MC...your avatar disturbs me. I know that is the idea but still. I liked that one you used to have...it was yellow I believe...Pic of the Blessed Mother. Much more fitting of you.
No, it isn't there to disturb Jimmy. The complete opposite. This is what you are worth to Him. Everything. No cost counted.. To me, this is the greatest love ever. There is so much here. Think you can't be forgiven or have sinned too much? Take a look at the picture. He has done the hard part, forgiving you is easy. All I can see is His wonderful love and what it cost Him and Him telling me to love like this. Yikes! It is an inspiration for me,. But.. If you want me to take it down, I will..
Oh that all sounds great but it still disturbs me...haha. Please don't take it down on my account. After your response, now you have to keep it up.
Spiritual Direction Spiritual direction seeks to, well, direct a person in ways that bring him or her closer to living a holy lifestyle. In spiritual direction you learn to surrender yourself to total trust in God so that, no matter what happens to you, you can bring the pain before God and ask for the strength and courage to deal, in imitation of Christ, with what needs to be done in any moment. Because of deep psychological conflicts, however, many persons find it difficult to make a total surrender to God, and they discover that education and reasoning do little to overcome their resistances. In this case, techniques of psychotherapy (see above) must be used to understand and overcome the fear that puts up an obstacle to the spiritual purgation necessary for living a holy lifestyle. Summary: When You Feel Stuck People often tell me that they feel stuck and unable to make any spiritual progress, and they ask me what to do. Learn to Pray Properly Well, first of all, pray. But be careful here. Don’t pray for specific things to happen or for material objects; instead, pray for God to inspire you and give you guidance, and pray for the wisdom and courage to perceive and carry out that guidance. Moreover, don’t expect that God will tap you on the shoulder and say, “Hey [N]! This is what I want you to do.” God’s answer to your prayers will come though ordinary daily events. It will be up to you to open your heart to believing that ordinary events—under the influence of constant prayer—can help guide you. For everything that happens (especially for tribulations and distress), say to yourself, “What is this telling me about what I need to learn about myself and how I need to change?” One really good prayer is the following prayer of my own. (It really works, because I used it during my conversion.) O HOLY SPIRIT, take me as Your disciple. Guide me; illuminate me; sanctify me. Show me what is holy, and I will pursue it. Show me what is unholy, and I will turn from it. Command me, and with Your grace I will obey. Lead me, then, into the fullness of Your Truth and Wisdom. Amen.
The Danger of Infatuation with Mystic Phenomena Quite often, at least in popular opinion, the effects of mystic spirituality—the stigmata, the ecstasies, the levitations, the apparitions—overshadow the mundane reality of a lifetime of discipline and hard work. And for some persons these mystic phenomena become desired at all costs, even to the point of fraud—or conscious (or unconscious) collusion with the devil. Christ, of course, warned us about this: Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in Heaven. —Luke 10:20 Thus there can be only one protection against the danger of infatuation with mystic phenomena: seek only to love God, and let God give you whatever gifts He wants. Sadly, even this protection can be twisted and distorted by psychological prevarication. The world is full of people who claim to love God, and yet—wittingly or unwittingly—they serve nothing more than their own self-interests. Instead of seeking the humility that characterizes genuine mysticism, many persons seek “an emotional feeling of well-being, a reassurance that what you’re doing is right, and that you can have spiritual delights while ignoring the discipline that they entail.” [3] Thus they hope for miracles, rather than hard work, to change their lives, and they wander from the Way of the Cross to chase off after the allure of apparitions and visionaries. In his fantasy book The Hobbit, the precursor to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Tolkien tells of a journey through the dark and dangerous Mirkwood Forest. The travelers were warned tostay on the path and never leave it, no matter what should happen. Yet, no sooner did they get started than they spied fairy lights flickering in the darkness. Enthralled with the allure of the lights, they left the path in the hope of discovering the fairies themselves. But the more they sought after the fairies, the more the lights receded into the distance. And then, far from the safety of the path and wandering helplessly in the darkness, the travelers were snared by giant spiders. Well, the story continues . . . but the lesson is clear: if you forsake the true path to chase after fairy lights, you do so at great peril. So this brings us to one unique mystical test which reveals a sincere desire for God. Many genuine mystics through the ages have experienced it personally. Moreover, some mystics, such as Blessed Anna Maria Taigi and the seers at Garabandal, [4] have predicted that it will occur eventually as a worldwide event. It’s the test of compunction. Compunction Compunction—or the gift of tears—“is not just a fit of depression; it’s the result of a genuine and sudden shift in perspective, a pervading attitude of sorrow for sin.” [5]
Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But the mourning for which [the Lord] promises eternal consolation, dearly beloved, has nothing to do with ordinary worldly distress; for the tears which have their origin in the sorrow common to all mankind do not make anyone blessed. There is another cause for the sighs of the saints, another reason for their blessed tears. Religious grief mourns for sin, one’s own or another’s; it does not lament because of what happens as a result of God’s justice, but because of what is done by human malice. Indeed, he who does wrong is more to be lamented than he who suffers it, for his wickedness plunges the sinner into punishment, whereas endurance can raise the just man to glory. Many mystics through the ages have described the experience of compunction as the first step into genuine spiritual life. Once overwhelmed by the profound realization of how much we have hurt others with our self-indulgent behavior, we then, like Christ weeping for Jerusalem, begin to weep for ourselves and for others. Saint Teresa of Avila describes a soul in such pain: In some way perhaps the sorrow proceeds from the deep pain it feels at seeing that God is offended and little esteemed in this world and that many souls are lost . . . Even though it sees that God’s mercy is great—for however wicked their lives, these [souls] can make amends and be saved—it fears that many are being condemned. . . . [T]he pain suffered in this state . . . breaks and grinds the soul into pieces, without the soul’s striving for it or even at times wanting it. . . . If a soul with so little charity [6] when compared to Christ’s . . . felt this torment to be so unbearable, what must have been the feeling of our Lord Jesus Christ? And what kind of life must He have suffered since all things were present to Him and He was always witnessing the serious offenses committed against His Father? . . . But I consider it so difficult to see the many offenses committed so continually against His Majesty and the many souls going tohell that I believe only one day of that pain would have been sufficient to end many lives; how much more one life, if He had been no more than man. —The Interior Castle V:2. 10,11,14 This profound sorrow for the sins of the world confirms the soul’s love for God because it originates at the very core of free will. No soul can desire the good, let alone do good, without the grace of God. But contrary to the fifth century claims of Pelagius, this statement does not contradict the goodness of human nature, nor does it make a mockery of free will. Nor must it be supported with the Augustinian idea of predestination. The simple fact is that, just as psychological change begins with painful remorse for one’s behavior, the soul, in looking at the corruption of the world and feeling deep sorrow for it, can freely turn to God and, like Saint Catherine of Genoa, say, with a cry of inner anguish, “O Lord! no more world, no more sin!” But without divine grace the soul can do nothing about its sorrow; nor does it even know what to do. Yet its initial, tearful cry will be heard, and its journey into the holiness of pure love—and the profound gift of tears—will begin.
Yes you are right. I'm grateful to you to giving me the opportunity to read it. When i finally get round to a talk with my God-daughter about the 'point of religion' i may well ask her to read that article first. I c&p a part of the Meditative prayer article also authored by Fr Barry ( from the same site ) for the mentions it makes of the Interior Castle are enlightening. (i'm still stuck reading Mansion 4th) For her, prayer was intended to give glory to God by helping us to become more like God-made-man. Prayer which stops short at speculation or feelings is not real prayer at all. In fact, it can open the door to many illusions. Few have valued the "inner light" as highly as St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross, but few have realized more clearly than they that it is difficult of attainment and that in its earlier stages other lights can be easily mistaken for it. All of us are prone to imagine that the products of our overwrought imaginations or subconscious activities actually come from God. The Spain of St. Teresa's day was full of people who said that they were under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. They claimed to pray all day long, and yet sometimes indulged in terrible aberrations. St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross would have no part with the "Alumbrados", as they were called. They regarded the movement as one of Satan's strategems, disguised under the appearances of great holiness and offering what seemed a short-cut to high spiritual perfection. St. Teresa insists that the only reliable test of spiritual maturity is the possession of the virtues: humility, obedience, self-denial, fraternal charity. These are always valid currency, she says, (Way of Perfection 18. p 75. Peers II), an unfailing source of revenue and a perpetual inheritance. St. Paul said the same thing, long ago. (cf. Galations 5-13) Concerning methods of prayer, St. Teresa says almost nothing in the Interior Castle, In fact she says little enough about them anywhere, although she gives many useful suggestions in the Life, chapters XI-XIII, and again in the Way of Perfection, chapter XXVI. We mean to return again to these. For the moment, two points should be noted. The first is that prayer is not the same as techniques in prayer. These are useful, but are not an end in themselves. Secondly, the type of prayer which is practiced in the first three mansions comes under the category of "ordinary prayer". This is meant to designate the kind of prayer which does not call for exceptional graces, and is within the reach of every baptized person striving to improve his way of life, even though he may still be far from perfect. However, the name "ordinary prayer" poses many problems. These we set aside for the moment, since they do not actually enter directly into the practice of everyday prayer. In addition, theologians are far from arriving at unanimity about them; they are all closely bound up with the deeper mysteries of God's providence, man's freewill, and the efficacy of grace. When St. Teresa, and indeed St. John of the Cross too, use the word "meditation", they do not restrict it to the reasoning process that many people have to use in order to arrive at some measure of conviction about the Church, about the Christian way of living, about God's dealings with man, and so forth. This, of course, is one form of prayer-activity, but only one. St. Teresa interprets meditation to cover all the active processes by means of which we learn about God up to the time when God intervenes in a positive manner to teach us about Himself. In this way, we can divide the entire range of the prayer-life into two main portions; meditation and contemplation. Meditation is the equivalent of "ordinary prayer". It is characteristic of the first three mansions. We shall see however, that there are several ways of making meditation. St. Teresa speaks about certain Important attitudes or qualities which are pre-dispositions for the prayer-life. The first is that those who wish to advance in prayer must be unselfish in their motives. This does not mean that total "emptiness" (Kenosis) has been attained straight away. But it does mean that one has to be as generous as possible with God, and especially one must not think of such things as spiritual favors (Interior Castle 1 Peers II p. 216). St. Teresa puts it this way: "They must be like brave soldiers, ready to serve their King without pay." (Life p. 93). Next, they must have a resolute will to stay with God, come what may. Inevitably, there will be opposition from our selfish human nature, from the world about us and from the Evil One. This calls for humble fortitude and firm reliance on Christ. (cf. Interior Castle II pp. 214-216). A courageous will is one of the main characteristics of those in Mansion II. Thirdly, generosity must be tempered by common sense and prudence. One must not rush ahead too fast. There can be secret pride in the urge to throw discretion to the winds and rely entirely on God. It is certainly an ideal to aim at, but it calls for heroic strength, which at the beginning may not be presumed. (Interior Castle I. 2. p. 211, 212) Forthly, we must have high and noble ideals, even if we don't always succeed in living up to them. They have a catalytic effect on our way of life. Again and again, St. Teresa comes back to this point, stressing however that it is not mere human idealism, nor yet an arrogant wish to be"Perfect".(cf. Life12. P. 74 Peers I: Way of Perfection 23 p. Peers II: ibid 37.) She leaves us in no doubt about the hard work this calls for if our prayer is to be genuine. (Way of Perfection 21 and 23: Interior Castle II. 1. Peers II pp. 89, 97, 98, 217). Indeed, it can be said that the main thrust in all these mansions is the cultivation of virtue rather than discovering techniques of payer. However, spiritual growth and prayer go hand in hand. St. Teresa points out that prayer is one of the great means of amending our lives, (Life: 8. p. 50 Peers II), and when we pray, the important thing is not to think much but to love much.. (Interior Castle 4. 1. p. 233- Peers II) But since we cannot love God unless we know Him first, we must set about acquiring the requisite instruction. Naturally, the best place to find this is in the inspired pages of Holy Scripture. St. Teresa, herself an avid reader of the Gospels, encourages us all to do the same.(cf . Way of Perfection 21. p. 90 of Peers II.). But she also recognizes that not everyone can profit from the direct reading of Scripture. For these, there are many other suitable books. (Way of Perfection. pp. 107 110, 77, 89). In any case, this is where the prayer of meditation comes in. It enables us to acquire a little love for Christ and His Church. This love is not just sweet sentiment; it is strong, manly and vigorous. "Love consists, not in the extent of our happiness, but in the firmness of our determination to try to please God in everything, and to pray Him ever to advance the honor and glory of His Son, and the growth of the Catholic Church." (Interior Castle 4. 1 p. 233) Pasted from <http://www.helpfellowship.org/OCDS Lessons/Lesson 7.htm>
"I know a man who kept no long strict fasts, no vigils, did not sleep on bare earth, imposed on himself no other specially arduous tasks; but, recollecting in memory his sins, understood his worthlessness and, having judged himself, became humble - and for this alone the most compassionate Lord saved him; as the divine David says: 'The Lord is near to them that are of a broken heart; and saves such as be of a contrite spirit' (Ps. 34:18). In short, he trusted the words of the Lord and for his faith the Lord received him." + St. Symeon the New Theologian +
Thanks, Mary's Child. Many mystics through the ages have described the experience of compunction as the first step into genuine spiritual life. Once overwhelmed by the profound realization of how much we have hurt others with our self-indulgent behavior, we then, like Christ weeping for Jerusalem, begin to weep for ourselves and for others. This heartrending conviction, experience, realization is so crucial for it leads to an deeper repentance focused not on fear of punishment, but love for Christ and amazement at his boundless Mercy! Alleluia! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
I think I like many Catholics sometimes remember the legend of St Peter . It is said that he cried so much over his remorse for having betrayed Jesus at His arrest that his cheeks were scarred and the lines of his tears ran down his cheeks. Of course all the Apostles fled at the Garden of Gethsemane , one even running away naked in his haste. St Paul even applauded and assisted in the arrest and murder of Christian. So in a sense the success of the Church is built on utter failure. But I notice how one apostle returned to walk with and stand beside Jesus at His crucifixtion and death and that was St John. Were did he find the courage and strength to do so? Why, because he stood alongside Mary. SO having fallen deeply , he rose swiftly in the company of Mary.
We fall so far short of the love of Christ. He says, love as I love... Oh, this is almost impossible.. But, we should be prepared to die to save another even.. We should love all as our mother, our father, our brother, our sister.. As Jesus Himself said. "He who does the will of my Father is my mother, my brother, my sister" He was telling us to make no distinction, not even to favor our own flesh and blood. What a challenge! Look how He was with Judas, even though He knew that He was about to betray Him. He still ate with Him etc.. How far we fall short of a love like that. Amazing. Not one person should be scared to approach Jesus. He is all loving. And when we are weak and find it difficult to be good, He has so much compassion.
Padraig.....this was just beautiful. I am reading some of the posts here and they are motivating and most definitely inspired by the Holy Spirit. Thank you!! Thank you!! God bless.
I heard a podcast earlier this summer about Evelyn Underhill and found Padraig's post above about her. She sounds like someone worth reading, and I've added her to my (long) reading list. She wrote many books including one in 1906 about the Virgin Mary that was apparently a collection of tales - but real stories actually - about Our Lady that were known all over in Europe way back when. The stories faded out of families as the faith weakened. It sounds like one of those wonderful books important to preserve to restore the memory of things past. I found the book online here if anyone wants to read it. It's called The Miracles of Our Lady Saint Mary https://archive.org/details/miraclesourlady01undegoog/page/n4/mode/2up
Her books tend to be short and simple. They are very deceptive, not like other books. They need taken away and prayed over. Great for prayer. She was such a humble person, she is easy to miss out on. You did well finding a book on her, I suspect a lot of her books are out of print. The ones I found were in a very old Monastic Library.
I missed this thread in the past. What a shame! But this passage you cite MC is brilliant. Truth!!! Chasing after fairy lights! I love that image. We are inundated these days with mystics and visionaries. I am sticking to "approved" only. The safest way.
