Lovingly meeting God

Prayer is the activity especially intended for making fervent acts of charity. During prayer the soul lovingly meets with God. A soul that loves God does so with a pure heart; a heart that loves Him so much that it seeks only after His glory and His will. The prayer of a soul that loves God forgets itself and is ready to sacrifice every wish for Him. Its love grows stronger and will continue to grow as it performs all its actions with a whole heart and with all of its capacity for goodwill. A soul devoted to loving God has made the one necessary resolution in prayer which is to be recollected. Only then is it able to give itself entirely to God.

Acts of Love

The soul that truly understands that love is “the greatest and first commandment“ (Mt 22:38) is a soul that is not preoccupied with unnecessary practices and exercises in its spiritual life. This soul aims straight at the heart. Love is its only concern. As love increases this soul lives in love actually. This soul strives to please God and to give Him glory. Of the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, it is charity that holds primacy of place (1 Cor 13:13). Charity is the basis of the spiritual life and is necessary for a life of grace.

An Act of Love
O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because you are all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of you. I forgive all who have injured me, and I ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

Contemplative souls make many acts of love throughout the day.

The Divine Image

Unfortunately, sin, vice and imperfections can disfigure the divine image in us and in our neighbor. This divine image remains, however, and it takes faith in order to know how to find it. We are all children of God even those who have moved away from God and live far from His grace. For those striving for contemplation it is important to exercise this faith and seek God in creatures. When a prayerful soul can do this then nothing can distract it from a spirit of recollection. Contemplative souls do not shy away from those whose outward appearance may be displeasing. They see and serve God alone in everyone they meet. A distracted soul sees and dwells on the sins and imperfections of others. Dwelling on the sins and faults of others leads the soul away from any union with God and disturbs its peace. A recollected soul keeps its eyes on God.

Everyone needs to love and be loved. Only with the grace of God can souls learn to see and recognize Him in every creature. A soul wanting in this grace asks for it and listening to Jesus, the master teacher, imitates Him.

Traces of God

Pouring out a thousand graces,

he passed these groves in haste;

and having looked at them,
clothed them in beauty.
~(Spiritual Canticle, stanza 5)

God created everything and He left some trace of who He is in them. “He passed” because creatures are like a trace of God’s passing. Through them one can track down his grandeur, might, wisdom and other divine attributes (Spiritual Canticle). Everyone is created in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). This is our Faith. Therefore, it takes great faith to see God in His creatures. But what is it that disfigures the divine image in me and my neighbor?

Wordless Wednesday

Expand My Heart

“It is only charity that can expand my heart”. In chapter ten of The Story of a Soul, St. Therese gives a kind of discourse on charity that began with Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor as He loves them. Of course, our neighbor isn’t necessarily the person we like. We like our friends. Our neighbor, on the other hand, is someone we often have to bear with. In this discourse on charity St. Therese begins with how important it is to be charitable in thoughts about our neighbor because she clearly understood how the devil can be a great meddler here. Since the “devil tries to place before the eyes of my soul the faults of such and such a Sister who is less attractive to me, I hasten to search out her virtues, her good intentions, I tell myself that even if I did see her fall once, she could easily have won a great number of victories which she is hiding through humility, and that what appears to me as a fault can very easily be an act of virtue because of her intention.”

We must never judge because we can be mistaken and judge acts of virtue for imperfections and take for virtue what may be an imperfection. All judgments about ourselves and others should be left for God who in the end is the judge of all.

St. Therese goes on in this discourse of charity to express other ways she went about loving her Sisters. She would pray for her Sisters, “offering Him all her virtues and merits”. When tempted to answer back in a disagreeable manner, she would give a friendly smile and change the subject. If she did not have the courage to permit herself to be accused without saying a word, she would have recourse to flight in the situation. She would not lay claim to what belonged to her since she took a vow of poverty. She would give to those who asked of her considering herself a servant and slave of others, rendering them a service and consider it an honor and trying to anticipate their needs in order to do so. St. Therese would also allow someone to take what belonged to her without asking for it back and would try to do good to others without hoping for something in return.

The Love of Jesus

Jesus gives us His own commandment on love in the Gospel of John. He says we are to “love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). We are to love our neighbor as Jesus loves loves our neighbor. This goes in quite a different direction than loving one’s neighbor as oneself. St. Therese of Lisieux came to realize how imperfect was her love for her sisters when she came to understand that she did not love them as God loves them. “I understand now that charity consists in bearing with the faults of others, in not being surprised at their weakness, in being edified by the smallest acts of virtue we see them practice. But I understood above all that charity must not remain hidden in the bottom of the heart.” (Story of a Soul, chapter 10) Oh, how often charity remains in the bottom of the heart! Charity does not consist in feelings; it must be expressed in deeds. Charity should begin in our thoughts towards others remembering that Jesus has said: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged” (Mt. 7:1). How impossible this seems; yet St. Therese found a way to overcome the weaknesses and imperfections of love she discovered in herself. She first came to understand that “never would I be able to love my Sisters as You love them, unless You, O my Jesus, loved them in me“. Trusting that Jesus wanted to give her this grace and assured that His will is to love, she exclaimed, “Oh! how I love this new commandment since it give me the assurance that Your will is to love in me all those You command me to love! Yes, I feel it, when I am charitable, it is Jesus alone who is acting in me, and the more united I am to Him, the more also do I love my Sisters.”

Sacred Heart of Jesus

The symbolism of the Sacred Heart of Jesus begins with a revealed human heart, a heart of flesh. His love is the love of a human heart. The rays of light streaming from the heart and the cross signify His love for all mankind. The thorns surrounding the Sacerd Heart signify the suffering and pain He bore to expiate man’s sins. The open wound is a symbol of rest and safety for the repentant sinner. The burning flames represent the fire of Divine Love.

Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus consists of Christ’s heart of flesh and His love for us.

The Solemenity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is celebrated on the Friday following the Second Sunday after Pentecost. Jesus meek and humble of heart. Make our hearts like Yours.

Teresian Apostolate

This Friday, June 19, 2009 on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, begins the Year of the Priests set forth by Pope Benedict XVI. During this year the faithful are encouraged to pray for priests that they may be faithful to their sacred calling.

St. Teresa was concerned for the Church in her time and proposed to her nuns that they would be able to help the Church by praying for the “defenders of the Church and for preachers and for learned men who protect her from attack”. In other words, the nuns should be saying prayers for the bishops, priest, ministers and theologians. Her logic was a very good one for she came to “realize that if the bishop is holy the subjects will be so too”. Praying for the holiness of priests should be in the heart of all Discalced Carmelites. The leaders in our Church need our love, support, encouragement and prayers.

The apostolic element of the Tereisan Carmel can be clearly seen in the following taken from chapter three of The Way of Perfection:

“I beg you to strive to be such that we might merit from God two things: First, that among the numerous learned men and religious there be many who will meet these requirements I mentioned that are necessary for this battle, and that the Lord may prepare those who do not meet them; one who is perfect will do much more than many who are not. Second, that after being placed in this combat which, as I say, is not easy, they may receive protection from the Lord so as to remain free of the many perils there are in the world, and stop their ears in order not to hear the siren’s song on the dangerous sea.”

Wordless Wednesday