Magnificats

We are back at the scene of the Visitation.  The moment Mary's greeting had been spoken, the babe within Elizabeth leaped for joy.  Immediately, Mary burst forth with the glorious words of her Magnificat:  

"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit exalts in God my Savior, for He has looked upon His servant in her lowliness; all ages to come shall call me blessed.  God Who is mighty has done great things for me, holy is His Name..." (Luke 1:46-49)

Was this the only time Mary burst forth with praise of God?  Of course not.  Her later words of exaltation do not have to be recorded for us to know for certain that she spoke them.  She who was sinless, holy, utterly dedicated to God, and living with Jesus within the very walls of her home... how could it be possible for her not to have uttered countless 'magnificats?'   

When Jesus took His first steps, spoke His first words, when He lay sleeping in her arms - can we imagine the praise within her?  As Mary prayed in the temple, cared for her home, prepared meals for her little family, surely she worshiped through it all.

In my daily life, sometimes I reflect upon Mary's magnificats.  Going on my little 'visitations' to those around me, I try to remember that in the midst of her Visitation, Mary gave thanks.  

I, too, am called by God to proclaim His greatness, sometimes within hearing of those around me, sometimes in the quiet of my heart.  The mighty things God has done for me are quite different from what He did for Mary... but He has done some great things nonetheless.  

In joyous moments, do I remember to exalt Him?  When I have an opportunity, do I proclaim the greatness of the Lord?  And what about the sad times - what then.  I have no doubt that even in the worst moments, Mary's heart could (and did) cry "holy is His Name."  When such times come to my life, I have a Mother who can assist me.  I think she can help me find the will to praise.

When Jesus took His last steps, Mary was watching.  When He spoke His last words, Mary heard them.   "John, behold your mother.  Father forgive them.  It is finished."  She was there when He was taken from the Cross.

Scripture gives us no record of what Mary said when Jesus was placed in her arms that last time.  We can only imagine.  We do know her heart, her tender, motherly heart, was pierced and broken.  Whether she uttered actual words...  we do not know that.  But we do know the attitude of Mary, and we know that her decision to trust and to praise would have been there, even then.  

In my imagination, I can almost hear it....

 My soul

 proclaims

 the greatness 

 of the Lord;

 my spirit exalts

 in God my Savior...

 God Who is mighty

 has done

 great things 

 for me.

 Holy 

 is 

 His 

 Name.

(this post is linked to Pay it Forward at a Life Size Catholic Blog)                                                                                  

Visitations

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

As we've said in the last few days, Mary visited Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56) because she had BEEN Visited by God.  She didn't 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. You and I 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 living in the world as a cloistered heart.  

I could go on and on about this topic, for I have two directions in mind.  I hope to share those over the next few days, for each by itself is a specific thought.  For now, however, I want to leave us with a question.

What might happen if I make a conscious effort to go through today "on visitation?"  

What if I first visit the Lord in prayer, and then specifically visit every person I encounter with the love of Christ?  This does not mean I have to say or do anything that will draw attention.  It can mean that I pray a silent aspiration for the mailman, smile at a harried store clerk, relate to family members with patience.  I might even write a note to a sick friend, send an e-mail of encouragement, call a lonely relative.  

My visitations can be simple and unnoticed.   But as I carry the love of Christ to those around me, I have a feeling that all of heaven will rejoice.

To Be Visited

To be Visited by God Himself.  

It is what Pentecost was all about.  

It is what receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion is all about.  

It's what my life and your life are about.  We have the opportunity... at Mass, at adoration, in prayer, at every moment in which we seek Him,  to be Visited by God Himself.   

On this eve of the Feast of the Visitation, I'm reflecting upon opportunities I have to carry Jesus to those around me.  But I cannot visit WITH Him if I have not first been Visited BY Him.  A "cloistered heart" without the Presence of Christ would be, in fact, no such thing.  And so I ask, for each of us, that we will have grace to open our hearts to a deeper infilling of the Holy Spirit.  

May we seek Him, trust Him, visit Him in prayer.   

May we have new eyes to recognize His Visitations in every area of our lives.  

“Are you not aware that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

 

"When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God."  (1 John 4:15)

“Most beautiful of creatures, who desires so ardently to know the dwelling place of your Beloved in order to seek Him and be united with Him, you are yourself the refuge where He takes shelter, the dwelling place in which He hides Himself. Your Beloved, your Treasure, your one Hope is so close to you as to live within you." (St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle)

The Visit - With a Capital V

Today we find ourselves (here on this blog, at least) back at the scene of the Annunciation.  That might seem strange immediately after Pentecost, but in two days we'll be celebrating the feast of our Blessed Mother's visit to Elizabeth.  As we know, there would have been no visitation without the Annunciation.  And the scene of the visitation, I believe, has much to teach those who would go through the world with Christ "cloistered" in our hearts. 

When I read the first chapter of Luke, several things strike me:

Mary visited because she had BEEN Visited.  She made her visitation because first she'd HAD a Visitation.  Mary had been Visited by God in a way totally unique in human history, and then she went in haste to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth, who had also been Visited by God.  

Mary had a choice to make in response to this Visitation of God upon her.  Yes, she had been conceived without sin, but still she had free will.  She was not totally choiceless in the matter.  Eve had been created without sin also - she could have said no to the promptings of evil and yes to the will of God.  Mary, conceived without sin, still could have said no.  Instead, she uttered the Yes which opened wide the door through which our Savior entered the world.

Mary's action immediately after being overshadowed with the power of the Most High was to set out in haste to visit Elizabeth, who had also been Visited by God.  Mary carried the Presence of Christ Himself to Elizabeth, to John in Elizabeth's womb, to Zechariah.  Our Blessed Mother did not make her visitation taking only herself.  She carried within her the Presence of God.

There was a reaction to the Presence of Christ carried within Mary.  The babe in Elizabeth leapt for joy. 

As she visited Elizabeth and the two marveled at the Visitations of God upon them, Mary burst forth in praise.  

Over the next few days, we will look more deeply into the scene of the visitation.  As we do, I pray that Our Lord will powerfully Visit each of our hearts.

Breakthrough

The painting on this post is extra large.  It breaks across boundaries, crosses neat edges of the sidebar, and in effect has this blog bursting at the seams.

At first, I was going to make the image smaller.  Then I realized:  this is a picture of Pentecost, and a painting bursting through the boundaries may actually have something to show us. 

The Holy Spirit of God burst into our world on Pentecost.  Not with a gentle whisper - not this time.  He came suddenly, with noise like a strong, driving wind. Tongues as of fire appeared and came to rest on each person.  As we are told in Acts 2, 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." 

(Pentecost painting by Jean Restout)

Her First Visitation

Michiel Coxie "Annunciation"

As we know, it's almost the Feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples.

As we also know, Pentecost was not the first time our Blessed Mother received a Visitation from God.

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy Offspring to be born will be called Son of God."  (Luke 1:35)

Immediately upon saying these words to Mary, the angel added:  "Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age.."  (Luke 1:36)  Mary then went in haste to Elizabeth, an event we will be celebrating on May 31st. 

I tend to think of these things (the Annunciation, the Visitation, Pentecost) together, because I like to meditate upon their connections. 

After all, there would have been no Pentecost if there had been no Incarnation.  

There would have been no visitation of Mary to Elizabeth if there had been no Annunciation. 

Without God's Visitation to Mary and her total yes to Him, we would have had no Savior, no Cross, no Resurrection, no gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, no Church. 

Over the next few days, I hope to look more (here) into these sacred connections.  I also hope to consider how we, ourselves, are visited by God, and how we can visit others with His Presence.  After all, in order to visit others with the Spirit of God, we must first BE Visited by Him.  

With this in mind, I pray that we will be graced to open our hearts more fully to the Holy Spirit. I pray that we will seek His Visitation upon our souls, that we will visit Him in praise and adoration, that we will carry Him tenderly to those around us. 

As we prepare for the glorious Feast of Pentecost, may we be open to His love, His holiness, His cleansing, and His grace. 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8)

How Do I Love Thee?

Occasionally a "secular" song or poem becomes, for me, a prayer.  Because I find specific meaning in virtually every line of it, this is probably THE prime example:  

 

How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways.
I love Thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love Thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love Thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love Thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love Thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love Thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love Thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; 

And, if God choose,
I shall but love Thee better after death.

                 (Elizabeth Barret Browning)  

“The perfect love of God does not consist in delights, tears and sentiments of devotion that we generally desire.  It consists, rather, in a strong determination and burning desire to please God in all things, and in the effort to avoid offending Him as far as possible and to promote His glory.” (St. Teresa of Avila)

“We should love God because He is God, and the measure of our love should be to love Him without measure.” (St. Bernard)

“The surest way to determine whether one possesses love of God is to see whether he loves his neighbor.  These two loves are never separated.” (St. Teresa of Avila)

“Love means obeying You.” (Charles de Foucauld)

“The soul who is in love with God is a gentle, humble and patient soul.” (St. John of the Cross).

“Love of God is acquired by resolving to work and suffer for God and to abstain from all that displeases Him when the temptations arise.  The better to do this in great things one must grow accustomed to it in little things.” (St. Teresa of Avila)

“I ask Thy holy love, which will detach me from all creatures, and particularly from myself, that I may love nothing but Thee, and Thy most holy will.” (St. Alphonsus Liguori)

In the Cloister Garden

I spent part of today working in the cloister garden (above). Seasons have their effects on cloister gardens; and as we know, seasons of life have effects on our souls....

"Let us advance; let us make our way through these low valleys of the humble and little virtues.  We shall see in them the roses amid the thorns, charity that shows its beauty among interior and exterior afflictions, the lilies of purity, the violets of mortification: what virtues shall we not see?" (St. Francis de Sales)

"The beginner must think of himself as setting out to make a garden in which the Lord is to take His delight, yet in soil most unfruitful and full of weeds.  His Majesty uproots the weeds and will set good plants in their stead.  We have now, by God’s help like good gardeners, to make these plants grow.  We must water them carefully, so that they may not perish, but may produce flowers which shall send forth great fragrance to give refreshment to this Lord of ours, so that he may often come into the garden to take his pleasure and his delight among these virtues." (St. Teresa of Avila)

"Have good courage to cultivate this vineyard, contributing your little effort to the spiritual good of the souls that the Lord has reserved for Himself lest they ‘bend their knees before Baal.. in the midst of a people that has unclean lips.’  Do not be surprised if the fruits do not yet appear, because if you do the work of God patiently, your labor will not be in vain."  (St. Francis de Sales)

"I am the true vine and My Father is the vinegrower. He prunes away every barren branch, but the fruitful ones He trims clean to increase their yield.  You are clean already, thanks to the word I have spoken to you.  Live on in Me, as I do in you.  No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself apart from the vine, can you bear fruit apart from Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who lives in me and I in him, will produce abundantly, for apart from Me you can do nothing.  A man who does not live in Me is like a withered, rejected branch, picked up to be thrown into the fire and burnt."  (John 15:1-6)

"Prayer is to our soul what rain is to the soil.  Fertilize the soil ever so richly; it will remain barren unless fed by frequent rains." (St. John Vianney)

"We must give the flowers - that is, the glory - to God, and the fruits (our services) to the neighbor." (St. Catherine of Siena)

Cloistered Here? Absolutely!

I once had a dream about a carnival.  Specifically, I dreamed I was in a little house on carnival grounds.  It was night, but the light streaming in through my windows was bright and garish.  It flashed bursts of purple and white and blue and red and yellow, ceaselessly, across walls and floors and faces.  

There were other people in the house, sitting quietly in my little living room.  The faces around were serene and still.  I knew we were praying.

It was a "staying" sort of dream, the kind you carry with you throughout the day and perhaps long after.  I felt it captured much of the essence of my life as a cloistered heart. 

Like the house in my dream, my life is encircled by "the carnival." I don't have to look far to see the truth of this, although I often forget it.  I live surrounded by so many things that don't really matter in the long run... things that carry the atmosphere of carnival.... the chase after fun, self-indulgence, riches, entertainment, pleasure, the pursuit of what pleases me-me-me.  Yes, that last sentence contains redundancies; and yes, the carnival does as well.  Like a wheel spinning round and round going nowhere, the carnival spins back to self and I and me and mine and what I can get out of life.

It's tough not to get caught up in the carnival.  After all, there is much in it that can be legitimately enjoyed.  But oh, how easy it is to let the clamor and excitement, the music and the neon, the magic and illusion take my focus off what really matters!  It is a constant struggle.

How to live in the carnival while not being part of it?  Perhaps, for me, a clue lies within the dream.   I am to remain in that little house of prayer, in the cloister of God's will, wherever I may go.  I am to keep the light of prayer lit within it, for that will illuminate the shadows and reveal the Truth of God.  

Like a turtle in its shell, I can carry the cloister with me. I can live in a house of peace, in the midst of the carnival's neon glare.   

"The world with its seductions is passing away, but the man who does God's will endures forever."  (1 John 2:17)

Thee I Praise...

A word jumped out at me this morning, from a simple text.  The word was "worship." 

I have thought about it all day.  What does it mean to worship, and why does the mere word capture my heart?  I went in search of an adequate definition... and then I realized.... 

I can't define worship.  The dictionary can't define worship.  Like poetry, worship "shows," it does not "tell."  It praises, thanks, sings, adores, celebrates, exalts, surrenders, prostrates, loves.  So I will not waste attempts at the telling.  I will let a handful of worshipers show...

"Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights.  Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His hosts."  (Psalm 148:1-2)

"Throughout the long hours I adore You, oh living Bread, amidst the great drought in my soul.  O Jesus, pure Love, I do not need consolations; I am nourished by Your will."  (St. Faustina, Diary #195)

"Thee I praise, O God my delight, for upon Thy Cross I have made my bed."  (Blessed Angela of Foligno)

"O my Jesus, I love You, and I want to worship You with my very weakness, submitting myself entirely to Your holy will."  (St. Faustina, Diary #782)

"In the fire, Azariah stood up and prayed aloud:  'Blessed are You, and praiseworthy, O Lord, the God of our fathers, and glorious forever is Your Name.  For you are just in all you have done; all your deeds are faultless, all your ways right, and all your judgements proper...'"  (Daniel 3:25-27)

"I recall that I received most light during adoration.... During that time, I came to know myself and God more profoundly."  (St. Faustina, Diary #147)

"To the One seated on the throne, and to the Lamb, be praise and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!"  (Revelation 5:13)