JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!
Fr. Doug gave his most recent homily to our OCDS community when we met this past Saturday, January 21st, the Feast of St. Agnes. St. Therese was admiring St. Agnes while on pilgrammage in Rome. She thought to herself how she would like to have some sort of momento. At that moment one small tile fell from the shrine, and she was able to take it with her.
Regarding contemplation, most people stay in contemplation. We are not in chage and we can't control this other than to prepare for it. It is a gift and reward for humility which your work should produce. We must cultivate this. One must aim to be humble. St. Therese de Lisieux asked Mother Gonzaga near her death whether or not she was humble. Mother Gonzaga affirned that in fact she was. St. Therese had embraced her littleness and remained small. She defined humility as truth.
How do we prepare for contemplation?
Study it or you won't understand it when you get it. St. John of the Cross speaks of this extensively. One must know its earmarks extensively. What do you do after this? You must be open to it.
1st: Confess your pride. This is what holds us back. We are the ones who hold God away from us. We are saturated with pride and must deal with it. One must humble oneself by getting rid of all that's not of God. Go to 'nada' that St. John of the Cross recommends. Nothingness and stripping onself of all that is not of Him. One must be real to practice contemplative prayer. If you cannot fast or are not reasonable in your aescetical practices you are not being real with yourself and with God. A different approach or possibility to becoming humble and being real is to recite the Jesus prayer. "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." (See http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/ignaty_jesus.aspx)
2nd: Thanksgiving: After recognzing one's sinfulness and seeking God in humility, one should praise and thank him for all the gifts he has given you. You have not created your life. All that you have comes from Our Lord. By recognizing this, it places you in humility.
Now you're ready for silence and to be present to Him in prayer.
One can ponder the humility of St. Juan Deigo when Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to him. After the bishop dismissed him and did not want to believe the occurance of seeing Our Lady, Juan Diego was lamenting to Our lady that she should find someone else who was of more noble birth, better educated, and generally more important. The Nican Mopohua describes him as a 'macehualli' or "poor Indian", one who did not belong to any of the social categories of the Empire, as priests, warriors, merchants,...but not a slave; a member of the lowest and largest class in the Aztec Empire. When talking to Our Lady he calls himself "a nobody", and refers to it as the source of his lack of credibility before the Bishop. I am a nobody, I am a small rope, a tiny ladder, the tail end, a leaf") The Virgin Mary called him "Juanito, Juan Dieguito" , "the most humble of my sons", "my son the least", "my little dear". (see http://www.sancta.org/juandiego.html) She told him that she had others, but she wanted him because of his humility. She also wanted the conversion of 9 million natives and needed someone they could relate to be the carrier of her message and miracle. This was all about her leading these souls to her and bringing them to her Son, Jesus.
The lesson: Humble yourself and then God can invest.
