A Cloistered Heart: September 2017

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Back to Basics, Again

I realized it last night. I saw what had been happening, bit by bit, one distraction at a time, over a period of weeks and (if I'm honest) months.

There has been an erosion of my grillwork. Oh, not the kind where I question scriptural truth - thank God it has not come to that. But over time, a steady drip drip drip of distraction has worn down my personal emphasis on Scripture. There are so many good and worthwhile activities and interests and legitimate amusements, all drawing my attention away from the 'grille.' There has even been a gradual pileup of devotions - good ones, to be sure - that I feel I must get done and fit in before falling at night into bed. Not that I've 'done' these all that well - in most cases, I've just wound up feeling guilty because I don't say the exact prayers every day that one or another friend may do.

As I've admitted here before, I can all too often 'beat myself up' about my prayer life. I don't pray long enough, well enough, hard enough, often enough, with enough structure (or maybe with too much?).

It was as if a fresh breeze swept across me last night, in an instant, and if I could put my perception into a word, I think it just might be: 'ENOUGH!!!'

Enough self-beating. Enough saying I don't pray enough. Enough self condemnation. Enough getting mired down in distractions. Just pick up the Bible, open it, and read. Let God show me that the grillwork of Scripture is still in place. It hasn't truly eroded (I realize as I write this); it's just that I've let myself get sidetracked. Not only do I have Bibles in nearly every room of my house; I also have some favorite verses listed under 'Grille' in a stand-alone page on this blog. I can find 'bars of the grille' without even having to leave this screen.

But leave it, I will. I'll go snatch up my oldest, most bedraggled, well-loved Bible and hold onto it for dear life, for in it I FIND life. I know this. By the grace of God, I know this.

I am being called back to basics. Again.

"I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk; I will counsel you, keeping My eye on you." (Psalm 32:8)

Painting: San Luigi Gonzaga, Love for the Word

Monday, July 15, 2013

A House of Prayer

"God chooses a 'Home' within us. What about your house, your temple, your soul? Is it a den of thieves or a house of prayer? Are you robbing God of anything? Does everything in your castle belong to Him? ...

"Your house is meant to be a house of prayer... No one holds reign in your heart but Christ. He should be the great Power urging you on to sanctity. No other traffic will He allow to be carried on within the temple of your soul but the traffic for eternal wealth...

"Mindful of the Precious Jewel you guard within yourself, you will return to it unceasingly in your thoughts and affections. There is always present an indefinable loving remembrance of God, as well as a frequent communing with your Divine Guest. Accustom yourself by your own activity helped by grace, to converse affectionately and very simply with your Beloved."

from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Peter Reilly Co., Philadelphia, 1952, pp. 81-82

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Spiritual Power

"Work for souls is accomplished, for the most part, in silence. Its efficiency does not depend upon occupation, position or popularity. From a humble cell, hidden away in some cloistered nunnery, there radiates spiritual power which influences thousands of souls scattered over the entire world."

from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Peter Reilly Co., Philadelphia, 1952, p. 56

Friday, July 12, 2013

What Matters Much

"The art of living with God entails more effort and more concentration of purpose in the midst of activity and external work than in surroundings of cloistral prayer and quiet. Wheresoever God is our chief concern, environment is of little account....

"The outward cloister matters little, the inward cloister matters much."

from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Peter Reilly Co., Philadelphia, 1952, p. 171

Painting: Jean Béraud, Les Grands Boulevards Le Theatre Des Varietes, in US public domain

Light Always Wins

It seems, more and more, that the world around is falling into darkness. No matter where I turn, I find confusion, godlessness, irreverence, wars, disasters, and a shocking celebration of sin.

I am distressed that such things even exist. In the midst of encroaching darkness, my little candle of faith can seem pitifully small. I don't want to face into the shadows. What I want to do is - flee....

But Jesus is in my soul. And He IS the Light.

If I am in a physical cloister filled with light, what happens when I look out through the grille into a darkened foyer?  Does darkness flood in through the "grillwork," turning my light into dark? No. That never happens.

When dark and light encounter one another, there is really no contest.

"There is One greater in you than there is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

"The Light shines on in darkness, a darkness that did not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

Light always wins.

This is an edited re-post from 2011

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

In Such a Period

We have looked at God's need for 'fire carriers.' We hope to stand for the genuine truth of God in the face of every shabby imitation marching boldly toward the limelight.

It is interesting that, decades ago, others saw this time approaching. Even though he died in 1977, Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote the following:

"Ours is, I believe, the period of the greatest crisis the world has ever faced, a period in which the anathema has become unpopular and is unfortunately considered as incompatible with charity...

"In such a period, every faithful Catholic who is fully devoted to Christ, to the teaching of the Church, to the deposit of the Catholic faith, to the dogmas, is called to raise his voice in defense of orthodoxy."

I pray that we will all be given grace to learn, discern, cherish, witness to, reverence and proclaim the glorious fire of God's truth.

Painting: A Procession in the Catacomb of Callistus

Sunday, July 7, 2013

A Light for Our Way

Those who remember our earlier discussions of Real vs. artificial light might understand why Pope Francis' first encyclical has given me a real jolt. A holy jolt, that is: a heavenly flash, a bolt of Godly illumination.

"In speaking of the light of faith," writes His Holiness, "we can almost hear the objections of many of our contemporaries. In modernity, that light might have been considered sufficient for societies of old, but was felt to be of no use for new times, for a humanity come of age, proud of its rationality and anxious to explore the future in novel ways.... Slowly but surely, however, it would become evident that the light of autonomous reason is not enough to illumine the future; ultimately the future remains shadowy and fraught with fear of the unknown. As a result, humanity renounced the search for a great light, Truth itself, in order to be content with smaller lights which illumine the fleeting moment yet prove incapable of showing the way. Yet in the absence of light everything becomes confused; it is impossible to tell good from evil, or the road to our destination from other roads which take us in endless circles, going nowhere... (emphasis mine)"

"There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from God. Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfilment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us. Faith, received from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our journey through time...." (Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Lumen Fidei, 2013)

I am practically breathless as I read this. No, I'm not exaggerating. For a glimpse into why this has so hit me, click here to check out our earlier post entitled 'To Carry the Fire.'

I hope we can all take a bit of time to read, ponder and pray with Pope Francis' encyclical (available in its entirety here).

It is time. Clouds are gathering.

Let's go light the world.

ednesday, July 3, 2013

This Mental Gloom Will Pass

"Let us not be turned from prayer because of dearth of feeling, or even because the mind is weighed down by discouragement and distressed by the thought of utter unworthiness. This mental gloom will pass. It is something over which we hold no control; the less attention we give it the better."

(from In Love with the Divine Outcast, by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1934, p. 123)

Painting: Winslow Homer, Woman at the Window, 1872 (detail)

Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Scent of Contemplation

"Meditation is like a person who smells a pink, a rose, rosemary, thyme, jasmine and orange blossoms, one after the other separately. But contemplation is like one who smells a perfume made from all these different flowers. For he receives at once the full scent of all the flowers which the other inhales separately, and it is quite certain that this perfume, which comes from the blending of all these odours, is more sweet and precious than the perfumes of which it is composed, taken separately one by one.

"After having drawn a great number of different affections from the various considerations of which our meditations are composed, we then unite the virtue of all these affections, and this union of their powers brings forth a certain quintessence of affection, more active and powerful than all the others from which it proceeds. While it is only one, it includes the virtues and properties of all the others, and is called contemplative affection."

St. Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God

Painting by Carl Spitzweg

Thursday, June 27, 2013

A Cry of Charity

Most people don't realize who they're quoting when they speak of catching more flies with honey than with vinegar. I was well into adulthood when I learned that this bit of wisdom had come from one of my favorite saints.

"You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than with ten barrels of vinegar." (St. Francis de Sales)

I often think of this in connection with another quote from this Doctor of the Church.

"It is an act of of charity to cry out against the wolf when he is among the sheep" (St. Francis de Sales)

These two thoughts may not appear to have much to do with one another. But in my mind, they work together. In fact, I often strive to "navigate between them," as one might drive between two lines painted on a highway to keep vehicles moving safely.

As one of Our Lord's sheep, I am seeing wolves among us. In saying this, I'm not thinking of people as much as I am of ideas and ungodly "values" that creep in, usually in sheeps' clothing.

These generally enter in the name of freedom, tolerance, rights, pleasure, peace, fairness, justice for all. Not wanting to be unkind, we can let them prowl freely among our families and nations and parishes without our uttering so much as a whisper of protest. We don't want to rock boats, ruffle feathers, stir waters, or cause anyone to be uncomfortable. We'd like to be charitable.

It takes a lot to cry out against wolves. But if we know the truth and do not speak it, are we acting in genuine charity toward the sheep?

Francis de Sales would say no.

However, there are a couple of ways of speaking. We can lash out in anger, in sharp words that can sting and personally wound our "opponents"... in other words, we can dish out the vinegar. Or we can speak in honeyed tones. Not fake ones, but in words and actions spoken from a heart of love.

How do we have such a heart when we feel anything, perhaps, but loving? We pray. We seek God. We fast and sacrifice. We ask for wisdom. We dive into Scripture as if our very lives depended on it; because, really, they do.

We trust that God will show us when and how to act, when and how to speak, when and how to offer truth. Ears tend to turn off at the sound of vinegar. The truth we're trying to communicate can pass by totally unheard if we allow frustration and anger to "vinegar-ize" what we say.

We are seeing wolves among us. I don't have to name them. We find them in the media, in politics, in healthcare systems and schools and so many "areas of et cetera" that this page isn't long enough to list them. They rob children of innocence, families of stability, societies of integrity, preborn babies of life, and individuals of eternity spent with God. The cost of our silence could be staggering.

But we cannot speak without honey.

We cannot speak without love.

(this is an edited post that I originally wrote for The Breadbox Letters)

© 2013 Nancy Shuman. All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

He Knocks...

While looking into the "cloistered" heart of St. Ambrose, I came across a post from last year. I remember how struck I was when I originally put these two paintings together, seeing how they "happened" to line up onscreen.

As always, today I prayed to be led as to whether or not to present this again. After all, many saw the post a year ago.

But you know what? I had the distinct thought that someone, somewhere, may "need" this now, this very day.

I wonder if someone, somewhere, just might be hearing a knock.....

"Let your door stand open to receive Him,

unlock your soul to Him,

offer Him a welcome in your mind...

Throw wide the gate of your heart,
stand before the sun of the everlasting Light
that shines on every man...
He does not want to force His way in rudely,

or compel us to admit him against our will….

Our door is faith; if it is strong enough,
the whole house is safe.
This is the door by which Christ enters….

It is the soul that has its door, its gates.
Christ comes to this door and knocks;
He knocks at these gates.
Open to him;
He wants to enter,
to find His bride waiting and watching…"

- St. Ambrose

Friday, June 21, 2013

From the Heart of Brother Lawrence

"It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church." wrote Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection. "We may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love."

That is a cloistered heart statement if ever I've heard one.

Many of us are familiar with this humble Brother, and with his classic work The Practice of the Presence of God. Therefore, I will allow the following quotes to serve as (re?) introductions to his gentle wisdom. These words of Brother Lawrence challenge and encourage me as I strive to live for God in the midst of the world.

"We must try to converse with God in little ways while we do our work... we should purely and simply reveal our hearts as the words come to us."

“He does not ask much of us, merely a thought of Him from time to time, a little act of adoration, sometimes to ask for His grace... Lift up your heart to Him during your meals and in company; the least little remembrance will always be the most pleasing to Him. One need not cry out very loudly; He is nearer to us than we think.”

“Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone.”

“I keep myself retired with Him in the centre of my soul as much as I can; and while I am so with Him I fear nothing."

“A little lifting up of the heart suffices; a little remembrance of God, an interior act of adoration, even though made on the march and with sword in hand, are prayers which, short though they may be, are nevertheless very pleasing to God, and far from making a soldier lose his courage on the most dangerous occasions, bolster it."

“We should establish ourselves in a sense of God's Presence, by continually conversing with Him."

For more about the life of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, click this line. This is a Christmas article, with the main material about Brother Lawrence in the second half, but the entire piece is a beautiful reflection on the Presence of God - regardless of the season!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Again I Begin

While praying recently for a fresh wind of prayer, I ran across the following. I've edited it slightly, for I first scribbled this in a journal over twenty years ago. Twenty years! Before iPads, Kindles, Twitter, Pinterest, smart phones, dumb phones, texting, mobile apps. Back then, people went to dinners disconnected, engaging in conversation with no concerns about a purse ringing just as salads arrived. Yet even then, I was aware of how hard it was to tune in to the gentle presence of God.

'We can hardly hear anything in this world of ceaseless distraction. Our ancestors, even our recent ones, would be simply overwhelmed by the barrage of noises that surround us in this busy world, in this busy western world. We are bombarded by entertainment, images, music, sounds, distractions we carry with us wherever we go.

Perhaps we find our own thoughts too disturbing, so we drown them out with ceaseless chatter. Maybe inactivity reminds us too clearly that we were created to fill our time with God, so we flee from the reminders by cramming our days full of mindless clutter

I know this because I am so this way, busily fluttering amid distractions that keep me blissfully unaware.

If only we could see it! If only we could see the drama in which we're engaged! If only we could peer, eyes unveiled, into the truth for just a minute. I can't believe that such acute awareness would not utterly change our lives...'

Over twenty years later, I am still struggling to quiet down and 'listen.' Funny. I thought I'd be settled into a real routine by now. Not so.

Perhaps because routine has never been easy for me? Possibly. Maybe because distractions are becoming daily more present and ever more convenient for all of us? Surely.

And, if I'm honest, probably because some part of me would rather look at glitter than into scripture. It's a tough thing to consider, an even tougher thing to admit. But it is at least partially true. After all, a bit of online glitz will not remind me that I need to take time to pray for situations on the world stage. Or perhaps that I can even, if I give Him time and space, encounter the loving presence of God.

Encountering the Presence of God. Imagine! I can do this very thing in prayer, even in the silence of my heart. I know how this works; I've done it for years: I can sit down and pray, giving God time and space and attention. I can take another look at Lectio Divina.

Why on earth am I waiting? Maybe if I ask Him, and maybe if I sit long enough to hear His still, small Voice, Our Lord will answer this very question.

I pick up my Bible. I open it.

Again I begin.

All text in this post © 2013 Nancy Shuman. All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org

Sunday, June 16, 2013

From the Heart of St. Paul of the Cross

Considering a few "cloistered hearts" gone before us, I quickly think of St. Paul of the Cross. “The world lives unmindful of the sufferings of Jesus..." wrote this saint; "we must arouse the world from its slumber.”

Through a great number of letters and sermons, Paul of the Cross indeed helped awaken the world. Founder of the Passionists and a tireless worker for Christ, Paul walked from town to town, church to church, for over 40 years, preaching "the loving memory of the passion and death of Jesus Christ..." (from "In the Shadow of His Wings")

The saints were the ideal "cloistered hearts," although most would not have thought in such terms. Looking at the following words by St. Paul of the Cross, however, I have a feeling he was one of those who did....

"Build an oratory within yourself, and there have Jesus on the altar of your heart. Speak to Him often while you are doing your work."

"Rest tranquilly in the loving Heart of our dear Savior; do not lose peace, even though the world turn upside down."

"Faith tells us that our heart is a Sanctuary, because it is the Temple of God, the dwelling-place of the Holy Trinity. Let us often visit this Sanctuary, and see that the lamps are alight - that is to say, Faith, Hope and Charity - and frequently stir up our faith when we are studying, working, or eating, when we go to bed, and when we rise, and make aspirations to God.”

"Take the holy, gentle will of God as your spouse, wedded each moment by the ring of faith in which are set all the jewels of hope and love."

“Nourish yourself with God’s Holy Will. Drink of this Chalice of Jesus. Close your eyes and do not seek to know what it may contain. It is enough to know that Jesus offers it.”

"Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment, in the interior temple of your spirit."

For more about St. Paul of the Cross, click on this link

Friday, June 14, 2013

In the Inner Cloister of Her Heart

"We absorb more and more of His Spirit until - in the midst of crowds or secluded in our cells - we are alone with our Master and inseparable Guide. Jesus Christ is very nigh to the soul that seeks and loves Him, and she speaks to Him in the inner cloister of her heart.

No one can measure how precious a thing this is, who has not experienced the strength and power, the joy and peace that is derived from it. The soul talks familiarly with God in her own words and her own way. She has no set form of speech, for none is needed. She is at home with God, and He with her. Jesus Christ is no far off Divinity, but very nigh, dwelling in her heart. There is nothing she cannot tell Him about, whether it be joy or sorrow, success or failure. It is all poured into His ears."

(from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, by a Religious, Peter Reilly Co., Philadelphia, 1931, pp. 14-15)

Painting: Almeida Júnior - Moça com Livro, US public domain

Thursday, June 13, 2013

The Cloistered Heart of St. Margaret Mary

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque's was a heart filled with fire. Jesus chose to reveal to this Visitation nun a Heart ablaze - His own Sacred Heart. I think it's accurate to say that the saint encountered the Fire of Jesus' love and reflected it back to Him. Love met love, Heart met heart, Fire met fire. But the story did not end there.

Jesus entrusted to Margaret Mary a mission: to spread the message of His fiery love.

"My Divine Heart," Christ said in an apparition to this humble nun in 1673, "is so passionately fond of the human race, and of you in particular, that it cannot keep back the pent-up flames of its burning charity any longer. They must burst out through you."

St. Margaret Mary later wrote: "Jesus asked for my heart, which I begged Him to take, and He placed it in His adorable One, in which He showed it to me as a tiny speck consumed in this burning furnace. Then, taking it out as a burning flame shaped like a heart, He replaced it in the place from which He had taken it."

St. Margaret Mary said many things that strike at the very core of my "cloistered" heart. I have room here for a few examples....

"Our Lord frequently told me that I should keep a secluded place for Him in my heart, where He would teach me to love Him."

"I beg the Sacred Heart of Jesus to deign to consume ours in the flames of His holy love, so that they may live and breathe only to love, honor and glorify Him."

"Jesus Christ is the true friend of our hearts, and they are made for Him alone. They cannot find rest, joy, or satisfaction except in Him."

"He wants your heart without reserve."

Jesus wants my heart without reserve. He desires my love in return for His.

How will I respond?

Detail of painting by Georges de la Tours, cropped and digitally altered. In public domain

to learn more about St. Margaret Mary, click here

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Habit Speaks

Armand Gautier, Three Nuns in the Portal of a Church

What does a Religious habit say to me when I see someone wearing it?

"I have found God to be worth the gift of my whole life," it tells me. "Nothing on earth is as important as He."

I thought of this, of the witnessing power of the habit, today when I saw the video I'm sharing on this post. I share it with hope that you have a few minutes to prayerfully witness this clothing of someone making a total gift of self to God.

As we know, each part of the monastic habit is deeply symbolic.

Can I identify, in a spiritual way, with any of the habit pieces placed on Sister?

I ask God to show me. I ask Him to clothe me in His love and His grace.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

An Abyss of All Good

'In a word, this Divine Heart is an abyss of all good,

into which the poor must plunge their necessities.

It is an abyss of joy, into which we must cast all our sorrows.

It is an abyss of humiliation for our pride,

an abyss of mercy for the miserable,

and an abyss of love into which we must cast all our troubles.'

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

From the Heart of St. Faustina

Over the next few days, I'd like to look at several 'cloistered hearts' who have gone before us. While these holy ones may never have thought of their hearts as 'cloistered,' indeed that was the reality.

I will be looking primarily at men and women determined by the Church to be saints, or at least ones recognized as on the steady path to sainthood.

After all, look at where their paths have led.

'I find pleasure, not in large buildings and magnificent structures,' said Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska, 'but in a pure and humble heart.' (Diary #532)

'In the dwelling of my heart is that wilderness to which no creature has access. There, You alone are King.' (St. Faustina, Diary #725)

'My heart is a permanent dwelling place for Jesus. No one but Jesus has access to it.' (St. Faustina, Diary #193)

'Nothing terrifies me, even if the whole world should turn against me. All adversaries touch only the surface, but they have no entry to the depths, because God, who strengthens me, who fills me, dwells there.' (St. Faustina, Diary #480)

'Nothing disturbs my union with the Lord, neither conversation with others nor any duties; even if I am to go about settling very important matters, this does not disturb me. My spirit is with God, and my interior being is filled with God, so I do not look for Him outside myself. He, the Lord, penetrates my soul just as a ray from the sun penetrates clear glass. When I was enclosed in my mother's womb, I was not so closely united with her as I am with my God. There, it was an unawareness; but here it is the fullness of reality and the consciousness of union.' (St. Faustina, Diary #883)

'My daughter, I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today.' (Jesus to St. Faustina, #866 )

All quotes above are from Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina Kowalska, Marians of the Immaculate Conception, Stockbridge, 1996. Click this link for more information.

Painting: Adolf Kaufmann, 1904, detail, in US public domain
Photo of St. Faustina in public domain

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Each Thing a Priceless Treasure

"If, while I am sewing, I do each stitch as well as possible, because I am doing it for Him and with Him Who resides in my little soul... each thing that I do is is a priceless treasure....

"My share in the apostolate may be by prayer or by suffering, by letting my light shine, by being the salt of the earth, by making the fact that Jesus lives within me so patent that people cannot help glorifying my Father Who is in heaven....

"It is not only those who are called to active service who share with the divine Master this magnificent Apostolate. All who cherish the Interior Life are, by that very fact, called to be Apostles, sent by God to do His work in some form or another.

"Eternal God! It is Thy gracious pleasure to make my pour soul Thy home."

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus, by A Religious, Pellegrini, 1941, pp. 42-44)

R Berenguer painting in US public domain due to age

Monday, June 3, 2013

In Crowds or Cells

"Divine Truth abides within us. We absorb more and more of His Spirit until - in the midst of crowds or secluded in our cells - we are alone with our Master and inseparable Guide.

"Jesus Christ is very nigh to the soul that seeks and loves Him, and she speaks to Him in the inner cloister of her heart... She is quite real and actual in all she says to him.

"She lives in His Will, her attention is fixed on Him; all through the hours of work, He is there....."

(from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Peter Reilly Co., Philadelphia, 1952, pp. 14-16)

Painting: Lesser Ury, 1898, Abend im Cafe Bauer, detail