Revisiting the Hallway

On monastic retreats, I've loved being in my tiny cell - alone with God yet aware of the silent presence of others. I am with God, others are with God, and we are all connected.  A long hallway links us together.

As one who wants to live for God in the cell of my heart, I am grateful for everyone who is doing likewise. I do not know each person in every other 'cell,' but I can stop and remind myself that they… that you… are there.

Ours is the hallway of the Church. Our hearts are each part of a multitude of 'cells,' part of the vast and ageless Communion of Saints. 

Our hallway is not limited by geographical location. It is wide and vast and stretches even beyond the ages, connecting us to all in the Communion of Saints in ways we can scarcely grasp.

How do I, in everyday life, enter the hallway?  Certainly I do so by my participation in the Sacraments. I may also be involved in the life of my parish, of my diocese.  Perhaps I'm part of a prayer group or Bible study. Maybe I share faith through the Internet. Perhaps I homeschool, or teach CCD, and hopefully I share God's love freely with my family and friends. Even if I can't get out and about (perhaps due to physical limitations), I can actively 'enter the hallway' by praying for others, maybe offering my trials and sufferings as prayer.

The truth is: there is a door into the hallway for every single one of us. 

I pray that we will find, and turn, the knob. 

'The children of the world are all separated one from another because their hearts are in different places; but the children of God, having their heart where their treasure is, and all having only one treasure which is the same God, are consequently always joined and united together.'  (St. Francis de Sales)

'If St. Paul exhorts us to pray for one another, and we gladly think it right to ask every poor man to pray for us, should we think it evil to ask the holy saints in heaven to do the same?'  (St. Thomas More) 

'Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.... Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.  Let them look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus! ... Let me preach You without preaching, not by my words, but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You.'  (John Henry Cardinal Newman)

'Do not think of the poor as only those with no money.  Look at each person's needs.  Perhaps you are well off in something when someone else is in need of just that.'  (St. Augustine)


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

My Hallway

I have been on retreat, several times, in monasteries.  I loved being in my tiny cell, alone with God yet aware of the silent presence of others.  I was with God, others were with God - and we were all connected.  A wide hall linked us together.

As one who wants to live for God in the cell of my heart, I am grateful for every one who is doing likewise.  I may not know each person in every other “cell,” but I can stop and remind myself that they… that you… are there. 

Ours is the hallway of the Church.  Ours is the hallway of the Body of Christ.  My heart cell is part of a multitude of “cells,” part of the vast and ageless Communion of Saints. 

Our hallway is not limited by geographical location.  It is wide and vast and stretches beyond the ages, connecting us to all in the Communion of Saints in ways we can scarcely grasp.

How do I, in everyday life, enter the hallway?  Certainly I do so by my participation in the Sacraments.  Am I also involved in the life of my parish, my diocese?  Am I part of a prayer group or Bible study?  Do I volunteer my time to help the poor, the aged, the pre-born?  Maybe I share faith through the Internet.  Perhaps I homeschool, or teach CCD.  Hopefully I share God's love freely with my family and friends.  Even if I can't get out and about (perhaps due to physical limitations), I can "enter the hallway" by praying for others, maybe offering trials and sufferings as prayer.  

There is a door into the hallway for everyone.

I pray that each of us will find, and turn, the knob. 

“The children of the world are all separated one from another because their hearts are in different places; but the children of God, having their heart where their treasure is, and all having only one treasure which is the same God, are consequently always joined and united together.”  (St. Francis de Sales)

"If St. Paul exhorts us to pray for one another, and we gladly think it right to ask every poor man to pray for us, should we think it evil to ask the holy saints in heaven to do the same?"  (St. Thomas More)

"If the bond of your communion is love, devotion, and Christian perfection, then your friendship will be precious indeed:  precious because it has its origin in God, because it is maintained in God, and because it will endure forever in Him."  (St. Francis de Sales)

"I shall be able to do much more for you in heaven than I can now while I am on earth."  (St. Padre Pio)

"Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.... Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.  Let them look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus! ... Let me preach You without preaching, not by my words, but by my example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my heart bears for You."  (John Henry Cardinal Newman)

"Do not think of the poor as only those with no money.  Look at each person's needs.  Perhaps you are well off in something when someone else is in need of just that."  (St. Augustine)

Top painting (monks in hallway):  Otto Knille

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

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prayer in the hallway

I have been blessed to go on retreat, several times, to monasteries.  I loved being in my tiny cell, “alone” with God yet aware of the silent presence of others.  I was with God, others were with God - and we were all connected.  A wide hall linked us together.

As one who wants to live for God in the cell of my heart, I am grateful for every one of you  doing likewise. I may not know each person in every other “cell,” but I can stop and remind myself that they… that you… are there.  Ours is the hallway of the Church.  Ours is the hallway of the Body of Christ.  My heart cell is part of a multitude of “cells,” part of the vast and ageless Communion of Saints.  “All, indeed, who are of Christ and who have His Spirit, form one Church and in Christ cleave together.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #954).  

Our hallway is not limited by geographical location.  It is wide and vast and stretches beyond the ages, connecting us to all in the Communion of Saints in ways we can scarcely grasp.

Today, thinking about this and praying for you - and yes, I do - I had an idea (I actually think it was an inspiration).  What if everyone reading this takes just a minute, a second, the length of a mental aspiration – to pray for everyone else who is reading this?  We don’t know who each other is… but God does.  He knows every one of us individually.  He loves each of us beyond all imagining.  He cares about every one of our stresses and worries and needs.  

So: today you’re invited to “stretch a prayer across the hallway.”  It can be oh, so quick.  Maybe something along the lines of “Lord Jesus, please bless everyone who has or will read this.”  Imagine the prayers we will thus be extending across the globe!  

I, as one of the recipients of your prayers, thank you with all my heart.  I ask our Lord Jesus to bless you… you personally… you who are reading these words.  I pray that He will let you know how deeply you are cherished by Him.  

Amen.  

“The children of the world are all separated one from another because their hearts are in different places; but the children of God, having their heart where their treasure is, and all having only one treasure which is the same God, are consequently always joined and united together.”  (St. Francis de Sales)

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