Taken from the terrific

blog www.aNunslife.org

My friends over at aNunsLife.org occasionally recruit guest bloggers. When asked, I offered to supply a blog post on this special feast day for our community and Order the Exaltation of the Cross and also the anniversary of the death of our foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa 1696-1755. Do check out their website, live podcasts, daily blog posts and much more; a site especially designed for those women discerning a vocation to vowed religious life.

Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

 

by Guest Blogger on September 14, 2012

in Real Life Spirituality, saints and feasts

A Nun’s Life is delighted to be joined today by guest blogger Sister Hildegard Pleva, OSsR, of the Redemptoristine Nuns and the blog Contemplative Horizon.

The Feast of the Exultation of the Cross is one of a cycle of twelve great feasts celebrated in the liturgical cycle of the early Church. Legendary stories of the discovery of the true Cross in the 4th century and the patronage of Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, are often told in relation to this feast. More important is the tribute offered here to the Cross as the instrument of our salvation. The entrance antiphon for Mass on the feast declares, “We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, our life and resurrection, through which we are saved.”

 

This day is an important feast for Redemptoristines, my community of contemplative monastic women in the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer. September 14 is also the anniversary of our foundress’ death in 1755. The Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa (1696-1755) made of “her will an echo of Christ’s will.” (Florilegium 64. Colloquies II, 7 (11)) She was united with him on the cross in many trials endured throughout her life. Therefore, it was apropos that she should die on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross and be united with her Beloved in heaven as she was on earth.

 

Jesus invited his disciples, Celeste, and us as well with these words, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Celeste responded, “Oh with what love I embraced the cross, loved it, desired it and took pleasure in it — all for your love.” She continues, “Likewise those who love bind themselves to the cross … savor the true and solid sweetness of God and the true peace found therein.” (Florilegium 118. Rules. Love of the Cross, 9r-9v (188-189)

 

Cynthia S.S. Crysdale in her book Embracing Travail: Retriving the Cross Today (NY: Continuum, 1999) suggests that in order to unite ourselves with the cross of Christ and his suffering we must correctly identify the real suffering in our lives. This is not the suffering created by our ego needs but rather the suffering necessary for transformation, that transformation of the false-self which enables us to attain the promised freedom of the children of God.

For consideration in prayer:

• Does my ego cling to a particular suffering? Is my clinging misplaced?
• Is there another suffering being called for as I seek union with the Cross of Christ?
• Is there an effort toward true transformation in Christ that I choose to ignore?

May the Holy Spirit guide us in this meditation of love, this exaltation of the Cross of Christ.

* * *

Join A Nun’s Life faith community for prayer tonight at 6 p.m. CT at aNunsLife.org/live.

The Book Corner

In my former life as a middle school librarian, I loved the "book talk" aspect of the work. My job was to make a selection of books so irresistable that they would immediately "walk off the shelves" in the hands of an eager students.

Here I would like to recommend two books which are more than worthy of walking off the shelf of your local book store or online provider. The first is The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind - A New Perspective on Christ and His Message. The second is The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity. For some, this author, Cynthia Bourgeault, PhD, may be a new voice of spiritual guidance.  Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader, she divides her time between solitude on Eagle Island, Maine, and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative path.

Cynthia Bourgeault is also author of:  Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening, Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of Knowing, Chanting the Psalms, and Love is Stronger Than Death. She has also authored or contributed to numerous articles and courses on the Christian spiritual life. She is a past Fellow of the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural research at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, and an oblate of New Camaldoli Monastery in Big Sur, California.

This author invites her readers to consider Jesus from the biblical and theological perspective that reminds how radical the essential teaching of Jesus was in his time on earth and how that radicality needs to be reconsidered today. Bourgeault engages us in an attractive conversational tone that is, nonetheless, rooted in sound theological and biblical teaching. The heart of the message is expressed in the first two of its three parts: The Teachings of Jesus and The Mysteries of Jesus. The last part covers Christian Wisdom Practices - centering meditation, lectio divina (sacred reading and meditation), chanting and psalmody (Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours) and the Eucharist. These are presented as the spiritual practices in which lives must be grounded in order to enter into and live out the radicality of Jesus' message in their everyday lives.

The second book concerning the figure of Mary Magdalene, much honored in Sacred Scripture and much maligned throughout the ages is a most welcome addition to general consideration of her importance in  Christian tradition. Here Mary Magdalene is presented not only as Apostle to the Apostles  but also as model of the spousal relationship of the Christian soul and Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday of Ordinary Time

Solemnity of Christ the King

Christ the King! What does "king" mean to me today? Living in a 21st century democratic society does not offer much in the way of context in which to consider the term. If historical perspective is applied, the title of "king" brings to mind words like rule, reign, authority, power and lord. These terms get slightly bent these days by our American preoccupation with the current British royals.

Today I prefer to meditate on the title of Christ as King through the lens of the benevolence; the care, concern, and protection offered by the good king or queen to the people entrusted to them. Having equal weight with power, this benevolence was called the 'divine right of kings'.

In knowledge of this great benevolence, we accept Jesus Christ as the King of our hearts; the principal director of our lives who invites us to constant converstion of heart through which we grow our own brand of human benevolence in accord with the Gospel of Love preached by Jesus.

This interpretation is fostered in our Redemptoristine contemplative life by the formal Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which we will pray as a community following Vespers this evening. The image of the Sacred Heart speaks of the benevolence of true kings; and of true followers of Jesus.

Please remember us in prayer today - "Pro Orantibus Day" - a day of prayer for those who pray; for all the communities of contemplative nuns and monks around the globe whose apostolic work is to be a praying presence before the throne of God. Thank you.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

"Panis Angelicus"

        Bread of Heaven

Cannot help but continue to refer to this feast as Corpus Christi, the body of Christ. However, the Church guides us to call it the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ because it is a more correct describer of the Eucharist, the gift of his very self - body and blood in the form of bread and wine - given by Jesus to this disciples and to us at his last supper.

My very frist apprehension of this mystery took place at a pre-Vatican II Holy Thursday Mass during the procession taking the Eucharist from the main altar of the church to the Altar of Repose. There it remained for the whole day surrounded by a wall of candles, banks of lilies and golden light, available for reverent adoration by the faithful who would come into the church throughout the day. I was only seven or eight years old. Yet God spoke of His mysterious presence and His love for me in a most intimate way that day. What gift!

With the years I have learned and taken into my heart the essential incorporation of People of God, the assembled congregation actively participating in and necessary in the Eucharist prayers, in the consecration of common bread and wine so that it becomes in the hands of the priest the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. So vital is this corporate aspect that priests are no longer encouraged to say 'private' masses. Jesus' inauguration of the Eucharist was not a private affair but rather a communal event. "Do this in memory of me," means the blessing, the memorial, the sharing, and all of it in community. We take part in the transformation. We also can be said to offer ourselves as gifts to be transformed into the "Body and Blood of Christ." The Redemptoristine charism is expressed as dedication to becoming the "Viva Memoria", the "Living Memory" of Jesus Christ.

A few years ago I had a beautiful dream in which I was assisting at the altar as server during a Mass in our monastery. As the priest placed a host into my hand it miraculously multiplied so that I could not contain the overflow of hosts in my two hands. This event seemed a symbol of the utterly gratuitous love of God and the generosity of Jesus in this gift to us.

May the Eucharist and it abiding presence with us in every tabernacle be the force that will unify us as Catholics and, in turn, unify all who hold sacred the name of Jesus Christ.

Triumph of the Cross

Though in the form of God,

Christ Jesus did not regard equality with God

something to be grasped.

Rather he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,

coming in human likeness;

and found human in appearance, he humbled himself,

becoming obedient to death, even to death on a cross.

Because of this,

God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him

the name that is above every name,

that the name of Jesus every knee should bend,

of those in heaven and on earth

and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6-11 - Triumph of the Cross

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,

"Whoever wishes to come after me

must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life

for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.
Mark 8: 35-35 - Sunday 24th Week of Ordinary Time (B)

Another day hardly noticed by most Catholics - an ancient feast honoring the mystery of the Cross of Christ rooted in the discovery of a relic of the true cross by St. Helena in the 3rd century.

But for many Christians, particularly for those in the Order and Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, this is a great feast of the liturgical year.

And for us Redemptoristines its significance is doubled as it is the anniversary of the death of our foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa, in 1755. In her colloquies with Jesus she heard these words,

"Just as I never followed my own will but only the Divine Will

and just as I espoused myself to the cross on Calvary,

so too all my chosen souls,

by embracing my cross and denying their own will,

bind themselves to the Divine Will

and unite themselves to my own Divine Delight...

Oh, with what love I embraced the cross,

loved it, desired it, and took pleasure in it - all for your love.

Likewise, those who love me

bind themselves to the cross and rest thereon,

like a spouse who rests on the nuptial bed."

Spiritual writers have spoken of the "folly of the Cross." We look upon the crucifix, that image of extreme bodily suffering, an image so gruesome that we would not likely approve of similarly horrible representations for our ordinary environment - we look upon it and cannot fathom how the Son of God, third person of the Blessed Trinity, in human flesh came to submit himself to this excruciating suffering. This is the great mystery of our redemption.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul said that Jesus humbled himself by becoming human, like one of us. This movement, the Incarnation of Jesus in human flesh, was the beginning of his suffering, a suffering which culminated in the extreme, in his crucifixion. To be human is to suffer. This is not a 'poor me" statement. It is not the lament of a "half empty" approach to life. To be human is to experience both great ecstasy and great suffering. This is the mix with which we were gifted when we were brought to this life.

Our culture and society seem to be bent on creating endless avoidance of this reality. When Jesus told his disciples of his destiny to suffer, Peter could not accept it. Jesus not only rejected Peter's take on things but then informed him that he would not be the only one to suffer; anyone who wished to be a companion and follower of Jesus would have to do likewise. Suffering is a certainty in the human condition. Jesus is pointing to the way in which he and his followers must deal with the reality of such experiences. It is interesting within this context to consider that Jungian psychology declares that neurosis is the avoidance of legitimate suffering.

When we hear Jesus's words in the Gospel of Mark, "...Whoever loves his life will lose it" or those to Maria Celeste which direct the binding of self to the cross as a spouse is bound to the nuptial bed we cringe a bit. Is our Lord asking us to embrace suffering in a sadistic way? No. Jesus, our brother who shared our human experience in every way, asks us to embrace the reality of our human condition, to accept the suffering that is sure to come and allow it to unite us all in the human condition. To reject suffering inevitably leads us to those behaviors and choices which negate the needs of others, that bring us to seek power, to assert our superiority. And as Jung reminds, rejection of legitimate suffering, creates dis-ease and even disease in the self. Jesus calls for a healthy embrace of all that is a natural part of human experience. How wonderful to have such a brother in our human reality - the divine lover - who became one of us and taught us by his ultimate sacrifice.

Something Good from Sister Moira Quinn, OSsR

Celeste and the Wayfarer

by Sister Moira Quinn, OSsR,

The following piece was created as a presentation for our lay associates by Sr. Moira who guides them and currently serves as our sub-prioress or vicar. Our foundress, Maria Celeste Crostarosa, was very fond of the image of Jesus as wayfarer, traveler through our world. Sr. Moira chose this topic for our last regular 2nd Sunday of the month associate meeting in our monastery.

Originally published a few days ago and deleted in effort to correct my 'technical' problem. Now republishing.

Follow Me by John Denver

It’s by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done
To be so in love with you and so alone
Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me
Follow me up and down all the way and all around
Take my hand and say you’ll follow me
It’s long been on my mind
You know it’s been a long, long time
I’ve tried to find the way that I can make you understand
The way I feel about you and just how much I need you
To be there where I can talk to you
When there’s no one else around
Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me
Follow me up and down all the way and all around
Take my hand and say you’ll follow me
You see I’d like to share my life with you
And show you things I’ve seen
Places that I’m going to places where I’ve been
To have you there beside me and never be alone
And all the time that you’re with me
We will be at home
Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me
Follow me up and down all the way
Take my hand and I will follow you

MARIA CELESTE and the WAYFARER

Next Sunday is the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer: the Title of the Order of the Redemptoristines and the Congregation of the Redemptorists. So when I was thinking about a topic for this month’s meeting, naturally, the Redeemer came to mind. But what about him? I got further inspiration for the topic last month when I heard the John Denver song, ‘Follow Me’ on the radio. I loved that song. It took me back to my younger days. I found myself humming it the next few days. When I reflected on why it touched me so, I realized the refrain of the song: ‘Follow me, where I go, what I do, and who I know, make it part of you to be a part of me. Follow me up and down all the way and all around. Take my hand and say you’ll follow me,’ was an invitation to follow Jesus.Also touching is the introduction to that song. He sings, ‘It is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done, to be so in love with you and so alone.’ I always thought he was saying, ‘for so long.’ But either way it gave me pause because it speaks to me of the call to fidelity in life. When I reflected on the song as a whole it seemed it could be a dialogue between two lovers. Which one is ‘so alone’?

To me, it sounds like both; it is hard for each one to be in love and longing for the other, wanting to ‘make it part of you to be a part of me’ and trying to figure out how, despite difficulties, to find a way to be together. The last line of the song resolves the situation by one surrendering to the other. Before, one was saying to the other ‘take my hand and say you’ll follow me’ but now the one says, ‘Take my hand and I will follow you.’

The invitation to follow in any relationship, including our relationship with God, always comes with a call to surrender. Even Jesus, the Man-God, surrendered his life to the Father – think of Jesus in the Garden saying, ‘Not as I will but as you will.’ Lk 22: 42 Jesus gave his all for love – love for God and love for you and me.Being visual person, an image came to my mind to illustrate this invitation to follow Jesus; the statue in front of our monastery in Foggia, Italy (which I love) entitled, ‘The Wayfarer;’ one of Celeste’s favorite titles for our Holy Redeemer. The statue of the Wayfarer portrays Jesus standing there with arms outstretched. What does his stance say to you?

To me it looks like he is about to place his hands around my shoulder, and on the shoulder of who ever is on the other side: you, you, you…each one of you. That made me think of a yoke; as in Jesus saying, ‘Come to me all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest, take up my yoke and learn for me, for I am gentle and humble of heart.’ Mt. 11:28 (When the image of the yoke came to me, I suddenly heard or read that Gospel passage over and over again. Synchronicity? A God-incidence? An invitation?

I reflected on the image of the yoke. I’ve only seen pictures of a yoke of oxen. The yoke is a curved piece of wood that fits over the shoulders of two draft animals so they can work together. That is what Jesus is like: He is the yoke that holds us together and guides our lives in a gentle manner; not by force but by love and an invitation to go with him, follow him.What is a Wayfarer? A wayfarer is one who travels by foot. Who is the Wayfarer? Jesus, the Man-God is the Wayfarer: the one who traveled the road of life ahead of us; inviting us to follow him. In the Gospel of Luke we read: “As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ And Jesus replied to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’” Lk 9:57-58 That doesn’t sound very inviting. Why would one want to follow a Wayfarer? St. Paul writes about those who do follow Christ, ‘For here we have no lasting home, but are looking for the home that is to come. Heb 13:14 Remember the Gospel story of the rich good man who wanted to inherit eternal life? And Jesus told him, ‘You lack one thing: go sell what you own and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ And the man went away sad. Mk 10:17-21

This invitation to follow the Wayfarer didn’t intimidate our Foundress, Ven. Maria Celeste Crostarosa. On the contrary, this aspect of Jesus as Wayfarer inspired Celeste to leave everything, to give her all, to follow the one she loved.When did Maria Celeste Crostarosa first receive the invitation to follow Jesus? In her autobiography Celeste tells us she was about five years old when Jesus first spoke to her heart. Celeste was baptized Julia on All Saints Day, the day after her birth, October 31, 1696. She was the tenth child of an even dozen siblings in Naples, Italy.From that early age on Julia enjoyed an interior dialogue with Jesus. As she matured in years the urge to follow Jesus led her to religious life where she offered her whole being to her Beloved Spouse. When she entered the Visitation monastery in Scala in the Kingdom of Naples at the age of 27 she was given the name Sr. Maria Celeste.As a novice Jesus continued to speak within her soul, particularly at Communion time. It was then that he planted in her heart the idea of following the Wayfarer when she came to understand the words of scripture, ‘I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.’ Jn 14:6 Jesus ‘showed her the stupendous work which he accomplished by the union of his divine and human natures as the Man-God, while here on earth as a Wayfarer.’ And how ‘He becomes again a Wayfarer on earth with those who are united to Him through true union and through love, holy works and through the grace of the Holy Spirit. (see MWR pg 24 *)

Here is the principal element of Maria Celeste’s spiritual message, ‘Christ lives again, today, as a Wayfarer in His believers…where there is a transformation of self involved at the very level of being.’ (MWR pg 25) From this Celeste developed her concept of being a Viva Memoria, a living image of Christ’s redemptive presence in this world. (MWR pg 67)

While still a novice Celeste received a ‘shattering revelation’ (MWR pg 26) on April 25, 1725, wherein Jesus made her understand that she was to be the instrument to bring about a new Institute ‘which would have for its laws and rules His very life.’ (MWR pg 27) Can you imagine going to your Novice Mistress, Prioress and ultimately the Bishop, with this astounding news? But she did it.

After initial interest on the part of the community to a new Rule trouble began when Bishop Falcoia, the Spiritual Father of the Nuns in Scala, heard of this, he called Celeste ‘a dreamer, a mad-woman.’ (MWR pg 30)*MWR= The Mystic Who Remembered by Fr. Joseph Opptiz, CSsRIt wasn’t until about five years later, that after much wrangling and travails and heartache in regards to the new Rule, and to Celeste herself, one of which being Celeste being banished to the monastery attic for a time, of the arrival of St. Alphonsus Liguori to Scala.After interviewing all the Nuns and repeatedly examining Celeste and her revelations, Alphonsus recognized the ‘authenticity of the revelations and the feasibility of a new Rule and Institute. Thanks to his powers of persuasion, all the Nuns finally agreed to accept the new Rule, and the Bishop of Scala’s good graces were won.’ (MWR pg 37) So, on May 13, 1730 the Nuns began to live spirit of the new Rule.But the heartache was not over because Celeste was still at odds with their Spiritual Father Falcoia over the letter of the Rule which, in turn, sent the whole community into turmoil. Throughout this time, Celeste followed the Wayfarer in humility and surrender, renouncing all: her visions, failures, desires… putting everything in God’s hands. Celeste says, ‘I shall follow him and glorify him, and he shall be content, and nothing that is his shall be taken away.’ (MWR pg 46) She is asserting here that this new Rule, if it be God’s will, will come about not by any action on her part but of that of Jesus, whom she saw at that time transfixed on the cross. He spoke to her, ‘... Listen to me on the Cathedral of the cross which I have placed in your heart so that I may live my life in you as a Pilgrim (Wayfarer) Crucified in this world. I shall bring this about in such a way that everything will be for you both a cross and peace. ... Gaze upon me with a look of the love Crucified in you. You shall always behold this sight for it is in this way that I give you my compassion. (Florilegium pg 138)In 1733.Celeste needed to feel this compassion; she and her two siblings who had entered with her found themselves true wayfarers after being expelled from the monastery in Scala. It wasn’t until 1738 when ‘Celeste felt herself completely healed and restored of all the wounds of the Scala tortures (MWR pg 51) that she was able to start afresh founding a new monastery in Foggia where ‘she was able to put into practice the full, regular observance of the complete and original Rule’ (MWR pg 52) revealed to her by the Wayfarer. It was there that she took her full name in religion, Sr. Maria Celeste of the Holy Redeemer.Here are a few examples of Maria Celeste’s understanding of the Wayfarer as found in her writings. In the introduction to the new Rule Maria Celeste wrote the Intent of the Father, God’s Loving Plan of Redemption and its salvific intent by means of on-going redemption. This is made possible by the continuing existence of Christ as Wayfarer in a real union between him and the soul.’ (MWR pg 67) This explains why Celeste writes about Jesus in the present tense: He is dying, he is rising, he is continually ascending. By our participation-union with his very being Christ can say of us, his followers, ‘I live through them, with them and in them.’ (see MWR pg 68)

Celeste was a prolific writer, especially during her years in Foggia. In the ‘Garden Enclosed’ she wrote out the three virtues the spiritual soul should exercise that ‘were the perpetual exercise of Jesus Christ, Man-God, while he was a Wayfarer on earth:

The first: to live among creatures only to help them to act well and to gain eternal salvation.

The second: to seek only the glory of God and the good of your neighbor in thought, word and deed.

The third: to live only in God.’ (Florilegium #35)

That third ‘perpetual exercise,’ ‘to live only in God,’ made me think of our conversations last month about Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth; letting go of ego, and Bro. Lawrence’s living in the now by ‘Practicing the Presence of God;’ to direct our entire mind, heart and will to doing what is loving in God’s sight. Celeste let go of her ego and lived in the now because she realized it wasn’t about her, so she could remain, at a deep level, at peace, despite the heartache, knowing she was loved by God. That was the fruit of her union with the Wayfarer.In the Spiritual Exercises for December she wrote: ‘Everything my divine Providence has ordained for you, both adverse and favorable, should be loved and accepted by you with love while you repose like a babe in its mother care; sleeping peacefully without any worry or preoccupation about itself and its interests.There is the Paradise of souls wayfaring on earth united by love to my beloved Son… Because by ceasing to be led by your own will in everything, you will enjoy an anticipated Paradise…and will not be disturbed by sufferings and crosses.’ (see Florilegium #68)That all seems to me like a strange juxtaposition: sufferings and crosses and anticipated paradise. But it reminded me of Good Luck Bad Luck!The Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer’s neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?” A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?”

Then, when the farmer’s son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

The next week, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer’s son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?

Did Celeste have good luck or bad luck in following the Wayfarer? Both, to be sure; she was tremendously blest to have such an intimate relationship with her Redeemer throughout her life, yet it cost her dearly with all the struggle of implementing the new Rule and all the heartache that accompanied it in her attempt to follow the Wayfarer’s lead. Yet, all this she surrendered. In following the Wayfarer Celeste practiced the virtues of the Man-God ‘on his Pilgrim Way.’ God tells her, ‘All these (virtues of his) are transformed into your soul and become yours by your union with him; all your feelings and passions become sanctified by him and transformed into his feelings and your body transformed into his.’ (Florilegium #74. Spiritual Exercises for December, med. 18)

Think of the caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly and the metamorphosis that transpires; the surrender and dying to self that takes place throughout its life cycle. When any of us follow the Wayfarer, as Celeste did, we surrender our very lives to be transformed into ‘new creatures in Christ.’ 2 Cor.5:17 ‘to form that perfect being who is Christ come to full stature.’ Eph 4:13Celeste tells us when we are at prayer it is a special time of union with the Wayfarer. She was instructed by Jesus that when you pray, ‘… join that praise of yours to the Praises which I, while I was Wayfarer on earth, offered to God my Father, and live as though I, not you, lived in yourself. Thus all the graces, gifts, and spiritual consolations which you receive from my Love, receive them not in yourself but in me.’ (Florilegium pg 96 Garden Enclosed)Celeste spent many hours in adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament and was always amazed at how the God-Man, with patience and mercy ‘stamped on himself’… ‘the humiliations and contempt of self’ which the Wayfarer displayed in not exalting his ‘divine perfections but kept them submerged’. She continues, ‘He submerged his divine immensities beneath an admirable hidden silence while on earth as a Wayfaring Man, and not only that, but now while hiding – in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar beneath the accidents of bread – his divine grandeurs… to unite us with him and transform us into God, he has made himself the real food of man.’ (Florilegium pg 29)

As followers of the Wayfarer we are called likewise to accept humiliations and have contempt for self. What does this mean? To me it means we are to be ‘living eucharists for the Church and for the world.’ (Associate Constitutions #6) We are to humble ourselves just as Jesus ‘humbled himself, taking on the form of a slave, (to become) human like one of us’ (Phil 2:7) so we might follow his example and empty ourselves of our ego so that God can fill us with divinity that we may, by our union, participate in Christ’s on-going redemption in the here and now.In Celeste’s Autobiography Jesus tells her, ‘You are my friend and my delight and, therefore, I keep you in my Kingdom of the Cross and of Glory, in the Kingdom of my Peace and Rest, in sufferings and afflictions, just the way I lived as a Wayfarer on this earth.‘Do not be troubled, you already know how much you have to destroy the self so that this Work (namely, this Work that is totally mine) may be carried out.’ (Florilegium pg 135)

‘This Work’ that Jesus was referring to is the foundation of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer – but he could well have been speaking to us about our life in him today. We are the Works of His hands. Christ has no hands on this earth but ours, no voice on earth but ours, no heart but ours… Therefore, we are his friends, his delight, at peace and rest in the Kingdom of the Cross and of Glory. And in turn ‘he is the light of our faith, the strength of our charity and the source of our hope.’ (Associate Constitution #13)

Jesus, the Wayfarer was the love of Celeste’s life! She followed him in her own time and place. Our call, as Redemptoristine Nuns and Associates, is the same. Our constitutions say, ‘The more we strive to live the love of Christ, the more the thoughts and feelings of Christ will fill our spirit and our heart, the more we will become His faithful images and the more also we will be able to be true witnesses of the love of Him who is our Beginning and our End, our Way and our Life.’ (Associate Constitutions #5)

Like Celeste, let us each be a ‘Viva Memoria,’ the living memory of Jesus the Wayfarer; a participant in God’s loving plan of redemption.Do you hear the Wayfarer’s invitation?

Follow me where I goWhat I do and who I know;

Make it part of you to be a part of me.

Follow me up and down all the way

Take my hand and I will follow you.

Questions for reflection:Celeste was called at a young age. Do you remember when you were called to follow the Wayfarer?How are you following Jesus, the Wayfarer, today?Have you ever felt deep peace in following the Wayfarer in times of humility and surrender?When have you experienced ‘Gook Luck’ being turned into ‘Bad Luck’, and vise versa, in your life? What graces did you receive?What has been ‘destroyed’ in you that a ‘new creation’ could be born for the on-going redemption of the world?

Sr. Moira Quinn

July 10, 2009

Be faithful and live by the divine life of your God

while you are still a wayfarer on earth.

Because by ceasing

to be led by your own will in everything,

and by following whatever I should arrange for you,

you will enjoy an anticipated Paradise.

The Father to Celeste

Heart Mandala - HMP

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

God is LOVE

Melody: Ode to Joy, Beethoven

Text: Timothy Rees

God is Love, let heaven adore him;

God is Love, let earth rejoice;

Let creation sing before him,

And exalt him with one voice.

God who laid the earth's foundation,

God who spread the heaven, above,

God who breathes through all creation:

God is Love, eternal Love.

God is Love; and love enfolds us,

All the world in one embrace:

With unfailing grasp God holds us,

Every child of every race.

And when human hearts are breaking

Under sorrow's iron rod,

Then we find that self same aching

Deep within the heart of God.

Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Anna, a New Testament Image of Contemplative Life

Presentation of Jesus - Fresco by Giotto

Today began with the blessing of all the candles will will use during this year. This used to be called Candlemas Day. It couldn't be more convenient because tomorrow is the Feast of St. Blaise with its traditional blessing of throats. Coming in the dead of winter as it does, this blessing seems a great idea. So far we have been very fortunate in not having some awful cold or flu bug invade our community.

For those who pray Night Prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours the prayer of thanksgiving uttered by Simeon is embedded in our psyches. "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared insight of all the peoples, a a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel."

But that is only half of the story because another figure lingers in the temple, waiting in constant prayer. This is Anna, well portrayed in Giotto's fresco; not half-hidden in the background but fully formed and present, bearing the scroll of God's promise to the people of Israel. "She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Israel." Happily, Fr. Ronald Bonneau, CSsR, the celebrant of our Mass this morning, chose to read the long form of the Gospel which includes the bit about Anna. She is a model for the life of unceasing prayer; the life of witnessing by virtue of presence and her very being to the Redemption brought by the person of Jesus; the life of any contemplative nun or monk.

Fr. Bonneau inspired us further by reminding us that Jesus was brought to the temple in the totally ordinary fashion of his time, culture and religion. He was revealed in the ordinary. Jesus was recognized in the ordinary by both Simeon and Anna. We too will find Jesus in the ordinary if we only take the time to look, to be present, to be available. To what? Whatever, or whoever, comes across our path. And where? Anywhere - family, home work, club, soccer field, church, garden, etc. but also in the agonies of our time, of our world. Trick is to be present and accounted for like Simeon and Anna.

May the candles blessed today be light for the way, piercing the darkness that limits our vision.

HOLY WEEK 2008

"Praise to you,

Lord Jesus Christ,

King of endless glory."

From the writings of Henri J. M. Nouwen

"Show Me the Way: Readings for Each Day of Lent,"

pages 33-34

Our lives are destined to become like the life of Jesus. The whole purpose of Jesus' ministry is to bring us to the house of his Father. Not only did Jesus come to free us from the bonds of sin and death, he also came to lead us in the intimacy of his divine life. It is difficult for us to imagine what this means. We tend to emphasize the distance between Jesus and ourselves. We see Jesus as the all-knowing and all-powerful Son of God who is unreachable for us sinful, broken human beings. But in thinking this way, we forget that Jesus came to give us his own life. He came to lift us up into loving community with the Father. Only when we recognize the radical purpose of Jesus' ministry will we be able to understand the meaning of he spiritual life. Everything that belongs to Jesus is given for us to receive. All that Jesus does we may also do.

AND MORE BOOKS

Lea, posted a comment to the recommendation of Pope Benedict's book Jesus of Nazareth. She put in a well-deserved pitch for Lawrence Cunningham's Jesus - The Teacher Within. I have read it, liked it very much and thought it had very special appeal to those whose profession/vocation is teaching.

While we are on the subject of good books about the person of Jesus, I would also mention Michael Casey's Fully Human Fully Divine - An Interactive Christology. Casey is a Trappist monk in Australia and author of other great books including Toward God: The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer, Sacred Reading - The Art of Lectio Divina and another on the Rule of St. Benedict.

By the way, for those of you who may not know how to leave a comment - Just go to the bottom of any post, click on the word "comment" and then enter your comment in the space provided. You can remain anonymous. I see the comment in my e-mail and get to say whether I want to appear on the blog or not. If you don't care to leave a comment but see that other comments have been left and want to read them, just click on the word "comment" and they will appear. I look forward to hearing from more of you.

Read Anything Good Lately?

Since Lent is coming upon us so quickly this year, thought I'd make a recommendation for seasonal spiritual reading. Many far more qualified than I have reviewed Pope Benedict's new book Jesus of Nazareth so I will not attempt such commentary. However, I do want to encourage its consideration. This is not a book one breezes through. The author states over and over in his lengthy introduction that the work is the product of a great deal of study, intellectual reflection and prayerful contemplation. I would suggest that it is the result of his own personal response to Jesus' question, "Who do you say I am." This highly personal element is one of the features that makes this book a very interesting one.

Of course, the subject is the very first draw. But knowing Pope Benedict's reputation as a intellectual, a scholar and a teacher might be a bit intimidating. Prior to opening the cover I thought, "Can I really read this book and enjoy it." I have been very pleasantly surprised. The presentation is lucid, clear and inviting. This reflects the gifts of the author but also, I think, a great deal of credit must go to Adrian J. Walker who produced the English translation. It was no small task to present these deep thoughts in flowing, easily read and understood, everyday English. Walker's skill is to be admired.

So take a look at the book. It is not the type that can be quickly read from cover to cover. It is however, a great possibility as the focus for daily reflection in our Lenten practice. It might be helpful to keep your Bible nearby.

Feast of the

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today is a great feast for the Redemptoristine/Redemptorist family or, as we refer to it, the double institute. It is the feast of the Redeemer, Christ Jesus, from whom our Order and the Redemptorist Congregation take their names. We say with Paul, "May I never boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In addition, today is the feast of our foundress, the Venerable Maria Celeste Crostarosa, who died on this date in 1755, in Foggia, Italy. It is told that she had received Viaticum and then asked the priest to read aloud the Passion as described in the Gospel of John. At the words, "It is finished," uttered by Jesus from the cross Maria Celeste breathed her last.

With the joy of our celebration fresh in memory and with Jesus invitation, "Take up your cross and follow me," reverberating in the passage ways of the heart, our community enters into an eight-day retreat. You may ask, "How do contemplatives enter retreat time?" My prayer is to have it be different time, slower time, more carefree time, to contemplate the face of Jesus, to gaze upon the face of God.

(Should you be interested in how the friendship between our foundress, Ven. Maria Celeste Crostarosa, and St. Alphonsus de Liguori founder of the Redemptorists played itself out just go to Archives in the side bar, click on 2006, and then scroll down to the entry for May 11, 2006.)

Comtemplative Arts

Header photograph - Main Altar, chapel of Mt. St. Alphonsus Retreat Center, Esopus, New York

The Holy Face

Image Not Made by Hands

Icon Writing Retreat/Workshop

In its intensity and its demands for personal discipline and dedication traditional iconography is a metaphor of the spiritual journey. I never expected to return home so elated and so tired after six eight hour days in the icon studio.

I was among four rank beginners in a group of fifteen, many of whom had returned time and time again for this experience of immersion in icon writing taught by Sandra June Hofstead.

It was a great delight to find that the icon chosen for me was that of the Holy Face, an image of Jesus. What better subject on which to concentrate and meditate for the week! St. Therese of Lisieux had as the predicate of her religious name "of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face." There are photographs of her holding this image and these days some icons have been painted in which she holds the icon in her hands. The "image not made by hands" is part of ancient Byzantine tradition and is spoken of in liturgical prayer as "the image presented to King Abgar of Edesa." Jim Forest, in his wonderful book Praying with Icons, explains further: "According to legend, the first icon was made when King Abgar of Osroene, dying of leprosy, sent a message begging Jesus to visit him in Edesa and cure him. Hurrying toward Jerusalem and his crucifixion, Christ instead sent a healing gift. He pressed his face against linen cloth, making the square of fabric bear his image. The miraculous icon remained in Edesa until the tenth century, when it was brought to Constantinople. Then, after the city was sacked by the Crusaders in 1204, it disappeared altogether."

In the western Church this depiction of the face of Christ on cloth is connected to the story of Veronica (which, by the way, means 'true image') who offered her veil to Jesus to wipe away the blood and sweat on his face as he carried the cross to Golgotha.

My effort at reproducing this holy icon appears here. It was painted in egg tempera on gesso applied to an icon board made of poplar wood. It is gilded in gold leaf. When it is oiled in another month it will appear to have taken on a new life of its own. It has been blessed only with incense and awaits a full blessing with holy water and oil of chrism once the finish has dried.

Icons have been described as doors to the sacred, windows opening to the mystery of the Incarnation, and revelation of Transfiguration. They are works of tradition, silent images that teach theological truths without attention to more modern artistic techniques and, above all, both the fruit of prayer and the invitation to prayer.

The moment of the process which was most moving for me was the step in which one has to bring themouth very close to the surface of the icon without touching it. Then a deep breath is taken and breathed heavily on to the icon, the same way you do when cleaning eyeglasses. This act of breathing hot, moist breath onto the icon places just the right amount of moisture on the surface of clay and glue mixture that has been painted onto the places that will receive the tissue paper thin gold leaf. It must be done over and over again because you can apply only about a square inch or so of gold at a time. As I breathed on the halo of Christ's image it felt as if I were breathing life into Him, bringing Him alive. I remembered the priest forcefully breathing the words "Hoc est enim corpus meum," (This is my Body) over the elements of bread and wine in the Latin Mass. And I connected with the charism at the heart of my own contemplative life, the call to be a "living memory" of Jesus Christ, to be His life in this world.

Here is the link for Sandra Hofstead at St. Elijah Icon Studio:

http://homepage.mac.com/barefoot_princess

The Universal Impulse to Contemplation

(not just for contemplative nuns!)

Jesus, sweetest name, be the daily music of my soul and the joy of my heart that when in the agony and pangs of death the last sigh of my soul may be "Jesus."

We have come across a comparatively new magazine entitled Spirituality & Health. The subtitle reads "the soul and body connection." It would be hard to find something more indicative of specific features of today's popular culture. First, it points to the distinction made these days between being 'religious' and being 'spiritual.' Two of my three sons, real Gen-Xers, have told me that when engaged in conversation with those curious about their mother's life choice, they find themselves speaking of me as not typically 'religious' (read as: institution-bound, conservative, narrow minded) but rather as 'spiritual' (read as: one following a contemplative path, searching for universal truth via the divine, open minded). These distinctions reflect an abhorrence for institutionalization of any kind which is perceived as automatically threatening to personal freedom.

The second value of current culture demonstrated here is the emphasis on the body; its appearance, its comfort; its general health. This focus includes at its extremes addiction to diet and exercise as well as drugs, an explosion of anorexia and bulimia, a preoccupation with fashion and generalized materialism.

However, when I open the magazine I wanted to cry out, "Me thinks they doth protest too much." The contents draw readers over and over again to philosophies and practices rooted in the world's great religious traditions. A sample of articles is revelatory: "Do You Need a Spiritual Teacher?"; "Bead Here and Now" - How and why to make prayer beads; "Extreme Simplicity" - A theologian takes us on a guided tour of timeless lessons form the fourth-century desert dwellers. There seems little awareness that in rejecting the institutional, aka the established world religions, the very environments which gave birth to these traditions is being jettisoned. These traditions give testimony to the universal human impulse to contemplation; to the fact that human beings are innately spiritual and drawn to the transcendent.

A particular article especially drew my attention: "The Sufi Practice for Healing Your Heart - A crisis in the life of a cardiologist open him to the miraculous power of an ancient cure." The author describes a practice from the tradition of the Sufis, the mystical branch of Islam. This points to the fact lost to many, that each religious tradition has a mystical expression. Jewish mysticism is expressed in the Kabbalah. Perhaps the most well known expressions of Christian mysticism may be found in the writings of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.

The Sufi practice, as out lined by the author, can be summarized in this way:

Use meditation beads

Set aside at least 15 minutes a day initially

Sit comfortably erect

Breathe through the nose and exhale deeply and rhythmically

On the exhale speak the name "Allah" slowly

Allow the sound to resonate in the region of your heart

Aim for 500 repetitions

As I read, I thought immediately of the most ancient and honored Christian tradition of the Jesus Prayer. I must say that the article served a good purpose in bringing me back to this prayer in my own life. However, it seemed a pity that many nominal Christians reading this piece would not be aware of its roots in their own tradition, a tradition which came to birth within an institution.

I renewed my devotion to the practice of the Jesus prayer, rejecting the beads, but placing my right hand over my heart and slowly invoking the name of Jesus at exhaling each breath. In the healing context, utterance of The Name was, for me, an invocation, an appeal, for its healing power to enter into my heart and spread like a balm within every corpuscle. It is a prayer for healing and simultaneous conversion of heart.

The process drew me to a venerable text in our monastery library, The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology (London: Faber and Faber, 1966) complied by Igumen Chariton of Valamo and edited with an introduction by Timothy Ware. The author was a Russian monk who, during the years between the two world wars, put together a volume of passages concerning prayer from sources dating from the 4th century Desert Fathers into the 20th century. It is a gold mine. These holy souls speak of the ancient tradition of the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."

Here are two excerpts from the text, both from Theophane the Recluse(1815-94):

To raise up the mind towards the Lord, and to say with contrition: "Lord, have mercy! Lord, grant Thy blessing! Lord, help! - this is to cry out in prayer to God. But if feeling towards God is born and lives in your heart, then you will possess unceasing prayer, even though your lips recite no words and your body is not outwardly in a posture of prayer.

You regret that the Jesus Prayer is not unceasing, that you do not recite it constantly. But constant repetition is not required. What is required is a constant aliveness to god - an aliveness present when you talk, read, watch, or examine something. But since you are already practising the Jesus Prayer in the correct manner, continue as you are doing now, and in due course the prayer will widen its scope.

Quite an invitation! What a calling!

The little quote offered at the beginning of this essay is a pious ejaculation taught to my sophomore class in high school by a blessed Sister of St. Joseph of Brentwood, New York. It is one of the few things I remember verbatim from those years. But that invocation of The Name has stayed with me through the years, an example of the durability of ancient traditions in our Church, which are today being rediscovered in the most unlikely places. The Holy Spirit is, indeed, at work in our world.