What is the Grille of the Cloistered Heart?

 

The grille is a powerful symbol. I would go so far as to say that, in the cloistered heart way of life I’m describing, it is the important symbol. It is a place of separation and, just as importantly, it is a place of encounter. It is only through the grille that some cloistered individuals (in a number of communities) connect with the world.

Every human being has been given, by God, a way to connect with the world. A way to see situations correctly; a way to interact with others appropriately.

God invites each one of us to view and respond to every person and every circumstance through His will.

We do not have to guess what that will is. God has revealed it to us. Scripture and the authentic teachings of the Church make up the bars of our grille.

Am I facing a hardship? I can face it through the grille.“God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him…” (Romans 8:28).   

“We do not fix our gaze on what is seen but on what is unseen…” (2 Corinthians 4:18).  

Some Scriptures That Form "Bars of My Grille":

"Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may judge what is God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect."  (Romans 12:0)

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no fruit, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights." (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

"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 can even boast of our afflictions! We know that affliction makes for endurance, and endurance for tested virtue, and tested virtue for hope. And this hope will not leave us disappointed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:3-5)

"I consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)

"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)

"No test has been sent you that does not come to all men. Besides, God keeps his promise. He will not let you be tested beyond your strength.  Along with the test he will give you a way out of it so that you may be able to endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

"We have put our hope in him who will never cease to deliver us." (2 Corinthians 1:10)

**This is an excerpt from the CloisteredHeart.org page, "The Grille".

The Cloistered Driver

"When you use the analogy of the grille of God’s will and imagine yourself protected by it, you really do see things in a new light. I think a perfect example of this was when I placed myself there on my 40 minute drives back and forth to work, battling very unpleasant traffic. Suddenly it didn’t matter if everyone seemed to try to push me out of the way. I was alone with God and nothing else was of any concern." (our friend Jane)

God “can say to someone driving that car bumper to bumper, ‘I will lead you into solitude and there I will speak to your heart. (Hosea 2:14).’” (Catherine de Hueck Doherty, Poustinia, Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame IN, 1975, p. 22) 

"Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, Who inspires and perfects our faith."  (Hebrews 12:2)

Public domain photo



To return to the 'Monastic Adventure in Sequence' post, click here 

 

When We Feel the Grillwork Crumbling

Your response to a recent sharing from our friend Rose has been remarkable.  Only a month after being posted, what she shared about living as a 'cloistered heart' in a large, busy family has become our most viewed post of all time.  It is a well deserved position.  Rose has a lot of wisdom from which we can benefit.

Rose wrote the following in a letter some years ago.  It gives me hope, and reminds me that I don't have to just sit in a muddle of misery when I start to lose sight of my own view through the grille.  

'For several weeks I have felt the world reaching through my grille.  It seemed as though family, home and school were like tentacles groping and grabbing at me.  They tugged at me bit by bit through the open squares of my grille.  Only my soul still clung to the cloister in my heart.  

Yesterday my heart could no longer stand the outside forces.  My grillwork crumbled.  My mind and heart and soul crashed through to the world... I was discouraged.  I wanted to break down in tears.  Everything inside of me hurt.

This morning is a new day.  I have turned my sorrow over to God. My soul longs to return to the cloister of my heart.  I am ready to begin to reconstruct the grille.  I must first put my feelings and opinions, my hurts and emotions aside.  I must bury them all in the Heart of Jesus and let the fire of His love consume them...

It would be easier to return to the cloister in my heart if I could just hide away for a short time to pull myself back together spiritually.  But keeping the cloister in our hearts in the midst of the world and its confusions is what we strive for, so I guess I need to heal my cloister and rebuild my grille in the midst of all that confusion.  

Yesterday and today I have made my start.'   

- from Rose

Painting:  Die Gartenlaube, 1885, in US public domain due to age

For more about the cloistered heart grille, click this line

We Find the View Through the Grille

It takes practice to find the "view through the grille." We often simply forget to look at situations through it, because such envisioning is far from automatic.

As we know, we think of the grille being the will of God as this is revealed to us through Scripture and the teachings of the Church.  We strive to look at and respond to all circumstances through the will of God and thus through God Himself; and we can place the focus either on the circumstance or on the 'grille' of God's will.

In today's first photo, the focus is upon what is outside the grille - the "circumstance."  This is the way a Christian may often look at things in life.  We might have the will of God IN the picture, but when our focus is totally on the situation, then how God asks us to respond to that situation may be fuzzy and unclear.

We can so easily place our focus on temptations, illnesses, memories, circumstances; and when our focus is on these things, God and His truth and His will become fuzzy.

In the second picture, the grille is the focus.  We still see the situations, but our eyes do not dwell there.  We see circumstances and we deal with them, but we do so with our focus on the will of God.  As we go through the world, God remains dominant in our heart and thoughts and decisions. This is what we aim for; this is the ideal "view through the grille."

Distracting, troubling, difficult situations will be encountered by each of us.  Our goal is to become so focused upon God's word, God's will - in short, on God Himself - that He is the focal point of everything.  He is our focus. 

It takes time and practice to view life through the grille.  I practiced such "viewing" just recently.

I awoke that day feeling vaguely depressed.  I was achy, my (aging) joints were complaining, and I'd gone to sleep reading a book that for some reason was pulling me down.  Not a bad book by any means... but just not one that appeals much to me (I won't be finishing it).

Then I remembered words of scripture:  "put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness" (Isaiah 61:3).

Ah HA!  I decided to sing hymns of praise.  I decided to utter a few (inner) spontaneous prayers.  

And yes, it genuinely "worked."  Even if I'd continued to feel low as the day went along, however, I could still keep choosing to praise God.  I don't have to "feel good" in order to praise Him.  He is good and holy and worthy of praise, and how I may or may not feel does nothing at all to change that reality.

In days to come, I'd like to explore more examples of finding the view through the grille.  If you would like to share a few of your own, I invite you to do so in the comments (yes, they're open here again).

Maybe it's time we practice, together, finding the view through the grille.....

© 2014 Nancy Shuman.
thecloisteredheart.org    

Photos on this post © N. Shuman 


For more about the cloistered heart grille, click this line

Saints Show us the View Through the Grille

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."  (St. Jerome)

"How can we go on saying we are one with Him if we are not willing to make our will fit in with His?"  (St. Francis de Sales)

"Every moment comes to us pregnant with a command from God, only to pass on and plunge into eternity, there to remain forever what we have made of it."  (St. Francis de Sales)

"Close your ears to the whisperings of hell and bravely oppose its onslaughts."  (St. Clare)

"Always remain quiet and calm in the shelter of God's will, under the mighty protection of the most High." (St. Paul of the Cross)

"Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought."  (St. John Paul II)

"A heart full of love loves the commandments."  (St. Francis de Sales)

Painting: Georges de la Tour, St. Jerome


For more about the cloistered heart grille, click this line

 

How to Practice the View Through the Grille

 
I just found a four-minute video and thought "ah-ha!"  This is it.  This is it!

I invite you to take a few minutes and click this line to view the video.  

What Father speaks of is simple, straightforward, do-able by anyone.... and is a perfect how-to (although he calls it no such thing, of course) for practicing the "view through the grille."    

"All Scripture is inspired of God and is useful for teaching - for reproof, correction, and training in holiness, so that the man of God may be fully competent and equipped for every good work."  (2 Timothy 3:16-17) 

"The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as it venerates the Body of the Lord, since from the table both of the Word of God and of the Body of Christ it unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the Bread of Life."  (Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation) 

"Sacred Scripture is the speech of God, and it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."  (Catechism of the Catholic Church #81)


Photo on this post © N. Shuman  


For more about the cloistered heart grille, click this line

The Bars of Our Grille

In the "analogy" that is the Cloistered Heart, the grille is key.  As we said in our last post, a monastery grille is a place of separation and a place of encounter.  It is only through the grille that some cloistered individuals connect with the world.

Thankfully, God has not left those who live outside physical monasteries without a means to connect with the world as well.  He has generously provided for each of us a way to see situations correctly, a way to interact with others appropriately. God invites us to view and respond to every person and every circumstance through His will.

We do not have to guess what that will is.  God has revealed it to us.  Scripture and the authentic teachings of the Church make up the bars of our grille.

Am I facing a hardship?  I can face it through the grillwork of His will. “God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him…”  (Romans 8:28).   

I think often of how it must be for a cloistered nun meeting visitors in the foyer.  Sister stands at the grille, looking out at whoever is there before her.  The foyer is a public part of the monastery, accessible to almost anyone.

In the cloistered heart analogy, I see the "foyer" as my mind.  I invite thoughts there by what I see and hear, but I have little control over things that come uninvited.  All sorts of things beg for admittance; they’re like salesmen invading a monastery foyer.  They can be quite insistent, especially if they’ve had success in selling to me before.  Oh, and so many of them have! 

Through the grille, they display catalogs of their wares.  “Have you worried about this today?” the thoughts ask. “Look at this new line of fears - tailor made just for YOU!” 

I have gone so far as to make little paper "grilles" for myself (sometimes from photos of grillwork), and I've written verses of scripture on the bars to remind me that I am to look at this or that situation through these words.  Every circumstance, every person, every concern, every temptation - everything is to be viewed, and responded to, through the "grillwork" of God's will.  

"God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)  I ask God to impress this truth upon me.

“But consider the pain you’ve been feeling!!” the thoughts insist.  
"I consider the sufferings of the present to be as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18).

“…But look at you!  You are weak and helpless!”   

"In Him Who is the source of my strength I have strength for everything.” (Philippians 4:13).

And on it goes.  Finding the view is not easy.  I try every day; I fail every day.  But with every “success,” it seems the grillwork grows stronger before me.  It is how God invites me to meet the world.

The idea of the grille reminds me that I'm not called to flee from circumstances, nor to hide myself behind walls.  Life with its joys and challenges IS going to come to me, ringing for my attention. 

Part of living within the will of God is meeting life daily, face-to-face. 

I thank God that He has given Scripture and Church teaching to form the "bars of our grille." 


Photos on this post are copyright © N. Shuman

© 2014 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org    

For more about the cloistered heart grille, click this line

Getting to Know the Grille

The photo on this post is of a typical parlor grille.  Visitors sit on the "public" side of the grillwork, cloistered nuns sit on the other (inside the enclosure), and they are able to spend time together.   

The grille is a powerful symbol.  I would go so far as to say that, in the cloistered heart way of life we describe here, it is the important symbol.  It is a place of separation and, just as importantly, it is a place of encounter. 

It is only through the grille that many cloistered individuals connect with the world.  For the purposes of our analogy (which we will discuss next time), this "only-ness" is extremely important.  

In order to catch the implications of the analogy, we need some idea of what grilles in actual monasteries are like - how they function and how they look.  

Which is like this....

Click on the following links for a look at: 

A Grille at Regina Laudis

A Grille of Carmel

"The Gaze Behind the Lattice Work"

Picture at top:  Poor Clare Monastery, Barhamsville, VA.  Photo by Connie Wells

For a look at OUR grille, click this line