Of Immeasurable Things

There is a temptation to live by the measures of others. Yet, the most noble and beautiful mysteries of this present life cannot be measured. What is born in the heart of mother and child when each beholds the other for the first time is hidden from the external observer. The exchange in the glances between the forgiven and the forgiver remains un-circumscribed by the merely calculable. How much more immeasurable is the explosion of noble affection, joy and spiritual tears known in the heart of someone who has glimpsed the tenderness of God.

We allow what is visible and material to command so much of our attention. The weight of loving things lower than the greatness of our dignity drags us down.  For this reason, whims of the moment rob us of a deeper peace that we are meant to know and anxieties distract us from giving our hearts in trust to the only One who can truly relieve our fears.  We try to control and to contain, but we are all the less secure. How many tears are shed over the loss of tangible but passing things that could never have satisfied our heart no matter how hard we clung.

It is not that there is no place for the measurable. This visible world is a wondrous gift from God and our natural power of reasons reckons so many of his wonders in amazement. These are gifts and love letters bestowed on us because we are, more than anything else, beloved. A multitude of astonishing creatures flows over our existence and is entrusted to us with such tender care. Our ability to behold this great bounty allows us to give thanks and, in response, to become good stewards. Yet we must never forget that what is measurable is only a sign of something so much more -- the faintest shadow of a great mystery that eagerly awaits us in an excess of love. 

Angels on Our Side

In the battles and challenges of this life, we have an army of holy angels on our side. Working in invisible and spiritual ways, they stand with us against everything that would threaten our dignity or undermined our integrity. Because they have been sent by God Himself, they rejoice in this great project -- safeguarding, guiding, encouraging and sometimes warning us - just when we need them to be close.

What an awesome gift they are to us!  Their presence with us speaks to the greatness of our vocation as well as the great battle that we fight. Each soul is precious to the hosts of heaven -- for the hosts of heaven have contemplated how that soul is precious in the eyes of God. They have seen the Divine Plan and they yearn that this plan might be realized for each of us.

The drama of God's love and human freedom plays out against a story that preceded this present world and that will last long after it has past away. Angels help us hold on to this perspective so that we do not allow ourselves to be subject to the tyranny of urgent circumstance and emotional frenzy. Their spiritual presence creates space in the visible world in which we thrive.

In Christ, good has triumphed over evil. If diabolical intelligences seem to have dominion in the chaos and confusion of this world and its politics, it is only an appearance. For indeed, twice the myriads of angels serve the living God -- and the Son of the Living God leads them to bring order and peace in all those hearts where the love of the Father is most needed. Who can stand against our God and His Heavenly Hosts?

Mysterious Movements of the Holy Spirit

Mysterious movements of the Holy Spirit seize the soul in prayer when serious truths are at stake. That is why, in our daily affairs, we must pray constantly. 

Sometimes, you do not know the words to say, but your heart knows something must be said: this is a critical moment for prayer. 

Sometimes, in the midst of tension, the right thing is not to diffuse the tension, but to make space for it and to allow it to sink it: prayer makes this space. 

Sometimes, clever narratives seem to win the day: prayer unmasks the myth. 

Sometimes, when courage fails, and evil seems to be unchallenged: one finds the heart to act because the mind is raised to God.

The reason turning to prayer at such times is the right thing to do is not because prayer provides an escape or serves as a coping mechanism. We pray in faith because the Holy Spirit has been sent into the nitty gritty of our daily lives, and the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

The Vessel of Elizabeth of the Trinity

[For 24 September 1906—on the occasion 

of M. Germaine’s 12th Anniversary of her Profession]

Immensus Pater, immensus Filius,

Immensus Spiritus Sanctus

-St. Athanasius

Behold the vessel of Laudem Gloriae,
O Mother, what a splendid journey was made! . . .
Through the peaceful night, all wrapped in silence,
Gently drifting upon the Ocean immense,
All at rest under the vault of Heaven,
“The great voice of God” she hears beckon.
Swept up suddenly by fathomless swells,
The frail little skiff lost under the waves.

It was the Trinity, opening to me His breast,
And I found my center in the Divine Abyss!
Not on shore’s edge will I remain,
Into the Infinite I plunge, my share there contained.
My soul rests in this immensity,
And lives with the Three as in eternity!
O Mother, listen well to the end of this story,
So to rejoice for your Praise of Glory.

Her homecoming to God, celebrates your feast
Her deep longing to stay “in that spacious place.”
All her sojourn always unchanged,
Behold her heart designs a sacred crusade:
Your feast will last until that solemn eve,
When Laudem Gloriae to Heaven flees,
To commence once again, surpassing life’s days,
In the Divine Secret of the Father’s Face.

-St. Elizabeth of the Trinity [Poem 115]
Translated by Julie Enzler (2018)

Battle of Contemplative Prayer

There much pre-occuaption with ecclesiastical authority. It is time to remember that the Church not only has a head, but a heart - and for the heart of the Church, the Head, the Bridegroom laid down His Life. No one can act in the person of Christ the Head and betray this self-gift of the Lord - to do so is to lose one's own integrity and poses a threat to the integrity and dignity of others. The royal road to the heart, to the self-donation for the sake of the heart, this is the humble pathway and great battle of contemplative prayer.

There is a certain cynicism in ecclesiastical circles regarding contemplation and the mystical tradition of the Church. Too many mistake silent prayer for self-absorption and so cut themselves off from the source of the Church's holiness. Others limit themselves to an outward show to garnish credibility, admiration and political capitol. This is a foolish mistake.

Whoever believes that contemplative prayer is an escape from the troubles of this world or else some other therapeutic occupation has never really prayed. This most vulnerable forms of prayer is not about religious feelings and safe ideas. This surrender of the heart peers into a dangerous abyss -- if you are not careful, you will fall in.

Yes. This tearful abyss is dangerous for mediocrity and a half lived life. This spiritual death is perilous to a comfortable existence. In this prayer of self-abnegation, one slips down a slope of human misery and heartache.  One suffers the truth about one's own life and the world. One faces off against all kinds of irrational and diabolic powers. It is a fight to the death -- and it is one's own life that is given up and sacrificed.

For this abyss and the battle fought there is circumscribed by an even deeper abyss. Human misery and evil are not deeper or more extensive than the mercy of God. They are limited -- Divine Mercy limitless.  In this divine limitlessness is the ground of our existence - the place where all that is true about human is held up. Silent prayer is drawn by the gravity of this love no matter the misery it suffers or battles it fights on the way.

Here, in the immensity of Divine Love, we find the only hope for the holiness of the Church. Here we find the gravitational center that draws us is the very source of her life. Go here and find the power to tear down walls of corruption and secrecy that threaten her fruitfulness. Go into this great silence and receive that undying energy that builds up honesty, purity, and solidarity. For Love rebuilds what we have destroyed. This purifying Fire is the source of renewal and reform - its radiance unmasks deceit and its warmth melts the coldest heart.