Lord, Here is My Heart

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  (Jesus to St. Faustina)

Since typing the above words into yesterday's post, I cannot stop thinking about them.  Imagine throwing Jesus Christ, my Lord and King and Savior, out of my heart!  Imagine Him living within me, and my suddenly saying one day: "I don't want You here, there's no room for You in my life anymore... here's the door."

Such a horrible thought.  It's tough for me to even write the words.   Yet, people push Jesus out of their hearts every minute.  Maybe not with full consciousness of what they're doing (although that does happen, of course).  But every time one of us makes a decision to ignore God's serious commands in favor of our own, Christ is being shown the door.  

How great is the mercy of Our Lord, for He persists, He comes back, He knocks and knocks again. 

Here I stand, knocking at the door.  If anyone hears Me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with Him, and he with Me.”  (Revelation 3:20)

In spite of His amazing persistence, however, there are some who never open (or re-open) the door.  It is a tragic, sobering thought.  As a "cloistered heart," I take Jesus' desire to find repose in hearts quite seriously.  I pray for the individuals in whose hearts He is longing to dwell.  

Primarily, knowing that He is unwelcome in the hearts of many, I offer Him a place of loving refuge in my own.  

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  

Lord Jesus, here is my heart.  In it, may You find a refuge of love and praise.

(for our earliest posts about creating a refuge for Jesus in our hearts, click here 
and here)

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

Heart in Heart

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  (Jesus to St. Faustina)

"Make your home and hiding place in the cavern of His open side.."  (St. Catherine of Siena)

"When I return into my heart, I find Thee there, so that I cannot complain that Thou hast left me even for a moment."  (St. Gertrude the Great)

"Come, open unto me the portal of salvation of Thy most beloved Heart.  Beloved, I no longer have my own heart with me, but Thou, O my dearest Treasure, dost keep it with Thee in Thy closed chamber."  (St. Gertrude the Great)

"Our hearts must now certainly be consumed incessantly in this burning furnace of the Sacred Heart of our adorable Jesus!"  (St. Margaret Mary)

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 Cloister in the Midst

At the risk of having various writers "repeat themselves" (yes, I've quoted some of these before), I'd like to take a minute to recap the essence of heart monasticism as I see it...... 

“I find a heaven in the midst of saucepans and brooms.” (St. Stanislaus Kostka)

"For the humble lay brother (Brother Lawrence), prayer was the consciousness of the continual presence of God.  This realization never left him, whether he was cooking eggs in the kitchen or kneeling in the sanctuary.  In order to be with God, he said, it was not necessary to remain constantly in church; man's heart, too, could be his oratory."  (Walter Nigg, Warriors of God, Alfred A. Knof, 1959, p. 306)  

 

“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 of Girl Sweeping by William Paxton, 1912.  In US public domain)

Like No Other Parlor

As parlors go, it is certainly unique.  It's a little gathering room, now hammered into place and painted and outfitted, ready for you to come visit if you wish.

Having been glad to hear from some of you during our recent Visiting Day, I've now opened a special (sit down for this one...) "parlor blog."  Surely something unique in the blogosphere!!  I already had a hidden-away blog where I could go now and then to experiment with various "mechanical" aspects of things (a kind of blog tutorial).  So now that is open, with a little link to it on our sidebar here, so you can go leave a comment there should you wish.  I'm putting a link on this post as well.   

This way, the cloistered heart blog can remain a quiet spot.  But those who might want to say hello or leave a comment can pop over and do so now and then.  There is a click-on link, there in "the parlor," that will bring us right back here to this blog.

Unique?  SURE.

But I can't think about that right now.  I'm too busy pouring tea.

If you have a chance, come say hello at The Parlor.