Contemplative Haven

“The Mass is the most wonderful thing that has ever entered into my life. When I am at the altar I feel that I am at last the person that God has truly intended me to be.  About the lucidity and peace of this perfect sacrifice I have nothing coherent to say.  But I am very aware of the most special atmosphere of grace in which the priest moves and breathes at that moment - and all day afterwards!  True, this peculiar grace is something private and inalienable, but it springs also from the social nature of the Mass.  The greatest gift that can come to anyone is to share in the infinite act by which God’s love is poured out upon all men.  In this sense the supreme graces of solitude and of society coincide and become one - and they do this in the priest at Mass, as they do in the soul of Christ and in the Heart of Mary.” 

[The Sign of Jonas.  The Journal of Thomas Merton]  Taken from the entry for June 4, 1949:  The Vigil of Pentecost.  pgs. 195-196

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Does it get any better than this (creaturely-speaking)… a Mother’s Day drive away from the city after having had a lovely lunch, and coming upon a “Book Barn”.  Yes, one of those humongous venues filled with second-hand books; the kind of place that would take months to properly and lovingly investigate.

Hubby proferred a weak, “take your time”, bless his heart, which I know from experience means approximately fifteen minutes.  Generally speaking, when deposited in a store by my husband, after fifteen minutes I either turn my head and find his body splayed up against the window, tapping emphatically on his watch, or I spot him lumbering through the store with a mixed air of intense anguish/fear as he hunts me down.  So I scrambled around and within the allotted “take your time”, ferretted out the following (all hardcover), for a grand total of $6.00 : 

1. Thomas Hardy’s “Tess D’Urberville” (yes, in French)
2. “The Prophet”, by Kahlil Gibran
3. A book of poems by D.H. Lawrence entitled “Pansies”, and I’m pretty sure it’s a 1st edition
4. “The Oxford Book of American Verse”
5. “Madame Bovary”, by Gustave Flaubert (front and back covers are floral, which leaves me wondering whether it was like that originally or did a certain Mrs. R. [previous owner, 1945] do that herself with wallpaper?)  In any case, I’m leaving it, because it’s pretty…
6. A 1943 Random House edition of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, illustrated with wood engravings; the front and back covers have Heathcliff leaning up against a very scary-looking tree as he gazes skyward.

One of the things I like best about second-hand books is that you never know what you’ll find inside.  I always leave that until I get home, because it’s such a thrill for me when I discover something and I don’t like to alarm the salespeople.  On this occasion I discovered a piece of paper inside Gibran’s “The Prophet” - narrow pale-blue paper, about the width of a large bookmark, on which was written a grocery list, probably that of Mr. or Mrs. M. [previous owners, 1971].  The list was so healthy (tomatoes, Spanish onions, turnips, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, squash, peas, beans, carrots and cucumbers).  Oh, doesn’t that sound like a heavenly summer grocery list?  Now, it has just occurred to me that this might not have been a grocery list - it might have been a list of things they were going to plant in their garden.  Heavenlier and heavenlier. 

Several years ago I purchased a second-hand copy of St. Teresa of Avila’s “Selected Writings”, and inside I found a two-page old-fashioned typewritten synopsis of all her works, with concise comments about each.  But my absolute favourite find was when, shortly after I had begun blogging, I happened upon a second-hand copy of Thomas Merton’s biography by Michael Mott.  Inside, to my delight, was the business card of a seamstress, and in beautiful italics the words:  Especially for You, by Gabrielle.  Of course it would have been even better if it had said “Especially for You, Gabrielle”, but it didn’t matter.  I am so easily pleased.  Hurried, but easily pleased.  :)     

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“God our Father,
let the Spirit you sent on your Church to begin the teaching of the Gospel
continue to work in the world
through the hearts of all who believe.
We ask this…for ever and ever. Amen.”

This is the opening prayer at Mass on this Pentecost Sunday.  The Holy Spirit works through the heart.  This may come as no surprise, but what did come as a surprise to me, when reading St. Gertrude the Great’s entries for the Vigil and Feast of Pentecost, was how much the Sacred Heart of Jesus figured in her Pentecost experience.  There is much, much more than what I am able to put in one post, but just to give you an idea: 

On the vigil of Pentecost, as she was feeling “utter unworthiness” in the face of receiving the Holy Spirit, she felt a cave being created in her heart. “Then she saw a stream of honey coming forth from the Heart of Jesus, and distilling itself into hers, until it was entirely filled. By this she understood that it was the unction and grace of the Holy Ghost which flowed thus sweetly from the Heart of the Son of God into the hearts of the faithful.”

Shortly thereafter there is an experience of breath in which, “His Divine breath entered into her soul”. The Lord told St. Gertrude that, “the respirations of her soul indicated her goodwill, and the breath of Our Lord His acceptance of her good intentions and desires.” The Lord then showed her the different gifts of the Holy Spirit, using images of trees which differed in their fruits. As she approached to receive Holy Communion, the Lord “refreshed her heart by a Divine exhalation, which came forth from His sacred Limbs”. After Holy Communion, she saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a Dove, “descending from Heaven upon the adorable Sacrament, with an impetuous flight like that of an eagle; and seeking the sweet Heart of Jesus, He appeared to enter therein, and find there a most agreeable abode.”

There was more to come.  At Terce, as the sisters began to chant Veni Creator, “Our Lord appeared to her and opened His Heart, full of sweetness and tenderness…”  St. Gertrude rested her head in the centre of His Heart, and the Lord pressed her head into Himself and united her will to His and sanctified it.  Then, during the second verse, Qui, Paraclitus diciris, St. Gertrude placed “the hands of her soul [her actions] in the Heart of Jesus.  At the third verse, Tu septiformis gratia (sic) [Thou Who art sevenfold in Thy Grace] St. Gertrude placed, “the feet of her soul [her desires] in the Sacred Heart…”

From The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great (For the Vigil and Feast of Pentecost) pgs. 396-400) 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Lord, please send your Holy Spirit to us in the weeks ahead to enlighten our minds, hearts, and souls.  Help us to enter as fully as possible into the true meaning of Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  They come so quickly one upon the other that we can scarcely catch our breath. Breathe your Divine Breath into us.  Help us enter the Mystery.     

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I’m cheating this morning because I think you’ll get such a kick out of this post by Beth over at louie, louie. 

I know I did. 

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Sorry fellas, but this one’s for the women. 

Well, okay; you can listen too, I suppose.

But just to warn you, it’s touchy-feely.  It’s only about 60 seconds, but that might be 60 seconds too much for you. 

Being There, with Sue Monk Kidd.

[Edited to add: If the link doesn’t open for you, here is Sue Monk Kidd to your heart’s content!]

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I was recently contacted by a young man who has discerned a call to the priesthood, and who would like to share his story with all of you.  Neven Pesa has been accepted to the Order of Basilian Salvatorian Fathers in Massachussets, U.S.A., a semi-contemplative order of Catholics of the Eastern Rite.  Neven currently belongs to the Byzantine Catholic Church of the Virgin Mary in Brooklyn, New York. His personal story was recently featured on the site Catholic Exchange, and you can also read more about Neven’s background/calling at his personal site, A Priestly Vocation. 

In order to start his Novitiate in September 2008 he is required to be debt-free, and after a four-year course of study at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, this will be no small task.  Neven is working two jobs towards this end, but God has blessed him, and in turn ourselves, with yet another means of achieving his goal. 

Neven is a singer/songwriter who records under the name of Shekinah Hosanna; his first CD is available at CD Baby, where you can listen to samples of his tracks.  He hopes to have another CD available by this fall, on which he will have the “Hail Mary” in Hebrew as well as another Marian song.  Neven has a beautiful voice and is a gifted lyricist.  He has also set up a YouTube Channel called ShekinahHosanna in order to let people become aware of his music.  Here is one of Neven’s original songs, ”Dear God“, which he has set to scenes from the movie “Bella”.  Above all, Neven has asked for our prayers, so please consider supporting him in this way as well as by bringing his beautiful music into your lives.  His music is a gift to all of us, as will be his future priesthood.

  
[Edited to add:  Please visit my post of today at Consecrated to Mary for another beautiful song by Neven as well as a glimpse into the role Mother Mary has played in his life.] 

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The mystical life of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) began early.  She was only six when she saw a vision of heaven in the sky, where Jesus appeared to her along with Peter, Paul and John the Evangelist.  Jesus smiled upon her lovingly while making the sign of the cross over her, and from that moment on Catherine knew that she wanted to devote herself and her life to God. Her continued absorption in God was profound, distressing her family very much, but upon finally realizing that Catherine’s mystical life was the will of God, her family conceded and Catherine was accepted as a Third Order Dominican with the Sisters of Penance. The Sisters of Penance were not cloistered, but lived withdrawn from the world in their own homes. In “Catherine of Siena“, by Igino Giordani, the author writes: “It seems curious that considering her absorption in God and her yearning to flee the world and conquer her flesh she did not seek admission into a cloistered convent. Instead, Catherine, whose only wish was to withdraw from the world, still determined to remain in it. The Lord had called her to a special mission: that of an apostle, whose vocation is to be in the world but not of the world.”

Catherine, continually absorbed in contemplative prayer and well-practiced in asceticism and mortification, reached the heights of love of God and experienced the mystical espousal with the Lord when she was only twenty.  Quickly thereafter, the Lord sent her back out into the world to care for the sick, give her followers spiritual direction, and teach the most learned and powerful.  Igino Giordani beautifully writes:

“Thus appears a second phase of Catherine’s life:  the phase of active life; but not as a change or turning point in her former life - rather as its increase and complement.  She merely joined action to contemplation; or, more exactly, her contemplation was so penetrating that it had to express itself in action.  She was united to God; therefore she had to be united to men.  And if she will no longer live enclosed in a cell with walls, [my note:  Catherine’s bedroom] she will always live in the cell which is knowledge of self.  She will carry her cloister, her cell, with her wherever she goes; her rule will ever be love.”  

[For a beautiful prayer written by St. Catherine of Siena to the Blessed Virgin, please see my post of today at Consecrated to Mary.]

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“God never does things by halves.  He does not sanctify us patch upon patch.  He does not make us priests or make us saints by superimposing an extraordinary existence upon our ordinary lives.  He takes our whole life and our whole being and elevates it to a supernatural level, transforms it completely from within, and leaves it exteriorly what it is:  ordinary.”

[The Sign of Jonas.  The Journal of Thomas Merton]  pg. 182 

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“Saint Gregory Nazianzen calls the soul of the spiritual man - the mystic - an instrument played by the Holy Spirit:  organum pulsatum a Spiritu Sancto.  The Holy Ghost draws from this instrument harmonies and a melody of which reason and the will of man alone could never even dream.  It is this music vibrating on the well-tuned strings of a perfect human personality that makes a man a saint.  It is when special harmonies are wrung from a human instrument that the Holy Ghost makes a man a contemplative.  What part has reason in this silent song that God sings for Himself and for His elect in the soul of a mystic?  It is the function of reason not to play the instrument but only to tune the strings.  The Master Himself does not waste time tuning the instrument.  He shows His servant, reason, how to do it and leaves him to do the work.  If He then comes and finds the piano still out of tune, He does not bother to play anything on it.  He strikes a chord, and goes away.  The trouble generally is that the tuner has been banging on the keys himself all day, without bothering to do the work assigned to him:  which is to keep the thing in tune.”

[The Ascent to Truth:  Chapter XII, pgs. 181-182]

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