The Vision of The Principle

For centuries, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have likened the two wives of Jacob to the active or contemplative life. In modern times, in order not to make active women feel bad about their lives, priests have not quoted these passages comparing Leah to the active life and Rachel to the contemplative life.

I remember reading about this many, many decades ago. To make the distinction is not to dis women in the active life, (I was a single mum, working, homeschooling, keeping the books, etc. and I did not feel dissed), but to reflect on the two ways which must both end up in the same place, perfection.

Aquinas, again quoted by the Maritains, states, "Absolutely speaking and in itself, the contemplative life is better than the active. The Philosopher proves this by eight reasons."

Here theses are with more explanation as to the comparison of Rachel to Leah.

One, "The contemplative life is suitable to man in regard to his most perfect possession, the intellect, and in relation to the proper objects of that faculty, namely the intelligibles, while the active life is concerned with exterior things. Wherefore the name of Rachel, who represents the contemplative life, means the vision of the principle, the active life being represented by Lia, who suffered from weak eyes..." Maritains quoting St. Gregory here.

Rachel was the great beloved wife of Jacob who bore him his favorite sons, Joseph and Benjamin. His long time of labor in order to "pay" for her to her father, Laban, represents the long journey of purgation in the Dark Nights, purging one of sins.

Laban tricked Jacob, (a punishment from God for Jacob tricking his own father), and gave Leah to him first. Finally, Jacob won Rachel, the desire of his heart, and his soul mate.

Rachel came to represent the contemplative life, not only because of her name, but because she represented the true desire, the purer love. of Jacob's heart.

Our truest desire is for God alone. That is the key to following the contemplative life. Being back in the States, I have seen the terrible distractions and waste of energy for so many things which are not necessary to the spiritual life.

The second point, Two, has been discussed by those in monasteries.

"The contemplative life can be more continuous (though this continuity cannot be referred to the supreme act of contemplation); this is why Mary, who symbolises contemplative life, s shewn us as always at the feet of the Lord.:

Three, "The delectation of the contemplative life is greater than that of the active; this is the meaning of S. Augustine's saying that Martha was worried while Mary was feasting."

Four, "In the contemplative life man is more self-sufficient for he depends in this exercise less on external things; wherefore it is said in Luke IV, 'Martha, Martha, thou are troubled and worried about many things."

One reason I love going to Europe is that I can walk and not have to drive or have a car, eat much more simply, get to daily Mass and Adoration easily, and have a lower lifestyle. Americans have fallen into Satan's trap of complicating their lives by desires for novelties and more and more things. When one settles for less, one is freer to meet God daily.

Five, "The contemplative life is loved for its own sake, while the active life is ordained for something beyond itself; wherefore it is said in Ps. 26, (translated) ' One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I may see the delight of the Lord, and may visit his temple.'"

I shall continue with the next three points later. I am still looking for the small place where I can pray and for two women, two only, to join me in contemplation, and, thankfully, after slightly over two weeks of being here, starting tomorrow, I can go back into my monastic schedule. Thank God.

May I add that since the late 1970s, when some mothers had to go to work, that I thought this was a lie from Satan to destroy the contemplative atmosphere of a disciplined, well-ordered home, where the mother was the quiet center of life and order.

When there is no home-centered woman, it is much harder to have daily rosary or novenas in the home, or other times of meditation.

Home schooling moms of my generation, even those with many children. created that quiet atmosphere of prayer and study, very monastic, very simple, thus leading themselves and their children into a place of contemplation. Consumerism and financial lies about "having it all" caused some of the chaos. Women's lib created some of the deceit that a mother's role at home had no value. Of course, without that still center, families cannot easily come to listen and know God or the life of virtue.  A home can be active and yet quiet...like the old Montessori schools wherein we whispered and the children worked in a quiet hum of activity.

to be continued.... 

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,

They Were Catholics

Many years ago, when I wrote a book of historical poetry and monologues on Fountains Abbey, I had access to two libraries' special collections. I also had a Reader's Pass to the British Library.

In these collections, I discovered books of the actual letters of Thomas Cromwell's visitators to the abbeys and monasteries of England and Wales. As the master-mind behind the suppression of the monasteries, Cromwell dictated the rules, organized the men, and oversaw the systematic theft, destruction, and murder of the land, buildings, and inhabitants, not only of Fountains, but the hundred of other holy houses.

Cromwell oversaw and caused the downfall of SS. John Fisher and Thomas More, as well as the persecution of Katherine of Aragon and the death of Anne Boleyn. Cromwell said of the excellent Queen Katherine, (who should be canonized), that "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History".  

He master-minded the complete change of the face of English spirituality. At the beginning of his several steps of suppression, there were at least 900 religious houses, including monasteries, priories and convents, involving over 12,000 persons in the land. He was responsible for the destruction of the shrine of Thomas a Becket, among all the other shrines, including Walsingham, the only place where Mary had appeared in England and, like Canterbury, one of the two major pilgrimage sites in England. All these places not only were physically destroyed, but ruined in memory.

At the end of the few years of violence, only a handful of religious houses remained, those which had gone over to Henry, all under the control of Cromwell. The Visitators were led and controlled by a group of commissioners of the Valor Ecclesiaticus, and the later general visitation of 1535, Richard Layton, Thomas Leigh, John ap Rice and John Tregonwell, who "visited" the holy houses themselves and wrote back to Cromwell. One of the Visitators sent to Walshingham was the grandfather of St. Robert Southwell, Sir Richard Southwell, who became wealthy from his part of the theft. John Tregonwell, for example, went to Oxford to force the religious to take the Oath of Supremacy. At first, the suppression was supposedly a commission to collect data on the wealth of the religious houses, but quickly these visitations included the forcing of the oath, and the destruction of the houses.

Cromwell also raised Hugh Latimer and others to positions of great power in the newly formed Anglican "church".  The fact that letters remain testifies to the vast organization which Cromwell establish in order to destroy the Catholic Church.

Reading the actual letters of these men who were sent to Walsingham, Glastonbury, Furness, Buckfast and the long list, including Fountains, chilled my heart. Here is a list of the dissolved monasteries.  Such phrases relating to the monks and priests, such as this one, that they were "sore bent rathre to die then to yelde to  this youre royals style" indicate the great spiritual and physical battles surrounding the dissolution. Such phrases are found in the Original Letters, Three Chapters of Letters and other books complied and edited by such scholars as Ellis, Wright and Thompson, as well as State Papers, Published under the Authority of His Majesty's Commission. There are other compilations as well.

Today, one can estimate that the worth of the land, buildings, altar ware, goods, including sheep and cattle stolen would be over 1.07 billion pounds sterling. Even though the visitators claimed that many of the monks, priests and nuns were evil, some of the letters indicate that the vast majority were good, Godly people. We know this from many sources, that the evils of the monasteries were not only exaggerated, but downright deceitful reports, created in order to suppress the houses and kill the monks, nuns, and laity who were faithful. Most became the great martyrs and homeless of England and Wales--some, like St. John Houghton, killed at Tyburn, and some dying on the roads in ditches and hovels far from their original monasteries. One of the greatest scholars tracing the evils of this time is David Knowles. (I have at least one of his books on this time in a box in Silvis, Illinois).

Blaspheming God and committing the sin of sacrilege, such as at Fountains, when the men threw the Consecrated Hosts, the Body of Christ on the ground and forced their horses to trample God, these men then wrote back to the commissioners and Cromwell as to their "successes". The letters remain as proof of the greatest sins men can commit against Christ Himself in the Eucharist.


Some types of sacrilege cannot be published on this blog.

As a young person, I was shocked to realize that the vast majority of the men involved in violence against God, God's Church, the People of God, had been born and raised Catholic.

When I first did research into the dissolution, in 1979, I had somewhat of an idea of the horror which blighted the religious landscape of England and Wales. When I had finished my many months, and eventually years, of researching, reading and reflecting, I knew that we would see times like this again. We would witness Catholics destroying the Church of Christ, causing Christ to suffer the pains of Calvary again and again and again.

All these men, who perpetrated the murder of the martyrs and the desecration of the Eucharist had been or were still Catholics.

These men were Catholics who instructed the bullies to take the nuns out of the convents and push them onto the streets and wild roads of all the counties and shires of England and Wales. The bullies were or had been Catholics.

These men were Catholics who became wealthy lords, feasting on the backs of those who had provided livelihoods in farming, the wool trade, and even shoe-making for thousands of lay people, lay people who either lost their jobs, homes, and were separated from families, or who succumbed to the oath. 

These men were Catholics who committed the sins of blasphemy and sacrilege in the name of king, country and even the new false religion, with a new God of hatred and compromise, not the Trinity revealed and revered by those they sent to Tyburn, and other places of death.

These men were Catholics who killed such women as SS. Anne Line, Margaret Clitherow, Blessed Margaret Pole and others.

As I sit in my little "cell" in a country which is fast losing its Catholic identity, I consider the number of Catholics who are aiding this destruction of the Catholic Church from within. I consider the weak and heterodox priests, who have led their sheep into stinking marshes of falsehood, instead of green pastures with fresh water.

I have discovered the lies of some priests giving sinful advice to the laity. Priests and laity are men who are Catholics, creating a mind-set of anti-Catholicism from within the Church, which will end here, in this gorgeous country, with the abandonment and destruction of some of the most beautiful churches in the world,

Those who were Catholics destroyed Fountains. But, they also help to destroy souls. This is happening here. 


These priests are Catholics who preach and encourage not only contraception, but fornication, and even the supposed goodness of homosexual lust.

These men are Catholics who want to sell the beautiful churches, altar ware, vestments, and give the money to the poor, not realizing that it is their duty to clothe the naked and feed the poor. God deserves beauty and honor, and theirs is enough wealth here to keep all the churches and still care for the homeless and unemployed. But, such are the lies of the worldly, those Catholics who hate the Church, hate the Incarnate One, and hate the teachings of the Church.

May God preserve Malta. He did not preserve England and Wales, allowing free will to have supremacy in the mystery of His Divine Providence.

Therefore, we honor Edmund Campion, John Fisher, Thomas More, Oliver Plunkett and the myriad martyrs of England and Wales, the stars in the Church Triumphant,  some tortured, some mutilated, all killed by those who were. at one time in their lives, Catholics.

Further reading on one heroine, Margaret Pole:

Etheldredasplace: Margaret Pole and Perfection

27 May 2014

I think of Blessed Margaret Pole, one of my patrons I have adopted when thinking of confidence. She had to face the fact that she was being persecuted by her godson. Such hard times. Garrigou-Lagrange again:.

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

Etheldredasplace: A Fictive Monologue of Margaret Pole

27 May 2014

A Fictive Monologue of Margaret Pole. Posted by Supertradmum. I sit and wait for the last call, being told by the jailer that I have one hour of life. What does one think of in one's last hour? I think briefly of my own sins, forgiven, ...

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

Etheldredasplace: Naming Children and Margaret Pole

27 May 2014

The must sees today included Blessed Margaret Pole, so my week began with her and ended with her. How is that for synchronicity? How blessed was I to start the week in Sussex where Blessed Margaret's Mass was ...

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

Etheldredasplace: Blessed Margaret Pole

28 May 2012

Today, as I am in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, this is the memorial day of Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. She was the last Plantagenet and is a martyr for the faith. She is one of my personal patrons.

Etheldredasplace: "The Last Plantagenet"

28 May 2013

I posted something about this great saint last year. Margaret Pole remains one of the most interesting saints of the horrible purge of Henry VIII, and one of his most famous victims. She was obviously a saint before her ...

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

Etheldredasplace: Blessed Margaret Pole

28 May 2012

Today, as I am in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, this is the memorial day of Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury. She was the last Plantagenet and is a martyr for the faith. She is one of my personal patrons.

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

On compromising and purification.....

“A bridegroom of blood by circumcision."

One of the most mysterious passages in the Old Testament is Exodus 4:24–26. Moses, on his way to Egypt to free the Hebrews, has been told by God in the verses before these, that the son of Pharaoh would be killed.

The firstborn of Egypt would be killed in order to free the Chosen People of God. Now, according to Jewish commentaries, Moses had made a compact with the pagan priest, Jethro, his father-in-law, to raise one of the boys as a pagan and one as an Israelite. But, God was not happy with this compromise.

In the night, the passage states that God came to destroy the first born of Moses. Zipporah, ever a strong and good woman, quickly circumcised the son who had not been, Gershom. Zipporah, in righteous anger, take the foreskin of the boy and lays it on his feet, to show the Angel of Destruction, that the boy is now circumscribed. But, in her anger, she says to Moses, that he is "a bridegroom of blood by circumcision."

Moses had compromised and the fact that God was willing to kill Moses' firstborn is a lesson in being orthodox. Zipporah calls Moses a bridegroom as he willingly married the daughter of a pagan priest, but did not keep his promise, his covenant to God to pass on the circumcision, the sign of the covenant.

Moses was being warned that he should have taken God seriously about fulfilling the law of the covenant. Moses was going into Egypt to do God's work. Moses had to be purified before doing the great thing of causing and leading the Exodus.

Many Jewish commentators disagree on the interpretation, but this one makes the most sense to me. I have added the bit about purification, but blood was a sign of life and the sacrifice to God; blood was life-giving.

The Jewish comments go back centuries.

I have studying Zipporah since last summer, as she "speaks" to me somehow. I wrote a poem about her a while ago. I share it again below. But, the point of this post is that we can not have any sin or tendencies to sin in order to do God's work. We must not compromise. We must allow God to purify us.

This is why we seek purification-to gain heaven and to do the work of God.

The results of compromise ruins families. In fact, the grandson of Moses, Jonathan, the son of Gershom, became the head priest of idolatry in the land of Canaan. And, notice that it was to Joshua and Caleb that the line of leaders was given, not to the sons of Moses.

Being someone's son or daughter does not guarantee holiness. But, being obedient, not falling into idolatry, not compromising does....See Judges 17.13 for the sad defection of Jonathan. Parents, do not compromise. The salvation of your children is at stake.

Exodus 18 and 19

Zipporah, wandering bird
waiting in the tents of Yitro

Faithful to the wandering Jew
now crossing the Sea of Red.

She and her two sons, the
second, one of promise

Like Isaac, Jacob, second
but chosen-Eliezer-while

Zipporah weeps for Gershom,
passes the springs, not sharing

In the four cups of seder.
How long will this bird wander?

Moses no longer mere shepherd
but king, steps forward, taking

Yitro into his tent, the
mirror-image of times past.

The wandering bird is left
outside, the Kushite beauty

Separated, not loved, like
Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel

Sisters in the Lord, sans gold
since the new Revelation.

Moses becomes God's eunuch.
The bird fades into the desert.

The Double Life vs. The Narrow Way

Mother Adele Garnier, whose life I am beginning to put into a play, entered the Unitive State after many years.  She wrote that the following of the Rule of St. Benedict was a sure way of reaching this state. This phrase is on the wall of the common room in the enclosure to remind all the nuns of the goal of their suffering in and through the Rule-the glory of God through their very beings. How wonderful to be surrounded by women who desire the same thing. Sigh, I wish I could have stayed.

However, on the outside, one sees many nuns, sisters and the clergy leading double lives. The great lie of supposed dialogue with the world, a false statement said over and over for the past fifty years, means that one seemingly does not have to give up the cushy, even middle-class life in order to be holy.

We laity have been deceived on the point, folks. The double life creates a split personality, a split soul.

Either one desires God with all one's soul, mind, heart, or one falls into the cheap lies of the world.

Of course, home, food, family are all goods, gifts from God. But, these can become idols.

The narrow way was spoken of by Christ follows. Pray to Him for His Love.

Enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. [14] How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it! [15] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:14-15 DR

To be continued...

Letters from the Monastery Eight- "Seven times a day I praise you, for your righteous ordinances," (Psalm 119:164)

At the hour for the divine office, as soon as the bell has been heard, let them leave whatever they have in hand and hasten with all speed, though in orderly fashion… Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Opus Dei.”  - Rule of Benedict, Chapter 4

Oh dear, I have hurt my back in the Pantry after two weeks of bending, lifting and such, including prayer times. Mother General has ordered me to lie in until Mass and to skip Compline, but the Mother Novice Mistress thinks it is the bed. All actions have contributed, and I am upstairs in the Novitiate, which means six or seven flights of stairs. I lost count. I am humiliated by the need to get off my feet, but the pain is real and like knives in my lower and upper back, continuing around the side and under the arms. TMI.

I hope this goes away after some rest. I am thinking of the young student in 1940 who may have slept in this bed and what she was thinking of the future of Britain....I am begging Mother Marie Adele for a miracle of health for me to stay here. If I cannot keep up, I am going to be heartbroken....I love it here, but at Tyburn, there is no slacking, as we all must work for the common good. Mother General is so kind and loving and gives me attention. She is a true Mother.

We work so hard in order to praise God seven times a day. That is the reason we are here. I am studying the Rule and reading the life of the Foundress, who is an obvious saint. She lived a life of pain, but I am no saint and this recent problem is a debilitation I did not anticipate.

BTW, I love the silence and the reading at meals. Love it! It is easier to be good in silence...no gossip, no silly talk, no stupid interruptions of trivia. Praise God for monastic silence. The long silence if from after Vespers to after Mass, although we are quiet all day except for necessities. Sigh, I love it, but staying in my room and resting my back is tormenting me, as I want to be about the work of the community. There are so few, so few....my mantra...

Letters from the Monastery Nine, May 14th (put on by blog carer on May 17)

The three nuns, including Mother General, are leaving for Nigeria today. I have been humbled by not being able to help with the work. Mother took me off all duties temporarily. I am praying and waiting for "orders". A new Mother Prioress, who I know well, has been elected and will take over in Mother's three week absence.

All are excited, but subdued as well, at the immense responsibility of taking on the challenge to pray for peace in Nigeria.

I have finished reading three books on the Holy Foundress, and want to start another. As I am not doing physical labor, I am catching up on the reading demanded of a novice...all good stuff. Mother General has encouraged my poetry writing, but admits there is no time in the novitiate training for writing.

I have had a great insight into the life of St. Martha. She, too, was called to contemplative life, and like these good nuns, had to spend her day both working and praying...she forgot, temporarily, about the prayer, that is, listening to God, which was the whole point of Christ's admonition.

The nuns at Tyburn are both Marthas and Marys....Pray for my back to healed, please.

Letters from the Monastery Seven

One must ask several questions of one's self.

First, do I have a religious vocation? This is NOT the same as being called to be a Spouse of Christ, a call of all baptized Catholics. To be a Spouse of Christ is to enter into the road to perfection by and in and through suffering. God chooses our way, which always involves suffering.

Second, do I have the gifts for the community? I have been told that I am a community person. But, that is balanced by the need for solitude and intense prayer. I am learning how hard this balance is.

Third, what is the charism of the community? I love the Tyburn charism of adoring the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.

(By the way, these fragments are part of longer letters...)

As at Buckfast, there are so few nuns to do so many types of work. There is a huge need for more vocations from Great Britain....huge. The monastic houses of Great Britain are shrinking but the size of the buildings and the need to minister to the laity form great outreaches, barely met by so few, so few....

Letters from the Monastery Six

Being here is like eating spiritual Death by Chocolate Cake daily.....

Poems from the Monastery Two

Exodus 18 and 19

Zipporah, wandering bird
waiting in the tents of Yitro

Faithful to the wandering Jew
now crossing the Sea of Red.

She and her two sons, the
second, one of promise

Like Isaac, Jacob, second
but chosen-Eliezer-while

Zipporah weeps for Gershom,
passes the springs, not sharing

In the four cups of seder.
How long will this bird wander?

Moses no longer mere shepherd
but king, steps forward, taking

Yitro into his tent, the
mirror-image of times past.

The wandering bird is left
outside, the Kushite beauty

Separated, not loved, like
Sarah, Rebecca, or Rachel

Sisters in the Lord, sans gold
since the new Revelation.

Moses becomes God's eunuch.
The bird fades into the desert.

Poems from the Monastery

I have written three poems while here at Tyburn--here is one.

May 1535 for the Feast of the Tyburn Martyrs

Cherry blossoms fell in muddied lanes
--the bridgegrooms' path.

White chevaliers on wooden horses,
not stomping greys,

Taunt, not chants met their ears
which disregarded discord.

Fair Houghton, fair men witnessed
by the lone lawyer through

Slit-stone windows--long day
of hesed love, long memories

As we stand here at Tyburn.

Letters from the Monastery Five

a snake in the grass...

A scandal has happened here in the latest yearly lecture of the Mother General. I am sure she is as upset and disgruntled as I am, although I have not had a chance to talk with her. She has been gone, come back, and it getting ready for Nigeria.

What happened was that the lecturer was a heretic. Sadly, the title of his talk did not indicate his weak thinking and criticisms of, (talk about arrogance), of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI's stand against modernist heresies.

This man seemed to think that Pope Francis would open to door to change the teaching of the Church regarding socialism and other forms of political governance  as well as criticizing the idea that the Church must be protected by the State. He spoke of the anti-modernist encyclicals as part of the "power plays" of the Church in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Arrgh. Also, he noted that the Church had been wrong about Galileo. What an old and silly argument.

How he got into Tyburn is a mystery of evil. Thank God, the attendance was lower than usual. But, I saw this as Christ, yet again, being killed on Calvary, and that the greatest evil in the Church are apostatized Catholics.

We were all invited to the lecture, in silence, in the enclosure, but only four nuns and myself attended. Good thing. I felt as if I were at the foot of the Cross. For almost 40 years, I have fought against modernist heresies and to have this man speaking thus in the Home of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus was too much for me.

Later on, I went back to the chapel and cried for the desecration of My Lord's Body on the Cross. The Crucified One suffers daily from the evil done by Catholics. This man did not believe in the authority of the Popes, merely seeing their ideas as antiquated. Can you believe a lecturer upholding modernist heresies at Tyburn? All I could to was weep and pray, as, of course, being in, I could not question him in the tea and coffee afterwards.

One nun sitting next to me, a young one, stood up and walked out, saying quietly, "This man is a heretic."

He even criticized Cardinal Pell and the Archbishop of Southwark who has come out against SSM. Sad, sad, sad. One can google the statement from Peter Smith and Vincent Nichols, I am sure, on the upcoming review, or rather passing, of the SSM bill in Parliament.

...Satan was allowed a nasty laugh here in the chapel, but he knows the war is lost, even though this battle was won. How many people in the audience were led astray? Most of the nuns are very orthodox, faithful daughters of the Church. I did see a The Tablet in the common room, but there are The Tablet(s) in Buckfast, and in the back of most Catholic churches in this fair country. What can I expect? The Mother Novice hates the The Tablet as well. I told her about the famous blogging sign from Father Tim,  "Tabula delenda est". She loved it. 

I spoke with Mother Novice Mistress about it, as she could not be at the lecture.I learned later on that the lecturer left without going to the do afterwards. Last year, the speaker was Lord Alton, and how I wish this year's speaker was in the same category. A shock to the system....

Letters from the Monastery Four

It is nice to have permission to have access to my son through the phone and letters. Once I am formally in the novitiate, I shall not be able to send or receive letters or calls for six months.

There is a real need for young vocations here in London, in Ireland and Scotland. Most of the nuns in the order are under 49, but not here.

Sadly, there is only one very old Irish nun and a very few English ones. Most of the vocations are coming from the East, and now, Nigeria. One reason is that the Western girls lack stamina and the understanding of penance.

Kneeling on wooden floors, sleeping in school beds from the 1940s, and eating what is given, rather than having choices, are activities mostly not understood by the modern world. Benedict understood the road to perfection, as all these things destroy self-will. One really understands the Scripture about becoming a new creation, and Christ's words to Nicodemus about being born again when one is giving up all semblance of personality and the ideas one had of one's self.

This is an amazing stripping of self which I am experiencing daily. Many tears, but many graces....one feels like a newborn child, waiting for God.

Today, Mother Novice Mistress in class noted that the society (I would use the term culture) creates vocations, or does not do so.

Sad that the Anglo-Saxons and Celtic girls have no interest in Tyburn. What a great challenge. If they could only see and experience the joy and love of this community--but, where is the desire?

One must want to be taken into the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and follow Him wherever He is.

I fit in, so far, so far....

To be continued...

Letters from the Monastery Three--tidbits for women readers

For those women readers who are interested, poverty dictates that one only changes clothes three times a week and bedding once a month. Poverty means that one owns nothing and if one runs out of something, like shampoo, one asks the Mother Novice Mistress. I brought plenty of things with me here.

One must wear white nightgowns and it is freezing in the convent and in London. Again, I have permission to use my duvet and have a hot water bottle. There is no heat in the convent at this time and the temperature drops into the high 50s at night.

Cleaning, which is on my list of chores, involves using brooms, dustpans and mops--no electric machines here, except for the wooden floor polisher. One lives in a "survival mode", which I totally expected. If one has seen or read The Road, it is helpful, as only that scenario is more dire.

Penance indicates that one suffers like the poorest of the poor. One of my favorite nuns, Sr. Escholastica, has a frayed habit because of the silly Velcro shoes all of us seem forced to buy, as black shoes with ties are almost impossible to find. The Velcro gets caught on the bottom of the habits.

She is so humble and so joyful. Joy is the mark of many of these nuns, even in their penances. Such a grace.

Three of the nuns will be going to Nigeria on May 14th. The foundation there is also calling four young ones in the area. The situation is, of course, dangerous, but the bishop asked the congregation last year to come and pray for peace, which is much needed.

I kissed the hands of the two young ones going out, saying that I wanted to kiss the hands of martyrs. They loved my action and all the nuns, even the ones here in London, talk about martyrdom. These are savvy women, not "pie-in-the-sky" people who think the good times are yet to come. I am so impressed with the level of intellectual honesty and humility of the mind-sets here.

A new foundation in France is being negotiated as well, which will bring the number of foundations to ten. God has chosen a real "builder" in the person of Mother General.

Letters from the Monastery Two

The monastic day is harrowing. I am on a mitigated schedule, which means I get up at 5:45 instead of having to be at Nocturns. I am in the Pantry by 6:15 making porridge, putting milk on for hot milk over a double boiler, and getting the trays ready for tea break, called mixte and also for breakfast. I make porridge for two of us who have permission to eat this, instead of the home-made bread which is making me sick.

Also, I have permission to drink coffee. Thank God. The Mother General must know I would turn into a beast without coffee.

I must say that I am a bit surprised that one only has an hour a day of private prayer. My classes have been cancelled more than held, as to all the interruptions of real life.

We are studying the Gospel of John, the Rule, the history of vocations, the CCC and other wonderful things. But, I have only had one class. I am ahead of my reading, as I cheat and read at night. Mother Novice Mistress is happy to have a keen student.

to be continued...

Letters from Monastery One

I have permission to write to my son and I shall write about my experiences at Tyburn.

First of all , this is the most loving and mature congregations I have ever seen.  The nuns are normal and human and real. I have never met such mature nuns. I am happy here and love the day. The Rule of Benedict is alreay in my heart somewhat. Mother General said that one reason I am not having trouble with obedience and the day is that she thinks I have interiorized the Benedictine way.

There is a Benedictine way of doing everything and one must be very watchful and learn by doing, not hearing. There is a monastic way of holding up one's bowl for hot water, for cutting bread and so on.

I love it. I love being here. I love the entire set up.

I have had to asked forgiveness of Mother Novice Mistress or Mother General at least once a day, but no matter.

To be continued...