The First Permutation of the Recusant Chapel

Everything except two things were donated by friends of the blog. God bless you all. Still need things mentioned in last post, but not immediately.

Here are a few photos of St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, in Ephesus.

One can see how a portable altar can fit on top of this table easily, or a higher one.. Some of the prie dieux. The rugs are borrowed, but lovely and from Egypt.

Three of the four prie dieux.

The fourth one is a blond wood, but also high quality.

The magnificent candle holders are a great addition. The lead crystal holders are temporary until I get the brass ones someone sent to me--late in the mail. Eventually, the icons will be on the wall above the altar area, with additions.

Blurred photo, too bad,  of a stunning Spanish Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Divine Mercy. The Divine Mercy will be removed today and the table will be for Mary. Only real flowers go on "altars", and potted plants according to rules do not belong in churches or chapels..only cut flowers.

Overview of this chapel. Huge donated Nativity scene above-one cannot see how lovely it is and I put it out just to show you all today.

The black candlesticks are borrowed. One cannot see the lovely Infant of Prague made by the Polish women and here and some of these things will be put away until certain liturgical times. Angels stay out, of course. The two gray ones are from the Vatican Observatory Collection and are replicas of statues in the gardens of Castel Gandolfo.

 OK, better photo of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel corner above. I need linens for tables.

The Immaculate Heart will go in another room. It was given to me by some sweet nuns. The large Mary, Our Lady of Grace, is unfinished in painting, as the person who started it, sadly, died. I shall have to find a statue restorer. Real flowers were donated as well. One of the vases is a Tiffany, also donated.

Sorry about the blurry photos. Someone took these for me and just sent them.

Beginnings....the very large icon, (please pray for this to soon arrive asap-the company was dishonest about the time frame and I am under constraints), would go above the altar area.  As less is more, some of these things will be stored in a chest until the appropriate liturgical time.

I have some icons in storage, including a very large one of the Rublev Trinity, which a nun gave STS years ago. It is too heavy to send him. I hope I can get these, God willing.

Nice painting of a prie-dieu

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/John_William_Waterhouse_-_The_Missal.JPG

Yippee!

A convent is giving me excess prie-dieux and chairs--up to four for the chapel.

I am so pleased. Again, when things look a bit better, I shall try and get a picture taken.

Still need an altar, tall candles (tapers--I am getting candlesticks from a reader), linens,standing Byzantine crucifix, and would like a sizable icon of the Divine Mercy. I cannot afford a portable altar at this time and am using a table.

Someone is sending me a relic.

Keep praying for these intentions, and help if you can.

Pax.

A Recusant in Training

My son and I, years ago now, attended Orthodox Evening Prayer in this tiniest of chapels in Walsingham. One of the most moving times of prayer we experienced, we sang the praises with the priest and cantor and three other people for the Saturday following the Feast of the Assumption. Having been Byzantines for several years in Canada, with permission, as we could not find a valid Latin Rite Mass for miles and miles, we were versed in Byzantine prayer and the Divine Liturgy. Orthodox chants are similar but not exactly the same.

This very small chapel in the Anglican Shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham has all the needed icons for honoring Mary, The Life-Giving Spring. This feast of Mary is held on the Friday after Easter in the Orthodox Church.

Her icon under this title has pride of place, as fitting for the patron of the chapel. The wall I have to use is slightly longer, but lower than this iconostasis, but I intend to add icons across the table which is acting as an altar, and on the floor, until I can get tables. As the house is not mine, I do not want to make too many holes in the wall!!!!! As you all know, I am in this house under the graciousness of the lady who owns it until she sells it.

Besides the patronal icon, fourteen more grace the screen. The two podia are, one for the icon of the feast day, which Byzantine Catholics and Orthodox lay out for the congregation to kiss when entering and leaving the chapel and the other for the music of the chant and the readings.

I have a most unattractive freebee picture of the Divine Mercy in the place where I would put the Resurrection, if I had one. I may have one in storage, but I think I gave that one away.

It is important for a chapel to have icons of the Evangelists, Archangels, and the specific saints honored under the patronal title. Also, it is common to have one icon of St. John the Baptist, one of my personal patrons.

I hope I find "him" in a box. When my son was still at home, when I had a home, we had an icon corner. See here for an explanation.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wassilij_Maximowitsch_Maximow_002b.jpg Public Domain

The point is not to have clutter, but yet enough images to honor Christ and His Mother and the saints.

Because I firmly believe we are heading for penal times, this chapel I envisage will be one can put into one or two trunks to be carried away easily. This is why I want a portable altar. 

I consider myself a recusant in training.

Think Chapel!

http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/a_noble_radiance/--notice on this website the explanation of the emblem of Ephesus. a nice synchronicity

This is Raymond Cardinal Burke's private chapel in the Vatican. He will be spoiled for choice if and when His Excellency visits Malta.

Notice how simple yet elegant the decor and statues are.. and I am happy to see that the Cardinal loves the Sacred Heart so much as to put Him in the pride of place.

One has to decide on the rule that "less is more" when doing up a small chapel. I decided on icons for four reasons: one, I have several of my own, which God willing, I shall soon get out of storage; two, in a small space, one can honor Jesus, Mary and many saints with icons, as well as the angels; three: a kind donor jump started the chapel icon collection, which will include a fairly large icon of Mary, Queen of Angels, (below), the primary patron of this little chapel of mine--St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, in Ephesus; three, icons create an instant atmosphere of calm and prayer; four, they are extremely portable.

This will be one of the main icons in the room, one for which I am waiting, sent to me by a donor.

As "windows to heaven", icons draw one into prayer, imho, in a way statues cannot,imho.

I do not have a camera, and the chapel is just beginning to evolve, but if I meet someone with a camera or phone camera when things are a bit more organized, I shall share the chapel on this blog.

I have one bedroom with no beds, as I am sleeping on a horrid air mattress for my sins. Hopefully, God willing, I want to get three single beds so that two other women could stay overnight for Adoration, if God allows me to get this far. All night vigils in these days seem to be extremely important to me. Something like this house near Little Gidding is what I have in mind for brief and simple accommodation.

God has something in mind and I am being very patient, going day by day.

Watching with Christ at night is an important part of the monastic 24 hours of prayer. God has given me strength to do this and still clean, cook, and do the gardening, etc. This is the way of the hermit.

For example, last night, I slept for two and a half-hours and then was up for five and a half hours in the night praying, going back to bed for another two and a half hours.

I do not nap, usually, unless I am ill, and this "wake" at night is part of the Benedictine mode of work and prayer.

In silence, one can continue prayer while gardening, or cleaning or doing laundry.

God chose the name of this prayer place-it all started with me being called to "Ephesus", away from danger for the time being. John took Mary out of Ephesus shortly after Pentecost, when the great persecution of the Christians in that city began. I wish I had a "John", but I gave mine to the Lord and he is busy doing God's work elsewhere. We can pray for each other.

St. John built Our Lady a house, and there she prayed for the persecuted Church, in the Presence of God most likely totally in union with the Trinity constantly. We cannot model her singular holiness, but we can ask for her help.

The name of the chapel also includes the fact that Mary is in charge of all the angels, and they obey her as Queen. I preferred the old English title, "St. Mary of the Angels" adding "and martyrs". I pray for priests, seminarians and many others, including you, Dear Readers. I pray for future martyrs.

I have great devotion to the martyrs, as those of you who read my blog know. So far, I have a little icon of St. Joan of Arc, and one of the saints and martyr of Alaska, which is still in storage. My son has a great love for SS. Herman of Alaska and Innocent, who we as Catholics may honor as well.

For some reason, it is very hard to find icons of Western martyrs which are affordable. St George is a martyr who is easy to find, of course.

I really like this one I have of St. Joan, although it is very small, it seems more inspired than most icons.

At this point, I have no relics, having given them all away in the past. I had part of St. Therese' habit handed down in our family, and St. Philip Neri's vest, which I gave away long ago, one to a priest. My son has a first class relic of St. Augustine of Hippo, with Vatican papers, which we carried around the States and England.

He also has part of the bandages of St. Padre Pio. But, I have no relics for this little chapel as of yet.

Back into silence....I am still on retreat for another day.

On Female Religious Vocations

In the United States, unlike Europe, only a handful of contemplative, traditional nuns exist today.

I can only think of four convents, or rather monasteries, as these contemplative places are truly called, which I can recommend.

The problem centers on the American Catholic preoccupation with action. The active orders, such as the excellent Dominican Sisters of Mary, the Mother of the Eucharist, have more popularity in the States than contemplative ones. Another great active order is the Sisters of Life, from New York, which are partly contemplative.

But, what is sorely missing on this continent are the religious orders which pray and work within the confines of the monastic rule, such as the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.

St. Faustina had a vision concerning the need for the sacrifices and prayers of the contemplative orders. After this snippet, I shall explain what I am doing.

"During the renewal of the vows, I saw the Lord Jesus on the Epistle side (of the altar), wearing a white garment with a golden belt and holding a terrible sword in His hand. This lasted until the moment when the sisters began to renew their vows. Then I saw a resplendence beyond compare and, in front of this brilliance, a white cloud in the shape of a scale. Then Jesus approached and put the sword on one side of the scale, and it fell heavily towards the ground until it was about to touch it. Just then the sisters finished renewing their vows. Then I saw Angels who took something from each of the sisters and placed it in a golden vessel on the other side of the scale, it immediately out weighed and raised up the side on which the sword had been laid. At that moment, a flame issued forth from the thurible, and it reached all the way to the brilliance. Then I heard a voice coming from the brilliance: "Put the sword back in its place; the sacrifice is greater."

It is becoming clearer daily to me now that I have this humble and sadly under-furnished chapel here, that my daily monastic life in the world is exactly what God wants for me. This daily prayer and work combination, very Benedictine, of course, has been shown to me to be a great need on the scales of sacrifice noted above.

Now, vows constitute a much more powerful spiritual power than my small actions daily, as I have made no vows. Yet, daily, even hourly, a cloud has lifted, a cloud of doubt, being replaced by a calm light of assurance that something good is coming out of my decision to pursue monasticism in the world, in a very small manner.

One person in a remote neighborhood with the grace of God, the rule of discipline, and the sacrifice of a desired life for one of obscurity and no comforts, can change an neighborhood, an area, souls. I am being encouraged,

One woman said to me the other day after we prayed together briefly that she wishes she could join me, as the experience of prayer was like being in a monastery. However, she has six children and this was a mere respite for her.

This little chapel is that respite, this little cell in the world. 

I pray that young women answer the call to the contemplative life. Christ needs such women to balance the judgement on the one side of the scales.

Who knows? If enough young women responded, maybe the coming tribulation could be lessened, or even avoided.

Parents, encourage your daughters to think and visit these orders of contemplation. The Church and society need contemplatives more than ever today.

Please pray about helping me outfit this little chapel. I still need a real altar, linens, and kneelers, as well as a standing crucifix and tall candlesticks, as the candlesticks I am using are borrowed. The owner of the house has given me permission to "go for it", meaning she likes the idea of a chapel in her empty house. Someone will sell me a portable altar at a reduced price, with linens, but I have no money for this.

I have many icons now, and will be getting some smallish statues soon from a reader. 

Remember the chapel, St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs, in Ephesus in your prayers.