The Parable of the Cloistered Heart

 

Over the past few months, several of the Mass readings have been on Jesus' parables.  Nancy has her own parable - the Parable of the Cloistered Heart  ♥

February 1, 1993

            Thank You, Jesus, for this month of my birth.  For I was born to Love You.  February is a month in which love is spoken of and celebrated, and in this month 47 years ago I was born to love You.  May those who sing and speak of love this month find You, the Great Lover.

            Father Walter Bunofsky wrote me last week that all - single, married, or religious - "really must be passionately in love with God."  I could only sing out "yes!" from the happy choir stall of my heart!  "That is part of the significance," he says, "of pink (of the "Pink Sisters") habits."  And I think of all the times I have "seen" myself dancing with Jesus, in a flowing gown of pink.

            Today, however, I am His little bride in brown.  For our consecration to the will of God last week, J.P. made us little triangles of brown material.  These are like little "hoods" or "veils" - symbols of the "habits of humility" we are called to wear.  We spoke of how we, as humans, really grasp things more concretely when there are symbols provided.

            The cloistered heart life is a life of symbols.  Humans have always used symbols.  Jesus spoke in parables to teach so much of His Truth.  Mustard seeds, pearls of great price, shepherds and lost sheep, prodigal sons.  I believe Jesus speaks in parables still.  For we can grasp only a small bit of the magnificence of His Truth, and so He gives us parables, symbols, even yet.

            Moons reflecting the sun.  Hidden cloisters.  Grillwork through which we see all things in His light.  I live within a parable; my vocation is a parable.  Yet, vocations to consecrated life ARE that; so much of their life is that.  And mine is a consecrated vocation.  Not a "religious" vocation in the strict sense of the word, for my vocation is secular.  But a vocation, indeed, to the consecrated life.  Consecrated to the will of God, I am called to be.

            And so, I think one day there will be a "book" of the "cloistered heart" way of life (I just thought of that, although I have of course thought of it before), and this book will be the story of someone called, someone spending her life finding her vocation.  It will be the story of a search.  It will be truth, and some of that truth will be a great parable, a parable Jesus is yet unfolding...

            Then Jesus told them this parable.  "There was a certain woman.  She came to live in a cloister, consecrating her life as a monastery and accepting the Father's grace to make hers a holy life lived entirely for Him.  The woman accepted enclosure in the will of God and thus became a cloistered heart.  Others, seeing her joy, asked her: 'show us the way into this cloister.'  And she said to them, 'consecrate yourself fully to the will of God.  Accept His will as your enclosure, ask to see all things through His will as through a grillwork.  Surrender yourself totally to God, for surrender is the only doorway into this cloister.  Set up a choir stall in your heart from which you may daily sing God's praises.  Clothe yourself in the habit of humility.  Love the will of God as your Bridegroom, take Jesus Christ as your Lord, live within and love the boundaries of God's will as these are revealed to you in Scripture and church teaching, and you shall become a cloistered heart.'''

            Jesus went on to say to them, "I tell you this woman has found a true enclosure." 

            "She is" (He may go on to say) "truly My little bride in brown.  She sings praise to Me from the choir stall I have built within her heart.

            "Her brown is the color of earth, and one day the little bride's body shall be hidden in earth of this color.  But her spirit shall then be My bride in white, dancing with Me in the Kingdom of the Father, hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

           "Today she is my bride in brown, hidden in the things of earth.  She shall call forth brides in brown to follow Me into the fullness of My Father's Will.  And they shall be a light throughout the earth - if they stay hidden in their habits of humility and surrender to My will.

            "Hide yourselves in Me," He seems to say, "and I shall raise you up for MY glory alone.  Veil yourselves in My habit of humility and you shall be seen then only as cloistered hearts, only as My little Army of brides in brown." 

            Today I love brown.  It is truly the color of my habit.  It is earth, in which I walk in a hidden cloister.  It is the color of humility, the color of hiding.  It is a color in which I don't even look all that great (!), and so I love more than ever to be clothed in it.  

 © Nancy Shuman 
         All rights reserved

What IS a Cloistered Heart?

We ask ourselves the question now and then, in different ways. 

Is 'The Cloistered Heart' an analogy? (yes).  Is it a way of life? (yes).  Is The Cloistered Heart an article, a book, a blog?  Is it Catholic?  Is it people who pray for the Church and the world and one another?  

The Cloistered Heart is basically an analogy in which our lives can be seen as "monasteries," places where God is loved and lived for and served.  

In the world but not of the world.  This is not a new or different idea; rather, it is an emphasizing, a kind of "underlining," of every Christian's call.  The uniqueness of this emphasis is in its monastic imagery. 

The word "cloister" speaks of total consecration.  Those who enter a traditional physical cloister make a tangible break from the world.  Compromise does not fit well in a cloister, nor does lukewarmness, nor does complacency.  The cloistered life is absolute. 

Christians living in the midst of the world are also called to live for God.  But for us, the break is not so clean.  The world is persistent in its tugs on the heart trying to live for God.  We need support in our struggles to surrender our lives to God and to resist the world's allurements.  This is where the imagery of the cloistered heart can be of help.  "If the cloister is in a man's heart, it is immaterial whether the building is actually there.  The cloister in a man's heart means only this: God and the soul."  (from Warriors of God by Walter Nigg, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959, p. 13)


Drafted by NS 8/3/17

Revisiting the Fence

A cloistered nun told me, some years ago, that my life for God in the midst of the world was more difficult than hers. At the time, I didn't think that was possible. I did not have to rise every morning at 5:30, show up in chapel when a bell rang, and spend most of each day in silence.

In the twenty-five years since Sister said this to me, I've gained a better idea of what she meant. I believe she was saying that the framework of my life was one in which it was difficult not merely to live, but to live for God. Which is, after all, the point of life... to live for God.

The life of a nun would be impossible for me, because I don't have grace for it. Sometimes, however, I long for the framework of such a life. I long for physical structure to securely fence me in and keep me from getting sidetracked by things that are unimportant, frivolous or even sinful.

In the midst of a society that finds the very thought of living "for God" repressive, fanatical, and politically incorrect, I find myself not securely fenced in, but camped out and living on the fence. I don't intend to embrace the world's standards, but in my attempts to blend in with the rest of society, sometimes I just might find myself compromising.

The fence is where I settle in to watch a PG-13 movie while trying to close my ears to the language and my eyes to "those scenes." It's where I enter a party determined not to gossip, but wind up laughing along with those who do. It is where I know I'm to stand up for Christ, for life, for morality, for biblical truth - yet I pull back for fear of what others might think. In a monastery, questionable movies would not be seen, and speaking ill of others would be frowned upon. Distressing news items wouldn't be matters for debate, but for prayer. God would be the center, there, of everyone's life.

I realize that religious life is not utopian; I do know this. But I would love to live within a structure where prayer times are scheduled, outward distractions are minimal, and God is never forgotten. The world is crazier than ever at this point in time (yes, I realize that's an understatement), and sometimes I would love to just hide away from the insanity. But my call is not to do that. My call is to live for God, love others for God, and pray for God's loving will to reign over all.

My call is to step off the fence and live fully, not just partly, for God.

"Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air, and a queasy feeling in the stomach." (Mother Angelica)

"Great saints have often been made out of great sinners, but not one was ever made out of a wimp." (Peter Kreeft) 

"You cannot be half a saint. You must be a whole saint or no saint at all." (St. Therese of Lisieux)

"Do not be satisfied with mediocrity." (Pope St. John Paul II)

"You want to do something for the Lord.. do it. Whatever you feel needs to be done, even though you're shaking in your boots, you're scared to death... take the first step forward. The grace comes with that one step and you get the grace as you step." (Mother Angelica)

"Why don't you give yourself to God once and for all... really.... NOW!" (St. Josemaria Escriva)

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.'   
 

Utterly for God

Sometimes
words are 
unnecessary ...























Hat tip to the Institute on Religious Life for passing along this beautiful video!

Revisiting My Refuge

I knew, when the idea of the cloistered heart first came to me in the 1980s, that monasteries of nuns or monks have special places not open to outsiders. I realized that these areas were called cloisters.  It was enough information to get me started. “The whole idea of a cloistered heart,” I wrote in 1988, “is that the part of me referred to as the ‘heart’ – meaning my spirit, who I really AM – should be detached from the world in its attachment to the Creator of the world."

A place of refuge, no matter where I happened to be. A portable fortress, a place inviolate - where I could remain with Jesus in the midst of snowstorms, traffic jams, persecutions, illnesses, fires, floods. It was an appealing idea. It was also (this being most important) theologically sound. "The heart is the dwelling place where I am, where I live... 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. (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2563)

The cloistered heart is the heart of David dancing before the ark; of Mesach, Shadrach and Abednego in the fiery furnace; of Paul in prison, Daniel in the lions’ den, John on Patmos, Peter in chains.  The world is not safe from evil – even the body isn’t safe from harm – but within the cloistered heart there is refuge. The Lord is with me, He is within my cloister.  

My heart, as long as He is in it, is safe. 

"Remember… to retire occasionally into the solitude of your heart while you are outwardly engaged in business with others.  This mental solitude cannot be prevented by the multitude of those who surround you.  As they are not about your heart, but only about your body, your heart remains alone in the presence of God.”  (St. Francis de Sales).

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is being linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'

© 2011 and 2016 Nancy Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org     

The Soul's Secret

Quote from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence' by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1940

Painting: Carl Gustav Carus (attr), Mönch in Winterlandschaft

No Mirrors

Painting: William Merritt Chase, The Mirror, digitally altered

Inside These Walls

A potential nun does not march into the monastery announcing which boundaries she will or will not accept.

'This wall of the enclosure suits me, but I'm not comfortable with that one...'  No, she does not say it. 

Were she to express such thoughts, she would be told that her vocation is elsewhere. These are the boundaries of this monastery, she would be told. These are the walls within which we remain. 

Boundaries are important in a physical monastery. They are important in a spiritual one as well. In the analogy of the cloistered heart, I am invited to live within the boundaries of God's will as a nun would live inside her enclosure.  I don't have to map these out for myself; they are clearly defined for me in Scripture and in 2,000 years of authentic Church discernment.

Today, let's have a look around the enclosure. Click on any line below to open that topic....

An Enclosure Door For Me

Location, Location, Location
 
O, Blessed Enclosure

Our Refuge For Christ


Public domain photo of Clervaux, via Pixabay

 

One Sees Very Well From A Tower

The following, written to Poor Clare nuns about their life of enclosure, strikes me as applicable, also, to lives "enclosed in the will of God."

"There have been remarks for centuries past about people who dwell in ivory towers. We know what is meant when it is said in the way it is said. Exasperation. Condemnation. A certain contempt. That they are unaware of other persons.

I always thought that was a very strange figure of speech. For one thing, one sees very well from a tower, much better than when one is in the midst of a crowd. If you really want to see the needs of everyone, a tower would be a very good place to go for perspective.

And then I thought, 'ivory tower?' Well, what could give more joy to the poor who have so little than the sight of an ivory tower? How it would draw them! How it would make them surge toward it to investigate this beautiful thing.

So an ivory palace is a very beautiful place to dwell in - and that is your enclosure. Out of it must always come music, the music of Jesus. Then one is very pre-eminently doing God's work.

So always from your life of prayer, from the ivory palace of your enclosure, may God hear music, for from the heart of true payer comes stringed music to God and to the world. To all the grinding hatreds and frustrations of the world must come the stringed music of our enclosed life of prayer."

(Mother Mary Francis PCC, Walls Around the World, p. 22. Click here for information)

"From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad." (Psalm 45:9)

Your Cloister

Sometimes the Same Changes

'The Convent of the Visitation in Georgetown is a large three-sided structure of brick, enclosing a great garden. Across the street is a row of cosy dwellings, standing somewhat back from the sidewalk... The city and the suburb have been gradually welded into one by a continuous and expanding web of streets and houses, so that now they stretch up to the very border of the convent demesne.' (A Story of Courage, p. 6)

This is precisely what I've met with on my visits to this convent. The looming structure, those cosy Georgetown rowhouses in gentle colors of yellow and grey, all surround a garden that I find great indeed. The city has stretched a great deal more since the above was written, so that city and suburb now wrap entirely around the monastic dwelling. Yet reading this century old book, I am sometimes astonished by what remains the same.

At other times, I'm charmed to see what has changed.

'At the southern corner of the convent, the patient horse-car from the heart of Washington plods its equine way.'  It is something I cannot imagine, this horse car patiently plodding. Sitting outside in the walled garden, I've been struck as much as anything by noise. But I'm getting ahead...

'The convent proper - or, as it is often called, the 'monastery' - is a long, plain four-story brick house...'

One thing I used to find puzzling was the use of the word 'monastery' for what I was calling a 'convent.' Weren't monasteries for men, and convents for women? When I began trying to learn which was what, I would have been happy to find an 'Internet' (I was still 'patiently plodding' through stacks of library books in my study of cloistered life). Today information is literally at one's fingertips, of course, and I found the following basic definitions (here) at Catholic Online Encyclopedia:

'Monastery: An autonomous community house of a religious order, which may or may not be a monastic order. The term is used more specifically to refer to a community house of men or women religious in which they lead a contemplative life separate from the world.'

'Convent: In common usage, the term refers to a house of women religious.'

'Cloister: Part of a convent or monastery reserved for use by members of the institute.'

As we continue this little adventure, I will most likely use 'monastery' and 'convent' interchangeably - simply because 'convent' is the word most often used in the Lathrop's book.

And I interrupt this post for a bit of news... Thanks to a new scanner, plus a lot of late night digging through old scrapbooks, I can now share 20-ish year old pictures I've snapped at the very monastery we're 'visiting,' as well as in a few other monasteries (convents) over the years.

Along the way, we'll of course be looking into how what we see and read can be applied to our lives in the world, for that is what we do here, isn't it? By the grace of God, that's what we try to do.

Photo: Cloister garden, Georgetown Visitation Monastery, 1990s, N Shuman photo


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

Our Place of Enclosure

'The Enclosure of a Cloistered Heart is within the will of God.  As a cloistered nun or monk lives within a specific area known as the cloister, we can make a specific choice to live within the will of God.  We can actively embrace the boundaries of God’s will as these are revealed in Scripture and Church teaching.'


© Nancy Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org  

Only God's Grace

Continuing to look back over old letters, I realize some things don't change all that much. Have I shared the following here before? I cannot remember. It was written in a letter more than twenty years ago, when I was going through a time of physical discomfort and distress.

'I ask for enclosure in the will of God, and flesh fights valiantly against such death. It whines and complains and tries to feel sorry for itself. I recently wrote that I was not 'beating my fists against the grillwork' of God's will as I had in times past; this time I've been coming at the grillwork with chain saws and hammers. But all the while my will is given over to God, to preferring His will over mine and His plans to mine, choosing to stay in the enclosure in spite of all of flesh's clamorings. By an act of my will I have chosen to trust that if I say I want to be in His holy will, then that is where I am indeed. He does not give snakes to those who ask for fish. And so I choose to trust Him, knowing He sees the whole picture and I do not. I have actually become grateful that the choice is tough, because if it were easy it would not be the free choice that in fact it is.  And I know I cannot make this choice. I can never do so.  Only God's grace poured out can enable me to do so... '

No, some things do not change. It remains true - it shall always remain true - that only God's grace can enable me to make the choice for His will, no matter what I may ever face.

Only God's grace.

thecloisteredheart.org 


Painting: Charles West Cope

Even In the Midst

'We cannot go to Jesus in the Tabernacle at every moment of the day, but we can turn inward to the Triune God at any moment, even in the midst of our day's worst difficulties.' (The Living Pyx of Jesus, Pelligrini, 1941, p. 27)

'To be with God it is not necessary to be always in church. We may make a chapel of our heart, whereto to escape from time to time to talk with Him quietly, humbly and lovingly.... Begin then; perhaps He is waiting for a single generous resolution.' (Brother Lawrence) 

'May the God who is all love be your unchanging dwelling place, your cell, and your cloister in the midst of the world.'  (Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity)   

'May nothing distract me from You, neither noise nor diversions. O my Master, I would so love to live with You in silence. But what I love above all is to do Your will, and since You want me still to remain in the world, I submit with all my heart for love of You.' (Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity)  

'A strong, resolute soul can live in the world without being affected by any of its moods, find springs of piety amid its salty waves, and fly through the flames of earthly lusts without burning the wings of its holy desires for a devout life.' (St. Francis de Sales)
 
'Your convent will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the city streets... your enclosure, obedience; your grating, the fear of God; your veil, holy modesty.' (St. Vincent de Paul)

And Our Enclosure is...

It can be awfully strange, for those of us not called to it, to consider a life of full enclosure. But in the analogy of the cloistered heart that we use here, the idea of enclosure is extremely important. There IS an enclosure into which we are invited.  It is a genuine enclosure, one that goes beyond all of our loftiest mental images.

The fact is:  if we’re human beings, we are called to live within the will of God.   

In the analogy of "the cloistered heart," I am invited to live within the boundaries of God's will as a nun would live inside her enclosure.  A potential cloistered nun does not set the boundaries of enclosure for herself, saying that she really prefers other areas, thank you very much.  No, she accepts them as they have already been set up... or she goes elsewhere.

I look around, today, at the boundaries of my enclosure.  I don't have to map them out for myself; they are clearly defined for me in Scripture and in 2,000 years of authentic Church discernment. 

Sometimes we can fear the boundaries of God's will, worrying that they'll sap all joy and pleasure from our lives.  The saints tell us otherwise. 

“Our happiness consists in knowing and doing His holy will.” (St. Jane de Chantal)

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

 

"Do you want to be free?  Then free yourself by your own act; have no will but God’s will.”  (La Trappe in England by a Religious of Holy Cross Abbey, 1937)

(This is a re-post from 2011)

Text not in quotes © 2011 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org   

Photo on this post in public domain, from Wikimedia

Grabbing the Grille

'The person going into full physical enclosure,' I wrote some years ago, 'has a certain advantage. Grillwork is planted firmly in her walls. Once she enters the cloister, her entire outer environment is suddenly changed.

I, however, make the decision to cloister my heart, and the walls around my body are just the same as they were before the decision was made.

So mine is a challenging enclosure, and while I do not say it's any more difficult (certainly) than physically cloistered life, I do say it presents challenges. I get up in the morning and am not automatically reminded by my surroundings of the choice I've made to live for God. I see the same people and find no grillwork before them, so I must be reminded to relate to them as God asks me to do.'

A person with perfect vision pops out of bed each day and sees across the room with no problem. For some of us, this is not the case. I, for instance, inherited nearsightedness from my father. In order to see the world around me, I must begin my day by grabbing my glasses and placing them before my eyes. 

Having inherited original sin from my earliest father, I cannot see life correctly without help. In order to see through the 'grillwork' of Scripture and authentic Church teaching, I must know this 'grillwork' and I must practice living 'through' it.
 
God has given the perfect prescription for seeing clearly. But in order for the clarity to happen, I must accept the prescription, use it, and keep it ever before my eyes. 

I need to grab the Bible, every day. I need to grab it and hold onto it for dear, eternal life.

'The natural man does not accept what is taught by the Spirit of God. For him, that is absurdity.  He cannot come to know such teaching because it must be appraised in a spiritual way.' (1 Corinthians 2:14) 


Grillwork photo © C Wells
Glasses photo from public domain; digitally altered 
Text not in quotes © 2015 Nancy Shuman. 
thecloisteredheart.org     

Not a Change of Physical Dwelling

'No one can approach God without withdrawing from the world. 

By withdrawal I do not mean change of physical dwelling place, 

but withdrawal from worldly affairs. 

The virtue of withdrawal from the world 

consists in not occupying your mind with the world.'

St. Isaak of Syria



Painting: Maximilien Luce (digitally altered), in US public domain due to age

Enclosed in a Journey

I came across the following today. It is a brief reflection, scribbled when the idea of 'the cloistered heart' was still quite new.

I do not enter the enclosure of God's will in a once-for-all step. I don't bid farewell to the world and twirl merrily off into Dreamland. I choose the will of God, I implore His grace to keep me 'enclosed,' and then:  

I embark upon a journey.

There are hallways, hills, tunnels, valleys, stairs, entrances, walls, obstacles, gates, ladders, windows, shutters, ramps before me. I do not know what awaits my timid steps. 

There are doors and I must go through them. There are portals of circumstance still unseen. 

There is light here, and primarily this is the light of God's Word. It leads me on. There is the light of Church teaching as well, helping to make straight my paths. 'God's word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.'  

If I am to travel deep into the will of God, I must embrace the finer - the finest - points of His will. 

Cloister of the heart is a journey into the depths, a trek into ever deepening surrender. I see basic boundaries today, but some - the boundaries and doors of unfolding circumstances - I cannot see.  They are hidden and obscure.

It is only by opening one door that I can journey toward the others.   

My cloister, therefore, is not a small enclosure.  It is as big and deep as the plan of God.  It is as wide as His love, as far-reaching as His call.   

I am enclosed in a journey.

I am traveling more deeply into the will of God.  

 

Top painting:  William Paxton, 1921, in US public domain due to age
Door photo in public domain
Bottom painting: A Procession in the Catacomb of Callistus

Our Monastic Day: in Sequence

Several years ago, we offered a series of posts that I called 'Our Monastic Day.'  It was our own little cloistered-in-the-midst-of-the-world-horarium, looking into how we can offer our own days to God morning through night. 

Reading another blog recently, I discovered a story that I was able to read in actual chronological order. The blogger simply gave a link to one post, and then linked from there to the next part of the story, and on and on.  No jumping back and forth, no reading in backwards-sequence (as blogs do)... just beginning and then continuing on if one wanted to do so. I loved it. I would like to try it.

I'd like to go back over our monastic day (a kind of cloistered-heart-refresher), and why re-invent the cloister wheel?

So I invite anyone who cares to go through a day in-the-cloister-in-the-world, little by little, to begin at the link below.  At the bottom of that link, there will be another link, and on and on.  When we get to Compline and the singing of the Salve Regina, we'll know that 'day' is done.

And for those who weren't around for our 'Parlor' comments-blog, I apologize for any confusion.  Comments are now open right here, but we've left the Parlor open in case anyone ever wants to go back and see what was discussed there.

Let's try this, shall we?   

To begin reading "Our Monastic Day," click this line

(This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup
Blitz, where we can find quite a wide variety of Catholic blogs!)

Jesus, Come into Our Enclosure

'Come!  I am so bold as to invite You, Lord Jesus, to enter my heart.  I have prepared a place of refuge for You.  Come!

Come!  I ask that You shine Your light into all areas of my heart refuge; not just into the most easily accessible ones, but most especially into the hidden crannies and dimly lit areas.  Come!

Come!  Are there any areas that need cleaning, dusting, or polishing?  Are there areas in a state of disrepair?  Are there areas where trash or garbage have accumulated and need to be removed?  Come!

Come!  Lord Jesus, please show me what needs to be done to keep my heart a fit and pleasing refuge for You.  I want my heart to be as perfect a place for You to stay as I can prepare.  Knowing that I can never reach total perfection, I humbly ask that You accept my great desire for this perfection.  Come!

Come!  It is my desire to have a perfect heart refuge for You, and from that comes my boldness to ask You to enter and stay with me.  It causes me much sadness to know that I will always fall short.  Yet You stoop to Your child because of Your great mercy, to accept what my love can give.  Come!

Come!  With tears of joy and thanksgiving, I thank and praise You for coming to one so afflicted and poor as I.

Come, Lord Jesus!  Come enter my heart refuge!'

Written by Rosemary O.

May she rest eternally in the Heart of Christ.

Painting:  Winslow Homer, Girl in the Orchard

To return to the 'Monastic Adventure in Sequence' post, click here