aeternus

“But the believing soul longs and faints for God; she rests sweetly in the contemplation of Him. She glories in the reproach of the Cross, until the glory of His face shall be revealed. Like the Bride, the dove of Christ, that is covered with silver wings [Ps. 68.13], white with innocence and purity, she reposes in the thought of Thine abundant kindness, Lord Jesus; and above all she longs for that day when in the joyful splendor of Thy saints, gleaming with the radiance of the Beatific Vision, her feathers shall be like gold, resplendent with the joy of Thy countenance.”

– St. Bernard of Clairvaux “On Loving God”

Continued…… (pay attention to the second to last paragraph… great wisdom!)
In his “Dialogues”, St. Gregory[7] tells of a certain priest, Santolo by name, who was captured by the Vandals and condemned to death. The barbarians told him to choose the manner of his death. He refused, saying: “I am in God’s hands and I gladly accept whatever kind of death he wishes me to suffer at your hands; I wish no other.” This reply was so pleasing to God that he miraculously stayed the hand of the executioner ready to behead him. The barbarians were so impressed by the miracle that they freed their prisoner. As regards the manner of our death, therefore, we should esteem that the best kind of death for us which God has designed for us. When therefore we think of our death, let our prayer be: “O Lord, only let me save my soul and I leave the manner of my death to thee!”

We should likewise unite ourselves to God’s will when the moment of death is near. What else is this earth but a prison where we suffer and where we are in constant danger of losing God? Hence David prayed: “Bring my soul out of prison[8].” St. Teresa too feared to lose God and when she would hear the striking of the clock, she would find consolation in the thought that the passing of the hour was an hour less of the danger of losing God.

St. John of Avila was convinced that every right-minded person should desire death on account of living in peril of losing divine grace. What can be more pleasant or desirable than by dying a good death, to have the assurance of no longer being able to lose the grace of God? Perhaps you will answer that you have as yet done nothing to deserve this reward. If it were God’s will that your life should end now, what would you be doing, living on here against his will? Who knows, you might fall into sin and be lost! Even if you escaped mortal sin, you could not live free from all sin. “Why are we so tenacious of life,” exclaims St. Bernard, “when the longer we live, the more we sin[9]?” A single venial sin is more displeasing to God than all the good works we can perform.

Moreover, the person who has little desire for heaven shows he has little love for God. The true lover desires to be with his beloved. We cannot see God while we remain here on earth; hence the saints have yearned for death so that they might go and behold their beloved Lord, face to face. “Oh, that I might die and behold thy beautiful face!” sighed St. Augustine. And St. Paul: “Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ[10].” “When shall I come and appear before the face of God[11]?” exclaimed the psalmist.

A hunter one day heard the voice of a man singing most sweetly in the forest. Following the sound, he came upon a leper horribly disfigured by the ravages of his disease. Addressing him he said: “How can you sing when you are so terribly afflicted and your death is so near at hand?” And the leper: “Friend, my poor body is a crumbling wall and it is the only thing that separates me from my God. When it falls I shall go forth to God. Time for me is indeed fast running out, so every day I show my happiness by lifting my voice in song.”

Lastly, we should unite ourselves to the will of God as regards our degree of grace and glory. True, we should esteem the things that make for the glory of God, but we should show the greatest esteem for those that concern the will of God. We should desire to love God more than the seraphs, but not to a degree higher than God has destined for us. St. John of Avila[12] says: “I believe every saint has had the desire to be higher in grace than he actually was. However, despite this, their serenity of soul always remained unruffled. Their desire for a greater degree of grace sprang not from a consideration of their own good, but of God’s. They were content with the degree of grace God had meted out for them, though actually God had given them less. They considered it a greater sign of true love of God to be content with what God had given them, than to desire to have received more.”

This means, as Rodriguez explains it, we should be diligent in striving to become perfect, so that tepidity and laziness may not serve as excuses for some to say: “God must help me; I can do only so much for myself.” Nevertheless, when we do fall into some fault, we should not lose our peace of soul and union with the will of God, which permits our fall; nor should we lose our courage. Let us rise at once from this fall, penitently humbling ourselves and by seeking greater help from God, let us continue to march resolutely on the highway of the spiritual life. Likewise, we may well desire to be among the seraphs in heaven, not for our own glory, but for God’s, and to love him more; still we should be resigned to his will and be content with that degree of glory which in his mercy he has set for us.

It would be a serious defect to desire the gifts of supernatural prayer — specifically, ecstasies, visions and revelations. The masters of the spiritual life say that souls thus favored by God, should ask him to take them away so that they may love him out of pure faith — a way of greater security. Many have come to perfection without these supernatural gifts; the only virtues worth-while are those that draw the soul to holiness of life, namely, the virtue of uniformity with God’s holy will. If God does not wish to raise us to the heights of perfection and glory, let us unite ourselves in all things to his holy will, asking him in his mercy, to grant us our soul’s salvation. If we act in this manner, the reward will not be slight which we shall receive from the hands of God who loves above all others, souls resigned to his holy will.

Uniformity With God’s Will

Saint Alphonsus de Ligouri Chapter 6 — Spiritual Desolation.

“Perfection is founded entirely on the love of God: ‘Charity is the bond of perfection;’ and perfect love of God means the complete union of our will with God’s.”

– St. Alphonsus

Translated by Thomas W. Tobin, C.SS.R

• [7] St. Greg. Dial. Bk. 3, chap. 37.[8] Ps. 141:8.

  [9] St. Bernard, Med. chap. 8.

  [10] Phil. 1:23.

  [11] Ps. 41:3.

  [12] St. John Avila. Audi fil. c. 13.

“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.

I love today’s Saint, Margaret of Scotland, a woman who emulates the virtues of charity and familial love. She was a woman of such great influence to her people and who taught her husband by her own great example how to lead a life of holiness. A very honorable woman, and in St. Louis we have one of the greatest parishes in the city dedicated to her. They have a choir which is absolutely wonderful and no one can deny their outstanding quality of musicianship. They are an inspiration to all the mass goers there for sure!

But let me put that aside and focus instead on another “Saint of the day” because today is also the feast of a great mystical Saint, Getrude the Great.

Gertrude’s life was not lead out on the open as a ruler of a country like Margaret. Instead she lead a hidden life of mystical prayer in a Benedictine cloister uniting herself with Jesus through His Sacred Humanity and had a great devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory. Gertrude was so loved by St. Teresa of Avila that Teresa took this mystic as her devotional and spiritual exemplar. Both women were so entranced in the mystery of our Lord’s most Sacred Heart.

In a prayer Gertrude wrote:

O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
fountain of eternal life,
Your Heart is a glowing furnace of Love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary.

O my adorable and loving Saviour,
consume my heart with the burning fire
with which Yours is aflamed.
Pour down on my soul those graces
which flow from Your love.
Let my heart be united with Yours.
Let my will be conformed to Yours in all things.
May Your Will be the rule of all my desires and actions.

Amen.

In a book entitled: “Spiritual Works of Louis of Blois” by Louis of Blois he writes of Gertrude:

The Lord sensibly imprinted on her heart the glorious stigmata of His five Wounds, and He prepared for Himself in her so pleasing a dwelling, and so sweetly manifested to her His Heart, that if men did not know the power and goodness of the Lord to be boundless, they could hardly believe that He had shown as much familiar friendship to His most holy Mother on the earth as He showed to her.

Gertrude indeed had many mystical dreams and visions one of which I will include here below. It is from the same book by Blois:

St. Gertrude saw the soul of a certain man of a religious order well known to her, as it were sitting at a table, sad, and with a dejected countenance, as not being yet purified nor worthy to enjoy the blissful contemplation of God. On this table were presented all the Masses, the Office of the Church, the prayers, and other pious works that were offered for that soul, and by these the soul was wonderfully strengthened. The Lord also, moved by his own loving-kindness, and the supplication of intercessors, always added something, in virtue of which that soul rejoiced, being greatly strengthened and relieved. In like manner the Blessed Virgin Mary seemed to place something upon it, that the soul might receive more consolation, which had, while it was in the body, worshipped her with especial devotion. Those also of the Saints whom the soul had more particularly venerated on earth, added to the table in proportion as the soul being in the body had deserved by its greater or less labour and devotion. By all which means the soul, becoming more and more soothed from hour to hour, began more and more to lift its eyes to the most sweet light of the Divinity, which to behold in open vision is in truth to have laid aside the sad memory of all sorrows, and to have found the abundance of all good and of all joy.

Chapter XIII. On the Pains of Purgatory.
Spiritual Works of Louis of Blois by Blois, Louis

Now, most importantly for us today is to remember the prayer our Lord gave to Gertrude. I think you will obviously recognize parts of this prayer which were given to her in the early part of the 14th century because they are so similar to those he gave to dear Saint Faustina in the early middle of the 20th century!

“Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.”

Our Lord told St. Gertrude the Great that this prayer would release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is said. O.K. like that is 1,000 souls! So, for the love of these souls I am sure you will write this prayer down and say it MANY times today and each day thereafter! (Of course, this is no magical incantation. The prayer, as all prayers, must come from the depths of your heart united to His most Sacred Heart…)

I beseech thee O Holy Lady Mary,

Mother of God most full of pity,

the daughter of the highest king,

mother most glorious, mother of orphans,

the consolation of the desolate,

the way of them that go astray,

the safety of all that trust in thee,

a virgin before childbearing,

a virgin in childbearing,

and a virgin after childbearing:

the fountain of mercy,

the fountain of health and grace,

the fountain of consolation and pardon,

the fountain of piety and gladness,

the fountain of life and forgiveness.

By that holy unspeakable gladness,

by the which thy spirit did rejoice that hour,

wherein the Son of God was unto thee

by the Angel Gabriel declared and conceived.

And by that holy unspeakable humility,

in which thou didst answer the

Archangel Gabriel:

Behold the handmaid of our Lord,

be it unto me according unto thy word:

and by that divine mystery,

which the Holy Ghost as then did work in thee:

and by the unspeakable grace,

pity, mercy, love, and humility

by the which thy son our Lord Jesus Christ

came down to take human flesh

in thy most venerable womb:

and by the most glorious joys,

which thou hadst of thy son

our Lord Jesus Christ:

and by that holy and most great compassion,

and most bitter grief of thy heart,

which thou hadst when as thou didst behold

thy son our Lord Jesus Christ,

made naked before the cross,

and lifted up upon the same,

hanging, crucified, wounded, thirsting,

and the most bitter drink of gall

and vinegar put unto his mouth.

Thou heardst him cry Eli,

and didst see him die.

And by those five wounds of the same

thy son and by the sore shrinking together

of thy inward parts,

through the extreme grief of this wounds,

and by the sorrow which thou hadst

when thou didst behold him wounded.

And by the fountains of his blood:

and by all his passion,

and sorrow of thy heart,

and by the fountains of thy tears,

that thou wouldst come with all the Saints

and elect of God and hasten unto my help,

and my counsel in all my prayers, and petitions,

in all my distresses and necessities.

As also in all those things,

wherein I am to do anything, speak,

or think,

all the days and nights, hours, and moments of my life.

And obtain for me thy servant of thy beloved son

Our Lord Jesus Christ

the accomplishment of all virtues,

with all mercy, and consolation, all counsel and aid,

all benediction and sanctification,

all salvation, peace and prosperity,

all joy and gladness:

also abundance of all spiritual good things,

and sufficiency of corporal,

and grace of the Holy Ghost,

which may well dispose me in all things,

and may guard my soul,

govern and protect my body,

stir up my mind, order my manners,

approve my acts, suggest holy cogitations,

pardon my evils past,

amend things present, and moderate things to come:

bestow on me an honest, and chaste life,

grant me faith, hope, and charity:

make me firmly to believe the articles of the faith,

and to observe the precepts of the law:

rule and protect the senses of my body,

and evermore deliver me from mortal sins,

and defend me to my life’s end:

that he may graciously and meekly hear,

and receive this prayer,

and give me life everlasting.

Hear and make intercession for me

most sweet virgin Mary Mother of God,and Mercy.

Amen.

O Untouchable, and forever blessed,

singular and incomparable virgin Mary Mother of God,

most grateful temple of God,

the sacristy of the Holy Ghost,

the gate of the kingdom of heaven,

by whom next unto God the whole world liveth,

incline O Mother of Mercy the ears of thy pity unto my unworthy supplications,

and be pitiful to me a most wretched sinner, and be unto me a merciful helper in all things.

O most blessed John, the familiar and friend of Christ,

which of the same Lord Jesus Christ was chosen a virgin,

and among the rest more beloved,

above all instructed in the heavenly mysteries,

for thou wast made a most worthy Apostle and Evangelist:

thee also I call upon with Mary mother of the same Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour,

that thou wouldst vouchsafe to afford me thy aid with hers.

O ye two celestial jewels, Mary, and John.

O ye two lights divinely shining before God.

Chase away by your bright beams the clouds of my offences.

For you are those two in whom the only begotten Son of God,

for the merit of most sincere virginity,

hanging upon the cross confirmed the privilege of his love,

saying thus to the one of you: woman,

behold thy son: and then unto the other:

behold thy mother.

In the sweetness therefore of his most sacred love,

through which by our Lord’s own mouth,

as mother and son you were joined in one,

I a most wretched sinner recommend this day to you both my body and soul that at all hours and moments,

inwardly and outwardly,

you would vouchsafe to be unto me firm guardians,

and before God devout intercessors:

ask earnestly for me I beseech you, health of body and soul.

Procure I beseech you, procure by your glorious prayers,

that the pure spirit,

the best giver of graces,

may vouchsafe to visit my heart and dwell therein,

which may thoroughly purge me from all filth of vice,

lighten and adorn me with sacred virtues:

cause me perfectly to stand,

and persevere in the love of God and my neighbour,

and after the course of this life the most benign comforter may bring me to the joys of his elect,

who with God the Father,

and the Son

liveth and reigneth world without end.

Amen.
This prayer was a favorite of the faithful during the Middle Ages and comes before the The Hours of the Virgin as receited in the Book of Hours. It is from the Latin/English Primer of 1599. The Book of Hours is a prayer book intended for the laity and were based upon the much longer Liturgy of the Hours recited by clergy and religious. Often these books would contain three sets of Hours; the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, the Hours of the Cross, and the Hours of the Holy Spirit. In addition to the Hours, a number of other prayers and popular devotions were often included.

Thank you to the work of Glenn Gunhouse for making it available on his website!

Image above is from Horae Beatae Mariae ad usum Romanum and shows the Nativity of our Lord.

This is an excerpt from a book, “Carmel in England: A History of the English Mission of the Discalced Carmelites, 1615 to 1849″ by Fr. Bernardinus of St. Teresa, OCD which was published in 1899. There are some dandy stories in this book, but I like this introduction on the Carmelite mission. The best part is at the end…

“Notwithstanding the wide scope of the missionary spirit, the chief object of the Carmelite Order is not active but contemplative life. There can be no doubt that while it was confined to the East alone it was altogether contemplative; the Rule, confirmed by the lives of our early saints, says so. On being transplanted to Europe, the Carmelites added the duties of the active to those of the contemplative life. St. Teresa, while encouraging active work among the friars (the nuns always led an entirely contemplative life), desired that even with them contemplation should occupy the first place. In fact the labours of the apostolic ministry, whatever form they may assume, are merely the outcome of a life of prayer, and the more intense this spirit, the more efficacious the ministry.

Throughout the history of the Church we find that the greatest contemplatives ever have been the most zealous men. Instance the example of St.. Augustine, St. Bernanrd, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Francis de Sales, and in our own Order, St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross themselves, Ven. Father Dominic of Jesus Mary, Thomas of Jesus, John of Jesus Mary 1, and many others.

Contemplation is the grand attribute of Almighty God, who derives infinite beatitude from the knowledge and love of Himself; it forms the felicity of the blessed in heaven, who by the light of glory gaze on the perfections of the Most High. But upon earth it can only be attained in a limited degree. The knowledge of God obtained by meditation rather than by study, and the “Charity of God poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given to us,” together with the mortification of our unruly passions, bring the soul within reach of the Godhead, and not seldom give it a foretaste of the joys of heaven. Thus, all those who one day will be saved are called to the contemplative life in its most perfect form; what wonder, then, that many, impressed by the sublime dignity of their supernatural destiny, should aspire to it as it may be enjoyed on earth, when the soul is in closest union with its Creator? It is a matter of deep concern that, of the countless souls called to the contemplative life, few only heed the voice of Him who calls…”




1. Ven. Father John of Jesus Mary, born a Calahora in Spain in 1564, entered the Order about 1582. He was sent to Genoa for his studies, and became one of the first members of the Italian Congregation, in which he occupied almost every dignity, even that of General (1611-14). His death occurred on 28th May 1615, and his body remains incorrupt to the present day. A most renowned writer, he has left numerous works on Mystical Theology, as also Instructions for Superiors, Novices and Students, which latter have be incorporated in the Constitutions and are still in vigor.

Carmel in England: A History of the English Mission of the Discalced Carmelites, 1615 to 1849

By Fr. Bernardinus of St. Theresia
Published 1899
Burns & Oates

In this blog some thought as to seeing God in the everyday experience of our lives, and this is such an important witness to Him. It is a prayer to keep Him with us and notice and appreciate His greatness in these daily events. It is “practicing the presence of God”, a notion taught very well to us through the Carmelite, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.

At the young age of 18 years, Lawrence was on one winter day looking at a tree with all of its leaves bear. He considered that in only a little while the leaves would sprout afresh. Soon the tree would be splendidly green with buds and flowers and fruit. This meditation drew him so close to admiring the greatness of God that this divine spirit never left his soul. By witnessing the notion of transfiguration in nature, he was able to see how living in the every day and practicing the presence of God, our lives would be transfigured in God.

The mystical notion of transfiguration is sometimes left only to dreamers and poets and religious. I guess that is why then that contemporary media fills itself with thought only of the transfiguration of the physical? It seems the world is obsessed with it. Can we get through the day without seeing how we can transform into cyborg-robots, vampires, steroid athletes and even into the opposite sex! We can have a face-lift, a tummy tuck and transform our wrinkly thighs with liposuction. There is a fascination with magical powers and witchcraft and wizardry. But there is no thought given to the transfigurement of our souls.

This is so very sad.

If we can witness the powers of science to transform, surely we can testify to the mysterious transformation of the unseen Holy Spirit which permeates our souls and all of creation. It is this Holy Spirit which united Jesus with the Father on Mt. Tabor in a most perfect and divine union of physical and spiritual — the temporal meeting the eternal. And while I have to admit enjoying a bit of Harry Potter fiction with the children (gasp!) — my mind could certainly live only so long on fantasy! The real food of the mind comes from the nourishment it receives from the soul. It is then we can be witnesses of Gods Kingdom on this earth He has given us. It is then we can practice the presence of God and do our best to see the eternal within our physical world.

I have said before that St. Teresa de los Andes is one of my particular favorite Saints. One can never say why certain souls feel connected, but it is certain that her spirituality in the Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has a definite magnetism for me. I have her on my iPod via Meditations from Carmel Podcast and loaded up on CDs in my car while driving. My children like to hum along to the Queen and Beauty of Mount Carmel theme song at the beginnings of each meditation! It is great then that they have the chance to sing this beautiful hymn (which comes via the Carmel in Boston I believe) during our Novena at the Monastery this week.

Here is a little bit of writing from Teresa. It comes from the Carmelite Proper…

July 13
St. Teresa of Jesus “of the Andes”, Virgin

OC: Optional Memorial
OCD: Memorial

Juanita Fernandez Solar was born at Santiago, Chile, on July 13, 1900. From
her adolescence she was devoted to Christ. She entered the monastery of the
Discalced Carmelite Nuns at Los Andes on May 7, 1919, where she was given
the name of Teresa of Jesus. She died on April 12, of the following year
after having made her religious profession. She was beatified on April 3,
1987, at Santiago, Chile, and canonized on March 21, 1993 by Pope John Paul
II and proposed as a model for young people. She is the first Chilean and
the first member of the Teresian Carmel in Latin America to be canonized.

From the Spiritual writings of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Andes

“Jesus alone is beautiful; He is my only joy. I call for Him,
I cry after Him, I search for Him within my heart. I long for
Jesus to grind me interiorly so that I may become a pure
host where He can find His rest. I want to be athrist with
love so that other souls may possess this love. I would die
to creatures and to myself, so that He may live in me.

Is there anything good, beautiful or true that we can
think of that would not be in Jesus? Wisdom, from which
nothing would be secret. Power, for which nothing would
be impossible. Justice, which made Him take on flesh in
order to make satisfaction for sin. Providence, which
always watches over and sustains us. Mercy, which never
ceases to pardon. Goodness, which forgets the offenses of
His creatures. Love, which unites all the tendernesses of a
mother, of a brother, of a spouse, and which, drawing Him
out of the abyss of His greatness, binds Him closely to His
creatures. Beauty which enraptures…what can you think
of that would not be found in this Man-God?

Are you perhaps afraid that the abyss of the greatness
of God and that of your nothingness cannot be united?
There is love in Him. His passionate love made Him take
flesh in order that by seeing a Man-God, we would not be
afraid to draw near Him. This passionate love made Him
become bread in order to assimilate our nothingness and
make it disappear into His infinite being. This passionate
love made Him give His life by dying on the cross.

Are you perhaps afraid to draw near Him? Look at Him,
surrounded by little children. He caresses them, He presses
them to His heart. Look at Him in the midst of His faithful
flock, bearing the faithless lamb on His shoulders. Look at
Him at the tomb of Lazarus. And listen to what He says of
the Magdalene: “Much has been forgiven her, because she
has loved much.” What do you discover in these flashes
from the Gospel except a heart that is good, gentle, tender,
compassionate; in other words, the heart of a God?

He is my unending wealth, my bliss, my heaven.”

top photos: Teresa’s cell at the Carmel in the Andes Mountains. Also, Pope John Paul II blesses the statue of St. Teresa de los Andes at St. Peters Basilica in Rome.

Last night began our 9 days of loving praise to our Lord for His great gift to us in Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Through her intercession we ask the Lord for pardon from our great sin and unite unite our souls with those great souls of purgatory who are undergoing their purification and awaiting to be taken into their eternity with a perfect love of our Creator. How wonderful it must be to know they will see God in His ultimate glory, but how painful it must be to be stranded in this land of purification. To wait and wait and wait… the ultimate in patience!

It is not without some significance to me personally that yesterday was also the anniversary of my “PopPop”, that great and most humble soul who taught me to pray. I don’t mean that my own Mother did not teach me my vocal prayers and send me off to a nice Catholic school. Indeed, I memorized my catechism and always went to mass, but there is certainly a higher prayer than vocal prayer as I was to learn from PopPop.

As a youngster I was always escaping my own home to be with him and my Nana. I think I learned to dial the phone (as in rotary actual “dialing”) before I was 3 and beg for them to come and pick me up so I could be with them. They were my “escape house” where I would go as a pilgrim in search of solitude and respite. And, you should know, there was always a certain trip to McDonald’s on the way from my home to theirs!

Their home was old and sat at the top of “Spring” street where in the dirt cellar could still be seen the rocks and rubble of the old spring which gushed down to the little city in a valley below. It was here, for the many most important learning years of my life, that I would begin my “unknowning”, that paradox of prayer which leads us from the visible world to the invisible eternity. My PopPop would sit in a chair by the window. Silently, quietly, without word or movement, he would pray. He never said he was praying, and probably to the casual viewer from the street he would just seem to be “maxing and relaxing”, but for those who actually were in the room, they would glimpse the unseen beauty of a man in deep meditation.

And so as I observed, I too was absorbed in a curiosity of this life. It was a mystery to me, but the peace I felt as I sat with him was so intoxicating that I could not ignore it. Its attraction was stronger than any magnet and yet my little mind (so young and so very ignorant — and still is mind you!) would not stop working on this problem. How could a little girl, then a young woman with ants in her pants (to put it mildly) be able to sit quietly and feel this peace.

Well, I am certainly giving my story the “quick overview” with little attention to detail. So many beautiful golden threads make up the tapestry which has led me to love our Lord and to seek Him in all the parts of my life. In the beauty of daily life, in the beauty of children in the beauty of the suffering of the cross. He is in the good and the difficult and I struggle to see Him in all these places. Most times I am as blind as a bat, but then again, bats rely on their “radar” and so a soul must rely on this invisible pull towards the eternity.

—-

The photo above is from the Novena last night. It is the 59th annual outdoor novena at the Carmel of St. Joseph. The other photograph is my PopPop. Eternal rest grant onto them O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them.

I can not believe that I had the ambition (nay craziness) to take 12 boys (ages 4 to 13) to see the fireworks launch across the Mississippi River last night. There were two beautiful girls along for the ride, but they were as good as little mothers helping the boys to stay together and even carrying the youngest when he started to stray from us.

With a giant St. Louis crowd, the Riverfront was quite packed. Luckily I had other moms with me (and those little moms), but I was quite nervous for the boys to remain in “formation of a human chain” as we found our way to a nice piece of grass directly in the middle of that glowing stainless steel wonder- the St. Louis Arch. We timed our arrival pretty well so there was not much time for “wrestling” and “grass throwing” before the actual pyrotechnics began.

I was not ready for a “spiritual” experience to say the least, I was far too worried I would loose one of those precious children to think of anything else. I was so amazed then that when the fireworks began to burst forth through the blackened sky, to be immediately thinking of the writings of Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. It was though John’s description of the wooden fire in which when we blow on it, is ignited to burst fourth and grow in intensity. As those fireworks erupted in force of beauty and splendor it was though my heart was swelling too. I asked our Lord to know that this is how my heart years for Him and indeed hope that all humanity may know this same love as they watch their local fireworks on this 4th of July holiday. I pray that the excitement of children and adults when they see this mid-summer light show will somehow speak to them on many levels. To know that excitement for prayer and union with the Eternity as they witness each physical burst of spark and flame.

We all manged to get home safely, rather late for sure, but safe and sound. And today, on the real American festival of the 4th of July, as we began our day by celebrating mass at the Carmelite Monastery, it was wonderful to have the Sisters sing to us all the verses of “God Bless America”. They sung with fervent heart as I know they pray each day for not only our country but our world and the souls of eternity. How glorious a life they give to our Lord, loving Him in lives of quiet contemplation and loving supplication. May those who may be discerning their vocation at this time be inspired by their beautiful witness.

Peace and Love to America and the world this day…

p.s. Here are Pope Benedict’s Prayer Intentions for July:
His general intention is: “That all citizens, individually and in groups, may be enabled to participate actively in the life and management of the common good.”

His mission intention is: “That, aware of their own missionary duty, all Christians may actively help all those engaged in the evangelization of peoples.”

(Part 1)

This is a rather short treatise on mystical theology which examines the “Divine Darkness” which comes with a soul who is lifted to this type of prayer. I will not get into examining how this particular explanation is the same or different from others, I am just going to post it for edification and inspiration. This is only chapter 1 of 5.

THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGY
CHAPTER I

What is the Divine Darkness?

Supernal Triad, Deity above all essence, knowledge and goodness; Guide of Christians to Divine Wisdom; direct our path to the ultimate summit of your mystical knowledge, most incomprehensible, most luminous and most exalted, where the pure, absolute and immutable mysteries of theology are veiled in the dazzling obscurity of the secret Silence, outshining all brilliance with the intensity of their Darkness, and surcharging our blinded intellects with the utterly impalpable and invisible fairness of glories surpassing all beauty.

Let this be my prayer; but do, dear Timothy, in the diligent exercise of mystical contemplation, leave behind the senses and the operations of the intellect, and all things sensible and intellectual, and all things in the world of being and nonbeing, that you may arise by unknowing towards the union, as far as is attainable, with it that transcends all being and all knowledge.(1) For by the unceasing and absolute renunciation of yourself and of all things you may be borne on high, through pure and entire self-abnegation, into the superessential Radiance of the Divine Darkness.(2)

But these things are not to be disclosed to the uninitiated, by whom I mean those attached to the objects of human thought, and who believe there is no superessential Reality beyond, and who imagine that by their own understanding they know it that has made Darkness Its secret place. And if the principles of the divine Mysteries are beyond the understanding of these, what is to be said of others still more incapable thereof, who describe the transcendental First Cause of all by characteristics drawn from the lowest order of beings, while they deny that it is in any way above the images which they fashion after various designs; whereas they should affirm that, while it possesses all the positive attributes of the universe (being the Universal Cause) yet, in a more strict sense, it does not possess them, since it transcends them all; wherefore there is no contradiction between the affirmations and the negations, inasmuch as it infinitely precedes all conceptions of deprivation, being beyond all positive and negative distinctions.

Thus the blessed Bartholomew asserts that the divine science is both vast and minute, and that the Gospel is great and broad, yet concise and short; signifying by this, that the beneficent Cause of all is most eloquent, yet utters few words, or rather is altogether silent, as having neither (human) speech nor (human) understanding, because it is super-essentially exalted above created things, and reveals itself in Its naked Truth to those alone who pass beyond all that is pure or impure, and ascend above the topmost altitudes of holy things, and who, leaving behind them all divine light and sound and heavenly utterances, plunge into the Darkness where truly dwells, as the Oracles declare, that ONE who is beyond all.(3)

It was not without reason that the blessed Moses was commanded first to purify himself and them to separate himself from those who had not undergone purifcation; and after the entire purification heard many trumpets and saw many lights streaming forth with pure and manifold rays; and that he was thereafter separated from the multitude, with the elect priests, and pressed forward to the summit of the divine ascent. Nevertheless, he did not attain to the Presence of God itself; he saw not it (for it cannot be looked upon) but the Place where it dwells. And this I take to signify that the divinest and highest things seen by the eyes or contemplated by the mind are but the symbolical expressions of those that are immediately beneath it that is above all. Through these, Its incomprehensible Presence is manifested upon those heights of Its Holy Places; that then It breaks forth, even from that which is seen and that which sees, and plunges the mystic into the Darkness of Unknowing, whence all perfection of understanding is excluded, and he is enwrapped in that which is altogether intangible, wholly absorbed in it that is beyond all, and in none else (whether himself or another); and through the inactivity of all his reasoning powers is united by his highest faculty to it that is wholly unknowable; thus by knowing nothing he knows That which is beyond his knowledge. (4)

NOTES
(1) Unknowing, or agnosia, is not ignorance or nescience as ordinarily understood, but rather the realization that no finite knowledge can fully know the Infinite One, and that therefore it is only truly to be approached by agnosia, or by that which is beyond and above knowledge. There are two main kinds of darkness: the subdarkness and the super-darkness, between which lies, as it were, an octave of light. But the nether-darkness and the Divine Darkness are not the same darkness, for the former is absence of light, while the latter is excess of light. The one symbolizes mere ignorance, and the other a transcendent unknowing - a superknowledge not obtained by means of the discursive reason.

(2)‘Of the First Principle,’ says Damascius, ‘the ancient Egyptians said nothing, but celebrated it as a Darkness beyond all intellectual or spiritual perception - a Thrice-unknown Darkness.’ This is for ever about the Pavilions of that great Light Unapproachable. It is caused by the superabundance of Light and not by the absence of lumination: it is ‘a deep but dazzling Darkness’ (Henry Vaughan). ‘The light shineth in the darkness’ (St. John, 1, 5). ‘In Thy light we shall see light’ (Psalm 36, 9).

(3)St. John of the Cross, for instance, wrote of other kinds of darkness; for example, the darkness of the night of purgation, and the dark night of the soul, but the Divine Darkness is in a different category from these.

(4) Particularly important here is the concept of beyond-being, the recognition that what is known in the unknowing is beyond the realm of being and cannot be adequately described, although negation comes closer than affirmation.

About Dionysius
Dionysius the Areopagite was the Bishop of Athens in the first century. An eminent Athenian by birth, Dionysius converted to Christianity through the preaching of Paul up on Mar’s Hill. Areopagus is Greek for Mars’ Hill. Acts 17:34

Dionysius first studied at Athens and a member of the court of the Areopagus. He then travelled at Helipolis in Egypt to study astronomy where he made very particular observations on the great and supernatural eclipse, which happened at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. Dionysius was educated in all the useful and ornamental literature of Greece. The sanctity of his conversion and the purity of his manners recommended him so strongly to the Christians in general, that he was appointed the first Bishop of Athens. At the request of Paul, Dionysius left Athens to meet him there at Rome, for the purpose of being sent by him to Gaul. After many labors and trials, Dionysius suffered martyrdom by fire in Paris. His Feast day is October 9th in the west and October 3rd in the east.

During the Middle Ages Dionysius was credited with writing some philosophical material that may have been actually from the 5th or 6th century. They are the “Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, Mystical Theology” among others, written in Greek from perhaps Palestine. Whatever the source, they were taken serious and had an effect on the mystical philosophy of the Medieval period. They are now known as the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius.

(Downloaded from the St. Pachomius Orthodox Library)

I do not know why today I am interested in St. Andrew, maybe it is because of his devotion to the Cross and his ability to help transform this symbol of criminality and punishment into the sign of love, union and redemption that it has become. Imagine how hard it must have been to convert the contemporary cultural mindset of the time! What a struggle it was for these early apostles and disciples to teach “Christian” apologetics and spiritual truth. We should note that our struggles certainly must be a little easier now (however difficult they may seem to us!)

Here is a short summary of the life of Saint Andrew from Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend. Andrew’s prayer of the Good Cross is below.

There was a man named AEgeas who was provost and judge of Achaia. He heard of Andrew after Andrew had “replenished all the country with churches and converted the people to the faith of Jesus Christ” and then proceeded to baptize the wife of AEgeas in the faith! You can imagine, AEgeas was none to happy about this!

Andrew tried to speak with AEgeas, but was met with bully tactics. When he was threatened with Crucifixion, Andrew quietly acknowledged that the mystery of the cross was great.

“Andrew said to him: If I doubted the gibbet [Gibbet is sometimes used to describe a gallows, a structure used in the execution of criminals by hanging.] of the cross I would not preach the glory thereof. I will that thou hear the mystery, and if thou knew and believedst on it thou shouldst be saved. Then he showed to him the mystery of the cross, and assigned five reasons. The first is this: Forasmuch as the first man that deserved death was because of the tree, in breaking the commandment of God, then is it thing convenable that the second man should put away that death, in suffering the same on the tree. The second was that, he that was made of earth not corrupted, and was breaker of the commandment, then was it thing convenable that he that should repel this default, should be born of a virgin. The third; for so much as Adam had stretched his hand disordinately to the fruit forbidden, it was thing convenable that the new Adam should stretch his hands on the cross. The fourth; for so much as Adam had tasted sweetly the fruit forbidden, it is therefore reason that it be put away by thing contrary; so that Jesu Christ was fed with bitter gall. The fifth; for as much as Jesu Christ gave to us his immortality, it is thing reasonable, that he take our mortality. For if Jesu Christ had not been dead, man had never been made immortal.”

AEgeas response was: “If thou obey not to me, I shall do hang thee on the cross, for so much as thou hast praised it.”

“Then commanded AEgeas that he should be beaten of twenty-one men, and that he should be so beaten, bounden by the feet and hands unto the cross, to the end that his pain should endure the longer. And when he was led unto the cross, there ran much people to it. And when he saw the cross from far he saluted it, and said:

O BONA CRUX, quae decorem ex membris Domini suscepisti, diu desiderata, sollicite amata, sine intermissione quaesita, et aliquando cupienti animo praeparata: accipe me ab hominibus, et redde me magistro meo: ut per te me recipiat, qui per te me redemit. Amen.
O GOOD CROSS, made beautiful by the body of the Lord, long have I desired thee, ardently have I loved thee, unceasingly have I sought thee, and now thou art ready for my eager soul. Receive me from among men and restore me to my Master, so that He, who redeemed me through thee, shalt receive me through thee. Amen.”

And then they hung him on the cross, like as to them was commanded. Andrew was held on the cross by ropes rather than nails, to prolong his suffering. But Andrew took advantage of his slow death to preach from the cross for two days, and twenty thousand men were there to hear his words. The people there then threatened violence unless Andrew was taken down. By this time Andrew had preached enough and, to die quickly, prayed that his limbs would be paralysed so that he could not be cut down. As a great light shines, he dies.

What a beautiful story. What faith! May we see the crosses in our own lives and not shun them. May we embrace these opportunities to unite our struggles with our Lord’s ultimate redemptive act and give our acceptance of these personal sufferings to Him with joy and love.

Life of St. Andrew: by Jacobus de Voragine

Above Image:

The Crucifixion of St Andrew c. 1607 (b. 1571, Caravaggio, d. 1610, Porto Ercole)
Oil on canvas, 202,5 x 152,7 cm
Museum of Art, Cleveland

“And what shall I say about your wounds? They must have been similar to that rainbow God gave to Noah, signifying that he would never bring the waters of the Deluge upon the earth again. And, Word, your wounds will be like that bow; placed between the eternal Father and the human kind, your wounds will abate our faults and thanks to them he will not be called God of revenge anymore but rather God of mercy and love. Oh, how joyful Mary must have felt when she saw that the Blood of the Word had taken from her would be a stole for all the elect!”

Probation: p 305 Maria Maddelena de’Pazzi Translated by Armando Maggi, Paulist Press 2000.

Pope Says Saint a Model of “Purified Love” Letter Recalls Life of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi

VATICAN CITY, MAY 29, 2007 (Zenit.org).-

St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi is a symbolic figure of living love that recalls an essential dimension of every Christian life, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope said this in a letter to the Cardinal Ennio Antonelli of Florence, Italy, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Carmelite mystic’s death (1566-1607).

“She did not let herself be conditioned by the world; the world, though Christian, did not satisfy her desire to become ever more similar to her crucified Spouse,” wrote the Holy Father.

Born in Florence on April 2, 1566, into a noble family, she was baptized with the name Catherine. The future saint entered the Monastery of San Giovannino of the Dames of Malta.

It was there, on March 25, 1576, that she received her first Communion, and then a few days later, she made a vow of perpetual virginity.

When she was 16, she entered the cloistered Carmelite Monastery of St. Mary of the Angels and took the name Mary Magdalene.

In March 1584, she fell ill, but was able to make her religious profession later that year on the feast of the Holy Trinity.

Ecstasies

“Thus began an intense mystical period from which would come her fame as a great ecstatic,” recalled the Pope.

Her confessors, in order to determine if these ecstasies where divinely inspired, obliged her to tell her superiors everything that she was experiencing. Her sisters wrote down her words during and after the ecstasies.

Benedict XVI described these as intense experiences “that, at only 19 years old, rendered her capable of understanding the mystery of salvation — from the incarnation of the Word in Mary’s womb to the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.”

These experiences were published as “Forty Days” (1584), “Discussions” (1585), and “Revelations and Understandings” (1585).

The volumes describe “eight days of wonderful ecstasy from the vigil of Pentecost to the Feast of the Trinity,” wrote the Holy Father.

He continued: “Five years of interior purification were to follow — Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi spoke of it in her book ‘Probation,’ in which the Word, her Spouse, removed from her the feeling of grace and left her, like Daniel in the lions’ den, to suffer many trials and temptations.

“Her great desire for Church reform was born during this time, after witnessing rays of light from on high in the summer of 1586, showing her the true state of the Church in the era after the Council of Trent.

“Like Catherine of Siena, she felt ‘compelled’ to write letters to the Pope, cardinals of the Curia, her archbishop and other Church leaders, encouraging them to work for the ‘Renewal of the Church,’ as the title of the manuscript says.”

Calvary

Eventually, tuberculosis forced her to slowly withdraw from the active life of the community.

“Purified love, which beat so strongly in her heart, opened her to the desire for full conformity with Christ, her Spouse, even unto sharing with him the ‘nudo patire’ [naked suffering] of the cross,” the Pope continued. “The last three years of her life were a true Calvary of sufferings for her.”

She died on May 25, 1607. Her incorrupt body is under the altar of the Church of the Monastery of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi in Careggi, Florence.

She was beatified on May 8, 1626, by Pope Urban VIII, also from Florence, and was canonized by Pope Clement IX on April 28, 1669.

Benedict XVI added: “During her life she would ring the bells and exhort her fellow sisters saying: ‘Come to love Love!’

“The great mystic from Florence, from her convent and from the Carmelite monasteries that aspire to her, we pray that we may still hear her voice in the entire Church, spreading the proclamation of God’s love for every human creature.”

What great modesty and humility is shown by Therese at such a very young age. To meditate on the virtues contained in this passage are for all ages. Oh this great soul of Carmel’s Garden, her flowering virtue has inspired so many and led them to love our Lord with a fervent heart!

I must go back now to the subject of my scruples. They made me so
ill that I was obliged to leave school when I was thirteen. In
order to continue my education, Papa took me several times a week
to a lady who was an excellent teacher. Her lessons served the
double purpose of instructing me and making me associate with
other people.

Visitors were often shown into the old-fashioned room where I sat
with my books and exercises. As far as possible my teacher’s
mother carried on the conversation, but still I did not learn much
while it lasted. Seemingly absorbed in my book, I could hear many
things it would have been better for me not to hear. One lady said
I had beautiful hair; another asked, as she left, who was that
pretty little girl. Such remarks, the more flattering because I
was not meant to hear them, gave me a feeling of pleasure which
showed plainly that I was full of self-love.

I am very sorry for souls who lose themselves in this way. It is
so easy to go astray in the seductive paths of the world. Without
doubt, for a soul somewhat advanced in virtue, the sweetness
offered by the world is mingled with bitterness, and the immense
void of its desires cannot be filled by the flattery of a moment;
but I repeat, if my heart had not been lifted up towards God from
the first moment of consciousness, if the world had smiled on me
from the beginning of my life, what should I have become? Dearest
Mother, with what a grateful heart do I sing “the Mercies of the
Lord!” Has He not, according to the words of Holy Wisdom, “taken
me away from the world lest wickedness should alter my
understanding, or deceit beguile my soul?”

Therese of Lisieux from a Story of a Soul