Nancy...magnificent painting, and quote by St. Bernard. Thank you for sharing. I love St.Bernard. I'm amazed at how so many Saints can fit more into a year than it seems I will in my entire lifetime. They were tireless for the Lord. God bless!
I found my way to the parlor after my problem the other day! It is so lovely to discover we are outside! I guess you are enjoying the last of your summer weather.
I don't know if "enjoying" is the precise word, since it has gotten hotter this week :)! But I do dislike saying so long to long hours of summer daylight.
Thanks for being here for "whatever happens next" (???!???)
Nancy, I love the picture in your Enlighten the dark Corners post. The prayer too is one I need to pray more often. My dark corners get a little cobwebby without my even realizing it. God's grace is such a great "duster" :)
Thank you, Karin. I was stuck by that picture also when I found it (looking for something to go with the prayer). I love thinking of God's grace as a duster!
Love those words of St Augustine ~ 'But You led me out at last from that blindness.' And we are all blessed because he was, and now teaches us.. how we may be too. +
I took Prie Dieu out of view for the day, as we were/are having MAJOR Internet connection problems (anyone care to say a prayer for that?!?) and it started right when I put some new things on PD last night. That apparently was not the problem, but until I could get to it I just "hid" it. I was away from the computer all day today by necessity and could not check anything at all. Service people are hopefully coming in a few days.
Now I will go see if I can get to the blogs (I could get to this one - yay!), and if so, I'll put Prie Dieu back up and running as soon as I can. It was an act of desperation by someone who knows not one thing about computers!
Nancy, Honestly, I can't believe how much it ministers to me to come here and receive a word in print and picture. On this exact point 'The dwelling of God is very different in different souls' I was struggling this week..needing to know He abides and is content in how He made me. Blessings +
Thank you, Tess and Caroline, for saying exactly what I needed to hear to get working on what I feel drawn to post next. I've been struggling, myself, with some sort of strange combination of anxiety and laziness with a touch of "perceived uselessness" sprinkled in (this is true confession time). But here you are, bringing just what I needed. Thanks be to God!
Nancy...I can get either of those books you have been posting from from our ILL at the library. Which would you recommend for me to read first...the *Indwelling Presence* or the *Divine Outcast*?
Thanks...beautiful reflection you posted and I need something to feed my soul.
You CAN?!?!! As you probably know, this writer's books are out of print and hard to find and are staggeringly expensive if they can be located used (we're talking as high as $300). The only one I actually have, myself, is "The Living Pyx of Jesus," which was sent to me by an Australian friend a number of years ago. She retrieved it from the TRASH when (I'm sorry to say) a group of Religious were throwing it out, along with other older Catholic items. She was so taken with the book that she sent it to me - now THAT is true generosity!! Really - that's just how it happened. She thought it was wonderful... but so "cloistered heart" that I needed to have it.
Sometime within the last 2 years, a friend here in the US learned that this same author had written other works, and she discovered used copies of some at a shockingly reasonable price. So she bought all of them, and has been kindly loaning them to me one or two at a time.
And NONE of this has answered your question!! :) The books, all of which are small volumes, are similar in tone and direction. Having had most on loan, I tend to forget what "thought" came from which. However, I do know that in recent weeks I've sorely missed having "The Indwelling Presence" around to dip back into. I liked that one quite a lot. "Sheltering the Divine Outcast" is a very slim volume, if that matters to you ("In Love with the Divine Outcast" is longer).
My post length comment (sorry!) has now made me decide to go back through the blog and install a label on each post that has a quote from this author. I had thought that would be confusing, since he/she wrote under the name "A Religious." But maybe I'll just tag them AReligious. That way we can all go back and find the quotes.
So - I should be busy over the next few days!! Busy, and very very inspired.
Thanks, Theresa, for wading through the world's longest comment!
Actually, your question helped me write down and process my own thoughts, because I'd just thought yesterday that I should really tag posts with these quotes. For myself! What I posted last night is a quote I couldn't remember if I'd posted before. So I need the labels. Thank you!
You just made me think and check my school library, and I can at least get "Sheltering the Divine Outcast" through library loans. Thanks for pointing that out!
I'm so glad that you are going to tag posts with quotes from A Religious! I was *just* thinking how I wished such a tag existed. Thank you for doing this and for making these valuable thoughts from this obscure, anonymous writer available to us. God bless you.
You talk about being drawn to write about something different to what you planned. Do you ever have times when you don't feel drawn to write anything? Do you write or post something anyway? I have times when I feel so excited about something I need to write it all down. And then just as quickly I feel flat and uninspired. I've stopped trying to think of a topic to write a post about in the dry times. Instead I just wait for that next burst of inspiration. It usually arrives! Keeping up with frequent posts can be stressful. You do so well posting so often. Do you ever have moments of doubt and fed-up-ness like me? Sorry about that made up word!
It's always a pleasure to slip into the parlor. God bless!
Sue, I just wrote a LONG reply to this and then hit something on the computer and LOST it. AAAK!
Oh yes, MANY times I don’t feel like writing anything. It seems to swing back and forth… spells of writing-dryness, spells of writing energy, and sometimes what must be true writer’s block. Because the Cloistered Heart has such a specific theme, everything there must in some way fit into that.
Since I genuinely try to live as a cloistered heart, however, and because I’ve done this for so many years now, anything could ‘fit,' and actually that’s the direction I’m sort of leaning toward for this “season.” Sort of like “journaling.” Even though my first writings on this subject were exactly that – journaling – it hasn’t felt like a “natural” thing for the blog. Yet. It may or may not go in that direction. We’ll see…. stay tuned!
The Breadbox Letters blog was started at the same time as CH so I WOULD have a place to just “write,” about anything. Which I have done at times. At other times – and now most of the time – I use (as you know) quotes and artwork. That has happened because I just absolutely LOVE to pair quotes and paintings! I mean: I LOVE doing that! It’s a relaxation time for me when I can sit back and look for a picture. I always pray about the match-up, and sometimes I tell the Lord I’m a little stuck – and I find it amazing sometimes at what happens!
I pray when actually writing too of course (more than ever!). Often I find it hard to get started writing, and then AS I do so things fall it place and onto the screen.
Thank you so much for your long reply, especially as you had to write it twice! I am so interested in your writing process.
That swing back and forth... When I am inspired I think I will feel like that forever, but my mood can quickly change.
I love the way you match up images and quotes too! My love is writing stories but sometimes this takes a lot of time and energy. I wish I had the knack of writing something memorable in only a few sentences! I once saw a post that went something like this... "I used to watch TV. Now I don't." I am not kidding. That was all there was to the post, but there were over a hundred comments! That made me feel like giving up!
hard to get started... I've also experienced that. The words start to flow if only I make an effort to begin. Sometimes I wonder if I am just too lazy not trying even when I feel flat. Then I reason that there's no crime in not blogging. It's not like I have a quota of posts I have to fulfil!
Kathy, I'm so glad you did, too! Thanks for your very kind comment. And I'll share my Earl Grey with you, as I have plenty of that on hand for myself (it's one of my favorites). Can I interest you in a dish of fruit salad, a bit of chocolate, a scone.....? :)
This is an excessively long comment. So here's part 1 of 2:
Today at Mass, with my head bowed in prayer after receiving the Eucharist, I thought that my veil (hanging down and obscuring my face and hands) was not that unlike a grille.
And although I love and cherish the idea of enclosure (thinking that I'm likely called to be cloistered myself), I do not think that it [i]can[/i] be a running away from the evil in the world if it is true enclosure. Certainly, the cloister is separated from the world and shuts the world and its evil out, at least to a certain extent. But, as Mother M. Francis said (and I can't resist giving the entire quote, I'd even like to quote the whole book, but I can't do that in one comment):
"In your solemn vow of enclosure, your alms-giving is the alms of a soul that is able to fly free because it is unfettered by any need. It is to reach out from the enclosure to move the whole world because you are immersed in Christ. And whereas some think that we are immured behind walls, we know the walls as simply a beautiful expression of our immersion in Christ our Lord. When we are immersed in Christ our Lord in our vow of enclosure, then the soul flies free to minister to all. In your vow of enclosure you give the grace of pilgrimage to the whole world because you have already found the shrine within. Yes, you are pilgrims and strangers, but ones always returning to the shrine within; you know the way. You are [u]in via[/u], you are indeed "on the way," a way you know because you understand where the shrine is located. And so you reach out this alms to the world. You are always turning back to discover the shrine, always traveling back to the eternal stillness of God within. So give your soul, your very essence, by being simply His and having only god as your "apostolate." It is a large field of endeavor." ~ from a conference by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
Okay.... Maybe that wasn't the quote I was after. But it's good, and it relates to enclosure, so I'm leaving it anyway. (And because I love Mother Francis' writing.... <3) Here's the quote I was after:
"There have been remarks for centuries past about people who "dwell in ivory towers." We know what is meant when it is said in the way it is said. Exasperation. Condemnation. A certain contempt. That they are unaware of other persons. I always thought that was a very strange figure of speech. For one thing, one sees very well from a tower, much better than when one is in the midst of a crowd. If you really want to see the needs of everyone, a tower would be a very good place to go for perspective. And then I thought, "Ivory tower?" Well, what could give more joy to the poor who have so little than the sight of an ivory tower? How it would draw them! How it would beguile them. How it would uplift them. How it would make them surge toward it to investigate this beautiful thing. So an ivory palace is a very beautiful place to dwell in, - and that is your enclosure. Out of it must always come music, the music of Jesus. Then one is very pre-eminently doing God's work.
"So always from your life of prayer, from the ivory palace of your enclosure, may God hear music, for from the heart of true prayer comes stringed music to God and to the world. To all the grinding hatreds and frustrations of the world must come the stringed music of our enclosed life of prayer." ~ from a conference by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
And... I can't resist this last one, but I'll try to make it short. And, honestly, it will be the last. Here it is:
"St. Clare did indeed have a missionary heart. That is why she entered the cloister, to be a missionary to all the world. Any daughter of hers who is not a missionary at heart is in danger of hearing hard words from her Seraphic Mother when she meets her after death: "Nescio te!" -- "I know you not!" The enclosed life is the most ancient form of religious life for women, and it will always be the most modern. Pope Innocent IV, in his Bull which serves as preface to our holy Rule, gives the purpose of enclosure in a phrase as pregnant with meaning as it is rich in grace: "You, beloved daughters in Christ, have chosen to live enclosed in body and to serve the Lord in highest poverty [u]so that[/u] with mind unencumbered you may be servants to the Lord."" ~ from A RIGHT TO BE MERRY
So, this is a really long comment (more than post length), and I think my point has changed a little bit over the course of it. I hope you get my drift.... And just three clarifications as a kind of appendix to this book/comment: 1: I'm not meaning to say that this is contrary to what you said at all, just adding it to the mix. But I don't think that I really needed to clarify that anyway. 2: All of the quotes came from the book "Walls Around the World", which has lovely sketches paired with short quotes from Scripture, the Constitutions (I'm not 100% sure whether that's St. Colette or MFM (Mother Francis)'s work), or elsewhere and long quotes from MFM or other Poor Clare writings about enclosure. It's a wonderful book, and although it's online (I could give you a link, the same friend who sent me the book scanned it and put it online) I would highly recommend supporting the PCC's in Roswell and buying it from them if you want it. (And... that was a sales piece.... *blushing*) 3: I tried to use HTML tags here. If they didn't work, [ u ]text[ / u ] is supposed to underline the text (but without the spaces inside of the brackets), and [ i ]text[ / i ] is supposed to make the text in italics (again, no spaces).
Well. That's finally all. If you read this far, congratulations!
Yes, I certainly read this far, for it was all excellent and I THANK YOU for writing it for us! Absolutely we cannot run from evil; we must deal with it and pray for those affected by it, and we are called to be light to the world and speak truth in the face of whatever is "out here." Which is why I'm grateful for the idea of grillwork, not a wall.
And I LOVE Walls Around the World. I am with you 100 per cent in wanting to support the Poor Clares in Roswell.... they are a wonderful, holy community of nuns. The link is http://www.poorclares-roswell.org/ (I don't think it underlines in comments, but this way we can have it). When you get to the page, jsut click on "books." It's a small booklet, very inexpensive, and WELL WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THEY CHARGE FOR IT if one is at all interested in cloistered life either physical or spiritual. I apply it to my own "spiritual cloister" and have for years.... recommended!!!
Ah... your post on the Pearl is perfect. I recently read Anne Morrow Lindbergh's The Gift from the sea (you recommended her to me) and she encourages the same thing: find silence, find stillness. We need it in order to connect with God. What goes on below the surface is much bigger than what we can see happening on the surface. For such a simple-seeming suggestion, it's a difficult thing to do!
Sometimes the simplest things seem the hardest - at least for me.
So you read Gift from the Sea! Friends in Florida once took me to the little Island where Mrs. Lindbergh had written that... I'm pretty sure that was Captiva Island. They took me to a little seashell shop and bought me every shell AML had written about in the book! One or two were not available, so they got the closest types they could.
I came into the parlor knowing what I wanted to say but got distracted by the above comments which are very interesting and helpful!
The third door... have courage and pass through! I know your journalling will help me and others. By following your journal entries in your book, I was able to get a better glimpse of the concept of the cloistered heart than if you had just described it (which you couldn't do!) I'm sure.
You don't know what you will write. Whatever comes to mind I'm sure will be the right thing. I've been thinking about how the Holy Spirit inspires our writings. Some of my stories just flow onto the computer and I wonder where the words come from. Others... I struggle with on my own! I'm sure you will be given the words that God wants you to share. It's not a crime not to blog, but when God wants us to share something in particular maybe we should take courage and do it!
Nancy, I didn't go back and reread your post so I only hope this comment is relevant to what you wrote. Wouldn't it be funny if I missed the whole point of your post and I have written some unrelated nonsense?!
Okay, I won't be mean and tell you that you were really commenting on a post about purple frogs :). Isn't it crazy to have to come all the way over here and then try to remember what you wanted to say?!?!
Since this is an altogether different blog just for comments - which get moderated anyway - I'm thinking about removing captchas, at least for a time, to see how that might go. They drive me rather crazy and I often have to click through several before I can see little tiny numbers and alphabets that came from other planets. I'm SURE they deter humans as well as robots. I won't remove them right away, as I have a busy few days ahead when I won't be able to get TO comments. But hopefully before the weekend, we'll try it with them gone.
No, I don't know what I'll write. Which is not that unusual. What may be unusual is the willingness (and I pray for it!) to just let it flow and try not to worry about making it fit into a "format." Because I've tried to live as a cloistered heart for close to 25 years now, thinking in such terms does come totally naturally to me, so that should at least be a help.
But. You know. GULP.
Thanks for venturing with me through the third door. I may or may not be able to put a word to paper over the next few (busy) days.. but we'll see!
Thank you, Theresa! Today will be anything but quiet around here (it's to be a day with a grandchild - yay) and I won't be able to get to the computer, as my attention will be on boardgames and crafts and reading and dolls :).
But I had the most amazing dream last night. There was a specific cloistered heart question in it, presented to me by a once-famous folk musician as I was visiting (in the dream) his home in Maine!! I woke up in the middle of the night so much into this dream that I tried to slip back into it - and in doing so, forgot much of what had happened (we all probably know how that goes). I wanted to write the dream down then and there, but knew that would thoroughly wake me up and I'd be a dishraggy grandma today.
It was such a vivid dream, even an inspiring one. Maybe I can "go to downeast Maine" again tonight! :)
Thanks for prayer, and yes - I pray for your direction as well, Theresa.
Hi Nancy, So Looking foward to seeing what God places on your Cloistered Heart to help us in this Spiritual Journey of being His little cloistered Heart. Thank You for being so open to His Holy Will : ) Yes its me lol! I finally I'm posting on your blog!! Happy to be here. Blessings, Barb M ��
Barb, I am thoroughly delighted to find you here!!! I am too tired from a wonderful grandchild-day to write a post tonight, and have a busy day ahead tomorrow. But my head is rattling with thoughts, and it will be SO good to have you joining in any discussions that might come along. Hooray!
Oh that panel is magnificent, Nancy. +
ReplyDeleteI felt so blessed to find that, and to be able to share it! Thank you, Caroline.
DeleteNancy, I love The Prie Dieu :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mary. I hope it is a help for prayer for others... God is using it to bring a bit of discipline to my pitiful, scattered prayer!
DeleteNancy...magnificent painting, and quote by St. Bernard. Thank you for sharing. I love St.Bernard. I'm amazed at how so many Saints can fit more into a year than it seems I will in my entire lifetime. They were tireless for the Lord. God bless!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patricia. I have sort of fallen in love with that painting - can hardly stop gazing on it!
Deleteyou are now officially my visual art, quote and commentary mentor
ReplyDeleteGosh, Melanie, I thought you were mine :)! I am always SO struck by the amazing and gorgeous art you find. Thank you!
DeleteThanks so much, Colleen!
ReplyDeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteI found my way to the parlor after my problem the other day! It is so lovely to discover we are outside! I guess you are enjoying the last of your summer weather.
I'm looking forward to the new series!
I don't know if "enjoying" is the precise word, since it has gotten hotter this week :)! But I do dislike saying so long to long hours of summer daylight.
DeleteThanks for being here for "whatever happens next" (???!???)
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI love the picture in your Enlighten the dark Corners post. The prayer too is one I need to pray more often. My dark corners get a little cobwebby without my even realizing it. God's grace is such a great "duster" :)
Thank you, Karin. I was stuck by that picture also when I found it (looking for something to go with the prayer). I love thinking of God's grace as a duster!
DeleteLove those words of St Augustine ~ 'But You led me out at last from that blindness.'
ReplyDeleteAnd we are all blessed because he was, and now teaches us.. how we may be too. +
Nancy, could I have permission to access the Prie Dieu.
ReplyDeleteI took Prie Dieu out of view for the day, as we were/are having MAJOR Internet connection problems (anyone care to say a prayer for that?!?) and it started right when I put some new things on PD last night. That apparently was not the problem, but until I could get to it I just "hid" it. I was away from the computer all day today by necessity and could not check anything at all. Service people are hopefully coming in a few days.
ReplyDeleteNow I will go see if I can get to the blogs (I could get to this one - yay!), and if so, I'll put Prie Dieu back up and running as soon as I can. It was an act of desperation by someone who knows not one thing about computers!
Thank you for your interest :)!
As always, Nancy, being here is respite from the crazy world, and a reminder of what is important.
ReplyDeleteNancy, Honestly, I can't believe how much it ministers to me to come here and receive a word in print and picture. On this exact point 'The dwelling of God is very different in different souls' I was struggling this week..needing to know He abides and is content in how He made me.
ReplyDeleteBlessings +
Thank you, Tess and Caroline, for saying exactly what I needed to hear to get working on what I feel drawn to post next. I've been struggling, myself, with some sort of strange combination of anxiety and laziness with a touch of "perceived uselessness" sprinkled in (this is true confession time). But here you are, bringing just what I needed. Thanks be to God!
ReplyDeleteNancy...I can get either of those books you have been posting from from our ILL at the library. Which would you recommend for me to read first...the *Indwelling Presence* or the *Divine Outcast*?
ReplyDeleteThanks...beautiful reflection you posted and I need something to feed my soul.
You CAN?!?!! As you probably know, this writer's books are out of print and hard to find and are staggeringly expensive if they can be located used (we're talking as high as $300). The only one I actually have, myself, is "The Living Pyx of Jesus," which was sent to me by an Australian friend a number of years ago. She retrieved it from the TRASH when (I'm sorry to say) a group of Religious were throwing it out, along with other older Catholic items. She was so taken with the book that she sent it to me - now THAT is true generosity!! Really - that's just how it happened. She thought it was wonderful... but so "cloistered heart" that I needed to have it.
DeleteSometime within the last 2 years, a friend here in the US learned that this same author had written other works, and she discovered used copies of some at a shockingly reasonable price. So she bought all of them, and has been kindly loaning them to me one or two at a time.
And NONE of this has answered your question!! :) The books, all of which are small volumes, are similar in tone and direction. Having had most on loan, I tend to forget what "thought" came from which. However, I do know that in recent weeks I've sorely missed having "The Indwelling Presence" around to dip back into. I liked that one quite a lot. "Sheltering the Divine Outcast" is a very slim volume, if that matters to you ("In Love with the Divine Outcast" is longer).
My post length comment (sorry!) has now made me decide to go back through the blog and install a label on each post that has a quote from this author. I had thought that would be confusing, since he/she wrote under the name "A Religious." But maybe I'll just tag them AReligious. That way we can all go back and find the quotes.
So - I should be busy over the next few days!! Busy, and very very inspired.
Thanks, Theresa, for wading through the world's longest comment!
Please...no worries : )
DeleteI am leaning towards the *Indwelling Presence* at any rate.
Yes...I guess since I am in a major city, getting books from colleges and seminaries isn't too hard through our library. Very blessed that way.
Actually, your question helped me write down and process my own thoughts, because I'd just thought yesterday that I should really tag posts with these quotes. For myself! What I posted last night is a quote I couldn't remember if I'd posted before. So I need the labels. Thank you!
DeleteYou just made me think and check my school library, and I can at least get "Sheltering the Divine Outcast" through library loans. Thanks for pointing that out!
Deleteso glad that you agreed to repost some of these quotes on Association of Catholic Women's Bloggers
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you are going to tag posts with quotes from A Religious! I was *just* thinking how I wished such a tag existed. Thank you for doing this and for making these valuable thoughts from this obscure, anonymous writer available to us. God bless you.
ReplyDeleteMonika
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteYou talk about being drawn to write about something different to what you planned. Do you ever have times when you don't feel drawn to write anything? Do you write or post something anyway? I have times when I feel so excited about something I need to write it all down. And then just as quickly I feel flat and uninspired. I've stopped trying to think of a topic to write a post about in the dry times. Instead I just wait for that next burst of inspiration. It usually arrives! Keeping up with frequent posts can be stressful. You do so well posting so often. Do you ever have moments of doubt and fed-up-ness like me? Sorry about that made up word!
It's always a pleasure to slip into the parlor. God bless!
Sue, I just wrote a LONG reply to this and then hit something on the computer and LOST it. AAAK!
DeleteOh yes, MANY times I don’t feel like writing anything. It seems to swing back and forth… spells of writing-dryness, spells of writing energy, and sometimes what must be true writer’s block. Because the Cloistered Heart has such a specific theme, everything there must in some way fit into that.
Since I genuinely try to live as a cloistered heart, however, and because I’ve done this for so many years now, anything could ‘fit,' and actually that’s the direction I’m sort of leaning toward for this “season.” Sort of like “journaling.” Even though my first writings on this subject were exactly that – journaling – it hasn’t felt like a “natural” thing for the blog. Yet. It may or may not go in that direction. We’ll see…. stay tuned!
The Breadbox Letters blog was started at the same time as CH so I WOULD have a place to just “write,” about anything. Which I have done at times. At other times – and now most of the time – I use (as you know) quotes and artwork. That has happened because I just absolutely LOVE to pair quotes and paintings! I mean: I LOVE doing that! It’s a relaxation time for me when I can sit back and look for a picture. I always pray about the match-up, and sometimes I tell the Lord I’m a little stuck – and I find it amazing sometimes at what happens!
I pray when actually writing too of course (more than ever!). Often I find it hard to get started writing, and then AS I do so things fall it place and onto the screen.
Thanks for wading through this, Sue!
Nancy,
DeleteThank you so much for your long reply, especially as you had to write it twice! I am so interested in your writing process.
That swing back and forth... When I am inspired I think I will feel like that forever, but my mood can quickly change.
I love the way you match up images and quotes too! My love is writing stories but sometimes this takes a lot of time and energy. I wish I had the knack of writing something memorable in only a few sentences! I once saw a post that went something like this... "I used to watch TV. Now I don't." I am not kidding. That was all there was to the post, but there were over a hundred comments! That made me feel like giving up!
hard to get started... I've also experienced that. The words start to flow if only I make an effort to begin. Sometimes I wonder if I am just too lazy not trying even when I feel flat. Then I reason that there's no crime in not blogging. It's not like I have a quota of posts I have to fulfil!
God bless!
There's no crime in not blogging. Yes!!! I think we can feel a responsibility once we start blogging... or is that just me?
DeleteHi Nancy, I'm so glad I dropped in to your parlour.(I'd like Earl Grey tea, please.)
ReplyDeletePrie-Dieu is very beautiful!
Best wishes,
Kathy.
Kathy, I'm so glad you did, too! Thanks for your very kind comment. And I'll share my Earl Grey with you, as I have plenty of that on hand for myself (it's one of my favorites). Can I interest you in a dish of fruit salad, a bit of chocolate, a scone.....? :)
DeleteThis is an excessively long comment. So here's part 1 of 2:
ReplyDeleteToday at Mass, with my head bowed in prayer after receiving the Eucharist, I thought that my veil (hanging down and obscuring my face and hands) was not that unlike a grille.
And although I love and cherish the idea of enclosure (thinking that I'm likely called to be cloistered myself), I do not think that it [i]can[/i] be a running away from the evil in the world if it is true enclosure. Certainly, the cloister is separated from the world and shuts the world and its evil out, at least to a certain extent. But, as Mother M. Francis said (and I can't resist giving the entire quote, I'd even like to quote the whole book, but I can't do that in one comment):
"In your solemn vow of enclosure, your alms-giving is the alms of a soul that is able to fly free because it is unfettered by any need. It is to reach out from the enclosure to move the whole world because you are immersed in Christ. And whereas some think that we are immured behind walls, we know the walls as simply a beautiful expression of our immersion in Christ our Lord. When we are immersed in Christ our Lord in our vow of enclosure, then the soul flies free to minister to all. In your vow of enclosure you give the grace of pilgrimage to the whole world because you have already found the shrine within. Yes, you are pilgrims and strangers, but ones always returning to the shrine within; you know the way. You are [u]in via[/u], you are indeed "on the way," a way you know because you understand where the shrine is located. And so you reach out this alms to the world. You are always turning back to discover the shrine, always traveling back to the eternal stillness of God within. So give your soul, your very essence, by being simply His and having only god as your "apostolate." It is a large field of endeavor." ~ from a conference by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
And here's part 2 of 2:
ReplyDeleteOkay.... Maybe that wasn't the quote I was after. But it's good, and it relates to enclosure, so I'm leaving it anyway. (And because I love Mother Francis' writing.... <3) Here's the quote I was after:
"There have been remarks for centuries past about people who "dwell in ivory towers." We know what is meant when it is said in the way it is said. Exasperation. Condemnation. A certain contempt. That they are unaware of other persons. I always thought that was a very strange figure of speech. For one thing, one sees very well from a tower, much better than when one is in the midst of a crowd. If you really want to see the needs of everyone, a tower would be a very good place to go for perspective. And then I thought, "Ivory tower?" Well, what could give more joy to the poor who have so little than the sight of an ivory tower? How it would draw them! How it would beguile them. How it would uplift them. How it would make them surge toward it to investigate this beautiful thing. So an ivory palace is a very beautiful place to dwell in, - and that is your enclosure. Out of it must always come music, the music of Jesus. Then one is very pre-eminently doing God's work.
"So always from your life of prayer, from the ivory palace of your enclosure, may God hear music, for from the heart of true prayer comes stringed music to God and to the world. To all the grinding hatreds and frustrations of the world must come the stringed music of our enclosed life of prayer." ~ from a conference by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C.
And... I can't resist this last one, but I'll try to make it short. And, honestly, it will be the last. Here it is:
"St. Clare did indeed have a missionary heart. That is why she entered the cloister, to be a missionary to all the world. Any daughter of hers who is not a missionary at heart is in danger of hearing hard words from her Seraphic Mother when she meets her after death: "Nescio te!" -- "I know you not!" The enclosed life is the most ancient form of religious life for women, and it will always be the most modern. Pope Innocent IV, in his Bull which serves as preface to our holy Rule, gives the purpose of enclosure in a phrase as pregnant with meaning as it is rich in grace: "You, beloved daughters in Christ, have chosen to live enclosed in body and to serve the Lord in highest poverty [u]so that[/u] with mind unencumbered you may be servants to the Lord."" ~ from A RIGHT TO BE MERRY
So, this is a really long comment (more than post length), and I think my point has changed a little bit over the course of it. I hope you get my drift.... And just three clarifications as a kind of appendix to this book/comment:
1: I'm not meaning to say that this is contrary to what you said at all, just adding it to the mix. But I don't think that I really needed to clarify that anyway.
2: All of the quotes came from the book "Walls Around the World", which has lovely sketches paired with short quotes from Scripture, the Constitutions (I'm not 100% sure whether that's St. Colette or MFM (Mother Francis)'s work), or elsewhere and long quotes from MFM or other Poor Clare writings about enclosure. It's a wonderful book, and although it's online (I could give you a link, the same friend who sent me the book scanned it and put it online) I would highly recommend supporting the PCC's in Roswell and buying it from them if you want it. (And... that was a sales piece.... *blushing*)
3: I tried to use HTML tags here. If they didn't work, [ u ]text[ / u ] is supposed to underline the text (but without the spaces inside of the brackets), and [ i ]text[ / i ] is supposed to make the text in italics (again, no spaces).
Well. That's finally all. If you read this far, congratulations!
Yes, I certainly read this far, for it was all excellent and I THANK YOU for writing it for us! Absolutely we cannot run from evil; we must deal with it and pray for those affected by it, and we are called to be light to the world and speak truth in the face of whatever is "out here." Which is why I'm grateful for the idea of grillwork, not a wall.
DeleteAnd I LOVE Walls Around the World. I am with you 100 per cent in wanting to support the Poor Clares in Roswell.... they are a wonderful, holy community of nuns. The link is http://www.poorclares-roswell.org/ (I don't think it underlines in comments, but this way we can have it). When you get to the page, jsut click on "books." It's a small booklet, very inexpensive, and WELL WORTH MUCH MORE THAN THEY CHARGE FOR IT if one is at all interested in cloistered life either physical or spiritual. I apply it to my own "spiritual cloister" and have for years.... recommended!!!
Thanks so much - you've added a lot today!
Ah... your post on the Pearl is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI recently read Anne Morrow Lindbergh's The Gift from the sea (you recommended her to me) and she encourages the same thing: find silence, find stillness. We need it in order to connect with God. What goes on below the surface is much bigger than what we can see happening on the surface.
For such a simple-seeming suggestion, it's a difficult thing to do!
Sometimes the simplest things seem the hardest - at least for me.
DeleteSo you read Gift from the Sea! Friends in Florida once took me to the little Island where Mrs. Lindbergh had written that... I'm pretty sure that was Captiva Island. They took me to a little seashell shop and bought me every shell AML had written about in the book! One or two were not available, so they got the closest types they could.
Thank you, Tess!
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI came into the parlor knowing what I wanted to say but got distracted by the above comments which are very interesting and helpful!
The third door... have courage and pass through! I know your journalling will help me and others. By following your journal entries in your book, I was able to get a better glimpse of the concept of the cloistered heart than if you had just described it (which you couldn't do!) I'm sure.
You don't know what you will write. Whatever comes to mind I'm sure will be the right thing. I've been thinking about how the Holy Spirit inspires our writings. Some of my stories just flow onto the computer and I wonder where the words come from. Others... I struggle with on my own! I'm sure you will be given the words that God wants you to share. It's not a crime not to blog, but when God wants us to share something in particular maybe we should take courage and do it!
Nancy, I didn't go back and reread your post so I only hope this comment is relevant to what you wrote. Wouldn't it be funny if I missed the whole point of your post and I have written some unrelated nonsense?!
God bless you, dear Nancy!
Okay, I won't be mean and tell you that you were really commenting on a post about purple frogs :). Isn't it crazy to have to come all the way over here and then try to remember what you wanted to say?!?!
DeleteSince this is an altogether different blog just for comments - which get moderated anyway - I'm thinking about removing captchas, at least for a time, to see how that might go. They drive me rather crazy and I often have to click through several before I can see little tiny numbers and alphabets that came from other planets. I'm SURE they deter humans as well as robots. I won't remove them right away, as I have a busy few days ahead when I won't be able to get TO comments. But hopefully before the weekend, we'll try it with them gone.
No, I don't know what I'll write. Which is not that unusual. What may be unusual is the willingness (and I pray for it!) to just let it flow and try not to worry about making it fit into a "format." Because I've tried to live as a cloistered heart for close to 25 years now, thinking in such terms does come totally naturally to me, so that should at least be a help.
But. You know. GULP.
Thanks for venturing with me through the third door. I may or may not be able to put a word to paper over the next few (busy) days.. but we'll see!
God bless!
Thank you, Theresa! Today will be anything but quiet around here (it's to be a day with a grandchild - yay) and I won't be able to get to the computer, as my attention will be on boardgames and crafts and reading and dolls :).
DeleteBut I had the most amazing dream last night. There was a specific cloistered heart question in it, presented to me by a once-famous folk musician as I was visiting (in the dream) his home in Maine!! I woke up in the middle of the night so much into this dream that I tried to slip back into it - and in doing so, forgot much of what had happened (we all probably know how that goes). I wanted to write the dream down then and there, but knew that would thoroughly wake me up and I'd be a dishraggy grandma today.
It was such a vivid dream, even an inspiring one. Maybe I can "go to downeast Maine" again tonight! :)
Thanks for prayer, and yes - I pray for your direction as well, Theresa.
God bless!
Hi Nancy, So Looking foward to seeing what God places on your Cloistered Heart to help us in this Spiritual
ReplyDeleteJourney of being His little cloistered Heart. Thank You for being so open to His Holy Will : ) Yes its me lol!
I finally I'm posting on your blog!! Happy to be here. Blessings, Barb M ��
Barb, I am thoroughly delighted to find you here!!! I am too tired from a wonderful grandchild-day to write a post tonight, and have a busy day ahead tomorrow. But my head is rattling with thoughts, and it will be SO good to have you joining in any discussions that might come along. Hooray!
DeleteI love your blog! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteJanice, thanks so much. I looked at your blogs and really liked what I found there. What a treasure to have you here!
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