Feast of St Teresa - "Mystery of the Church" excerpts from the book by Fr P. Marie-Eugene, OCD 'I am a Daugther of the Church' - Practical Synthesis of Carmelite Spirituality

Union of the will (which is granted to the soul through the perfection of charity) transform the soul and places it at the treshold of a new world, which appears still in a semi-brightness while only partly revealing its grandeur. But the full brightness and splendour of the new world will be reached by the soul in the next mansion. What are these lights that form part of the riches of the union of will...

Zeal for souls.

"The very soul does not know itself (Vth Mansion, 2:255), writes St Teresa. The change is attended with surprise and even anxiety, when it is produced suddenly by mystical grace. The little white butterfly that has come out of the cocoon, whose wings has grown, no longer has a resting place, for it feels itself "a stranger to things of earth. But where will the poor little creature go?" (Ibid, ;256)

This confusion is not merely the effect of a passing bewilderment . It comes upon a soul already established in detachment, a soul stirred by new and deep desires. True, it may long to return to those obscure regions whence it has come with the certitude: "that God has been in it and it has been in God," (ibid, 1:251) but there is now a burning and painful solicitude for God and for souls, which it had not known before to so intense a degree:

  

Only a few years since - perhaps only a few days - this soul was thinking of nothing but itself. Who has plunged it into such grievous anxieties? (ibid, 2:257) I know that the torment which a certain person of my acquaintance has suffered, and suffers still, at seeing the Lord offended, is so intolerable that she would far sooner die than suffer it (ibid; 258)

This is a new trait that the Saint wants to point out. At some length she reflects upon the Passion of our Lord, who "saw everything and was continually witnessing the great offenses which were committed against His Father," (ibid) and upon jer own ardent desire to suffer and die for the salvation of sinners. This suffering of the soul, due proportion kept, resembles that of Christ; and Saint Teresa says it is essential mark of this spiritual stage:

If anyone told me that after reaching this stage he had enjoyed continual rest and joy, I should say that he had not reached it at all. (ibid; 256)

In these pages where the Saint is treating, with her characteristic logic, of union of will - not with the formal logic of thought but the logic of description which embraces all that is before it - she speaks of the immense work of conversion effected by great saints who had received such favours and corresponded with them (ibid 4:266). Without any doubt, the prayer of union gives the soul  a deep concern for the salvation of souls. This is an important fact that we must remember.

Whence comes this zeal? Saint Teresa answers:

I will tell you. Have you not heard concerning the bride (I said this a little while back, though not with reference to the same matter) that God put her in a cellar of wine and ordained charity in her? Well that is the position here. (ibid 2:257). 

Charity has been ordered by God Himself in the soul, toward its twofold object: God and neighbour. And, commenting on the double precept, the Saint writes:

The surest sigh that we are keeping these two commandments  is, I think, that we should really be loving our neighbour....And be certain that, the farther advanced you find you are in this, the greater the love ou will have for God. (ibid 3:261)

The importance that the Saint now attaches to love of neighbour, even to the point of sacrificing one's devotions for acts of charity (ibid; 263) is an indication of a new state of a soul. It is not long since Teresa was signalizing as a grave danger for the soul the urge to distribute the fruits of its garden. The recipient of that advice had drunk of the third water of perfect quiet, which is the sleep of the powers (Life, 17). After the grace of union, the soul, "having now a clear realization that the fruits of this prayer are not its own, can start to share them and yet have no lack of them itself." (ibid 19). 

Even more is to be said: the soul thus strengthened not only can but must give of its riches, although still with prudence. It feels an urgent need to do so. To explain this profound change by saying that God has ordered the soul's charity this way does not seem sufficient. Why does the ordering of charity actually require that the soul now turn towards its neighbour? Saint Teresa does not explicitly  say why, for she disclaims being a theologian and having the ability to give reasons for many things that she has observed. Yet she gives us the key to the problem. In developing the analogy of the silkworm, she makes this remark, singular at first sight:

When it is full grown, then, as I wrote at the beginning, it starts to spin its silk and to built the house in which it is to die. This house may be understood here to mean Christ. I think I read or heard somewhere that our life is hid in Christ, or in God (for that is the same thing), or that our life is Christ. (The exact form of this is little to my purpose.) (V Mansions, 2)

This surprising statement, connected in no way with what the Saint has previously said, obliges her to explain what we can do, so that "His Majesty Himself [may] be our Mansion as he is in this Prayer of Union"; (ibid) it seems to introduce a new element, increasing the complexity of the description. but this thought is dispelled on a moment's reflection. Actually the statement reveals to us a spiritual experience, most important and of great interest. Saint Teresa was aware that in the prayer of union she entered into the living Christ, and that thereafter Christ was to be the dwelling place where her life would be hidden. What else is this than the discovery of her incorporation into the mystical body of Christ, the Church; the awareness of her belonging to the whole Christ. That incorporation into Christ should be experienced by her at this time as a living reality obscurely grasped is truly a great thing. We can understand the consequent change of attitude in her soul, which we have observed; and we shall not be surprised at a new orientation of her life. A mystery of union, a mystery of darkness, yet the source of resplendent light! Let us pause here a moment to give it thought.

The mystery of the Church

The prayer of union, or union of will, is a seizure of the will by loving Wisdom. The soul thereafter bears the impress of a divine seal, (5th Mansion ii;257) which although not indelible is nevertheless permanent; and it produces a state of self-abandonment and suppleness. We may explain the symbol by saying that Holy Wisdom dwells habitually in the will, to reign there as Mistress. 

Holy Wisdom can reign for no other purpose than to realize the thought of God. She is herself the Thought of God. She extends her conquest, acts, acts and initiates action, only to show forth God's thought for the world, living and concrete, in events and in souls. Through the apostle St Paul we know what is this eternal purpose of God:

...the dispensation of the mystery, which has been hidden from eternity in God, who created all things...which in other ages was not known to the sons of men, as now it has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; namely, that the Gentiles are joint heirs, and fellow members of the same body, and joint partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. (Eph 3:5-11)

God design is to save all men without distinction by making them all one with Christ Jesus, in the unity of His mystical body.

Already in eternity, God contemplated the whole Christ, the Church, and took His delight in it as in the masterpiece of His mercy. In the exterior works of His creation God moved through all the vicissitudes of the works of His love, toward the realization of His Christ, His Anointed One. Finis omnium Ecclesia, the Church is the end of all things, according to Saint Epiphanius. The very vicissitudes, the fall of the angels, the sin of man, were permitted by God only as an occasion and means for showing forth the whole strength of His arm, the full measure of the love that He would give to the world. Did not Saint Augustine say that God permitted the fall of the of the angels so as to create man? And the sin of man is a felix culpa, a "happy fault," (Liturgy for the Holy Saturday, Exultet) that won for us Christ the Redeemer.

it is through Christ Jesus that God is going to realize His mystery of mercy; through Christ who is generated eternally, for he is the World of God.

He is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For in him were created all things in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers. All things have been created through and unto him, and he is before all creatures, and in him all things hold together. (Col I: 15-7)

After the fall of man, the Word became incarnate; and in the new plan of the redemption God gave to Him, to Christ Jesus, the primacy and plenitude of all things:

He is the head of his body, the Church; he, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the first place. For it has pleased God the Father that in him all his fullness should dwell, and that through him he should reconcile to himself all things, whether on the earth or in heaven, making peace through the blood of his cross. (ibid; 18-20)

The Epistle to the Ephesians testifies also to the eternal plan of God to unite all things in Christ:

....so that he may make known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure. And this his good pleasure he purposed in him to be dispensed in the fullness of the time: to re-establish all things in Christ, both those in the heavens and those on the earth. (Eph I:9-10)

In His eternal thought God sees only His Christ; and in Him He sees each one of us, because in Him He has placed us:

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish in his sight in love. He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his sons, according to the purpose of his will, unto the praise of the glory of his grace, with which he has favoured us in this beloved Son. In him, I say, in whom we also have been called by a special choice, having been predestined in the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, to contribute to the praise of his glory, we who before hoped in Christ. (Eph I:4-6, 11-2)

And so, this divine decree that tells us of the eternal love of the Father for His beloved Son, and for us in Christ, causes to surge up from our hearts a hymn of thanksgiving:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing on high in Christ. (Eph I:3)

Christ Jesus came on earth to accomplish this divine decree. (On coming into the world Christ had said: "Behold, I come to do thy will, O God."Heb. 10:7)

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Our Lady of the Rosary

The feast of the Holy Rosary was instituted by Pope Pius V to celebrate the anniversary of the defeat of the Turkish fleet at the battle of Lepanto on the first Sunday in October 1571, which ended the threat of Muslim domination of the Mediterranean and was ascribed in part to the prayers and processions of the Rosary confraternity in Rome. Later the feast was moved to the fixed date of 7 October.

I sought out solitude to pray my devotions, and they were many, especially the rosary, to which my mother was very devoted; and she made us devoted to it too.  (St Teresa of Avila, The Book of her Life, ch 1)

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Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and to present their souls to God at death. The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus' words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father." Devotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition. St. Benedict gave it impetus and Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 12th-century reformer, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day. A feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar.

Comment:
The concept of an unseen companion has given rise to many childish titters about leaving room for an angel in a crowded seat and teacher-induced terrors about the danger of sudden death for a child who fails to honor the angel with prayer. But devotion to the angels is, at base, an expression of faith in God's enduring love and providential care extended to each person day in and day out until life's end.

Quote:
"May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem." (Rite for Christian Burial)

after www.AmericanCatholic.org
Picture "Guardian Angels" by JHS Mann

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St Teresa of Avila was declared Doctor of the Church 50 years ago

Fifty years ago today, St Teresa of Avila was elevated to Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI, the first woman to be so honoured. To commemorate this day I would recommend a movie viewing the pace of life at the Monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Nothing Hill, home to a cloistered order of Discalced Carmelite Nuns in the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity in Notting Hill, London. 

To watch movie trailer click here

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St Pio of Petrelcina (Padre Pio)

PADRE PIO Canonized: June 16, 2002 St. Padre Pio (Francesco Forgione) was born on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina, Italy. Even as a child, Francesco had already shown signs of extraordinary gifts of grace. At the age of five, he dedicated his life to God. From his early childhood he showed a kind of recollection of spirit and a love for the religious life. His mother described him as a quiet child who, from his earliest years loved to go to church and to pray. Because he was able to see and communicate with, not only his guardian angel but also with Jesus and the Virgin Mary, as a young boy, Francesco assumed everyone had the same experiences. Once a woman who noticed his spiritual demeanor asked him, "When did you consecrate your life to God? Was it at your first holy communion?" and he answered, "Always, daughter, always." When he was fifteen years old, he was admitted to the novitiate of the Capuchin friars of Morcone and was admired by his superiors and his fellow students for his exemplary behavior and his piety. One of the novices stated, "There was something which distinguished him from the other students. Whenever I saw him, he was always humble, recollected, and silent. What struck me most about Brother Pio was his love of prayer."

On August 10, 1910, at the age of twenty-three, Padre Pio was ordained to the priesthood. The celebration of the Holy Mass was for Padre Pio, the center of his spirituality. His Mass could last one and a half hours or more, due to the long pauses of contemplative silence into which he entered at various parts of the Holy Sacrifice. Everything about him spoke of how intensely he was living the Passion of Christ. The parish priest in Pietrelcina called Padre Pio's Mass, "an incomprehensible mystery." When asked to shorten his Mass, Padre Pio replied, "God knows that I want to say Mass just like any other priest, but I cannot do it." His parishioners were deeply impressed by his piety and one by one they began to come to him, seeking his counsel. For many, even a few moments in his presence, proved to be a life changing experience. As the years passed, pilgrims began to come to him by the thousands from every corner of the world, drawn by the spiritual riches which flowed so freely from his extraordinary ministry. To his spiritual children he would say, "It seems to me as if Jesus has no other concern but the sanctification of your soul." Padre Pio is understood above all else as a man of prayer. Before he was thirty years old he had already reached the summit of the spiritual life known as the "unitive way" of transforming union with God. He prayed almost continuously. His prayers were usually very simple. He loved the Rosary and recommended it to others. To someone who asked him what legacy he wished to leave to his spiritual children, his brief reply was, "My child, the Rosary." He had a special mission to the souls in Purgatory and encouraged everyone to pray for them. He used to say, "We must empty Purgatory with our prayers." Padre Agostino Daniele, his confessor, director, and beloved friend said, "One admires in Padre Pio, his habitual union with God. When he speaks or is spoken to, we are aware that his heart and mind are not distracted from the thought and sentiment of God." Padre Pio suffered from poor health his entire life, once saying that his health had been declining from the time he was nine years old. No doctor was ever able to give a satisfactory explanation for the illnesses that plagued him throughout his life. He was afflicted with extremely high and frequent fevers, chest pains, serious respiratiory and digestive problems, severe headaches, extreme weakness, crippling rheumatism, and more. Although the cause of his prolonged and debilitating illnesses remained a mystery, he did not become discouraged. He offered all of his bodily sufferings to God as a sacrifice, to help save souls. He experienced many spiritual sufferings as well. "I am fully convinced that my illness is due to a special permission of God," he said. Shortly after his ordination he wrote a letter to his spiritual director, Padre Benedetto Nardella, in which he asked permission to offer his life as a victim for sinners. He wrote, "For a long time I have felt in myself a need to offer myself to the Lord as a victim for poor sinners and for the souls in Purgatory. This desire has been growing continually in my heart so that it has now become what I would call a strong passion. . .It seems to me that Jesus wants this." The marks of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, appeared on Padre Pio's body, on Friday, September 20, 1918, while he was praying before a crucifix and making his thanksgiving after Mass. He was thirty-one years old and became the first stigmatized priest in the history of the Church. With resignation and serenity, he bore the wounds for fifty years. In addition, God endowed Padre Pio with many extraordinary charisms including the gift of healing, bilocation, prophecy, miracles, discernment of spirits, the gift of conversions, the ability to read hearts, the gift of tongues (the ability to speak and understand languages that he had never studied), the ability to abstain beyond man's natural powers from both sleep and nourishment and the fragrance which emanated from his wounds and which frequently announced his invisible presence. When a friend once questioned him about these charisms, Padre Pio said, "You know, they are a mystery to me, too." Although he received more than his share of spiritual gifts, he never sought them, never felt worthy of them. He never put the gifts before the Giver. He always remained humble, constantly at the disposal of Almighty God. His day began at 2:30 a.m. when he would rise to begin his prayers and to make his preparation for Mass. He was able to carry on a busy aposotlate with only a few hours of sleep each night and an amount of food that was so small (300-400 calories a day) that his fellow priests stated that it was not enough food even to keep a small child alive. Between Mass and confessions, his workday lasted 19 hours. He very rarely left the monastery and never took even a day's vacation from his grueling schedule in 51 years. He never read a newspaper or listened to the radio. He cautioned his spiritual children against watching television. Padre Pio' CellIn his monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, he lived the Franciscan spirit of poverty with detachment from self, from posessions, and from comforts. He always had a great love for the virtue of chastity, and his behavior was modest in all situations and with all people. In his lifetime, Padre Pio reconciled thousands of men and women back to their faith. The prayer groups that Padre Pio established have now spread throughout the world. He gave a new spirit to hospitals by founding one which he called "The Home for the Relief of Suffering." He saw the image of Christ in the poor, the suffering, and the sick and gave himself particularly to them. He once said, "Bring God to all those who are sick. This will help them more than any other remedy." Serene and well prepared, he surrendered to Sister Death on September 23, 1968 at the age of eighty-one. He died as he had lived, with his Rosary in his hands. His last words were Ges˙, MariañJesus, Mary, which he repeated over and over until he breathed his last. He had often declared, "After my death I will do more. My real mission will begin after my death." In 1971, Pope Paul VI, speaking to the superiors of the Capuchin order, said of Padre Pio, "What fame he had. How many followers from around the world. Why? Was it because he was a philosopher, a scholar, or because he had means at his disposal? No, it was because he said Mass humbly, heard confessions from morning until night and was a marked representative of the stigmata of Our Lord. He was truly a man of prayer and suffering." The Pope at the tomb of Padre PioIn one of the largest liturgies in the Vatican's history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio on June 16, 2002. During his homily John Paul recalled, how, in 1947, as a young priest he journeyed from Poland to make his confession to Padre Pio. "Prayer and charity, this is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio's teaching," the Pope said. Drawing approximately 8 million pilgrims each year, San Giovanni Rotondo, where St. Padre Pio lived and is now buried, is second only to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico in its number of annual visitors. St. Padre Pio's whole life might be summed up in the words of St. Paul to the Colossians, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church." [Thanks to Padre Pio Devotions (http://www.padrepiodevotions.org/) for this contribution] Read whole post......

Feast of Saint Albert of Jerusalem

Albert Avogadro was born about 1150 AD at Castel Gualtieri, Italy. He became Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, and of Vorcelli the following year, and in 1205 was made Patriarch of Jerusalem. During his patriarchate (1205-1214) he formed the hermit brothers of Mount Carmel into a collegium and wrote a rule for them. He was murdered in September 14, 1214 by the master of Hospital of the Holy Spirit, whom he rebuked and deposed for immorality. 

 

Since ‘man’s’ ‘life on earth is a time of trial’, and ‘all who would live devoutly in Christ must undergo persecution’, and ‘the devil, your foe, is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour’, you must use every care to ‘clothe yourself in God’s armour, so that you may be ready to withstand the enemy ambush’. ‘Your loins are to be girt’ with chastity, your breast fortified by holy meditations, for as Scripture has it, ‘holy meditations will save you’. ‘Put on holiness as your breastplate’, and it will enable you to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength, and your neighbor as yourself’. ‘Faith must be your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one’; ‘There can be no pleasing God without faith’. ‘On your head set the helmet of salvation’ and so be sure of deliverance by our only Saviour ‘who sets his own free from all sins’. ‘The sword of the spirit, the word of God’, ‘must abound in your mouths and hearts’. ‘Let all you do have the Lord’s word for accompaniment.’ A fragment from the Rule delivered by Saint Albert to the Brothers of Mount Carmel. 

All text based on Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices. The image after The British Province of Carmelites webpage.

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THE SEVEN SORROWS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY WITH PREPARATION

Judith 13:22-25. And they all adored the Lord, and said to her: The Lord hath blessed thee by his power, because by thee he hath brought our enemies to nought. And Ozias the prince of the people of Israel, said to her: Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth, who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.

Jn 19:25-27.

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. Devotion to the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady Pope Pius VII - Litany of the Seven Sorrows

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Exaltation of the Holy Cross

                                                  'Finding of the Holy Cross', Bartel Beham

"Hail, Cross our only hope"! - this is what the holy church summoned us to exclaim during the time for contemplating the bitter suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The jubilant exclamation of the Easter Alleluia silenced the serious sing of the Cross. But the sign of our salvation greeted us amid the time of Easter joy, since we were recalling the discovery of the One who had passed from sight. At the end of the cycle of ecclesiastical feasts, the cross greet us through the heart of the Saviour. And now, as the church year draws towards an end, it is raised high before us and is to hold us spell bound until Easter Alleluia summons us anew to forget the earth for a while and rejoice in the marriage of the Lamb. 

                                 Edith Stein, 'The Hidden Life', fragment from "1939 - Ave Crux, Spes Unica"

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Bl Mary of Jesus, memoria

Born in Tartanedo (Spain) in 1560, Maria Lopez de Rivas took the Discalced Carmelite habit at Toledo in 1577 and made her profession the following year. She spent the rest of her life in Toledo Carmel and only left her convent for a period of time in 1585 to help with a foundation at Cuerva. She died at Toledo on September 13, 1640. She was a great contemplative, intensely devoted to our Lord, and often drawing inspiration from the liturgy. Saint Teresa of Jesus thought extremely highly of her and kept her in high esteem. 

Prayer

Lord,
you enabled Blessed Mary of Jesus
to contemplate the mysteries of your Son
and become a living image of his love.
Give us through her prayers
the burning faith to seek Jesus in all things
and the love to prove by our actions
the presence within us of him
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.

All text after Discalced Carmelites Proper Offices

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Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Carmel devotion

Domenico Ghirlandaio - Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary

[St John of the Cross] in his prison cell…. after nine months of severe privation, was asked what he was thinking of. He replied, 'I was thinking that tomorrow is the feast of our Lady and that it would give me great joy to say Mass.' The sight of an image of the Mother of God brought love and brightness to his soul. Once, on seeing an image of our Lady while he was preaching to the nuns in Caravaca, he could not conceal his love for her and exclaimed: "How happy I would be to live alone in a desert with that image."After 'The Collected Works of S John of the Cross'. 

St Benedicta of the Cross on her Carmelite vocation: 'I need Carmel . . . with its perfection and way of perfection, Carmel with its purity, its apostolate, its martyrdom; Carmel with its special love for the sacred humanity of our Lord and its veneration of the Blessed Virgin without being restricted to one of her states or mysteries.' After Edith Stein, Collected Works. 

Little Flower's consecration to the Blessed Virgin: During the afternoon I read the act of consecration to Our Lady, for myself and my companions. I was chosen probably because I had been deprived of my earthly Mother while still so young. With all my heart I consecrated myself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and asked her to watch over me. She seemed to look lovingly on her Little Flower and to smile at her again, and I thought of the visible smile which had once cured me, and of all I owed her. St Theres of Lisieux, The Story of a Soul

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St. Teresa Margaret of the Most Sacred Heart, OCD, memoria

Excerpts from "Divine Intimacy"- by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdelen- fragments relating to St Teresa Margaret spirituality

"The Proof of Love" St Teresa Margeret of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Presence of God - O Jesus Crucified, make me understand that the Cross is the greatest proof of love.

Meditation
1. After the Incarnation, the Cross of Jesus is the greatest proof of His love for man. Similarly, mortification, which is suffering eagerly accepted for the love of God, is one of the greatest proofs of love that we can give Him. It means freely giving up a satisfaction or a pleasure in order to impose on ourselves, for love of God, something which is contrary to our own natural inclinations; we thus prove that we prefer to satisfy God rather than ourselves. Every act of voluntary mortification, whether physical or moral, says to God, “Lord, I love You more than myself!” And since a soul in love has an ardent desire to give proof of its love, it is very vigilant not to miss a single opportunity for renunciation. It was in this sense that St. Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus resolved “not to let a single occasion for suffering escape, as far as she was able - and always in silence between God and herself.” In fact, she made every effort “to find at each moment some occasion for suffering or bodily pain, so as never to satisfy the slightest appetite or desire, and she sought ways to make even what was necessary, painful and wearying to her body” (Spirituality). Her ardent love for God found an outlet in this generous, untiring exercise of mortification. Using a different expression, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus called this practice “scattering flowers”, that is, profiting by every least opportunity to suffer in order to give God a proof of her love. Knowing that the value of mortification depends upon the generosity of the dispositions with which it is done, the Saint said, “I shall always sing, even should my flowers be gathered from the midst of thorns” (Story of a Soul, 13).

2. The value of voluntary mortification consists much more in the good will with which it is practiced than in the intensity of the suffering which is imposed, although the latter may contribute to it in the sense that a more painful mortification requires more good will. The amount of suffering must be wisely proportioned, and limited to the physical strength of each one; but what must never be limited is the love, the spirit of generosity with which we perform each act of sacrifice. From this point of view, a slight mortification done with all the love of which a soul is capable has greater value than a painful penance performed in a material way, with no interior spirit. Hence before performing an act of mortification, especially when it concerns certain customary practices such as those which are used in Religious Institutes, it is necessary to arouse our good will and our sincere desire to suffer willingly for the love of God. This will prevent a mere mechanical performance of the act that has little or no value. Loving contemplation of the Crucified was the soul of all the austerities of St. Teresa Margaret. “This humiliated, suffering God, of whom she was constantly thinking, was the One who gave her the interior strength to overcome every difficulty, however arduous, and to take on spontaneously so many labors and works of charity and mortification; it was He who gave her an insatiable desire for suffering “ (St Teresa Margaret, Spirituality). Contemplating Jesus Crucified, the soul feels that, even if’ it is mortifying itself much for love of Him, its sacrifices and renunciations amount to very little, and instead of conceiving sentiments of vain complacency for the mortifications already practiced, it feels the need of humbling itself and of always doing more. “Have great love for suffering,” says St. John of the Cross, “and consider it very little to attain the favor of the Spouse, who hesitated not to die for thee” (Spiritual Maxims II, 15).
Colloquy
“O my Beloved, how shall I show my love, since love proves itself by deeds? I have no other means of proving my love than to strew flowers, and these flowers will be each word and look, each little daily sacrifice. I wish to make profit out of the smallest actions and to do them all for Love. For Love’s sake I wish to suffer and to rejoice: so shall I strew my flowers. Not one that I see but, singing all the while, I will scatter its petals before You. Should my roses be gathered from amid thorns, I will sing notwithstanding; and the longer and sharper the thorns, the sweeter will grow my song” (St Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Story of a Soul, 13 ). “O Lord, dispose of me according to Your will, for I am content with everything if only I am following You on the road to Calvary. The more thorns there are on this road and the heavier the Cross is, the more consoled shall I be, for I desire to love You with an effective love, with a patient love, with a love which is dead to self and entirely surrendered to You. O Lord, You on the Cross for me and I on the Cross for You! Oh! if I could but once understand how sweet and precious it is to suffer: to suffer in silence for You, O Jesus! O dear suffering! O good Jesus!” (St Teresa Margaret, Spirituality). Yes, suffering is dear to me because it permits me to give God proofs of my love; because in the darkness of faith, in which I must live here below, it gives me the assurance of loving not only in words, but with a strong, effective love. O Jesus, now I understand why St. Teresa of Avila asked for only one thing: “to die or to suffer,” professing to have no other reason for living except to suffer for love of You (Life, 40).
O Lord, may I too have such strong, true, and ardent love! Grant it to me, You who can give me all things, and who can, in one instant, transform this dry, cold heart into a furnace of charity.

"Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus"

Presence of God - O Sacred Heart of Jesus, teach me how to know You and to love You.

Meditation
1. The object of devotion to the Sacred Heart is, properly speaking, the physical Heart of Jesus which is worthy of adoration, because it is a part of His sacred Humanity, hypostatically united to the Word. However, the ultimate object of this devotion is the love of Jesus, the symbol of which is His Heart. In other words, “beneath the symbolic image of the Heart, we contemplate and venerate our divine Redeemer’s immense charity and generous love” (Pius VI). This is the real meaning of the devotion to the Sacred Heart by which the Church asks us to honour the Heart of Jesus as the visible representation of His invisible love. “Your charity has allowed You to be wounded by the visible blow of the lance,” the liturgy of the feast sings, “so that we may venerate the wounds of Your invisible love” (Roman Breviary). Therefore, the principle object of this devotion is the love of Jesus, an uncreated love with which He, as the Word, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, loved us from all eternity, and from all eternity willed to become incarnate for our salvation. It is also the created love of charity with which, as Man, He loved us even to the death of the Cross, meriting for us by His love that same charity by which we are enabled to love Him in return. Here we find the most profound significance of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. St Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus had such a thorough understanding of this meaning that she made this devotion the centre of her life. The process of her canonization says that the Saint “saw the Heart of Jesus as the centre, the source of the love with which the divine Word, in the bosom of the Father, loved us from all eternity, and merited for us in time the power to love Him in return, on earth and in heaven, by our sharing in this love.”


"The Love of Esteem"

Presence of God - O my God, sovereign and infinite Good, grant that I may esteem nothing more than You and prefer nothing to You.

Meditation
2. A further effect of this great love of esteem for God is “that the greatest sufferings and trials of which [the soul] is conscious in this night are the anguished thoughts that it has lost God, and the fears that He has abandoned it.” (St John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, II, 13, 5). Just as it is not concerned about acquiring any possession except the possession of God, neither is the soul concerned about any loss, if it be not the loss of God. Everything can be taken from it: health, riches, honours, esteem, trust, the affection of the most cherished creatures, and these creatures themselves; but never could the soul endure that God should be taken from it, or that it should be prevented from loving Him. Thus have the saints thought and acted. In her immense desire to love God, St Teresa Margaret Redi declared that she was ready to suffer even the pains of hell to obtain that grace; and to one who asked how she would be able to support such unspeakable torments she replied: “I think that love would render them bearable for me and perhaps even sweet, for of itself love makes all things else seem as naught.” (St Teresa Margaret of the Heart of Jesus, Spirituality). That is also what St Teresa of Jesus thought when she wrote to her daughters these beautiful lines: “Let your desire be to see God; your fear, that you may lose Him; your sorrow, that you are not having fruition of Him; your joy, that He can bring you to Himself.” (Maxims For Her Nuns) Such is the characteristic of true love: to create but one preoccupation in the soul, one fear, one desire and one joy — all of which are concentrated on God alone.

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St John the Baptist

The BEHEADING of SAINT JOHN the BAPTIST (†31 A.D.) Spiritual Bouquet: All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. St. Matthew 28:18 Saint John the Baptist was called by God to be the precursor of His divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve upon the extraordinary graces which he had received in his earliest infancy, he was directed by the Holy Spirit to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness. There he devoted himself to the continuous exercise of devout prayer and penance. When Saint John was thirty years old, the faithful minister of the Lord began to discharge his mission. Clothed with the garments of penance, he announced to all men the obligation weighing upon them of washing away their iniquities with the tears of sincere compunction. He proclaimed the Messiah, who was of his own age but whom he had never seen, when one day Jesus came to be baptized by him in the Jordan. Saint John was received by the poor folk as the true herald of the Most High God, and his voice was, as it were, a trumpet sounding from heaven to summon all men to avert the divine judgments. Souls were exhorted by him to prepare themselves to reap the benefit of the mercy offered them. When the tetrarch Herod Antipas, in defiance of all laws divine and human, married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip who was yet living, Saint John the Baptist boldly reprimanded the tetrarch and his accomplice for so scandalous an adultery. Herod, motivated by his lust and his anger, cast the Saint into prison. About a year after Saint John had been made a prisoner, Herod gave a splendid entertainment to the official world of Galilee. Salome, a daughter of Herodias by her lawful husband, pleased Herod by her dancing, to the point that he made her the foolish promise of granting whatever she might ask. Salome consulted with her mother as to what to ask, and that immoral woman instructed her daughter to demand the death of John the Baptist, and that the head of the prisoner should be immediately brought to her on a platter. This barbaric request startled the tyrant himself; but governed by human respect he assented and sent a soldier of his guard to behead the Saint in prison. Thus died the great forerunner of our blessed Saviour, some two years after his entrance upon his public ministry, and a year before the death of the One he announced. Reflection: All the signal graces with which Saint John was favored sprang from his humility; in that virtue all his other virtues were founded. If we desire to form ourselves to solid virtue, we must, above all things, labor to lay the same deep foundation. Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).

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St Teresa of Avila's Transverberation, memoria

Brethren: the word of God is living and affectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart (Hebreew 4). Amid the other virtues of Teresa, the love of God shone forth with particular lustre. It burned in her heart so strongly that the confessors of Theresa marvelled thereat, and extolled it as the love belonging to the Cherubim rather than to man. Our Lord Jesus Christ increased it, in a wonderful manner, by many visions and revelations, for once he adopted her as His spouse, giving to her His right hand, and holding forth to her a nail. He moreover vouchsafed to speak to her in these words: "Henceforth thou shalt be zealous for my honour like a true Spouse; now I am wholly thine, and thou art wholly mine". At another time she saw an angel, who pierced her heart with a fiery dart. She herself narrates the vision as follows: "I saw an angel standing at my left hand in bodily shape. He was not large, but small, and most beautiful in form. His countenance was so bright and shining that he seemed to belong to the highest choir of angels, who are all on fire, or, in other words, to those who are called Seraphim. I saw that he carried in his hands a long golden dart, even to my entrails, which he seemed to me to carry away with him when he drew forth the dart, thus leaving me all on fire with the love of God. The pain of the would was so violent that it forced me to break forth into repeated groans; and yet so excellent is the sweetness to which this intense pain gives rise, that one desires not to be freed from it, and naught is pleasing to the soul save God Himself". In consequence of these heavenly gifts, the flames of divine love burned in her heart so strongly that, under God's guidance, she made a very difficult vow. She bound herself always to do that which she should see to be the more perfect, and that which might tend to the greater glory of God. After her death, moreover, she made known to a certain nun, in a vision, that she had died of the unbearable burning of divine love, and not from the attacks of illness. Her heart, which was incorrupt and adorned with the marks of the piercing, was placed in the Church of the Most Holy Incarnation, belonging to the nuns of the Order of Barefooted Carmelites in Alva, and it has been venerated down to the present day by the large and devout crowds of Christian who flock thither. All these things having been carefully examined, the Sovereign Pontiff Benedict the Thirteenth, in order to recall the remembrance of this great miracle, permitted the celebration of this feast each year in that Order. The text after Traditional Carmelite Breviary Matins Lessons (1887 edition)

to view the previous post commemorating the Feast please follow the LINK

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Bl Mary of Jesus Crucified and her prayer for virtue, optional memoria - click to read more about her life

I saw a large flowerbed formed of several concentric circles. The first circle was planted with roses; the rose signifies charity and its thorns vigilance.

The second was covered with vines; the grape signifying love and the leaf mildness.

The third was sown with wheat, which signifies hope and confidence.

The center was all of violets, which signify true humility.
And in the center I made a throne, and I set Jesus upon it. And from under His feet comes a spring which says "Everything passes, everything flows by like water."

Beside the throne I plant pansies and ivy. The ivy says to me: "Cling to Jesus unceasingly." And the pansy says to me: "Think only of Jesus."

Lord Jesus, plant all these virtues in the depths of my heart, and by Your own power make them grow."

From "The Thoughts of Sister Mary of Jesus Crucified"

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Blessed John-Baptist, Michael Aloysius and James, optional memoria

Fr. Leonard Duverneuil (b. 1737 at Limoges), Fr. Michel-Louis Brulard (b. 1758 at Chartres), and Fr. Hubert of Saint Claude (b. 1753 at Frolois), were among a group of 64 Martyrs beatified 1st October 1995, victims of the French Revolution who came from 14 French dioceses and from various religious Orders. In their loyalty to God, the Church and the Pope, they refused to take the oath of the Civil Constitution for the Clergy imposed by the Constituent Assembly of the Revolution. As a result, they were imprisoned, massed like animals, on a slave-trader ship in Rochefort Bay, waiting in vain to be deported into slavery. During 1794, the first two Carmelites died on board ship: Fr. John-Baptist on 1st July, and Fr. Michael-Aloysius on 25th July, both being buried on the island of Aix. After the plague broke out on the ship, those remaining disembarked on the island of Madame, where Fr. James died and was buried on 10th September. Noted for their loving ministry to their fellow prisoners and their patience in accepting every type of outrage, privation, and cruelty, not to mention the vicissitudes of weather, hunger and sickness, our three Discalced Carmelite priest martyrs and their companions in martyrdom gave unsurpassed Christian witness to their faith and love. After Carmelite Breviary.

Concluding Prayer: 

Lord God to the martyrs Blessed John-Baptist, Michael-Aloysius, James, and their companions, you gave the grace to remain faithful and to pardon while suffering hardship. Through their intercession grant also to us, to be always willing to remain faithful to your Church and to be reconciled with one another. We ask this through our Lord.

 

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Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Peter Paul Rubens Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world - Matthew 25:34

He showed me [His Mother's] ascend to heaven, the happiness and solemnity with which she was received, and the place where she is...The glory my spirit experienced in seeing so much glory was magnificent. The effects of this favour were great. (St Teresa of Avila, 'Collected Works' 1:353)

Among his favourite feasts, besides those of the Blessed Trinity and Corpus Christ, were the feasts of the Blessed Virgin. In his prison cell, on the Vigil of the Assumption, after nine months of severe privation, he was asked what he was thinking of. He replied, “I was thinking that tomorrow is the feast of our Lady and that it would give me great joy to say Mass”. The sight of an image of the Mother of God brought love and brightness to his soul. (St John of the Cross, The Collected Works, A Portrait of the Saint) 

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Feast of St Benedicta of the Cross, Discalced Carmelite and Martyr, Patroness of Europe - click for Vatican link

 St Benedicta of the Cross on her Carmelite vocation: 'I need Carmel . . . with its perfection and way of perfection, Carmel with its purity, its apostolate, its martyrdom; Carmel with its special love for the sacred humanity of our Lord and its veneration of the Blessed Virgin without being restricted to one of her states or mysteries.' After Edith Stein, Collected Works. 

To read The History of Carmel - from the notes made by Edith Stein, please follow links below:
Part 1
Part 2



Photo of the entrance to Auschwitz camp where St Benedicta of the Cross was martyred. The sign above the entrance reads: 'Work makes free"

 

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St Albert of Trapani, memoria, click to read more

St Albert of Trapani

Albert degli Abbatti was born at Trapani, Sicily, in the 13th century, and entered the Carmelite Order as a youth. He became renowned as a fervent preacher of the Gospel and a worker of miracles. He was provincial of Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.

 Lord God, you made Saint Albert of Trapani a model of purity and prayer, and a devoted servant of Our Lady. May we practice these same virtues and so be worthy always to share the banquet of your grace. Grant this through our Lord. Concluding prayer of the Morning prayer, text after Discalced Carmelite Proper Offices.

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Transfiguration

Raphael, Transfiguration

    One cannot advance in faith without closing one’s eyes to everything pertaining to the senses and to clear, particular knowledge. Though St Peter was truly certain of his vision of Christ glory in the transfiguration, yet after relating the fact in his second canonical epistle (2 Pt 1:16-18) he did not want anyone to take this as the chief testimony for certitude. But leading them on to faith he declared: We have a more certain testimony than this vision of Tabor: the saying and words of the prophets bearing testimony to Christ which you must make good use of, as a candle shining in a dark place (2 Pt 1:19)

    Reflecting on this comparison, we discover the doctrine we are teaching here. Telling us to behold the faith spoken of by prophets as we would a candle shining in a dark place, he asserts that we should live in darkness, with our eyes closed to all other lights, and that in this darkness faith alone – which is dark also -  should be the light we use. If we want to employ these other bright lights of distinct knowledge, we cease to make use of faith, the dark light, and we cease to be enlightened in the dark place mentioned by St Peter. This place (the intellect – the holder on which the candle of faith is placed) must remain in darkness until the day, in the next life, when the clear vision of God dawns upon the soul; and in this life, until the daybreak of transformation in and union with God, the goal of a person’s journey.  (St John of the Cross, Ascend of Mt Carmel Book 2 ch 16)

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St John Baptist Marie Vianney, Cure of Ars, memoria

                   The body of Saint John Mary Vianney, entombed above the main altar in Ars Basilica, France

St John Mary Baptist Vianney was born on 8 May 1786 in Dardilly and baptised on the same day. His parents, Matthieu Vianney and Marie Beluze, had six children, of whom John was the third. The Vianneys were traditional Catholics who helped the poor and gave hospitality to those in need. By 1790, the French Revolution forced many loyal priests to hide from the government in order to carry out the sacraments in their parish. The Vianneys continued attending Mass, even though it was illegal. In order to attend Mass, the Vianneys travelled to distant farms where they would pray in secret. In 1802, the Catholic Church was re-established in France, resulting in religious peace throughout the country. By this time, St John Vianney was concerned about his future vocation and longed for an education. He was 20 when his father allowed him to leave the farm to be taught at Father Balley's "presbytery-school" in the neighbouring village of Ecully. The school taught arithmetic, history, geography, and Latin. He struggled, especially with Latin, since his past education had been interrupted by the French Revolution. If it wasn't for Vianney's deepest desire to be a priest - and Father Balley's patience - he would have given up his struggle to continue. In autumn of 1813, he was sent to major seminary at Lyons. At the end of his first term he left to be privately tutored by Fr Balley. He received minor orders and the subdiaconate on 2 July 1814, was ordained deacon in June 1815, and was ordained priest on 12 August 1815. He said his first Mass the next day, and was appointed assistant to Fr Balley. Shortly after the death of Father Balley, Jean-Marie Vianney was appointed pastor of the parish of Ars, a town of 230. As the pastor of Ars, Vianney realized that the Revolution's aftermath resulted in religious ignorance, due to many years of the destruction of the Catholic Church in France. At the time, Sundays in rural areas were spent in the fields working, or spent dancing and drinking in taverns. Vianney was astonished, especially since Sundays were meant to be reserved for religion. He resolved, for a time being, to commit his pastoral care to resolve the matter and he succeded. Soon he came to be known internationally, and people from distant places began traveling to consult him as early as 1827. By 1855, the number of pilgrims had reached twenty thousand a year. During the last ten years of his life, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day in the confessional. Even the bishop forbade him to attend the annual retreats of the diocesan clergy because of the souls awaiting him yonder". He spent at least 11 or 12 hours a day in the confessional during winter, and up to 16 in the summer. St John Vianney had a great devotion to St. Philomena. He looked at her as his guardian and erected a chapel and shrine in honour of the saint. During May 1843, he fell so ill he thought that his life was coming to its end. He asked St Philomena to cure him and promised to say 100 Masses at her shrine. Twelve days later, he was cured and attributed his healing to her intercession. St John yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran away from Ars, the last time in 1853. He died on 4 August 1859 at age 73. Biographers recorded miracles performed throughout his life, obtaining money for his charities and food for his orphans; he also had supernatural knowledge of the past and future, and could heal the sick, especially children. On 3 October 1874 Pope Pius IX proclaimed him Venerable; on 8 January 1905, Pope Pius X declared him Blessed and proposed him as a model to the parochial clergy; in 1925 Pope Pius XI canonized him, and assigned 8 August as his feast day. This feast was inserted in the General Roman Calendar in 1928 with the rank of Double. He was made patron saint of parish priests in 1929. The rank was changed to that of third-class feast in 1960, and it is thus celebrated in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. In the ordinary form Vianney is commemorated by a memorial on 4 August. In 1959, Pope John XXIII issued Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia, an encyclical on Vianney. In honour of the 150th anniversary of Vianney's death, Pope Benedict XVI declared a year for priests, running from the feast of the Sacred Heart between 2009 and 2010. St John Vianney became internationally notable for his priestly and pastoral work in the parish of Ars because of the radical spiritual transformation of the community and its surroundings. Catholics attribute this to his saintly life, mortifications offered to God for the conversion of his flock and persevering ministry in the sacrament of confession. St John Vianney pray for us, that merciful God will grant us many holy priests for the glory of His Church.

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