I have written many times on St. Catherine's instruction to create a little cell within the mind
to which to go when in the world. Here, St.Francis de Sales refers to this wonderful advice
and image. He also refers to the symbol of the Pelican, frequently found in churches, in
mosaics, in tiles, in paintings and so on.
Let your heart withdraw and read this in solitude.
There are few social duties of sufficient importance to prevent an
occasional retirement of the heart into this sacred solitude. When S.
Catherine of Sienna was deprived by her parents of any place or time
for prayer and meditation, Our Lord inspired her with the thought of
making a little interior oratory in her mind, into which she could
retire in heart, and so enjoy a holy solitude amid her outward duties.
And henceforward, when the world assaulted her, she was able to be
indifferent, because, so she said, she could retire within her secret
oratory, and find comfort with her Heavenly Bridegroom. So she
counselled her spiritual daughters to make a retirement within their
heart, in which to dwell. Do you in like manner let your heart withdraw
to such an inward retirement, where, apart from all men, you can lay it
bare, and treat face to face with God, even as David says that he
watched like a "pelican in the wilderness, or an owl in the desert, or
a sparrow sitting alone upon the housetop." [34] These words have a
sense beyond their literal meaning, or King David's habit of retirement
for contemplation;--and we may find in them three excellent kinds of
retreats in which to seek solitude after the Saviour's Example, Who is
symbolised as He hung upon Mount Calvary by the pelican of the
wilderness, feeding her young ones with her blood. [35] So again His
Nativity in a lonely stable might find a foreshadowing in the owl of
the desert, bemoaning and lamenting: and in His Ascension He was like
the sparrow rising high above the dwellings of men. Thus in each of
these ways we can make a retreat amid the daily cares of life and its
business.
When the blessed Elzear, Count of Arian-enProvence, had been long
separated from his pious and beloved wife Delphine, she sent a
messenger to inquire after him, and he returned answer, "I am well,
dear wife, and if you would see me, seek me in the Wounded Side of our
Dear Lord Jesus; that is my sure dwelling-place, and elsewhere you will
seek me in vain." Surely he was a true Christian knight who spoke thus.
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[34] Ps. cii. 6, 7.
[35] The Egyptians used the pelican as a symbol of parental devotion;
and among the early Christians, as may be seen in the Catacombs, it was
employed to shadow forth the deep mysteries of Christ's love. On many a
monumental brass, church window, or chalice of old time, occurs this
device, with the motto, "Sic Christus dilexit nos." "Thus hath Christ
loved us." And so Saint Thomas in his Eucharistic Hymn "Adoro Te
devote,"--"Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda, Tuo
sausguine!"
When the blessed Elzear, Count of Arian-enProvence, had been long
separated from his pious and beloved wife Delphine, she sent a
messenger to inquire after him, and he returned answer, "I am well,
dear wife, and if you would see me, seek me in the Wounded Side of our
Dear Lord Jesus; that is my sure dwelling-place, and elsewhere you will
seek me in vain." Surely he was a true Christian knight who spoke thus.
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[34] Ps. cii. 6, 7.
[35] The Egyptians used the pelican as a symbol of parental devotion;
and among the early Christians, as may be seen in the Catacombs, it was
employed to shadow forth the deep mysteries of Christ's love. On many a
monumental brass, church window, or chalice of old time, occurs this
device, with the motto, "Sic Christus dilexit nos." "Thus hath Christ
loved us." And so Saint Thomas in his Eucharistic Hymn "Adoro Te
devote,"--"Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine, Me immundum munda, Tuo
sausguine!"
