Cherished

'What is 'ecclesiastical legislation' regarding papal enclosure?  It is precisely the arms of the Church cherishing her contemplatives.  And thus, if an enclosed nun is encouraged to rebel at 'strictures,' she will let her smiling silence itself best explain that she is not incarcerated but cherished.  For her, 'legislation' pertains to the realization that the arms of the Church are around her.  And she rejoices, as any normal woman rejoices, to be held in loving arms.  She has penetrated beneath the level of 'legislation' as restrictive or prohibitive to the understanding of how love, of its nature, seeks to safeguard the beloved.  Thus her understanding of ecclesiastical legislation on her cloistered life is expressed in the cry of the psalmist:  'how I love Your law, O Lord!' (Psalm 119).' (Mother Mary Francis PCC, 'The King's Rooms,' copyright Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This booklet may be ordered by clicking this link)   

The will of God is the safest, most secure place in which a person can dwell.  In order to live within this place of refuge, however, we must accept Our Lord's invitation to embrace its boundaries.  The primary perimeters of God's will are not hard to find.  They are revealed in Scripture and outlined clearly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.   

Because God loves us, He has set these boundaries in place for our security, and He has generously revealed them to us.  
 
We are cherished.

Painting:  William Adolphe Bouguereau, The Proposal, 1872


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