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Monday, June 10, 2013
Time to Reeelaxx...
Let's talk.
As always, you may return to the Cloistered Heart blog by clicking on this line.
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Finding artwork for our "cloister garden" today, I decided it's time for a bona fide "summer page" here in the Parlor.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about you, but I'm ready for a cup of cold lemonade. You too?
Yesterday I spent some time looking through the links for the two first monastic days and remembering how eagerly I waited for each new post when you were writing them. I also noticed that you started the series on August 26, my birthday. What a wonderful "birthday present" for me those days were, as you shared with us things you'd reflected on and researched long and deeply. Thank you. I am still practicing lectio divina after that third day. The monastic days, with their excitement, led me into this gentle form of mental prayer.
ReplyDeleteI'm still smiling a little as I remember just *how* exciting it was for me to follow the stages of those three "days." Thank you again, Nancy, and God bless you. Monika.
Monika, I was sure I'd replied to this, and now can't find that response... so here it is (..or here it is again?).
DeleteNow I'm the one smiling, because I'm so glad to hear all that you said. Thank you!! I enjoyed doing the "days" myself, and am happy you were along to share them! God bless you too!
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteTea and lemonade outside? That would be so lovely!
Just popping by to read a few posts. The links in the side-bar about Cloistered Heart basics are so useful. I wonder if I should do something similar on my homeschooling blog. Not the same sort of basics, of course! But... The Basics of Unschooling. That's an idea!
God bless you!
Thank you, Sue. I like your idea of the Basics of Unschooling... remember when I told you I'd thought that was 'just' another term for Homeschooling? (of COURSE you remember... I said it just last week..). As a grandmother of homeschooled children, I'd love to look at the basics of this approach to education.
DeleteAnd for you, my friend currently in winter, there is hot tea here if you prefer.
God bless you too!
Loved your post on the habit. I've always been drawn to nuns wearing their habits, and feel that it makes them more approachable. There's just something so comforting in the swish of those long black skirts, you know?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bridget. I like that you mentioned a habit making a nun seem more approachable, because that's how I feel also. We recognize immediately what (Whom)they stand for, as soon as we see them!
DeleteI am glad that you still included tea in your welcoming because besides water that is almost all I ever drink! Once again your painting induces relaxation and calms my soul. Well done friend, well done
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melanie!
DeleteHi, everyone!
ReplyDeleteAnyone having trouble getting comments to show up here?
I had an e-mail last night from someone who's had trouble posting comments on this site. She is a blogger, so is accustomed to how commenting "works." I have no idea why there has been a problem.
Has anyone else had trouble? You can let me know by e-mail at thecloisteredheart (at sign) gmail (dot)com. And you know why I typed that out in such a way, of course.
Thanks - and I do hope this is not a problem for anyone else!
Reading the quote about Christ wanting our hearts without reserve strikes a chord in me. One of my favorite quotes from St. Claude de la Columbierre to St. Margaret Mary is this: " The jealousy of your Bridegroom reaches out to all who may inspire any feeling of friendship or tenderness...Is there a friendship more praiseworthy, more apparently holy than the friendship you might have for a director showing you the path to heaven? However, if you have too much of an attachment to that director, if you desire his conversation, however holy, with too much eagerness, if you are not ready to leave him at the first command-that would be enough to grieve this Chaste Bridegroom. And what is more, He will sometimes be jealous of the very persons he orders you to love." Jesus wants our all!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne, for sharing this striking quote. It is definitely one worth pondering, and praying with. Yes, Jesus wants our all!
Delete"Jesus Christ is the true friend of our hearts, and they are made for Him alone. They cannot find rest, joy, or satisfaction except in Him."
ReplyDeletenow this was a wow word of wisdom-
when we relax, breath deeply- there He is, all along, in our deepest core self, our soul/spirit but HE LONGS to surge up and fill our hearts to over flowing as well
Yes! Thank you, Melanie.
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI just read you post from this past Friday, "In the Inner Cloister of Her Heart"... It absolutely struck me.
Specifically, "We absorb more and more of His Spirit until - in the midst of crowds or secluded in our cells - we are alone with our Master and inseparable Guide. Jesus Christ is very nigh to the soul that seeks and loves Him, and she speaks to Him in the inner cloister of her heart."
I don't know when that was written, but it is so relevant. All we must do is open our heart to Him, and He will dwell with us. Our Lord is such a gentleman...
Sister Veronica, OSF
Thank you, Sister. This was published in 1931. The book was written by a writer known only by the name "A Religious," and she (or he) wrote several little volumes, most published by Pellegrini and Co. Ltd. in Australia. I was given one entitled The Living Pyx of Jesus, which an Australian friend rescued from the trash when some people were throwing it out because they declared it "irrelevant" for today. It is out of print and very hard to find, but another (American) friend tracked down a number of titles by this same author online and bought them all! She is generously loaning me those, one or two at a time.
DeleteThank you again for sharing your beautiful words!
Indeed, it is a precious thing. Thank you, Colleen.
ReplyDeleteI recently stumbled upon Paul of the Cross and I find his writings so mystical yet can be practiced by anyone. I love his writings on the interior life and would love to read more of him some day {when time allows}. I LOVE the quotes you shared...LOVED! I will be back to read them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Theresa! I am hoping to delve more deeply into his writings also as soon as I can.
Deleteyour chosen quotes from St. Paul of the Cross could change my life because they centre on the gentleness of God, the security andd peace found when we give Him control in our hearts- just reading them makes me relax and smile
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, Melanie!
DeleteAgain I Begin...a very fruitful post. I myself, just a few days ago, ran across a journal I had from 2005. It was when I had only the three kids, and they were all so, so little (three and under). What was the one thing that kept cropping up? The poor use of my time (distractions, too much internet browsing, etc), and my lack of dedication to my vocation, along with my lack of time in prayer. What is the problem today? The very same things. Recently in Adoration, the Scripture "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His Righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you". I couldn't get it out of my head, then later I was reading a book by Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, and she talks about "the kingdom of God is within you". It was a call to come back to prayer...to see Him first. And now this post you've so beautifully written. How hard it is to just sit.still.and.be.silent.
ReplyDeleteI decided - just tonight - that for me DISTRACTION IN PRAYER is kind of a "thorn in the flesh." This actually makes me feel a bit better about it. Still, I would love to be able to NOT be distracted. But, said St. Paul, the Lord's grace is made perfect in weakness.....
DeleteThanks, Jen!
Distractions! Golly, they seem to be everywhere, and I am so attentive to them that the smallest voice of one is enough to derail my best intentions.
ReplyDeleteBeing attentive to God is what I want most of all, and yet I find it a constant struggle to do it. I'm so grateful for the encouragement and tools I find here at the Cloistered Heart!
You said it, Tess. "the smallest voice of one is enough to derail my best intentions." That is my experience, absolutely.
DeleteIt is a grace for me, too, to find encouragement as we share this here.
you are suppose to fail in perfection because He wants us to throw overselves at His feet in utter desparation again and again and again. He is God. He is perfect and we are not. We always must be reminded that when we are weak, we are strong, that He is our all, with out mercy and grace we are done for
ReplyDeleteYes, without His mercy and grace we are done for. For sure! Thanks, Melanie.
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteJust stopping to say hello, and let you know I snuck into the parlor for a few moments of refreshment. Thank you!
God bless!
How good to have you here today, Sue! God bless you too!
DeleteLove the piece on this most humble servant, Br. Lawrence. His simplicity is profound!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link back, btw. And I love the pic. Will have to *pin* that one : )
Thanks, Teresa. I love what you wrote about Brother Lawrence.. I love that whole post of yours in general.
DeleteI, too, like that painting of a "monk frying chicken." That's the total description of it on Wikimedia Commons, except that, thankfully, it's old enough to be in public domain. The artist isn't even named, which is why I didn't put a credit. (I mean: it's pretty obvious that it's a "monk frying chicken!"). It seemed "Brother Lawrence-ish" to me. I love when I pray for just the "right" painting to go with a post and something like this just pops up unexpectedly (I've looked for lots of paintings of monks and this was the first time I'd come across this one).
Nancy...What a smile you brought to me with remembering Brother Lawrence and Practicing the Presence ...I kept that book through all the years I wandered away from the church and found it again not to long after I came back. I had underlined many things in it, but saw each one with new eyes as a Catholic. My benedictine mentor said that is one book to always keep close to my nightstand.
ReplyDeleteAnd now I have your sweet picture to think of as well.
Blessings always +
Thank you, Caroline. Brother Lawrence is a longtime favorite of my own as well.
DeleteBlessings to you too!
Love those two pictures together Nancy..Beautiful ..+
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, and thanks be to God! I was so happy when I found, last year, how these went together, and I like re-visiting them.
DeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI just love that painting of the shepherdess. I'm going to have to find out more about the artist. So true about using honey to catch flies. We were talking about this only a couple of days ago. I think St Francis de Sales would have been such a delightful person to talk to.
God bless!
Oh, I feel quite sure St. Francis de Sales would be wonderful to have a conversation with.. wouldn't that be amazing? And the painter (Winslow Homer, if I recall correctly) has done some other things I really like. Windswept palm tress by the sea....lovely.
Delete