The Place of Refuge

Rx: This Name

'Does one of us feel sad? Let the Name of Jesus come into his heart...
And where is that man who, terrified and trembling before impending peril, has not been suddenly filled with courage and rid of fear by calling on the strength of that Name?
Where is the man who, tossed on the rolling seas of doubt, did not quickly find certitude by recourse to the clarity of Jesus's Name?
Was ever a man so discouraged, so beaten down by afflictions, to whom the sound of this Name did not bring new resolve?
In short, for all the ills and disorders to which flesh is heir, this Name is medicine.' 

St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Painting: Wilhelm Bernatzik, Vision of St. Bernard (detail)

Where Nothing Frightens Me

'My preference is to retire with Him to the deepest part of my soul as often as possible. When I am with Him there, nothing frightens me.' 

Brother Lawrence 

Painting: William McGregor Paxton, Venice 1910 (detail)

In This Fortress

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     

This Solitude Cannot Be Violated

'Always remember… to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart 

even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others.  

This mental solitude cannot be violated by the many people who surround you 

since they are not standing around your heart but only around your body.  

Your heart remains alone in the presence of God.'

St. Francis de Sales 

Painting: Carl Larsson, 1904

The Soul's Secret

Quote from 'Listening to the Indwelling Presence' by a Religious, Pelligrini, 1940

Painting: Carl Gustav Carus (attr), Mönch in Winterlandschaft

In a Prison Cell as Well

My Secret Closet

'To enjoy interior peace, we must always reserve in our hearts amidst all affairs, as it were, a secret closet, where we are to keep retired within ourselves, and where no business of the world can ever enter.'

St. Antonino Peirozzi

Cloistered Anytime. Even Now.

Among my re-discovered letters from friends, I found the following treasure. It was written by a woman who'd read the original The Cloistered Heart article when it was published in 1993, and now (twenty years later) was reflecting upon her own embrace of its ideals.

    "...I was drawn to the idea of a cloister in my heart. I longed for a place to retreat from the world, to be alone with Jesus. I not only longed for a place where I could escape the noise of life around me, but I also dreamed of providing a place in my heart where Jesus could find respite from this world.
    Visits to church or Eucharistic adoration were not an option for me at that time. The image of a cloister in my heart, a place for me and Jesus, was exactly what I needed. I could enter the cloister of my heart at any time or in any place.  It might sound foolish, even selfish, but at that time I lived such a busy, demanding and crowded life that I needed the hideaway. As time went on, it made perfect sense to me to adopt the image of the 'grille' to enclose my cloister and to protect it from the world.
    Is God 'saying' something to me about this now? I do believe He is. I think God is calling me back to my cloister. God has not abandoned me and I have not abandoned God. I am praying, but it feels so disorganized. I like organization in my home and in my life. I want my spiritual life to be organized too.
    So what am I doing to revitalize my cloistered heart? I am reading a prayer guide for active people, a back-to-basics kind of book. I am re-entering the cloister of my heart through the Eucharist and through prayer.
    I say my life is busy. It is, yet I am home alone quite a bit these days. So what is my excuse? I do this and I do that, but I am also guilty of squandering my time. A whole morning will get away from me before I realize I have done virtually nothing.
    I pray very well before I get out of bed in the morning. It is good prayer. It is spontaneous prayer. The same thing at night. I find it easy to 'talk' to Our Lord when all the world around me is dark and silent. I feel Jesus drawing me into His Sacred Heart. These are my best prayer times...
    When things happen around here, I want to get back to prayer as my FIRST recourse instead of prayer being an afterthought."

A Cell in Your Heart

Revisiting the Hiding Place

I am appreciating more than ever the Refuge we have available to us in this torn, aching, wounded world.  If we don't realize that parts of our planet and our civilization are in great distress just now, we have been living under a rock.

Yet in the midst of troubling news, moral confusion, and input from a world going mad, we really do have a Rock to live in and on and under. Jesus is our Rock, our Refuge.  He is our Hiding Place, our fortress, our one true cloister.

I see the truth of this when I consider so many saints gone before us... martyrs who much preferred death to the possibility of turning away from Christ.  What grace they received - exactly when they needed it.  This gives me hope.

In Acts 16, for instance, we read of Paul and Silas thrown into jail after having been given many lashes.  Their feet were chained to a stake.  I can imagine myself there, whining and grumbling and feeling sorry for myself.   But were Paul and Silas wailing, angry, groaning?  No.  They were praying and singing hymns to God.

And consider St. Ignatius of Antioch, as he was on his way to be fed to lions.  "Leave me to the beasts," he wrote, "that through them I may be accounted worthy of God.  I am the wheat of God, and by the teeth of the beasts I shall be ground, so that I may be found the pure bread of God.  Greatly provoke the wild beasts so that they may be my grave and leave nothing of my body, so that I won't be a burden on anyone.  Then I will truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ."    

What grace!  The same grace that was given to St. Stephen as he was being stoned.   The same grace (we can believe it) that is offered to people undergoing persecution for Christ today. 

I see Stephen as a perfect patron for those of us who strive to view life "through the grille." If anyone ever saw and responded to circumstances in such a way,  it was he.  Even as his persecutors were preparing to kill him, he boldly exclaimed "'Look!... I see an opening in the sky, and the Son of Man standing at God's right hand."

I am sure this acute view of reality buffered the saint's agony as stones were hurled at him.  "As he was being stoned, he could be heard praying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'  He fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.'"  (Acts 7:54, 59, 60) 

"The cloistered heart."  I wrote some years ago, "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." 

I must remember this.  In the madness all around, I must remember.

Within the cloistered heart there is refuge.  The Lord Himself is with me.

My heart, as long as He is in it, is safe.

Text not in quotes © N Shuman 
thecloisteredheart.org

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is linked to Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.'
 

A Secret Closet

'We must always reserve in our hearts amidst all affairs,

as it were, a secret closet, where we are to keep retired 

within ourselves and where no business of the world can ever enter.'

St. Antonino Peirozzi

Painting: Charles Courtney Curran, Dans le Jardin du Luxembourg 1889

Here and There

'Let us take refuge from this world. You can do this in spirit, even if you are kept here in the body. You can at the same time be here and present to the Lord. Your soul must hold fast to Him, You must follow after Him in your thoughts, you must tread His ways by faith, not in outward show.' (St. Ambrose)

To Face the World

Sometimes I want to hide away in a quiet corner, far from news reports, political distresses, moral confusion, celebrations of sin, and input from a world going mad. Sometimes I simply want to close the blinds on windows and grilles.

But Our Lord has not called me to live inside a physical enclosure. In our cloistered heart analogy, the "symbol" is grillwork... not brick walls. 

"The Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the just man runs into it and is safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)

What is my strong tower? Not stonework. That would be much too fragile. Stones are subject to crumbling. The Name of the Lord is not.  

I am not called to flee from the world. I'm called to face it, day after day after day, but I do not have to do so unaided. I am called to relate to the world through the will of God. I can pray for the world, and deal with every situation and every person I encounter or even hear of, through the "grillwork" of the will of God.  I can run to Our Lord and I can remain in Him.  

As I cling to Jesus, He gives me all I need to face the world.

"We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his decree." (Romans 8:28)

 
'We are afflicted in every way possible, but we are not crushed; full of doubts, we never despair.  We are persecuted but never abandoned; we are struck down but never destroyed.' (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

'You are my shelter; from distress you keep me.  With safety, You ring me around.' (Psalm 32:7)

'God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Thus we do not fear, though the earth be shaken and the mountains quake to the depths of the sea; though its waters rage and foam and mountains totter at its surging. The Lord of hosts is with us.  Our stronghold is the God of Jacob.' (Psalm 46:2-4)

This is a slightly 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       

Photo via Pixabay

Hidden in God

Painting: Carl Friedrich Lessing, in US public domain due to age

Be For Me A Refuge

Painting used: Zdenka Brauerova, Paris 1886

Revisiting The Cove

'What heavier burden is there than that which makes the soul descend from its sublime dignity down to the underworld, where all holiness is held in contempt? Then, my brother, flee all this agitation and misery, and go from the storm of this world to the cove where there is tranquil and certain rest.' (St. Bruno) 

Storms of the world swirl around me. In this time, as in Bruno's, all holiness is held in contempt (I notice that the word used by Bruno is 'all,' not 'some' holiness). Faith is mocked and dismissed, Jesus is discounted, sin is normalized, the sanctity of life is compromised, perversion is used to sell books and music and TV and movies. We know how it goes. 

I grow so weary at times. I want to take Bruno's advice and go to a cove. But of course I can't do that, not in a physical way. As I ponder these words, however, I see anew the gift of heart-cloister, the gift of living in the haven of God's will. I see, in the swirling storm surge, a path before me. 

Jesus beckons toward a safe refuge. 

Even in the midst of agitation and misery, I can flee. Surrounded by shadows, I can place my heart in the bright, blazing Light of Jesus.  

In the Cove of His Heart, there is tranquil and certain rest.

This is a slightly edited repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.

Painting at top: William McGregor Paxton

Painting at bottom:  Jean-Bernard Restout, St. Bruno Praying in the Desert

Sanctuary

'Thank God, there still remains one sanctuary, 
the sacredness of which no earthly power may violate… 
It is the sanctuary of the human heart.  
It needs no fixed place for its confines, 
no stated time for the opening of its gates, 
no particular hour of silence for its prayer.  
A thought, a word, a moment of reflection, 
and by faith and by love, the 
soul is within the blessed refuge, and 
the gates are closed on the confusion of life
with all its noise and tumult. 
It is secure against the bitterness 
and the pain of persecution, 
or hardship or trial, 
or hurt of body, 
or wound of earthly pride, 
or failure of worldly ambition, 
for there she is inviolable, sacred,
impregnable in the fortress of her own spirit.'

From The Living Pyx of Jesus, Pelligrini and Co, 1941, p.101

Painting: Gerard Dou

My Haven on the Sea of Life

'He gave me His Heart to be my refuge, my help in all my needs, and my haven of repose amidst the storms and tempests on this sea of life. There the cross must be my throne of glory. On it alone must I find my joy. Nothing means anything to me anymore but Jesus...'

     St. Margaret Mary