Go Forward...

Welcome, Breadbox Letters friends!

It Is Essential

It Is Essential

Newspaper photo of Miracle of the Sun, public domain

Hold Onto the Map

'There is always hope for the man who knows that he is doing wrong, 

but there is no hope for the man who is doing wrong and calls the wrong right. 

The Catholic gets off the road like anyone else, but he never throws away the map.'

Fulton J. Sheen, from the Wartime Prayer Book

Our map can be found here or here. And here or here.

He Can Repair Us

Painting: Van Gogh, At Eternity's Gate

Consecration of a Monastery

 

I think the following is an ideal prayer for those of us who want to go through the world as 'walking monasteries,' living for the glory of God. 

Praying through this, line by line, leads me to an examination of conscience, into repentance, and toward a renewal of my decision to live for Christ.

'Dear Lord, The indwelling in me of the Holy Spirit implies that like the Church, the Altar, the Tabernacle, I am consecrated to be the temple, the house, the home of God Himself. My body is set apart, dedicated to God's use as something holy, never to be profaned by worldliness, by selfishness, or by sin. 

'My body is the Spirit's chosen dwelling place, 

a privileged altar. It must then not be looked upon as 

a market place for the transaction of business, 

or a school for study, 

or a playground for amusement. 

It is none of these.  

Indeed, it is not really my property at all, 
but Your very own...

'I must never dare to bring the God dwelling within me 

into contact with things which He abhors. 

'O God, hidden within me, forgotten and neglected on so many days, during so many years, I ask You to forgive my carelessness, my irreverence, my infidelity....

'Joyfully I consecrate to You my body, with all its members and all its senses, 

my hands and feet, 

my eyes and ears and tongue, 

my powers of seeing and hearing and speaking, 

my impulses and instincts and appetites and desires. 

I make them over to You by deed of gift; 

to be absolutely and forever Yours, to be employed always in Your service, never to be used against Your will.

'O God, take this body of mine, 

consecrate it, 

let it never be defiled by sin. 

Let it never become the abode of evil, 

nor be used against the best interests of any of Your children.' 

(from "Listening to the Indwelling Presence" by a Religious, Pellegrini, 1940, pp. 24-26) )

 

Paintings in US public domain due to age

Hope for the Ruins

The Call of Little You and Little Me

I am not going far back into the archives for today's 'Revisiting Wednesday' - only to this past January. I ran across this yesterday, just when I needed some encouragement...

I have been looking (here) into our calls to be heroes of the faith in our everyday lives. 

Little you and little me: heroes of the faith.

Imagine.

Throughout history, there have been those who actually could imagine such possibilities. St. Therese, the little flower who practiced a very little way, wrote "already God sees us in glory and takes joy in our eternal beatitude. How this thought helps my soul!"

This thought helps my soul too, as does the realization that Therese was not always a great saint. From most accounts, she was a willful little girl given to occasional tantrums.  But of course, that was in her youth. What about those of us who carried our willfulness and rebellion all the way into adulthood? Is there any hope for us?

There was hope for a man named Augustine, even as he was pleading "Lord, make me chaste - but not yet!" Anyone who heard him say these words would be unlikely to think "now, that is a saint." 

But there was hope. There is always hope.

''To him who still remains in this world, no repentance is too late. The approach to God's mercy is open." (St.Cyprian)

"In the moment of temptation think of the Love that awaits you in heaven: foster the virtue of hope." (St. Josemaria Escriva)

We are all called to be with God in heaven, for all eternity. We are invited to begin (or to begin anew), answering that call at this very moment.

We were created to be more than just nice people, more than folks who are fun to be around. We are called and graced by God to become true heroes of the faith.

Little you and little me.

Imagine.



This is a repost from our archives. It is linked to Reconciled to You and Theology is a Verb for 'It's Worth Revisiting Wednesday.
© 2015 N Shuman thecloisteredheart.org 

Painting: Olga Boznańska, 1898, in US public domain due to age

A Way Through That Wall

Picture Attribution

I never want to be separated from the love of God. So I'm thankful to have the following as a vital piece of my grillwork:  "I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor powers, neither height nor depth nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

I read these words a second time, and a third, and I let their power wash over me.  Time cannot conquer this astonishing love, death itself cannot separate me from it. No distance anywhere will ever be too far.

However, if I look closely at the "grille" (Scripture and the teachings of the Church), I do find one specific thing that can put a wall between me and the love of God.

"Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become 'like gods,' knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus 'love of oneself even to contempt of God.' In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation." (Catechism of the Catholic Church n.1850)

"If we say, 'we are free of the guilt of sin,' we deceive ourselves; the truth is not to be found in us. But if we acknowledge our sins, He who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong." (1 John 1:8-9)

"If I cannot perceive God because of sin," I wrote here several years ago, "maybe it works both ways. Maybe He can't see ME.  Maybe He'll forget all about me, and then He won't notice that I'm living in sin. Maybe there isn't any such thing as sin; I mean, all I have to do is turn on TV to know that today's 'social norms' do not even seem to recognize its reality. 

"I can do a lot to hide that pesky wall. Add a bright coat of paint, plant some ivy, maybe even put up a hedge so I don't see the wall at all, in time. Sin can be made to look quite attractive and normal.  Just a spray of denial and a dulling of conscience, and I'm all set. 

"Except that I'm not.  I'm not set at all.  I'm walled off from God; and in my moments of honesty, I am miserable.  If I find myself in such a spot, I don't have to stay there.  If I am in serious sin, I daresay I know it. I might have tried fooling myself, playing some 'everybody's doing it' games in my head.  But I know...."

Thank God, there is a way through that wall. "If we confess our sins, He who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrong."  (1 John 1:9)

Lord Jesus Christ, I confess to You that I am a sinner.  In particular, I ask forgiveness for these  transgressions___________.  I am so sorry.  If my sins have been grave, help me get to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Give me the strength to turn away from sin and temptation, and to avoid occasions that would lead me into sin.  Thank You for Your grace and mercy.  I ask You to break down any walls of sin that keep me from You.  Jesus, I trust in You.  Amen.

Painting: Artgate Fondazione Cariplo - Molteni Giuseppe, La confessione, courtesy of Wikimedia. Click here for link.

As Long as We Have That Map

'There's a tremendous satisfaction in having a map. That is what the truth of Christ is like in the Church. We may get off the road; we may get off it by sin; we may get off it by error. But as long as we have that map, we can get back on the road.'

Archbishop Fulton Sheen



















Painting: Julius Sergius Klever, 1908

On the Morning of Confession

'When our Lord is with us, 
light is poured abroad
on life's path, 
light is shed around
in the house of our soul,
His own living Tabernacle.... 

'On the morning of Confession, 
show Him round the house; 
show Him what needs repair;
show Him where thieves 
break in and steal; 
be busy telling Him all, 
and beg of Him the grace 
of perfect contrition.'

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, 
compiled by a Religious, 
Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, p. 223)












Reposted from The Breadbox Letters archives

The Trouble with Truth

'People hate the truth 
for the sake of 
whatever it is 
they love 
more than the truth. 

'They love truth when 
it shines warmly 
on them, and hate it 
when it rebukes them.'  

St. Augustine




Painting: Jan Lievens, Young Man in a Yellow Robe 

But I Digress

I haven't forgotten.  I know I promised to report back on seeking God ten times the more, and it has been a week now.  I wanted to wait until I felt I'd had some success.

Sigh. 

This is where it would be handy to have an emoticon for the word "sigh." Or a way to write it in wistful script, implying a breath of drawn-out longing:  in this case, a sighing for something that seems unattainable.   

But I digress.  Which is appropriate, as digressing is my problem.  To digress, says the dictionary, is to turn aside or wander from the main subject temporarily.

The Main Subject:  God.

Digression:  my distractions even in the midst of trying to turn "ten times the more" to Him.  Do I turn aside from God?  No, not deliberately.  Do I wander from paying attention to Him?  Now that is a good question.  My will, in a time of prayer, may or may not stray.  My mind?  Now there's the great wanderer, the little nomad, the part that goes missing in action without so much as a fare-thee-well.  It can later be found in the most unlikely places, having chased every "wheeeeeeeeeeeee, let's follow this!" mental breeze.   

Temporarily:  the last word in the dictionary definition.  This is a word that gives me hope.  My distractions are not a permanent condition.  It is only when I will not hope in GOD that I become hopeless .... and that, itself, can be a temporary state.  The instant I turn and place my hope in Him - that's the instant when hope is restored.  That is when God has the last word. 

Even when I ask forgiveness of sin, my repented-of failings are rendered "temporary."  Everything in this life will one day fall into that category.

Imagine being able to concentrate fully on the Main Subject, the one thing necessary.

Imagine dwelling eternally where all digressions have ceased.

Painting:  Elizabeth Adela Forbes, The Open Book
 
This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Linkup

Day by Day, the Choice is Ours

As we view life according to Scripture and Church teaching, we often find ourselves facing choices.  Shall we conduct our lives as the world around us says and does and counsels....  or will we live "through the grille?"  God has given us free will; He doesn't treat us like puppets. 

In essence, two ways of life lie before us.  The world's way or God's way?  Day by day, we are given opportunities to repent, to grow, to change direction.  Day by day, the choice is ours.   

"Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth.  After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God.  When Christ our life appears, you shall appear with Him in glory.  Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth:  fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is called idolatry.  These are the sins which provoke God's wrath.  Your own conduct was once of this sort, when these sins were your very life.  You must put that aside now:  all the anger and quick temper, the malice, the insults, the foul language.  Stop lying to one another.  What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new man, one who grows in knowledge as he is formed anew in the image of his Creator."   (Colossians 3:2-10)

Painting: Gustav Jagerspacher Der Zweifler 1921

You are invited to click here to join us for comments in the Parlor 

The Other Side of That Wall

If I have repented of sin, I've made more than a giant leap toward God.  I have allowed Jesus to break down walls between us and to carry me swiftly into His Presence.  

Today's post is a slightly edited version of one I wrote here over a year ago, for these words of St. Faustina give us a glimpse into what has actually happened.  If I've repented of sin, I may or may not feel any different, but the truth is:  I have been met with great love.

"I saw that God was well pleased with me and, reciprocally, my spirit drowned itself in Him.  Aware of this union with God, I felt I was especially loved and, in turn, I loved with all my soul….   And the Lord said to me, ‘You are the delight of My Heart; from today on, every one of your acts, even the very smallest, will be a delight to My eyes...'  My earthly body was the same, but my soul was different; God was now living in it with the totality of His delight.  This is not a feeling, but a conscious reality that nothing can obscure.”  (St. Faustina, Diary) 

God will not be outdone in generosity.  If I've taken even one step toward Him (no matter how timid the step, no matter how faltering), I can be sure that He is reaching out to receive me.  I am enfolded, encompassed, and totally embraced by Love.

Photo © 2010 Nancy Shuman

This is part of a 'mini'-series' of posts on walls.  To continue in chronological order, click this line.

As One Just Awakened

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

'I confess it with shame:
Every minute 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.

'You are present indeed, but practically speaking, You might as well be absent,
when You are not present to my consciousness because I am inattentive....

'Yet You within me are God, Who made the world, Who created me,
Who died on the Cross.  
You make the Paradise of the saints.

'Dear God, it is unbelievable that I have thus
neglected You;
failed to speak to You.
as if I wished You to leave me to myself,
as if I were bent on wasting my life away
in silly, useless, even sinful occupations....

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

By 'A Religious,' LISTENING TO THE INDWELLING PRESENCE, Pellegrini, Sydney, 1940,  pp. 55-56)

Click this line to leave comments in the Parlor  

the path back home

Sometimes the enclosure of a monastery is a vast place, encompassing fields and woods as well as gardens.  I was once a retreatant in such a location, and found myself caught in the meadow during a sudden storm.  One minute I was strolling along under partly cloudy skies, and the next I was hearing cracks of thunder.  As I trudged up a long hill on the edge of a patch of woods, flashes of lightning streaked overhead.  

I think of this and wonder.  What if I strayed to the farthest edges of my enclosure?  What if I became so distracted by things outside God's will that I drifted off to its farthest limits?  What if something just beyond looked so enticing that I wandered right outside? 

I would then be stuck outside the cloister.  Maybe in a snowstorm, cold, on a slippery slope, away from the safety of my monastic home.  Oh why did I ever leave it, why did I drift so far?  

Is there a way back in?

The answer, in a word, is YES.  I know this through experience, and I'd bet that everyone reading this has had touches of mercy as well.  It we look around today and find we've strayed outside the enclosure of God's will, Lent is a good time to take a step back in.  

God has not left us "pathless."  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life," says Jesus (John 14:6). 

It is time to come Home.

For reflection:  
"The whole power of the sacrament of Penance consists in restoring us to God's grace and joining us with Him in an intimate friendship."  (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1468)

For prayer:  

"Though your sins be like scarlet, they will become white as snow."  (Isaiah 1:18)

"If we acknowledge our sins, He who is just can be trusted to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from every wrong."  (1 John 1:9)

"Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me Your paths.  Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and for You I wait all the day."  (Psalm 25:4-5)

(snow photo on this post © copyright 2012 E. Shuman.  All rights reserved.)  

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

reclaiming peace

"First thing in the morning, prepare your heart to be at peace; then take great care throughout the day to call it back to that peace frequently, and, as it were, to again take your heart in your hand...

"If you happen to do something that you regret, be neither astonished nor upset, but,
having acknowledged your failing, humble yourself quietly before God and try to regain your composure... 

"Say to your soul: ‘there, we have made a mistake, but let's go on now and be more careful.’  Every time you fall, do the same." (St. Francis de Sales)