Contemplative Haven

I cannot dance, O Lord,
Unless You lead me,
If You wish me to leap joyfully,
Let me see You dance and sing -

Then I will leap into Love -
And from Love into Knowledge,
And from Knowledge into the Harvest,
That sweetest Fruit beyond human sense.

There I will stay with You, whirling.

[Mechthild of Magdeburg] 

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From my inbox, re WINGS (EWTN’s Weekly Electronic Newsletter):

“Also, in our saint lineup this month, comes EWTN’s extraordinary series on St. Teresa of Avila. You can enjoy the entire eight-part mini-series by tuning in 10 p.m. to 12 [midnight] ET from Wednesday, May 28 through Saturday, May 31. Dates and times for international showings are available at EWTN.”

How splendid!

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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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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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As I was listening to some lovely Celtic music on YouTube a few days ago, I came across this video taken by a lad here in Ottawa, of St. Patrick’s Basilica.  I’m really excited to show it to you, because it’s the kind of thing I just never think of doing, and now you’ll be able to see my “stomping grounds”, so to speak.  St. Patrick’s Basilica is not my parish, but I work just a few blocks from it, and it has become my downtown sanctuary and more. 

The little door that the filmmaker enters, to the left side of the front of the church as you’re facing it, is the door I usually use too.  No matter what time of the day you go, there are usually people sitting quietly praying or meditating, others making the Stations of the Cross, or simply walking around quietly venerating the many beautiful statues.  Every day at three o’clock there is a holy hour.  I love getting away from the office for Mass and/or confession during lunch hour, and often I am able to stop in after work for a while, just to sit, or to light a candle for someone.

You will see in the video, after showing us the beautiful stainglass window above the altar, the filmmaker scans the large painting of Jesus on the left as you’re viewing, and then quickly scans the one on the right, which is actually a most beautiful painting of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.  Then we see the little alcove with the statue of Mary and all the blue votive candles - that is exactly where I made my consecration on the Feast of the Assumption this past August 15th.  You can even see where I go to confession!  How about that? 

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Just one more reason why everyone should read the lives of the saints. 

From the Arthur Young Series:

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“On the Feast of the Epiphany this holy soul offered to God, in imitation of the Three Kings - for myrrh, the Body of Jesus Christ, with all the merits of His Passion, for the remission of all the sins of men, from the first to the last of the human race; for incense, the Soul of Jesus Christ, with all His holy actions, for the negligences of the whole world; for gold, His Divinity, with all its perfections and joys, in satisfaction for the defects of all creatures.  Then Our Lord appeared and presented her offering as a most worthy New Year’s gift to the Most Holy and august Trinity.  As He passed through the midst of Heaven, all the celestial court inclined profoundly before Him to honor this gift, as men prostrate before the Holy Sacrament when it is present.”

[From:  The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great, 1256-1302]

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Excerpt from ”The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great”:

[I am posting a longer-than-usual excerpt here for those of you who may not have the book, as it is such a beautiful passage concerning St. Gertrude’s death, and also gives us two insights into the Blessed Virgin Mary that I haven’t come across elsewhere in my reading.]

When the happy day of release came, which the Saint had so long and so ardently desired, Our Lord appeared to her with His Divine countenance radiant with joy.  On His right hand stood His ever-blessed Mother, and on His left the beloved disciple John.  An immense multitude of Saints attended the King of Saints, and among their glorious ranks were seen a band of virgins, who appeared to the religious of the monastery and joined themselves with them.  Our Divine Lord approached the bed of the dying Saint, showing such marks of tenderness and affection as were more than sufficient to sweeten the bitterness of death.  When the Passion was read, at the words, “Et inclinato capite emisit spiritum,” [and bowing His head, He gave up the ghost] Our Lord inclined toward His faithful spouse and opened wide His adorable Heart, as if transported with love, pouring forth all its tenderness on her.  It might have seemed enough; but even on earth there was yet more consolation reserved for her who had been faithful usque ad mortem - even until death.

As the sisters prayed and wept around her bed, the religious so favored by Our Lord ventured to address Him thus:  “O most sweet Jesus!  We beseech Thee, by the goodness which prompted Thee to give us so dear a mother, that, as Thou art about to take her from this world, Thou wouldst condescend to our prayers, and receive her with the same affection as Thou didst Thy Blessed Mother, when she went forth from the body.”  Then Our Lord, with exceeding clemency, turned to His Blessed Mother and said to her:  “Tell Me, My Mother, what I did most pleasing to you when you were leaving the world, for they ask Me to bestow a similar favor on their mother.”  “My Son,” replied the Holy Virgin sweetly, “my greatest joy was the grace which You showed me of receiving me in the secure asylum of Your holy arms.”  Our Lord replied:  “I granted this because My Mother, when on earth, ever remembered My Passion with such intense anguish.”  Then He added [speaking to His Mother, Mary]:  “I granted this favor to [you] My chosen one in recompense for the care which you had, while yet on earth, to meditate often in your mind, and to revere by your grief and your tears, the mystery of My Passion.  Gertrude must therefore render herself in some sort worthy of this favor, by the pain and difficulty which she will suffer today in breathing.  The patience which she will thus be called to exercise will place her in a state somewhat similar to that to which you were often reduced by the recollection of My sufferings.“ 

St. Gertrude accordingly continued in her agony the entire day, but our Lord did not leave her to suffer alone.  His Heart had already been opened to her, and from thence she drew the help and consolation she needed.  Celestial spirits also surrounded her bed, and she beheld them inviting her to Paradise, and heard their celestial harmony as they sung continually:  “Come, come, come, O lady!  The joys of Heaven await thee!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!”

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

I am thinking now of Mary having great pain and difficulty breathing during her prayer and meditation, so united was she to her Son’s asphyxiation on the Cross, as Jesus made known in this revelation from the year 1302.  Jesus still desires to reveal the depth of unity between His Mother and Himself. 

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When Elizabeth Catez entered the Carmel in Dijon, France in 1901 at the age of twenty-one, she was required to complete the “Postulant’s Questionnaire”.  Her responses are striking:

What is your ideal for sanctity?
To live from love.

What is the quickest way to attain it?
To make oneself as small as possible, to surrender oneself without reserve.

Which saint do you love most?
The disciple Jesus loved, who rested his head on Jesus’ breast.

Which part of the Rule speaks most directly to you?
Silence.

What is the dominant trait of your character?
Sensitiveness.

Your favorite virtue?
Purity. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

The fault you most abhor?
Egoism in general.

Give a basic definition of prayer.
The union of one who is not with the One who Is.

What is your favorite book?
The soul of Christ - it reveals to me all the secrets of the heavenly Father.

Do you have a powerful yearning for heaven?
I often long for that, but, apart from the beatific vision, I already possess heaven in my innermost soul.

In what disposition would you like to die?
I would like to die loving and thus collapse into the arms of the one I love.

What form of martyrdom would you desire most?
I love them all, especially the martyrdom of love.

What name would you like to bear in heaven?
The Will of God.

What is your motto?
God in me and I in Him.

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

I have found a beautiful site called Le Jour du Seigneur (The Day of the Lord), where you can watch an excellent video about Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.  Even if you do not understand French, you may enjoy seeing Elizabeth’s bedroom at the Carmel in Dijon, her handwritten letters and listening to the Carmelite nuns reading excerpts from her books.  (Once the video starts playing, you can click on the lower right-hand side to enlarge the screen). 

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“She desires, not theology, but adoration; yet adoration of the word in its revealed character.  This requires contemplation of the word, contemplation born of “the mind of God” as it is implanted in the believer.  Her mission is not narrowly doctrinal, rather, corresponding to her Carmelite existence, it is a mission of life, a mission realized in silence, prayer and suffering.  This part of her mission remains invisible, as is true of all missions in the Church, especially the contemplative ones, whose real fruit remains hidden under God’s guidance and can never be described even in outline here on earth.  Still, in some missions, especially in the active ones, a portion (which can never be sharply distinguished from the other, invisible, part) is outwardly visible.   In some instances this occurs even with contemplative callings:  when testimony of hidden life in God must be given.  Elizabeth belongs to those missions that lie precisely on the line between visible and invisible.  Her calling is found in an invisibility of contemplation that points to a visible activity.  A certain visibility of thought can point to this invisibility of life, to thought’s origin, possibility and end.  Thus Elizabeth’s mission is located in the invisibility of the transcendent world toward which the vapor trail of existence directs all eyes even as it visibly disappears in the dusk.” 

[Excerpt from “Two Sisters in the Spirit.  Thérèse of Lisieux & Elizabeth of the Trinity”, by Hans Urs von Balthasar] 

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