Urbi et Orbi from Pope Francis

I remember  seeing the painting below a long time ago. I was always struck by how Christ was on the outside, and knocking. No door opened...

http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-urbi-et-orbi-message

Pope Francis highlighted the persecution of Christians in the world as well as the many wars today in his address to the city and to the world.

Pray to the Prince of Peace, today, for a world shattered by hated, ignoring the Lord of Lords.

In this snippet, the Pope refers to the facade of peace.

The Prince of Peace by Harry Anderson

True peace is not a balance of opposing forces. It is not a lovely “façade” which conceals conflicts and divisions. Peace calls for daily commitment, starting from God’s gift, from the grace which he has given us in Jesus Christ.

This facade starts with the personal, with the individual soul. One must forgive and truly love those who hate.

Loving the enemy is not merely an intellectual process of forgiving, but it is turning to the will in order to will to love.

The daily commitment for peace among nations will not occur if people are not peaceful in their own lives.

I find it interesting that while the Pope pleads for peace in the world, the world leaders are silent, on vacation, concentrating on their own countries or on themselves.

If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
John 15:18 

The leaders of this world, except for the Pope, ignore suffering, especially the suffering of Christians.

But, so too, the people of Bethlehem ignored the suffering of one small family forced into a cave with animals for the Birth of the Lord, the Messiah, the King.

This year has proved to be a year of violence for many across the world, and in other situations. As you all know, three peace-keepers in South Sudan were killed five days ago. Those who seek peace of any kind, whether political or spiritual, are targets.

Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
John 15:20 

But, we all have grace, tremendous grace. Grace leads us to love while surrounded by hate. Can we say "yes" to this challenge today?

Can we learn to find that peace within in order to create peace without? Remember, peace must be based on following Christ and not on ideologies. Without Christ, there is no true peace.

Thoughts on St. John's Poem, continued...

In the Dark Night, God transforms the soul, mind, heart. The person becomes stripped of the ego and 

becomes new.

This newness may feel raw, or even a bit scary, as if one is losing a sense of who one thought one was.

But, God is doing the transforming, through the purgation of the senses and the spirit.

This transformation leads finally to a conviction that no matter what the pain and suffering, no matter what the 

sense of loss, God is there.

St. John experienced love in this darkness, like the love one feels when one is looking at a loved one who is sleeping.

One is wounded by love and the neck, which is the Bible is a symbol of pride, is wounded by God, who is destroying

pride.

The senses are suspended because one is being taken out of the world of the senses into the world of "nada", 

the nothingness of self. One must abandon one's self to God's Will as nothing else is left.

The oblivion may be several things, the first being how one feels when one depends totally on Divine Providence,

and not on one's own efforts, ideas, even prayers.

One leaves all cares to God, as one has been humbled so much that one sees that human efforts are useless.

The result of this complete dependence on God, the complete surrender of memory, understanding and will, can be 

a completely new life in Christ, and should be the very beginnings of the Illuminative State.

The key is abandonment.

The love which is growing in the person in the Dark Night is the love of expectation, of desire.

What are the lilies? In the Bible, and in Solomon's Temple, lilies would have looked like our idea of the lily, the

 Lilium candidum 

When one leaves one's cares among the lilies, this means to me that one is content to let God take over the

purification process, one is relying on grace, not effort. All the effort lies in cooperation. 

When one forgets cares, one is also completely no longer distracted by the cares. Cares fade into desire for
the Beloved.

If one is in love, one forgets everything else

but the beloved, and in this case, the Beloved, Christ Himself.

Upon my flowery breast,
Kept wholly for himself alone,
There he stayed sleeping,
and I caressed him,
And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.

The breeze blew from the turret
As I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand
He wounded my neck
And caused all my senses to be suspended.

I remained, lost in oblivion;
My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself,
Leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Thanks to Wiki for the photos...

Dark Night, Holy Night

St. John of the Cross experienced nine months in the Dark Night, according to some interpreters of his life.

His Dark Night was not without some comfort, unlike the experience of some of the saints.

Here is his poem, which on this night of the Birth of Christ seems appropriate to examine.

The house at rest, St. John tells us, is the soul waiting in the rest of the darkness of Faith.

The secret ladder could be seen as the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

The main experience of  the Dark Night is that it all happens in secret, without the knowledge of the world, for the most part, unless the person shares the experience.

One works, reads, walks, shops, all in the darkness of living only by Faith and not by sight.

But, slowly, surely, a change takes place, like on a dark night when the stars come out, one by one, and the bright planets create a pattern of light in the darkness.

I remember in the fall of 2012 being in the convent in Cobh and looking at the stars over the sea. The sky seemed darker than most skies, and the stars and planets brighter because of the darkness.

As St. John notes, only what is in the heart is bright-the love of God, the searching and waiting for God, the desire for God.

One begins to love the Dark Night, because one has an underlying sense of resting in God, even though in darkness and this knowledge, that God is leading one brings a comfort, even in the unknown.

Because of faith, one knows that God is transforming one, slowly, painfully, but is that not a blessing and a promise of greater light?

Faith is the light of the Dark Night.


On a dark night

On a dark night,
Kindled in love with yearnings
--oh, happy chance!--
I went forth without being observed,
My house being now at rest. 

In darkness and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised
--oh, happy chance!--
In darkness and in concealment,
My house being now at rest.

In the happy night,
In secret, when none saw me,
Nor I beheld aught,
Without light or guide,
save that which burned in my heart.

This light guided me
More surely than the light of noonday
To the place where he
(well I knew who!) was awaiting me
-- A place where none appeared.

Oh, night that guided me,
Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined 

Beloved with lover,
Lover transformed in the Beloved!

I shall continue with the rest of the poem later....

Upon my flowery breast,
Kept wholly for himself alone,
There he stayed sleeping,
and I caressed him,
And the fanning of the cedars made a breeze.

The breeze blew from the turret
As I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand
He wounded my neck
And caused all my senses to be suspended.

I remained, lost in oblivion;
My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself,
Leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

Ave Maria

I heard this sung in Ireland, Malta, and now, America this year. I have been wrapped with this prayer in 2013.

God is good.

Franz Biebl's Ave Maria is truly sublime. I prefer the women's voices to the men's for this piece.

A Holy Blessed Christmas to All My Dear Readers

No merit of ours brought Christ down to earth. No merit of ours caused Mary's humility and Joseph's obedience. No merit of ours led the angels to proclaim the Good News to the weak and lowly.

All blessings of this night are in, through, and from grace.

My heart is in the monastery.....

http://songza.com/listen/gregorian-chants-monastic-peace-Catholicam/

Thanks, Emile! Pray for me, I am so homesick for Europe and my son.

Can you imagine the entire Arabic area singing this?

from an idea from Nervana Mahmoud. 

“The last time that happened, we fought a war over it.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished/2013/12/23/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/24/edward-snowden-channel-4-christmas-day-message?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2

"...I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

“All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed,” he said. “That is a milestone we left a long time ago."

and more from this second article...

On Dec. 16, in a lawsuit that could not have gone forward without the disclosures made possible by Snowden, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon described the NSA’s capabilities as “almost Orwellian” and said its bulk collection of U.S. domestic telephone records was probably unconstitutional.

The next day, in the Roosevelt Room, an unusual delegation of executives from old telephone companies and young Internet firms told President Obama that the NSA’s intrusion into their networks was a threat to the U.S. information economy. The following day, an advisory panel appointed by Obama recommended substantial new restrictions on the NSA, including an end to the domestic call-records program.

and more....

But the NSA could not use PRISM, which was overseen once a year by the surveillance court, for the collection of virtually all data handled by those companies. To widen its access, it teamed up with its British counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, tobreak into the private fiber-optic links that connected Google and Yahoo data centers around the world.

That operation, which used the cover name MUSCULAR, tapped into U.S. company data from outside U.S. territory. The NSA, therefore, believed it did not need permission from Congress or judicial oversight. Data from hundreds of millions of U.S. accounts flowed over those Google and Yahoo links, but classified rules allowed the NSA to presume that data ingested overseas belonged to foreigners.

For my cat lover friends-

Sunday, 10 March 2013  Repeat Post....just because....

OK--repeat of two out three of the most adorable cats in the world...

Posted by Supertradmum

You can watch the spacewalk live...

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#.Urm81dJDuyZ

Interesting....

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/24/edward-snowden-channel-4-christmas-day-message?CMP=twt_fd&CMP=SOCxx2I2

How To Deal with Christmas Rejection

Some of my friends, for various reasons, experience great rejection at Christmas time. This time of supposed holiday cheer and family friendliness can be marred by rejection by siblings, parents, even a spouse.

Rejection may be old, occurring over and over again in families owing to dysfunctional relationships, sin, even malice. One person I know was rejected in the womb and is still rejected by her mother who hates her.

Rejection may be new, like the loss of a new boyfriend, or a divorce, or a death in the family.

How one deals with rejection leads either to bitterness or perfection.

For those who choose the road to perfection, I have a few suggestions, having experienced myself many types of rejection, all which come to a head at this time of year.

First of all, rejection hits at the ego, which is a good thing. One may be full of too much self-love and rejection reminds one of personal imperfections and sin.

Second, rejection can be a time for reflection and repentance. But, most importantly, times of rejection are times of forgiveness.

One must say, "Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Third, rejection can be a time of spiritual growth, as God asks one to join Him on the Cross, the ultimate rejection. Rejection brings humility.

I have three friends who are highly educated, charming women who were always, through-out their lives rejected by their fathers, who openly wanted a boy, and got a girl instead for a baby.

These women feel the pain of rejection, even though they are middle-aged. Even at parties, which I have attended, the fathers and the mothers prefer the men in the families openly, to the point of undermining the dignity of the women. These women have told me of their rejection. They have lived with it.

Now, one might say, why do not these women avoid this rejection? That is a good question. In one case, the daughter does not want to hurt her mother, and in another case, the daughter believes God is asking her to love her father even though he is verbally abusive.

One can only make these types of decisions on one's own. Sometimes rejection is so bad that one must avoid the situations entirely.

But, to avoid pain may be a running away from the Cross.

Another woman I know is rejected deeply by her mother. The mother favors the sons, and the daughter is seen as a second-class citizen. Because the mother has treated the woman as such since childhood, the men in the family do not respect the woman either, taking their cues from the mother.

This woman decided to love and honor her mother at Christmas, even though the verbal and emotional abuse is keen. She told me that the family ignores her as a non-person at the dinners and that no one, neither the siblings or the mother ask about her life. No one cares. No one "sees" her as a person.

That this woman visits her mother is a question of heroic virtue in my mind. She is trying to love an unlovable person. This woman is an artist, and her mother wanted her to be a doctor. The mother has preached the Gospel of Failure to this woman all her life, as the mother determined what the child would be and do, not appreciating the talents God gave the person.

Nativity by Carl Bloch

Rejection is what Our Lord experienced the night He was born. His mother experienced rejection, as did St. Joseph. 

The Baby was born outside the normal customs of the time, outside the care of neighbors or family. For a moment in time, the Holy Family was "homeless", in a cave. 

I cannot give advice on whether one should avoid rejection or take it. If one is emotionally secure enough and if one is spiritually able to join with Christ on the Cross, perhaps one can put one's self in a position of being rejected.

This action takes prayer and reflection.

I pray sincerely for all those who feel rejected, and who are rejected at this time of year. I know too many men and women in this type of pain. The list is, frankly, too long.

I know that God can use pain for purification, as sins must be atoned for-each sin of ours and the sins of others. Perhaps God asks some people to join Him in His pain-in His Mother's pain and in the pain of St. Joseph on this holy night.

If you are one of those people who are rejected, I pray for you today and tomorrow. If you are a person who becomes depressed at Christmas because of years of family rejection, I pray for you. I know two people who get very depressed at this time of year, both men. May God comfort them.

Please try and join Christ in His rejection-the rejection of an All-Loving God Who gave His Life that we may live.

I do not say "Happy Christmas", nor do I wish you "Merry Christmas".

I wish you a "Holy Christmas."

Returning to the Perfection Series-- À la recherche du temps perdu

This is a toe in the water of the perfection series, mark two. The next few posts in this series will be more on the detail of the passive purgation.

St. Teresa of Avila was in the passive purgation for 18 years.

One must understand these long times of dryness which demand Faith.

I am finding a confusion among people, especially some young ones, who do not understand that the levels of prayer are connected to the levels of progress, from consolation to dark night, to the illumination stage and finally to the unitive.

A keen look at these stages again reveals that in the passive purgation, which demands the working of the virtues, one is not in a unitive state or illuminative state yet. There is also a confusion as to the term "affective prayer" which is used by many authors to mean different things.

In the passive purgation, vocal prayer is almost impossible. One cannot meditate, the great insights into the Scriptures or Mysteries of the Rosary have ended.

One can only look at God in a great simplicity. This is what Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta meant, when she said that in Adoration, she looked at God and God looked at her.

That was all she could do.

Please so not mix up nomenclature or confuse stages.

In the passive purgation, one can only turn to God in small prayers, in small acts of the will.

In this stage, one desire God, not people, and God is vague, not specifically Jesus, the Father or the Holy Spirit. Faith tells one that God is the Trinity, not experience.

"The will is fixed on God by 'a vague love and a secret instinct.' ...by a dolorous and persistent need of a more intimate union with Him. It is as it were a longing, like home-sickness, after God absent, and assuaged thirst, which cannot do without Him; the soul would like to be inflamed with love, and, above all, to posses God; merely to love Him no longer satisfies her, she aspired to union with Him."

This quotation from  Lehodey's The Ways of Mystical Prayer reveals the mystery of the passive purgation.

One learns patience and humility, waiting on God and waiting for God.

One would love to be totally occupied in loving. One desires to love.

But, all the soul perceives is irritation and a new ennui, which is not directed towards anything but the realization of one's own sin and imperfections in the light of God's love.

One can honestly say, "All I want is you, Lord. And, if it is Your will that I go to hell, so be it. But, I love you."

One feels an indistinct unease about the spiritual life, as one does not know where to find God, as He has hidden Himself  in all the old ways.

One can only say, God has visited me before, He will not abandon me." The act of sheer will power towards faith, hope and love marks this period of passive purgation.

One learns to be patient with others, but most especially, with one's self. And, at times, one feels or even thinks one is on the way to hell.

Only hanging on to faith, hope and love give the soul any strength at this time.

Not every one must experience the reality of trials, such as illness, loss of employment, financial losses, loss of status, loss of family and so on.

God decides what suffering to send. And, some people suffer less than others moving towards the same end.

One cannot compare one's self with others at all. This is a waste of time, and dangerous.

To be content to be carried on the winds of trial is the best some can do.

The key is remaining focused on Christ and that little ember of past consolations of love which one may now and then remember.

to be continued....

Noisy Night, Unholy Night

Christ came to us in the silence of the night. We sing Silent Night, Holy Night.  Christ comes to us daily in silence. Do we meet Him in silence, or does He come and not find any, and leaves us to our noise?

Christ will not force Himself upon us. He will not come if our hearts, minds, and souls are full of junk. Noise is junk

The hymn provides us with a great lesson in prayer. Without silence, we hear only ourselves, and the noise of the world. Christ cannot come into a noisy mind or noisy heart. 

Listening to Catholics in the neighborhood talk about vacations, shopping, raises, money, investments, divorces, gossip is hard to avoid this time of year....I may go hide in the basement. Why do people talk about trivia?  Why cannot people be silent? Are they afraid of silence?

I retreat to my little cell I am working on in my heart, soul, mind...

Silence is a gift, so if you have it, do not ignore the beauty and grace therein. I am convinced that hell and purgatory are noisy.

Do not squander the gifts when you are given these.

If you are given silence, cherish it.

I am thinking of dear St. Catherine again--create a cell in your mind, heart and soul to which you can go.

1. Let all mortal flesh keep silence, 
 and with fear and trembling stand;
 ponder nothing earthly-minded, 
 for with blessing in his hand, 
 Christ our God to earth descendeth, 
 our full homage to demand. 

2. King of kings, yet born of Mary, 
 as of old on earth he stood, 
 Lord of lords, in human vesture, 
 in the body and the blood; 
 he will give to all the faithful 
 his own self for heavenly food. 

3. Rank on rank the host of heaven 
 spreads its vanguard on the way, 
 as the Light of light descendeth 
 from the realms of endless day, 
 that the powers of hell may vanish 
 as the darkness clears away. 

4. At his feet the six-winged seraph, 
 cherubim, with sleepless eye, 
 veil their faces to the presence, 
 as with ceaseless voice they cry: 
 Alleluia, Alleluia, 
 Alleluia, Lord Most High!

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2012/03/perfection-part-nine-silence.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-constant-quiet-yes-and-constant.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/02/give-up-noise-for-lent-and-here-is-how.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-silence-and-false-wisdom.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/on-listening-to-god.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/11/repeat-post-noise-is-rebellion.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-inner-life-bombarded.html

Mary, Star of the Sea

Dear Mary, Star of the Sea, take greetings of this holy season to all my friends in Gibraltar, Malta, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, and France. May all my dear friends feel the peace of this special, holy time.

PC Chess And Dhimmitude

Not the one used.....btw

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/world-youth-chess-championships-in-uae-obliterate-israel-list-israeli-players-as-from-the-nation-wor.html

and this as well

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/world-youth-chess-championships-in-uae-using-islamized-chess-sets.html

Running in The Desert

Some readers say I write too much. Did Jeremiah talk too much? I must comment on the pace of this blog.

We do not have much time before hate laws stop the Catholic press and Catholic blogging world.

We do not have much time to evangelize and to solidify our own position with God in grace.

We do not. If the most popular man on television can be silenced, what do you think will happen to us little people?

Do not kid yourselves. I write in haste.

I write in haste because I want as many souls to go to heaven as possible.

Evangelization and spreading the Truth is my baptismal duty, not a luxury.

Same with you, dear reader, same with you....but speak to the open, and walk away from the closed.

Time is short. Pray, think, reflect, act...

Pray for our ignored Christian brethren in Syria

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/syria-islamic-jihadists-murder-12-people-by-firing-mortal-shells-at-church.html

and in the Central African Republic

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/central-african-republic-muslims-murder-nearly-1000-christians-over-two-day-period.html

Luke 1:57-66

The Naming of John the Baptist by Fra Angelico

Prayers Needed

For the past month, I have requested the prayers of readers because of my very uncertain and dire housing and financial situation here. Nothing has changed, so keep praying. I know it is hard to keep praying for a person for a long time. Thank you for your perseverance.

STM

Prayer for Saint Josemaría's intercession.

O God, through the mediation of Mary our Mother, you granted your priest St. Josemaría countless graces, choosing him as a most faithful instrument to found Opus Dei, a way of sanctification in daily work and in the fulfillment of the Christian's ordinary duties. Grant that I too may learn to turn all the circumstances and events of my life into occasions of loving You and serving the Church, the Pope and all souls with joy and simplicity, lighting up the pathways of this earth with faith and love. Deign to grant me, through the intercession of St. Josemaría, the favor of ... (make your request). Amen.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

and for private devotion....

O God, merciful Father, you granted your servant Álvaro, Bishop, the grace of being an exemplary pastor in the service of the Church, and a most faithful son and successor of Saint Josemaría, the founder of Opus Dei. Grant that I too may respond faithfully to the demands of the Christian vocation, turning all the circumstances and events of my life into opportunities to love you and serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Deign to glorify your servant Álvaro, and through his intercession grant me the favor I request ... (here make your petition). Amen.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be to the Father.