Another Lay Saint To Emulate--Rose of Lima

The Chapel of St. Mary of The Angels and Martyrs is almost completely packed. I am getting ready for my next adventure, organized by God. Learning to be obedient, (and, possibly living out one's purgatory on earth,), requires complete trust in God. This way of life also demands flexibility.

One of the signs of a decaying soul, like a decaying mind, is rigidity. Those who cannot change may be missing daily opportunities for metanoia, for that call from God to change anew.

Today is the feast day of my chosen confirmation saint, Rose of Lima. I chose her when I was twelve, the age of my confirmation, for many reasons.

The first is that, at the time, she was the only female saint born in the New World. She is an American saint, albeit South American.

Second, I was struck at my tender age, by her selflessness to others. She had a true servant's heart.

Third, I wanted to give all to Christ and live the simple life as she did, choosing simplicity over complexity in her life.

Fourth, she chose penances, such as becoming a perpetual vegetarian, and wearing coarse, rough clothes, among other mortifications. I was entranced by her fortitude and focus.

Fifth, she was noted, even early on, for her exact obedience. I wanted to be obedient.

Sixth, she experienced, like St. Catherine of Siena, whom Rose loves, a mystical marriage with Christ.

Seventh, Rose remained a lay person, a Third Order Dominican, like Catherine of Siena, another saint admired by me.

Eighth, she prayed for the souls in purgatory, and even as a little girl, I was draw to this work of mercy.

To me, St. Rose seemed like a breath of fresh air when I read her life in 1960. I was confirmed in March of 1961, and wanted to be like Rose. I still do....

Well, God gives grace according to His designs, and I still do not have my little hermitage, as Rose did in the back of her parents' property.

But, she still is a witness of a lay life worth living.

The only statue out now is my Infant of Prague, Who also reminds me of simplicity and innocence, the simplicity and innocence mirrored in the life of Rose of Lima. I have one of my crucifixes out, a Benedictine one, which is rather grand. I have several crucifixes and I look at the various interpretations of My Lord on these for meditation-but the rest are packed now.

Little Rose of Lima, a lay person and a penitent, one choosing suffering for the sake of others, should speak to all of us today, on the edge of the ruin of our nations. May this little saint, patron of all South America, speak to our hearts so that we can live the radical Gospel wherever God calls us to be.

Catholic Taliban

I am very concerned about some Catholic parents, most likely not anyone who reads this blog, who have decided that their home schooled girls do not need academic training or education.

I consider not teaching your girls classical education as child abuse. Western education was created by the Catholic Church through the Benedictines, Dominicans, Franciscans, and many other orders featured on this blog.

The great heritage of liberal arts education was created by the members of these orders, as were the great colleges and universities of Europe. Catholic girls should be educated so that they can attend the great Catholic colleges of our day: Thomas Aquinas, Wyoming Catholic, Christendom and so on.

That Catholic parents choose anti-intellectualism alarms me, as to be a Catholic is to be educated in the glorious disciplines created and fostered by Catholics throughout the history of the Church.

Why would parents not want their girls to learn the classics? Disciplining the mind by studying grammar, music, math, art, literature, history, geography, and, of course, religion, have been part of our Catholic culture for over a millennium.

Do these anti-intellectual Catholics, many of whom are trads and charismatics, (sharing an odd ideal which they have in common), think that God does not intend us to use our intellect?

The intellect must be developed not only for skills, for logic, for rational discourse, but for prayer. The worse sins happen in the intellect, and all Catholics must learn to fight these sins in that part of our being.

Intellectual purity does not mean the absence of intellectual studies, on the contrary. Purity of the intellect does not mean emptiness, but a working with knowledge in grace, in appropriate studies, in the virtue of studiosity. In fact, this virtue cannot be ignored without sinning.

Recall my series on the Maritains, intelligence and prayer; recall my many posts on classical education. Follow the tags.

Virtue training involves the mind, not merely the hands. Virtue training comes with developing one's intellectual gifts, which we all have at various levels as God has given us, of intellectual abilities.

To ignore the disciplines of learning to is actually interfere not only with God's plans for one's life, but essential for coming to know God.

Few saints had infused knowledge. Most learned about God through the hard study and meditation, first of Scripture, and then of reading and studying the Doctors of the Church, and the writings and sermons of the great saints.

To deny children, especially high school age girls of the beauties of knowledge is, simply, child abuse. Some parents think that these girls or young women who only know how to sew, cook, take care of children will be good wives. Absolutely not. The Catholic husband needs a help-mate even in the area of intellectual discussion.

We do not need ignorant girls and ignorant women. We need savvy women, who can teach their children all the subjects in home schools. Of course, the skills of cooking, sewing and so forth can also be accomplished. All these skills can be learned well easily. Getting a higher degree does not mean one does not know how to cook or sew or can tomatoes. Many of us did all these things, and more. We made candles, soap, went back to the basics in household duties, and still managed to learn various academic subjects.

We learned how to properly entertain for visitors, and we learned womanly manners. We also learned that to be a woman meant learning our heritage, culture, faith.

Look at the writings of the great Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux, Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena.

We have in the Church, these women,  who are Doctors of the Church, not because they could cook and sew, but because they could pray, write, advise people, even popes. They knew the Scriptures, and much theology, as well a music.

To ignore the glories of our own culture, the Catholic culture, amounts to choosing anti-intellectualism and becoming a Catholic Taliban. Ignoring the intellect of young women does not prepare them for sainthood, but for stunted growth, and possibly, rebellion.

Stern but Just Words from God to St. Catherine Siena

from the Dialogue:

How sin is more gravely punished after the Passion of Christ than before; and how God promises to do mercy to the world, and to the Holy Church, by means of the prayers and sufferings of His servants.

"And I wish you to know, My daughter, that, although I have re-created and restored to the life of grace, the human race, through the Blood of My only-begotten Son, as I have said, men are not grateful, but, going from bad to worse, and from guilt to guilt, even persecuting Me with many injuries, taking so little account of the graces which I have given them, and continue to give them, that, not only do they not attribute what they have received to grace, but seem to themselves on occasion to receive injuries from Me, as if I desired anything else than their sanctification.

"I say to you that they will be more hard-hearted, and worthy of more punishment, and will, indeed, be punished more severely, now that they have received redemption in the Blood of My Son, than they would have been before that redemption took place -- that is, before the stain of Adam's sin had been taken away. It is right that he who receives more should render more, and should be under great obligations to Him from whom he receives more.

"Man, then, was closely bound to Me through his being which I have given him, creating him in My own image and similitude; for which reason, he was bound to render Me glory, but he deprived Me of it, and wished to give it to himself. Thus he came to transgress My obedience imposed on him, and became My enemy. And I, with My humility, destroyed his pride, humiliating the divine nature, and taking your humanity, and, freeing you from the service of the devil, I made you free. And, not only did I give you liberty, but, if you examine, you will see that man has become God, and God has become man, through the union of the divine with the human nature. This is the debt which they have incurred -- that is to say, the treasure of the Blood, by which they have been procreated to grace. See, therefore, how much more they owe after the redemption than before. For they are now obliged to render Me glory and praise by following in the steps of My Incarnate Word, My only-begotten Son, for then they repay Me the debt of love both of Myself and of their neighbor, with true and genuine virtue, as I have said to you above, and if they do not do it, the greater their debt, the greater will be the offense they fall into, and therefore, by divine justice, the greater their suffering in eternal damnation.

"A false Christian is punished more than a pagan, and the deathless fire of divine justice consumes him more, that is, afflicts him more, and, in his affliction, he feels himself being consumed by the worm of conscience, though, in truth, he is not consumed, because the damned do not lose their being through any torment which they receive. Wherefore I say to you, that they ask for death and cannot have it, for they cannot lose their being; the existence of grace they lose, through their fault, but not their natural existence. Therefore guilt is more gravely punished after the Redemption of the Blood than before, because man received more; but sinners neither seem to perceive this, nor to pay any attention to their own sins, and so become My enemies, though I have reconciled them, by means of the Blood of My Son. But there is a remedy with which I appease My wrath -- that is to say, by means of My servants, if they are jealous to constrain Me by their desire. You see, therefore, that you have bound Me with this bond which I have given you, because I wished to do mercy to the world. "Therefore I give My servants hunger and desire for My honor, and the salvation of souls, so that, constrained by their tears, I may mitigate the fury of My divine justice. Take, therefore, your tears and your sweat, drawn from the fountain of My divine love, and, with them, wash the face of My spouse.

"I promise you, that, by this means, her beauty will be restored to her, not by the knife nor by cruelty, but peacefully, by humble and continued prayer, by the sweat and the tears shed by the fiery desire of My servants, and thus will I fulfill your desire if you, on your part, endure much, casting the light of your patience into the darkness of perverse man, not fearing the world's persecutions, for I will protect you, and My Providence shall never fail you in the slightest need."

How the road to Heaven being broken through the disobedience of Adam, God made of His Son a Bridge by which man could pass.

"Wherefore I have told you that I have made a Bridge of My Word, of My only-begotten Son, and this is the truth. I wish that you, My children, should know that the road was broken by the sin and disobedience of Adam, in such a way, that no one could arrive at Eternal Life. Wherefore men did not render Me glory in the way in which they ought to have, as they did not participate in that Good for which I had created them, and My truth was not fulfilled. This truth is that I have created man to My own image and similitude, in order that he might have Eternal Life, and might partake of Me, and taste My supreme and eternal sweetness and goodness. But, after sin had closed Heaven and bolted the doors of mercy, the soul of man produced thorns and prickly brambles, and My creature found in himself rebellion against himself.

"And the flesh immediately began to war against the Spirit, and, losing the state of innocence, became a foul animal, and all created things rebelled against man, whereas they would have been obedient to him, had he remained in the state in which I had placed him. He, not remaining therein, transgressed My obedience, and merited eternal death in soul and body. And, as soon as he had sinned, a tempestuous flood arose, which ever buffets him with its waves, bringing him weariness and trouble from himself, the devil, and the world. Every one was drowned in the flood, because no one, with his own justice alone, could arrive at Eternal Life. And so, wishing to remedy your great evils, I have given you the Bridge of My Son, in order that, passing across the flood, you may not be drowned, which flood is the tempestuous sea of this dark life. See, therefore, under what obligations the creature is to Me, and how ignorant he is, not to take the remedy which I have offered, but to be willing to drown."

From St. Catherine

God the Father spoke to Catherine of Siena and this selection from the Dialogue seems particularly poignant for today. I do not think any commentary is necessary.

How sin is more gravely punished after the Passion of Christ than before; and how God promises to do mercy to the world, and to the Holy Church, by means of the prayers and sufferings of His servants.

"And I wish you to know, My daughter, that, although I have re-created and restored to the life of grace, the human race, through the Blood of My only-begotten Son, as I have said, men are not grateful, but, going from bad to worse, and from guilt to guilt, even persecuting Me with many injuries, taking so little account of the graces which I have given them, and continue to give them, that, not only do they not attribute what they have received to grace, but seem to themselves on occasion to receive injuries from Me, as if I desired anything else than their sanctification.

"I say to you that they will be more hard-hearted, and worthy of more punishment, and will, indeed, be punished more severely, now that they have received redemption in the Blood of My Son, than they would have been before that redemption took place -- that is, before the stain of Adam's sin had been taken away. It is right that he who receives more should render more, and should be under great obligations to Him from whom he receives more.

"Man, then, was closely bound to Me through his being which I have given him, creating him in My own image and similitude; for which reason, he was bound to render Me glory, but he deprived Me of it, and wished to give it to himself. Thus he came to transgress My obedience imposed on him, and became My enemy. And I, with My humility, destroyed his pride, humiliating the divine nature, and taking your humanity, and, freeing you from the service of the devil, I made you free. And, not only did I give you liberty, but, if you examine, you will see that man has become God, and God has become man, through the union of the divine with the human nature. This is the debt which they have incurred -- that is to say, the treasure of the Blood, by which they have been procreated to grace. See, therefore, how much more they owe after the redemption than before. For they are now obliged to render Me glory and praise by following in the steps of My Incarnate Word, My only-begotten Son, for then they repay Me the debt of love both of Myself and of their neighbor, with true and genuine virtue, as I have said to you above, and if they do not do it, the greater their debt, the greater will be the offense they fall into, and therefore, by divine justice, the greater their suffering in eternal damnation.

"A false Christian is punished more than a pagan, and the deathless fire of divine justice consumes him more, that is, afflicts him more, and, in his affliction, he feels himself being consumed by the worm of conscience, though, in truth, he is not consumed, because the damned do not lose their being through any torment which they receive. Wherefore I say to you, that they ask for death and cannot have it, for they cannot lose their being; the existence of grace they lose, through their fault, but not their natural existence. Therefore guilt is more gravely punished after the Redemption of the Blood than before, because man received more; but sinners neither seem to perceive this, nor to pay any attention to their own sins, and so become My enemies, though I have reconciled them, by means of the Blood of My Son. But there is a remedy with which I appease My wrath -- that is to say, by means of My servants, if they are jealous to constrain Me by their desire. You see, therefore, that you have bound Me with this bond which I have given you, because I wished to do mercy to the world. "Therefore I give My servants hunger and desire for My honor, and the salvation of souls, so that, constrained by their tears, I may mitigate the fury of My divine justice. Take, therefore, your tears and your sweat, drawn from the fountain of My divine love, and, with them, wash the face of My spouse.

"I promise you, that, by this means, her beauty will be restored to her, not by the knife nor by cruelty, but peacefully, by humble and continued prayer, by the sweat and the tears shed by the fiery desire of My servants, and thus will I fulfill your desire if you, on your part, endure much, casting the light of your patience into the darkness of perverse man, not fearing the world's persecutions, for I will protect you, and My Providence shall never fail you in the slightest need."

More on Why Prayers Are Not Answered

How very pleasing to God is the willing desire to suffer for Him. "Very pleasing to Me, dearest daughter, is the willing desire to bear every pain and fatigue, even unto death, for the salvation of souls, for the more the soul endures, the more she shows that she loves Me; loving Me she comes to know more of My truth, and the more she knows, the more pain and intolerable grief she feels at the offenses committed against Me. You asked Me to sustain you, and to punish the faults of others in you, and you did not remark that you were really asking for love, light, and knowledge of the truth, since I have already told you that, by the increase of love, grows grief and pain, wherefore he that grows in love grows in grief. Therefore, I say to you all, that you should ask, and it will be given you, for I deny nothing to him who asks of Me in truth. Consider that the love of divine charity is so closely joined in the soul with perfect patience, that neither can leave the soul without the other. For this reason (if the soul elect to love Me) she should elect to endure pains for Me in whatever mode or circumstance I may send them to her. Patience cannot be proved in any other way than by suffering, and patience is united with love as has been said. Therefore bear yourselves with manly courage, for, unless you do so, you will not prove yourselves to be spouses of My Truth, and faithful children, nor of the company of those who relish the taste of My honor, and the salvation of souls." from the Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena.


This type of loving intercessory prayer is not the same as that of the victim souls. I believe victim souls are called to that special vocation from birth. We see this type of sublime holiness in the lives of such as Marthe Robin, Alexandrina da Costa, Gemma Galgani and Veronica Giuliani among others.

Victim souls have an entire life of intercession, usually through the joining of their bodies and souls to the Passion of Christ. One cannot choose to be a victim soul, as it is a vocation usually found at a very young age. 

These souls are rare people. However, the suffering explained in St. Catherine's Dialogue is also reparatory intercession, but part of a more active, and not victim soul type of vocation, In other words, we can all pray in the manner explained by God above. One can choose to offer up one's life for another, like Michael Voris' mother did for her sons, and like someone I know, a local saint, did for the conversion of her husband. The proof of God's acceptance of these heroic gestures would be the ultimate conversions of those for whom the lives were offered, and, indeed, in both cases, two men were converted through the intercessory offering.

What God is revealing to St. Catherine would be more the "ordinary" manner of intercession, involving daily courage and suffering, as well as patience, perhaps for a husband, a wife or children.

Like St. Therese, one may choose a stranger for whom to pray, but one must be careful. Several friends have told me of situations in which they took on praying for people and in the process, it became clear that these good pray-ers, simply were not holy enough to take on the type of spiritual warfare necessary.

Sometimes one is tempted to take on praying for something or someone which is simply too difficult, even too evil.

Stories of people in hell who revealed that the reason they were there was that they did not listen to friends' exhortations, or storied of people in purgatory, who asked for prayers, indicate the seriousness and need for intercessory suffering.

This week, realizing that some intercession I was doing needed more prayer and fasting, I asked God what I could do more than what I have been doing. Within hours of this prayer, my doctor put me on a low carb diet. This will be very difficult, as I have been eating a lot of poor food, like Ramen noodles,potatoes, and cheap tortillas for quesadillas, I shall need to spend more money, which I do not have yet, for more protein and less carbs. So, this is a hardship, but I definitely know this is an answer to prayer. I shall have to eat even less than what I have been, which is only two full meals a day. But, God desires this suffering for souls for whom I am interceding daily. Souls are worth every bit of hardship.

God is calling all of us to love, love, love. Patience, suffering, love...

In these virtues, we are called to become more and more like Christ in this world, and closer to Him in the next.

To be continued...

Why Prayers Are Not Answered

Many months ago, I wrote, in response to a reader's question on the efficacy of prayer, that the more one becomes holy and pure in heart, the more efficacious one's prayers become.

Thus, the saints in heaven can answer our prayers, according to God's Will, as they have merited eternal life and live in holiness and grace.

St. Catherine of Siena, a favorite on this blog, wrote in her Dialogue that the prayers for the evil and sinners in the world are not answered because those who are praying have not fulfilled the necessary steps to find holiness.

These steps form a little summary of the entire perfection series, but these are worth repeating in the context of the growing evil which is surrounding all of us.

First step: One must ask for self-knowledge, and the grace to see one's sins, imperfections and predominant fault. Only with self-knowledge can one be in the truly humble place before God in presenting prayers to Him.

Second step: Knowledge of God demands that we seek His Face, seek Him daily and answer His call to find Him in the desert of the Dark Night of both the senses and the spirit. True reparation follows this cleansing of the soul, mind, heart and body.

Here are a few selections from her work to underline these points:

Man is placed above all creatures, and not beneath them, and he cannot be satisfied or content except in something greater than himself. Greater than himself there is nothing but Myself, the Eternal God. Therefore I alone can satisfy him, and, because he is deprived of this satisfaction by his guilt, he remains in continual torment and pain. Weeping follows pain, and when he begins to weep, the wind strikes the tree of self-love, which he has made the principle of all his being.

...

So, that soul, wishing to know and follow the truth more manfully, and lifting her desires first for herself -- for she considered that a soul could not be of use, whether in doctrine, example, or prayer, to her neighbor, if she did not first profit herself, that is, if she did not acquire virtue in herself -- addressed four requests to the Supreme and Eternal Father. The first was for herself; the second for the reformation of the Holy Church; the third a general prayer for the whole world, and in particular for the peace of Christians who rebel, with much lewdness and persecution, against the Holy Church; in the fourth and last, she besought the Divine Providence to provide for things in general, and in particular, for a certain case with which she was concerned.

...

How the desire of this soul grew when God showed her the neediness of the world. This desire was great and continuous, but grew much more, when the First Truth showed her the neediness of the world, and in what a tempest of offense against God it lay. And she had understood this the better from a letter, which she had received from the spiritual Father of her soul, in which he explained to her the penalties and intolerable dolor caused by offenses against God, and the loss of souls, and the persecutions of Holy Church. All this lighted the fire of her holy desire with grief for the offenses, and with the joy of the lively hope, with which she waited for God to provide against such great evils. And, since the soul seems, in such communion, sweetly to bind herself fast within herself and with God, and knows better His truth, inasmuch as the soul is then in God, and God in the soul, as the fish is in the sea, and the sea in the fish, she desired the arrival of the morning (for the morrow was a feast of Mary) in order to hear Mass. And, when the morning came, and the hour of the Mass, she sought with anxious desire her accustomed place; and, with a great knowledge of herself, being ashamed of her own imperfection, appearing to herself to be the cause of all the evil that was happening throughout the world, conceiving a hatred and displeasure against herself, and a feeling of holy justice, with which knowledge, hatred, and justice, she purified the stains which seemed to her to cover her guilty soul, she said: "O Eternal Father, I accuse myself before You, in order that You may punish me for my sins in this finite life, and, inasmuch as my sins are the cause of the sufferings which my neighbor must endure, I implore You, in Your kindness, to punish them in my person."

...

Then, the Eternal Truth seized and drew more strongly to Himself her desire, doing as He did in the Old Testament, for when the sacrifice was offered to God, a fire descended and drew to Him the sacrifice that was acceptable to Him; so did the sweet Truth to that soul, in sending down the fire of the clemency of the Holy Spirit, seizing the sacrifice of desire that she made of herself, saying: "Do you not know, dear daughter, that all the sufferings, which the soul endures, or can endure, in this life, are insufficient to punish one smallest fault, because the offense, being done to Me, who am the Infinite Good, calls for an infinite satisfaction? However, I wish that you should know, that not all the pains that are given to men in this life are given as punishments, but as corrections, in order to chastise a son when he offends; though it is true that both the guilt and the penalty can be expiated by the desire of the soul, that is, by true contrition, not through the finite pain endured, but through the infinite desire; because God, who is infinite, wishes for infinite love and infinite grief. Infinite grief I wish from My creature in two ways: in one way, through her sorrow for her own sins, which she has committed against Me her Creator; in the other way, through her sorrow for the sins which she sees her neighbors commit against Me. Of such as these, inasmuch as they have infinite desire, that is, are joined to Me by an affection of love, and therefore grieve when they offend Me, or 16 see Me offended, their every pain, whether spiritual or corporeal, from wherever it may come, receives infinite merit, and satisfies for a guilt which deserved an infinite penalty, although their works are finite and done in finite time; but, inasmuch as they possess the virtue of desire, and sustain their suffering with desire, and contrition, and infinite displeasure against their guilt, their pain is held worthy. Paul explained this when he said: If I had the tongues of angels, and if I knew the things of the future and gave my body to be burned, and have not love, it would be worth nothing to me. The glorious Apostle thus shows that finite works are not valid, either as punishment or recompense, without the condiment of the affection of love.

Third step: Only when the soul is immersed in the love of God are prayers truly answered in power and according to His Will.

"I have shown you, dearest daughter, that the guilt is not punished in this finite time by any pain which is sustained purely as such. And I say, that the guilt is punished by the pain which is endured through the desire, love, and contrition of the heart; not by virtue of the pain, but by virtue of the desire of the soul; inasmuch as desire and every virtue is of value, and has life in itself, through Christ crucified, My only begotten Son, in so far as the soul has drawn her love from Him, and virtuously follows His virtues, that is, His Footprints. In this way, and in no other, are virtues of value, and in this way, pains satisfy for the fault, by the sweet and intimate love acquired in the knowledge of My goodness, and in the bitterness and contrition of heart acquired by knowledge of one's self and one's own thoughts. And this knowledge generates a hatred and displeasure against sin, and against the soul's own sensuality, through which, she deems herself worthy of pains and unworthy of reward." The sweet Truth continued: "See how, by contrition of the heart, together with love, with true patience, and with true humility, deeming themselves worthy of pain and unworthy of reward, such souls endure the patient humility in which consists the above-mentioned satisfaction. You ask me, then, for pains, so that I may receive satisfaction for the offenses, which are done against Me by My Creatures, and you further ask the will to know and love Me, who am the Supreme Truth. Wherefore I reply that this is the way, if you will arrive at a perfect knowledge and enjoyment of Me, the Eternal Truth, that you should never go outside the knowledge of yourself, and, by humbling yourself in the valley of humility, you will know Me and yourself, from which knowledge you will draw all that is necessary. No virtue, my daughter, can have life in itself except through charity, and humility, which is the foster-mother and nurse of charity. In self-knowledge, then, you will humble yourself, seeing that, in yourself, you do not even exist; for your very being, as you will learn, is derived from Me, since I have loved both you and others before you were in existence; and that, through the ineffable love which I had for you, wishing to re-create you to Grace, I have washed you, and re-created you in the Blood of My only-begotten Son, spilt with so great a fire of love. This Blood teaches the truth to him, who, by self-knowledge, dissipates the cloud of self-love, and in no other way can he learn. Then the soul will inflame herself in this knowledge of Me with an 17 ineffable love, through which love she continues in constant pain; not, however, a pain which afflicts or dries up the soul, but one which rather fattens her; for since she has known My truth, and her own faults, and the ingratitude of men, she endures intolerable suffering, grieving because she loves Me; for, if she did not love Me, she would not be obliged to do so; whence it follows immediately, that it is right for you, and My other servants who have learnt My truth in this way, to sustain, even unto death, many tribulations and injuries and insults in word and deed, for the glory and praise of My Name; thus will you endure and suffer pains. Do you, therefore, and My other servants, carry yourselves with true patience, with grief for your sins, and with love of virtue for the glory and praise of My Name. If you act thus, I will satisfy for your sins, and for those of My other servants, inasmuch as the pains which you will endure will be sufficient, through the virtue of love, for satisfaction and reward, both in you and in others. In yourself you will receive the fruit of life, when the stains of your ignorance are effaced, and I shall not remember that you ever offended Me. In others I will satisfy through the love and affection which you have to Me, and I will give to them according to the disposition with which they will receive My gifts. In particular, to those who dispose themselves, humbly and with reverence, to receive the doctrine of My servants, will I remit both guilt and penalty, since they will thus come to true knowledge and contrition for their sins. So that, by means of prayer, and their desire of serving Me, they receive the fruit of grace, receiving it humbly in greater or less degree, according to the extent of their exercise of virtue and grace in general. I say then, that, through your desires, they will receive remission for their sins. 

The more I pray, the more I realize how unworthy my prayers are and how far I am from meriting good for myself and others. The sufferings endured by me are only good insofar as these are united in the love of God for myself and for others.

Prayers are not answered unless a person has been stripped of ego and the selfishness of certain desires not in keeping with God's Will.

People ask me to pray for them daily, and I do. Yesterday, on my "down day",  I could get much more prayers said, more meditation and more affective contemplation done in the busy weeks prior. I thank God that I was ill so that I could be in His Presence as in the days before I came here to this little box room.

The purgation demanded by God must come before one experiences truly efficacious prayer. Here is St. Catherine again, from the words of God.

But I do not, in general, grant to these others, for whom they pray, satisfaction for the penalty due to them, but, only for their guilt, since they are not disposed, on their side, to receive, with perfect love, My love, and that of My servants. They do not receive their grief with bitterness, and perfect contrition for the sins they have committed, but with imperfect love and contrition, wherefore they have not, as others, remission of the penalty, but only of the guilt; because such complete satisfaction 18 requires proper dispositions on both sides, both in him that gives and him that receives. Wherefore, since they are imperfect, they receive imperfectly the perfection of the desires of those who offer them to Me, for their sakes, with suffering; and, inasmuch as I told you that they do receive remission, this is indeed the truth, that, by that way which I have told you, that is, by the light of conscience, and by other things, satisfaction is made for their guilt; for, beginning to learn, they vomit forth the corruption of their sins, and so receive the gift of grace. "These are they who are in a state of ordinary charity, wherefore, if they have trouble, they receive it in the guise of correction, and do not resist over much the clemency of the Holy Spirit, but, coming out of their sin, they receive the life of grace. But if, like fools, they are ungrateful, and ignore Me and the labors of My servants done for them, that which was given them, through mercy, turns to their own ruin and judgment, not through defect of mercy, nor through defect of him who implored the mercy for the ingrate, but solely through the man's own wretchedness and hardness, with which, with the hands of his free will, he has covered his heart, as it were, with a diamond, which, if it be not broken by the Blood, can in no way be broken. And yet, I say to you, that, in spite of his hardness of heart, he can use his free will while he has time, praying for the Blood of My Son, and let him with his own hand apply It to the diamond over his heart and shiver it, and he will receive the imprint of the Blood which has been paid for him. But, if he delays until the time be past, he has no remedy, because he has not used the dowry which I gave him, giving him memory so as to remember My benefits, intellect, so as to see and know the truth, affection, so that he should love Me, the Eternal Truth, whom he would have known through the use of his intellect. This is the dowry which I have given you all, and which ought to render fruit to Me, the Father; but, if a man barters and sells it to the devil, the devil, if he choose, has a right to seize on everything that he has acquired in this life. And, filling his memory with the delights of sin, and with the recollection of shameful pride, avarice, self-love, hatred, and unkindness to his neighbors (being also a persecutor of My servants), with these miseries, he has obscured his intellect by his disordinate will. Let such as these receive the eternal pains, with their horrible stench, inasmuch as they have not satisfied for their sins with contrition and displeasure of their guilt. Now, therefore, you have understood how suffering satisfies for guilt by perfect contrition, not through the finite pain; and such as have this contrition in perfection satisfy not only for the guilt, but also for the penalty which follows the guilt, as I have already said when speaking in general; and if they satisfy for the guilt alone, that is, if, having abandoned mortal sin, they receive grace, and have not sufficient contrition and love to satisfy for the penalty also, they go to the pains of Purgatory, passing through the second and last means of satisfaction. "So you see that satisfaction is made, through the desire  of the soul united to Me, who am the Infinite Good, in greater or less degree, according to the measure of love, obtained by the desire and prayer of the recipient. Wherefore, with that very same measure with which a man measures to Me, do he receive in himself the measure of My goodness. Labor, therefore, to increase the fire of your desire, and let not a moment pass without crying to Me with humble voice, or without continual prayers before Me for your neighbors. I say this to you and to the father of your soul, whom I have given you on earth. Bear yourselves with manful courage, and make yourselves dead to all your own sensuality.

Fourth step: One must pray in the Will of God. One prays for God's Perfect Will to be done, and not merely seeking one's or another's own will. Diligent prayer forms our will to God's Will. Then, things happen.

The more we have been purified, the more will be the efficacy of our prayers

to be continued...

Framing Prayer 18 Cell and City

So much more could be written on the deep spirituality of this young saint, Elizabeth of the Trinity. However, I need to move on to the Jesuits and to the Benedictines this week, so this post is the last one.

I cannot recommend her books enough to my readers. I have been borrowing these from a friend, and if any readers would like to purchase for me her complete works, in several volumes, I would greatly appreciate that.

Today I end with an amazingly appropriate image from Elizabeth for all lay persons to ponder.

Recall how I wrote several posts highlighting St.Catherine of Siena's guidance on creating a little cell within your self to which you can go for solitude and entering into the Presence of God. Recall that we must calm our own warlike instincts before building the space God wants us to have in order to meet us-St. Catherine's little cell. 

I think I have written about her little cell of contemplation more than any other one phrase-

"Build a cell inside your mind, from which you can never flee."

 Elizabeth takes this idea and makes the interior cell into a city, the City of Jerusalem, the "inner kingdom of the soul",  the "the fortress, the unassailable citadel of interior recollection".

One interiorizes the holy city, notes Elizabeth. And, how does one do this? "If I want my city to have some similarity and likeness to that of  'the King of eternal ages and to receive the great illumination from God, I must extinguish every other light, as in the holy city, the Lamb must be its 'only light'",

When Christ stated that the Kingdom of God is within, this insight of Elizabeth's is what He meant.

We internalize this place in order to meet the Indwelling of the Trinity, Who is already there within us, waiting to be discovered. We have this Indwelling (follow the tags) from baptism. Only sin and imperfections keep us from finding God within. This is not pantheism, but a grace for those predestined by Divine Providence to be with God in the heavenly Jerusalem.

But, the quest begins here.

To create this little citadel within, one must get rid of trivial distractions and useless occupations which distract us. Distraction is the main reason, in my opinion, for the lack of interior solitude. Are we like Martha in our daily lives, too busy to sit at the feet of Christ and listen?

Elizabeth's interior city is not only where we meet God, and prepare a place for him, but where we meet the Love to give to others.

When things fall apart around us, and they will, we must be able to stand in the midst of chaos in the little city of our minds and heart, with Christ, listening, resting, praying, counseling.

Cell and city become one and those without this will have no protection in the days to come.


http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/04/build-cell-inside-your-mind-from-which.html

The Last Post on Trusting vs.Triumphalism IV

Humility and the ability to be objective rather than subjective, form the pillars of trusting in Divine Providence, and avoiding a triumphalist position.-

Again, one can turn to Garrigou-Lagrange for insights into this dynamic.

The great Dominican notes that one cannot replace hope with presumption.

If there is one thing that is dependent on Providence, it is the hour of our death." Be ye also ready, " says our Lord, "for at what hour you think not the Son of man will come" (Luke 12: 40). The same is true of the manner of our death and the circumstances surrounding it. It is all completely unknown to us; it rests upon Providence, in which we must put all our trust, while preparing ourselves to die well by a better life.

Looked at from the point of view of divine justice, what a vast difference there is between the death of the just and that of the sinner! In the Apocalypse (20: 6, 14) the death of the sinner is called a "second death, " for he is already spiritually dead to the life of grace, and if the soul departs from the body in this condition it will be deprived of that supernatural life forever. May God preserve us from that second death. The unrepentant sinner, says St. Catherine, [140] is about to die in his injustice, and appear before the supreme Judge with the light of faith extinguished in him, which he received burning in holy baptism (but which he has blown out with the wind of pride) and with the vanity of his heart, with which he sets his sails unfurled to all the winds of flattery. Thus did he hasten down the stream of the delights and dignities of the world at his own will, giving in to the seductions of his weak flesh and the temptations of the devil.

We cannot be sure of our own salvation, which is why we pray in the Hail Mary daily for the gift of final perseverance.  This is a special grace, not the same graces as we receive daily. Too many people have a foot in two camps-one, the camp of wanting status and comfort; and two, the camp of God's Will.

Only when one is firmly planted in the Will of God through humility and trust can one begin to grow. In the long perfection series, over and over, I have pointed to the fact that one cannot grow in holiness if one is not orthodox, believing in the doctrines of the Church.

Recently, the great heresies of relativism, (people stating that all religions are the same and will get one to heaven), and universalism, (that all people go to heaven, and no one goes to hell), have been reiterated to me by Catholic church-going people.

Garrigou-Lagrange appeals to St. Catherine of Siena:

If the sinner will only disburden his conscience by a sincere confession, making acts of faith, of confidence in God, and contrition, at the last moment the divine mercy will enter in to temper justice and will save him. By reason of God's mercy every man may cling to hope at death if he so wills, if he offers no resistance. Remorse will then give place to repentance.

Otherwise the soul succumbs to remorse and abandons itself to despair, a sin far more heinous than any of the preceding, as in that neither infirmity nor the allurements of sensuality can excuse, a sin by which the sinner esteems his wickedness as outweighing God's divine mercy. And once in this despair, the soul no longer grieves over sin as an offense against God, it grieves only over its own miserable condition, a grief very different from that which characterizes attrition or contrition.

Blessed is the sinner who like the good thief then repents, reflecting that, as St. Catherine says, [142] "the divine mercy is greater without comparison than all the sins which any creature can commit."

Happier still is the just soul that throughout life has given due thought to the loving fulfilment of duty and, after the merits won and the struggle sustained here on earth, yearns for death in order to enjoy the vision of God, even as St. Paul desired "to be dissolved and to be with Christ" (Phil. 1: 23).

Being honest with one's self, states St. Augustine, is the key to holiness. St. Teresa of Avila repeats this call to know one's self, one's sins. This knowledge will keep us from triumphalism.

Let me end with these words of Garrigou-Lagrange and St. Catherine of Siena.

As a rule a great peace fills the soul of the just in their last agony, a peace the more profound the greater their perfection; and this is often most true of those who during life have had the greatest dread of the divine justice. For them death is peaceful because their enemies have been vanquished during life. [143] Sensuality has been reduced to subjection under the curb of reason. Virtue triumphs over nature, overcoming the natural fear of death through the longing to attain their final end, the sovereign good. Being conformed to justice during life, conscience continues tranquil, though the devil seeks to trouble and alarm it.

At that moment, it is true, the value of this present time of trial, which is the price of virtue, will be more clearly seen, and the just soul will reproach itself for not having made better use of its time. But the sorrow it then experiences will not overwhelm it; it will be profitable in inducing the soul to recollect itself and place itself in the presence of the precious blood of our Savior, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In the passage from time to eternity there is thus an admirable blending of God's mercy and justice. In his dying moments the just man anticipates the bliss prepared for him; he has a foretaste of his destiny which may sometimes be seen reflected in his countenance.

Purity of Intention

When you are around someone who seems "nice", and you get that icky feeling that they are using you for his or her own gratification, you are experiencing a lack of purity of intention on that person's part. Manipulation is the opposite of purity of intention.

Because of certain occurrences in my recent past, the idea of purity of intention has been brought to my attention. In a nice moment of synchronicity, Father Rodriguez, in Volume I of his masterpiece, The Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection, which I have been following on this blog for many days, writes several chapters on purity of intention.

Weekly in the Monastic Diurnal, one prays that God would heal and destroy all hidden sins. Impurity of intention qualifies as such a hidden sin. This sin reveals itself to the mind when one asks God to purge one of hidden sins.

Starting with what purity of intention is not may be easier than describing what this manner of thinking is. As in all sins which lie mostly in the interior life, such as vainglory and pride, impurity of heart needs to be rooted out through reflection and the grace of seeing this sin when it occurs.

Some examples may help. If a person loves someone and wants that person to return that love, one may act in a charitable and charming manner. However, to love without regard for return forms the definition of real and sacrificial love. Love with “hooks” reveals an impurity of intention. If one is charitable because giving allows one to feel good and think one is virtuous, that is impurity of intention.

If I wrote this blog for attention, for fame (lol) rather than to teach Catholic truth and help bring my brothers and sisters closer to God, that would be a lack of purity of intention.

And, so on.

Fr. Rodriguez notes that the superiors in religious orders, such as the Jesuits, have been severe on small faults, just as the Desert Fathers were with their novices. Why? In these small things, one sees the hidden sins.

Yesterday, I told someone something about my life which I did not need to do. It was an off-comment which I did not need to say, drawing attention to something good in my life. This small comment revealed to me the sin of vainglory. When I was in Tyburn, we novices were not allowed to share anything of our past lives. I got in trouble one day for sharing at what I called “recess”, the forty-five daily minutes when one could relax with the other nuns and talk, that I had been a teacher. Later on, one of the older nuns took me aside and told me that in the convent the past life is completely forgotten, and that one never refers to the past except to the novice mistress in private.

This lesson reveals a consciousness of purity of intention, as there is no reason to discuss past deeds or past accomplishments, all leading to vainglory. Purity of intention allows one to live in the present moment, to respond to the now, not the past, nor the future.

Father Rodriguez quotes the book of Revelation, in the pericope where Christ addresses the Church of Sardis, as being active, as showing forth works, but inside, the interior life of that community, being dead. Those who have followed this blog for years remember my many posts on St. Catherine of Siena and her exhortation to build a little cell in one's mind where one can retreat in peace and contemplation of God. As the good priest reminds the reader, Catherine had to work in the kitchen of her own home, as punishment for refusing to get married, after the parents purposefully dismissed the cook-slave, so that Catherine would submit to their wishes. She then learned to create a small space in her mind, despite the heavy duties of cooking for a well-to-do household, with many demands, seeing in her parents, Joseph and Mary, and seeing her own role at serving Christ while in the kitchen. She learned purity of intention through the retreat into her little cell of the spirit.

Purity of intention seems like a rare virtue these days, as so many people do things out of gross manipulation. People seem to crave the love of other people to the point where they cannot act out of sheer freedom, but only with expectations.

Father Rodriguez quotes both St. Paul and St. Ignatius Loyola in focusing on the goal of all actions, all thoughts, and that is the greater glory of God, the motto of the Jesuits. When one has God's glory in mind daily, His Will, then purity of intentions as a virtue grows and grows. When one is focused on God, one does things for His Kingdom, His Glory, not one's own.

Before I do something, I stop and think, “Is this action for God's glory?” “Will this action bring me closer to Christ?” Distractions and negligences, notes Rodriguez, come from a lack of purity of intention, an impurity of intention. As a clue to defeating distractions, he refers to the passage in Ezekiel on the “great, holy living creatures” who held their hands under their wings in the vision of the prophet. These angelic beings show us that our actions fall under the interior life of contemplation, that Martha and Mary work together, as Rodriguez notes.

One's exterior life follows the interior.

Purity of intention will yield good fruit, and lead to the practicing of more virtues, such as humility. Purity of intention absolutely leads to detachment. As in one chapter, Rodriguez in quoting St. Ignatius, explains that one can be detached from one's work in bringing souls to Christ, in helping others become holy.

Ignatius compares the work of his priests to those of the guardian angels, who teach, instruct, excite to virtue, counsel, lead to good works and defend their persons under their care. But, if those persons do not respond to the guidance of the angels, these angels do not weep, but rejoice in God, in glory, understanding that all men and women have free will, as they do, (although their wills are now set in glorifying God from their one moment of assent, just as the devils chose the opposite way once and for all), and move on, letting the person given to them go his or her own way, as a sick person who refuses to be cured, (and I know one person like that right now in my circle of acquaintances, who freely refuses to get well).

The angels do not weep for lost souls. The reason is that they are doing the Will of God constantly and rejoice in purity of intention, purity of intellect and spirit.

Father Rodriguez writes of an interesting anecdote about which I have never read in the past. He states that St. James only converted eight or nine people in Spain on his missionary travels. Yet, his work did not please God any less than the greater successes of the other apostles, nor did it take away from his merit. The actions he performed, the teaching and preaching, the prayers and intercessions, were done out of purity of intention—all for the glory of God.

When I was in graduate school, in each of my own books, I wrote the Jesuit motto, ad majorem Dei gloriam, all for the glory of God, next to my name in the front of my books. This was a daily reminder that all my s studies were not for my own glory, but for God's glory. Nothing else matters.

There are three sins, imho, which plague hypocrites. One is vainglory, taking on the glory due to God for themselves; one is a liberal interpretation of the Law, (see my post on this); and one is impurity of thought, or impurity of intentions. The hidden sins, by far, are the worst ones and the one which take great attention in expulsion from one's heart, mind, soul. Ask God to show you the hidden sins, as one does in the daily prayers of the Church.

In Sunday's Terce, Sext and None, the Psalms remind one of the love of meditating on the law of God, both natural and revealed, and on keeping His commandments, as well as seeking purity of heart.

One of the verses and responses point to this prayer for purity:

“From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord. And from strange evils spare Thy servant.”

The Battle of Arrogance vs. Humility-A Won Virtue

Welcome to the new world of Sodom and Gomorrah. Never before have the sins of abortion and ssm been made into laws. Even the Greeks and Romans, known for pederasty and using boys in the army as substitutes for prostitutes, as women were thought to weaken men's ability to fight, even those nations did not make homosexual sin law.

At this time in history, we are witnessing the worst evils ever committed by governments. Those of us who know the history of Western and Eastern Civilization, know that the four sins which cry out to God for vengeance were never enshrined in law. Never. So, how does the Catholic react? Become holy, very holy and prepare for martyrdom, as you most likely will face it in one way or another, having to face the arrogance of evil.

Now, we see the arrogance of humans living and making laws outside of both natural law and revealed law.

The only thing which can counteract these growing legal evils is prayer from the humble. One reason why I am emphasizing humility is that this virtue must be learned now in order to combat this legal arrogance, and in order to follow God in horribly difficult times.

Today, on the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, I shall quote Fr. Rodriquez on her struggle for the balance between trusting in Providence and the sin of presumption. Here is a section from his text, in Volume II:

“For when, to discourage her, he (the devil) endeavored to make her believe that all her life had been only a deception, she too courage at the consideration of the mercy of God, and expressed herself thus: 'I confess, O my Creator, that a my life has been nothing but darkness, but I will hide myself in the wounds of Jesus crucified; and I will bathed myself in his blood, which will wash off all my sins; and I will rejoice in my Creator and my God'” “Thou shalt wash me , O Lord, and I shall become whiter than snow.” (Ps.i.9) On the other hand, if the devil by a contrary temptation tried to puff her up with pride, by representing to her that she was already perfect, and that she had no further need to bewail her sins, or to be afflicted; she most profoundly humbled herself, and thus reasoned with herself:'What! Unhappy creature that I am!--St. John the Baptist never sinned, he nevertheless failed not to do severe penance; what must I do, who have committed so many sins and never acknowledged and bewailed them as I ought?

The devil, continues Rodriguez, would end up leaving her, as he could not make her sin either in despair or in pride. Once the devil knows he cannot win this game of under-confidence or over-confidence, he must stop these types of attacks.

Now, why am I writing so much on humility now? Martyrs, either green or red, are not made in a day. The rode to martyrdom follows a plan created by God, one which involves the acceptance of suffering without complaint.

Americans and the English have become masters of complaint. Americans have high expectation, or just expectations, and the English seem to like to complain. I once heard four people in England at coffee after Mass sharing tales of their holidays in Teneriffe, the Canary Islands and other exotic places, but the entire conversation involved constant complaining. I had to get up and leave the table because the negativity was so embedded in their characters that I could not change the subject or interject some positive comments. The habit of complaining reflects a serious lack of humility. Even little exasperation during the days, which cause one to say something small or just sigh reveal a lack of humility. With humility comes patience. And patience brings courage.

One recalls St. Thomas More's comment on seeing the great Carthusian martyrs from the Charterhouse going off to their horrible deaths of being dragged on wooden sledges through the dirty streets of London, to being drawn and quartered, singing like men on their way to a wedding. St. Thomas noted that if he had been on his knees more, praying and doing mortification, instead of enjoying the comforts of Court, he would have been more ready for martyrdom.

Do you, dear Readers, think that you will all of the sudden become holy enough to withstand pain and not fall into despair or pride when facing ridicule, the loss of all income, complete marginalization in our societies, and then imprisonment with humility and equanimity when you are not preparing yourselves now?

Rarely are there, but there are a few, “last minute martyrs”, such as the one centurion who made up the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste, when one left the ice and perished in a warm bath, leaving God for a short comfort. We are not called to be that fortieth martyr, but one of the thirty-nine, who stripped and laid on the ice in pain until they died. Because God chastens me, I eat less meat than most people and eat only two meals a day because of poverty. I own practically nothing, and God decides my mortification, mostly. So, I am blessed by Him Who knows how weak I am.

What are you willing to give up now, in the name of Christ, for mortification and for the saving of souls? I have given up desserts, wine, beer and cordials of all kinds. I have given up careers and status. I have given up chocolate, and eating snacks between meals.

This is all preparation for dying, as dying to self allow one to grow in freedom. Many Catholics will be lost in the coming weeks, months and years. Ask God to show you the least imperfections in your souls, minds, imaginations, wills. Fr. Rodriguez, like Garrigou-Lagrange is aware of that predominant fault which keeps us from perfection.

What will happen when your bishop and the majority of priests in your diocese apostatize, either over ssm or giving Communion to those in adultery? What will you do? Will you conform with the majority, or stand firm in the knowledge of God's Will as found in natural and revealed laws?

The truth is that self-knowledge, states Father Rodriguez, brings courage. Many sins come from the pit of fear, which too many people carry around. A small example: I set up this chapel after all the people who were supposed to come through the house for repairs, surveys, and such had done their jobs. Except for the termite inspector, I thought I was free of visitors for a month until I leave, now three weeks.

Today, I was told that two more repairmen are coming in. I know one is a low-church protestant, as low-church as one can get and still be Christian, and he will be offended by the icons. I thought for a minute about taking these and the two remaining statues out of the room, but I heard a strong voice say, “This is a test. If you are ashamed of Me here, what will you do when a real trial comes to you? ” Obviously, Christ does not care about offending others who have left the path of truth. We have the one, true religion and can be strong in our defense of even icons and statues. The Church teaches the truth in wholeness, not in parts, and we cannot choose what to dispose of and what not to. God ordains dulia.

A small test, when most people would be concerned about being offensive, God is telling me clearly not to worry about that, but to be strong in the Truth of the beauty of Catholic worship, of dulia as well as latria. The chapel stays put until I leave in three weeks.

Where does this courage come from in my heart? From being no one, nothing, for being a weak vessel, a frail person of Faith. As Father Rodriguez writes, to look at our weakness is actually inverted pride, as one must keep one's eyes on Christ.

If we look at Christ, we have courage in His grace, not our own strength. Rodriguez quotes Psalms 22, 26 and 27, among others, for the proper perspective.

Because of the intensity of pain I am experiencing, plus the other difficulties, I trust that God will have compassion on me in my weaknesses. Indeed, Fr. Rodriguez stresses that the more we admit our frailties, the more God has mercy on us.

He notes that if we are saying, “Why have I not such and such a thing? Why am I treated so ill?” that these questions reveal that one is lacking in self-knowledge. Years ago, a spiritual director told me to stop asking “why” questions, that these were a complete waste of time. I did stop. Now, I say, “God show me my sins, even the hidden sins, so that I can love you more and more.”

And, here is the key to courage, which comes from self-knowledge. Let me use Rodriguez' own words.

“For if you had but humility, and knew well the deceitfulness of your own heart,you would not be uneasy or lose courage. But, on the contrary, you would wonder that there happens no worse to you, and that you fall not oftener.; and you would not cease praising and blessing God who upholds you with his hand, and saves you from the disorders you would infallibly fall into without him.”

St. Francis Borgia, a favorite of Fr. Rodriguez, noted to a wealthy friend who knew him when he was wealthy and comfortable, that he needed to take more care of himself. Francis answered that he had a harbinger who went before him to take care of all his needs. His friend asked him who this was. The saints answered that it was the knowledge of himself, and the thought of the pains of hell, so that whatever place he found himself in, including bad lodgings, he knew he was being treated better than he deserved.

This is not poetry or merely edifying stories from the life of a saint, but a reality for all of us.

One more story from Fr. Rodriguez for today—a holy Dominican told St. Margaret that he had begged the ancient Desert Fathers to show him how they became so holy. One night, in a dream, he saw a book with golden letters and a voice told him to “arise, and read”. He rose immediately and read these words. “The perfection of the ancient fathers consisted in loving God, in despising themselves and in neither judging or contemning any body”. Then, the vision disappeared.

It is hard not to judge, but when one sees one's own horrid sins, one stops judging others. It is hard to despise one's self, but when one sees one's sins and the enormity of the insult these give to God, one can hate one's self. It is hard to love God, but ask Him for this love, and He will give it to you.

Recently, God told me I would be punished for a sin which was hidden, but came to light. I did not want to look at this sin, nor consider punishment. But, today, when I could hardly walk or dress, and when I could not bend over to pick something which had fallen on the floor, or I could not finish ironing because of pain, I knew that God had chosen a punishment which would mean I cannot function daily as I would wish to do. I am grateful for this punishment, as it is better than purgatory. I can actually thank God for the pain in three-quarters of my back and for the inconvenience of not being able to bend over. I am weak, but He is strong. Two big prayers were answered today, concerning some things, and a small one. This answering of prayers on a day when I could hardly function is not an accident. God is showing me that He is in control, not me, that He is taking care of me in the way that He decides. My will no longer belongs to me, but to Him.

We are all in boot camp, but the war is about the start. Cooperate with suffering. Beg for those graces so that you can learn to be humble. Learn to rely completely on God, on Divine Providence, even to death. That is our call in this generation.

Indigence

One must come to the point where one honestly recognizes one's extreme poverty in the Face of God. This is infused knowledge and one must beg for it. A great grace, self-knowledge opens the door to al the rest of the grace, including detachment.

But, one cannot simply will these states. God remains the source of all grace and love, as well as self-knowledge.

St. Catherine of Siena, too, taught the same doctrine: that the knowledge of God and that of our indigence are like the highest and the lowest points of a circle which could grow forever.(25) This infused knowledge of our misery is the source of true humility of heart, of the humility which leads one to desire to be nothing that God may be all,amare nesciri et pro nihilo reputari. Infused knowledge of the infinite goodness of God gives birth in us to a much more lively charity, a more generous and disinterested love of God and of souls in Him, a greater confidence in prayer.

As St. John of the Cross says: "The love of God is practiced, because the soul is no longer attracted by sweetness and consolation, but by God only. . . . In the midst of these aridities and hardships, God communicates to the soul, when it least expects it, spiritual sweetness, most pure love, and spiritual knowledge of the most exalted kind, of greater worth and profit than any of which it had previous experience, though at first the soul may not think so, for the spiritual influence now communicated is most delicate and imperceptible by sense." (26) Garrigou-Lagrange Three Ages of the Interior Life

Silent Retreat Coming Up

Because I shall be alone throughout the Triduum and even on Easter day, eating at "home" by myself, as there are no real communities here in the parishes, and as I have no friends in this area, I have decided to make the days into a silent retreat. The retreat earlier this month left no time for extended prayer as it was one of presentation and learning.

From the end of the time of the Mass on Thursday night until after Mass on Easter, I shall not be talking with anyone except out of necessity (cab drivers....etc.).

So, pray for my silent, single retreat. I need this after a very busy month. One actually needs prayers when one is in retreat.

I shall blog but much less..

Thanks....STM

Retrying to post an article--The Inner Safe Haven

Too many people have told me here that they cannot find a safe haven, a community. I have thought on this today and reflected on St. Catherine's words on creating a cell within the mind to which one can retreat in order to find God and peace.

Some have asked me if this house, or this village, or this town is a safe haven. I have had to say "no" when asked by some friends here because the safe haven, by definition, must be safe. To be safe is not an external phenomenon, a security made by "preppers", but an interior safety.

One of the reasons why some of my friends have moved into other areas and discovered that what they thought they had found or created, in Washington State, or Idaho, or Maine, has not become a safe haven is that they have brought the world with them into what they thought would be a sanctuary. The reason is that those who have moved into the "community" have brought sin and corruption with them.

A true safe haven is interior, made from the life of prayer which seeks for perfection. Only when one stops sinning mortally, when one tries to omit all venial sins, and live in the life of virtue, working on the elimination of one's predominant fault, can one create that safe haven, which is the place where one meets the Indwelling of the Trinity.

Prepping for physical trials is fine, but those efforts alone do not create a safe haven. One of the things which we did in community so long ago was to repent and change, pray together twice daily, work on faults and sins.

Without the focus of holiness, no person, family or friends can create a safe haven. Christ must be the center of all efforts, not things, not place, not even people.

If one is moving into a community and bringing all of one's sins and faults into the area or house, those around one are there to help the process of purification. If one is not willing to change, to convert, to face old and new sins, there can be no safe haven.

The monastic communities, especially Benedictine and Cistercian ones, demand daily conversion. Monastic peace is bought for the price of dying to self, the death of the ego.

In the past, communities, or safe havens survived and flourished because of the holiness of the members, and not because of the mountains or valleys which protected these buildings.

Those communities which tolerated sin fell into ruin, or were renewed by reformers, such as St. Anselm.

The inner safe havens of each member creates the true, physical safe haven. If people are merely focusing on the externals, the place will not be a safe haven, no matter how remote or physically rich.

We are all called to holiness. Create the cell within the mind and soul for God to come and rest within. Such is the beginning of true community,

Nice

A sweet reader of another blog on another blog said that Etheldredasplace was the "Garrigou". Out of about 8950 posts, at least one fourth either quote the great Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange, or refer to his works. Possibly more than 2,000....I do not keep track. Maybe closer to a third....

I have referred to Third Ages of the Interior Life many times, as it is the cornerstone of the perfection series, Grace, Providence, Predestination, Beatitude, Christ the Savior, and other books. On my desk is his Reality—A Synthesis Of Thomistic Thought, which I have also used on the blog.

I noticed that Rorate has an excellent article on the suppression of Thomism, which is not new, as this was happening when I was studying philosophy a very long time ago now.

Yes, I am an unabashed Thomist. If you want Thomism, this is one of the blogs!

And, while thinking of saints, besides St. Thomas Aquinas, the two other most quoted saints on this blog are St. Catherine of Siena, and of course, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, my favorite. The two Carmelites, Teresa and Therese come in on the top ten list as well as St. Benedict and St. Augustine.

By the way, I am going to write on The Trinity and God the Creator, extensively, soon.

Perfection Series VIII Part XVII Raissa on A Roll

I could call this post, "Even the desert is a place".

Several significant lines from Raissa's Journal seem to fit into the ongoing discussion on perfection.

The first entry relates to the post earlier on philosophy and the training of the intellect. Raissa makes it clear that now is the time (1919) for the Faith to be defended by the Intellect. 

And, it is now.

Like the Benedictines, she makes the connection between the pursuit of the love of Truth, the love of God, and study.

Obedience to God in the Faith must be rational. Raissa quotes Pascal, "Submission and use of reason, in which true Christianity consists."

Who among Catholics know this, believe this? I hope my readers have come to this, if they did not know it already.

What we witnessed recently in the Synod were anti-intellectualism, the lack of reason, and the lack of obedience to Church teaching. 

Here is Raissa in her own words: Truth is the rule of the intellect and of the will, it has an absolute and legitimate power over the whole man. Not to follow the truth which the intellect shows us is to disobey God; for the intellect is, in us, a certain similitude of the uncreated light. (St. Thomas).

Then, she writes something which I could have written if I were more intelligent, for this is my experience. God meets me in my intellect and always has.

I remember a day in Bristol, when I was studying and teaching at the University, when I was working on the poetry of David Jones. I can remember the moment as if it happened yesterday.

Sitting at my desk in Wills Hall, facing west, out the large latticed window, I was struck with Beauty and taken up into the Presence of God. The study of the beauty of the words of poetry brought me directly into contact with Beauty Himself. That the intellectual pursuit for Truth and Beauty leads to God has been known by many. Here is Raissa again....

I give thanks to God who put in my heart such an ardent love of truth when, ignorant of the divine Truth, I lived among skeptics and atheists. That desire which the physical sciences could not satisfy because they are partial, and which modern philosophies completely frustrated by their relativism, was fulfilled by the revelation of Catholic doctrine and of Thomistic philosophy.

Her way was through theology and philosophy. But, she had to endure great suffering as well.

As I sit in bed trying to get warm, because I cannot afford heat, suffering from aches and pains, tendinitis, caused by the cold and pain in old frostbite areas, which hurt in the cold, and having chilblains flare up from the cold, I am struck that Raissa had to suffer while being purified in her intellect and heart. I get headaches from the cold, and pains in my fingers. She experienced many severe illnesses. She was almost constantly ill some years.

Why? Look at the saints who have had to suffer both physical and existential pain. The list is long.

The connection cannot be denied. When I first read her so long ago, I was attracted to her because she suffered, like I do, from very painful sciatica and other illnesses. Today, I had an asthma attack from the cold as well.  I was so disappointed, as my prayers for healing have not been answered. Raissa's illnesses were chronic and many days she had to spend in bed from weakness. Thankfully, I only need a "down day" here and there.

Her suffering was a part of her Dark Night. She admitted that she was in Purgatory for one year, 1918-1919, without consolation, with dryness in prayer, not being moved by sermons, with a shattered soul.

Why suffering must accompany this deep desire for Truth is explained by Raissa in one line.

"It is the sublime but everyday truth of Christianity that suffering united to love works salvation."

This is it....pure and simple. All metaphysical or existential suffering, physical or spiritual suffering, heart or head suffering, when coupled with love, becomes redemptive, not only for us, but for others.

In the past two weeks, when my active contemplation was a chore, dry and hard because I could not concentrate on God or His Attributes, it dawned on me, through a small moment of grace in the Adoration Chapel in Sliema, that this was exactly what God wanted--me to be in the driest of deserts before Him, trusting and loving without images, or any response from that Vulnerable God, who was before me under the Species of The Host.

This is my mortification-active contemplation without results. Raissa explains this as well, "Total abnegation is my path (so badly followed by me). All possible mortification, interior. In fact, it depends entirely on myself to create the 'desert'".

Several days ago, before I read this line as if I were reading it for the first time this morning, I came to the same realization in prayer at Adoration. I had to be content with the desert.

I had to create the desert interiorly, the nothingness of my own self, joined with the via negativa which has been my life. No permanent home, no companionship, no security, no family near me, very few things...which fit into two suitcases.

I knew this in 1985, so long ago, but I fought it over and over and over. To embrace the via negativa is to choose to be in the desert constantly, with aridity of soul and body. I wanted the via affimativa. but one does not choose the way God makes one holy. But, as a poet, a writer, I am plunged into the affirmation of life, of beauty, of symbols and images. That is another suffering, to be torn in one's gifts and ministry in the pursuit of contemplation. To go against one's natural instincts to find the nothing which is all.

But, now I know to rest in the desert. If there are no words, nothing but rocks and sands, I am content.

This is God's Will and once I really accepted it, the peace came like waves in the sea.

This is the peace which passes all understanding, not a peace because one is experiencing goodness, kindness or comfort, but a peace when one is suffering intensely on many fronts, including pain in the heart, including grief.

Create your own desert, in a way similar, to which you have been called by me through St. Catherine of Siena to create the cell in your soul. where you can go.

Now, I understand what was told to me at the beginning of this stay in Malta, that the Garden of Eden is the Garden of Gethsemane-only in pain and suffering can some of us find Love and perfection.

Raissa spoke to me so long ago, but I had to travel many paths to get to the place she found in 1921-the interior desert. She was 38.

Pray that God gives me stability in order to be able to rest in this desert, for even a desert is a place.

Let me close this post with Raissa's words from July 13th, 1921,

To love. To abandon oneself. Nothing else is necessary to sanctification.  No, nothing, not even silence with God if that is rendered impossible by real obstacles, interior or exterior...Love God, love, love. That is the one thing necessary.

to be continued....