I am praying for you Mario. I believe the Lord is taking you deep into His Sacred and Suffering Heart. God Bless PS. Please remember me in your prayers.
Wow "Journey alone with the alone" That has been my experience of God in recent years. That clarifies a lot for me, praise God.
Garabandal you are witnessing, the exceedingly beautiful knowledge of St Elizabeth and her experiences, which comprise the essence and the call to perfection! This road of St Elizabeth may be hard to comprehend, in our human nature, because our human nature is all about self. But St Elizabeth invites us to just trust in God and not expect anything! The more we abandon ourselves to God the more He takes us into His depths of our nothingness. Here God can truly manifest His Love! I believe all Catholics would be encouraged by St Elizabeth life and writings. May we who have heard them be a love and light to others! Amen
The lord is leading you! As He is leading me, Because, many clarifications are taking place! God Bless us all. Amen
What struck me was that, whilst I have been led down the path of humility (because of a revelation of my own faults, mea culpa), there has been a deep sense of abandonment. But alike attracts like so the idea that in faith we journey alone with the alone makes perfect sense to me now. Likewise in the silence we encounter Him in His silence. We find Him in His Hiddeness. He is there in the abandonment. It is almost as if God is always at our fingertips but when we reach out He moves yet one more step away for us to follow.
.... to Follow: Beautifully articulated by garabandal! In a nutshell! The truth. Retreat, Day 10 What to say? I don't believe I will be able to express what St Elizabeth has revealed, with my inadequate responses below. But I will try to at least express what stirred in my soul when I listened to her words! Session 13 Here we are confronted with the fathers' inordinate Love for us individually, and His desire that we be Holy! To be Holy we must be stripped of everything and guard against even naturally good inclinations in life. This means that I must be wholly present in faith with my gaze turned always to the master. God is Solitude! and Jesus asks me to imitate this perfection. The Perfection of Solitude! There are so many lights that one receives in this session and I said to myself... St Elizabeth is saying that Jesus not only bore our sins! but He also bore all the injustices, the tortures, the pains that were placed on us! Therefore we are called to imitate Him who draws us into the solitude of the Father. The Father..... the one who stands no matter what, who is at the core, where arrows, rocks, defilement, attacks of all kinds are allowed to be hurled at Him and yet He stands unmovable, in His Love! There, The Father Waits! In the midst of this onslaught. Because He The Father, has made this universe, to Know Love and so He waits there amid this pain until there is no more evil to be hurled at Him! Because evil does not have the last word, The victory of God over evil is that Good Remains! God Remains! The Blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the church- This is the solitude of love - a withdrawal from all that is not of God- free from everything - a poverty,...Yet the Victory! I believe St Elizabeth expresses the need for solitude with God in our souls, which is pleasing to God the solitary one, because in this solitude with God, we can not be distracted from Him nor betray Him and in all our daily activities we use our gifts only for Him, our time only for Him and give praise only to Him. I will comment on part 2 (session 14) of day 10 tomorrow, if I get the chance. God Bless Everyone.
Day 10 Session 14 Dear Mario and others following the retreat, I don’t believe I am understanding St Elizabeth in this session, as I am finding it a hard teaching. St Elizabeth says........ in our powerlessness to change things in this present moment, (the sufferings as immense as the sea, I presume), I am to awake the dawn, in the new day which is in the eternal now, remove the noise of my present sufferings. For only then will the soul be able to see the beautiful thing that God is doing. Those that do this are invincible in their hope; they find God in silence and solitude. I understand this part. But she continues…forget the people in your father’s house. Forget self and everything that pertains to the natural order, our memories, our family etc, we are to abandon it. And when the soul has made this break – The king enamoured by its beauty unites to the soul. Here is where I am struggling. On a good note, I am grateful that the Infant Jesus has accompanied me in this retreat (albeit in the background) “The more you Honour me, the more I will Bless you. Occupy yourself with my interests and I will occupy myself with Yours” St Theresa of Avila. These words of The Divine Infant of Prague, are consoling. Thank you our Dearest Little King.
josephite, You have to put things in context; the bold above is drawn from Psalm 45 which speaks of the daughter of a foreign king (Tyre?) who weds the King of Judah. So she has left home to travel to a foreign country and embrace a new life. St. Elizabeth uses such imagery to speak of her life in Carmel away from her family, but also of attachments she needs to surrender in her prayer life. You and I (we aren't secluded away) have been called by God to lives as spouse and parent. How can family be a detriment when the Lord is the One who called us there in the first place? Family is our holy context! But the Lord is always first.
Day 11: Hosea 2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. John 14:21 ...he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him...(23) ...and we will come to him and make our home with him. There are many demands on our lives, especially from loved ones...but I should also desire solitude with God, even a letting go of my concepts of how this should be. In Holy Communion, Jesus enters my heart. It is a fact, not a concept. I need to allow Him time to make my heart His home. At Holy Mass, however, there are often deacon duties that immediate follow upon reception, and it is not until the church has emptied that I'm usually afforded the opportunity to adore in quiet. But at the time of receiving Jesus into my heart, I will express my desire for that time. Even before, at the time of the offertory, I accept from the acolyte, first the wine for the chalice, and then I add a few drops of water, reciting as I do so: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity." What a marvelous prayer that points to the reception of Holy Communion! O those of you can receive and immediately return to your pew in peace and quiet! But parents of young children must wait as I do and find a quiet refuge to seek that stillness and silent worship. But let it always be the intent of our hearts. O praise this Gift which the Bride of Christ makes available to us! And so, Josephite, I know the stillness of communion which St. Elizabeth describes in the verses above will eventually be our reality! Let us trust the Lord to gift us with such intimacy! The history of the above mentioned liturgical action: The deacon and the Eucharist is too broad a topic to tackle here, so I want to focus on one responsibility of the deacon in the Mass of the Roman rite — namely, the preparation and presentation of the wine mixed with water for the sacrifice. During this action, we pray in a low voice, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” Historical Aspects This action, often overshadowed by other ritual elements such as music and even the passing of the collection basket, is nonetheless a rich theological moment. I would suggest that it is arguably the most theologically significant liturgical action entrusted to the deacon. The acts we perform and the words we pray at that moment are not to be undertaken lightly or superficially. They are rich in history and theology. To guide our reflection, we turn to a classic source, the landmark “Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origin and Development” (Christian Classics, $55) by Joseph A. Jungmann. Father Jungmann highlights three historical aspects of this ritual action: the admixture of water to the wine, the placement of the offerings on the altar and the words used to accompany the action. The practice of adding water to the wine used for the sacrifice goes back almost to the beginning, and there has always been a strong symbolic meaning given it. The water represents all of humanity, human nature itself, while the wine represents Christ. Some ancient accounts prescribe equal amounts of water and wine, while the Gnostics (rejecting any use of wine) demanded that celebrants use only water. Bishop Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-58) responded, “When someone offers only wine, then the blood of Christ begins to exist without us; but when it is only water, then the people begin to exist without Christ.” What a wonderful reminder the bishop gives us: that always we are to be one with Christ, and this is expressed sacramentally in the joining of water with the wine.
Day 11 Yesterday was 24th May the feast of Our Lady help of Christians. The day of my consecration to Jesus through Mary and also day 11 of the St Elizabeth retreat for me. It was a very blessed day in many ways, the Lord heard my humble morning prayer for my youngest son, when all seemed to be lost (in regards to his new job) and this divine intervention deeply touched my soul. I listened last night to both sessions 15 and 16 of day 11. I believe the Lord is leading me slowly and very gently into understanding the silence and solitude of God that St Elizabeth speaks of. I love the way St Elizabeth and Dr Lilles articulate this solitude of God in the core of our soul, as having an infinite immensity, vast horizons, where the soul consents to the Will of the Father, accepting all things. I was glad to hear St Elizabeth explain Gods solitude, as the fullness of Gods power, His unchanging presence, where He speaks to our hearts. God the Father lives there in this immense silence awaiting the soul’s arrival. This enormous space of solitude is filled with the word of God. Who is Jesus! She says we are not just to listen to this word of God but we are called to keep the word of God. She reminds us that Jesus taught us……”to the one who keeps My word, then the Father will Love him and We will come to him”. The soul enters with its Abyss of misery, but finds an even greater Abyss of Gods Mercy! and God the Father surrounds this enclosure, with His Will, making us safe from any onslaught. This silence and solitude, is sacred, the dwelling place of God the Father, with His word, God the Son and Their gaze of Love, God the Holy Spirit, flowing freely through the soul. I thought this was beautiful… Our miseries, weaknesses and imperfections are humbly surrendered to Him, in this silence, according to council of His Will. Then our brokenness is immersed in the ocean of His Mercy. So far from wanting to crush the weak sinner, in this silence God reveals that we are to surrender our brokenness, again and again, and it seems in this way, He strips these weaknesses from us.
The above is Beautiful! As are so many of your posts. I am sorry, I have not commented as I would have liked on many of your posts. Thank you Mario, for your edifying teachings, your understanding of Scripture and for sharing your knowledge of Catholic Theology, they each add an extra light to my path. God Bless
Day 12: What keeps me from entering into a deep relationship with Jesus: concern about my reputation, wanting others to think well of me. This desire must die; I need to trust Jesus above all things, to desire Him above all, allowing him to prune me. Elizabeth quotes Eph 1 to accent this truth. Stand on the firm ground of a loving Christ. I am the Beloved of the Father. Jesus protects us from the powers that would trip us up. Christian prayer alone can give us this peace that provides this fullness. The Fortress of Holy Recollection, the Repose of the Three. First of all he tells me that He is “my peace,” 179 that it is “through Him that I have access to the Father,” 180 for it has pleased this “Father of lights” 181 that “in Him all fullness should dwell, and that through Him He should reconcile to Himself all things, whether on the earth or in the heavens, making peace through the Blood of His Cross. . . .” 182 “You have received of His fullness,” the Apostle continues, “you were buried with Him in Baptism, and in Him you rose again through faith in the working of God. . . . He brought you to life along with Him, forgiving you all your sins, cancelling the decree of condemnation which weighed on you: He abolished it by nailing it to the Cross. Despoiling Principalities and Powers, He victoriously led them away as captives, triumphing over them in Himself . . . ,” 183 “to present you holy, pure, and without reproach before Him. . . .” I need to consistently give Him that daily time of silence (20 minutes). Now I just have to get up early enough to remain uninterrupted.
Dear LynnFiat, Yes, when we enter this Holy fortress of recollection, St Elizabeth says... God the Father encloses us in His Will, where we are free in the solitude only because His son Jesus dwells in this immeasurable space! St Elizabeth continues... God remained hidden in His inaccessible light, for ages and generations. Only at the incarnation of the word made flesh, was this hidden light assessible to us! and in St Elizabeth's words "we are to follow in our Lords footsteps" Jesus had a human will! And He teaches us to submit our Human Will to the Divine Will in this Holy Fortress of vast horizons! Jesus emptied Himself of His Divinity, to save us, so we can like St John of the cross, St Therese of Avila, St Therese of the little Jesus and St Elizabeth of the Trinity and many others, bow down before God and throw down our crowns, acknowledging the supremacy of Gods Will. This is so magnificent! Jesus taught us to pray. This is the first step! Contemplative prayer and its understanding will plunge us into its depths, if we remain steadfast in prayer. So have no fear. The apostles knew Jesus intimately, they personally listened to His teachings and witnessed His Miracles. Some of them witnessed God the Father's words and God the Holy Spirit presence , at Jesus's Baptism in the Jordon river and again at His transfiguration on Mt Tabor; however isn't it interesting that none of them asked the Lord.... teach us how to heal the sick, the blind, the leper, the paralytic, the haemorrhaging, the possessed, nor did they ask how to feed thousands, nor how to raise the dead, nor even how to walk on water, which were all extraordinary miracles they witnessed! No the apostles asked ...Rabbi, teach us How to pray! This request, in itself reveals that Our Lord Jesus must have been an awesome site in prayer! which no doubt touched the apostles far more significantly than the extraordinary miracles that occurred around Him nor the miracles He preformed Himself! With Jesus, and in the silence and solitude of our Hearts, we encounter God the Father, who encloses us in His Will, and breathing fourth the Holy Spirit the Father and the Son free us from all distress. So may it be! Amen.
Day 12 Session 17 St Elizabeth begins... In the beginning was the word and the word was with God She continues...we are to follow in Jesus's footsteps and be Holy as He is Holy! Holiness is not due to any merit of ours but only because God's peace consists as a by-product of His great Love. I will have to finish here tonight, as I am so tired and it is very late. Hopefully I will be able to finish my comment tomorrow. God Bless us all.
