The Presence of God

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD

 

“Let us commit ourselves entirely to Him, and banish everything else from our hearts and minds. He wants to be alone there, so we should ask him for this grace. If we do what we can, we will soon see the change we hope for in ourselves.”  

Dear Ones-

Many of us were together for the Day of Recollection last weekend where we learned different methods of meditation and practiced them.  One workshop focused on the Practice of the Presence of God. An overall thumbnail sketch of this method of praying without ceasing, and keeping Our Lord constantly present in one's heart was explored. The basics of this quest for realizing the perpetual presence of God in our hearts is based on 2 principles as outlined below:

1. Abandonment to God’s Will: (AAA)   

a. Abandon oneself to God in faith, hope, and love

b. Act in child-like trust & dependence

c. Accept our life circumstances and being in harmony with all of God’s creation:

2. Loving Mindfulness of God

a. Doing little things as they arise for love of God (The Little Way)

b. Cast out all that does not pertain to God (The way of Nada”)

c. Making an oratory of our hearts (The indwelling)

We know that remaining in the presence of God can be difficult amidst life's distractions. The question arises, how can we achieve this? One strategy used by Br. Lawrence can be summed up in the acronym CARMEL. Each letter stands for an important component of staying on God's presence and replacing our self-dialogue with constant communion with Him. 

CARMEL

Confess 

Admit sins

Renounce all else

Meditate on & Murmur arrow prayers prayers to God continuously throughout the day

Eventual contemplative prayer will be achieved

Love & Union with God will become perpetual – a divine union

Our Carmelite saints have a strong tradition of pondering the Lord in their hearts "day and night" in loving imitation of Our Lady.  I shared some of the ways in which this beautiful practice has uniquely manifested itself in so many of our Carmelite saints. This chart starts with our Blessed Mother on the bottom along with Elijah as our Carmelite foundation, and flows upward with the firm and prayerful example of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross who reformed the order.  It is to illustrate the dialectic nature of this type of prayer, and how we are to use the basics as outlined by Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, but accept and know that God also determines the individualized means by which to teach us to dwell perpetually with Him within the sanctuary of our hearts. 

Carmelite Foundational History of the Practice of the Presence of God

St. Edith Stein: Practice of Presence through uniting suffering to that of Crucified Christ in radical trust. “It is easier to have oneself nailed to the cross with Christ, than to become a stammering babe with him.”

Bl. Candida of the Eucharist: Practicing the presence through Eucharistic Adoration and then becoming a living host, or one who was united to Jesus in the Eucharist perpetually in all daily activities of prayer, recreation, and work.

St. Therese of Child Jesus: Little Way of love and child-like abandonment. "Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word, always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” May you be confident, knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity: Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity thru words of St. Paul & life of BVM who drew Trinity within herself. Wrote, “May the God who is all love be your unchanging dwelling place, your cell, & your cloister in the midst of the world. Remember that He dwells in the deepest center of your soul as if in a sanctuary where He wants always to be loved to the point of adoration.” She sought to “identify my soul with every movement of your soul.” Her mission: “In heaven, I believe my mission will be that of drawing souls into int. recollection, helping them go out of themselves, to cling to God through a movement which is wholly simple & wholly loving; and to preserve them in that great silence of the ‘within’, which allows God to imprint Himself on them & to transform them into Himself.

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection: Practicing the Presence of God based on 2 pillars: Abandonment of self-will to God & loving mindfulness. To accomplish this we must cooperate, persist, and persevere in faithfulness. “Let us commit ourselves to him, and banish everything else from our hearts and minds. He wants to be alone there, so we should ask him for this grace. If we do what we can, we will soon see the change we hope for in ourselves.”  AND “We must never tire of doing little things for the love of God who considers not the magnitude of the work, but the love. In the beginning, we must not be surprised if we often fail, in the end, once the habit is formed, we will be able to act without thinking about it and with great delight.” AND “I know that to do this your heart must be empty of all other things b/c God desires to possess it exclusively, and he cannot possess us exclusively without first emptying it of everything other than himself.”

St. Teresa of Avila: Stressed humanity of Christ. Focus on Him in discursive meditation/mental prayer, which leads to prayer of quiet/recollection and eventually union. Saw prayer as ‘being on terms of friendship with God frequently conversing in secret with him who, we know, loves us.’ (Life 8:5) Describes presence of God within while representing Christ within herself. “We need no wings to go in search of Him, but only have to look upon Him within us.”

St. John of the Cross: Practice through ‘nada’ path. Remove all things that are not God in order to be united with God. Die to world and self. Die to all sensory and spiritual goods in order to realize union. “My soul is now divested, detached, alone & withdrawn from all created things, both from above and..below; & it has entered so deeply into interior recollection with you that none of them can discern the intimate delight I now possess in You.. Since my soul stays so far from them and abides in such profound delight with you

BVM: “pondered all things in her heart.” Drew the Holy Trinity to herself at the Incarnation. Fruit of her womb: Emmanuel: God is with us

Elijah: the prophetical tradition of Carmel and is an inspiration to live in the presence of God, seeking Him in solitude and silence with zeal for God’s glory. (OCDS Const. I:5)

One of our members took this beautiful picture in the Sanctuary of the Church that revealed the presence of Our Lord.  

He is everywhere, and most especially in the Eucharist. This is the pinnacle of our faith and our starting point. We nurture his Eucharistic presence in our hearts, whether we receive Our Lord daily or each Sunday. Enjoy this inspirational video that speaks so beautifully of this reality. From the strength He imparts within, we ask the Holy Spirit to create a perpetual dwelling place for Him to reside. Amen.

Fr. Doug Lorig's Homily on The Carmelite Way

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

Dear Ones-

I hope that you enjoy this special homily Fr. Doug gave on 'The Carmelite Way'  that we are all  embracing, and which he spoke about as we joined together to celebrate promises and vows within our community last month. Enjoy another beautiful teaching from our beloved spiritual assistant!

The Carmelite Order & Our Recent Popes

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On this Good Shepherd Sunday, I thought you might enjoy a recap of the love and unified prayer that our order has shared with Our Holy Fathers as well as our priests.  This providential picture of our three most recent popes together below is truly a gem! 



Here is the letter that our OCD Father General sent to Pope Francis last month following his election.

Letter from Fr General to Pope Francis

P. SAVERIO CANNISTRÀ-Roma-Italy (14-03-2013).- Holy Father,Our family of Discalced Carmelite friars, nuns, and seculars bids you the warmest welcome. With the simplicity our fathers and mothers in Carmel have handed down to us, we open the doors of our hearts to you. Count on us, Your Holiness; on us, your sons and daughters in Christ Jesus. Our Holy Mother Teresa taught us to live the gift of faith in a communion of love with the Church, in the spirit of obedience to the Vicar of Christ, placing our lives at the service of the Kingdom. This we have done with your predecessors and this we will do with you. Keeping in our hearts a profound gratitude towards your predecessor, Benedict XVI, whose life has helped us so much to set our eyes on Christ, we have lived with trusting serenity, expectant prayer, and elated joy the election of a new Pope. Every day we told the Lord: “Show us who you have elected to guide the barque of Peter in this time of grace.” Now that we have seen you, we welcome in Your Holiness he whom God has sent to us. Our heartfelt thanks for having said yes. We imagine it was not easy to do, faced with the arduous tasks awaiting you. But we have seen in your countenance the true humility of he who offers himself as an instrument of the Lord, who allows Him to work through his words, his decisions, his actions. In Your Holiness we have once again recognized the work of the Spirit, his renewing strength, which contains continual surprises for his faithful, and for that we give thanks to God.   Holy Father, we want to tell you with a bit of daring that we want to be your friends. We want our family of Carmel to be like a new Bethany for Your Holiness, where you can rest from your labors and where, together, we can talk about what we most love: our Friend Jesus Christ, his Church, the poorest of our times. The name you have chosen encourages us to do so: the name of who, following the footprints of Christ, has always wanted to be the smallest among his brothers. We will be missionaries with you when you undertake the journey to announce the Gospel to the whole world. We will join Your Holiness when you proclaim with courage and strength the peace and justice of the Kingdom of God. When the cross appears, you will have us beside you to embrace it with you. And we will also be at your side when you retire in prayer to speak to the Heart of Jesus. We place your pontificate under the protection of Mary, who for us is the “Flower of Carmel, fruitful Vine, Splendor of Heaven, Virgin Mother, Mother most tender, Star of the Sea.”   May God bless you!   Your sons and daughters of the Discalced Carmel. Source: http://www.carmelitaniscalzi.com Just recently Pope Benedict took time out of his busy travelling schedule to visit with OCD sisters in Lebanon:

Pope Benedict visits Carmelites at Harrisa Lebanon

Pope Benedict XVI with Carmelites in Lebanon Harissa - Lebanon (16-09-2012).- Pope Benedict XVI visited the Lebanese Discalced Carmelite Monastery of the Theotokos and of Unity. The Holy Father wished to greet the community of Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Harissa before concluding his apostolic trip to Lebanon, which took place September 14 through 16. During the brief, 10-minute visit, the Pope gave his apostolic blessing to this contemplative community and encouraged it to continue its service to the Church and to society. Pope Benedict also chose an OCD priest to lead the Lenten Spiritual Exercises just two years ago.  See  LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI  TO Fr. FRANÇOIS-MARIE LETHEL, O.C.D., PREACHER OF THE LENTEN SPIRITUAL EXERCISES See http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2011/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20110319_lethel_en.html

St.Patrick's Devotion to Elijah

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

I bow before the Father who made me

I bow before the Son who saved me

I bow before the Spirit who guides me

In love and adoration

I give my lips

I give my heart

I give my mind

I give my strength

I bow and adore Thee

Sacred Three

The Ever One

The Trinity 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I thought I would share some of the Carmelite connections that exist between Ireland and the Carmelite order, as well as St. Patrick himself!  According to the book written by Fr. James P. Rushe (1903) in the historical account Carmel in Ireland: a narrative of the Irish province of Teresian, or Discalced Carmelites: 1625-1896... the Carmelite order is highly intertwined with the history of Christianity in Ireland. In his first chapter, Fr. Rushe shared the following:

"Carmel in Ireland is a book about the foundations of Carmel after the Rule was established and the order had to leave the Holy Land. It also chronicles the fact that St. Patrick’s precursor, St. Palladius was in fact a Carmelite of the Ancient observance.  He came form St. Anne’s Monastery near Jerusalem and living with the Carnelite Monks. He had been some years at St. Anne’s, advancing rapidly in the way of Perfection, when he felt himself inspired to labor for the salvation of souls: this zeal was the fruit of his precious life of prayer. Submitting the matter to the holy Religious, Palladius was advised to consult with the Sovereign Pontiff himself, and abide by his decision. St. Celestine received the Monk’s proposal with warm approbation; and after some time, consecrated him bishop, and sent him, together with the other Carmelites from St. Anne’s, to preach the Gospel in the Western Isles.  They reached Ireland about the year 431, having endured many hardships in their long and perilous journey. The Irish people readily understood the object of the strangers visit as they had already heard of the Christian religion. Many conversations were made and even a few churches were built. But soon the Pagan priests became jealous of St. Palladius and his companions and finally succeeded in having him driven from Ireland. However, a number of his disciples still remained here, although they had to hide themselves from the persecution raised against them by the powerful Druids. St. Palladius, with some others, found a refuge among Christians of Scotland and there he died around 432 AD.

Under the direction of the fugitive Carmelite monks, the practice of asceticism was inaugurated among the faithful or Ireland using the method observed by Carmelites in the East. In the Life of St. Patrick, before his coming to evangelize the Irish nation, there were Christians who had already arrived at an eminent degree of sanctity. He himself had a particular devotion to Elijah. In His Confessions allusion is made to one occasion specifically when he had recourse to St. Elijah who at once came to his Assistance and consoled him after he had been most violently assaulted by Satan." (See http://books.google.com/books?id=WC_KbSuqjfIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Another book entitled "The History of the Scottish Nation" chapter 16  by James A. Wylie , gives an account of St. Patrick's encounter with the religion of the Druids. The occasion was the annual Festival of Tara, also known as Baal's Fire. "And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word" (1Kings 18:21).  (See http://books.google.com/books?id=-10JAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)

As mentioned above, St. Patrick had a great devotion to Elijah and recounts in his Confessions a dream where he calls on the great prophet for protection.  He calls it the Stone Dream. It happened like this: Samael [Son of the Blind] came to Saint Patrick at night after the sailors had dined on the pigs. “He fell right over me, like a huge rock, so that none of my limbs had any strength left in them ” Saint Patrick called for the Prophet Elijah to save him. ..“And suddenly, the splendor of that sun flooded over me, and at once I was rid of my powerlessness.” (20, 37, C)

St. Patrick remains a figure in that is remembered by many secular and religious people alike, as well as the Irish and non-Irish. He is seemingly a saint for all people, perhaps due to the larger than life legends and stories that are associated with the conversion of Ireland. If one looks more closely, one sees that the soil of Ireland was made fertile by the first Carmelite missionaries who arrived there with St. Palladius, and that the conversion was dramatically realized through the warrior prayers, zeal, and perseverance of St. Patrick who in many ways emulated our dear Elijah. We are called to carry that missionary zeal with us wherever we go, that we may imitate the holiness and humility of St. Palladius and St. Patrick as we cooperate with God's gifts and touch others' lives and hearts.   

Before we go out each day, let us ask God to place this zeal for His Glory upon our hearts and minds, our lips, and eyes as St. Patrick did on his breastplate. Let us be sure to dedicate the day and all that it holds for us to Him.

I weave a silence on my lips

I weave a silence into my mind

I weave a silence within my heart

I close my ears to distractions

I close my eyes to attractions

I close my heart to temptations

Calm me Lord, as you stilled the storm

Still me O Lord, keep me from harm

Let all the tumult within me cease

Enfold me Lord in your peace. Amen.

Lenten Meditations with Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

As we journey along and complete this first full week of Lent, I thought I'd provide a few beautiful thoughts and quotes from Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity, who was able to always hold the Crucified Chiet, Her Beloved, in her heart. She expressed these thoughts frequently to her family and friends whom she wrote letters to. 

To her dear friend, Germaine: A Carmelite, my darling, is a soul who has gazed on the Crucified, who has seen Him offering Himself to His Father as a Victim for souls and, recollecting herself in this great vision of the charity of Christ, has understood the passionate love of His soul, and has wanted to give herself as He did! ... And on the mountain of Carmel, in silence, in solitude, in prayer that never ends, for it continues through everything, the Carmelite already lives as if in Heaven: "by God alone." The same One who will one day be her beatitude and will fully satisfy her in glory is already giving Himself to her. He never leaves her, He dwells within her soul; more than that, the two of them are but one. So she hungers for silence that she may always listen, penetrate ever deeper into His infinite Being. She is identified with Him whom she loves, she finds Him everywhere, she sees Him shining through all things! Is this not Heaven on earth! You carry this Heaven within your soul, my little Germaine, you can be a Carmelite already, for Jesus recognizes the Carmelite from within, by her soul. Don't ever leave Him, do everything beneath His divine gaze, and remain wholly joyful in His peace and love, making those around you happy!

In one of her poems she expressed her union with Christ on the Road to Calvary in poignant terms:

The Carmelite is a given soul,
One immolated for the glory of God.
With her Christ she is crucified;
But how luminous her calvary!
While gazing on the divine Victim,
A light blazed forth in her soul
And, understanding her sublime mission,
Her wounded heart exclaimed, '"Here I am!"

The Carmelite is an adoring soul,
Wholly surrendered to the action of God
Intently communing through all things,
Her heart uplifted and her eyes full of heaven!
She has found the One Thing Necessary,
The divine Being, Light, and Love.
Enfloding the world in her prayer,
She is an apostle of truth. (June 29, 1902)

During her Last Retreat (Day 13), Elizabeth writes in her spiritual journal as follows:

The soul that wants to serve God day and night must be resolved to share fully in its Master's passion. It is one of the redeemed who in its turn must redeem other souls. 'I suffer in my body what us lacking in the passion of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the Church." She walks the way of Calvary at the right of her crucified, annihilated, humiliuated King as HE goes to His passion "to make the glory of His grace blaze forth." He wants to associated His bride in His work of redemption and this sorrowful way which she follows seems like the path of Beatitude to her, not only because it leads there but also because her holy Master makes ger realize that she must go beyond the bitterness in suffering to find in it, as He did, her rest. 

Bl. Elizabeth's offerings to Christ were indeed heroic and might even seem overwhelming or nearly impossible for us to pursue and achieve. BUT we can start with the little things in our lives this Lent. By giving up little comforts and preferences, and suffering little insults, setbacks, contradictions, and our own wills  we begin to be shaped and molded more and more into the humble servant that Elizabeth speaks of and became. Indeed her interior way of practicing the constant presence of the Trinity meets with St. Therese's Little Way to teach us that each moment gives us an opportunity to love and to offer our joys and sufferings to God. If we simplify and break down our days into continual present moments waiting to unfold, we can more easily walk our own path of sanctification via the Cross, and give our own daily fiat moment by moment.  

Divine Communion- Unitive Participation in the Trinity

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

Enjoy listening to this beautiful homily on our call to Divine Cummunion with the Three.

Meditation on the Passion during Lent

JMJT! Praise be Jesus Christ! Now and Forever!

Today, we begin our first full week of Lent. If we have been undecided on our Lenten observances and resolutions, now is the time to focus in and make some decisions on how we wish to come closer to God through our sacrifices/fasting, acts of mercy, alms giving, and prayer.

In order to experience the Resurrection of Christ in some forty days, we must toil in the garden of our souls and be willing to detach and lay aside the many attachments that we still cling to. Christ showed us how to do this when he went out to the desert to pray to His Father, and prepare for his public ministry. He faced the many temptations of the devil during this time, but His eyes remained fixed and His spirit steadfast in doing the Will of His Father.

Like the time given to Christ, this time is given to us as a gift. It is a time of digging deep within to purge that which blocks us from Our Lord, and keep us from our ultimate purpose- to enjoy union with God here on earth. To overcome our sinful natures, we must not only give up ice cream or tv, but we must replace it with something meaningful. This always starts with prayer.  God does not need our chocolate or our holy 'projects', but instead He desires our hearts. He wants to free us from the chains that bind us in order to show us something better, and to share something intimate within Him beyond this world.  When we endeavor to give something up during Lent, which is important and necessary, we must link it to Our Beloved Jesus who gave up His very life for us.  We must go deeper in our contemplative journey and seek nothing less than His Sacred Heart and His Holy Face. We must ponder that we are dust, and to dust we must return. We must be able to see clearly in the eyes of our soul, what Jesus' Passion and Death involved, and how it ransomed us from eternal death.  This goes beyond what we profess to believe in the recitation of the Creed every Sunday, to an event etched upon our hearts and in our minds. It must be real and not on paper.  

After her own conversion when she encountered the statue of the wounded Christ, St. Teresa of Avila insisted on the importance of meditating on the humanity of Christ, most especially His Passion and death. ‘Fix your eyes on the Crucified’….”  St. John of the Cross underscored the importance of following Christ Crucified as we ascend Mount Carmel. In his doctrine of nada or nothingness, we must become more and more naked and simple in clinging to God in pure faith.  His maxim tells us, "He will be unable to reach perfection who does not strive to be content with having nothing, in such fashion that his natural and spiritual desire is satisfied with emptiness; for this is necessary in order to reach the highest tranquillity and peace of spirit. Hence the love of God in the pure and simple soul is almost continually in act."

His Maxims of Love go on to tell us these gems of wisdom as we begin Lent:

8. Crucified inwardly and outwardly with Christ, you will live in this life with fullness and satisfaction of soul, and possess your soul in patience." 

13. Let Christ crucified be enough for you, and with Him suffer and take your rest, and hence annihilate yourself in all inward and outward things.

16. Bear fortitude in your heart against all things that move you to that which is not God, and be a friend of the passion of Christ.

17. Be interiorly detached from all things that move you to that which is not God, and be a friend of the passion of Christ.

Let us ask for the grace of perseverance that we can run the race so as to win it. Let us humble ourselves and look closely at the Passion of Christ and how we have contributed to it. Then let us move forward in His grace and allow Him to more fully enter our hearts and to transform them in a process of death and resurrection this Lenten season, so that at the end of these forty days we can confidently say, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20)

Let us pray with St. Therese, as she prays in her poem To Live for Love:

To live of love, ’tis not to fix one’s tent

On Tabor’s height and there with Thee remain.

‘Tis to climb Calvary with strength nigh spent,

And count Thy heavy cross our truest gain.

In heaven, my life a life of joy shall be,

The heavy cross shall then be gone for aye.

Here upon earth, in suffering with Thee,

Love! let me stay. (See http://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/poemstherese.pdf)