A Radiance

'Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Your Spirit and Light. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may be only a radiance of Yours. Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul with whom I come in contact may feel Your Presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only You, dear Jesus.'

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus by A Religious, Pelligrini 1941, p. 421)

Painting: John Henry Frederick Bacon, Suscipe me Domine (detail)

A Mansion Reserved

"As far as I can understand, the gate by which

to enter this castle is payer and meditation." 

St. Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle

As far as I can understand, the gate by which to enter this castle is prayer and meditation

The Divine Guest of my Soul

"He is with us always, within the depths of our souls always, listening to us and asking us to speak to Him, at least at intervals. 

"Is this quite true? Yes, the Eternal God, my Loving God, is within me, He is the Divine Guest of my soul. I must live my life with Him as much as my weakness, my misery, my meanness, my lukewarmness, my cowardice will allow. 

"This will not deter me in my other occupations nor separate me from others; it will take only a moment of time; only instead of being alone, I will have a Companion in my work and in my duties. 

"Now and again I will lower my eyes to my heart and remain in recollection for a few seconds, thinking 'You are here, my God, and I love You.' Thus I will develop the habit, and I will end by always feeling the sweet Companionship of the God of my heart."

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus by A Religious, Pelligrini, 1941, pp. 208-209)

Painting at top: Henriette Browne

Painting at bottom: Gifford Beal; Elevated,Columbus Avenue, NY, 1916

O God, Forgotten By Many

"I fear there are few souls who constantly remember the Indwelling Holy Spirit. Far too few, indeed! 

Here and there, a great saint; now and again, some simple, loving, obscure disciple. But by the many, He is neglected and forgotten...

But the consciousness of that Divine Presence in the soul, the gracious influence of the Indwelling Spirit, make those who remember grow steadily more and more like You. In their lives, one sees ordinary men and women reflecting the sublime beauty, and the splendid wisdom, and the perfect holiness, which belong to God Himself. 

O God! forgotten by so many, I will strive to remember You....

What a long series of claims You have upon my loyalty, You, Who made me! Who redeemed me! Who saved me not once, but repeatedly, from the fatal consequences of my own foolish and wicked conduct....

Help me, dear Lord, to find a lasting source of joy in the thought of Your Presence within me! 

Help me to keep the eyes of my soul opened, and the ears of my soul unstopped, so that, from morning until night, I may be always on the alert to please You by doing Your Will. May I always say, like little Samuel, 'Speak, Lord! Thy servant heareth.'"

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus by A Religious, Pelligrini, 1941, pp. 203-204

Painting: Herbert James Draper, The Golden Rays

And May He Set it Aflame

When I Grow Weary With Trifles

'I know that as frequently as possible 
I should recall 
the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost.
I cannot think of Him too often.

From my awakening in the morning 
until I fall asleep at night, 
here He is within me always,
closer than breathing, 
at the very centre of my soul.

Here He is while I am doing my daily work,
and struggling under my burdens;
He is here when I grow weary
with the drudgery, 
with the monotony,
with the emptiness of the trifles 
which fill day after day of my life...

He is here when I am disappointed and cross,
impatient and obstinate,
willful and unreasonable and hard to please...

He is here when I show myself 
eager for notice, 
hungry for praise, 
when I excuse my meanness
by alleging a noble motive.
When I exaggerate, or boast, 
at all such times
He, the Holy Ghost, is here,
just as truly 
as if Christ Himself were visibly present,
and I could touch His garment,
grasp His hand,
embrace Him lovingly.

It is only those who are willfully blind 
Who cannot see Him...'

from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence' by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1940, pp. 53-55
  
 
Paintings by Petrus Van Schendel

His Shelter

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     

Dwells Your God

Painting: Zygmunt Sokołowski, 1800s

Let Me Realize What This Means

'Let me recall that God within me is ever awaiting a whispered word, a loving glance, an act of service or of adoration. Let me realize what this means.
It means that:
I need not take a single step in order to put myself in His Presence.
I need not even speak aloud in order to be heard by Him.
The very movement of my will is plain to Him.
His one desire is for my worship never to cease.
From my heart, as from the Tabernacle Lamp, a steady little flame of love should always be ascending.
This love should burn by day and night in storm and calm, while I work or while I rest.
It is the uninterrupted adoration of my soul for the God Who dwells within.
It shows that I am looking at Him and loving Him as He wishes to be looked upon and loved by His children.
So be it!'

(from Listening to the Indwelling Presence, compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, 1940, p. 39)

Even in Ordinary Tasks

Painting: Winslow Homer, For to be a Farmer's Boy

Your Monastery

'You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is within - the Spirit you have received from God.'  (1 Corinthians 6:19)

'Monastic life,' wrote Louis Bouyer, 'is nothing else, no more and no less, than a Christian life whose Christianity has penetrated every part of it.' With this in mind, I'd like to take a deeper look into what it can mean to 'be' a monastery in the midst of the world. 

As before, click on any line below to open that post. 


And Our Monastery Is...

The Right Address

In Substance the Same

Let Me Be a House of God




Samuel van Hoogstraten painting, digitally altered

Throw Wide the Gate

'My Father and I will come and make Our home with him. Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your door to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace.

'Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light that shines on every man. This true light shines on all, but if anyone closes his window he will deprive himself of eternal light. If you shut the door of your mind, you shut out Christ. Though he can enter, He does not want to force His way in rudely, or compel us to admit Him against our will....

'Our soul has a door; it has gates. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter. If you open the gates of your faith, the King of glory will enter your house in the triumphal procession in honor of His passion.

'Holiness too has its gates. We read in Scripture what the Lord Jesus said through His prophet: Open for Me the gates of holiness. 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, from an exposition of Psalm 118; from Office of Readings


Photo: public domain via Wikimedia
Painting: John William Waterhouse; original image reversed

Carrying Paradise

In a Most Particular Manner

Perhaps You are All the Closer

Come, Holy Spirit

Am I Not a Living Pyx?

'I shall not become immobile in ecstatic adoration, because my duties oblige me to work. But I shall not work in a turmoil, without an inspiration of adoring love, for my faith reminds me of the Guest whom I bear within me, for am I not a living Pyx?

'I am busy because it is my duty. But I do not work without God, because the Most High God never leaves me alone.'

(The Living Pyx of Jesus, Pelligrini, 1941, p. 103)

Painting: Edouard-Jean Dambourgez, A Pork Butcher's Shop

These Dazzled Eyes

"O ever-present God within me....
How seldom do I remember
that at any time, in any place,
I can find You, commune with You,
by simply turning towards You
the eyes of my soul.
Forgive me, Holy Spirit,
for behaving as if I had never heard of You!

Now, as one just awakened, I say
'God is here,
and I have been unaware of Him.'

I confess it with shame:
Every moment of my day
is filled with other interests.

My eyes are dazzled
by the sight of things and people.
I have little time,
little attention,
little love
to give You, the indwelling God...

O God, the Father,
God, the Son,
God, the Holy Ghost,
forgive me!"

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 55-56) 

Painting: Richard Edward or Emil Miller, in US public domain due to age

The Guest Within