Embracing the Mass

 

"They recounted what had happened to them on the road, and how they had come to know Him in the breaking of the bread."  (Luke 24:35)

Mass is the highlight of the monastic day. The other prayers prepare for it, revolve around it, highlight and underscore it... and carry its themes into every other part of the afternoon and evening. This is reasonable, logical, for "The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life...  In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324 and 1327)

Before the great Wonder of the Eucharist, of Jesus with us in Flesh and Blood, I am, frankly, speechless. So I look to one more eloquent than I as I pass along these words: 

"We must continually remind ourselves that the greatest need in the world today is to centre our lives more and more in the oblational aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; for today, when the whole world is galloping away from the very shadow of the Cross, we must embrace it and cling to it ever more firmly, in union with Jesus Christ....We should never come to Holy Mass without preparation, and it is for this reason that, in Religious Houses, the Community Mass is celebrated after the Spiritual Exercises of the morning. Of all the works of the Sacred Heart here below, Holy Mass together with Holy Communion is the Masterpiece." 

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus by 'A Religious,' Pelligrini, 1941, p. 443)

Can I get to Mass today? If so, I ask for the grace of opened eyes. Eyes that can truly see Him in the breaking of the Bread. 

But perhaps I am limited - maybe by family needs, illness, work, disability. What then? I can at least make a spiritual communion, perhaps using words like these: 

"My Jesus, I believe You are truly present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to possess You within my soul. Since I am unable now to receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and I unite myself wholly to You; never permit me to be separated from You." 

(St. Alphonsus)

Text not in quotes © 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org    

  

Posted by © Nancy Shuman at 11:49 PM 

*This is a repost from the archives of 8/28/12.

Only in This Encounter

'Christianity is not a new philosophy or a new morality. 

We are Christian only if we encounter Christ.... 

only in this personal relationship with Christ, 

only in this encounter with the Risen One do we really become Christians... 

Therefore, let us pray to the Lord to enlighten us so that, in our world, 

He will grant us the encounter with His presence, and thus give a lively faith, 

an open heart, and great charity for all, capable of renewing the world.'

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Painting: Karoly Ferenczy, Sermon on the Mountain, 1896

Do You Not See?

How beautiful is the poor little Babe!   

I beg you to take your repose close to Him,

  because He will not fail to love your heart just as it is,

  with all its lack of tenderness and of feeling.

 Do you not see how He receives the breath of the oxen

and the ass, which have no feeling at all?   

How will He not appreciate the operations of your poor heart,

which, even though it lacks tenderness, yet throws itself

 resolutely and firmly at His feet, pledging itself

to be always a faithful servant of His divine Heart.

                                                                                 St. Francis de Sales


Painting:  Arthur Hughes, The Nativity

From the Measure of This Bright Day

'All days from the measure of this bright day gain blessings.

All the feasts from the stores of this feast have their fairness and their ornaments...

Great is this day above all days, for in it came forth mercy to sinners.

A medicine chest is this great day, 

because on it shone forth the Medicine of Life to the wounded.

A treasure of helpful graces is this day, because on it, 

Light gleamed forth on our blindness.

St. Ephraem the Syrian 

Painting: Edward Burne-Jones, Star of Bethlehem (detail)

Toward Us He Is Journeying

'The nine months draw to a close, and our Lord's last act is to journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It is toward us, as well as toward Bethlehem, that He is journeying. He is about to leave His home a second time for the love of us. As He had left His uncreated home in the bosom of the Father, so is He now going to leave His created home that He may come to us and be still more ours.'

Fr. Frederick Faber

Painting: James Tissot

Advent in Daily Life

'It is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an 'advent,' a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. 

'To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who, as we say in the Creed, one day will come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize Him as present in the events of daily life. 

'Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward Him Who already came, Who will come, and Who comes continuously.'

Pope St John Paul II

Painting: Jules Breton. The Weeders, 1868

Do We Seek A Savior?

"The question is: is the humanity of our time still waiting for a Savior? One has the feeling that many consider God as foreign to their own interests. Apparently, they do not need Him. They live as though He did not exist and, worse still, as though He were an 'obstacle' to remove in order to fulfill themselves. Even among believers - we are sure of it - some let themselves be attracted by enticing dreams and distracted by misleading doctrines that suggest deceptive shortcuts to happiness. Yet, despite its contradictions, worries and tragedies, it seeks a Savior and awaits, sometimes unconsciously, the coming of the Savior who renews the world and our life, the coming of Christ, the one true Redeemer of man and of the whole of man."

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

Painting: T F Simon, New York

Am I Living in Denial?

Among my recently uncovered treasures from a friend, I found the following. It was written in 2000 and later edited a bit: 

I believe God is calling us to wake up and stop wasting any of the moments of His precious gift of life. We live in an anesthetized society, a society in deep denial of the fact that each of us was made to live according to the will of God.

All around us are people in a stupor, and we are affected by it - for how could we not be? Yet we are called to be like the saints gone before us: the ones who escaped from their societal denial and used their allotment of time for God.

As we enter a new millenium, we must walk in the footsteps of the saints. There is no more time to waste, no more time to walk with one foot in the world and one in the will of God. We must decide. 

A pretty serious call? You bet. If we're serious about following Christ, we are invited to follow in the footsteps of those who, in their own times, were not popular. Oh, the saints are admired now, when we read about them in books. They're well loved on days when we wear green and celebrate a bit of Irish blood in our veins. But the fact is, and we all know it, that the saints were never very popular in their own times. Why? Because they were those who worked to call their societies out of denial. 

As those who live in the world rather than in actual physical cloisters, we live in an atmosphere of denial. The great lie is that this earth and our time upon it is the only important thing, and that what we get out of life is all that really counts. 

How much of this have I bought into? 

What is the motivation behind the things I do with my minutes and hours?

Am I about loving God, serving others, working to increase the population of heaven?

Am I primarily pursuing my own comforts, interests, gains or status - perhaps telling myself that I'm not doing so even as I do so?

What is the focus of my life? 

If I knew that Our Lord was coming for me for me tomorrow, would this knowledge alter my activities today?

Perhaps it's time for me to talk with Christ about some of these things.

Making the Connection

Encounter

Revisiting Contemplative Renewal

I have long believed there is a kind of contemplative renewal occurring in the Church. From where I sit, I've seen an ever growing body of evidence that this is the case. An increase of Eucharistic adoration, a re-focus on the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, an emphasis on Divine Mercy, interests in contemplative prayer and monastic life and silent retreats. So many things make me think this has all been growing, hidden, in the darkness of a world increasingly confused about Truth.

This renewal has not arrived with the fire and exuberance of some other movements.  It is growing in a quiet, hidden way. 

One cannot make this sort of thing happen here or there or anywhere; one can only be a yes to God and make oneself available.  And one "yes" - one unconditional, unqualified yes to the will of God - can reverberate throughout the whole earth.  I believe we are seeing fruits of some of these yeses, this very day.

Tough times produce tough yeses. These yeses may not be spoken in the midst of great emotion.  They may be uttered in the pain of darkness, or with the sting of aridity, or with the apprehension of knowing that those who stand for the Truth of Christ are often scorned and looked down upon.  This in itself makes the yeses unconditional. I think the blooms of contemplative renewal are being spotted here, and there, across the earth.  They have been growing hidden, their roots spreading deep under the soil.

It is a struggle to get these words down, for I suspect they sound a bit dramatic.  But in 1995 I made an attempt to speak of this to a priest, a man (now deceased) who traveled the world teaching the Truth of Christ.  He responded:  "you write of a 'contemplative renewal.'  Yes.  We are shoots of a larger growth - of the Spirit - coming up everywhere.  There is hope.  It is He."  

Those looking for fanfare and accolades for their opinions don't pay much attention to little clumps of flowers here and there.  But little clumps of pray-ers, rooted securely in the Church, are the ones God has always used to hold the fertile soil of His world together.    

Yes, there is hope.  It is He.



This is a repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled To You and Theology Is A Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'  



Text not in quotes © N Shuman.
thecloisteredheart.org

Acting Logically

'Jesus told him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life;  no one comes to the Father but through Me.'' (John 14:6)

'The monk is precisely the Christian who has recognized in Christ 'the way, the truth, and the life' and who intends to act logically over this discovery, a discovery of such a nature that it should not leave any of those who have made it tepid or indifferent.' (Louis Bouyer of the Oratory, The Meaning of the Monastic Life, P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1950, p. 68)

- If I recognize in Christ the way, the truth and the life, am I acting logically over this discovery? Are the things I do and say, on a daily basis, consistent with my belief in this truth?

- Have I grown tepid or indifferent? If so, do I have any idea how this happened? And what can I do to get back on track?  

'The Christian life is nothing else but Christ; the monastic life is nothing else but Christ. The requirements for the Christian and for the monk are in substance the same; the difference lies only in the particular kind of stress that is given to them. The Church exists so that souls should lead the life of Christ; the monastery exists for the same purpose. Whether it is union with Him in the world or in the cloister, it is union that is the soul's purpose.' (Dom Hubert Van Zeller, The Yoke of Divine Love, Templegate, 1957, p. 182)

The Absolute Center

'The chapel looked narrow, high, sacred, mellow with mingled colors, and lovely in its vague richness and calm. An ancient picture, browned by time, represents Martha and Mary in a composition of much dignity, and hangs directly over the altar... (A Story of Courage, p. 36) 

The first place a person is likely to visit in a monastery is the chapel, for in the chapel is found the center of monasticism.

This is because Jesus is the Absolute Center of cloistered life. To miss this truth is to miss the point of monasticism, and it's to miss the whole point of having a 'cloistered heart.' 

How can a man or woman leave home, possessions, career, entertainment - and so many things the world considers important - in order to take up residence behind enclosure walls?  For what reason would a person even consider such a thing?  

The Reason is a Person.  Without this Person, cloistered life would be pointless and empty and fruitless and vague.  

If we know and remember nothing else about monasteries or various aspects of consecrated life, we must remember this:   

Jesus is the Reason for it all.  

"The fundamental question: ' does he really seek God.'  Let us state the fact without beating about the bush:  a monastic institute which ceased to put this question to its postulants, or which inserted some different question in its place, would cease ipso facto to have any right to the name monastic.  The search, the true search, in which the whole of one's being is engaged, not for some thing but for some One:  is the search for God.  That is the beginning and end of monasticism.  If it is to be truly God which we seek, we have to seek him as a Person."  (The Meaning of the Monastic Life, Lois Bouyer of the Oratory, PJ Kenedy and Sons, NY, 1950,p. 8)

'The Christian life is nothing else but Christ; the monastic life is nothing else but Christ. The requirements for the Christian and for the monk are in substance the same… whether it is union with Him in the world or in the cloister, it is union that is the soul’s purpose. Nothing else matters but this.” (Dom Hubert Van Zeller, THE YOKE OF DIVINE LOVE, Templegate, Springfield IL, 1957, p. 182) 

 

"We are, each of us, a Living Cathedral.  Each is his own chapel. And provided we are in a state of grace, God lives and dwells within us… (so) we must live and act as if we were dwelling in a church in the presence of the Tabernacle.” (The Living Pyx of Jesus, Pellegrini & Co., Australia,  1941)

(This post is primarily a combination of wrtings from our archives)

thecloisteredheart.org    

Photo at top: N Shuman, Georgetown Visitation 1990s

Painting at bottom: Bernhard Plockhorst, The Consoling Christ


This post is part of our series 'A Story of Courage.' To continue in chronological order, click this line.

 

Your Real Longing

In Substance The Same

'The Christian life is nothing else but Christ; the monastic life is nothing else but Christ. The requirements for the Christian and for the monk are in substance the same; the difference lies only in the particular kind of stress that is given to them. The Church exists so that souls should lead the life of Christ; the monastery exists for the same purpose. Whether it is union with Him in the world or in the cloister, it is union that is the soul's purpose.'

Dom Hubert Van Zeller, The Yoke of Divine Love, Templegate, 1957, p. 182

 









Painting of monk: Restout, Seated Carthusian Holding Open Book, in US public domain due to age
Silhouette of praying man via Pixabay

Only In This Friendship

'If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing,
absolutely nothing, of what makes life free,
beautiful and great.  No!
Only in this friendship
are the doors of life opened wide.
Only in this friendship
is the great potential of human existence truly revealed.'

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI












Photo via Pixabay

The Door of What Must be Done

'On hearing Christ's voice, 

we open the door to receive Him, as it were,

when we freely assent to His promptings 

and when we give ourselves over to doing what must be done.'

St. Bede

Painting: Edmund Tarbell, 1910, in US public domain due to age

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? (a repost)

The following is a slightly edited re-post from eight months ago: 

Recently I read something touting a "politically correct" (but unmistakably warned against in Scripture) lifestyle as being something Jesus would applaud. 

I immediately thought:  "Oh, really?"  

Just who, I asked, is this Jesus of whom the writer is speaking?  It's definitely not the Jesus quoted and taught about in Scripture and 2,000 years of the Church.  The real Christ clearly taught against what the author was endorsing.

This is extremely important.  Nothing in our lives could be more important.  For those of us who want to respond to the world through the "grillwork" of God's will, a knowledge of the real Jesus is critical. 

If I am going to see the world through Scripture and the teachings of the Church, I must have a working knowledge of what these are.  I cannot make them up for myself.  And certainly I can't invent my own jesus, one who will approve of everything I do.. even sin.  The real Jesus loves me; He genuinely loves me.  He cares enough about me to correct my missteps.  

The real Jesus does not overlook the cliffs I'm blindly frolicking about on. He is not afraid of warning me about them lest He interrupt my fun.  Because He loves me, He wants to protect me from the enemy of my soul

"We can make the mistake of trying to make hard truths so palatable," writes Dan Burke at Roman Catholic Spiritual Direction, "that we end up presenting half-truths or even worse, untruths (implied or actual).... Yes, we can and must say “come as you are”; but we must also proclaim that the God of Love who meets us where we are, loves us too much to leave us there.  He calls us to union with Him where we will find the Truth that sets us free to know and live an abundant life in Him."

How do I get to know the real Jesus?

Ah, we have such a gift in the Official Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is clearly laid out and indexed.  In this treasured resource, I can find out what the Church actually teaches on a specific subject.  The Catechism is accessible, clear, and easy to understand. 

Most importantly, I get to know the Real Jesus proclaimed in Scripture. For those who aren't accustomed to reading the Bible, I suggest beginning with the Gospel of John.... reading straight through, taking it slowly and prayerfully (definitely prayerfully).  Matthew, Mark and Luke reveal more and more of Him. And in the epistles, I learn what St. Paul and the other writers teach about living totally (not just partly) for Christ. 

"When someone comes preaching another Jesus than the One we preached, or when you receive a different spirit than the one you have received, or a gospel other than the one you accepted, you seem to endure it quite well."  (2 Corinthians 11:4)

May such a thing never be said of us.


Painting:  Carl Heinrich Bloch, Jesus Tempted

No Other Foundation

               'Jesus, our Savior, true God and true Man, must be the ultimate end of all our devotions.
               Otherwise they would be false and misleading.
               He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of everything...
               He is the only Teacher from whom we must learn,
               the only Lord on whom we should depend,
               the only Head to whom we should be united,
               and the only Model we should imitate.
               He's the only Physician who can heal us;
               the only Shepherd who can feed us;
               the only Way that can lead us;
               the only Truth we can believe;
               the only Life that can animate us.
               He alone is everything to us, and He alone can satisfy all our desires.
               We are given no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.
               God has laid no other foundation than Jesus for our salvation, perfection and glory.
               Every edifice that is not built on that firm Rock
               is built upon shifting sands and will certainly fall.' 

                    St. Louis de Montfort

                    Painting by Heinrich Hofmann

It is Faith

'No one
is a martyr 
for a conclusion; 
No one 
is a martyr 
for an opinion; 
It is faith 
that makes martyrs.' 

Blessed John Henry Newman 


















Painting: Gustave Dore