What You Freely Have Been Given...

Christ calls many people to Himself, but few listen. We are entering the era of the dearth of sacraments in areas of the West. Not since missionary days has the Church witnessed so few priests for so many people.

When God calls men and women to Himself, He says, "What you have been freely given, give freely," especially in the West where people have been given so many opportunities for financial stability and comfort.  The LIttle Flower is an example of freely giving what she received.

But, few respond to this radical call today.

The lack of vocations is not because God is no longer calling young men and young women, but because those people are either saying "no", or are not encouraged. Even trads are not encouraging their children to become religious. I am not sure why, but have some ideas why.

Encouragement from families needs to be part of the discerning process.

Too few youth have been taught how to discern decisions in their lives. Too few know how to pray, reflect, think. One thing the saints have in common is that they prayed.

We are coming to the end of the year of celebration for the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. Born in 1515, this great saint had to discern her own call, and for a while, got it wrong. She was called to renew the Carmelite Order which had fallen into laxity.

Nuns were talking too much with visitors, poverty had been set aside for comforts, endowments meant that the various houses did not have to rely on Providence for daily needs, prayer was lacking.

Her call was not merely to become a Carmelite, but to bring the Order back to its roots, the clean, pure roots which had been established by St. Simon Stock.

I have been to Aylesford in Kent, the oldest site of the Carmelites, and there it is obvious that the Order needs purifying again. But, few have answered God's call to follow Teresa and put the radical love of God, silence, and real poverty as priorities, rather than temporary "causes", large gatherings, and banal liturgies.

One senses the demise of the spirit of the Order in the Midwest as well.

Where is the energy in this order and others to bring saints into the world, or to pray for the chaos in the Church to change into a new focus for holiness?

Reading about the life of Simon Stock, one is struck by his great energy, always a sign of holiness, and one is struck with the ebb and flow of charisms within the order


from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Simon obtained from Innocent IV an interim approbation, as well as certain modifications of the rule (1247). Henceforth foundations were no longer restricted to deserts but might be made in cities and the suburbs of towns; the solitary life was abandoned for community life; meals were to be taken in common; theabstinence, though not dispensed with, was rendered less stringent; the silence was restricted to the timebetween Compline and Prime of the following day; donkeys and mules might be kept for traveling and the transport of goods, and fowls for the needs of the kitchen. Thus the order ceased to be eremitical and became one of the mendicant orders. Its first title, Fratres eremitæ de Monte Carmeli, and, after the building of a chapelon Carmel in honour of Our Lady (c. 1220), Eremitæ Sanctæ Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, was now changed intoFratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli. By an ordinance of the Apostolic Chancery of 1477 it was further amplified, Fratres Ordinis Beatissimæ Dei Genitricus semperque Virginis Mariæ de Monte Carmeli, which title was rendered obligatory by the General Chapter of 1680.

Having obtained the mitigation of the rule, St. Simon Stock, who was altogether in favour of the active life, opened houses at Cambridge (1249), Oxford (1253), London (about the same time), York (1255), Paris (1259),Bologna (1260), Naples (date uncertain), etc. He strove especially to implant the order at the universities, partly to secure for the religious the advantages of a higher education, partly to increase the number of vocations among the undergraduates. Although the zenith of the mendicant orders had already passed he was successful in both respects. The rapid increase of convents and novices, however, proved dangerous; the rule being far stricter than those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, discouragement and discontent seized many of the brothers, while the bishops and the parochial clergy continued to offer resistance to the development of the order. He died a centenarian before peace was fully restored. With the election of Nicholas Gallicus (1265-71) a reaction set in; the new general, being much opposed to the exercise of the sacred ministry, favoured exclusively the contemplative life. To this end he wrote a lengthy letter entitled "Ignea sagitta" (unedited) in which he condemned in greatly exaggerated terms what he called the dangerous occupations of preaching and hearing confessions. His words remaining unheeded, he resigned his office, as did also his successor, Radulphus Alemannus (1271-74), who belonged to the same school of thought.

St. Teresa brought the Order back to the foundations of contemplative prayer and a more eremitical life. But, these gifts to the Church have been set aside in too many convents for active ministry.

We need contemplatives, as well as "actives".

Today, I ask young readers to consider following Christ by joining and renewing the religious orders which need renewal. What you have been freely given, give away freely.

I suggest young women look at the Carmelites in Denton, Nebraska. I also suggest young women looking at the Benedictines in Kansas, Our Lady Queen of Apostles, as well as the Benedictines at Clear Creek.

Young men have more options in places where there is renewal: Clear Creek, Wyoming Carmelites, Order of St. John in Princeville, Il., (there are nuns there as well-I have visited this very interesting place), the Institute of Christ the King, the Fraternity of St. Peter, and more.

Framing Prayer 16 Gratitude

"When I read in the Gospel that "Mary went in haste to the hill country of Judea," to perform her loving service to her cousin Elizabeth, I imagine her passing by, so beautiful, so calm and so majestic, so absorbed in recollection of the Word of God within her. Like Him, her prayer was always this: "Ecce. Here I am." Who? "The servant of the Lord," the lowliest of His creatures: she, His Mother! Her humility was so real, for she was always forgetful of self, free from all anxiety. And she could sing,"The Almighty has done great things for me; henceforth all people will call me blessed."

Gratitude is the mark of this young saint. More than many other holy people, Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity expressed gratitude over and over in her prayers, meditations, comments. She knew she was a grateful person and taught others to be grateful.

So many lay people complain, and some do so almost constantly. The prayer of gratitude never crosses their lips, except, perhaps, in the prayer before meals.

Gratitude indicates humility. One must know one has received something and not because one is worthy, but because one is needy.

Look at the simplicity of her gratitude here. We can all learn this lesson. I thank God almost daily for water, for baths or showers, for clothes, for housing....all is from Him. I thank Him for being able to write, to think, to read, to meditate. I thank God for my bed, my bedding, and my books...most of all, I thank God for my friends and for His care, especially in the sacraments.

I thank God for my very life.

"I sleep deeply on my straw mattress, something I never experienced before. The first night I did not feel very secure and I thought that before morning i would roll out of one side or the other, but nothing happened, and now my bed seems delightful to me. If you only knew how quickly time passes in Carmel, and yet it seems to me that I have always lived in this dear house. I can't find words to express my happiness. Here, there is no longer anything but Him. He is All. He suffices and we live by Him alone. 

I find Him everywhere, while doing the wash as well as while praying. Just picture to yourself Elizabeth in her little cell which is so dear to her; it is our sanctuary, just for HIM and for me... "

And, she wrote to a friend:"If you walk rooted in Christ, strengthened in your faith, you will live in thanksgiving, the love of the sons of God"

This thanksgiving bubbles over from the grace to accept either suffering or consolation equally.

Pray like this, dear lay readers. A prayer of Elizabeth of the Trinity....

"O Eternal Word, Word of my God. I want to spend my life in listening to you, to become wholly teachable that I may learn all from you. Then, through all nights, all voids, all helplessness, I want to gaze on you always and remain in your great light . . . O my Three, my all, my Beatitude, infinite Solitude, immensity in which I lose myself, I surrender myself to you as your prey. Bury yourself in me that I may bury myself in you until I depart to contemplate in your light the abyss of your greatness."

Accidents and Framing Prayer 15

On Thursday, I hurt my hand and it is still sore, and today, a heavy 70 pound box fell on my arm. My left side now feels quite painful.

I shall try and type, but it hurts.

Moving on to Elizabeth of the Trinity, I am asked again and again, why is it that one must go to the single, celibate saints for examples.

Three simple reasons. One, lay saints rarely wrote down their thoughts--if and when Raissa and Jacques Maritain are canonized, we can finally say we have lay saints who wrote copiously on the spiritual life. And, of course, they are unusual, as they had a Josephite marriage almost from the beginning, as a young couple deciding on this path.

Two, most lay saints lack the framework of rules, such as the Dominican, Ignatian or Benedictine rules of the orders with which to form a vocabulary for writing about prayer.

Three, many lay saints never wrote about anything. We have some letters from a few, but for the most part, the active life does not lend itself to putting pen on paper for most people in the lay life.

Also, many lay saints became oblates or tertiaries, and, therefore, used the spirituality of those orders to which they joined themselves for frameworks of prayer.

Therefore, I think that looking at these great saints of prayer who have written about the levels of prayer can help us pick and choose spiritualities which give us a daily framework of prayer.

Elizabeth of the Trinity, under the spotlight already this year on this blog, died at 26. Thankfully, her prioress recognize early on that this young nun was a saint and the Carmelite was allowed, and encouraged to write. Of course, we have the writings of St. Therese of Lisieux, and the great Teresa, revealing a tendency in the Carmelites for knowing the value of sharing biographies, essays, poems and so forth. We have many writings of Edith Stein.

Elizabeth wrote quite a bit for an extremely ill young person. In this short post, I want to outline a few points of her prayer life which can be applied to the lay person attempting to love God in prayer times.

1. Elizabeth's hidden life, one she stressed as vitally important for a relationship with the -Bridegroom Christ, applies to many lay lives. Stay-at-home mums live mostly hidden lives. Even dads who work have hidden spiritual lives. Students, who spend, hopefully, much time in study and reflection, should develop, as the growth in prayer is connected with study, time and manners of praying. The hidden life is a humble life, and Elizabeth reminds us over and over that humility draws Christ to the simple, lowly soul.
2. Order and silence, a repeated theme here, are absolutely necessary for developing a prayer life. Too many lay people cloud their minds with trivia, nonsense, gossip. God waits for us all to slow down, simplify and wait on him. Elizabeth as a contemplative reminds us over and over to spend time in simple silence waiting for God.
3. Poverty is a gift, Period. STS once told me that he was grateful that he grew up poor as it was easier for him to concentrate on the good stuff of God as he had learned, out of necessity, a high level of detachment from things. The young Carmelite told her mother, who had a hard time detaching herself from her daughter, that such partings, as going into the convent, and then dying young, both God's will, were elements of the process of detachment. Just before she died, Elizabeth realized that is was much harder for her mother to let go, than herself, as Elizabeth was looking forward to being with Jesus, the Bridegroom. She welcomed her suffering and death. Lay people can embrace the suffering brought about by family traumas of all sorts, and come to the same detachment from persons, places, and things.
4. Nothing matters but love, the love of Christ, the love for Christ, the love for the Church, the love for one's neighbor. Elizabeth sang of love her entire short life, showing us the intimacy possible for everyone with Christ. 

Sadly, I am nursing now two wounds from two separate accidental domestic happenings, and must stop typing. Please pray for me.

More on Elizabeth later....

Framing Prayer 9 Devotion to The Holy Face

For decades, from 1979 to be exact, I knew and loved the great icon of the Face Painted without Hands, the Acheiropoieta, in the Eastern Tradition. I have one such Russian icon in my room here.

I had known that St. Therese of Lisieux had a great love for the Holy Face of Jesus, but I did not know how prevalent this devotion was until 2011. In that year, my dear friend Bernie shared with me her love of the Holy Face of Jesus, and then, when I went to Malta for the first time that year, in the Jesuit Church of the Circumcision, I saw a painting of the Holy Face for honoring Christ, and for intercessory prayer.

Synchronicity. The Carmelites love the image of the Holy Face because of the Little Flower, and include it in their prayers. This devotion may be traced back to Veronica's Veil, when Christ blessed the Jewish woman's kindness with a miraculous image, forever imprinted on her veil.

You may want to check out my post earlier this year, http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2015/03/faces-of-good-and-evil.html

The showing of the Shroud of Turin has also sparked new love for the Holy Face. In my old parish in Surrey, England, there is a group of people who pray in reparation for sins of blasphemy, using the devotional booklet connected to the The Golden Arrow Holy Face Devotion,  a set of prayers coming from the visions of the Carmelite nun, Sr. Marie of St. Peter.

"SrMarieofStPeter" by Unknown - English Wikipedia [1]. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SrMarieofStPeter.jpg#/media/File:SrMarieofStPeter.jpg

Hence,...the Carmelite love of the Holy Face truly began with this nun, born years before Little St. Therese found the devotion to her liking.

In these visions, Sr. Marie of St. Peter heard these words from Christ, "Those who will contemplate the wounds on My Face here on earth, shall contemplate it radiant in heaven" and especially in France, and then in England, this devotion spread among the laity, as well as among the nuns of Carmel.

I have a little booklet with this devotion in it, and here is the prayer of reparation against blasphemy to the Name of Jesus and to the Eucharist.

May the most holy, most sacred, most adorable,

most incomprehensible and ineffable Name of God

be forever praised, blessed, loved, adored

and glorified in Heaven, on earth,

and under the earth,

by all the creatures of God,

and by the Sacred Heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.

Amen.

The Venerable Leo Dupont is called The Apostle of the Holy Face, btw.  One can find references to him online. He was instrumental is promulgating Adoration of the Holy Eucharist as well as furthering the devotion of the Holy Face. He has the feast day of December first, same as Edmund Campion.

In addition, Pope Pius XII declared the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, Pancake Day, as the Feast of the Holy Face.

I repeat one of St. Therese of Lisieux's poems on the Holy Face of Jesus. She took this name, btw,

Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. 

Canticle to the Holy Face.

Dear Jesus! ‘tis Thy Holy Face

Is here the start that guides my way;

They countenance, so full of grace,

Is heaven on earth, for me, to-day.

And love finds holy charms for me

In Thy sweet eyes with tear-drops wet;

Through mine own tears I smile at Thee,

And in Thy griefs my pains forget.



How gladly would I live unknown,

Thus to console Thy aching heart.

Thy veiled beauty, it is shown

To those who live from earth apart.

I long to fly to Thee alone!



Thy Face is now my fatherland, —

The radiant sunshine of my days, —

My realm of love, my sunlit land,

Where, all life long, I sing Thy praise;

It is the lily of the vale,

Whose mystic perfume, freely given,

Brings comfort, when I faint and fail,

And makes me taste the peace of heaven.



Thy face, in its unearthly grace,

Is like the divinest myrrh to me,

That on my heart I gladly place;

It is my lyre of melody;

My rest — my comfort — is Thy Face.



My only wealth, Lord! is thy Face;

I ask naught else than this from Thee;

Hid in the secret of that Face,

The more I shall resemble Thee!

Oh, leave on me some impress faint

Of Thy sweet, humble, patient Face,

And soon I shall become a saint,

And draw men to Thy saving grace.



So, in the secret of Thy Face,

Oh! hide me, hide me, Jesus blest!

There let me find its hidden grace,

Its holy fires, and, in heaven’s rest,

Its rapturous kiss, in Thy embrace!


August 12, 1895.

Framing Prayer 8 Carmelites Again

I shall return again soon to St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, but I want to sum up a few ideas regarding prayer in times of turmoil.

One of the hardest things to do is to create and keep order in times of chaos. We are not God, who can create ex nihilo. We need something to use to create something, like the raw material of our lives.

What both St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross and Titus Brandsma show us is not only the need for intense prayer in times of struggle, but the possibility of praying in times of trouble.

I have been learning this lesson myself in the past several months of turmoil in my life, turmoil which has included multiple moves, unsettled housing difficulties, financial problems, and the loss of treasured goods because of stealing. On top of this have been two health issues which cannot be addressed until I am in a place for some time.

But, God does not want me to put my prayer life on hold while I figure out how to put order into my daily life. He expects me to do at least the minimum of some of the Monastic Diurnal, or Divine Office, go to daily Mass, read the Scriptures and or holy books, and meditate or do affective prayer and intentional, also called acquired, contemplation.

No waiting for a perfect situation--if that were the case, I would never pray. These two saints teach us this lesson--they were both being harassed by an evil regime. They were under stress for themselves, their families, their congregations. But, they prayed through anxiety to peace, and prepared for the ultimate offering of their lives to God in martyrdom. Yesterday's Compline reminds us that the Prayer of the Church, the Office, said by both these saints in their Carmelite way, sustains us daily. Here is a key to the Carmelite way-private prayer, meditation, finally, contemplation, through the Dark Night to illumination, and, in the case of these two saints, union through martyrdom.

Take time, set time aside daily. Make meeting God your priority. Embrace your cross. These saints show us the way.

Psalm 143 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies

A Psalm of David.

143 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
give ear to my supplications!
    In thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness!
2 Enter not into judgment with thy servant;
    for no man living is righteous before thee.

3 For the enemy has pursued me;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4 Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.

5 I remember the days of old,
    I meditate on all that thou hast done;
    I muse on what thy hands have wrought.
6 I stretch out my hands to thee;
    my soul thirsts for thee like a parched land.Selah

7 Make haste to answer me, O Lord!
    My spirit fails!
Hide not thy face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the Pit.
8 Let me hear in the morning of thy steadfast love,
    for in thee I put my trust.
Teach me the way I should go,
    for to thee I lift up my soul.

9 Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies!
    I have fled to thee for refuge![a]
10 Teach me to do thy will,
    for thou art my God!
Let thy good spirit lead me
    on a level path!

11 For thy name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
    In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
12 And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies,
    and destroy all my adversaries,
    for I am thy servant.

With a little interruption on the devotion to the Holy Face,  I shall come back to Edith Stein...but after a look at that devotion, on to Elizabeth of the Trinity, again.

Framing Prayer 7 Continuing with The Carmelites

I shall return to St. Teresa Benedicta when the book I am borrowing comes in. If any readers want to help me with the purchase of some of those at the bottom of the last post, let me know.

One thing all these saints have in common, from the humble Brother Lawrence, to the great Ignatius, and all here to be covered, is the awareness that there is no holiness without first expiating for one's sins and the complete absence of vices earned through the Dark Night of purgation. The illuminative states of prayer cannot happen without this purification, a theme I have stressed over and over in the perfection series.

Life events can purged one of sin, such as hardships, failures, the loss of status. Some have told me that a brush with death saved them and brought them on the road of prayer which leads to purgation.

Not one saint skipped this step, and here, in the life of Blessed Titus Brandsma, we see a great purging brought on, through the Will of God, by suffering and martyrdom.

But, what of the prayers connected to this type of suffering and how can one incorporate such suffering into the daily life of the prayer of the laity?

Are you suffering with a long illness? Are you suffering grief, from the loss of a loved one? Is your family torn apart by sin?

How does such a creative man as Titus Brandsma speak to us in our routines of busyness and even, sadness?

First of all, Blessed Titus was a busy man, and in his writings, he was not afraid. His prayer life, that of a mystic Carmelite, trained in silence and discipline, led him to stand up against the marginalization and finally, planned destruction of the Jews early on in his career. His career as both an educator, where he refused to hand in the names of Jewish children to the authorities, and his career as a publisher, wherein he refused to print the propaganda of the Nazis, led directly to his arrest and death.

A man of action whose life was underpinned by prayer, in the midst of the obvious stages of persecution of Jews, and Catholics who continued to believe and protect the dignity of all--this was Blessed Titus Brandsma.

How does the peaceful retreat-like setting of Carmel feed such a courageous soul? 

Prayer which makes one face one's sin makes one totally dependent on God. St. John of the Cross described the terrors of the Dark Night. Titus Brandsma met these in Dachau, but he was ready for such suffering before his arrest.

The desolation of the desert of the spirit-the Dark Night of the senses and spirit, in which one is called to pursue God through faith alone would have prepared Titus for his ordeal.

What has this type of holiness got to do with a busy lay person, a dad, a mum, a student?

Several bullet points:

• No experience should be wasted by non-reflection. Reflect on everything which happens. God speaks daily to us in events, through people, even in nature around us. Waste nothing.
• Remember that love is in the will. One wills to love others, God...Titus would have loved the Jewish people even under threat, not only in his heart but in acts of the will, as times became dangerous for him.
• Being faithful to moral teachings of the Church, as we are witnessing today, means suffering. Titus has to accept this reality by focussing on Christ and not himself.
• Testing in God, like the loss of a job, a spouse, friends, is only as valuable as prayer and reflection make these. Take time to respond to events by examining where, how, when God is involved in your life. Titus grew, most likely, through testing--first in the warnings given to him by the Nazis, then through the warnings he received from his superiors, and finally in the solitude of his prison cell.
• Blessed Solitude. I already feel completely at home in this little cell. I haven’t been bored at all, in fact just the opposite. I am here alone, but never was our Lord so close to me. I could shout for joy that He has again let himself be found by me without me being able to be among people or people with me. He is now my only refuge and I feel safe and happy. I would like to stay here always, If He wills that. I have seldom been so happy and so content.
• How could he be so content, in such horrible conditions? Practice, practice of self-denial. One does not become a saint overnight......
• Now you are asking me what all these has to do with prayer in the home? That Titus Brandsma "held down" full-time jobs and manage to give time to God in order to face martyrdom.  We make choices daily for truth and these choices come out of our life of prayer. Of course, Mary, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is the patron of the order and much loved by all the Carmelites.
• So, what type of prayer is Carmelite prayer? Like the Benedictines, Carmelites study, read holy books, and meditate on a psalm or an episode from the Life of Christ. Devotion to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is also part of Carmelite prayer. The emphasis is not on saying the Divine Office together, but in one's cell, or on one's own, which is a something the lay person can do daily, without a community. The Tertiaries base their prayer on the prayer guidelines from the various constitutions of their groups. By the way, in America, the Tertiaries are now called "Seculars".  These Seculars say at least three hours of the Divine Office, on their own daily, plus a half-hour of mental prayer. Titus Brandsma's life would be a great example for all those aspiring to follow the Carmelite.

St. Teresa's guidelines to prayer may be found in her books, already highlighted on this blog. 

to be continued....

Framing Prayer 4

When we think of the prayer of Carmel, we think of the great Carmelite saints, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, whose birthday in 1515 we celebrate this year, and Therese, the Little Flower. But, as members of a religious order, they speak to the laity within a context of the order of perfection-communal life, scheduled prayer and work, obedience.

However, the Carmelite way of framing prayer can be accessible to the lay person, and not only to the fortunate enough to be third order Carmelites (Tertiaries) living near an orthodox Carmel.

Sadly, the Tertiaries I have known in my life did not have a clue about the difference between meditation and contemplation, and were influenced by modern commentaries which completely ignored the rigors of repentance and daily mortification. Speaking with Tertiaries in the past, I was surprised at the lack of understanding regarding the core of the way of Carmel-silence and solitude.

The Carmelite does not have the same communal or individual ideal as to the Benedictines or the Jesuits. Carmelites who are in truly contemplative orders have cells, where they pray and come together for Mass or chores (done in silence) only. The cell provides the silence and solitude of the reformed order. The active orders, such as those which have reached out to the aged and to education, must balance meditation and contemplation with great activity, losing the contemplative focus of Teresa's renewal.

The lay person, however, can learn much from the framework of the prayer of Carmel. Follow the tags for other posts on Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, John of Avila.

Here, I want to concentrate on the manner of prayer, so as to aid those lay people who are inclined to the daily framework of a Carmelite.

In doing so, I highlight four aspects of the prayer of Carmelites in this mini-series--the devotion to Mary, the devotion to the Holy Face, the central need for study, and the role of contemplation in action.

Before I begin, I would ask readers to turn to three great modern Carmelite saints for their example of holiness in action as well as contemplation. These four Carmelites will be my examples for this section of the mini-series: Brother Lawrence, Titus Brandsma, Teresa Benedicta of the Cross,  and Elizabeth of the Trinity.

I have several posts on these saints already on this blog, but I want to emphasize how their lives and manner of praying can directly inform the lay person attracted to the spirit of Carmel. Just follow the tags, and for Elizabeth of the Trinity, look under "Indwelling of the Trinity:

Besides silence, mortification looms large in the life of a real Carmelite. One only needs to look at the lives of those four I have chosen to see the great importance in their lives of humility, which flows from self-denial.

We have the great examples of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross regarding self-denial, but in Part Five, I shall concentrate on the lives and prayer of the four to be used for this mini-series.

to be continued...

Thoughts While Sitting Behind Whitefriars

Statue of St. Thérèse at the Most Holy Trinity Church, Fulnek, Czech Republic Radim SCHOLASTER  wiki 

Pope John Paul I said this of St. Therese of Lisieux, "Once you had chosen the path of complete dedication to God, nothing could stop you: not illness, nor opposition from outside, nor the mists or inner darkness."

I hope someday someone can say this of me....the black wall of the Dark Night demands faith without consolation.

Period.

And, a timely set of reposts....

Dark Night of the Soul Part 37-The Purification of the Memory Revisited

Posted by Supertradmum

A Carmelite priest wrote some interesting words in connection with St. John of the Cross on the subject of the purification of the memory.

As I have struggled with this concept and with the actual beginnings of this change of memory, which is not really a loss, but a giving over to God the memories of the past, I am revisiting this step of the Dark Night. I have struggled with this, as a poet, writer and historian. When one is using one's memory for art or study or teaching, this purification process seems odd. But, St. John taught and preached and gave spiritual direction using his memory. At his state of holiness, this meant that God to bring to mind the things God wanted to impart, and that St. John was in the Will of God in his thoughts, speech, and deeds.

The goal of the purification of the memory by the Holy Spirit is primarily to create a state of freedom in the soul and mind. Memories can trap people into hatred, bitterness, lust, fantasies.

Father Phelim writes this, "The soul experiences tranquillity and peace of mind, and more importantly it grows in purity of conscience and purity of soul. The soul is free too from the suggestions, temptations and deceptions which the devil can arouse by means of thoughts and memories."

Now, many of us cling to memories of happier days, or past relationships which brought joy, or even loved ones who have passed away. Some use their memories for keeping hatred alive. I met a man here who is my age. He started talking about his family hatred of the British. He was horribly full of hate. I stopped him, and asked him if he thought God would let him take that hate into heaven. He said he would never forgive the past wrongs, never.

I pity him and say a Hail Mary for him, as he will not be able to take that hatred into heaven.

Father Phelim continues, "On the positive side the soul through recollection and forgetfulness of passing things acquires a spirit that is open and docile to the delicate movements of the Holy Spirit. It acquires too, a certain stability amidst difficulties, and a certain equanimity in the face of adversity. It is neither cast down by adversity or unduly elated by prosperity."

Father also cautions, "It is quite easy to confuse virtue with lofty ideas of God, whereas true virtue is always accompanied by deep humility and self-contempt. Indeed one degree of humility is of far greater worth than all manner of visions, revelations, or emotional feeling concerning God."

The purification of the memory takes away imaginings in the memory which may make one think they are holier than they actually are.  Memory cannot create one act of love as much as faith and hope do, writes Father. Deception and vanity prove to be the stumbling blocks to some who think they are on the way to holiness, Father notes.

When one allows God to purify the memory, such fantasies and imaginings of holiness disappear in the cold light of truth and emptiness. Sometimes, one has to grieve away memories holding one back from living in the present, the Presence of God. This is why in the convent, the nuns never talk about their pasts and no one knows about each others past. It may seem strange, but it takes away the living on past successes or even re-thinking past failures. The purified imagination lives totally in the present moment.

There will be more on this subject. Sadly, these comments are in a pamphlet, which is old. But, I shall write more of Father Phelim's insights in the next post as well.

to be continued...

Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Dark Night of the Soul Part 38-The Purification of the Memory Continued...

Posted by Supertradmum

Father Phelim writes that the purification of the memory allows these steps in the soul to occur: one,  hope grows as memory is cleansed; two, this hope created a longing for God, Who will answer that longing; three, this hope increases as the soul is dispossessed of the past, of sin, of memory; four, once this happens, the soul will attain perfect possession of God in union.

There is a deep mystery here, which Fr. Phelim reminds us of in the reference to Luke 14:33. It is not just things one must give up, but the very part of one's being which one thinks is essential- memories. But, it is not merely the isolated memories one is giving up, but the faculty of memory itself. This is the insight, that the entire ability to remember is given over and God begins to purge that faculty as He chooses. The faculty, like that of understanding and the will gradually belongs to God alone.

Sometime, one must grieve over the giving up of memory. We must let memories go into the darkness of the Dark Night. One must be willing to stop thoughts which take one away from the deep suffering which is the Dark Night. Fr. Phelim reminds one that the devil uses memory and the imagination, especially, to seem like things which are in the light, when in reality, the images are of evil intent, intent on taking one away from faith in the unseen God and the hopeof being one with Him.

So likewise every one of you that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.

This process is very painful. God cannot be held in any ideas one may have of Him or even how He worked in the past. How can one recognize God truly if one is stuffed full of images which take one away from the real moment of the now. 

The less one has, the closer one is getting to union with God...If one especially clings to memories of human love, God cannot enter into the soul. The soul is simply too crowded for His Presence.

Remember, that all of this is the passive purification of the soul, and if one runs about filling up the soul with activities, even those which seem good, the process is severely hindered.

Consumerism, Materialism, Pride and the Theological Virtues-The Dark Night of the Soul, Part 39

Posted by Supertradmum

Catholics receive the theological virtues directly from God. We all have human virtues, but the theological virtues pave the way to heaven, allowing one to live in and with the Holy Trinity. The theological virtues, as most know, are faith, hope and charity.

Now, one wonders why these virtues do not flourish in the Church, through the lives of the members of the Church. What happens to stop the growth of faith, hope and love? As these are infused virtues, one would expect all Catholics to exhibit faith, hope and love.

Faith, as defined in the CCC, is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God."⁷⁸ For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God's will. "The righteous shall live by faith." Living faith "work[s] through charity."⁷⁹

To believe in God daily and to believe in Revelation and Tradition are no small feats. A Catholic who is orthodox, that is, obedient to all the Church teaches, and, in addition, gives his life to God totally, is living in and by faith.

One who lives in faith constantly prays and desires to know God, love God and do His Will.

This first theological virtue may be "sinned against", that is, one may turn against this gift and choose not to believe. For some, this is apostasy, the complete denial of faith. For others, the cause could be sloth, not cultivating a prayer life, or not receiving the sacraments frequently.

A habit of sin can destroy faith. One of the greatest enemies of faith is materialism, the belief that the life on earth is the only life, and that there is no eternal, no spiritual life, Materialism denies the soul, and the dignity of the person. This heresy is fast becoming the great heresy of Europe, where many no longer believe in heaven or hell, following the Marxist view of dialectic materialism.

Anarchists are usually materialists, denying a hierarchy of spirituality in the world.

Hope, the second theological virtue, is, according to the CCC, the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."⁸⁴ "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."⁸⁵

This virtue is the most misunderstood of all three. Notice the phrase, "relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit". This virtue grows in the Dark Night of the Soul. Father Phelim quotes St. John of the Cross,  that, "the more things we possess the less scope and capacity there is for hoping and consequently, the less hope we have." He notes that the less we have in reality and in memory, the more able we are to possess God and hope in His love.

The great enemy of hope is consumerism. Consumerism, which is the greatest sin of the American people, demands that happiness may be bought. People become obsessed with buying more and more and more things, thereby becoming preoccupied with wealth and the consumption of goods obtained by wealth.

One cannot develop the virtue of hope when one is literally consumed with things. Those who possess things do not have room in their hearts, minds, and souls for God. The dispossession of things allows for the freedom to let God into one's being.  Hope rests on not having, and if one has one does not perfect hope for the love of God. Consumerism feeds selfishness, which stifles hope.

The third theological virtue is love. The CCC notes that Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.

Perhaps, most Catholics understand love, or charity, more that faith or hope. But, love cannot enter the soul, the heart or the mind without first faith and hope. Love is the fulfilment of faith and hope. When one is finally purged of selfishness and greed, of doubt and disobedience, love follows.

The great enemy of love is pride, as pride brainwashes the mind, the heart and the soul into denying the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, Who loved us, as the CCC reminds us in the section on charity, while we were still enemies. Strong words. Pride denies that we were ever enemies of God, blaming others for our sins, as Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed Eve.

All of these virtues are free gifts from God, but these can lie dormant for years and years unless one allows God to kill materialism, consumerism and pride in us.

That is one of the reasons for the Dark Night of the Soul, the purification of both the senses and the spirit.

To be continued..

The Dark Night Part 40 and Blaming Satan Three

Posted by Supertradmum

The devil, as Father Phelim points out, can only"gain a foothold on the soul through the working on its faculties." This is why the Dark Night includes the destruction of images and memories which take one away from God.

Recently, in a drama I was watching, a woman spoke to her lover that she had already sinned against God and her husband by thinking of her lover. The woman and her lover did commit adultery in the play, and they were aware the entire year they were together, that they were sinning. Now, the drama timeline was written in a time, many years ago, when people still knew that adultery was a serious, mortal sin. Interesting to me was the depiction of these lost souls, who verbalized that they were both damned, but chose each other anyway. What is more interesting, is that they become more miserable as the year went on. They began to hate the life of lust that they had chosen freely.

But, notice, the two sinners were very aware that they had chosen mortal sin over God and given in to temptation. Again, although satan watched them and tempted them, they chose to sin. As they were both, in this drama, Christians, they had knowledge, but their wills were weakened by frequent contact, and by speaking of their "love". Free will is a mighty gift. Their wills led them to misery.

This is the nature of sin. It starts in the imagination, in the mind.  In the Dark Night, God pulls us away from any distractions from His grace, so that one can become pure enough for His coming as the Bridegroom.

Father Phelim did not have movies, television dramas, or novels to help him visualize sin, but he understands the roots of sin, as does St. John of the Cross. He notes that vanity and "disquiet" come from the roots of sin. Once one is purged of these roots of self-love, peace and "equanimity", (such a word is rarely used now), become the way of live for the person living in the Dark Night. The Dark Night steadies one to be able to fight satan, even to the point of moving away from venial sin and the desire for sin.

To be continued...

The Doctor of Divine Love and The Dark Night Part 41

Posted by Supertradmum

Father Phelim lists six categories of goods, as he writes,"which tend to claim the soul's attention and very often fragment and waste its energies. This list follows: temporal goods, natural goods, sensual, moral, supernatural and spiritual.

As Father Phelim states, the soul must transcend all goods in order to focus on God. This first category covers "riches, rank, high offices, titles , status". Father Phelim writes that these are the thorns in the passage of the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. To be greedy is the old sin of idolatry.

The person who is free of such goods, has, as Fr. Phelim lists "great liberty of soul, a clarity of reason, tranquillity, and confidence in God. Not a bad list of virtues to have.

Natural goods, notes Father Phelim, are "bodily beauty, good looks, and comeliness of figure." Also, natural discretion, discernment, and understanding. Of course, these are gifts from God, but one must hold these things lightly in one's hands, as it were.

The evils which result in attachment to these gifts are vanity, presumption and "the lack of esteem for others." What is hard to read, is this phrase from Father, "Some even reach a stage where the things of God are tedious, troublesome and abhorrent."

When one gets to this stage of hating the things of God, one has chosen hell over heaven, sadly.

The great need of a person who wants to break away from such sins is that of detachment.

Detachment allows one to ignore praise, esteem and status and only desire doing what pleases God.

The third category includes sensual  goods, those of the five senses.

Any pleasures which come through the senses do not lead us directly to God. I want to stop here and return to this in the next post.

To be continued...

Dark Night of the Soul Part 42

Posted by Supertradmum

Remember that Judas was chosen to be one of the twelve. He had gifts. He was in the inner circle of Christ's companions. In this ancient drawing, he is in hell with Lucifer, as described by Dante. This is a warning to those of us who might think we are holy, as presumption is one of the sins needed to be purged in the Dark Night.

The goods labelled sensual, moral, supernatural and spiritual need to be examined briefly. Again, Father Phelim's pamphlets help me.

Vanity, or vainglory impede the growth of virtues. But the deep sins of gluttony, drunkenness, luxury, spiritual laziness, sensuality and the lack of penance lead one directly out of the Dark Night. This can happen.

Satan tempts and only vigilance keeps one from falling.

The moral goods also need to be purged. Father Phelim warns against edifying people who do good. He quotes St. John of the Cross,
"Many Christians today accomplish great acts which will profit them nothing for eternal life, because they have not sought in them the glory and honour which belong to God alone."

Harsh words, indeed. One must work entirely out of love for God alone.

If one relies, as Father Phelim notes using John, on the esteem of men and praise or recognition, there will be no recompense in heaven for such good moral works. One must work without praise and in a state of doing one's duty.

The next two categories are the most difficult for many Catholics, especially charismatics. Please note Father Phelim's words here.   The supernatural goods given for the building up of the Body of Christ "...do not imply holiness in those who exercise them."

God's gifts and charisms are NEVER a sign of holiness or purity of heart.

Frequently, charisms are misused, as Father emphasizes Two things help one in this regard-one, complete detachment from gifts and, two, the reluctance to use them. Father and St. John are clear on these two points.  One need not feel any rejoicing or emotions regarding the use of gifts and most likely, those who are doing so in a showy manner when exhibiting gifts lack holiness.

Lastly, spiritual goods, such as statues, medals, beautiful music and churches, and all manner of Christian art can become idols. One must realize they are there to help our faith and are not substitutes for holiness. I have see much magical thinking with regard to holy things which is dangerous.

The important aspect of spiritual goods is that these build our faith, increase our hope and encourage us in love.

The last warning on the use of goods pertains directly to charismatics and those prone to prayer meetings. St. John of the Cross writes, "We must not be anxious to cling to ceremonial inventions which are not approved by the Church. We must leave the method and manner of saying Mass to the priest whom the Church sets in her place giving him her orders as to how he is to do it."

Father Phelim warns us,  by reminding us that St. John  of the Cross rebukes those who experiment with new methods, "as if they knew more than the Church and the Holy Spirit."  Wow!

To be continued....

For St. Teresa's Day-repeats and more on the tags

Perfection Series IV: Part Seventeen; The Fifth Mansion of St ...

22 Aug 2014

Perfection Series IV: Part Seventeen; The Fifth Mansion of St. Teresa of Avila. Posted by Supertradmum. Perhaps one of the easiest descriptions of the Unitive State is from St. Teresa of Avila. I shall let her share her ...

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Etheldredasplace: Some Back Posts on St. Teresa of Avila

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Fulton J. Sheen And St. Teresa of Avila. Posted by Supertradmum. Life, Truth, Love, states Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, are what we find in heaven. The soul who hates those would be tormented in heaven and that soul, who has .

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Etheldredasplace: Perfection Series IV: Part Sixteen; The ...

22 Aug 2014

St. Teresa of Avila puts the Unitive State at the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Mansions, the highest being ecstasy and the Spiritual Marriage. I have written about the Spiritual Marriage several times on this blog, and refer you to ...

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Etheldredasplace: St. Teresa of Avila

15 Oct 2013

For the rest, like the Great Teresa, this road was strewn with rocks and she met with dangerous spiritual crevices. One only has to read her writings to see this hard journey. Today is the Feast Day of St. Teresa of Avila.

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On Hell from Ven. Fulton J. Sheen And St. Teresa of Avila

15 Sep 2013

On Hell from Ven. Fulton J. Sheen And St. Teresa of Avila. Posted by Supertradmum. Life, Truth, Love, states Ven. Fulton J. Sheen, are what we find in heaven. The soul who hates those would be tormented in heaven and that ...

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Etheldredasplace: Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux and ...

04 Aug 2013

Garrigou-Lagrange has at interesting comparison concerning the experience of the passive purification of the Illuminative State leading up to Unitive State and St. Therese, St. Teresa, and St. John of the Cross. I do not think I ...

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Etheldredasplace: Part four and more on St. John of Avila

08 Feb 2013

St. John of Avila writes to a lady on what holiness is. Obviously, he was aware of those stages of perfection, and so inspired St. Teresa of Avila, to whom he wrote as well. He is summarizing all three stages here, purification, ...

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Etheldredasplace: John of Avila, Three

09 May 2014

St. John of Avila writes to a lady on what holiness is. Obviously, he was aware of those stages of perfection, and so inspired St. Teresa of Avila, to whom he wrote as well. He is summarizing all three stages here, purification, ...

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/

Etheldredasplace: On Aging and Sainthood : The Habits of ...

22 Dec 2013

Some saints died in early middle age or middle-middle age, such as St. John of the Cross (49), St. Teresa of Avila (67) or St. Camillus of Lilles, (64). Many modern saints died over the age of seventy, such as St. John of Avila, ...

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