Beyond Whims and Fancies

'We must have a real living determination to reach holiness. 

I will be a saint means I will despoil myself of all that is not God; 

I will strip my heart of all created things; 

I will live in poverty and detachment; 

I will renounce my will, my inclinations, my whims and fancies, 

and make myself a willing slave to the will of God.'

St. Teresa of Calcutta

Painting: Ferdinand du Puigaudeau, The Wayside Cross at Rochefort-en-Terre

While I'm Involved in Outward Things

Revisiting Rose

The following from our friend Rose remains our most popular post of all time:

'I had this idea that prayer, holiness, and the spiritual life were for the religious vocation and hidden behind high, thick brick walls. I longed to find a crack in that wall so I could have just a tiny taste of the spiritual life I once knew.  

'Then the Holy Spirit brought the Cloistered Heart to me.  The Cloistered Heart allowed me to squeeze through a tiny crack in that big brick wall. 

'I long for the fullness of all of God's promises for those who love Him to the heights. And if that sounds presumptive, then so be it, because I know that it is meant for us all. Not just the Religious or the saints, but for all......"(Rose)

Rose was once a novice in a religious order and discerned that such was not her vocation. She went on to marry and have a large family.  

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.'  

Kindly Listen

God Beneath the Surface

'Many a time, face to face with nature, I come upon the manifestations of His power, His wisdom, His beauty. 

Sunset, and flowers, and the sea, and moonlight, and morning star are so many reminders of God beneath the surface, the Great Reality sustaining all, holding the universe in the hollow of His hand.

Often alone, undistracted by men, untroubled by things, I look into my soul and find Him there, the Hidden God, ever good and patient towards me, ever gentle and loving and divinely merciful and infinitely generous...'

(from The Living Pyx of Jesus by A Religious, Pelligrini, 1941, pp.149-150)



Painting: Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, Italian Girl with Flowers