A Look Inside the Walls

We who are genuinely interested in monastic life will be (not 'may be,' but 'will be') interested in the following link.  It provides such a good look at the day to day life inside a monastery that I intend to print out a copy for my own future reference.

Can I live this kind of life in the midst of the world?  No.  Not in its externals.  Nor should I try to.  To make such an attempt would only frustrate me and inhibit my growth in holiness within the call I have been given by God.   

Can I live the spirit of this life?  I think so.  In its 'internals.'

I can, for instance, intend all my actions for God, ask His grace, offer them to Him and accept in advance all the good and pain that will come.  'My God, grant me the grace to perform this action with you and through love of you. I offer you in advance all the good that I may do and accept all the pain and trouble that I may meet therein as coming from your fatherly hand.'  

Like those inside physical cloisters, I can begin every action by embracing Jesus. Through Him, in Him, for Him, with Him.

I hope you will be as inspired as I am by this link....

A Day With the Directory
http://www.toledovisitation.org/a-day-with-the-directory/

Painting:  Carl Gustav Carus


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Have I Opened the Door?

'Prayer is the door to favors as great as those He granted me.  If this door is closed, I don't know how He will grant them.

'For even though He may desire to enter and take delight in a soul and favor it, there is no way of His doing this, for He wants it alone and clean and desirous of receiving His graces.

'If we place stumbling blocks in His path and don't do a thing to remove them, how will He be able to come to us?  And we desire God to grant us great favors!'

St. Teresa of  Avila














Painting:  Alfred Stevens, Hesitation (detail) 

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From the Rooftops

                     'This is no time to be ashamed of the Gospel.
                     It is the time to preach it from the rooftops.
                     Do not be afraid to break out of comfortable and routine
                     modes of living in order to take up the challenge
                     of making Christ known in the modern metropolis.'

                     St. John Paul II

                       Painting:  Vincent van Gogh, Rooftops; in US public domain due to age



 

A Shower of Mercy

 'Saints' image credit 

'Who can say that he is free from sin and does not need God’s mercy? As people of this restless time of ours, wavering between the emptiness of self-exaltation and the humiliation of despair, we have a greater need than ever for a regenerating experience of mercy.' (Pope John Paul II, Regina Caeli message; April 10, 1994)

'Prayer is the raising of the mind to God.  We must remember this.  The actual words matter less.'  (Pope John XXIII)

'I considered this message (of Divine Mercy) my special task. Providence has assigned it to me in the present situation of man, the Church, and the world.' (Pope John Paul II; November 22, 1981) 

              May Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II pray for us! 
          
 






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At Home Everywhere

'As we carry Him within our hearts,
we shall be at home everywhere. 
Daily we can increase our intimacy
with the Divine Guest of our soul
by perfect indifference
as to place, people,
employments and all the rest.
Then, as Saint Paul says,
we shall be conquerors
even in this world,
for to conquer is to
grow in union with Our Lord;
a union that consists not in feeling,
but in perfect conformity
to His adorable Will.' 

(from Fervorinos From Galilee's Hills, compiled by a Religious, Pelligrini, Australia, 1936, pp. 83-84)

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Jesus, Here is my Heart

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  (Jesus to St. Faustina)

Imagine throwing Jesus Christ, my Lord and King and Savior, out of my heart!  Imagine Him living within me, and my suddenly saying one day: "I don't want You here, there's no room for You in my life anymore... here's the door."

Such a horrible thought.  It's tough for me to even write the words.   Yet, people push Jesus out of their hearts every minute.  Maybe not with full consciousness of what they're doing (although that does happen, of course).  But every time one of us makes a decision to ignore God's serious commands in favor of our own, Christ is being shown the door.  

How great is the mercy of Our Lord, for He persists, He comes back, He knocks and knocks again. 

"Here I stand, knocking at the door.  If anyone hears Me calling and opens the door, I will enter his house and have supper with Him, and he with Me.”  (Revelation 3:20)

In spite of His amazing persistence, there are some who never open (or re-open) the door.  It is a tragic, sobering thought. 

Is there anything I can do about this? 

I can pray intensely for those in whose hearts He is longing to dwell.  

I can share His love and mercy with those around me.

And, knowing He is unwelcome in the hearts of many, I can offer Him a place of loving refuge in my own.  

"I want to repose in your heart, because many souls have thrown Me out of their hearts today."  

Lord Jesus, here is my heart.  In it, may You find a refuge of love and praise.

Painting: Carl Bloch, Christ and Child, detail

This is a slightly edited version of a post from our archives.  Coming across it again today, I was again pierced by Our Lord's words to Sister Faustina.  As we approach the great feast of Divine Mercy, I pray that many hearts will welcome the One Who is Mercy and Love.  

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This post is linked to Catholic Bloggers Network Linkup Blitz 

Cloistered In the Midst

                                 'In the midst of all the occupations of each day,
                                 see to it that you do not become too absorbed in material things.
                                 Keep a tight grasp of Christ's hand.
                                 do not panic, but look to Christ.'

                                            St. Francis de Sales

                                            Painting:  George Bellows, New York 1911

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He Saw, and He 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 holy Easter.   

Painting:  St Peter and St John Run to the Sepulchre, James Tissot

Pierced for our Transgressions

Painting:  The Strike of the Lance, James Tissot

It is Time to Defend Your King

'O Christians, it is time to defend your King
and to accompany Him in such great solitude.'

St. Teresa of Avila

Painting:  James Tissot, My Soul is Sorrowful Unto Death

During this Holy Week

Lord Jesus Christ,

during this Holy Week, 

keep my heart and mind

set firmly on You.

It is Time

'Rise now, 
O handmaid of the Lord, 
and go in the procession 
of the daughters of Zion 
to see your true king.... 
Accompany the Lord 
of heaven and earth, 
sitting on the back of the colt, 
follow Him with 
olive branches and palms, 
with works of piety 
and triumphant virtues.'

St. Bonaventure 















Painting:   William Adolphe Bouguereau, The Palm Leaf

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Cherished

'What is 'ecclesiastical legislation' regarding papal enclosure?  It is precisely the arms of the Church cherishing her contemplatives.  And thus, if an enclosed nun is encouraged to rebel at 'strictures,' she will let her smiling silence itself best explain that she is not incarcerated but cherished.  For her, 'legislation' pertains to the realization that the arms of the Church are around her.  And she rejoices, as any normal woman rejoices, to be held in loving arms.  She has penetrated beneath the level of 'legislation' as restrictive or prohibitive to the understanding of how love, of its nature, seeks to safeguard the beloved.  Thus her understanding of ecclesiastical legislation on her cloistered life is expressed in the cry of the psalmist:  'how I love Your law, O Lord!' (Psalm 119).' (Mother Mary Francis PCC, 'The King's Rooms,' copyright Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  This booklet may be ordered by clicking this link)   

The will of God is the safest, most secure place in which a person can dwell.  In order to live within this place of refuge, however, we must accept Our Lord's invitation to embrace its boundaries.  The primary perimeters of God's will are not hard to find.  They are revealed in Scripture and outlined clearly in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.   

Because God loves us, He has set these boundaries in place for our security, and He has generously revealed them to us.  
 
We are cherished.

Painting:  William Adolphe Bouguereau, The Proposal, 1872


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Stop Reading This Post

Anyone who has visited this site a few times probably knows the importance we place on 'the grille.'  The grille represents for us the will of God, through which we are called to view and respond to every person and every circumstance of life. 

With this in mind, I invite you to stop reading this post, and to head with me to the one linked just below.  It is another view of physical grillwork, and it's a wonderful prayer.

So what are we still doing here?  Let's click this line to go have a look at  The Gaze Beyond the Lattice Work. 

If we appreciate grillwork, I think there's no doubt that we will appreciate this.  


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A Cloister Revisited

Because we continue to welcome new visitors here (welcome! welcome!), it seems good to have an occasional re-cap of the basics of Cloistered Heart analogy.  Besides, I need a refresher now and then.   You too?

The Cloistered Heart we speak of is basically an analogy in which our lives can be seen as 'monasteries.'   After all, what is a monastery if not a place where God is loved and lived for and served? 

We can be in the world but not of the world.  This is not a new or different idea; rather, it is an emphasizing, a kind of 'underlining,' of every Christian's call.  The uniqueness of this emphasis is in its monastic imagery. 

The word 'cloister' speaks of total consecration.  Those who enter a traditional physical cloister make a tangible break from the world.  Compromise does not fit well in a cloister, nor does lukewarmness, nor does complacency.  The cloistered life is absolute. 

Christians living in the midst of the world are also called to live for God.  For us, however, the break is not so clean.  The world is persistent in its tugs on the heart trying to live as God wills.  This is where the idea of having a cloistered heart can be of help. 

Our cloister is not made of bricks and stones, but of God's holy will in which we can choose to live.  This is not a 'will' we make up for ourselves, but one whose boundaries have already been set in place for us.  Its primary perimeters are not hard to find.  They are revealed in Scripture and clearly outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Because God loves us, He has set these boundaries in place for our security, and He has generously revealed them to us.  

In the analogy of the Cloistered Heart, God's will forms for us a 'cloister grille,' through which we may view and respond to all people and all circumstances around us. 

There is much more to this basic analogy, and you are invited to have a look at it.  Click individual titles along the top of this screen for more information about various subjects. 

Thank you for joining in this adventure, for the glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord!

'The heart is the dwelling place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place ‘to which I withdraw.’  The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully.  The heart is the place of decision..'  (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2563) 

'You are the temple of the living God.' (2 Corinthians 6:16)

Text not in quotes © 2013 Nancy Shuman.  All Rights Reserved.  Unauthorized use of this material without permission from blog owner is strictly prohibited.  thecloisteredheart.org   

Painting: Pocock Pond at Merton Abbey  

Photo:  copyright N Shuman 

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In Their Monotony

               'The most commonplace actions, the most ordinary events of daily life -
               such as taking food, attending to our business or work,
               fulfilling our social duties,
               taking rest or recreation;
               all those actions that occur every day and literally weave,
               in their monotony and successive routine,
               the thread of our entire life,
               can be transformed by grace and love
               into actions very pleasing to God and rich in merit.'

               Abbot Marmion

                    Painting:  Edmund Tarbell, Girl Mending, 1910

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