To Give Clear Witness

'Enclosed nuns are called to give clear witness 

that man belongs entirely to God, 

and so to keep green among the human family 

the desire for a heavenly home.' 

Poor Clare Constitutions, quoted in 'Walls Around the World', p.14.  Click here for link.

First Things First

Revisiting the basics of what it means to be a "cloistered heart," we must begin (again) with first things first. 

There is ONE reason for the cloistered heart.  ONE reason for the analogies, for the strivings toward holiness, for faithfulness to prayer. 

Our analogies would be nothing more than “nice thoughts” (perhaps even illogical ones) if we did not keep sight of the Reason for them all. 

The Reason is a Person.  Without this Person, cloistered life (whether physical or spiritual) would be pointless and empty and fruitless and vague.  If we know and remember nothing else about the monastery or consecrated life, we must remember this:   

Jesus is the Reason for it all.  

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But Why?

I want to live totally, not just mostly, for God.  I don't want to compromise this goal.  Monasticism represents totality:  that is its appeal for me.  It may be that I can "get to heaven" by going to church on Sundays, by not living in major sin, by pursuing everyday luxuries while having Christ in a corner of my life.  But that is not even close to enough for me.  I want to live for God rather than for myself.

But why?

Because I want to be in a personal, ongoing relationship with God.  I want to glorify Him with my thoughts and my actions and my very life.  I love Him.

But why?

For the answer to this, I look as always to Scripture and the teachings of the Church.

"We, for our part, love because He first loved us."  1 John 4:19

God’s "love for his people is stronger than a mother’s for her children. God loves his people more than a bridegroom his beloved; his love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.'"  Catechism of the Catholic Church #219

"Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?  Even should she forget, I will never forget you.  See, upon the palms of My hands I have written your name."  Isaiah 49:15-16)

"God loves each of us as if there were only one of us."  St. Augustine

"I have called you by name; you are Mine."  Isaiah 43:1

"God is love."  1 John 4:8

"I know you are unworthy, but rejoice all the more and take as many treasures from my Heart as you can carry, for then you will please Me more... Oh, how I love those souls who have complete confidence in Me.  I will do everything for them."  Jesus to St. Faustina

"Love Him totally Who gave Himself totally for your love."  St. Clare of Assisi
____________________________________________________________________
For Prayer and Reflection:  

• Do I believe God loves me, personally?  Do I ever feel unworthy of His love?
• Can I talk with God about His love for me, and mine for Him?
• If I meditate upon the above quotes, does anything happen?  Do I feel God  speaking to me through any of them?

"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him may not die but have eternal life."  John 3:16

A New Life Begins When...

Over the next several weeks, I hope to look into the 'whys' and 'hows' of cloistered life.  Why is there such a thing as monasticism?  What is it for, what does it mean, what draws a person to it?  What can monasticism teach those of us who live in the midst of the world?

The monastic life starts not with an idea.  It starts with a Person.  It is only with Him at the center of our explorations that we can begin.... 

'Although God dwells in every soul which is in the state of grace, yet the intimacy between the soul and its Divine Guest may be very great or merely ordinary, or even less than that.  It is possible for two human beings to dwell under the same roof and not to be intimate; they may live thus and yet be almost strangers to one another.

'But it is possible for this state of things to change; it is possible for them to become friends, even intimate friends....

'A change comes in the soul when it begins to recognize Who it is that dwells in her.

'A new life of affection begins, a new life of real intimate friendship.  Intimate friends are characterized by mutual benevolence: each one makes the interest of the other the subject of his thoughts and of his plans.  The interest of the other becomes his own interest, and he pursues it with as much zeal as if it were his own personal interest... In such manner should we live in the intimacy of our Divine Guest..

'Some may think that such a life of union with God is only for saints, that a life of intimacy in which the soul constantly turns to God as to a loving and beloved guest, is not for the ordinary faithful.  This view is not correct.

'Intimacy with God is not for the saints only.  It is for all of us.'

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence," compiled by a Religious, Pellegrini, Australia, 1940, pp. 61-64)

Painting:  Pilgrims of Emmaus, James Tissot, detail

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Lord, Here is My Heart

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  (Jesus to St. Faustina)

Since typing the above words into yesterday's post, I cannot stop thinking about them.  Imagine throwing Jesus Christ, my Lord and King and Savior, out of my heart!  Imagine Him living within me, and my suddenly saying one day: "I don't want You here, there's no room for You in my life anymore... here's the door."

Such a horrible thought.  It's tough for me to even write the words.   Yet, people push Jesus out of their hearts every minute.  Maybe not with full consciousness of what they're doing (although that does happen, of course).  But every time one of us makes a decision to ignore God's serious commands in favor of our own, Christ is being shown the door.  

How great is the mercy of Our Lord, for He persists, He comes back, He knocks and knocks again. 

Here I stand, knocking at the door.  If anyone hears Me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with Him, and he with Me.”  (Revelation 3:20)

In spite of His amazing persistence, however, there are some who never open (or re-open) the door.  It is a tragic, sobering thought.  As a "cloistered heart," I take Jesus' desire to find repose in hearts quite seriously.  I pray for the individuals in whose hearts He is longing to dwell.  

Primarily, knowing that He is unwelcome in the hearts of many, I offer Him a place of loving refuge in my own.  

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  

Lord Jesus, here is my heart.  In it, may You find a refuge of love and praise.

(for our earliest posts about creating a refuge for Jesus in our hearts, click here 
and here)

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

And You... Who Do You Say That I Am?

One thing (or I should say, one Person) is central to cloister of the heart.  Without Him, there is really no point to either spiritual or physical monasticism. 

Oh, but there are monastics of other faiths besides Christianity, some might remind me.  True.  But their focus is not upon a Savior, for they have none.  They do not have a Messiah who suffered and died to free them from their sins.  I think Thomas Merton, in the book The Monastic Journey (Sheed, Andrews & McNeel Inc., Kansas City), put it well when he wrote:  “The pagan has no Christ, no Holy Spirit, perhaps even no personal God at all.  He has to struggle upward to union with the ‘Supreme Being’ - ‘The Absolute’ - by sheer force of his own will and by his own fortitude, relying on his own battery of religious practices.  His task is one of almost unbelievable difficulty - and this explains why pagan religions are all shot through with compromise and despair…. Besides, with all the subtlety and heroism of the purest techniques of natural religion - what does man finally encounter?  Not God - only himself.  His purified self, if you like, but still it is only himself.”

I do not want to spend my days in the spiritual cloister with only myself.  What a useless, fruitless, joyless, un-doable stretch of days that would be.  My focus is not on monasticism, but upon the Lord of the Monastery.  And who is that Lord?

In one of His discussions with His disciples, Jesus asked “who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  There were several answers before Jesus turned the question into something more personal.  “And you… who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13-15)

Scripture answers this question.  Jesus is the “reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s Being.”  (Hebrews 1:3).  Jesus is the Messiah (Mark 14:61-62)… . 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us plainly: “He is the only Son of the Father, He is God himself.”  (#454).  This is Who Jesus is, in His essence. 

What if Jesus were to stand before me, this very day, look intently into my eyes, and ask me personally:  “And YOU.  Who do YOU say that I am?......”  

How would I respond?

For prayer:

“This Jesus is the stone rejected by the builders which has become the cornerstone.  There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name in the whole world given to men by which we are to be saved.”  (Acts 4:11-12)

“At Jesus’ name, every knee must bend, in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father; Jesus Christ is LORD!” (Philippians 2:10-11)

“And you…. who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

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


(For a brief message from Pope Benedict XVI about the centrality of Jesus, click here)

(This post is part of Catholic Bloggers' Network monthly Round Up)

everything else is not enough

The life of a cloistered nun or a monk represents Totality.  Risking everything.  All one’s eggs in one basket.  No ifs, ands or buts.  Or, as Mother Mary Francis PCC so perfectly put it, “God is enough!  God is enough!  And everything else is not enough..”

It is the Totality that so draws me.  How I have wished I could just step over a threshold, dividing world from cloister, and be done with complacency and compromise forever.  I am not so naïve as to think it’s that simple, certainly.  But “out here,” where there are no bells to remind me to pray, where Mass is not offered daily in my own home, where the entire structure of life doesn’t revolve around God, I forget and slip and get distracted and grow very, very lazy. 

Is there help for me?  (yes, there is)  Am I the only person who has ever longed to live totally for God in the midst of the world  (no, I’m not)  Can I, in my busyness, find a way to look at life as God wishes me to – not as the world is constantly pushing me toward? (absolutely I can).  He Who calls also graces.  He does not ask of us what we cannot give. 

“Go and bless the Lord for the favorable inspiration He has given you to withdraw yourself from this great and wide road that those of your age and profession are accustomed to follow…”(St. Francis de Sales)

“You have, as it were, a poustinia (poustinia is a Russian word for hermitage) within you.  It is as if within you there was this little log cabin in which you and Christ were very close…within yourself you have made a room, a log cabin, a secluded place.  You have built it by prayer…. You live in the marketplace and carry the poustinia within you.  That is your vocation… The Lord is calling us to stand still before him while walking with men.” (Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Poustinia, Ave Maria Press, 1975)

In days just ahead, I hope to look more thoroughly into this cloister of the heart.  I hope to live more fully in each “room” of it than I ever have before.  “God is enough!  God is enough!  And everything else is not enough.” The words ring through me this night like a bell.  I know them to be true. 

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