O Hermitage! Delight of Holy Souls

'The hermitage is a paradise of delight where the fragrant scents of the virtues are breathed forth like sweet sap or glowing spice-flowers. 

There the roses of charity blaze in crimson flame and the lilies of purity shine in snowy beauty, and with them the humble violets whom no winds assault because they are content with lowly places; there the myrrh of perfect penance perfumes the air and the incense of constant prayer rises unceasingly. 

But why should I call to mind these in particular? For the lovely buds of all the holy virtues glow there many-coloured, and graces flourish in an undying greenness - beyond the power of words to describe. 

O hermitage! Delight of holy souls, unfailing in your inner sweetness.'

St. Peter Damian

In the Arms of Our Love

'If we would please this Divine Infant, we too must become children, simple and humble. We must carry to Him flowers of virtue, of meekness, of mortification, of charity; we must clasp Him in the arms of our love.'

St. Alphonsus





Painting: Dvorak, Presenting Flowers to the Infant

In This Palace the Great King Lodges

'Within us there is a palace of immense magnificence. The entire edifice is built of gold and precious stones....truly there is no building of such great beauty as a pure soul, filled with virtues, and the greater these virtues, the brighter these stones sparkle... 

'In this palace the great King lodges, Who has been pleased to become your Guest...  He sits there on a throne of tremendous value: your heart.'  

St. Teresa of Avila
 

Painting at bottom by George Henry Boughton
Photo at top from Pixabay

A Gradual Courage

Hero: someone admired for great courage. Thus says my dictionary.

Heroic saints: those in Heaven who had the courage to get there. Which is everyone who IS there. Thus says me.

Yes, that second is my own definition and it's cumbersome, but I believe it's accurate.

After all, it takes courage to...

1. admit I am a sinner in need of a Savior
2. put my faith in Jesus Christ, especially  when the world around considers Him insignificant
3. choose to believe Scripture
4. choose to believe 2,000 years of authentic Church teaching
5. choose to live according to Scripture and Church teaching
6. choose to live according to the teachings of Christ, no matter what
7. overcome obstacles to living for Christ

Every saint we've ever read about, every Christian martyr, has had this kind of courage. They became saints because they lived heroically. Some were martyred on scaffolds, or by stoning, or in lions' dens. Some endured imprisonments for their faith. Some led the most ordinary of lives, caring for those around them, unnoticed by the world. 

Not one of the saints we read of was born with heroic, saint-making courage. The courage most often came gradually, step after baby step, followed sometimes by a defining leap or two. Along the path there were missteps, moments of caution, roadblocks. Each saint grew in courage, step by step by step.

"Francis' conversion did not happen overnight. God had waited for him for twenty-five years and now it was Francis' turn to wait. Francis started to spend more time in prayer. He went off to a cave and wept for his sins. Sometimes God's grace overwhelmed him with joy. But life couldn't just stop for God. There was business to run, customers to wait on. One day while riding through the countryside, Francis, the man who loved beauty, who was so picky about food, who hated deformity, came face to face with a leper. Repelled by the appearance and the smell of the leper, Francis nevertheless jumped down from his horse and kissed the hand of the leper......" (from Catholic Online)

St. Augustine "spent many years of his life in wicked living and false beliefs.... he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted on reading the life of St. Antony, and he felt terribly ashamed of himself. 'What are we doing?' he cried to his friend Alipius. 'Unlearned people are taking Heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling in the mud of our sins!' Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine flung himself into the garden and cried out to God, 'how long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?' Just then he heard a child singing, 'take up and read!'  Thinking that God intended him to hear these words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St. Paul and read the first passage his gaze fell on. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life...." (from Catholic Online)  

I would like to spend some time here, over the next few days, looking at courage. And at our call  - yes, your and my call - to be heroic.  If the world is in need of anything right now, it is a hefty dose of heroism.

In the tiny, hidden, day to day circumstances of our ordinary lives, imagine becoming "heroic!" It sounds presumptuous, doesn't it? But it isn't. It is not presumptuous at all.

Everyone in Heaven is a saint. So do we really want to be, eternally, anything less? 

"Make up your mind to become a saint," said St. Mary Mazzarello.

I'm taking another step, today, toward heroism. I am making up my mind.



Top painting: Domenico Ghirlandaio, Santo Stefano
Bottom painting: Helen Allingham, Harvest Moon  


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It is Time

'Rise now, 
O handmaid of the Lord, 
and go in the procession 
of the daughters of Zion 
to see your true king.... 
Accompany the Lord 
of heaven and earth, 
sitting on the back of the colt, 
follow Him with 
olive branches and palms, 
with works of piety 
and triumphant virtues.'

St. Bonaventure 















Painting:   William Adolphe Bouguereau, The Palm Leaf

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So Exactly Fitting

'We try to make penances of our own choosing, devotional exercises of our own choosing,
employments and virtues of our own choosing. At the same time we forget, we neglect,
and we refuse to look at and to accept the penances which God lays upon us day by day.
Perhaps we murmur,
we complain of the sacrifices He sends us,
in changes of weather,
in the perverseness of men,
or in corporal infirmities or spiritual trials.
Why are we so taken up with self, and so little careful to cooperate with Him?
What a number of touches, impulses, and good inspirations we misunderstand,
put on one side, and make no effort to follow!
What God sends us is so exactly fitting for our soul's needs,
and answers so precisely to our wants!'

From In Love With The Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1934, p. 96.  A reprint of this book is now available for purchase online.  For information contact:

http://www.traditionalcatholicpublishing.com/

OR

http://www.allthesaintsbooks.com/in-love-with-the-divine-outcast.html


Painting: Jules Breton, Girl Guarding the Cows  

Time to Be Clothed

I have been busy, over the last few days, talking about sewing and measuring and habits.  I've written about prayers, patterns, practices, materials, holiness, hemlines and grace...

Today I wondered:  is it time to write more about habits, or time to move on?  It was a kind of prayer.  And I think it was immediately answered. 

If I could put a word to it, the response would be: "neither."  It is time to take up the garment and simply put it on.  To continue cooperating with God's design for holiness, and to practice living each moment IN the habit of virtue and prayer. 

“You must put on that new man created in God’s image, whose justice and holiness are born of truth.” (Ephesians 4:24). 

"Do you see how little it takes to become a saint?  All that is necessary is acquiring the habit of wanting to do the will of God at all times.” (St. Vincent de Paul)

“Clothe me, O eternal Truth, clothe me with Yourself."  (St. Catherine of Siena)

“I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice.” (Isaiah 61:10) 

"You must put on the armor of God if you are to resist on the evil day; do all that your duty requires, and hold your ground.   Stand fast, with the truth as the belt around your waist, justice as your breastplate, and zeal to propagate the gospel of peace as your footgear.  In all circumstances, hold  faith up before you as your shield, it will help you extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the word of God."  (Ephesians 6:13-17)

Painting:  Nicolas de Largillier, Frances Woollascott, an Augustinian Nun, Google Art Project

 

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Sort of Saints ?

I used to sew, or at least to make attempts at it.  Some of my projects didn't turn out too badly... until you looked at them closely.  The thing was:  I had no patience.  So I cut corners.  Darts in dresses were "sort of" marked, patterns were "sort of" followed, the edges of pillows were "sort of" measured.

Things often looked okay at first glance, but I produced more than a few examples of poor craftsmanship.  Uneven hemlines, puckered zippers, a dress that was discovered (while I was wearing it at Mass) to have a panel of printed scenes sewn in upside down.  There were even a few seams that suddenly split open. Not so bad on a pillow; problematic when they're holding together one's skirt.

I am not a talented seamstress, but neither am I a total loss at such endeavors.  When I've made the effort and followed patterns, I have actually produced serviceable items.

If I lived in a physical monastery and was assigned the task of habit-making, I would be a challenge.  There, however, I'd have to learn to follow the instructions... no corner cutting, no choosing my own way of doing things.  After all, we wouldn't want Sister Mary Jane's wimple falling off in the middle of Mass.

We have talked here about the "habits" of a cloistered heart.  Habits of holiness, acquired over time with repetition, habits of prayer and choices for God's will.  As persons called to sainthood (and yes, we definitely are), we are each given as much talent (grace) as we need to become truly holy.  But we cannot do this without following God's patterns, the templates He has clearly marked out for us in Scripture and the teachings of the Church.

"Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with:   heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Bear with one another, forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.  Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect."  (Colossians 3:12-14) 

Our Lord has not left us "patternless."  He gives us clear guidelines, ones that will wrap us in virtue and prepare us for sainthood.   

But we cannot get there by being "sort of" prayerful, "sort of" humble, "sort of" saints.



© 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org    


Amédée Guérard Bibelstunde painting; in US public domain due to age

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The Great Secret of Sanctity

'Sanctity consists essentially in union with God, 

and in the love with which we perform daily actions.  

The great secret of sanctity consists in loving much,

but this love presupposes an interior and daily warfare - 

a warfare against our unruly appetites and our self-will, 

a warfare waged by prayer which softens the heart, 

and by its sweetness, compensates for the bitterness

inseparable from mortification.'

(from Sheltering the Divine Outcast, compiled by A Religious, The Peter Reilly Co, Philadelphia, 1952, p. 99)

William Paxton painting  

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

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The World and Your Everyday Life

'You must be holy in the way God asks you to be holy.

God does not want you to be a Trappist monk or a hermit.

He wills that you sanctify the world and your everyday life.'

                                                                                           St. Vincent Pallotti


Painting:  Edward Hopper, New York Restaurant, in US public domain

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The Little Virtues

'Let us endeavor sincerely, humbly, and devoutly to acquire those little virtues which our Savior has set forth for our care and labor:  These are
patience,
meekness,
mortification of heart,
humility,
poverty,
chastity,
tenderness toward our neighbors,
bearing with their imperfections,
diligence
and holy fervor.'
                (St. Francis de Sales)


Painting:  Eugen von Blaas, A Helping Hand

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Profound Humility, Great Gentleness

St. Francis de Sales founded, with St. Jane de Chantal, the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary.  It is an Order of which I'm quite fond, as I find many of its main charisms not only appealing, but quite practical for those whose vocations call us to live in the midst of the world.

One of the main charges Francis entrusted to his Visitation daughters is one I have embraced as a deeply cherished personal call.  I meditate upon it, ponder its "adjectives," pray for its virtues, and most of all:  try to put it into practice every day of my life.

Strive to live, said St. Francis de Sales...

"..in profound humility toward God and great gentleness toward the neighbor." 

As I come before the Blessed Sacrament, when I'm at Mass, as I pray at home:  may I practice profound humility.

As I tend to a little one, care for someone needing me, welcome a neighbor:  may I practice great gentleness.

Profound humility toward God.
Great gentleness toward the neighbor. 

For me, it is an in-a-nutshell phrase that pretty much covers it all.   

"Jesus said to them: 'you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind.... you shall love your neighbor as yourself.'"  (Matthew 22:37 and 39)

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All Available Means

It is no secret that I greatly esteem St. Francis de Sales.  Discovering in the mid 1980s that this Doctor of the Church was patron of Catholic writers, I asked him to "pray for any writing I might ever do."  It was not long after that when I began journaling about what it could mean to live as a "cloistered heart."  

As time went on, I was amazed to learn how "cloistered heart" many of Francis de Sale's ideas actually were.  Because his feast day is coming soon, I'd like to look at some of his teachings.  My intention is not to focus here on Francis himself, but upon how his thoughts draw us to live for God, right here, right now... 400 years after his life on earth.

Writer Elisabeth Stopp described Francis' advice as having an atmosphere of "inspired common sense."  He taught devout persons living in the world to "go cheerfully about their daily tasks, to avoid haste and over-eagerness, never to try and force things, to be uncomplicated and unafraid, putting their whole trust in God and not in themselves.  They were to use all available means - their state in life, the difficulties of their temperament, everything great and small that happened to them - to one supreme end:  the love of God.  To further this end they were to use the ordinary channels of grace - the sacraments, prayer, the practice of virtues..."  (Stopp, St. Francis de Sales Selected Letters, Harper and Row, NY, 1960, pp. 33-34)

If I read ... really read... the above paragraph, I can find enough "inspired common sense" to last a lifetime.  May St. Francis de Sales pray for each one of us, that we may use all available means to direct us to the love of God.
_______________________________________________________________________________
For Prayer and Reflection:

• What "available means" do I see in my life today?  
• How am I using these means to lead me to the One Supreme End?  
• How can I make better use of these available means?

"The means of attaining devotion vary according to the diversity of callings:  religious, widows, and married persons - all must seek this perfection, but not all by the same means."  (St. Francis de Sales)

"I know very well that there, on your sick bed, you cast your heart a thousand times a day into the hands of God, and that's enough."  (St. Francis de Sales)

Painting: Frederic Leighton, Music Lesson

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Unmasking Compromise

I once wrote that compromise does not fit well in a cloister.  I've been thinking of this lately, and of my own human tendency to try to make fit what, in reality, does not.

The truth is:  Compromise knocks daily at my enclosure door.  It makes sales pitches through the grille, and some are really quite enticing.  The "catalogs" Compromise opens to me do not display pages on which I find the words "Caution: Sin Zone Ahead."  Mostly they feature offers like "It Won't Hurt YOU to Watch This Mind-Warping Sitcom," "Let's Enjoy A Harmless Round of Gossip," and the ever popular "Don't be a Spoilsport - Just Go Along With the Crowd!!!"    

If I hope to live totally for God, I must battle the temptation to compromise.  God has given clear directives on how to live for Him, and frankly, most of what I encounter in the world right now is the exact opposite of these.  Every day, I must make my choices.  Every day, I must face down the grinning, smooth-talking, hand-offering, smartly-masked ogre of compromise, and I must take a stand.

It helps me to know that the battle is not a new one.  

"The earliest monasticism was directed to the tendency in the church to compromise with the world, to water down the strong wine of the Gospels to suit the vulgar taste...  Monasticism, in its development, was unmistakably on the defensive against a worldly church"  (Walter Nigg, Warriors of God, NY, Alfred A. Knopf, 1959, pp. 80-81)

"Mediocrity is the arch-enemy of  Christianity."  (Nigg, p. 47)

"The desert fathers fought the corrosion of mediocrity not in others, but in themselves, which is what made them saints and not simply critics of civilization and preachers of penitence."  (Nigg, p. 47)

Compromise does not fit well in a cloister.  If I hope to live "enclosed in the will of God," I must see through the masks, and boot compromise out the door. 

________________________________________________________________________
For Prayer and Reflection:  

• Do the above quotes strike me in any way? 
• If I look for compromise around me today, what masks do I catch it wearing?
• Have I developed habits of compromise in my life?  Are there scriptures or prayers I can use to battle these?

"I beg you through the mercy of God to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, your spiritual worship.  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 12:1-2)

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Text not in quotes © 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org       

Back in the Habit

We have looked, earlier, into the "habit of a cloistered heart."  With this in mind, I was glad to find the following, written by someone who actually wears a habit:

"The lovingness of the Sisters is perceivable to even a casual observer.  But the Sisters are not this way because they wear a habit.  They wear a habit (an outward sign of simplicity and consecration and a reminder of their vows of poverty and chastity) because they are this way....

"When someone shows us deference in some way, we know that is not towards us... No, they honor something else, something greater.  Even those who do not know that we are called “nuns” or that we wear a “habit” know there is something different about us.  They can tell that we are set apart...." (To read the rest of this brief article by a Sister of the Visitation of Holy Mary in Tyringham, Massachusetts,  click here).   

(and for a look back at the habits of a cloistered heart, click here.  And here. )

Pondering Sister's words, I find myself considering ....

Is my lovingness perceivable to observers? 

Am I allowing God to clothe me in habits of virtue that "show?"

"Because you are God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, with kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Bear with one another, forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.  Over all these virtues put on love, which binds the rest together and makes them perfect."  (Colossians 3:12-14)  

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

a virtuous winter

“In heaven it shall be all a springtime of beauty, all an autumn of enjoyment, all a summer of love.  Winter there shall be none; but here winter is necessary for the exercise of abnegation and of the thousand beautiful little virtues which are practiced in the time of barrenness.  Let us keep on always at a quiet little pace...”  (St. Francis de Sales, letter to St. Jane de Chantal)

(photo NS)

virtue inhabited

St. Francis de Sales taught about what he called the “little virtues.”  I look at these today with longing, perhaps as a monastic aspirant might view the habit she hopes to someday wear.  Unlike a dress and veil, however, virtues cannot be thrown on once and for all.  They must be cultivated.  They must come to life as I “wear” them – just as a tunic moves from place to place once a person is within it. 

Perhaps virtues could be said to be “inhabited” by the person practicing them. 

Certainly they can, with practice, become the habits of a cloistered heart. 

“Humility, patience, gentleness, kindness, forbearance, mildness, calmness, good temper, heartiness, pity, ready forgiveness, simplicity, frankness and so on.  These virtues are like violets growing in a shady nook, fed by the dew of heaven and though unseen, they shed forth a sweet and precious odor”  (St. Francis de Sales, quoted in Living Jesus, edited by Gerard Quinlan, p. 405)

(photo copyright N Shuman )

In the Habit

Imagine this:  a woman just entering monastic life prepares to don a habit for the first time.  She looks at the pieces of fabric folded neatly on a table before her.  Soft  veil, long dress, layers of material she has waited to wear.  Her new habit smells like it was dried in the sun and pressed with just a hint of starch.  It carries the scent of the wind. 

She picks up the dress and slips it on, sliding it down over the stained orange jumper she wore through the enclosure door.  She lifts the veil onto her head, covering a tattered woolen hat.  The veil snags on her mismatched earrings, but never mind.  She’ll get used to all of this, in time. 

Certainly the scene I've just described is ridiculous.  But let us consider this....“Clothe yourselves with heartfelt mercy, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.” (Colossians 3:12).  I look at these and other virtues and find myself desiring to “wear” them.  But if I make deliberate choices to boast as I pretend to be humble, or if I'm cruel even as I write of mercy, I am simply hiding one kind of clothing under another.  I’m applying a layer of veneer.  I am in need of a habit exchange. 

Habits are actions acquired over a period of time, with repetition.  I ask myself:  would I like to cast off lifelong habits of self-seeking in order to let God clothe me in the habit of seeking His will?  Am I willing to turn in my habit of laziness in exchange for diligence in prayer?   For me it remains a constant struggle, and I take heart in knowing I am not the only person to have faced it.  “I cannot even understand my own actions,” wrote the apostle Paul.  “I do not do what I want to do but what I hate… what a wretched man I am!  Who can deliver me from this body under the power of death?  All praise to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 8:15-25)

I pray to cast off my threadbare, tattered vices and see them as the worthless rags they are.  I pray to outgrow them, and to - through prayer and practice – develop habits of virtue.  I pray to be clothed in the habit of a cloistered heart. 

“You must lay aside your former way of life, and the old self which deteriorates through illusion and desire, and acquire a fresh, spiritual way of thinking. You must put on that new man created in God’s image, whose justice and holiness are born of truth.” (Ephesians 4:22-24).

(painting La Religieuse, Henriette Browne)

© 2011 Nancy Shuman
thecloisteredheart.org