A Different Shade of Light

In our current city life, that is always aglow with fluorescent and neon light, everywhere we turn. When was the last time we lift our heads above, to behold the night skies, dimly lighting the remaining hours of the day, as we prepare for the day's rest? The passage of the moon throughout the night, and the light that it cast on this earth?

In his captivity, St John of the Cross, would have been very familiar with this natural light, that falls on the pages of his prayer book ... which leads him to pen the Poem 'The Dark Night' or 'Noche Oscura'

One Dark Night,
fired with love's urgent longings
- ah, the sheer grace!-
I went out unseen,
my house being all stilled.

And in Spanish, his native language

En una noche oscura,
con ansias, en amores inflamada,
oh dichosa ventura
sali sin ser notada
estando ya mi casa sosegada

[First Stanza of his Poem, 'The Dark Night' or 'Noche Oscura' taken from page 50, of 'The Collected Works of Saint John of the Cross', Revised Edition]

And when the light in our lives becomes less bright, let us bear in mind that the stars shine brighter, in the deepest darkness of the night, if we have the eyes of faith, to remain hopeful.

#Contemplative #Carmelite # Spirituality #Prayer #Advent #Light #Detachment #Life #God

Abyss of Poverty

In celebration of the canonization of Elizabeth of the Trinity, in this 'Year of Mercy', we are reminded of this wisdom :


'I "remain" very little "in the depths of my poverty." I see "my nothingness, my misery, my weakness; I perceive that I am incapable of progress, of perseverance; I see the multitude of my shortcomings, my defects; I appear in my indigence." "I fall down in my misery, confessing my distress, and I display it before the mercy" of my Master. "Quotidie morior." "I die daily." I decrease, I renounce self more each day so that Christ may increase in me.
[Heaven in Faith, Third Day, Second Prayer]


Here is the web-link to view the Canonization Mass :

http://www.catholictv.org/shows/papal-programming/canonization-mass-seven-new-saints

#YearofMercy #Contemplative #Carmelite # Spirituality #Prayer #Humility #Life #God

Heart of Grateful Love

We may spend the day, not giving a thought to our Creator God, the one who sustains our breath and gives us life.

But hopefully, some like, St Teresa of Avila, realizes in their humility that :-

'God so guards me against offending Him that I am certainly sometimes amazed. For I think I see the great care He takes of me, without my doing hardly anything. I was a sea of sins and iniquities before receiving these favors, and it seemed I was not master of myself in such a way that I could avoid them.' 
[Spiritual Testimonies, Chapter 3, Number 12]

#YearofMercy #Contemplative #Carmelite # Spirituality #Prayer #Humility #Life #God

A Heart That Rocks

Reflecting on Life, after her First Communion, St Therese writes, 'I know that without Him, I could have fallen ....... He forgave me in advance by preventing me from falling.'

'Here is an example which will express my thoughts at least a little. Suppose a clever physician's child meets with a stone in his path which causes him to fall and break a limb. His father comes to him immediately, picks him up lovingly, takes care of this hurt, using all the resources of his profession for this. His child, completely cured, shows his gratitude. This child is no doubt right in loving his father! But I am going to make another comparison. The father, knowing there is a stone in his child's way, hastens ahead of him and removes it but without anyone's seeing him do it. Certainly, this child, the object of his father's tender foresight, but UNAWARE of the misfortune from which he was delivered by him, will not thank him and will love him less than if he has been cured by him. But if he should come to learn the danger from which he escaped, will he not love his father more? Well, I am this child, the object of the foreseeing of a Father who has not sent His Word to save the just, but sinners. He wants me to love Him because he has forgiven me not much but ALL. He has not expected me to love Him much, but He has willed that I KNOW how He loved me with a love of unspeakable foresight in order that now I may love Him unto folly!' [Story of a Soul :- Chapter IV - First Communion, Boarding School]

#YearofMercy #ThereseofLisieux #LittleFlower #Spirituality #Carmelite #Mercy #Forgiveness #HolyCommunion

Being a Woman

As I journey in life and take note of the range of emotions in myself and others around me, I chanced upon this message from one woman to another :

'The strength of woman lies in the emotional life. This is in accord with her attitude toward personal being itself. For the soul perceives its own being in the stirrings of the emotions. Through the emotions, it comes to know what it is and how it is; it also grasps through them the relationship of another being to itself, and then, consequently, the significance of the inherent value of exterior things, of unfamiliar people and impersonal things. The emotions, the essential organ for comprehension of the existent in its totality and in its peculiarity, occupy the center of her being.' [The Collected Works of Edith Stein Volume II : Woman]

#woman #spirituality #carmelite #soul #being #emotions #pedology

Singing the Salve

Saint Teresa wrote in her 'Spiritual Testimonies' of the vision she had of Our Lady, at the chior of the Incarnation.

" ....... at the beginning of the Salve Regina, I saw the Mother of God descend with a great multitude of angels ..............  She remained for the whole of the Salve, and she told me: You were indeed right in placing me here; I shall be present in the praises they give my Son, and I shall offer these praises to Him."

[Spiritual Testimonies of St Teresa of Avila; 21 ]