Enlighten the Dark Corners

"O Holy Spirit... descend into my heart!
Enlighten the dark corners 
of this neglected dwelling.
Dwell in that soul
that longs to be Your temple!
Water that barren soil,
overrun with weeds and briars 
and lost to fruitfulness
for want of cultivating.
Make it fruitful 
with Your gracious beams,
Your dew from heaven. 
O come, Refreshment of those
who languish and faint;
You only Haven
of the tossed and the shipwrecked!
Come, Holy Spirit, in much mercy!
Make me fit to receive you."
                                                           (St. Augustine)

From This Day Forward

"Take the holy, gentle will of God as your spouse, wedded each moment by the ring of faith in which are set all the jewels of hope and love." (St. Paul of the Cross) 

"Lord, from this day forward, let me see all things through Your will as through a grillwork.  I accept the boundaries of Your holy will as these are revealed in Scripture, in the teachings of the Church, and in the God-ordained circumstances of my life.  Teach me to know Your will that I may love it.  Cause me to love Your will that I may do it. Give me grace to do Your will that I may bring glory to Your Name." (The Cloistered Heart (book), 2008 edition, p. 50, © 2008 Nancy Shuman)

Grille Eyes

You are allowed to laugh.  Or groan.  Or hastily cover this picture of A Girl Wearing Spectacles of Fashionable Red Plaid so you don't have to look at it.  Hey, I never claimed to be good at Photoshop...

But the truth is:  I could use a pair of glasses just like these.  Portable grillwork, through which I'd be reminded to look at everything through the Will of God.  I could then see newspapers, people, television, every sort of situation with God's Will right smack in front of me.

Wouldn't it be handy?  If we had such aids, we would not only see things as God intended, we'd also know how He wanted us to respond. 

While holiness does not come automatically to one living in the physical enclosure, at least a cloistered nun doesn't forget she's in a cloister.  She wakes up every morning surrounded by reminders of where she is.  If her monastery has grillwork in the parlor, every visitor is encountered through it. 

We, however, might say we want to have "cloistered hearts" - and then look at what happens!  We're still in the same environments.  We work in the same offices, cook the same meals, scrub the same sinks.  We see the same people and find no grillwork in front of their faces, so we often forget to relate to them through the will of God.

Life lived for God, in the protection of Scripture and Church teaching, is life lived against the grain.  It can be tough to find the view through the grille, not to mention the fact that such a viewpoint can be, well - about as fashionable as a pair of football shaped plaid specs.

As for me, I intend (by the grace of God) to keep finding ways to remind myself of the grille-view.  How do I do this?  I read Scripture, not just as an academic exercise, but as a manual of how to live. If I wonder about what the Church teaches on a particular matter, I look it up in the Official Catechism of the Catholic Church.

And here comes the hard part.  If I find that I don't agree with something the Church teaches, I am called to change.  I match what I do to what the Church asks of me:  it doesn't work the other way around.

Is it easy to bend my will to Scripture and Church teaching?  No.

Is it popular and hip and "today?"  No.

It can be tough to live "through the grille" when people around have other opinions.  But if I don't try to live according to Scripture and Church teaching, then "the cloistered heart" is nothing more for me than just a nice phrase. 

As I attempt to live as God asks, I could be seen as uncool.  If people knew to do so, some might even taunt me with names like "grille eyes."

But I have been given the right prescription, and I'm grateful to finally be able to see.

(Georges Jakobides painting 1882, in US public domain; glasses digitally altered)

© 2012 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.
thecloisteredheart.org    

Protection in Which we Can Dwell

Of the many books in my library, there's one small booklet that has endured more wear and tear than most.  That's because this slim volume speaks... no, it sings...  to my life of "enclosure in the will of God."

Because I'm recommending this booklet here, I hope the Sisters offering it will smile upon my liberal use of quotes.  What I'd like to do is propose a little "exercise."  I do this every now and then, with this very booklet, to keep my perspective ...  well, cloistered.

In the analogy of the cloistered heart, the will of God is our enclosure, the "place" where we are called to live.  This is, as we have said many times here, God's call to every human being.  He knows what is best for us.  Thus, he wants us to live within His will when we want to and when we do not.  He asks us to live in His will when we understand it, and when we do not.

We don't have to guess the most elementary boundaries of God's will.  He has clearly mapped out the very basics in Scripture and the teachings of the Church.

What I propose is that we substitute the words "Scripture" and / or "Church teaching" every time we see the words "enclosure" or "cloister" in the quotes below.  After all, the life of one who makes the against-the-grain-choice to live "in the will of God" can be pretty baffling to the world of this age.... 

"Enclosure baffles so many persons.  Even those who love and admire the contemplative life think that the importance of enclosure is exaggerated.  That is why it must be understood, from the beginning.  Love of God alone motivates a girl to remain in the cloister..."

"O most blessed enclosure!  O precious and safe cloister!"

"Whereas some think that we are limited behind walls, we know the walls as simply a beautiful expression of our immersion in Christ our Lord."

"The liberating gift of enclosure leads those who receive it over that threshold which opens upon a life of profound union with God."

"By your solemn vow of enclosure you stand as a stumbling block against all false freedoms."

"Enclosure rings out that God is enough; and that where He is, there is infinite space.  And where He is not, all the space of the world is constraining and restraining and withering and wizening.  In your own life, love must not flicker out for a moment.  By day and by night it must proclaim "Jesus is here.'  The church bell must keep ringing out from your life: 'Blessings on all men!  God is enough! God is enough!  And everything else is not enough...."

The above quotes are from the booklet "Walls Around the World" by Mother Mary Francis PCC.  It is available for $2.50 from Poor Clares of Roswell NM, and you can get to the book page on their website by clicking on this line.  You will see a few pages of text before you actually reach the listing of books, in which you will find this treasure.  There are many other gems there as well.

"O most blessed enclosure scripture! O precious and safe cloister church teaching!"

May we be thankful for the protection in which God invites us to dwell.

Introducing: A Prayer Corner

There's a new blog on our monastery grounds!  A Prayer Corner is just being opened, and hopefully tomorrow (God willing) shall be its official "start up day," when there will be a brief quote or a short Scripture posted.  This is so that those of us who wish to do so can take such thoughts to reflection or prayer. 

“Let your prayer be very simple," wrote St. John Climacus.  "for the tax collector and the prodigal son, just one word was enough to reconcile them with God.” I can have trouble finding even that one word.  The world presses in, disturbing my prayer time, and I wind up crying out for something to arm me against distractions.  So I'm trying out this "corner" to see how it goes.  

For now, there is an introductory post.  In days to come, entries will be much more brief and will consist of prayer.   We'll see how this goes!  May God lead.