Being Free

The genius of these saints never fails to amaze me. Even when they are younger than 21 years old, they are already #aware that one can focus one's #energy, at will. Today, it is termed as, 'achieving one's goal'. But for St Therese, it is simply to ensure that Christ, her Beloved, is contented.

"When I am preparing for Holy Communion, I picture my soul as a piece of land and I beg the Blessed Virgin to remove from it any rubbish that would prevent it from being #free; then I ask her to set up a huge tent worthy of heaven, adorning it with her own jewelry; finally, I invite all the angels and saints to come and conduct a magnificent #concert there. It seems to me that when Jesus descends into my Heart he is content to find Himself so well received and I too, am content."

(Story of the Soul, Manuscript A, Chapter 8)
#communion #carmelite #spirituality

Christmas Refrain by St John of the Cross

The Virgin, weighed

with the Word of God,

comes down the road:

if only you'll shelter her.

We pass Year after Year and #Christmas after Christmas, knowing that the essence of the season, is to accept Christ into our hearts.

But like the poem 'Cloud of Carmel' (in my first post) states :

'and the Divine Indweller sets His throne

deep in a cloud in me .....'

O wonder of wonder, the creator of the heavens and stars, the one who made this earth, our habitat, has chosen to 

' ..... set His throne

deep in a cloud in me, His sanctuary'

Even when no human eye can behold this

'.....house of a Presence ....

and frightened acre of a Deity ...'

Softly, we murmur

'O hut of God, deepen your faith anew.'

#contemplative #carmelite #spirituality #carmel #faith

Loving Our Weakness

It is always easier to bring to mind our strengths, than our weaknesses. We can certainly live with our strengths, but as for our weakness, we have a tendency to brush them aside, although unconsciously.

What a sweet joy it is to think that God …. takes into account our weakness, that he is perfectly aware of our fragile nature. [Story of a Soul ; Chapter 8]

St Therese knows that God is aware of the frailty and weakness of the human condition, and inspires us to embrace and 'love our littleness'. So that we can embrace and love the littleness of our neighbours, eventually.

Ah! …. what pleases Him is that He sees me loving my littleness and …. the hope that I have in His mercy …….. That is my only treasure [Letters of St Therese, LT 197]

And at the same time, cultivate that child-like dependance on God, for every aspect of our daily needs.

I am no longer disturbed at being a little soul, on the contrary, I take delight in this ….. The remembrance of my faults humbles me, draws me never to depend on my own strength which is only weakness, but this remembrance speaks to me of mercy & love even more. When we cast our faults with entire filial confidence into the devouring fire of love, how would these not be consumed beyond return? [Letters of St Therese , LT 224, 247]

#contemplative #carmelite #spirituality #mercy #love #st therese #little flower #therese of lisieux #therese

Gift of Being Unique

In one of her lectures, Edith Stein states that :

Education is not an external possession of learning but rather the gestalt which the human personality assumes under the influence of manifold external forces.

In other words, she implies, the process of formation of the individual / ourselves. And we are being integrated constantly, as our body draws from the physical world and the psyche from the intellectual environment; which is the world of people and from the values which nourish it.

“Just as an inner form resides in the seed of plants, an invisible force making a fir tree shoot up here and a beech there, there is in this way an inner mold set in human beings which urges the evolution into a certain direction and works towards a certain gestalt in blind singleness of purpose,” creating an intrinsically, unique individual.

We stand in awe beholding this mysterious process of Creation, in everyone of us.

#education #pedagogy #contemplative #carmelite #spirituality

Knowing ThySelf

The soul collects its  faculties together and enters within itself to be with its God. (Chapter 28 'The Way of Perfection')

We all have a body that is visible and a Soul that is Invisible. Just as we tend to the needs of our body, we also have to see to the needs of our souls. 

A good way of doing so is to 'recollect our outward senses' and begin the journey inwards. ….. Detaching from our anxieties and concerns ...

And in that process comes into 'a gradual increase of self-control and an end to vain wandering .....; it means conquering, which is a making use of one's senses for the sake of the inner life.' (Chapter 29 'The Way of Perfection')

#self control #self #soul #saint teresa of avila #saint teresa #carmelite #spirituality

Way of Love

" 'Love works so in me
that whether things go well or badly
love turns them to one sweetness
transforming the soul in ITSELF. '
(from the Poetry of St John of the Cross)

How sweet is the way of love, dear Mother. True one can fall or commit infidelities, but, knowing how to draw profit from everything, love quickly consumes everything that can be displeasing to Jesus; it leaves nothing but a humble and profound peace in the depths of the heart. "

Upon reflecting, it is indeed a humble gesture to place one's will in the hands of another, and an act of love to sacrifice one's own desire. Slowly but surly, one will go about uniting one's will to that of the Heavenly Father, in this journey of love.

#st therese of lisieux #st therese #therese #carmelite #spirituality #way #love

Love of the Divine Heart

Today on our National Day, is also the Feast Day of

St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

(also known as Edith Stein)

She described herself as mercurially lively and precocious, as a kid, in her autobiography 'Life in a Jewish Family'. One of her teachers, described her to be, many steps ahead of her peers, in her studies.

Eventually, she became a prominent figure in society, and in one her lectures, complied in the book entitled 'Women', said :

God's love is an overflowing love which wants nothing for itself but bestows itself freely; mercifully, it bends down to everyone who is in need, healing the sick and awakening the dead to life, protecting, cherishing, nourishing, teaching, and forming; it is a love which sorrows with the sorrowful and rejoices with the joyful; it serves each human being to attain the end destined for it by the Father. In one word, it is the love of the divine Heart.

Empowered by this Divine Love, everyone can discover her own unique gift, for the good of others.

#contemplative #carmelite #spirituality #divine love #divine #love