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.
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