Preparing for Lent

I thought Divine Intimacy might have some tips on preparing for Lent. I was right, but they don't have 3 days, they have 3 weeks worth! In short, they encourage purification of the senses, detachment and the way of "Nothing". A tall order for 2 days, but it is worth turning your mind and heart to the Lord to see what He may want for you this Lent. Here is just a taste of what Divine Intimacy offers during this preparation time:

"My God, give me the light necessary to recognize in myself all that keeps me from union with You...You know, O Lord, that I have great need of Your help, for I am too attached to myself to be capable of struggling against my disordered affections, of giving up so many little pleasures which feed my egotism. I love myself too much to sacrifice what separates me from You. Then, let me present myself to You, O Lord, as a sick person to a surgeon; plunge the knife into my soul, cut away and destroy all that displeases You and that is not in accord with Your will." (Divine Intimacy #79, p. 235 of the one volume version).

Desert Legacy

"Persevere in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." (Col 4:2)

"Ceaseless prayer is the ideal of the monastic life developed by Saint Anthony. Its goal is purity of heart, that is, a heart so filled with love for God and neighbor that there is room for nothing else. Its tool is discernment, that is, the habit of watchfully testing the inner movements of the heart, following those which are from God and ignoring those which are not. It is the desert legacy to all who seek God in any walk of life."
--from Magnificat, January 2012, p. 254-5

Ordinary Time

Command over Unclean Spirits

       I am begging you, since it is so delightful, never let any trouble or temptation the devil might give you make you look back;  never let your soul give in to sadness or discouragement, for the devil would like nothing better.  He likes to give us lots of annoyances and different sorts of struggles, and suggest false judgments against what we are commanded in obedience.  He doesn’t do this thinking we will fall at the first stroke, but only to lead us to unreasonable sadness and spiritual discouragement.  For once he has brought us to sadness and discouragement, we become frustrated with ourselves and abandon our spiritual practices, thinking God must not be pleased or satisfied with what we have been doing, since we are experiencing so much darkness and coldheartedness.  We seem to have lost the warmth of charity, and so we think it better to let go of these practices than to keep them up.  Then the devil is happy, because he sees we are ready to be led into despair – and this is the one way he can get us.

         For if all the sins there are were collected in my one body, and I still had true hope and lively faith in infinite mercy, nobody would be able to keep me from receiving and sharing in the fruit of the blood of God’s Son.

St. Catherine of Siena, quoted in Magnificat, January, 2012 p. 141

Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus

Nothing restrains anger,
curbs pride,
heals the wounds of malice,
bridles self-indulgence,
quenches lustful passions,
checks greed and
puts unclean thoughts to flight
as does the name of JESUS.
--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Merry Christmas!

The Birth

When the time had come

for him to be born,

he went forth like the bridegroom

from his bridal chamber,

embracing his bride,

holding her in his arms,

whom the gracious Mother

laid in a manger

among some animals

that were there at that time.

Men sang songs

and angels melodies

celebrating the marriage

of Two such as these.

But God there in the manger

cried and moaned;

and these tears were jewels

the bride brought to the wedding.

The Mother gazed in sheer wonder

on such an exchange:

in God, man’s weeping,

and in man, gladness,

to the one and the other things so strange.

                          --St. John of the Cross

Feast of St. John of the Cross

The Dark Night

1. One dark night,
fired with love's urgent longings
- ah, the sheer grace! -
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.

2. In darkness, and secure,
by the secret ladder, disguised,
- ah, the sheer grace! -
in darkness and concealment,
my house being now all stilled.

3. On that glad night,
in secret, for no one saw me,
nor did I look at anything,
with no other light or guide
than the one that burned in my heart.

4. This guided me
more surely than the light of noon
to where he was awaiting me
- him I knew so well -
there in a place where no one appeared.

5. O guiding night!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that has united
the Lover with his beloved,
transforming the beloved in her Lover.

6. Upon my flowering breast
which I kept wholly for him alone,
there he lay sleeping,
and I caressing him
there in a breeze from the fanning cedars.

7. When the breeze blew from the turret,
as I parted his hair,
it wounded my neck
with its gentle hand,
suspending all my senses.

8. I abandoned and forgot myself,
laying my face on my Beloved;
all things ceased; I went out from myself,
leaving my cares
forgotten among the lilies.

             - St. John of the Cross

"Whenever my enemy provokes me to combat, I try to behave like a soldier."

St. Therese, the Little Flower