aeternus

I’ve been traveling with the family over our Easter break from school. We had an incredible trip to visit my husband’s parents who are “wintering” in South Carolina. I will share some photos and stories from our excursion later this week. However, today is a festival day and I’d like to write about it. You see, if I have a favorite “mystery” to be thought upon and meditated upon and prayed upon, it would be our feast day today.

Ave Maria gratia plena dominus tacum…

Our Mother, our most perfect mother, most humble maiden, most gentle woman, demure and unassuming child of God.

As the angel told her to “do not be afraid”, I shall gather the courage and ask her to teach me her ways of quiet and modesty of life. I am a poor student, but I wish to emulate her simplicity and love through living in the present moment in unity with the Father’s will. And what can a poor student do? Despite weaknesses and daily failures we must have determination to do better. Determination of our mind to overcome these weaknesses and to be mindful of ourselves and actions will enable us to focus on our task. “Yes, like the eyes of a servant on the hand of his master, Like the eyes of a maid on the hand of her mistress, So our eyes are on the LORD our God, till we are shown favor.” [Psalm 123:2]

I really appreciated the opening line from Pope Saint Leo the Great in this morning’s office of readings. He says:

“Lowliness is assured by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that could suffer”

It is a suffering when we see our own weaknesses and sin. Part of our determined effort to overcome this fault is to fix our eyes on the cross and unite our poor suffering with His. It seems rather difficult to unite a suffering to Christ’s when one feels “guilty” for being the cause of its own suffering! To be sure it is sometimes a more difficult suffering to bear. But that is where humility comes in. To humble oneself at the foot of the cross with love and humility for being able to do so little in repayment for the great love our Lord has shown us…

According to Leo the Great, chastity and charity are the two things most needful in preparing for Easter Communion.

You know that word, chastity, gets a pretty bad wrap these days. It seems it is o.k. to talk about every sort of dysfunction a person may have (mental, physical, emotional) and it is perfectly polite to speak of bad behaviors or gossip of any sort. But, say the word CHASTITY, and a hush will come over the room and all eyes will suddenly be upon the speaker of such a provoking word!

The entymology of chastity comes from the Latin “castitatem” meaning purity. What’s so wrong about that definition? I mean, I like purity. I like my drinking water pure (and my food free from contaminants). My car runs best on pure fuel. My children grow best when fed good, wholesome, home cooked food. My dog loves me with a pure heart of unconditional love. In all instances that I can think of, purity is GOOD!

Think of the antonyms of chastity:

adultery, lewdness, nymphomania, promiscuity, dissipation, drunkenness, excess, extravagance, indulgence, intemperance, intoxication, pigging out, revelry, self-indulgence, wantonness…

Surely this lenten season has made us examine our lives to break away from any attachment we may have to any of these types of impurities!

With that said, I appreciated reading this part of a sermon given by Pope Leo the Great who spoke on this Wednesday of Holy Week sometime in the early 5th century…

… “Let us mount to the summit of our hopes not sluggishly nor in sloth; but prudently and faithfully reflecting from what captivity and from how miserable a bondage, with what ransom we were purchased, by how strong an arm led out, let us glorify God in our body:  that we may show Him dwelling in us, even by the uprightness of our manner of life.  And because no virtues are worthier or more excellent than merciful loving-kindness and unblemished chastity, let us more especially equip ourselves with these weapons, so that, raised from the earth, as it were on the two wings of active charity and shining purity, we may win a place in heaven.  And whosoever, aided by God’s grace, is filled with this desire and glories not in himself, but in the Lord, over his progress, pays due honour to the Easter mystery.”

The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. Sermon LV.
On the Lord’s Passion IV., delivered on Wednesday in Holy Week.

here is a mp3 link of from Spirit Catholic Radio of Mike Aquilina talking about Pope St. Leo the Great.

A meditation from a vision from St. Julian of Norwich

“AND in these three words: It is a Joy, a bliss, an endless satisfying to me, were shewed three heavens, as thus: For the joy, I understood the pleasure of the Father; and for the bliss, the worship of the Son; and for the endless satisfying the Holy Ghost. The Father is pleased, the Son is worshipped, the Holy Ghost is satisfied. And here saw I, for the Third Beholding in His blissful Passion: that is to say, the Joy and the Bliss that make Him to be well-satisfied in it. For our Courteous Lord shewed His Passion to me in five manners: of which the first is the bleeding of the head; the second is, discolouring of His face; the third is, the plenteous bleeding of the body, in seeming [as] from the scourging; the fourth is, the deep dying:—these four are aforetold for the pains of the Passion. And the fifth is [this] that was shewed for the joy and the bliss of the Passion.

For it is God’s will that we have true enjoying with Him in our salvation, and therein He willeth [that] we be mightily comforted and strengthened; and thus willeth He that merrily with His grace our soul be occupied. For we are His bliss: for in us He enjoyeth without end; and so shall we in Him, with His grace.

And all that He hath done for us, and doeth, and ever shall, was never cost nor charge to Him, nor might be, but only that [which] He did in our manhood, beginning at the sweet Incarnation and lasting to the Blessed Uprise on Easter-morrow so long dured the cost and the charge about our redemption in deed: of [the] which deed He enjoyeth endlessly, as it is aforesaid.

Jesus willeth that we take heed to the bliss that is in the blessed Trinity [because] of our salvation and that we desire to have as much spiritual enjoying, with His grace, (as it is aforesaid): that is to say, that the enjoying of our salvation be [as] like to the joy that Christ hath of our salvation as it may be while we are here.

All the Trinity wrought in the Passion of Christ, ministering abundance of virtues and plenty of grace to us by Him: but only the Maiden’s Son suffered: whereof all the blessed Trinity endlessly enjoyeth. All this was shewed in these words: Art thou well pleased?—and by that other word that Christ said: If thou art pleased, then am I pleased;—as if He said: It is joy and satisfying enough to me, and I ask nought else of thee for my travail but that I might well please thee.

And in this He brought to mind the property of a glad giver. A glad giver taketh but little heed of the thing that he giveth, but all his desire and all his intent is to please him and solace him to whom he giveth it. And if the receiver take the gift highly and thankfully, then the courteous giver setteth at nought all his cost and all his travail, for joy and delight that he hath pleased and solaced him that he loveth. Plenteously and fully was this shewed.

Think also wisely of the greatness of this word ”ever.” For in it was shewed an high knowing of love that He hath in our salvation, with manifold joys that follow of the Passion of Christ. One is that He rejoiceth that He hath done it in deed, and He shall no more suffer; another, that He bought us from endless pains of hell.

CHAPTER XXIII Revelations of Divine Love —
Julian of Norwich (c. 1342-c. 1413)

I thought to post some meditations on Christ passion this week. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, with his ability to speak about his deep mystical experiences is one of my favorites for reading. He said he acquired his spiritual knowledge:

“any knowledge of divine things I might possess,
or any facility in explaining Holy Scripture, had been
obtained through meditation and prayer among the
woods and in the fields, with none but the beeches
and the oaks for my teachers.”

Here is a little snippet from his writing on the Song of Songs.

“From the very beginning of my conversion, my brethren,
feeling my own great deficiency in virtue, I appropriated to my
self this nosegay of myrrh, composed of all the sufferings and the
pains of my Saviour; of the privations to which He submitted in
His childhood; the labours that He endured in His preaching;
the fatigue that He underwent in His journeyings; of His watch-
ings in prayer, His temptations in fasting, His tears of compas
sion; of the snares that were laid for Him in his words; of His
perils among false brethren; of the outrages, the spitting, the
smiting, the mockery, the insults, the nails; in a word, of all
the grief of all kinds that He submitted to for the salvation of
man. I have discovered that wisdom consists in meditating on
these things, and that in them alone is the perfection of justice,
the plenitude of knowledge, the riches of salvation, and the
abundance of merit; and in these contemplations I find relief
from sadness, moderation in success, and safety in the royal
highway of this life; so that I march on between the good and evil,
scattering on either side the perils by which I am menaced.
This is the reason why I always have these things in my mouth,
as you know, and always in my heart, as God knows; they are
habitually recurring in my writings, as every one may see; and
my most sublime philosophy is to know Jesus Christ, and Him
crucified.”

St. Bernard Serm. 43, in Cant. Cantic.

A great posting over at “View from the Pews” blog on St. John of the Cross, the Dark Night and Depression…

Here is an excerpt:

“Those souls who are able to persevere do so by standing on Faith alone.
They feel no consolations and their souls are a barren landscape
of scorched earth, craggy edges and thorny pathways.

It is these souls who through the dreadful night find themselves
at the abyss and staring at it courageously they leave feelings
behind and embrace….. the dark.”

“Pierce, O most sweet Lord Jesus,
my inmost soul with the most joyous
and healthful wound of Thy love,
and with true, calm and most holy
apostolic charity, that my soul may
ever languish and melt with entire love
and longing for Thee, may yearn for Thee
and for thy courts,
may long to be dissolved and to be with Thee.
Grant that my soul may hunger after Thee,
the Bread of Angels,
the refreshment of holy souls,
our daily and supersubstantial bread,
having all sweetness and savor and
every delightful taste.
May my heart ever hunger after
and feed upon Thee,
Whom the angels desire to look upon,
and may my inmost soul be filled
with the sweetness of Thy savor;
may it ever thirst for Thee,
the fountain of life,
the fountain of widsom and knowledge,
the fountain of eternal light,
the torrent of pleasure,
the fulness of the house of God;
may it ever compass Thee,
seek Thee,
find Thee,
run to Thee,
come up to Thee,
meditate on Thee,
speak of Thee,
and do all for the praise
and glory of Thy name,
with humility and discretion,
with love and delight,
with ease and affection,
with perseverence to the end;
and be Thou alone ever my hope,
my entire confidence,
my riches, my delight,
my pleasure, my joy,
my rest and tranquility, my peace,
my sweetness, my food, my refreshment,
my refuge, my help, my wisdom,
my portion, my possession, my treasure;
in Whom may my mind and my heart
be ever fixed and firm and rooted immovably.

Amen.”

— St. Bonaventure

Our soul is permeated with the love of the Father through the presence of the Holy Spirit, so too is Jesus enthroned there. He is my guide against the forces of nature which cause sin. In practicing this presence of Jesus, I will be always cautioned, loved and motivated towards virtue. Today I will keep mindful of Him, see Him in others and endeavor to walk in the will of the Father (where ever that may lead me…)

I don’t know how I forgot this morning (I guess it has something to do with the transfer of his feast day this year) but today we can begin a novena to St. Joseph.  What I find so very beautiful about this particular novena prayer is how it mentions Joseph dying in the arms of Mary and Jesus.  What a beautiful death must his have been.  After a whole life of quiet service he was comforted to his passing by Jesus himself.

The novena prayer is the same prayer every day…

Saint Joseph, you are the faithful protector and intercessor of all who love
and venerate you. I have special confidence in you. You are powerful with
God and will never abandon your faithful servants.

I humbly invoke you and commend myself, with all who are dear to me, to your
intercession. By the love you have for Jesus and Mary, do not abandon me
during life, and assist me at the hour of my death.

Glorious Saint Joseph, spouse of the immaculate Virgin, Foster-father of
Jesus Christ, obtain for me a pure, humble, and charitable mind, and perfect
resignation to the Divine Will. Be my guide, my father, and my model
through life that I may merit to die as you did in the arms of Jesus and
Mary.

Loving Saint Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, I raise my heart to
you to implore your powerful intercession in obtaining from the Heart of
Jesus all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare,
particularly the grace of a happy death, and the special grace I now
implore: (mention your request).

Guardian of the Word Incarnate, I am confident that your prayers in my
behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God.

MEMORARE

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary,
ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph,
that no one ever had recourse to your protection
or asked for your aid without obtaining relief.
Confiding, therefore, in your goodness,
I come before you and humbly implore you.
Despise not my petitions,
foster-father of the Redeemer,
but graciously receive them.

Amen.

I just read the most beautiful account of St. Perpetua who was executed in the arena in Carthage on 7 March 203. She herself is historically credited with writing a large part of her “death through a passionate martyrdom”. Apparently, her story is one of the earliest writings of history that we have from a woman…

Please visit the Medieval Source Book to have a read for yourself…

And what follows is a prayer for today from the wonderful St. Bernard…

We beg the all-merciful Father through Thee,
his only-begotten Son made man for our sake,
crucified and glorified for us,
to send upon us from His treasure-house the Spirit of sevenfold grace,
Who rested upon Thee in all His fullness:

the spirit of wisdom,
enabling us to relish the fruit of the tree of life, which is indeed thyself;

the gift of understanding:
to enlighten our perceptions;

the gift of prudence,
enabling us to follow in Thy footsteps;

the gift of strength:
to withstand our adversary’s onslaught;

the gift of knowledge:
to distinguish good from evil by the light of Thy holy teaching;

the gift of piety:
to clothe ourselves with charity and mercy;

the gift of fear:
to withdraw from all ill-doing and live quietly in awe of Thy eternal majesty.

These are the things for which we petition.
Grant them for the honor of Thy Holy Name,
to which, with the Father and the Holy Ghost,
be all honor and glory, thanksgiving, renown,
and Lordship for ever and ever.

Amen.

– Saint Bonaventure

– photo from our recent snowstorm…

“God alone is he, who, by his infinite wisdom, sees, knows and penetrates all the turnings and windings of our hearts: he understands our thoughts from afar, he finds out our traces, doubles and turnings; his knowledge therein is admirable, surpassing our capacity and reach.”


This is a statement by Saint Francis de Sales in Chapter I of book VI of his “Treatise on the Love of God”. Saint Francis is talking about love and prayer and how it becomes a secret language between our heart and the heart of our Beloved. I appreciated how Saint Francis took the opportunity to explain the mystical side of prayer as he considered it along with the poetry of the Song of Songs (Canticles). I thought it might be something to share. Here he begins on mystical theology (the theme of Book VI) which he says is “No other thing than prayer”.


“Now it is called mystical, because its conversation is altogether secret, and there is nothing said in it between God and the soul save only from heart to heart, by a communication incommunicable to all but those who make it. Lovers’ language is so peculiar to themselves that none but themselves understand it. I sleep, said the holy spouse, and my heart watcheth. Ah! hark! The voice of my beloved knocking. [Cant. v. 2. ] Who would have guessed that this spouse being asleep could yet talk with her beloved? But where love reigns, the sound of exterior words is not necessary, nor the help of sense to entertain and to hear one another. In fine, prayer and mystical theology is nothing else but a conversation in which the soul amorously entertains herself with God concerning his most amiable goodness, to unite and join herself thereto.

Prayer is a manna, for the infinity of delicious tastes and precious sweetnesses which it gives to such as use it, but it is hidden, [Rev. 2: 17] because it falls before the light of any science, in the mental solitude where the soul alone treats with her God alone. Who is she, might one say of her, that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer? [Cant. 3: 6]. And it was the desire of secrecy that moved her to make this petition to her love: Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages. [Cant. 7: 11.] For this reason the heavenly spouse is styled a turtle, a bird which is delighted in shady and solitary places, where she makes no other use of her song but for her only mate, either in life wooing him or after his death plaining him. For this reason, in the Canticles, the divine lover and the heavenly spouse describe their loves by a continual conversing together; and if their friends sometimes speak during their conference, it is but casually, and without interrupting their colloquy. Hence the Blessed Mother Saint Teresa of Jesus found at first more profit in the mysteries where our Saviour was most alone; as in the Garden of Olives, and where he was awaiting the Samaritan woman, for she fancied that he being alone would more readily admit her into his company.

Love desires secrecy; yea, though lovers may have nothing secret to say, yet they love to say it secretly: and this is partly, if I am not mistaken, because they would speak only for themselves, whereas when they speak out loud it seems no longer to be for themselves alone; partly because they do not say common things in a common manner, but with touches which are particular, and which manifest the special affection with which they speak. The language of love is common, as to the words, but in manner and pronunciation it is so special that none but lovers understand it.”

– St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) : Treatise on the Love of God

There is still some snow around thought the sun shone so brightly yesterday that we did get a lot of melting. Here is the outdoor shrine at the Carmel of St. Joseph.

It was a beautiful “thunder snow” yesterday and the children just loved being off school to watch the inches of snow blizzard down each hour reaching about 10 inches or so by early afternoon. We did a little outing to marvel in the beauty of the day. Here is a picture from the hike…

And now onto a meditation for the day…

“In these two words, Make haste and Come down
Our Lord indicates the manner in which we
should prepare ourselves for Holy Communion by
eagerness and humility. Let us obey the desire with
which love has inspired us, let us satisfy the eager
haste of Jesus to receive us at His Holy Table. How
can we fail to go to Jesus Christ with humility? to
Jesus, who descended from the bosom of His Father
into Mary’s womb ? who descended from the Cross to
the tomb, from His glory into the Holy Eucharist?
so much does His humble Heart aspire to descend for
our sakes ! May our hearts, abased in deep humility,
be ready to take the lowest place of all. There we
shall meet our Lord face to face, because He humbles
Himself; not as of old, under the delicate and graceful
form of a little child, but under appearances whose
sole reality consists in the assurance that they give me
of the humility and love of my God.

Jesus invites me to practice a fresh humility, and
Himself sets me the example of it Does He not
humble Himself to the lowest degree upon the Altar ?
From what a distance does He come to enter my poor
soul ! For what an immense distance exists between
our nature and God, between the immortal soul and
our bodily food! Can I sink too low in humble
adoration before a God who descends from such a
height to me?
O Jesus, I thank Thee for giving me so many sweet
assurances of my salvation. I thank Thee because
Thou art Thyself my Joy, and will hereafter be my
Crown. I love Thee, my God, for having prepared
so beautiful a crown for me. I can never give Thee
praise or gratitude enough, in time or in eternity.

You must understand, that in consequence of our Lord’s
infinite mercy and kindness towards you, your sins,
however numerous they may be, from the moment
that you sincerely mourn for them with deep humility
and full confidence in Christ, actually become your
titles to the especial love and tenderness of our
Blessed Lord. You should then use your faults as
instruments to revive your faith in the mercy of the
Sacred Heart, and to encourage your hope for greater
favours at His hands, because you give Him occasion
to glorify Himself still more in you, by the treasures
of His love and forgiveness.

Oh, how dear is this reply of Jesus to my soul !
How sweetly it re-assures me, when I think of all
that I have done to effect my own ruin, and when
I receive the immediate proof of the persevering love
which determined Jesus to save me.

By my devotion to the Holy Eucharist, O my
Savior, Thou hast deigned to associate me with Thy
zeal for the salvation of souls. Remind me always
that Thy Heart burns with desire for their salvation :
that I may pray continually for those who know not
this desire : for those who have forgotten it : for those
who despise it, that their souls may eternally expe-
rience the efficacious power of Thy most merciful
desire.

In the beginning of our spiritual life, we feel as it
were drawn towards detachment : but by slow degrees
our natural inclinations resume their sway over our
minds ; afterwards we feel attraction to certain things,
and from attraction to consent the distance is but
small. Exercise great vigilance over your senses, that
you may neither conceive nor preserve any intimacy
with or affection for any of the objects of sense that
surround you. The original depravity of our nature
prevents us from rising to God, and causes us to
become attached to creatures and to ourselves; so
that every person takes pleasure in the objects which
offer him an advantage of any kind whatever. The
soul that yields to this inferior or lower attraction,
instead of raising its desires on high, towards our
Blessed Lord, will be capable of turning to its own
destruction the most useful means of salvation.”

Reflections and Prayer for Holy Communion (1876) Imprimatur. Henricus Edawardus, Cardinal Archiep. Westmon. Translated from the French with a preface by His Eminence Cardinal Manning

I have been visiting with my Grandmother last week and it was such a blessing. It pains me to not be with her everyday like I used to when I lived out East. She is an amazing woman who is so determined and active at age 94 that it puts us all to shame I am sure! She has felt a little confined during this long winter as fear of ice is the only thing which keeps her determined spirit locked inside the house. However, spring is near and she is raring to go! May the Lord guide her steps as she walks her long walks along the canal path…

I just saw our dear Pope’s prayer intentions for the month of March and thought to post them…

Pope Benedict’s general prayer intention for March is: “That the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation between persons and people may be understood and that the Church, through her testimony, may spread Christ’s love, the source of new humanity”.

His mission intention is: “That Christians, who are persecuted in many parts of the world and in various manners because of the Gospel, may continue, sustained by the strength of the Holy Spirit, to bear witness courageously and openly to the Word of God”.