The Parable of the Cloistered Heart

 

Over the past few months, several of the Mass readings have been on Jesus' parables.  Nancy has her own parable - the Parable of the Cloistered Heart  ♥

February 1, 1993

            Thank You, Jesus, for this month of my birth.  For I was born to Love You.  February is a month in which love is spoken of and celebrated, and in this month 47 years ago I was born to love You.  May those who sing and speak of love this month find You, the Great Lover.

            Father Walter Bunofsky wrote me last week that all - single, married, or religious - "really must be passionately in love with God."  I could only sing out "yes!" from the happy choir stall of my heart!  "That is part of the significance," he says, "of pink (of the "Pink Sisters") habits."  And I think of all the times I have "seen" myself dancing with Jesus, in a flowing gown of pink.

            Today, however, I am His little bride in brown.  For our consecration to the will of God last week, J.P. made us little triangles of brown material.  These are like little "hoods" or "veils" - symbols of the "habits of humility" we are called to wear.  We spoke of how we, as humans, really grasp things more concretely when there are symbols provided.

            The cloistered heart life is a life of symbols.  Humans have always used symbols.  Jesus spoke in parables to teach so much of His Truth.  Mustard seeds, pearls of great price, shepherds and lost sheep, prodigal sons.  I believe Jesus speaks in parables still.  For we can grasp only a small bit of the magnificence of His Truth, and so He gives us parables, symbols, even yet.

            Moons reflecting the sun.  Hidden cloisters.  Grillwork through which we see all things in His light.  I live within a parable; my vocation is a parable.  Yet, vocations to consecrated life ARE that; so much of their life is that.  And mine is a consecrated vocation.  Not a "religious" vocation in the strict sense of the word, for my vocation is secular.  But a vocation, indeed, to the consecrated life.  Consecrated to the will of God, I am called to be.

            And so, I think one day there will be a "book" of the "cloistered heart" way of life (I just thought of that, although I have of course thought of it before), and this book will be the story of someone called, someone spending her life finding her vocation.  It will be the story of a search.  It will be truth, and some of that truth will be a great parable, a parable Jesus is yet unfolding...

            Then Jesus told them this parable.  "There was a certain woman.  She came to live in a cloister, consecrating her life as a monastery and accepting the Father's grace to make hers a holy life lived entirely for Him.  The woman accepted enclosure in the will of God and thus became a cloistered heart.  Others, seeing her joy, asked her: 'show us the way into this cloister.'  And she said to them, 'consecrate yourself fully to the will of God.  Accept His will as your enclosure, ask to see all things through His will as through a grillwork.  Surrender yourself totally to God, for surrender is the only doorway into this cloister.  Set up a choir stall in your heart from which you may daily sing God's praises.  Clothe yourself in the habit of humility.  Love the will of God as your Bridegroom, take Jesus Christ as your Lord, live within and love the boundaries of God's will as these are revealed to you in Scripture and church teaching, and you shall become a cloistered heart.'''

            Jesus went on to say to them, "I tell you this woman has found a true enclosure." 

            "She is" (He may go on to say) "truly My little bride in brown.  She sings praise to Me from the choir stall I have built within her heart.

            "Her brown is the color of earth, and one day the little bride's body shall be hidden in earth of this color.  But her spirit shall then be My bride in white, dancing with Me in the Kingdom of the Father, hidden from the prying eyes of the world.

           "Today she is my bride in brown, hidden in the things of earth.  She shall call forth brides in brown to follow Me into the fullness of My Father's Will.  And they shall be a light throughout the earth - if they stay hidden in their habits of humility and surrender to My will.

            "Hide yourselves in Me," He seems to say, "and I shall raise you up for MY glory alone.  Veil yourselves in My habit of humility and you shall be seen then only as cloistered hearts, only as My little Army of brides in brown." 

            Today I love brown.  It is truly the color of my habit.  It is earth, in which I walk in a hidden cloister.  It is the color of humility, the color of hiding.  It is a color in which I don't even look all that great (!), and so I love more than ever to be clothed in it.  

 © Nancy Shuman 
         All rights reserved

Her First Visitation

 

Michiel Coxie "Annunciation"

As we know, it's almost the Feast of Pentecost, when we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the disciples.

As we also know, Pentecost was not the first time our Blessed Mother received a Visitation from God.

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; hence, the holy Offspring to be born will be called Son of God."  (Luke 1:35)

Immediately upon saying these words to Mary, the angel added:  "Know that Elizabeth your kinswoman has conceived a son in her old age.."  (Luke 1:36)  Mary then went in haste to Elizabeth, an event we will be celebrating on May 31st. 

I tend to think of these things (the Annunciation, the Visitation, Pentecost) together, because I like to meditate upon their connections. 

After all, there would have been no Pentecost if there had been no Incarnation.  

There would have been no visitation of Mary to Elizabeth if there had been no Annunciation. 

Without God's Visitation to Mary and her total yes to Him, we would have had no Savior, no Cross, no Resurrection, no gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, no Church. 

I pray that we will be graced to open our hearts more fully to the Holy Spirit. I pray that we will seek His Visitation upon our souls, that we will visit Him in praise and adoration, that we will carry Him tenderly to those around us. 

As we prepare for the glorious Feast of Pentecost, may we be open to His love, His holiness, His cleansing, and His grace. 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be My witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth."  (Acts 1:8)

This is an edited repost from the archives of May 25, 2012.      

This Habit

The Voice of the Heart

And They Believed

 

'Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb.  They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first.  He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter, following him, also came up, went into the tomb, saw the linen cloths lying on the ground and also the cloth that had been over His head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in.  He saw and he believed.'  (John 20:3-8)

Have a Blessed Easter!

Painting:  Eugene Burnand, John and Peter

*Repost from April 4, 2015 by Nancy Shuman.