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.
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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                                                       

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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   
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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
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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 was originally going to put it on our  page entitled "videos of monastic life" (see list of pages on the sidebar, just to your left as you read this).  However, I don't want to wait until it's just stumbled-upon.  I'd like to call attention to it today, 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.
                                 
                                                                                                                                      



Visit this Passionist Monastery at http://www.passionistnuns.org/     

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A Touch of Wind

I've been in need of a fresh spiritual breeze in my (admittedly dusty) cloister.  A look into the basics of what it means to live cloistered in heart has been just what I've needed to swoosh a few cobwebs away.   

I am now sharing the fruits of this fresh wind with you.  We have new stand-alone pages, located on the sidebar, just up to your left as you look at this.  A click on any topic will open up a basic explanation, although not all follow the same exact "pattern."  Content will be added and changed in these pages as time goes on

The intention is to enable new readers to see quickly, as much in a nutshell as possible, what the basic cloistered heart idea is about.

There are also a few "refreshers" for those of us who are not new to this spot.  Where we formerly had ten stand-alone pages, we now have twenty - and the original ten have been reworked or deleted.  We have a few videos where we can more easily find them, and a page of Monastery Music (have you ever heard Ave Maria sung by Pope John Paul II?  POWERFUL)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Don't Mind Me. I'm Just Loistering.

Yes, you're at the right blog - if you clicked in looking for "The Cloistered Heart," that is.  Twelve hours ago, you may have left wondering.  For a short while, there was a background behind the blog title.  Our "C" got swallowed up in a saint's face on that, hiding altogether and possibly causing anyone who'd never been here before to ask themselves "just what IS a Loistered Heart?"

I, meanwhile, was at Church - realizing this had happened right before it was time for me to leave my house but having no time to change it.

One does go on about one's life, at times leaving Loistered Blogs lingering.  At least I was where I could do something about it.  I prayed.

Now I'm off again.  In a short while, hopefully a chunk of the world's population will be joining, in one way or another, in worldwide Eucharistic Adoration.... all at the same time.  Those who cannot do so in a chapel or church can, of course, adore our Lord Jesus wherever we may be.

Meanwhile, back at this blog, anyone happening to check in throughout this day (and perhaps beyond...) is likely to see changes and then changes again.  Yes, I know a light background may be a bit jarring for those of us accustomed to a dark "oasis."  I will admit, however, to being "of an age" when what is easiest to see is what's most appreciated.

I can say this much:  a few more things will change in this little blog over the next day or two.  So stay tuned:  you wouldn't want to miss a fleeting tryout of abstract purple tulips stuck smack behind the Loister.

Many bloggers hide their blogs from public view while changing colors and fonts.  Not I.   So if you see something you dislike, hang on - it may not be there long.  If you see something you like - look quickly - it may not be there long.  You can let me know in "the parlor" if you have any suggestions along the way.

In the meantime, this is a significant day, a day of worldwide Eucharistic adoration.  I want to participate as fully as possible.

It's time again for me to leave the Loisters.  I will be praying with you before our Eucharistic Lord. 

The Visitation

On so many levels, The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth speaks - I would even say it sings - to my life as a cloistered heart.

Mary visited Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56) because she had BEEN Visited by God.  She did not go to Elizabeth alone - she went with the Presence of Christ inside her.  

As one living "cloistered for Jesus" in the midst of the world, I carry Christ inside me as well.  Oh, not in the same unique way, certainly.  But according to Scripture and Church teaching, I indeed carry Him within. 

Mary went on a simple visit to Elizabeth.  It was an occasion that I'm sure went unnoticed by many.  A woman went to visit her kinswoman; something that happened all the time.   No one would have cried out: "look, there goes Mary on mission!" or "how about that!  This visit will be written of in the Bible!"  From the merely human perspective, it was simply a time of normal interaction between two women, two relatives.  
 
And so it is with us.  We have opportunities every single day to visit people with the presence of Christ.  In the everyday activities of life, we visit family members, neighbors, store clerks, e-mailers, callers on the phone. 

I find it extremely helpful when I make a conscious effort to visit these persons with the love of Our Lord.  That is:  with an awareness of Christ within me.  I have found that it makes quite a difference in my attitude when I think of things this way. 

It is the essence, in my estimation, of going through the world with Jesus in the "cloister of my heart." 

Painting: Frans Francken (II), De Visitatie 

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The above is a slightly abridged version of the post here on May 31st, 2012.

© 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
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Three Obedient Bees

The Feast of the Visitation is this coming Friday, May 31st.  It is a feast I love, for it celebrates an event embodying much of what I want to live as a "cloistered heart."

The Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary love this feast as well.  Certainly they do.  They take their name from the scene of the visitation, when our Blessed Mother visited Elizabeth because both had first been Visited (one uniquely) by God.

In 1610, St. Jane de Chantal and two others stepped into a little house in Annecy, France, and thus the Order of the Visitation began.  Just the three of them, gathering to serve God for one reason only:  He had called them.  They did not know the path ahead.  They were not thinking centuries into the future.  They came in simple obedience, to love, to adore, to serve.

These ladies were, said Bishop Francis de Sales,  "like three little bees in a beehive or three innocent doves in a nest."  "Looking upon them with great joy, he said 'you are blessed because the Lord has chosen you.  Your courage is great; God will be your King.'  He then handed over to Madame de Chantal a compendium of the constitution which he had composed for them and said, 'follow this path, my dearest daughter, and see that it is followed by all those whom Heaven has destined to walk in your footsteps.'" (from Every Day with St. Francis de Sales, Francis J.  Klauder SDB ed., Salesiana Publishers, 1985,p.  159)

403 years later, people still walk in the footsteps of these first three women.  I present the following  as "evidence" of this fact.  If you have any interest at all in nuns or in cloistered life (are you smiling yet?), I strongly encourage you to take a look at this 6-minute video.

Amazing, isn't it, what God can do with three obedient bees...? 



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Blessed Equal Three

'O Blessed Trinity!
Thy children
dare to give
their hearts to Thee,
and bless
Thy triple Majesty!
Holy Trinity!
Blessed equal Three,
One God,
we praise
Thee.'
- Father  Faber, 19th century

More Fleeting Than a Shadow

'For certain, this life is only a phantom of life,
and its pleasures
only the shadows of pleasures....

'If pleasure is met with
here below,
it is more fleeting than a shadow,

'for the soul's true satisfaction
is to reach its goal,
which is God -
and this everlasting,
and most to be desired, eternity.'

St. Jane de Chantal

Painting: Lovis Corinth Schattenspiele 1891

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Our Patroness

The concept of the cloistered heart can be said to have several "patrons," but one saint in particular serves as a primary role model.  Why?  Perhaps the following will help, at least a little, to answer that question....

St. Jane de Chantal was Francis de Sales' co-founder of the Visitation of Holy Mary.  Before becoming a nun, however, Jane was a young widow consulting St. Francis for spiritual direction.  At that time, she was a busy laywoman with four children to raise.  Recognizing the desires of her heart, Francis de Sales directed Jane "in her growing intimacy and conformity to the signified will of God.  He even confirmed her in the practice of imaging her own spiritual world with monastic imagery.  For example, she took the Virgin Mary as the Abbess of the cloister of her own heart."  
(Wendy Wright, Joseph Power OSFS and Peronne Marie Thibert VHM, Francis de Sales, Jane de Chantal, Letters of Spiritual Direction, Paulist, 1988, p. 41) 

"The spirit of God does not depend on retirement.  Rather it is a spirit that strengthens and perfects all occupations." - St. Jane de Chantal

"Ah, what a happiness to live thus in the world without sharing in its miserable affections and aims!"  - St. Jane de Chantal

"You must adhere to this practice of looking at God within you and it will absorb all others."  - St. Jane de Chantal

"Our Lord, in no place of Scripture, says... give Me thy head, thine arms, thy life, but only:  My child, give Me thy heart.  Whoso has a person's heart, has the entire person.  The heart is the seat of love.  When I shall have thy heart, I shall set My love upon it.  I will make My love dwell therein and then all the rest will follow as a consequence."  - St. Jane de Chantal

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The Cloistered Heart

'The heart is
the dwelling-place
where I am,
where I live;

'according to the Semitic
or Biblical expression,
the heart is the place
to which I withdraw.

'The heart is our hidden center,
beyond the grasp of our reason
and of others;

'only the Spirit of God
can fathom the human heart
and know it fully.

'The heart is the place of decision,
deeper than our psychic drives.

'It is the place of truth,
where we choose life or death.

'It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation;

'it is the place of covenant.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church #2563


Painting:  Philippe de Champaigne, St. Augustine (detail)

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The Breakthrough!

The painting on this post is one I used last Pentecost.  I love posting it in large size.  I love the truth it underlines as it breaks through the margin, spills into the background, and causes this blog to burst at the seams.  I can think of nothing more appropriate for today's Feast. 

The Holy Spirit of God burst into our world on Pentecost.  Not in a gentle whisper, we're told in Acts 2, but with noise like a strong, driving wind. Tongues as of fire appeared and came to rest on each person.  All were filled with the Holy Spirit, expressing themselves in foreign tongues and making bold proclamation.  There was so much noise that it drew quite a crowd.  The onlookers were "confused," "amazed," "astonished," "dumbfounded."  Peter, who had once denied Jesus out of fear, stood up and proclaimed boldly what the Spirit was doing.

The events of that day certainly did not fit into neat, tidy categories.  Suddenly, the world the apostles had known was bursting at the seams. 

The shaken onlookers had never seen anything like this.  "What are we to do?" they asked.  Peter, now emboldened, had an answer.  "You must reform and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that your sins may be forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It was to you and your children that the promise was made, and to all those still far off whom the Lord our God calls."  (Acts 2:37-39) 

"To all those still far off whom the Lord our God calls." 

This promise is for us!  We are far from that day (as we measure time), but we have been called.  We are promised the forgiveness of sins.  We are promised the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are, in effect, promised a breakthrough.  If we let Him, the Holy Spirit of God can tear down anything and everything that walls us off from receiving the absolute fullness of His grace.

"Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of Your faithful!  Enkindle in them the fire of your divine love!  Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth!"   

This material is taken from last year's Pentecost post.  Text not in quotes © 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved. thecloisteredheart.org      

(Pentecost painting by Jean Restout)

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In Prayer, They Waited

"On one occasion when (Jesus) met with them, He told them not to leave Jerusalem.  'Wait, rather, for the fulfillment of My Father's promise, of which you have heard Me speak.  John baptized with water, but within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'" (Acts 1:4-5)




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No Language Gap

The term 'spiritual ideolect' is becoming part of my everyday thought, particularly in relation to the life of heart-cloister.  To refresh our memory (and so we don't have to keep looking it up), I'll return to the explanation presented by Connie Rossini: 'Everyone has an idiolect--a collection of personal speech habits that is different from anyone else's. Have you ever thought about your spiritual idiolect?  Since your soul is unique, you have a personal way of speaking to God that no one else completely shares.'

How does this relate to cloister of the heart?  I would say that we each have a particular way of living for God and speaking with God in the midst of the world... yet if we are bent on genuinely following God's will, we have the same Homeland and the same 'mother tongue.'   We use similar terminology, but we might think of it a bit differently.  For instance, when I use the word 'grille,' I generally picture a panel made of crisscrossed wooden latticework.  You may think of something in a wrought iron swirly pattern.

Yet when we go on to speak of seeing all things through this, and when we compare that to looking at life through the will of God, the same basic idea comes into play for both of us. 

The important thing - the thing that does not change - is that we are both choosing to view and respond to persons and circumstances as God instructs.  That is: according to Scripture and the authentic teachings of the Church.

Our friend 'Chloe,' on the other hand (a fictional person), might decide to primarily base her conduct on the counsel of a Hollywood celebrity.  While there may be no conflict (at times) between Scripture and the latest opinions of a television host, the host's words are not what we are called to live by.  Even when they're clever, humanitarian, and look nice embroidered on a pillow, the star's words will never be our grillwork.  Only Scripture and the teachings of the Church could ever make that claim.  Chloe might say that she is living as God wants, but if she never looks into Scripture or Church teaching to be sure, and if she's choosing to follow something other than these, her interpretation of  'as God wants' is not the same as ours.  There is a language gap.

With this in mind, I will offer a few more scriptures.  If we were to all read these aloud, we'd undoubtedly do so in a medley of regional accents.  And if I'm understanding the concept of spiritual ideolects correctly, we would read them with different heart-emphases as well.  Our backgrounds, memories, trials, formations would all come into play.

There is no language gap here, however - no matter how varied our backgrounds - when we embrace Scripture and Church teaching as the bases of our grillwork.

We know that no worldly exhortations, however enticing, could ever take their place.

'Happy the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent,  but delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on His law day and night.   He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade.'  (Psalm 1:1-3)

'Stay clear of worldly, idle talk and the contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.  In laying claim to such knowledge, some men have missed the goal of faith.'  (1 Timothy 6:20-21)

'All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching - for reproof, correction, and training in holiness, so that the man of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good work.'  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

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