Mystic Monday: Take Another Look at The Cloud

Today dear children we are going to take another look at The Cloud of Unknowing.

Mostly because I spent the weekend rereading it for my own benefit, so it is fresh in my mind. I wanted to focus on one little part. It may not make sense to some of you, or it may speak directly to the hearts of some of you. If it does, great. If it doesn't just let it go.

Anyone who aspires to contemplation aught to cultivate Study, Reflection and Prayer or to put it differently, reading, thinking, or praying. . . these three are so interdependent that thinking is impossible without first reading or - what amounts to the same thing- having listened to others read. For reading and listening are really one; the priests learn from reading books and the unschooled learn from the priests who preach the word of God.

Beginners and those a little advanced who do not make the effort to ponder God's word should not be surprised if they are unable to pray. Experience bears this out. God's word, written or spoken is like a mirror. Reason is your spiritual eye and conscience your spiritual reflection.

Pax

Mystic Monday: In a Cloud

Today dear children we are going to enter a deeply spiritual work that is at once simple and layered with complexity. This work is the 14th Century classic The Cloud of Unknowing.

Little is known about the author of this amazing work. It was written for someone, possibly a monk or hermit just starting out on his spiritual journey. Interestingly, the techniques that "the master" offers are ones that are being used today, such as centering prayer and meditation.

We cannot ever fully understand God or penetrate the Cloud that surrounds God, but as we strip away our need to gain knowledge, what we can do says the author is to send “sharp darts” of “longing love” — for while we may never fully know God, at least we are able to the best of our ability to love God.

One of my favorite passages from the book states how God perceives us:

It is not what you are nor what you have been that God sees with his all-merciful eyes, but what you desire to be.

Now that is a God of love that I can learn to love. God already sees us as mystics, we just have to learn to be content being in God's presence whatever that means. Who knew it could be that simple. Oh wait a minute, the author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" did in 1375.

Pax

Mystic Monday Christ's Hands and Feet Edition

Today dear children we are going to revisit our wonderful friend Teresa of Avila for a little inspiration concerning the job description of a Christian.

Teresa was a 16th century Carmelite nun who wrote the primer on the mystical life called "The Interior Castle" In it she describes the journey one must take to reach an intimate relationship with God.

What I wish to share with you today is a short poem that she wrote to help us to understand our mission as Christians.

"Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

no hands but yours, no feet but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which to look out

Christ's compassion to the world

Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;

Yours are the hands with which he is to bless men now."

Pax

Mystic Monday: Out of the Mouths of Babes Edition

Today dear children we will take a detour of sorts from our visits with Christian Mystics to watch a short video about a young boy who understood the ineffable quality of the mystical One.









In later years Einstein wrote quite a bit on the fact that he rejected the anthropomorphication of God (creating God in our own image) but he did firmly believe in a higher power that was intimately involved in the intricate and ineffable design of the universe.

I see him as someone who had a mystical relationship with the creator, because of his scientific exploration. Perhaps he saw science as a way to explore the mysteries of God.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Obedience Edition

Hello dear children.

Today we are going to go back and visit with our dear friend Dag Hammarskjold because he has something very important to say about obedience to God's will. I have been wrestling with this exact subject lately. When you have discerned that a certain path is God's will, must you follow that path as quickly as possible? How slowly can one dawdle and still be following the will of God? How long can one delay before it becomes disobedience to the will of God?

I have coined a new term for stepping out in faith even when one feels totally unprepared for what one sees up ahead: I call it moving forward in terrified obedience. God is in control, and must know what is going to happen better than I do, so I will go forth, but it sure doesn't look very promising on this path I am traveling.

Anyway our old pal Dag has something to say on this exact subject and I want to share it with all of you:

When the morning's freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg muscles quiver under the strain, the climb seems endless, and suddenly, nothing will go quite as you wish -- it is then that you must not hesitate.

Smart man, he. Trust in the Lord always and move forward, upward, whichever direction God is pointing.

No hesitation here, just ignore the sound of my knees knocking together with every step. I am sure they will stop soon enough.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Again Blessed Hermit Susan

I spent the summer in the desert, did I tell you this story already? It was HOT! I went there to support mrangelmeg who had to go there for work, and because it happened to be the California desert so it was a bit of a vacation, but along with the vacation-y parts of the trip came the discomfort of the HOT sun and the HOT wind and the dust, and did I mention the heat?

Anyway, as I spent my three and a half weeks in the desert I got to thinking about the desert fathers and mothers that we have been talking about on these Mystic Mondays. They lived in the desert and they didn't have the modern conveniences like central air conditioning and automobiles and trains to make travel so convenient as they moved through the desert.

So, today I want to share some wisdom from one of these desert mothers:Blessed Hermit Susan

From the time Susan was a little child in Persia she had dreams of going off and being a hermit. She so wanted to travel to the land of the desert mystics but her family kept her from doing so because of her age; at the time she first asked she was only eight years old. A few years later she ran away, joined a caravan of women and found her way out into the desert. She stayed with them for a long time but when they were ready to return she slipped away and remained in the desert.

She joined a monastic order but she longed for the solitude of a cave away from everyone and every distraction. She found just such a cave and moved herself there and eventually lived out the remainder of her life in that type of seclusion out in the desert, away from all human companionship and distraction. For her, this was what God was calling her to do. (Swan, Laura The Forgotten Desert Mothers, 2001 Paulist Press , p100)

God is probably not calling any of us to give up everyone we know and love and move out into a cave in the desert, but God often calls upon us to do things that others might not understand; like take a lower paying job because the hours are better for the family, or the stress level is better for our health.

How many of us would be willing to give up everything if that is what we know in our hearts is what God is calling us to do? How many of us are willing to live a life of total submission to God's will? Especially when others don't understand what or why we were doing what we were doing?

Pax

Mystic Monday: Vacation Edition Part II Gerard Manley Hopkins

Today dear children since I am on vacation -- although I had a workout this morning and did laundry and read two chapters of homework, so it doesn't feel much like vacation at this very moment -- I have decided that I can take a little detour from our regular visits with the mystics and branch out a bit. Last week we explored a bit of wisdom from Karl Rahner, and this week I want to share with you this beautiful bit of poetry from my favorite poet Gerard Manley Hopkins who might be considered a mystic, but probably doesn't qualify, but this is my blog and my vacation, so there.

So, here is one of my favorite Hopkins poems.

I Wake and Feel the Fell of Dark, Not Day
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

I wake and feel the fell of dark, not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light's delay.

With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.

I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.

Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see

the lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves, but worse.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Theological Detour: Karl Rahner

I am writing to you from my vacation here in beautiful Landisastercaster California, where we are staying. It's not so bad here, except for the temperature being in the 100's during the daylight hours, and not much to do or see.

Did I tell you that mrangelmeg is on a campaign to get us to go to the Borax museum? I rest my case)

Today for Mystic Monday I would like to take you to visit with a dear friend of mine from Gradual School, Dr Karl Rahner. I realize dear children that Karl Rahner, strictly speaking doesn't qualify as a mystic, but:

a) I am on vacation, and
b) this is my blog and I get to do what I want and
c) this being the year for priests I wanted to share with you something that was printed in the bulletin from Sacred Heart, the parish we are attending out here, which we really love.

Anyway, I have been a fan of Rahner ever since I had to read him in my Intro to Theology class. His theological writings are elegant and easy to understand, and at times border on poetic language, which is a great accomplishment for someone who first wrote in German one would think. The piece I want to share with you is a bit about the men who are called to the vocation of priest:


"The priest is not an angel sent from heaven, he is a man chosen from among men, a member of the Church, a Christian. Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak to you the word of God. This word is not his won, no, he speaks because God has told him to proclaim His word. Perhaps he has not entirely understood it himself, perhaps he communicates it poorly, but hie believes and despite his fears, he knows that he must communicate God's word to you . For must not someone say something about God, about eternal life, about the majesty of grace in our sanctified being; must not someone speak of sin, of judgement and of the mercy of God? So my dear friends, pray for him. Carry him so that he might be able to sustain others by bringing to them the mystery of God's love revealed in Christ Jesus."


Pax

Mystic Monday; Travel Edition

This week dear children I am "leaving on a jet plane." The angelbaby and I will be accompanying mrangelmeg on a business trip to the west coast for a few weeks while he does some work. We will have some free time to commune with nature, and if we get up the nerve, we may even take the train into Hollywood and do the whole tourist thing.

Oh, sorry I digress. Anyway in honor of my little trip, I thought we might revisit a friend who knew a bit about travel: Dag Hammarskjold:

Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.

The longest journey is the journey inward. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.

The more faithfully you listen to the voices within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.

The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.

Time always seems long to the child who is waiting - for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day.

I will continue to post while I am on vacation. Maybe I will even post some pictures.

Have happy travels through your own life.

Pax

Is is Really Mystic Monday Again?:

Today dear children I want to revisit our dear friend John of the Cross.


I want to with you something very simple today but something deeply profound. Something I have been meditating upon for the last week concerning my own life situation:

Deny your desires and you will find what your heart longs for.

For how do you know if any desire of yours is according to God?

John believed that the only way for true grace to enter into one's soul was for all other earthly desires to be banished. ' Nada, nada, nada' was his credo. Want nothing, save for God alone and God will give you all you really need.

Unfortunately for me, in the last few weeks I have been indulging in my earthly desires for good food and rest, and entertainment, when my mind should be occupied with other things. So dear children today's visit with our mystical brother was more for me than for the rest of you. A little denial might do me a lot of good.

Pax

Mystic Monday : Amma Syncletica

Dear children, in honor of Sr. Joan I am going to take us to visit with one of the desert mothers. Sr Joan taught me so much about life and exemplified the spirit of the Desert Mothers with her ministry at St Vincent over the 26 years she spent there. So to honor her I have chosen a visit with Amma Syncletica who encouraged self awareness as the pathway to a closer relationship with Christ.


Amma Syncletica was born into a noble family in Alexandria. At a young age she learned hard lessons through the deaths of her two beloved brothers and living with a sister who was blind. When her parents died she sold all her belongings, gave the proceeds to the poor and with her sister went to live in the family tomb in the hills to live as an ascetic.

Many women saw in her an example and teacher and began to come to her. She taught them how to strip away all that was unnecessary except for Christ alone, and to live a very simple holy life.


Here are a few of her sayings to ponder:


Amma Syncletica said: In the beginning there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. But after that there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and effort.


She also said: Those who put out to sea at first sailed with a favourable wind; then the sails spread, but later the wind becomes adverse. Then the ship is tossed by the waves and is no longer controlled by the rudder. But when in a little while there is calm, and the tempest dies down, then the ship sails on again. So it is with us, when we are driven by the spirits who are against us; we hold to the cross as our sail and so we can set a safe course.

She also said: There is an asceticism which is determined by the enemy and his disciples practise it. So how are we to distinguish between the divine and royal asceticism and the demonic tyranny? Clearly through its quality of balance.”


In other words, if it is worth doing it is worth perservering.

Keep on keeping on but stay balanced and remain focused on the goal.

Have someone you trust watch over you so that you don't do great harm to yourself in your practice of ascetism. Too much privation isn't good for anybody.

Pax

Mystic Monday John of the Cross on Love: all is nothing

Today dear children I am in a wistful mood, having just celebrated the birthday of the love of my life yesterday. So I think we shall visit our friend John of the Cross who knew a bit about love. .

His father Gonzalo was of noble blood and as a young man fell in love with a beautiful orphan girl, Catalina who made a living from weaving. His family were scandalized by the liaison and told him that they would disown him if he married this woman. John's father chose love over money and family loyalty, and married her anyway. John was the third son of this poor but happy union. Not long after John was born his father died due to lack of good health care.

The lesson John learned, taught to him by his father's example and his mother's self sacrificing love was that true love is worth any price, and if it is authentic, it is worth any sacrifice one has to make to achieve it.

Eventually this would be how John approached his own relationship with God. He would seek nothing, so that God could become everything for him. This is the bit I want to share with you today the way of nothing:

To come to savour all

seek to find savour in nothing;

To come to posses all,

seek possession in nothing;

to come to be all,

seek in all to be nothing. . .

to come to what you know not

you must go by a way where you know not . . .

to come to what you are not

you must go by a way where you are not.

It may be a bit of an enigma wrapped in a riddle locked in a puzzle for a very long time, but if you are seeking God, the way to true enlightenment and fulfillment is through self emptying sacrifice. If you seek to be empty, then God will fill the space.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Amma Theodora -- Lover of Souls

Today dear children we will return to the desert to visit with a mystical woman who was revered by even the Desert Fathers for her counsel. Amma Theodora was the wife of a tribune. She sought the way of humility as the pathway to perfection.

Here are a few pieces of wisdom from Amma Theodora:

It is good to live in peace , for the wise man practices perpetual prayer. It is truly a great thing for a virgin or monk to live in peace, especially the younger ones. However you should realize that as soon as you intend to live in peace, at once evil comes and weighs down your soul through accidie (sloth and depression) faintheartedness and evil thoughts. It also attacks your body through sickness, debility, weakness of the knees and all the members. It dissipates the strength of the soul and body, so that one believes one is ill and no longer able to pray. But if we are vigilant, all these temptations fall away. There was in fact a monk who was seized by cold and fever every time he began to pray, and he suffered from headaches, too. In this condition, he said to himself, "I am ill, and near to death; so now I will get up before I die and pray." By reasoning in this way, he did violence to himself and prayed. When he finished , the fever abated also. So by reasoning in this way, the brother resisted, and prayed and was able to conquer his thoughts.

A devout man happened to be insulted by someone and he said to him, "I could say as much to you, but the commandment of God keeps my mouth shut."

Give the body discipline and you will see that the body is for Him who made it.

If you are wondering why of all her saying I chose these, it is because I needed to hear these particular few for my own spiritual nourishment and growth.

Amma Theodora knew what she was talking about. In particular I am going to write a post in the next few days on the topic of my own battle with accidie, when I get some time to sit down and collect my thoughts.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) and God's Will

Today dear children we visit Holy Hildegard of Bingen, our sister in faith. Her legacy of poetry and the symphony of harmony of heaven found in her music is amazing and deeply moving. One would think that with a talent like hers she knew from the beginning that she was called to do God's will, but that was not so. In fact the power of the call was so strong that she felt totally inadequate to the task, and it scared her and humbled her. This is what she wrote about the unfolding of her calling:

But although I heard and saw these things, because of doubt and low opinion of myself and because of diverse sayings of men, I refused for a long time a call to write, not out of stubbornness but out of humility, until weighed down by a scourge of god, I fell onto a bed of sickness.

I too struggle with my calling to be a writer. I know that I want to be a writer but it is only in the last few years that I have really felt called to write and in fact seen fruit from my writing. Each time I write something that touches someone I am so humbled that my small gift would be used in such a way. But each time my words draw someone closer to God I am reminded of Hildegard's reluctance and humility and I keep writing and sharing my work, because I do feel that God has called me to do so.

It is thought that Hildegard suffered from migraines. The symptoms she describes in her writing are the same as those of a classic migraine. This is another reason that endears her to me because I too suffer from migraines. Without my daily medication I would be prone to the most horrible attacks at unpredictable times. With my medication I am migraine free. I am blessed to live in this century and not in the eleventh century as Hildegard did.

Her music is beautiful I want to share a bit with you. If you follow this link you will see the text of a plainsong chant and then from that page you can click on a link for the sound of women singing the chant. It is so beautiful.

O Verdant Maiden

Pax

Mystic Monday: Old Friends Week

I spent this last weekend with Gradual School friends at St Meinrad because it was Graduation weekend and there are still people that we went to classes with who are graduating; way to go Paul and Ben and Mike and Glory,(who had the tough job of representing as the only woman in the graduating class this year); as well as seminarians we know who are finishing up since it takes them so many more years to get their MDiv than it takes us to get our MA and MTS degrees. Congrats to Deacons Peter Marshall, Jeremy Gries, John Hollowell, and Chris Wadelton from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, who will be ordained to the priesthood in June.

Anyway, I digress (a favorite saying of one of my friends with whom I spent the weekend)

Since I spent the weekend with old friends, I have decided to revisit an old friend for Mystic Monday. Because I took a survey on Facebook on Friday and to my utter shock was told that should I choose to join a monastic order I would be best suited to join the Dominicans, I am going to return to Henry Susso, a Dominican from the 14th Century, who loved the name of Jesus so much he gave himself a tatoo of the Holy Name over his heart with his writing stylus . (personally, I would have gone for a slightly less permanent badge of rememberance, but hey if it worked for him . . .)

Here is a bit from his text on "The Computer of Wisdom" a stricture for living the Spiritual Life

In the fellowship of saints which as the morning stars shone in the dark night of this world and as the sun and moon shed forth the beams of their clear knowledge you shall find some who surpassingly were perfectly grounded not only in active life and virtue but also in contemplation, of whose teaching and example you may take the most perfect doctrine and love of true spiritual life. And nevertheless I willingly and condescendingly to your youth and inexperience shall give you some principles of spiritual living for a memory to have always at hand to set you in the right working if you desire to have the perfection of spiritual life that is to be desired by all men and if you will and desire to take it up manfully you shall first withdraw from ill fellowship and harmful company of all men who would hinder you from your good purpose, seeking always opportunity when and what time you may retire and there take privy silence for contemplation and flee from the perils and turbulance of this harmful world. Always it belongs to you first to study to have cleanness of heart, that is to say that you keep your sensory perceptions turned into yourself and there you have as much as is possible the doors of your heart busily closed from the forms of outward things and images of earthly things. Truly among all other spiritual exercises cleanness of heart has the sovereignty, as a final intent and reward of all the travails that a chosen knight of Christ is to receive.

Good companions, time to study God's word and stay away from earthly distractions that draw you away from Godly things. Isn't it amazing how easy the right stuff really is?

Pax

Mystic Monday: Storyteller - Mystic? Toss of the Coin Semantic Riddle

Today dear children I am going to do something radically different and introduce to you someone who is still living. Megan McKenna self identifies as a Theologian Storyteller but I think that is simply semantics. When I read her writings they have all the beauty and connection to the divine of any of the mystical writings of the ancient and medieval mystics. Perhaps it is humility that keeps her from calling her own writings mystical.





If you would like to grow in the spiritual life you would do well to read any one of her works.

One of my personal favorites, and the one I am going to share a tidbit from today is called Send my Roots Rain: A Spirituality of Justice and Mercy





this little piece of poetry comes from a section on Justice:

I want to be remembered for having wove the Word

subtly through every fabric and design hiding it and then

uncovering detail, color, thread and line.

Wrapping all of earth and all its cretures in a cloth

fair, delicate and fine, that held a people's hopes and bread

and fragments and pieces of heart to raise the dead.

I wan to be remembered for having shorn the sheep

and gathered wool and spun and carded and made garments

against the cold. And then to have weathered all hte storms

and dwelled in the high mountain passes and found the deep

and

greenest grasses for their hungers. And stayed, keeping watch

over them, singing and humming them home with the Word.

Amen

Pax

Mystic Monday: Gonna Take An Orthodox Side Trip

Today dear children we are taking a slight side trip on our mystical journey to the land of the Orthodox church in the east. We shall be visiting with Dionysius the Areopagite (aka Pseudo-Dionysius to his homies c 500).

Very little is known about his life apart from his works which are a synthesis of Christian and Greek thought that created a mystical doctrine that layed the groundwork for all succeeding Christian mystics. They shaped the theology and Spirituality of both Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity (King, Christian Mystics p 54)

Denys, as he came to be called, said that one could not know God, but one could experience God. He can be reached and found if He is sought on the right path.

God must be sought with an eyeless mind. The sould yearns for the union with Him whom neither being nor understanding can contain," who is "Darkness which is beyondLight," and whose visions can only be attained through the loss of all sight and knowledge. (King, p 56)

I am leaving you today with a small section from the introduction of chapter one of Celestial Heirarchy, one of his theological tretises which is very deep, but lovingly written nonetheless.

That every divine illumination, while going forth with love in various ways to the objects of its forethought, remains one. Nor is this all: it also unifies the things illuminated.

'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of Lights.'[James 1:17]

Moreover, every divine procession of radiance from the Father, while constantly bounteously flowing to us, fills us anew as though with a unifying power, by recalling us to things above, and leading us to the unity of the Shepherding Father and to the Divine One. For from Him and into Him are all things, as is written in the holy Word.

It isn't rocket science; everything comes from God the Father and as such leads back to God because we live and breathe and have our being in God alone.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Divine Mercy Edition

Yesterday was Divine Mercy Sunday, a relatively new feast day in our Catholic Tradition, but one that is very special to many people, most especially John Paul the Great our late Pope. He had a great devotion to the Divine Mercy of Jesus, and spoke often using one of my favorite images of God's love as an Ocean of Mercy.

So, in honor of Divine Mercy Sunday yesterday dear children we will visit with a beautiful young woman today, St Faustina, to whom our Blessed Saviour sent the image of His Divine Mercy. She spoke of it in her autobiography in this way:

"In the evening, when I was in my cell, I became aware of the Lord Jesus clothed in a white garment. One hand was raised in blessing, the other was touching the garment at the breast. From the opening of the garment at the breast there came forth two large rays, one red and the other pale. In silence I gazed intently at the Lord; my soul was overwhelmed with fear, but also with great joy. After a while Jesus said to me, 'paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the inscription: Jesus, I trust in You.'"

She painted the image, just as she had seen it, and we know it today as the Divine Mercy.

This is how Our Lord Himself described the image to her:

"The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous; the red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. These two rays issued forth from the depths of My most tender Mercy at that time when My agonizing Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross....Fortunate is the one who will dwell in their shelter, for the just hand of God shall not lay hold of him."

We also have a chaplet of Divine Mercy which is said on a standard Rosary and asks for reparations not only for our own sins, but also for the sins of the whole world. It is one of the most beautiful prayers that I have ever heard sung. There is a place on the click through page to hear it sung, it is worth the time to click on the YouTube link and listen, I promise you.

Pax

Mystic Monday: Dyngus Day Special

The Monday after Easter is known as Dyngus Day. In honor of that I am offering a special Mystic Monday. Today dear children we will visit with a Polish saint, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, a dear friend of mrangelmeg's and mine.

This particular saint may not be one who would be at first considered a mystic, but he did in truth have a mystical vision early on in his life. He saw the Blessed Virgin while at prayer. This is what he said later of that experience:

"That night, I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both."

He went on to become a Franciscan who worked as a great evangelist, and used radio and new technologies of the time to spread the Good News. During the early years of the Second World War he hid many Jews, protecting them from persecution and death at the hands of the Germans. For this he was eventually arrested and sent to Auschwitz where he died in the stead of another man in a retributional killing by the guards.

I leave you, dear children with this prayer of Maximilian's as he was being led away by the Gestapo with his brother friars.

Courage, my sons. Don’t you see that we are leaving on a mission? They pay our fare in the bargain. What a piece of good luck! The thing to do now is to pray well in order to win as many souls as possible. Let us, then, tell the Blessed Virgin that we are content, and that she can do with us anything she wishes” (Maximilian Mary Kolbe, when first arrested).

Pax

Mystic Monday: Holy Week Edition

Each Holy Week I spend my days in pursuit of a lofty goal; something I wouldn't do on any other normal day. Last year I read a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins each day of Holy Week. The sprung rhythm was a wonderful addition to my contemplation of the days as I moved toward Easter.

This year I have decided to delve more deeply into the poetry of John of the Cross. I am going to attempt to resisit the urge to read the commentary (you might not know this, but John wrote commentary for every line of poetry he wrote.) and just savor the words themselves without explanation.

Here is the stanza I have chosen today from The Spiritual Canticle:

Now I occupy my soul
And all my energy in his service,
I no longer tend the herd
Nor have I any other work
Now that my every act is love.

Without any commentary I believe that I understand this verse. Do any of you, dear children understand the feeling that one's life of work changes dramatically when one encounters He that is Love Personified?

Pax