corporeal, some imaginary and some spiritual or intellectual. Corporeal locutions are those actually heard by the physical powers of hearing....Imaginary locutions are not heard in that way but the impression apprehended and received by the imaginative faculty is the same as though they had been....In spiritual or intellectual locutions God imprints what He is about to say in the depth of the spirit: there is no sound, or voice, or either corporeal or imaginary representation of such, but an expression of (certain) concepts in the depth of the spirit and in the faculty of the understanding..."

St. Teresa explains that locutions are generally given, "to comfort you or to warn you of your faults." Of any locution, St. Teresa warns us that unless it, "agrees strictly with the Scriptures, take no more notice of it than you would if it came from the devil himself." And it can, so here are a few tips on how to know if they are really coming from God:

"The first and truest is the sense of power and authority which they bear with them, both in themselves and in the actions which follow them";
"The second sign is that a great tranquillity dwells in the soul, which becomes peacefully and devoutly recollected, and ready to sing praises to God";
"The third sign is that these words do not vanish from the memory for a very long time; some, indeed, never vanish at all".

Locutions are often short and simple in nature, but the power they bear and the results they effect are immeasurable. They may be as uncomplicated as, "Be not troubled", or, "It is I, fear not", but these straightforward words can alleviate distress, darkness, fear or doubt in a way that, "all the learned men in the world" could not accomplish in us.

The veracity of a locution fills the soul with a, "certainty which cannot be overcome." Even if it seems impossible that something told to us in a locution could come true, even if years go by without its coming into effect, even if our understanding is weak, we are certain that, "in the end what He has said will come true; as in fact it does." For a soul in love with the Lord, the fulfillment of a locution brings great joy, not because the soul felt foolish for believing it for so long, but because the word of the Lord has been shown to have been true.

When should a locution be shared with a confessor or a spiritual director? St. Teresa tells us it is necessary to discuss it with, "a learned confessor, a man of clear insight and a servant of God", if it is something of great importance and requires some action on the part of the hearer, or if it involves a third party.

St. Teresa gives us five indicators which help us to distinguish a genuine locution from one that is coming purely from the imagination:

locutions from God are extremely clear, even if they are lengthy, but with one from the imagination, "the voice will be less clear and the words less distinct; they will be like something heard in a half-dream";
locutions from God often come unexpectedly, even in the middle of a conversation, and although they are sometimes in reference to something the person has been speaking about or thinking, often they pertain to something of which the soul has never had any knowledge;
with locutions from God, the soul seems to hear something, but if it is a locution from one's imagination, it is as if, "someone is composing bit by bit what the soul wishes to hear";
with locutions from God, one word can contain so much meaning that our human language could never properly express it;
locutions from God reveal not only the meaning of the words to the hearer, but far more than the words themselves say.

St. Teresa also gives us a way of telling whether or not locutions are coming from the devil. The devil can, and does, counterfeit the spirit of light. He accomplishes this, she says, by, "pronouncing his words very clearly, so that there will be no more doubt about their being understood than if they were being spoken by the spirit of truth. But he will not be able to...leave in the soul this peace or light, but only restlessness and turmoil." If the locution, or any consolation or favour, comes from the devil, the soul will begin to grow in pride, thinking well of itself for having received this "gift", and it will, "suffer increasing confusion". However, when the gift is from God, the soul grows to care less for self, is more mindful of its sin, seeks the honour of God, and desires only to do the will of the Lord.

St. Teresa tells us that many times, people who have not received locutions express the thought that they should be ignored, and that people should, "turn their attention elsewhere", so as to avoid possible danger. She responds that this is impossible. The soul, she says, "cannot do other than listen: it has no other choice."

In her usual forthright way, St. Teresa doesn't pull any punches when it comes to locutions, and so I pass her message along:

"But of one thing I will warn you: do not think that, even if your locutions come from God, you will for that reason be any the better. After all, He talked a great deal with the Pharisees..."

Ah, St. Teresa. You just gotta love her.

Wrapping Up the Love Wounds

2006-10-02T01:35:00.000-04:00

What? You haven't been waylaid by an angel thrusting arrows into your heart? Well, as a matter of fact, neither have I.

So, are there other kinds of "love wounds" granted by the Lord which are a little less dramatic? Anything that we might recognize ourselves? Absolutely.

St. Teresa says that Our Lord, "has other methods of awakening the soul." Sometimes, she tells us, during vocal prayer, the soul just seems to "catch fire". She compares it to being overcome by a fragrance which diffuses itself through all our senses (although she is not talking about an actual fragrance here); we unexpectedly become conscious that the Spouse is with us. This creates within us "a delectable desire to enjoy Him", and disposes the soul to "make many acts and to sing praises to Our Lord." This causes no pain, and our desires themselves are not painful ones.

There are also experiences known as mystical touches and impulses. Let us look at two quotations from Father Thomas Dubay on this subject:

"A mystical touch is a deep, intimate contact-union-experience of God in one of His attributes such as power, light, goodness, beauty, or joy. It is not only a contact but also a union, and not only a union but also an experience...These touches are not messages or flashes of inner lightning, and they are not clear vision as in glory. But they are contacts with the very Divinity, and they effect a union with God." (Fire Within)

"What is an impulse? The saint [St. Teresa of Avila] defines it as a desire, frequent and even habitual, that comes upon the soul suddenly and without any preceding prayer. It involves a keen remembrance that one is separated from God...a remembrance so powerful and experienced with such impact that instantaneously the soul seems beside itself." (Fire Within)

What lasting effects do these love wounds, mystical touches and impulses have on us? Again, Father Dubay has this to say:

"Touches purify, strengthen and quiet a person, and they make the inner life more stable. They prepare the recipient to receive permanently the divine union of espousal and eventually the transforming union itself."

The Little Brushstrokes of St. Thérèse de Lisieux

2006-10-02T01:10:00.000-04:00

"...I am a little brush which Jesus has chosen in order to paint His own image in the souls...entrusted to my care. An artist doesn't use only one brush, but needs at least two;

the first is the more useful and with it he applies the general tints and covers the canvas entirely in a very short time;

the other, the smaller one, he uses for details."

Feast Day: October 1stPetite Thérèse de l'enfant Jésus

St. Teresa's Love Wound

2006-09-29T00:35:00.000-04:00

Before we move along to lucutions, I would like to share with you St. Teresa's own experience of receiving a love wound. She describes an encounter with an angel in Chapter 29 of her autobiography:

"I saw in his hands a large golden dart and at the end of the iron tip there appeared to be a little fire. It seemed to me this angel plunged the dart several times into my heart and that it reached deep within me. When he drew it out, I thought he was carrying off with him the deepest part of me; and he left me all on fire with great love of God. The pain was so great that it made me moan, and the sweetness this greatest pain caused me was so superabundant that there is no desire capable of taking it away."

This event is celebrated on August 26th, and is known as the Feast of the Transverberation of St. Teresa of Jesus. This type of occurrence is also known as transfixion.

Here is a lovely little poem, entitled, "Dilectus Meus Mihi", or, "My Beloved is Mine", written by St. Teresa herself. This translation is by Alvin Joaquin Figueroa, who tells us that St. Teresa, "uses the Song of Songs as a literary intertext" in her poem.

When the sweet Hunter shot and wounded me

My soul rested upon Love's arms.

And regaining a new life

I have changed in such a way,

That I am my Beloved's

And my Beloved is mine.

I have surrendered to Him

And to such a great extent

That I am my Beloved's

And my Beloved is mine.

He wounded me with a love arrow

And my soul became one with her Creator.

I do not want any other love,

For to my God I have surrendered.

I am my Beloved's

And my Beloved is mine.

Love Wounds (A Snippet from the 6th)

2006-09-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

One of the benefits of the trials in the Sixth Mansions is that the soul gains courage, enabling it to "make a higher flight". Before the soul enters into the Spiritual Marriage, which will take place in the Seventh Mansions, the Lord fills it with "fervent desire, by means so delicate that the soul itself does not understand them." These experiences come about in a very different manner than other consolations we have seen - for example, those which may be experienced in the Prayer of Quiet. The soul may be somewhat prepared for consolations during an actual time of prayer or reflection, but these ones often occur, "when a person is quite unprepared for such a thing, and is not even thinking of God."

St. Teresa describes how the soul may be suddenly awakened by the Lord, "as though by a rushing comet or a thunderclap", although no external sound is heard. It knows immediately that it has been called by God, and may begin to "tremble and complain". The soul becomes aware that it has been "delectably wounded". It knows that the Lord is very near, but is not manifesting His Presence in any way that the soul can grasp in union. The soul is in love, and this experience is such a combination of love and grief that it cries out to the Lord, and yet it is a suffering of which the soul would never desire to be healed. St. Teresa tells us that it is as if the Lord, Who is in the Seventh Mansions of the soul, is "calling the soul in a way which involves no clear utterance of speech."

St. Teresa likens this experience to two things: one, as if the soul has been wounded by an arrow; two, as if, from the Fire which is God, a spark has flown out and touched the soul. The spark produces heat, a burning desire, but not enough to fully set the soul on fire. The experience comes and goes, and "leaves the soul yearning once again to suffer that loving pain."

St. Teresa tells us that this is not something which can be counterfeited by the devil; although he is able to cause pain, and he is able to counterfeit spiritual delights, he is incapable of uniting the two. The devil cannot, according to St. Teresa, unite great pain in the soul with tranquillity and joy.

The effect of love wounds is that the soul, generally, "becomes filled with a determination to suffer for God's sake and to desire to have many trials to endure, and to be very much more resolute in withdrawing from the pleasures and intercourse of this world..."

Supernatural Phenomena: A Snippet from the 6th

2006-09-23T11:30:00.000-04:00

St. Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy

In the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa of Avila tells us of different ways in which God "awakens the soul" more fully. The Lord does this by means of such things as love wounds, locutions, ecstasies/raptures, flights of spirit, and sometimes levitation. Father Thomas Dubay, in "Fire Within", concedes that levitation is generally considered to be "extraordinary", but says that "the other experiences are all normal developments of a deepening communion with the Trinity."

We will look at some of these phenomena more closely over the next few posts, in order to examine what St. Teresa thinks are the reasons for them and their effects upon the soul. But let us keep in mind the words of St. Teresa herself, as she cautioned her Carmelite nuns:

"And let none of you imagine that, because a sister has had such experiences, she is any better than the rest; the Lord leads each of us as He sees we have need. Such experiences, if we use them aright, prepare us to be better servants of God; but sometimes it is the weakest whom God leads by this road; and so there is no ground here either for approval or for condemnation. We must base our judgments on the virtues."

The Ecstasy of St. Catherine of Siena

Synchronicity

2006-09-18T12:28:00.000-04:00

Some thoughts on journaling in the previous post's combox, as well as a recent reflection over at ccheryl's , brought to mind the enormous potential of creativity in our lives.

If you have not already done so, I would highly recommend reading a book by Julia Cameron, entitled, "The Artist's Way. A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity." It is a powerful and insightful work on how to recover and release the hidden artist within. While not "Catholic" in any denominational sense of the word, the author guides us through a program which will help us discover, or reawaken, our sense of the connectedness between art and spirituality. Here are two passages from Julia Cameron's book:

"The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity. Those who speak in spiritual terms routinely refer to God as the creator but seldom see creator as the literal term for artist. I am suggesting you take the term creator quite literally. You are seeking to forge a creative alliance, artist-to-artist with the Great Creator. Accepting this concept can greatly expand your creative possibilities." (pg. 2)

"Once you accept that it is natural to create, you can begin to accept a second idea - that the creator will hand you whatever you need for the project. The minute you are willing to accept the help of this collaborator, you will see useful bits of help everywhere in your life. Be alert: there is a second voice, a higher harmonic, adding to and augmenting your inner creative voice. This voice frequently shows itself in synchronicity." (pg. 119)

Why?

2006-09-15T10:40:00.000-04:00

Why this dark night of the soul, in particular this dark night of the spirit? We are told, by many contemplative saints and writers, it is because the soul needs to be purified completely before it can attain to the Spiritual Marriage, and the ego, the "false self" which has been layered on year by year, must "die". The Lord does this through his Light, through His Divine purifying fire of Love. The soul is overwhelmed by this Light; it is blinded, and can only move forward in faith. The soul cannot perceive the Lord's presence, but He is there, very close by.

"This is the reason the soul's suffering for God at this time is so intense: she is drawing nearer to Him, and so she has greater experience within herself of the void of God, of very heavy darkness, and of spiritual fire which dries up and purges her, so that thus purified she may be united with Him....He is intolerable darkness to her when He is spiritually near her, for the supernatural light darkens with its excess the natural light."

St. John of the Cross

(The Spiritual Canticle)

"We have to go through this painful experience to come to our true self. It is a harrowing journey, a death to self - the false self - and no one wants to die. But it is the only path to life, to freedom, to peace, to true love."

M. Basil Pennington, O.C.S.O.

(A Place Apart. Monastic Prayer and Practice for Everyone)

"The Night of Spirit feels like dying. But it isn't death. It is a liberation from the tyranny of the false self. It is the necessary preparation for the full transmission of divine light, life, and love. Lazarus as a symbol of Christian transformation is very close to us, and indeed is us in moments of deep purification, especially when that experience is prolonged and we feel as though there is no hope that the night will ever end. The Night of Spirit in particular is extremely searching. The Divine Therapist lovingly moderates the intensity of self-knowledge according to our state of life and capacity. Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus is only beginning the contemplative journey. Contemplation is not the reward of virtue. It is a necessity for virtue. It leads to the experience of the presence of God in pure faith. God then withdraws the divine presence seeming to abandon us in the tomb, as it were. God returns at the appropriate time to call us forth from our darkness, confinement, loneliness, dereliction, and grief."

Thomas Keating

(The Better Part. Stages of Contemplative Living)

Interior Trials: A Snippet from the 6th

2006-09-13T23:55:00.000-04:00

In the Fifth Mansions we saw that the soul was "about to be betrothed" to the Lord. Here, in the Sixth Mansions, the betrothal will take place, but seldom without loneliness, heartache and soul-suffering.

St. Teresa tells us that "the soul has been wounded with love for the Spouse and seeks more opportunity of being alone", but that "the Spouse disregards its yearnings for the conclusion of the Betrothal, desiring that they should become still deeper and that this greatest of all blessings should be won by the soul at some cost to itself."

Here one experiences what is now generally referred to as the Dark Night of the Soul, based on the writings of St. John of the Cross. St. Teresa uses the term interior trials. This dark period varies from person to person in duration and intensity, as the Lord sees fit.

St. Teresa describes periods of dryness or aridity in prayer, the soul's perception that it has never known God and can never know Him, and the feeling that there is a great distance now between them: "...the soul seems not to feel the smallest spark of any love for God, nor has it ever done so."

During this period, the Lord allows the devil to test the soul, says St. Teresa, even to the point where the soul believes it has been completely abandoned. She writes: "For there are many things which assault her soul with an interior oppression so keenly felt and so intolerable that I do not know to what it can be compared, save to the torment of those who suffer in hell, for in this spiritual tempest no consolation is possible."

Misunderstood: A Snippet from the 6th

2006-09-10T22:55:00.000-04:00

A soul in the Sixth Mansions will have trials to bear, and St. Teresa begins with what she calls, "the least of them", that being, the reaction of other people.

When someone desires sanctity, has a deepening prayerlife, and has possibly even had experiences of God in public (not of the person's own volition), others will often react negatively. Accusations will be made, by mere acquaintances, that the person has a "holier-than-thou" attitude, is deluded, is deceiving many, or is trying to make others look sinful in comparison. Even worse, these trials may come from the people who are closest: "Then people whom she had thought her friends abandon her and it is they who say the worst things of all..."

As hurtful as this may be, St. Teresa says it is less painful than the opposite reaction, which is praise. People in the Sixth Mansions are acutely aware that any good they have within themselves or any good thing they accomplish is a gift from God and not due to themselves; praise is almost abhorrent to these souls, because they can see how comparatively recently and how deeply they have been in the state of sin: "So this praise is an intolerable torment..."

But with time and experience, the soul learns not to concern itself with either praise or criticism, and continues on its way. If praised, the soul accepts it as a way of glorifying the Lord, and if criticized, realizes that the Lord is permitting this, in order to help it make progress in the virtues.

The soul actually comes to prefer the criticism, since it is a means for growth. Concerning her detractors, she "conceives a special and most tender love for them and thinks of them as truer friends and greater benefactors than those who speak well of it."

Not Just Another Love Story

2006-09-08T01:15:00.000-04:00

Come and see this gentle, young woman, who just wants to be alone with Him. She is Living the Surrendered Life. Tiptoe, please.

Sixth Mansions

2006-09-05T23:10:00.000-04:00

The Love story continues as we enter the Sixth Mansions, wild and passionate, leading the soul very nearly into the depths of despair, and back up again to the heights of ecstasy. St. Teresa needs eleven chapters to describe it.

Yes, eleven.

This is where the betrothal occurs, where interior trials are at their worst, and where all sorts of "ordinary" and "extraordinary" phenomena transpire. Or not.

I really encourage you to read the book if you have time, since we cannot cover as many points here as St. Teresa did.

If you like, you can read it online, at Interior Castle .

I do want to highlight some areas of particular importance though, in what I will call, "Sixth Mansions Snippets". How many there will be, or how long it will take, I cannot say.

The Wedding Day is approaching, but there are so many details still to iron out, so many tiffs, hurt feelings, misunderstandings and lovers' secrets to get through first. But after all, doesn't everyone just love a good Love story?

Thrive!

2006-09-04T00:25:00.000-04:00

Some of you already know Owen; some of you may not yet have had the pleasure. His poetry can be found at smithereens, and his art, a sampling of which you see here, can be viewed at Onionboy.ca

Owen and his family were officially received into the Catholic Church in January 2006.

Previous to that, Owen was a Protestant minister for 21 years.

He gave up his livelihood to enter the Church.

A man of courage and faith, with a family to match, he only wants to do the Lord's will. Could we unite in prayer, could we storm the heavens, that our loving God would open the right doors for Owen soon.

Back in a Bit

2006-08-28T01:28:00.000-04:00

I'll be away for a few days. Take good care of yourselves!

Fifth Mansions (Part 4 of 4)

2006-08-26T00:18:00.000-04:00

The soul in the Fifth Mansions never rests, says St. Teresa, neither in spiritual consolations nor in the world. It is always "fruitful in doing good to itself and to other souls", but it has not yet found "true repose".

St. Teresa likens this stage to when, in earthly life, two people are "about to be betrothed"; we may see it as pre-engagement, when the couple has had a period of time getting to know each other, and are now deciding whether or not they will become engaged to be married.

In the Fifth Mansions, in the Prayer of Union, the Lord visits the soul, so that "she shall get to know Him better", and "He shall unite her with Himself." The soul is "fired with love", and does everything possible to make certain that the betrothal will take place. The soul's affection, though, must never be set "on anything other than Himself."

We must, at this time, withdraw from occasions of sin, for the devil will do his utmost to ensure that the betrothal does not take place: "For this purpose he will marshal all the powers of hell, for...if he wins a single soul in this way he will win a whole multitude..." We should "consider what a large number of people God can draw to Himself through the agency of a single soul..."

As previously mentioned, the devil cannot interfere in the Prayer of Union because God suspends our faculties, but he can interfere in our lives. Though desirous of doing the Lord's will, we can still be undermined and deceived. Although we are more withdrawn from the world, the devil can still find ways to visit us, St. Teresa warns.

St. Teresa reiterates that we must never have any confidence that we can avoid sin all by ourselves, but that we should beg the Lord to be continually with us. We must pay strict attention to whether or not we are progressing in the virtues, particularly for love of neighbour. But, she says, we can be assured that if God has brought us this far, He will not let us go easily: "His Majesty is so anxious for it [the soul] not to be lost that He gives it a thousand interior warnings of many kinds, and thus it cannot fail to perceive the danger."

"For it is unthinkable that a soul which has arrived so far should cease to grow: love is never idle, so failure to advance would be a very bad sign. A soul which has once set out to be the bride of God Himself, and has already had converse with His Majesty and reached the point which has been described, must not lie down and go to sleep again."

You Have Sustained Me

2006-08-24T22:53:00.000-04:00

When Grace Abounds (Click here, then click on "Download Now", if you would like to hear it. By Eden's Bridge, on Celtic Worship 2 CD.)

When grace abounds
And my heart overflows with joy
My God will stand beside me
My God will stand beside me

When peace runs free
And pours into the cup of life
My God will stand beside me
My God will stand beside me

When in my pain I stumble
blindly in the night
My God will stand beside me
My God will stand beside me

When I seek rest
My God will stand beside me
My God will stand beside me
My God will stand beside me.

Our dear son is safely home from Afghanistan. Let us pray for all the sons and daughters who are not.

Fifth Mansions (Part 3 of 4)

2006-08-24T08:42:00.000-04:00

"...the silkworm has of necessity to die; and it is this which will cost you most; for death comes more easily when one can see oneself living a new life, whereas our duty now is to continue living this present life, and yet to die of our own free will."

If a soul does not attain the Prayer of Union, which is a supernatural gift of the Lord, do not give up hope, St. Teresa insists. There is "another" union, which is achieved "by not following our own will but submitting it to whatever is the will of God." This is true union with the Lord, and the Prayer of Union, if it occurs at all, proceeds from it. St. Teresa writes: "This is the union which I have desired all my life; it is for this that I continually beseech Our Lord; it is this which is the most genuine and the safest."

St. Teresa instructs us to "try to advance in the service of Our Lord and in self-knowledge." She gives examples of what to guard against as we try to progress in the virtues: self-love, self-esteem, censoriousness concerning our neighbours, lack of charity towards them, and failure to love them as we love ourselves.

Only two things are asked of us, St. Teresa says - love for God and love for our neighbour: "It is for these two virtues that we must strive, and if we attain them perfectly we are doing His will and so shall be united with Him."

Putting the emphasis on love of neighbour is the wisest choice, she tells us, for we can see more clearly whether we are really doing that or not. The more we love our neighbour, the more God increases our love for Him; love for neighbour has its root in the love of God.

Sometimes in prayer, St. Teresa remarks, souls have grandiose ideas of how they will serve the Lord, or how much they wish to suffer for Him. True union means we will practise what we promise, for there is no use imagining all these wonderful things in prayer if we turn around the next moment and rise up against the smallest of trials and offences.

Knowing where we are on the path to union with the Lord is necessary, and thus requires self-knowledge. However, this is not something which should be entered into during our actual time of prayer, for then, St. Teresa cautions, prayer ultimately becomes nothing but self-absorption.

The Lord, she tells us, desires works, and we should never be afraid to interrupt our prayer for the benefit of others. We should, for example, "tend to the sick first", without being afraid of "losing any sense of devotion."

Some general counsels given by St. Teresa for souls in the Fifth Mansions are: take pleasure in hearing someone praised; be sorry for peoples' faults and try to conceal them from others; do violence to your own will; in everything possible, where it involves no sin, do the will of others; give up your own rights, and try to take on another's burden.

In short, St. Teresa instructs us, imitate Christ.

Fifth Mansions (Part 2 of 4)

2006-08-20T11:30:00.000-04:00

In the Fifth Mansions, St. Teresa uses imagery of a silkworm to teach us about the soul. The silkworm, she says, starts as a seedlike entity which appears to be dead until the warm weather arrives. Then it begins to feed upon the leaves of the mulberry tree, and when full-grown, attaches itself to a twig, spinning its silk into a cocoon. It enters the cocoon as a large, ugly worm, is transformed, and emerges as a beautiful, white butterfly.

In St. Teresa's analogy, the silkworm is the soul; the warm weather is "the heat which comes from the Holy Spirit"; the twigs are general help from God, as well as such things as frequent confession, good books and sermons, all of which become life-sustaining nourishment for the soul. The cocoon, or house in which it is to die, is Christ, and it will die with the practice of penance, prayer, mortification, obedience and other good works. In the Prayer of Union, the soul is the worm in the cocoon, completely "hidden in His greatness", and "quite dead to the world", but when the soul emerges from this prayer, it has been transformed into a "little white butterfly".

Upon emerging, the soul is anxious to praise the Lord, is unable to understand why it was so blessed since it did not merit it, seeks penance, longs for solitude, desires to suffer trials, and is deeply distressed whenever it sees the Lord being offended.

Now comes a difficult, restless period in life; there is a real sense of conflict and sad confusion. In its cocoon, hidden in the greatness of God, the soul was happy, yet it wouldn't wish to be a worm again. Though it has been transformed into a butterfly by feeding on the things of the Lord, it cannot seem to find true happiness or rest - there are few places in the world for a transformed soul, and few ways for it to accomplish its desires. St. Teresa tells us, "this little butterfly feels a stranger to things of the earth". This discontentment is a trial, but one from a "noble source". It is a "sublime" trial, and so the soul, paradoxically, can enjoy peace at the same time, and "to a very high degree".

Another trial for the soul in the Fifth Mansions is sadness arising from the fact that it cannot perform greater things for the Lord, and also that it so often sees Him being offended. This is not the same kind of natural sorrow or grief that arises from meditating on the Passion or on how greatly humanity has offended God; this grief "seems to tear it to pieces and grind it to powder". This is a supernatural grief, given to a soul who has handed over its will to the Lord.

But why would the Lord desire to give a soul grief? What is His will in this matter? St. Teresa says that, "the soul shall go thence sealed with His seal". The soul has become like wax, and the "seal is impressed upon it". This supernatural grief, beyond all human understanding, is a tremendous gift from God, for, "He gives the soul something of His own, which is what His Son had in this life." And what did the Son have, the Son who:

"...saw everything and was continually witnessing the great offences which were being committed against His Father."

Grief. Unimaginable grief. Grief so deep that we can only be allowed a share of it through a supernatural infusion. We are given, in the Fifth Mansions, a participation in the interior sufferings of Christ.

Fifth Mansions (Part 1 of 4)

2006-08-18T09:20:00.000-04:00

Despite St. Teresa's misgivings that she will not be able to help us with the Fifth Mansions, she perseveres, desiring to tell us of its "riches and treasures and delights". Few people, she says, "prepare" themselves for the Lord to reveal the "hidden treasure" within; this treasure, Father Thomas Dubay tells us, is the Indwelling Trinity.

As love grows, there is a corresponding intensification of infused prayer, and the "absorption" found in the Prayer of Quiet is heightened in the Fifth Mansions, becoming the Prayer of Union. The Lord desires our love, and St. Teresa tells us to what degree: "He would have you keep back nothing; whether it be little or much, He will have it all for Himself."

In this Prayer of Union, we are "fast asleep, to the things of the world, and to ourselves." We have no power to think, even though there may be a desire to do so. We do not have to struggle as before to suspend thought - God suspends it for us.

There is a strong love and desire, but we cannot understand what it is; sometimes, St. Teresa says, it is as if the soul has withdrawn from the body. The mind is "dumbfounded", and sometimes "neither hands nor feet can move." Father Dubay notes that here, St. Teresa is describing a type of ecstatic prayer, not as strong as the ecstasy or rapture which she will explain in the Sixth Mansions, but a milder type, which she says usually does not last as long as even half an hour. The Prayer of Union has its effects primarily on the interior, within the soul, while ecstatic prayer affects a person both interiorly and exteriorly. Sometimes there is a little slipping in and out of different types of prayer, and this is an example of being primarily in the Fifth Mansions enjoying the Prayer of Union, but slipping into the Sixth Mansions at times.

In the Fourth Mansions, after experiencing the Prayer of Quiet, one may wonder whether or not it had all been a dream, or just the imagination, or even be fearful that one had been deceived by the devil, who can transform himself into an angel of light. Not so in the Fifth Mansions, St. Teresa reveals, for in the Prayer of Union, all the faculties (imagination, memory and intellect) are suspended, along with the will. Here, in the Prayer of Union, she is quite certain that the devil cannot enter, because "His Majesty is in such close contact and union with the essence of the soul."

If we are still unsure as to whether or not we have attained the Prayer of Union, St. Teresa gives us a "clear indication", a "decisive one". The soul, she says, does not necessarily know this during the time of prayer, but "it sees it clearly afterwards":

"God implants Himself in the interior of that soul in such a way that, when it returns to itself, it cannot possibly doubt that God has been in it and it has been in God; so firmly does this truth remain within it that, although for years God may never grant it that favour again, it can neither forget it nor doubt that it has received it....This certainty of the soul is very material."

Fifth Mansions "Quote of the Day"

2006-08-14T01:20:00.000-04:00

Says St. Teresa of Avila:

"I think it would be better if I were to say nothing of the Mansions I have not yet treated, for no one can describe them, the understanding is unable to comprehend them and no comparisons will avail to explain them..."

Great. Just when I was on a roll.

Fourth Mansions (Part 2 of 2)

2006-08-10T22:42:00.000-04:00

St. Teresa of Avila was a very busy woman, and often regretted not having time to review what she had written before continuing. Near the end of the section on the Fourth Mansions, she tells us that she really should have talked about the Prayer of Recollection before even mentioning the Prayer of Quiet.

What is the Prayer of Recollection? Father Thomas Dubay describes it as "an infused and gentle awareness given by God and not produced by human effort." St. Teresa teaches that it is the beginning of the "supernatural" overtaking our prayer, and does not depend on anything exterior. It is sometimes described as the gentle, infused prayer that God gives to help us make the transition from the active type of meditation done in the first three Mansions to the fuller infused contemplation which takes place later in the Prayer of Quiet. Without any human struggle one is drawn into oneself and desires solitude. The senses and the faculties gradually lose their hold because they have somehow heard the voice "of the good Shepherd". They recognize it because they have been in the Castle before, and are now drawn back into the soul. This can happen when one is not even thinking about God, but one becomes "markedly conscious" that one is going within.

St. Teresa advises that if we recognize this prayer taking place, we should try to stop using our reasoning powers and just listen to the Lord, for at this point, "the person who does most is he who thinks least and desires to do least." When the understanding is stilled, we are able to listen. However, she is adamant about not using force to attempt to still the understanding; she is very familiar with distractions and the wildness of the imagination. If it is too much of an effort to stop thinking, then "make requests of Him" and "remember that we are in His presence." She says that trying to use force is senseless anyway, for we invariably end up thinking even more, and since our faculties are God-given, until He brings us into a state of absorption it is better to use them than try to "cast a spell over them". She tells us that when our will desires to concentrate on the Lord, but our mind refuses to cooperate, the will must "abandon itself into the arms of love". Father Dubay reminds us that we are not hoping to receive, "a neutral state of awareness; we are receiving light and love from God, and there is a vast difference between a sterile, impersonal awareness and a living, lightsome loving. When God wants our mind to cease operating in its ordinary human manner, He gives a delicate but loving luminosity in such manner that all we have to do is receive."

After these early beginnings of infused contemplation in the Prayer of Recollection, the soul is generally then drawn into the Prayer of Quiet. St. Teresa says that in this prayer the faculties are not in full union with the Lord, but they become absorbed, and are "amazed as they consider what is happening to them." In the Prayer of Quiet, the will is somehow united with the will of God. Father Dubay explains that this can last even for a day or two; he says the will is in contemplation while the faculties of memory and intellect are operating quite normally, allowing us to carry out our daily business. St. Teresa remarks again on the dilation, or enlargement, of the heart: the more freely the water flows, the larger becomes the basin. She tells us that the soul becomes less constrained "in matters relating to the service of God", and has much more freedom. She describes some effects of the Prayer of Quiet: no longer being oppressed by the fear of hell, no longer having a servile relationship with God, more desire to do penance, a more lively faith and less fear of trials, being drawn more and more away from earthly delights, and a strengthening in all the virtues.

St. Teresa stresses that although we should "desire to attain the Prayer of Quiet", through humility, we should not expect to receive it. She reiterates that we should love God without any motive of self-interest, we should desire to suffer and imitate the Lord, realize that He is not obliged to bring us into this type of prayer, and not struggle uselessly in any attempt to achieve it for ourselves. All comes down to humility, receptivity and love, and yet, encouragingly, St. Teresa tells us that the fourth Mansion is "the one which the greatest number of souls enter."

Feastday of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

2006-08-09T01:22:00.000-04:00

"Approximately seven hundred Dutch Catholics of Jewish background, including some three hundred nuns and priests, were arrested along with Rosa and Edith. In 1950, when the official Dutch Gazette published the names of all Jews who had been deported from Holland on August 7, 1942, the following entry was found:

Number 44074: Edith Theresia Hedwig Stein, Echt
Born - October 12, 1891, Breslau
Died - August 9, 1942

There are no formal records of the Stein sisters at Auschwitz because the prisoners designated for death right from the train were never registered by camp records." (Excerpts from Edith Stein, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, by Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda)

"The burden of the cross that Christ assumed is that of corrupted human nature, with all its consequences in sin and suffering to which fallen humanity is subject. The meaning of the way of the cross is to carry this burden out of the world..." (Excerpt from St. Teresa Benedicta's Essay "Love of the Cross: Some Thoughts for the Feast of St. John of the Cross)

Edith Stein.

Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.

Born on the Day of Atonement.

In 1942

2006-08-08T01:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, August 7th, she and her sister Rosa were ordered onto the train leaving Westerbork. She had been in Barracks 36.

The train stopped in the switching area of the railroad depot in Breslau, where she had been born. According to author Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda, "A minute or so later, a guard opened a sliding door on one of the cars. With dismay, Wieners [an eye witness] noticed it was packed with people who were jammed together, cowering on the floor. The stench coming from the car almost overpowered the men standing outside. Then a woman in nun's clothing stepped into the opening. Wieners looked at her with such commiseration that she spoke to him: It's awful. We have nothing by way of containers for sanitation needs. Looking into the distance and then across the town, she said, This is my beloved hometown. I will never see it again."

Today, August 8th, she is on that unbearable train, making it more bearable for others. Tomorrow, she will be dead. The train will have brought her here, to Auschwitz.

Bless all the hearts, the clouded ones, Lord, above all,

Bring healing to the sick.

To those in torture, peace.

Teach those who had to carry their beloved to the grave, to forget.

Leave none in agony of guilt on all the earth.

From a poem entitled "To God, the Father", written by St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) in 1939

A Wee Concern

2006-08-05T19:29:00.000-04:00

Over the last number of months, on blogs of everyday layfolk, I have come across descriptions of personal experiences with God: encounters with the Lord involving locutions, intellectual visions, water, dreams, embraces, mists and breath, to name a few. I even wrote about one of my own, with the Sacred Heart.

Are we an oddball bunch of mystics? I don't think so. I think it's more likely that we've simply reached the point where we have had ample time to analyze the "by their fruits ye shall know them" aspects of these experiences, and we have decided to share some of them. Why? Perhaps in hopes that others will see that they are not out of the ordinary, and to show the mercy and compassion of the Lord.

My only concern, in the context of this series, is that people should not assume that such experiences are necessary.

In the Sixth Mansions, St. Teresa speaks at length of such things; Father Dubay outlines them in Fire Within: ecstasy, rapture, transport, flight of the spirit, impulses, wounding, the betrothal and sometimes levitation.

Now, it is not that these phenomena cannot occur in any of the Mansions, because they can, and do. However, it is in the Sixth Mansions that St. Teresa discusses them, and so in this overview of Interior Castle, that is where they will be presented and discussed as well.

I would just like to ensure that anyone who may be reading this series does not equate the early stages of infused contemplation with having to "feel" any special presence or "experience" anything tangible. In fact, some people spend their whole lives in the practice of contemplative prayer and never experience any of these phenomena. It is entirely up to God - when, where and if.

An Ounce of Encouragement

2006-08-05T15:42:00.000-04:00

Based on the first three Mansions, let's ask ourselves some questions. Are we aware that we have spiritual lives? Do we pray? Are we conscious of sin, and seek forgiveness when we fall short? Have we set aside excessive, unnecessary involvement in worldly pastimes? Do we seek quiet time with the Lord, with the intention of a closer union?

If so, then why should it be difficult to believe that we are entering, or are already in, at least the Fourth Mansions? Although there are different levels of infused contemplation, let's look at some descriptions which may help us at this point:

"The beginnings of this contemplation are brief and frequently interrupted by distractions. The reality is so unimposing that one who lacks instruction can fail to appreciate what exactly is taking place. Initial infused prayer is so ordinary and unspectacular in the early stages that many fail to recognize it for what it is. Yet with generous people, that is, with those who try to live the whole Gospel wholeheartedly and who engage in an earnest prayer life, it is common." (Thomas Dubay, Fire Within)

"For contemplation is naught else than a secret, peaceful and loving infusion from God, which, if it be permitted, enkindles the soul with the spirit of love." (St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul)

"Mystical contemplation is an intuition of God born of pure love." (Thomas Merton, The Inner Experience)

Can we remain humble, and yet admit to ourselves and possibly to a spiritual director, that we are making spiritual progress? I believe we can. Would we not be hurting Him otherwise? Would we not be denying the existence of His love, His offerings of intimacy and His gifts in our lives?

Fourth Mansions (Part 1 of 2)

2006-08-04T01:16:00.000-04:00

In the first three Mansions, relative to prayer, St. Teresa only briefly mentions recollection and vocal/mental prayer accompanied by meditation. This is prayer in the "human mode", as Father Thomas Dubay puts it. Here in the Fourth Mansions, St. Teresa tells us that "we now begin to touch the supernatural", and Father Dubay explains that by this, she is referring to "the inner experiences of infused contemplation."

St. Teresa tells us that the "poisonous creatures" seldom enter the Fourth Mansions. The bulk of the work of separating ourselves from these things has been done in the first three Mansions. However, she teaches that temptations can actually "do the soul good" for two reasons: if we do not experience temptations with which we have to do battle we may fall into spiritual pride, and Satan can then mislead us concerning consolations we might be receiving; also, without temptations, "the soul would be deprived of all occasions of merit."

The importance of knowing the difference between "sweetness in prayer" and "spiritual consolations" is also stressed. St. Teresa describes sweetness in prayer as coming from our meditations, our petitions and our virtuous works. God has a hand in this, she says, but it mainly comes out of our own nature. It is an emotional kind of satisfaction, similar to pleasant emotions which arise from many rewarding worldly activities or events, which "have their source in our own nature and end in God."

Spiritual consolations, however, "have their source in God, but we experience them in a natural way". Spiritual consolations "enlarge the heart" in a way that sweetness in prayer does not.

Here we are introduced to St. Teresa's famous water imagery. She offers us another metaphor: the soul as a large basin. On the one hand, the basin can be filled with water which is brought to it, from the source, through many conduits and by human skill; that is, we can work at prayer, through the conduits of words, thoughts, or meditations on created things and we will receive a "sweetness" in prayer, but the human effort which it requires creates spiritual "noise", and "fatigues the understanding".

On the other hand, if the basin is at the source, the water is always flowing, always noiselessly filling the basin with no need of conduits, and this is "spiritual consolation". She tells us it is "accompanied by the greatest peace and quietness and sweetness within ourselves", and so, St. Teresa calls it the "Prayer of Quiet".

Back from Vacation!

2006-08-01T00:00:00.000-04:00

A picture says a thousand words.

Women Tending the Laundry
Camille Pissarro (1887)

The Tour

2006-07-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry to interrupt this tour of the Castle, but we'll be taking some vacation time as of tomorrow.

I'll bring St. Teresa and a workbook with me, to make notes on the next couple of Mansions. (Gosh, I'll be fun to have around, won't I? Ah, well, they're used to me, God love 'em.)

Get up now, move around, stretch those muscles. Keep safe. I'll be thinking about, and praying for, so many of you. See you in a little over a week! I do hope they will accept the fact that I am not putting ANY worms on ANY fishhooks. I've got first dibs on squeamish.

Third Mansions

2006-07-21T01:05:00.000-04:00

Those who enter the Third Mansions are on "the straight road to salvation," says St. Teresa, unless they deliberately turn back. A person can feel "secure" in this, "unless he strays from the path on which he has set out." St. Teresa does not really like the word "secure" in relation to not falling into sin, since even in the higher Mansions it is possible. However, she uses it to convey the idea that a person can have some sense of security that he is in a good place, spiritually.

She sums up the characteristics of people in the Third Mansions as follows: "...they are most desirous not to offend His Majesty; they avoid committing even venial sins; they love doing penance; they spend hours in recollection; they use their time well; they practise works of charity toward their neighbours; and they are very careful in their speech and dress and in the government of their household if they have one."

At this stage, the person is to demonstrate love of God through good works, not that "God has any need of our works; what He needs is the resoluteness of our will." St. Teresa reiterates that we should not be seeking spiritual "favours". The Third Mansions can be a place of ongoing aridity in prayer, but St. Teresa feels that people who make a big fuss over this are lacking in humility, because they seem to be expecting "favours" that none of us deserve.

In the Third Mansions the soul undergoes testing with regard to sin, and St. Teresa notes two common reactions to falling. One type of person responds by becoming "restless and depressed in spirit." They "brood over their woes" and "make up their minds that they are suffering for God's sake, and thus never really understand that it is all due to their own imperfection." The other type of person admits to failure, doesn't dwell on it, asks for/receives forgiveness and carries on. In this way, "they gain a clear perception of their shortcomings" and in turn they "gain a great deal in humility." She advises that we should test ourselves, "before we are tested by the Lord."

St. Teresa describes some people as being overly-cautious - they are afraid to do penances, afraid to move forward spiritually too quickly, afraid to do anything which might (in their own minds) possibly harm their health. If we stunt our growth in this way, with imagined detrimental side-effects based on groundless fears, St. Teresa states that we will end up staying in the Third Mansions all our lives. She tells us that, if souls are here, "they are on the point of rising still higher," and calls our attention to the importance of obedience as well as spiritual direction: "...it would be a great thing for them to have someone to whom they could go, as many people do, so that they might not be following their own will in anything..."

She gives us a little hint of things to come, when she explains why those in the Third Mansions, if not vigilant, may turn around and head back to the First. St. Teresa tells us that for those in the Third Mansions, "their fortitude is not built upon solid ground like that of souls who are already practised in suffering." Well. I bet you can guess where she's headed...

Inbetween Mansions

2006-07-19T23:53:00.000-04:00

I'm working on the Third Mansions, but came across something today which I wanted to share:

A rabbi put this question to his
students:

"How can we determine the
hour of dawn, when
the night ends and the day begins?"

"When from
a
distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep," suggested
one.

"No," answered the rabbi.

"When you
can
distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine," offered another.
"No."

"Tell us," the students
said. The teacher answered,
"When you look into the face of a human being
and have enough light to recognize
in him your brother. Up until then it is
night, and darkness is still with
us."

Hasidic Tale

Second Mansions

2006-07-19T01:17:00.000-04:00

Those in the Second Mansions have begun to practise prayer, but are not yet striving to avoid occasions of sin. They "hear" the call of the Lord, but are unable to "speak"; that is, they are not yet able to respond by "doing" what they know they should.

How do they "hear"? St. Teresa tells us it is through "...conversations of good people, or from sermons, or through the reading of good books...Or they can come through sickness and trials, or by means of truths which God teaches us at times when we are engaged in prayer; however feeble such prayers may be, God values them highly."

The Lord is extremely merciful to those in the Second Mansions. The person may fall into sin again and again, but He keeps calling. The person suffers and feels grief at the repeated sin, but God is patient, and prepared to wait when He sees perseverence.

St. Teresa tells us that Satan will attack those in the Second Mansions fiercely, trying to draw them back into the things of the world which they are trying to relinquish. She explains that the devils are vanquished by five things: reason, faith, memory, the will and the understanding, and explains how each of these lead the soul along the right path.

St. Teresa notes the importance of associating now with others who are headed in the right direction; not only with those at the same spiritual stage, but with those who have progressed, for they will be teachers, and take people with them into the higher Mansions. She advises people to let Satan know that they are resolute, and then he will stop his attempts at enticing them into returning to their old ways.

One must not allow oneself to think of spiritual "favours", for that would not be building the spiritual life on a rock-solid foundation. St. Teresa reveals that the "favours" will come in the higher Mansions, where the soul "desires only what is the will of God."

She advises that when in prayer, in periods of recollection, not to make strenuous efforts to overcome disturbances sent by Satan. If one is gentle with oneself at these times, the periods of prayerful recollection will increase in duration, with fewer troublesome thoughts. Nor should one criticize oneself for having to pursue normal activities and responsibilities: "...the Lord will turn everything we do to our profit."

Lastly, St. Teresa emphasizes the importance of looking at our Lord Jesus Christ, thinking of the death that He suffered for us: "And what but such thoughts can arouse us to love this Lord?"

First Mansions

2006-07-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

If we are to discover the beauty of all the rooms in the castle, which is the soul, our self, our true being ("For we ourselves are the castle"), we must take that first step of entering it. St. Teresa tells us that we must not remain in the "outer court", fixated on the things of this world, ignoring the fact that we do indeed have a soul.

Once we, by the grace of God, become aware of the importance of attending to our souls and our spiritual lives, St. Teresa explains that "...the door of entry into this castle is prayer and meditation. I do not say mental prayer rather than vocal, for, if it is prayer at all, it must be accompanied by meditation."

By turning within through prayer and meditation, one enters "the first rooms on the lowest floor." These souls St. Teresa describes as, "very much absorbed in worldly affairs; but their desires are good." They turn to the Lord from time to time in prayer, although infrequently. They think about their spiritual lives, but are still more concerned with worldly preoccupations, not in the necessary sense of fulfilling the duties required by their state of life, but as to where they place their priorities. Yet, they have made a very good start: "...they have done a good deal by entering at all."

The first rooms on the lowest floor appear dark to one who has just entered; the beauty and peace of the castle cannot yet be experienced, because of all the "reptiles" that enter as well. St. Teresa speaks of wild beasts and animals, snakes, vipers and poisonous creatures. She uses this imagery to portray impediments to our spiritual sight, such as excessive interest in possessions, honours or business.

St. Teresa goes on to explain the effects of mortal sin on the soul, the need for self-knowledge, which she equates with humility, and the necessity of constantly turning to the Lord, the Blessed Virgin and the saints for strength, since the faculties and the senses are still weak.

It is in the First Mansions that the soul must make a determined effort to be in the world but not of it: "Everyone...who wishes to enter the second Mansions, will be well advised, as far as his state of life permits, to try to put aside all unnecessary affairs and business."

Exploring the Castle

2006-07-14T13:26:00.000-04:00

The next set of posts will consist of a brief introduction to the seven mansions as described by Saint Teresa of Avila. My hope is that those who have not yet read Interior Castle may be encouraged from this to do so.

Some wonderful resources for a more thorough aid in understanding Teresian prayer and the soul's progress in union with the Lord are Father Thomas Dubay's, Fire Within, as well as two of his audio series on EWTN: Teresa of Avila: Personality & Prayer as well as Prayer Quest .

So, now, let's go exploring. Put on your rubber boots, because we have to wade through all those "snakes and vipers and poisonous creatures" to get where we're going.

The Metaphor

2006-07-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

From: Interior Castle (St. Teresa of Avila)

"While I was beseeching Our Lord today that He would speak through me, since I could find nothing to say and had no idea how to begin to carry out the obligation laid upon me by obedience, a thought occurred to me which I will now set down, in order to have some foundation on which to build. I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions. Now if we think carefully over this, sisters, the soul of the righteous man is nothing but a paradise, in which, as God tells us, He takes His delight."

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"Let us now imagine that this castle, as I have said, contains many mansions, some above, others below, others at each side; and in the centre and midst of them all is the chiefest mansion where the most secret things pass between God and the soul."

Message to Monica

2006-07-11T00:04:00.000-04:00

Pssst...Monica , they're not here yet. Probably off eating cheesecake, over at Exhaling. They think I've left for work (a little subterfuge of my own).

Listen, I'm worried. If they get so feisty over a little quote from Thomas Dubay, what's going to happen when we get into St. John of the Cross? I am reminded of the famous words of Bette Davis' character, Margo Channing, in All About Eve: "Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

We can't let them intimidate us, Monica. Here's the plan. They've invited me to join their little "club", and I've applied, just to keep an eye on their antics. You may wish to do the same. Contemplatives "breathing" together, or some such thing. Italian desserts and BBQ ribs, and they're even trying to drag in the men (have they no shame?)

Well, we shall see just how much they want to breathe with me when I break out the quotes on self-mortification. Hah! We shall see.

United

2006-07-10T02:08:00.000-04:00

The prayer basket overflows, into my heart.

More and more I realize what He did for us.

I want to shout it from the rooftops, and whisper it in my bed.

Give me your pain. Give me your pain. Your pain.

Meditations from Carmel

2006-07-09T18:01:00.000-04:00

If you haven't already found this, I think you will love it. The Order of Carmel Discalced Secular (OCDS) have a podcast: Meditations from Carmel. When you go to this site, click on "Meditations from Carmel Podcast" at the top of the screen, then follow the directions for a free download of iTunes and Quicktime, if you don't already have them on your computer. Then you can choose the Meditation of your choice, click on "Listen", and then click on the little arrow beside the volume control.

Many thanks to Julie D of Happy Catholic for this wonderful contemplative link.

Hunger

2006-07-09T01:19:00.000-04:00

I am hungry. I am the Canaanite woman, willing to take whatever crumbs fall to the floor.

Soon, they will fill a breadbasket. There will be more than enough for everyone.

Where We Are

2006-07-07T11:27:00.000-04:00

Discerning "where we are" in our prayerlife and on our spiritual journey is often difficult, but necessary. It is not a narcissistic pastime; it is not navel-gazing.

In, "Fire Within", Father Thomas Dubay speaks of how easy it is for all of us to judge normal growth in nature - plants, animals, humans - and when we witness normal growth coming to a premature halt, we immediately know something is wrong. He laments, "Many of us do not at all understand to be applicable on the supernatural level what we fully grasp on the natural level. We are not alarmed about truncated spiritual development."

But we should be. Why aren't we attuned to lack of growth in the spiritual life? Why do we not realize that we are coasting, or even regressing?

One main reason is that we are not aware of, or do not understand, the stages in prayer development. Or, if we do know and understand the stages, we have difficulty actually recognizing them in our own lives.

Study of the stages in prayer development is, therefore, a necessity. Without it, as Father Dubay states, "...many baptized persons depart this life without ever realizing that they were destined to a deep communion with God."

Many. One is too many.

Madonna House

2006-07-05T02:18:00.000-04:00

We were away for a few days exploring the Ottawa Valley and beyond. When I realized we were not far from Combermere, Ontario, a dream came true for me - a visit to Madonna House, founded by Servant of God Catherine Doherty.

If you have never read Catherine Doherty's works, a few of her better-known ones are Poustinia, Sobornost, Urodivoi and Strannik. I highly recommend them.

Here are a couple of links for more information about the Madonna House Apostolate and for Catherine Doherty's cause for canonization:
www.madonnahouse.org

www.catherinedoherty.org

In 1941, when Catherine had set up "Friendship House" in Harlem, New York, a young Thomas Merton was very attracted to her vision, and she recognized something very special within him as well. She tried her best to convince him to join in her work, but ultimately he decided against it, and pursued his course in becoming a Trappist.

Here are some of Catherine's own words describing one facet of the Madonna House Apostolate:

Becoming a Prayer

"We touch God with one hand and touch our neighbour with the other. This means we become cruciform. A cruciform man is a symbol of prayer. The only true communication is that which exists between two crucified people."