Help Me Make Time

"Lord, help me to make time today to serve You 

in those who are most in need of encouragement or assistance."

St. Vincent de Paul

Painting: Rostislav Felitsin

Where Love Must Start

Painting: Winslow Homer, Pumpkin Patch, 1878

And To The Next Generation

'What we have heard and know, things our ancestors have recounted to us. 
We do not keep them from our children; we recount them to the next generation, 
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and His strength...'
Psalm 78:3-4

Revisiting My Tiny One

It's time again for Revisiting Wednesday, and I'm taking this opportunity to revisit something that has remained close to me since I first shared it here. That was almost four years ago. Since that time, there's another youngest grandchild (now nine months old) to fill my arms and my heart. 

But I also have "spiritually adopted little ones" to fill my prayer...

As my lectio drew to a close, something happened.

I felt a desire to hold a tiny, tiny newborn.  Being well beyond the age of giving birth myself, I attributed this longing to the fact that my youngest grandchild is now two.  And yes, I think that's part of it.

But it hit me:  this "call to hold" may well be a nudge from God.  I think it is a spiritual call, not a physical one.. and certainly it's in line with the call each of us has (to some degree or other) to pray for and help those in need.

So today I am saying yes, as an act of faith, and I'm "spiritually adopting."  There are so many little ones in imminent danger, ones so tiny that some dismiss them as not human.  There are tiny infants whose parents have been told "there might be something wrong with the fetus.  Our advice is to abort."  There are newborns lying on cold metal tables, their skin burned with saline, ignored because their mothers, after all, did not want to carry them to term.  Leave it alone, a nurse is told, forget it.  It's not a baby.

Not-A-Baby utters a pitiful cry, flails its little arms, reaches out with tiny fingers to grasp its gift of life.  It IS a baby - a tiny, helpless, wounded baby who needs someone to care, to love, to hold. 

Perhaps I am adopting all of them, perhaps there is someone(s) specific, but today I hold out my "arms." I pray for mothers, fathers, grandparents, doctors, government leaders, voters, nurses, abortionists.  I pray for the parents who have just been told the ultrasound indicates an abnormality.  I pray for the unmarried teenager, and her boyfriend, and her frantic parents.  I pray for a change in laws, I pray for a change in hearts.

I swaddle in prayer.  I cuddle with intercession.  I hold a tiny one in my heart, and I say yes.  I will work for you, O tiny one, I'll be your advocate however I can.

And when they come for you to take your life, I will be at your side in prayer...

"The mere probability that a human person is involved would suffice to justify an absolutely clear prohibition of any intervention aimed at killing a human embryo."  Pope John Paul II (Evangelium Vitae)

Text not in quotes © 2016 N Shuman

thecloisteredheart.org

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.'
   

When He Walks in Integrity

Squeezing Through the Crack

Wanting to live 'a little above and more than earth,' I've looked back over letters from someone who spent several cloistered years discerning a possible Religious vocation. As it turned out, that was not what God had for her; instead, He called her out of the convent and (later) into married life. After reading an early article on The Cloistered Heart, Rose had the following thoughts to share:  

'I had this idea that prayer, holiness, and the spiritual life were for the religious vocation and hidden behind high, thick brick walls.  I longed to find a crack in that wall so I could have just a tiny taste of the spiritual life I once knew.  Then the Holy Spirit brought the Cloistered Heart to me.  The Cloistered Heart allowed me to squeeze through a tiny crack in that big brick wall.  I long for the fullness of all of God's promises for those who love Him to the heights.  And if that sounds presumptive, then so be it, because I know that it is meant for us all.  Not just the Religious or the saints, but for all.....' (from a letter by Rose)

'Some people might think it contradictory to speak of 'contemplative' in the same sentence as 'mother of a very large family.'  But it is the contemplative spirit that has helped me survive the chaos that is natural when raising a number of children.... The cloister in my heart is a place of refuge.  It is a place where I can retreat from the world no matter where I am; in the middle of a crowded mall, or in a busy grocery store, or in my own kitchen.' (Rose)

'I remember reading that obedience to one's superior is more meritorious than all the self-imposed mortifications, fastings and prayers. Then I realized my superior is really my vocation as a wife and mother. Therefore, my duties and responsibilities of motherhood must come first. And, done with the right intentions (as St. Francis de Sales says, 'for the greater glory of God'), all my actions are lifted up in prayer.' (Rose)
 

If, If, If - All These Ifs!

'Let us bend all our energies to serve God in the way He wishes. This remark is made so that we may avoid the mistake of him who wastes his time in idle daydreaming. Such a one says 'if I were to become a hermit, I would become a saint,' or 'if I were to enter a monastery, I would practice penance,' or 'if I were to go away from here, leaving friends and companions, I would devote long hours to prayer.' If, If, If - all these Ifs! These idle fancies are often temptations of the devil, because they are not in accord with God's will. Hence we should dismiss them summarily and rouse ourselves to serve God only in that way which He has marked out for us. Doing His holy will, we shall certainly become holy in those surroundings in which He has placed us.' (St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Top Painting: Juan Rizi
Bottom Panting: Joseph Clark

How are we Living Monasticism of the Heart?

"I had this idea that prayer, holiness, and the spiritual life were for the religious vocation and hidden behind high, thick brick walls.  I longed to find a crack in that wall so I could have just a tiny taste of the spiritual life I once knew.  Then the Holy Spirit brought the Cloistered Heart to me.  The Cloistered Heart allowed me to squeeze through a tiny crack in that big brick wall.  I long for the fullness of all of God's promises for those who love Him to the heights.  And if that sounds presumptive, then so be it, because I know that it is meant for us all.  Not just the Religious or the saints, but for all......"(from a letter by our friend Rose)

"Some people might think it contradictory to speak of 'contemplative' in the same sentence as 'mother of a very large family.'  But it is the contemplative spirit that has helped me survive the chaos that is natural when raising a number of children.... The cloister in my heart is a place of refuge.  It is a place where I can retreat from the world no matter where I am; in the middle of a crowded mall, or in a busy grocery store, or in my own kitchen." (Rose)

Painting:  Gustav Wentzel Frokost, in US public domain due to age        

 thecloisteredheart.org                         



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

'My Superior'

 
'I remember reading that obedience to one's superior is more meritorious than all the self-imposed mortifications, fastings, and prayers.

'Then I realized my superior is really my vocation as a wife and mother.  Therefore, my duties and responsibilities of motherhood must come first.  And, done with the right intention - for the greater glory of God - all my actions are lifted up in prayer.'  (from our friend Rose) 

Painting:  Charles Courtney Curran, Breakfast for Three, in US public domain because of age
 
Click here to comment in the Parlor

The Essence of the Cloistered Heart

I wrote the following in 1996:

I am thinking of what happens when a person walks through the world, carrying Jesus in her heart, in a continual, chosen atmosphere of prayer.

I know there are people like this all over the world, and what effects are made upon situations by the prayers they quietly offer?

Can it change a family or work environment if a person prays silently in the midst of it?  Of course we know it can, and I think we would say that it inevitably does.  It is a kind of heart monasticism carried into first one family and then another, into a mall, onto a bus.

It is the whole essence of the cloistered heart.

William Strang painting, in US public domain due to age

My Bells

A monastery bell is ironically consistent about one thing.  It always calls for change.  Time to stop one activity and begin another.  The sections of a monastic day are spoken into being by the bells.   

Part of me hungers for such bells.  I find myself craving the insistent rhythms of their voices.  Predictable, familiar, reliable, steady bells that would insure my prayer and rest; bells that would regulate and balance the pieces of my life. 

"Just as soon as we are familiar with one set of daily bells ringing," wrote one of you in the Parlor, "another set replaces them."  

Don't we know the truth of this.  Seasons come and go, bringing school bells and wake-up alarms, church bells and wedding bells, baby cries and phones and stovetop buzzers.  They change with every passing year.

Predictable, familiar, reliable, steady?  Not really.  Out here in the midst of the world, it's not that way.

Bells of "things that must be done" ring out; day by day and year by year they ring.   

They change.  Consistently, they change.  

To answer the legitimate call of God, I must hear, and I must respond.  I am called to do as God asks, in every season of my life.  

Another friend commenting in the "Parlor" had this to say awhile ago:  "If it's 9:00 and I want to pray the mid-morning prayer and as soon as I sit down my daughter needs me for something, then it's God's will that I not pray at that time or stop praying when half finished or whatever.  I may want/need that time because I crave the peace and rest or I desire to worship God.  However, God may want my obedience to my vocation as a wife and mom right now over my prayer.   I figure that if I'm able to pray certain hours of the day, then that's what God wants.   If my family needs me for something else at that time, then that's what I'm supposed to be doing.  I don't try to make up for it or squeeze it in later.   I just move on and try again at the next scheduled prayer time...."

These are words from one who has learned to live in harmony with the bells.   

(Portions of this post were taken from our archives)

Text not in quotes © 2014 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org      

Painting of bell:  Bernhard Stange Das Abendläuten, in US public domain due to age

Painting of family:  Von Bornin perhe 



click here to leave comments in The Parlor    

Around the Corner: Lectio

I have now realized that the posts of this Next Monastic Day are (so far) being inspired by things said by you who generously share your lives. I find this enlivening and encouraging and... well, quite wonderful!  To me, it is a precious sign of God working among all of us. 

Something beautiful was shared yesterday. Our friend, who tries to pray the Liturgy of the Hours regularly, said this: "If it's 9:00 and I want to pray the mid-morning prayer and as soon as I sit down my daughter needs me for something, then it's God's will that I not pray at that time or stop praying when half finished or whatever. I may want/need that time because I crave the peace and rest or I desire to worship God. However, God may want my obedience to my vocation as a wife and mom right now over my prayer. I figure that if I'm able to pray certain hours of the day, then that's what God wants. If my family needs me for something else at that time, then that's what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't try to make up for it or squeeze it in later. I just move on and try again at the next scheduled prayer time...."

I find our friend's perspective extremely important..... particularly as we prepare to look more toward the practice of Lectio Divina.  We want to embrace aspects of the monastic life:  primarily, the total commitment to God that draws every one of us.  For some of us, regular prayer hours are possible, depending on our circumstances.  For others, life brings so many changes in one morning that we can barely keep up with them.  Our hearts can be totally committed to God, but the external circumstances of our lives are likely to be far different from the life of a cloistered nun.  "No incense-scented hermitage awaits me," I wrote some years ago.  "No hidden chamber but the one within. Acceptance of my enclosure must mean acceptance of the clutter, the noise, the interruptions..."  (from cloistered heart book)

We might also recall something from an earlier post entitled "A Seamless Gift."  In that, our friend Rose (mother of a large family) wrote "I remember reading, I think from St. Teresa of Avila, that obedience to one's superior is more meritorious than all the self-imposed mortifications, fastings and prayers.  Then I realized my superior is really my vocation as a wife and mother.  Therefore, my duties and responsibilities of motherhood must come first.  And, done with the right intentions (as St. Francis de Sales says, 'for the greater glory of God'), all my actions are lifted up in prayer." 

In this part of our "next monastic day," the bell has rung for "prayer time."  But what will that be like for each of us..... individually? 

As we prepare to look more deeply into Lectio Divina, I suspect we will have things to share about this.  In the meantime, I've just ordered a book that I suspect will be of help in future "Lectio discussions." I am greatly looking forward to digging into it and living it.  One of our dear "Parlor friends" has just written a review of it, which can be found by clicking on this line to get to the blog My Desert Heart.  

I pray we will continue to hear and answer God's bells, to the glory of our great God.

Click here to continue this Next Monastic Day

© 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org