Our Souls Spread Before Him

'Let us spread before His feet, not garments of soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves clothed in His grace, or rather, clothed completely in Him.  We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before Him.  Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as pure wool, let us present the Conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of His victory.

'Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children's holy song:  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  Blessed is the king of Israel.' 

(St. Andrew of Crete, from Liturgy of the Hours for Palm Sunday, Catholic Book Publishing Co. NY, 1976, pp.419-420)

Painting: Charles Courtney Curran, in US public domain due to age

As Long as We Have That Map

'There's a tremendous satisfaction in having a map. That is what the truth of Christ is like in the Church. We may get off the road; we may get off it by sin; we may get off it by error. But as long as we have that map, we can get back on the road.'

Archbishop Fulton Sheen



















Painting: Julius Sergius Klever, 1908

More Prayer Keys

I have written a lot, here, about prayer. As you've guessed, a main goal for me is to pray throughout the day.  As you've also (surely) guessed, I am constantly battling to do this.

My main struggle is with distractions, and not just during prayer. I battle distractions (especially now that I'm getting 'older') when I read books as well, or when I try to watch a film, or even sometimes in conversation.

Which is why I'm thankful for the many aids we've been given to help us pray.  Just today, sidetracked during the Office of Morning Prayer, I found my way back more than once through words on paper before me.

I may have shared every one of these helps here before, but they are definitely worth another mention. So in case anyone else has a mind that 'drifts' now and then, here are some keys I've found to help open doors to prayer. While these are readily accessible without needing to be sought online, I am including links for anyone who may find those beneficial.

Scripture. The current day's Mass readings are an ideal source for Lectio Divina. These can be found by starting here, or here. 

The Divine Office. This is the prayer of the Church, in which nuns, monks, clergy, religious and laity all over the world are participating, as one, on the same days. In addition to being available in bound volumes, this is free with no registration necessary online at Divine Office.org . The entire day of prayer is right there, printed and with (optional) audio. Bound volumes are available through the link as well.

The Rosary. If anyone finds it helpful to pray with others (who are praying at the same time), this link at Come Pray the Rosary offers that opportunity.

The Stations of the Cross are especially appropriate during this holy season. I sometimes spend time with the paintings and video here at Prie Dieu.    

"You aren't the only one to be distracted from the presence of God.  I understand completely.  Our minds are so flighty.  But remember that our God-given will governs all of our strength."  (Brother Lawrence) 

"It isn't necessary to be too verbose in prayer, because lengthy prayers encourage wandering thoughts.  Simply present yourself to God as if you were a poor man knocking on the door of a rich man, and fix your attention on His presence.  If your mind wanders at times, don't be upset, because being upset will only distract you more.  Allow your will to recall your attention gently to God.  Such perseverance will please Him. (Brother Lawrence)

"When it’s God Who is speaking.. the proper way to behave is to imitate someone who has an irresistible curiosity and who listens at keyholes.  You must listen to everything God says at the keyhole of your heart."  (St. John Vianney)  

How To Enter His Presence

'Enter His gates with thanksgiving, 

His courts with praise; 

give thanks to Him; 

bless His name, 

for He is good: the Lord, 

whose kindness endures forever, 

and His faithfulness, to all generations.' 

Psalm 100:4-5

Painting: Restout, St Bruno Praying

How to Open...

'Prayer is the door 

to favors as great as those He has granted me. 

If this door is closed, I don't know how He will grant them.'

St. Teresa of Avila

 

Helpers at the Doors

Living in the will of God is not something chosen once and for all. The choice to so live is continual, made one decision at a time, one door at a time, in one yes after another.

The doors of 'yes,' at times, overwhelm me. They can sometimes loom ahead as massive, weighty, impossible things that would surely need a team to budge.

The doors of 'no,' however (of no to God's will) always look lightweight and undemanding. These are the popular doors, the everybody's-doing-it, live-however-you-want, put-yourself-first doors that never really close. They are like revolving doors:  easy to breeze through and ultimately leading, in time, right back to .... me.

One thing that helps, as I stand before an ongoing succession of choices, is the remembrance that I actually do have a 'team' to help open the doors that usher me more deeply into God's will.

The saints have left 'tracks', their testimonies, to show what can happen when a person chooses to live totally for God.  In the next few weeks, we'll be hearing from a few of these holy men and women.  After all, God has generously given their witness and teaching and prayer to His world - not just for their spans of life on earth, but for all time.  They are a treasure we do not want to overlook as we continue on our journeys Home to God.

The saints are even now, interceding. May they help us go through every holy door. 

'Follow the tracks of the flock, and pasture the young ones near the shepherds' camps.' (Song of Songs 1:8)

'Since we for our part are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside any encumbrance of sin which clings to us and persevere in running the race which lies ahead; let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who inspires and perfects our faith.' (Hebrews 12:1-2)

'Follow the saints, because those who follow them will become saints.' (Pope Clement I)

'It is said that a saint is one who always chooses the better of the two courses open to him at every step.' (RH Benson)

'Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.' (Matthew 7:7)

Post by Carmelite Nuns, Preston.

To our e-mail subscribers: this post contains a very brief video clip, which can be seen by visiting the blog itself.

 
Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman. 
thecloisteredheart.org   

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

Who Art In Heaven

After praying yesterday with the words "Our Father," I thought I would probably spend today's prayer time with "hallowed be Thy Name."

But wait. I was missing something. What about "Who art in Heaven?"

I didn't deliberately omit these words from my pending meditation, it's just that I figured they wouldn't draw me toward prayer.  I'd anticipated, perhaps, a time of thanksgiving and praise, maybe with music and psalms. That seemed a "next logical step."

I love it when God surprises me.

I began praying, just as I had yesterday.... "Our Father Who art in......heaven...."

heaven. HEAVEN....

Will it sound strange if I say that word kind of...... "shimmered?"  Probably, but that's what seemed to happen. As if the word itself were suddenly dripping gold.

I find it difficult to squeeze such things into words, so I won't try to share the "fruits" (so far) of my ongoing meditation.  Instead, I'll include a few quotes from those who know what they're talking about.

Anyway, my main point is that God is answering prayer.  In His mercy, He is (again) teaching me to pray. Which I did throughout the day, as it turned out, cooking and washing and opening mail while keeping up an inner conversation with the One Who awaits us in heaven.

I sometimes make things too complicated. I can think that in order to pray, I must first "do this" and then "do that" and then read something particular and then cross this T while standing on my head in the kitchen corner, and by the time I've put all the pieces in place, I've sort of forgotten the goal. Which is to give my attention and love to God.  But He knows my cry of "Lord, teach me to pray" is exactly that, and He is now pointing me toward this profound prayer that He, Himself, gave us.

I love it when God surprises me.  

"As you know, we have our citizenship in heaven..." (Philippians 3:20)

"The country in which I live is not my native country; that lies elsewhere, and must always be the center of my longings." (St. Therese of Lisieux)

"Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness. To live in heaven is to be with Christ.... This mystery of blessed communion with God and with all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise.  'No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.' (1 Corinthians 2:9)" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1024-1027)

Painting: Giovanni di Paolo, Paradise 


Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   

Lord, Teach Us To Pray. Again.

Lately, I've felt as dry as dust. Distractions blow in every time I open a door to prayer. "Now that you're quiet," they seem to whisper, "let's take this opportunity to remind you of this...."

Frustrating.  It is frustrating.

I've been asking Our Lord for help. It seems that once I do rein in my thoughts, they might go something like: "Oh Lord, I thank You for this day in which to serve You, and for that blue sky and I wonder why it is that I'm not crazy about blue? It seems to be almost everyone's favorite color but my favorite is probably maroon and I really need to clean out those books in the maroon room and by" this time words to God are gone and even ones to myself are disappearing and I'm drifting around in a wordless thoughtswirl of blue and red and books and

before I know it, my carved-out time for quiet, concentrated prayer is over. 

"Sometimes," wrote St. Therese of Lisieux, "when my mind is in such great aridity that it is impossible to draw forth one single thought to unite me with God, I very slowly recite an 'Our Father' and then the angelic salutation ('Hail Mary');  then these prayers give me great delight.  They nourish my soul much more than if I had recited them precipitately a hundred times."

I read these words of St. Therese this morning, and recalled a season when I personally committed to praying an Our Father every day, in just this way. Slowly, thoughtfully, with reverence, one phrase at a time.

I did this today.  My thoughts (and my prayer) went something like: "Our Father..."

I was immediately struck by these two words, each brimming with revelation. I began (without effort) to meditate. Father. Father! God is my Father! He is THE perfect Father, the One Who cares for me and watches out for me and protects me and is in relationship with me. There was much more to this meditation, but before long the word "our" began to stand out. He's not just my Father, He is OUR Father. He's your Father, and He is mine. This thought led me into praying for others, for the Church as a whole, and for you (yes, you). I finished my "carved out" time for prayer with the realization that my mind had not wandered, not one tiny bit. 

I did eventually pray the entire Our Father. And I intend to come back to meditation with it tomorrow, when perhaps I'll be drawn to spend more time with the next few words (we'll see what God unfolds).

There is much food for meditation, worship, intercession and thanksgiving in this most basic of prayers.

Like His disciples, I have been asking "Lord, teach us to pray." (Luke 11:1-2)

And so He did.  

Painting: Charles Allston Collins, Convent Thoughts (detail)

Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   

Two Doors Stand Before Me

'Enter through the narrow door.
The door that leads to
damnation is wide,
the road is clear,
and many choose to travel it.
But how narrow is the gate
that leads to life,
how rough the road,
and how few there are
who find it!'  (Matthew 7:13-14)












Painting from original by Vilhelm Hammershoi - digitally altered

Unlock Your Soul

'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 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

Painting: Carl Vilhelm Holsoe

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

Ooops. Another Wall.

I have to laugh. I have to thank God for whatever He's doing in my most recent computer-snag. He has allowed the snag to happen, and I trust He is somehow working with it.

The problem? I haven't been able to post here, and still the situation remains a bit iffy (will you see this? I wonder). I had similar difficulties once before - also in Lent, two years ago. At that time, we were looking at various "walls" that can crop up as we journey more deeply into living for God.

Interesting.

Now, while trying to find a "door," I've run smack into a wall. I can choose how to respond to this sudden obstacle. I can panic, be angry, fret, complain (I may or may not have had any of these reactions earlier today).

Or I could, in cloistered heart terminology, "look at this through the grille."

The truth is: this wall has cropped up between me and a computer; it is not a wall between me and God. 

I could PUT it between God and myself, however, and I think a few good rounds of complaining and fussing might just start pushing it in that direction.

With grace, I choose not to let this wall come between God and me.

With grace, I choose to embrace the grille.

Doors I Cannot Open

The ideas haven't been half bad. I've imagined a hallway lined with doors, and each door leads to a room that opens into other hallways, and every hallway leads to more doors, and these are some of the chambers we find ourselves in as we journey toward living more fully for God.

I've given a few of the rooms' "working titles," all subject to change. There is the cushy room and the cluttered room and the Chamber of Secrets. There's Pinch 'Em Tight Hall and The Room of Windows and The Clue in the Attic (it may or may not be an asset that I grew up reading Nancy Drew).

Writing about these, I thought, could be a Lenten project. I've been collecting (for each room) scriptures, and quotes from saints, and experiences from my own life.

And then I started to write. Which led not to doors or rooms, but right smack dab into a wall.

I'm still at the wall, actually. It's not quite as bad now that I'm telling you about it, now that I'm bringing it out into the open and saying GOSH I'm having a struggle writing this. And I'm not sure why.

Is it that I have "writer's block?" Well, I do appear to have a case of it, but I don't know that this is the root of my inability to get words to paper screen. I think it's more likely that the block is a symptom of something more basic.

What could be the something-more-basic? Is it not having enough time to devote to this "project?" No, I've had plenty of time since Lent began.

But of course, devoting myself to this project is not my goal. My devotion should be to God, and God alone.

Maybe with that thought, I'm getting closer to the difficulty.

Is the struggle because I'm not taking enough time for prayer? Ah ha. That certainly must come first, every time and all the time, or I'm just spinning my spiritual wheels. If prayer is not the foundation, then I cannot "hear" from God, and I'm trying to open doors through my own power.

And with that thought, I am getting closer still.

So I will leave you for this time around, and go pray. I'll publish this post and immediately take an extra bit of prayer time. Yes, right now, I promise.

And next time we meet here, I'll let you know if I've seen GOD opening a door....


Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   



Photo on this post from Pixabay

My Abandoned Lights

Journeying ever more deeply into the will of God, I find doors and rooms and hallways I had not expected. One of these is what I'll call the room of abandoned lights.

What I think of as "my abandoned lights" are various ideas I embraced over the years, attitudes I once considered enlightening and empowering. In time, those lights proved to be no light at all.  

Some of these un-lights were initially dazzling. They appealed to my broadmindedness, that modern version of "sanctity" that basks in its politically corrected glow. There was no pesky death-to-self in the world of my abandoned lights. The Cross was not part of the scene. 'There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it leads to death.' (Proverbs 14:12)

By the grace of God, I cast my unlights aside when I met the One Who is Light Himself.   In time, I even began to feel that a large part of the task of a "cloistered heart" is to Carry the Fire  into darkness, as well as into areas of "artificial light." 

"We can make the mistake of trying to make hard truths so palatable," writes Dan Burke at 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." 

For a look at some of the un-light we can be tempted to follow, check out this excellent link:

How the Carmelites Rescued Me From the New Age, by Anabelle Hazard  

"God is light; in Him there is no darkness." (1 John 1:5)

"The revelation of Your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple." (Psalm 119:130)

Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   




 Painting: John Frederick Peto, Door with Lanterns

Nothing Short of a Celebration

Each time I say a deeper yes to God, I battle thoughts about what to expect. Will a giant cavern suddenly open up beneath my feet? Will I be asked to hike barefoot through burning deserts?

I really should know better by now.

Funny that I seldom consider (when I'm uttering deeper yeses) the truth that God's will is always for my good. This does not mean that difficult circumstances won't pop up from time to time, for of course they shall. But they will do so with or without my yes to God. The truth is: God showers me with blessings. I may not always recognize them as such, but the blessings are abundant. Jesus is with me, and nothing can pull Him from my heart. I possess the very satisfaction that all are seeking and that no one can really find without finding Him. 

I know I say it over and over (no doubt because I need to hear it over and over), but every time I step more deeply toward God, I am met with nothing short of a celebration. Whether or not I can "tell this" from my earthly perspective, it is in fact what is happening. 

I really should know that by now. 

"I know well the plans I have for you, says the Lord; plans for your welfare, not for woe!  Plans to give you a future full of hope.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) 

"Freed from the heavy burden of my own will, I may breathe freely under the light load of love.”  (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)

“The height of loving ecstasy is when our will rests not in its own contentment, but in God’s will.” (St. Francis de Sales) 

“I am the Gate. Whoever enters through Me WILL BE SAFE.” (Jesus, quoted in John 10:9)


Painting: Jules Cyrille Cave, The Flower Girl,1897

Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   


 

In This Land of Doors

Looking back over our last few posts, I find myself wondering.

Why are we at the door again? 

It seems I'm constantly buzzing around the doorway. I am always pondering that definitive step of surrender to God's will, and always emphasizing the fact that this is the only way into our "enclosure."

Goodness. I write and wonder and muse and analyze and analogize and write some more.

But do I ever go through?

Thinking about this today, I realized. It's true that I'm almost always at a doorway.

It's just never the same door twice.

Having given my yes to God, I am inside the door and I'm inside the "enclosure" of His will. I have made a decision, and I'm remaining (hopefully, by His grace) cloistered therein.

But I don't step into His will once and for all, then settle down inside the doorway and just stand there. There are doorways after doorways, there is hall after hall. There are doors that open onto stairways that lead to hallways that lead to more doors.

Living in the land of God's will is living in a land of doorways. My yes to God is not a one time event. That first yes led into a rather spacious hallway, and then I was called toward another door, off of which was a narrower hallway... and on and on.

Cloister of the heart is not a static 'place;' it is a land of journeying. I turn away from sin and give my heart to Jesus, then say yes to the revealed boundaries of God's will, then say a deeper yes at various points when that commitment is tested. I go through a narrower door each time I choose to live totally, not just partly, for God. I come to base my choices of lifestyle and activities on what He asks of me, not on popular culture. I accept His grace to stand for Him in the face of opposition. I learn to choose His will on happy days and sad, in sickness and in health.

Yes, I am at the door again. Why? Because I want to live "enclosed in the will of God," and mine is an enclosure of ever deepening yeses. By the grace of God, I have embarked upon a long, grand adventure, living for Him in this land of doors.

"I am ready at each beckoning of Your holy will." (St. Faustina)

"What was the first rule of our dear Savior's life?... to do His Father's will... Well then, the first end I propose in our daily work is to do the will of God; secondly, to do it in the manner He wills it; and thirdly, to do it because it is His will." (St. Elizabeth Ann Seton)

Painting: Vilhelm Hammershøi

Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   

Getting Off the Threshold

Admission: I have tried all day to write this post, and I'm kind of stuck.

Could that be (I wonder) because I, myself, am kind of stuck? We've often said that a person entering physically cloistered life is either in or out. She does not stick her head in and leave her arms and legs dangling outside the enclosure door, perhaps to be brought in at a later date. I find it a helpful image, for I can so easily bring part of my life into the will of God while leaving some of me outside. I might find myself clutching this little worry, that tiny vice, that long held attachment...

Could it be that I've set up camp right on the edge of the doorway? Am I parked on the threshold of living for God - not totally out, but not totally in?

Lent is a perfect time for getting off the fence - or, in this case, getting off the threshold. I'm helped by remembering that, in deciding to live "in God's will," I am not simply stepping away from something. I'm not just saying farewell to complacency and sin and compromise so I can become "a better person." No.

I am moving toward something. Or I should say, toward SomeONE. It is for Him that I step through the door into surrender to His will. And all the steps after - all of those stairs and turns and inner doorways that frighten me now with whispers of "but what if this happens," and "what if you lose that" - I will not have to take those steps alone. I will not be by myself as I live within His will.

As I tell God that I want to say a deeper yes to Him, something happens. Christ is the Bridegroom of the soul - and what traditionally happens when the bride arrives at the threshold?

All I have to do is let Him carry me over it in His arms.

"My Jesus, please accept the offering and the sacrifice that I make to You this day, as I once more sincerely  offer to You my entire will. Tell me what You want me to do. Your holy grace will help me to do it." (St. Alphonsus Liguori) 

Painting: Vilhelm Hammershoi; 
bottom copy digitally altered using a painting by James Tissot




Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman. 
thecloisteredheart.org    

Linked to 40 Days of Seeking Him  

Toward Hallways Beyond

'The thing that draws me most about monasticism,' I wrote here recently, 'is its absolute totality.'

I have spent days now considering this statement. Is that what truly does draw me most? 

Yes, it is. Has it drawn me for a long time? Oh, indeed! Do I live such totality? Well

I want to. I genuinely want to. I want to move out of the wide hallway of 'on-the-periphery-of-my-life-religion' into living fully, not just partly, for Christ.

The only doorway into cloister of the heart (we've said many times) is the doorway of surrender to God. But the step across that threshold is not it a one-time-and-it's-done event. I can step now, yes; but there will be new steps to take tomorrow. I know I can't just cross that threshold and sit down. I will be called to follow Christ through doors yet unseen, around unknown turns of hallways beyond.

We are now on the threshold of Lent, and it occurs to me that this is a good time for stepping. So I make a decision to say a deeper yes, to allow God to draw me closer to Him, to take a brand new step. 

I invite you to come with me, this Lent, toward hallways beyond. Let's see what's around the bend.....

'Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.' Matthew 7:13

Painting: Vilhelm Hammershoi

Linked to 40 Days of Seeking Him








Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org