Blog by-the-Sea

The Opposite of Pride

Some years ago, I read an article in a car magazine (not the sort of thing I read often) written by a race car driver.  He was writing about instruction he had received in how to become a better race car driver.  One of the first things he was told was that to learn to drive faster, he needed to slow down.  A lot.  Because only by slowing down could he develop the precision that he needed if he was going to learn to drive faster well.

So it is, too, that St. Teresa of Avila wrote that before we can be Mary (the more contemplative sister), we must learn to be Martha (the more active sister).  She speaks in her Life (22:13) of "a little failure in humility, in that the soul desires to rise of itself before our Lord raises it, and is not satisfied with meditation on so excellent a subject,—seeking to be Mary before it has laboured with Martha.  If our Lord will have a soul to be Mary, even on the first day, there is nothing to be afraid of; but we must not be self-invited guests, as I think I said on another occasion.  This little mote of want of humility, though in appearance a mere nothing, does a great deal of harm to those who wish to advance in contemplation."

Humility

Humility is what these two examples have in common -- a humility that is necessary to growth in the spiritual life.  It is a humility that resists trying to be what we want to be before we have really become it.  Or, rather, it is a way of working toward becoming the people we want to be by paying more attention to the every day details of who we are in the present moment.

The idea of writing about the opposite of pride, and meditating on what that might be, was given to me by a priest who had spent more than 25 years in the priesthood before the first time anyone confessed pride to him in the confessional.  Yet pride is a root cause of sin in its various forms.  Pride was the root sin of Sodom, according to Ezekial 16:49-50 ("Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them, when I saw it.").  Pride is associated with the love of the world in I John 2:15-17 ("Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever.")  It is no wonder, then, that St. Teresa would have seen it as an impediment to contemplation.

To say that humility is the opposite of pride is perhaps to state the obvious, but it becomes tricky unless we define the terms.  That is so because someone can be proud of their humility (false humility)  and because it is possible to confuse pride with self-confidence or courage.  The pride that is a sin is not true self-confidence, and the humility that is a virtue is not false humility. 

The Hebrew word for "pride" used in Ezekial 16 above means to be high, exalted, or lofty.  The word is a good thing when it describes God, and a bad thing when it describes people.  For a person to be high, exalted, or lofty (or to think himself so) is arrogance.  In a way, it means that a human being sees himself or herself as exalted, when that is how he or she should see God.  The Greek word for pride used in I John 2 above means, according to Strong's, "empty braggart talk" or "an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights."  Both words then describe a false pride, particularly that seen in people who lift themselves up to a level that belongs to God and not to themselves.

It is a difficult thing to describe in others because so much has to do with motivation.  We are supposed to be trying to become more like the saints.  Yet the person who is trying to act saintly may well be thought prideful by someone else watching.  It is probably best, then, to think only about our own pride and how we might correct it, and not about what we think to be pride in another person.  ("Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." I Samuel 16:7)

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Looking for examples in the lives of the other Carmelite saints, and wisdom in their writings, there is more to add to the words of St. Teresa about labouring with Martha.  The humility of St. Thérèse of Lisieux is seen in her examples of living everyday life, in the day-to-day difficulties of living with others and working with others, writing more about the mundane everyday actions that often involved covering up her true feelings toward others and acting in charity when she didn't feel like it.  In the words of Bernard Bro (St. Thérèse of Lisieux: Her Family, Her God, Her Message), "in everyday life, to do the truth, but in the name of a love that comes from above and that then transcends strictures, petty details, or a settling of scores."  Hans Urs von Balthasar speaks of such humility and its role in making progress in the spiritual life in The Little Way, quoting St. Thérèse at the end:

"Progress does not come through acquisitions but through losing everything; it does not mean climbing, it means descending. A novice sighs: 'When I think of everything I still have to acquire!' 'You mean, to lose! Jesus takes it upon Himself to fill your soul, in the measure that you rid it of its imperfections. I see that you have taken the wrong road; you will never arrive at the end of your journey. You are wanting to climb a great mountain, and the good God is trying to make you descend it; He is waiting for you at the bottom in the fertile valley of humility.'"

St. Edith Stein

It would be a mistake to misinterpret the little way of St. Thérèse to mean that everyone must become as simple as she was in her early 20's or else be found guilty of pride.   At the other extreme of the scale of sophistication might be found another Carmelite saint, St. Edith Stein, and yet there we find another example of such slowing down in order to become faster.  Even as a nun, her everyday life was much different from that of St. Thérèse, particularly during the writing of her sophisticated books, Finite and Eternal Being and The Science of the Cross.

While the other nuns knew nothing of Edith's work as a lecturer before entering Carmel, and she took care to avoid being condescending, her intellectual sophistication eventually became a part of her everyday life at Carmel, as she began to write again.  She was nearly 20 years older than the two novices when she entered, and could not have been perceived the same way as Thérèse, who entered Carmel at an exceptionally young age and lived only to the age of 24.  It could not have been said of Edith near her death, as one of the Lisieux nuns said of Thérèse, that she "has certainly done nothing worth the trouble of being recounted."

Still, in a letter written soon after she entered Carmel, Edith told her colleague Dr. Hans Brunnengräber, "Carmel is a high mountain that one must climb from its very base." Teresa Renatta Posselt, O.C.D., who was Edith's novice mistress, wrote, "In all actuality, for Edith Stein entrance into Carmel was a descent from the height of a distinguished career to the depth of insignificance."  (Edith Stein: The Life of a Philosopher and Carmelite).

St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross, writing as a superior who had guided both students and teachers of prayer, wrote separately about the effects of pride on a beginner and the effects of pride on a director.  It manifests itself differently in different people, in their different responsibilities.

In The Dark Night of the Soul Book One, Chapter 2, he wrote about pride in beginners.  They seek to speak of spiritual things in the presence of others, and even to instruct rather than be instructed.  Some "become so evil-minded that they do not want anyone except themselves to appear holy" and thus "strain at the other's gnat and swallow their own camel [Mt. 23:24]".   When their spiritual directors, confessors or superiors disapprove of their method of procedure, they think their directors do not understand, and seek one they like better.  Many want to be their confessor's favorite, and they become consumed by envies. 

In contrast, those who are advancing benefit from their humility, placing little importance on their own deeds, and thinking that everyone else is better than they are.  They become more aware of their debt to God.  Their charity and love make them want to do so much for God that what they actually accomplish seems like nothing.  They long to be taught by anyone who might be a help to them.  They are ready to take a different road from the one they are following if told to do so.  "These souls would give their life's blood to anyone who serves God, and they will do whatever they can to help others serve him."

In The Living Flame of Love, Stanza 3, he wrote about pride in spiritual directors.  When some directors react with jealousy when a directee consults with someone else or or leaves for another director, John called it "a jealousy motivated by your own pride and presumption or some other imperfection, for you should not assume that in turning from you this person turned from God."  (3:59)  "God leads each one along different paths so that hardly one spirit will be found like another in even half its method or procedure." Even when a director acts out of ignorance rather than egoism or jealousy, he said, they still are not excused for giving counsels without understanding "the road and spirit a person may be following."  When a directee is dissatisfied, it is a sign that the director is not helping him or her, either because God is making that person advance by a different road from the one along which the director is leading, or because the director has changed style.  In that event, John said, the directors themselves should counsel a change of director; "all the rest stems from foolish pride and presumption, or some other ambition."

The Remedies for Pride Described by Two Popes

The humility of Jesus, and our recognition of our lack of self-sufficiency, is seen as the remedy for pride in the meditation on the third station of the cross in the Via Crucis 2005 (written by then Cardinal Ratzinger):

"In Jesus’s fall beneath the weight of the Cross, the meaning of his whole life is seen: his voluntary abasement, which lifts us up from the depths of our pride. The nature of our pride is also revealed: it is that arrogance which makes us want to be liberated from God and left alone to ourselves, the arrogance which makes us think that we do not need his eternal love, but can be the masters of our own lives. In this rebellion against truth, in this attempt to be our own god, creator and judge, we fall headlong and plunge into self-destruction. The humility of Jesus is the surmounting of our pride; by his abasement he lifts us up. Let us allow him to lift us up. Let us strip away our sense of self-sufficiency, our false illusions of independence, and learn from him, the One who humbled himself, to discover our true greatness by bending low before God and before our downtrodden brothers and sisters."

A humble and spontaneous trust in the One Lord is contrasted with pride in the August 10, 2005 General Audience of Pope Benedict XVI on Psalm 131 ("LORD, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me."):

"The Psalm begins by describing an attitude quite the opposite of infancy, which, well aware of its own frailty, trusts in the help of others. In the foreground of this Psalm, instead, are pride of heart, haughty eyes and 'great things' that are 'too sublime for me' (cf. Ps 131[130]: 1). This is an illustration of the proud person who is described by Hebrew words that suggest "pride" and "haughtiness", the arrogant attitude of those who look down on others, considering them inferior.

"The great temptation of the proud, who want to be like God, the arbiter of good and evil (cf. Gn 3: 5), is decisively rejected by the person of prayer who chooses humble and spontaneous trust in the One Lord."

Pope Paul VI pointed to charity as the remedy for pride in his Encyclical Ad Petri Cathedram (On Truth, Unity and Peace in a Spirit of Charity):

"But all will come out well if the social teaching of the Catholic Church is applied as it should be to the problem. Everyone then must strive to preserve in himself and to arouse in others, be they of high or low degree, the queen and mistress of all the virtues, charity. The salvation we hope for is to be expected primarily from a great outpouring of charity. We refer to that Christian charity which is a principle synthesizing the entire gospel. That charity is always ready to spend itself in the interest of others and is the surest remedy against worldly pride and immoderate self-esteem. St. Paul the Apostle described the characteristics of this virtue when he said: 'Charity is patient, is kind; is not selfseeking; bears with all things, endures all things' (1 Cor. 13.4-7)."

The remedies that they propose are a humble trust in the Lord and the virtue of charity that  bears and endures all things from others.  Returning to the example offered by St. Teresa of Avila, it is surely such charity, "always ready to spend itself in the interest of others" that describes a true Martha, rather than busy herself "with great matters, with things too sublime" for her.  In learning from Jesus, who humbled himself, by "bending low before God and before our downtrodden brothers and sisters", we would be neither the proud beginners nor the proud directors described by St. John of the Cross.  The "person of prayer who chooses humble and spontaneous trust in the One Lord" rather than things too sublime for him or her is surely the "Martha" who will slow down in prayer to learn to pray well.

A Museum of Carmelite Art and Architecture

In its mid-April e-newsletter, the Discalced Carmelite curia includes an article titled A Carmelite Museum in Andalusia (Spain), in which the order's curia encourages Carmelite communities that have a "notable artistic patrimony" to consider placing it on public display.   The article particularly mentions the website of a Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Antequera, Malaga, Spain, founded in 1632.  The monastery has opened a museum for its works of art, some of them centuries old. 

The website allows an online virtual tour.  Start here.  Choose "Visita Virtual al Museo" and then click on each of the options under that heading, starting with "Entrada al Museo."  Some options have only one page of photos.  For others, such as the entrance ("entrada"), there are several pictures that you can click on.  For the entrance, for example, there are 3 photos of the exterior and one of the beautiful interior with its characteristic blue and white Spanish tile, woods, and architecture -- a work of art in itself.

On a related them, there is an earlier post here called Art, Detachment and the Beauty of God about the importance of religious art in the present day Church and in the views of Discalced Carmelite saints St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.

Martyrs of the Nativity

December 26 through 28 are feast days of St. Stephen the Martyr, St. John the Apostle (who was willing to die for his faith but lived a long life), and  the Holy Innocents.  Thus, three days of the Octave of the Nativity remember different kinds of martyrs.

Interestingly, the best known blessed named for the Nativity in religious life was also a martyr, as was an Augustinian named for the Nativity whose cause for beatification is pending.

Blessed Dionysius of the Nativity (also called "Bl. Denis of the Nativity") was a Discalced Carmelite missionary who was tortured and martyred by Muslims in 1638 on the Malay archipelago (Sumatra, Indonesia).  The cause for his canonization is pending.  A Frenchman, he was born Pierre Berthelot.  His memorial is November 29.

Anthony of the Nativity, a contemporary of Bl. Dionysius of the Nativity, was one of the Mombasa Martyrs, Portuguese Augustinians who died in 1631 in what is now Kenya.  Their cause for beatification was opened soon after their deaths and is still pending.

Of course, not all blesseds named for the such mysteries are martyrs.  As an example, Bl. Marie of the Incarnation (also called "Bl. Mary of the Incarnation") was another contemporary of Bl. Dionysius of the Nativity.  She too was a French Discalced Carmelite, born Barbe Avillot.  A wife and mother of six, she became a lay Discalced Carmelite after her husband's death.  She died of natural causes in 1618 at the age of 52.  Her memorial is April 18.

The Centenary of St. Raphael Kalinowski

November 19 is the memorial of St. Raphael Kalinowski, and the centenary of his death.  He was a Discalced Carmelite friar in Poland, canonized in 1991 by Pope John Paul II.

In commemoration of his centenary, the Information Service of the Discalced Carmelite Curia has posted a letter from the Superior General, Luis Aróstegui Gamboa, OCD, about the saint.  Father Gamboa concludes:

"I nourish the hope that, in our world of rapid and deep change, and of dissension and drama, the awareness and prayerful meditation of the message of St Raphael Kalinowski would represent for us a stimulus for accepting and verifying, with truth and joy, our call to the tradition of Carmel. His courage in searching, his perseverance, his ability to relate with comprehension and compassion, his attentiveness to surrounding needs, the natural union of contemplation and action are some of the characteristics of what he hands down to us."

ICS Publications offers a short book about the saint, titled St. Raphael Kalinowski: An Introduction to His Life and Spirituality.  The Vatican's website has a short biography of the saint from his canonization.  A full-size picture of that shown here in thumbnail form can be seen by clicking on "Photo" on the Vatican's biography page.

For the memorial of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity

November 8 is the memorial of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity.  Here are a few links:

A website devoted to Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity has pages in several languages.

From last year, a post with links to Articles for the Centenary of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity.  There is a post with a quote from her from April ("His light alone, which is the glory of God").

The Carmelite Digest issue for her centenary is still available online at the link.  At the bottom of the linked article, see links to other articles from the same issue on the left side of the page.

The Meditations from Mt. Carmel archive of podcasts has audios of Bl. Elizabeth's writings here, here, here, here, and here (or just go to the archive page and choose the ones you want from there).

The website alone with the Alone has an article called "The Fellowship of His Sufferings: The Example of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity" by Jennifer Moorcroft.

There is a page about her on the Catholic Forum's Patron Saint Index.

ICS Publications has a page with her complete works and a biography.

Conrad de Meester's masterful 741-page biography Elisabeth de la Trinité, just published in French in 2006 and not yet translated into English, is available from Amazon France.  ICS Publications has previously published English translations of Conrad de Meester's books about St. Thérèse of Lisieux and about the writings of Lawrence of the Resurrection.

Meditations from Carmel: A Podcast

I did a post on Catholic podcasts a while back.  One podcast particularly dedicated to Carmelite spirituality is Meditations from Carmel.  The latest topics include meditations from Père Jacques, Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, and Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity.  You can listen online, use an RSS link, download the mp3 file, subscribe in iTunes, and also can request an e-mail notification of each new episode that is published.

The meditations are also available in broadcast quality for radio stations.  Each episode is from 1.5 to 5 minutes in length and can be provided to radio stations for use in between programs.  There is a link at the Meditations website for anyone interested in helping to further the ministry of these podcasts by sharing them with a local Catholic radio station.

The podcasts are an OCDS ministry (Secular Discalced Carmelites) from the Province of St. Joseph in St. Louis Missouri.  It is an example of the growing number of Carmelite laity with a mission of sharing Carmelite spirituality in the world.

Chartres Carmel Prays for Pilgrims in the Cathedral

The French daily news service La Croix mentioned the Chartres Carmel in an article yesterday about the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres.  The article's title means "Chartres, a Creed in Glass and Stone."

A section of the article speaks about the Marian devotion of the cathedral, which is of course named for Mary.  The entire cathedral celebrates the Incarnation, says the article.  However, not all of the artwork is alike.  The differences help us to accept the differences among ourselves.  Among the 173 depictions of Mary in the cathedral, some are theological, some anchored in history, and others are popular.

About the nearby Carmelite monastery, the article says (my translation):

"That Marian spirituality is found at the Chartres Carmel.  The community is a few kilometers away, in Champol, but its fourteen sisters remain spiritually very close.  Close too are the realities of the diocese, in seeking a new way to testify to the treasure of the interior life in which they live, careful to hold up in prayer all of those pilgrim-visitors they will never encounter."

Speaking of the "soft spirituality" of Chartres, and quoting Bishop Fulbert of Chartres' warning against pride ("Save me from that pestilent disease that is pride"),Servane de Layre-Matheus, president of the association "Chartres, Sanctuary of the World" is quoted as saying that in walking through the cathedral, "one enters a chain of people who do not sign their work."

For more on Chartres Cathedral on this blog, see this earlier post about the building of the cathedral, particularly covering the construction from the first church built there in the fourth century through the twelfth century construction of the oldest doors and windows of the cathedral's main floor, and mentioning the Marian spirituality of that era.  That post also has two videos of the cathedral and its windows.

His light alone, which is the glory of God

"If I want my interior city to have some similarity and likeness to that 'of the King of eternal ages' and to receive this great illumination from God, I must extinguish every other light and, as in the holy city, the Lamb must be 'its only light.'

"Here faith, the beautiful light of faith appears.  It alone should light my way as I go to meet the Bridegroom.  The psalmist sings that He hides Himself in darkness,' then in another place he seems to contradict himself by saying that 'light surrounds Him like a cloak.'  What stands out for me in this apparent contradiction is that I must immerse myself in 'the sacred darkness' by putting all my powers in darkness and emptiness; then I will meet my Master, and 'the light that surrounds Him like a cloak' will envelop me also, for He wants His bride to be luminous with His light, His light alone, 'which is the glory of God.'"

- Bl. Elisabeth of the Trinity, Last Retreat, 4th Day, from Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity, Vol. I, ICS Publications.

Picture: "Christ Crowned with Thorns" by Garrit van Honthorst, Dutch, about 1620, my photo.  Museum information.

The New Name Promised to the Victor

November 8, 2006, is the memorial of the Carmelite Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity, in the year of the centenary of her death.  A couple of weeks ago, I posted links to articles about her that are available online.  Here is a quote in honor of her memorial, from the 10 retreats she wrote for her younger sister, titled "Heaven in Faith, in the ICS Publications English translation, and sometimes called "How to Find Heaven on Earth."  It was written while she was sick, near the end of her life, as a last souvenir for her sister, Guite, who was then a young banker's wife and mother of two children.  Here is the quote, reflecting in part on Rev. 4:8, 10:

"In the heaven of our soul let us be praises of glory of the Holy Trinity, praises of love of our Immaculate Mother.  One day the veil will fall, we will be introduced into the eternal courts, and there we will sing in the bosom of infinite Love.  And God will give us 'the new name promised to the Victor.'  What will it be?"

- St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, "Heaven in Faith, Retreat No. 10, from Complete Works of Elizabeth of the Trinity, Vol. 1, ICS Publications.

Articles for the Centenary of Bl. Elizabeth of the Trinity

The current issue of Carmelite Digest has several articles about the Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and several about her contemporary St. Thérèse of Lisieux.  Both were French Carmelites.  This year, November 8, is the centenary of the death of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity.  Highlights from one of the Carmelite Digest articles are presently available on the Carmelite Digest website, along with the table of contents from the paper issue.  The online highlights from "An Ordinary Mystic - Elizabeth of the Trinity" by Noreen Mackey introduce Elizabeth's life with stories of her childhood and teen years:

"Musician, lover of fashion, and dancer—how did such a girl end up in a Carmelite monastery? Those who were closest to her knew that there was another, deeper side of this friendly, outgoing girl."

The other articles about Elizabeth of the Trinity that are available in the current Carmelite Digest are "Writing the Icon of Elizabeth of the Trinity - 'A Quiet Presence" by Sister Mary Grace, OCD [about the process of creating the icon pictured on the Carmelite Digest page linked above], "Bl. Elizabeth - Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity" by Thomas Larkin, OCD [about her thinking about the Trinity, theologically and contemplatively], and "Last Days & Death of Elizabeth of the Trinity" by Thomas Larkin, OCD.  Thomas Larkin is author of "Elizabeth of the Trinity - Her Life and Spirituality"    All four of those articles about Elizabeth are excellent.

The article by Noreen Mackey is one of three articles about Bl. Elizabeth on Noreen Mackey's own website.  That website includes a full-length article "Elizabeth of the Trinity, an Ordinary Mystic."  The other 2 articles about Elizabeth available on Noreen Mackey's website are "The Silent Music of Elizabeth of the Trinity" and "The Trinitarian Prayer of Elizabeth of the Trinity."  All 3 articles appeared in past issues of the Dominican publication Spirituality.

RC.net is celebrating the centenary with daily quotations from Elizabeth of the Trinity.  Today's quote is:

"If Jesus seems asleep, let us rest near Him;
let us be very calm and silent, and not wake
Him but wait in faith."

Week-End Retreat at El Carmelo Retreat House

I just got back a short while ago from the San Diego OCDS retreat at the El Carmelo Retreat House.  I didn't take my lap top, so there has been nothing posted since mid-afternoon Friday.  I'll get caught up by this evening. 

Meanwhile, here is a photo taken shortly after morning prayer this morning from the chapel at El Carmelo (around 8:00 a.m.  More photos later.  El Carmelo is on a hill with a view of the surrounding mountains, as you can see through the window behind the crucifix. 

Our primary topic for the retreat was lectio divina.  On the El Carmelo website, you can read about "Lectio Divina: Framework of Teresian Prayer," taken from a longer booklet titled Lectio Divina and the Practice of Teresian Prayer by Father Sam Anthony Morello, OCD, ICS Publications.

St. Paul of the Cross and the Carmelite Saints

October 19 is the memorial of St. Paul of the Cross, who was the founder of the Passionists (Congregation of Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion).  As a young man, he read the writings of Carmelite Saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross.  He read the writings of the fourteenth century German Dominican mystic John Tauler, and was interested in Tauler's influence on St. John of the Cross.  St. Paul of the Cross' theology of the Cross is central to his thinking, as it was for St. John of the Cross as well as for Tauler and such recent examples as Hans Urs von Balthasar.  (Source: Adolfo Lippi, C.P., Introduction to Volume Three of the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross.)

Excerpts from his many letters can be found in several categories in this blog, especially "The Sea," as he used the sea as a common metaphor for spiritual principles.

Here is a different kind of quote from one of his later letters:

"Let us get to the essential point of your letter which concerns your soul.  The obscurity that  you sense is a sign, as I told you at other times, that God wishes more recollection from you in pure faith, and I would wish that you often center yourself in your interior, and with a lively faith take your repose on the bosom of God like a baby in a sacred silence of faith and holy love.  Every time your soul recollects itself in God, in the inner temple of your soul, it is born anew to a new life of love in the Divine Word Jesus Christ.  I pray the Lord to help you understand and practice what I am teaching.  In this recollection in the flame of holy love all the remains of sin are destroyed and the soul is renewed in God."

- Letter 1341 to Maria Cherubina Bresciani (46), written from San Angelo, December 15, 1761, from Volume III of the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross.  For more information about the Passionists, and for many of his letters available online, see the Passionists website. 

St. Teresa de Jesus de los Andes

Tomorrow, July 13, is the memorial of St. Teresa de Jesus de los Andes, a Discalced Carmelite saint who lived in Chile and who died in 1920, at the age of 20.  Here are a few links for more information about her:

Biographical summary on the Vatican website

RC Net page

Patron Saints Index

Page with downloadable .mp3 file with a reading from her diary: "God the joy of my life"

She is one of several Carmelite saints named "Teresa".  The others include St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart (of Florence), St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein).  There are also beatified Carmelite "Teresa's", including Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine, who was among the nuns of Compiègne who died in the wake of the French Revolution, Bl. Teresa of the Child Jesus St. John of the Cross, and Bl. Teresa Maria of the Cross.  Both Bl. Teresa of St. Augustine and Bl. Teresa of the Child Jesus St. John of the Cross were martyrs.

St. John of Avila and His Approval of the Life of St. Teresa of Avila

May 10 is the feast day of St. John of Avila, a sixteenth century Spanish mystic who was canonized in 1970.

On the Inquisitor's recommendation, St. Teresa of Avila asked him to review her second draft of The Book of Her Life, which he approved, allowing its wider distribution.  A mystical author, his best known work is Listen, O Daughter, which is available in English through the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality series.  The 1917 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia says that "the spread of the Jesuits in Spain is attributed to his friendship for that body."

French author Jean-Jacques Antier's book on the life of St. Teresa of Avila has a good, short description of the review of The Life from the time Teresa first wrote it until St. John of Avila's approval several years later.  Antier has written more than 50 books (see the Amazon France page of books by Jean-Jacques Antier).  Only one of them, to my knowledge, has ever been translated and published in English, which is his Charles de Foucauld, published by Ignatius Press.  Here is his description of the process of approval of The Book of the Life of St. Teresa of Avila, and St. John of Avila's role in it (my translation):

"In 1561, in Avila, Teresa, on the order of her Dominican confessor Pedro Ibañez, and especially upon divine injunction, wrote a first version of that autobiography that she completed in 1562 during a stay with her friend Doña Luisa de La Cerda, in Toledo.  At the end of 1562, she submitted the text to the Dominican Garcia de Toledo who asked her to revise it and to complete it, which she did between 1563 and 1565.  Only the second version is preserved. . . . That intimate text was not destined to be published.  Teresa called it mi alma ("my soul"), a sort of general confession enriched with anecdotes.  Recognizing that the manuscript could get away from her, Teresa, hardly sure of herself, submitted it to the Inquisitor Francisco de Soto "so that he would approve it or burn it."  He approved it overall, while suggesting corrections and advising her to then submit the text to St. John of Avila, the Apostle of Andalusia, the uncontested master in matters of mystical theology.  "He has so much experience and authority that, if he approves it, you may always live in peace." 

"Corrections made, in 1568, Teresa entrusted the manuscript to Luis de La Cerda, who, during a trip to Andalusia, was to place it in the saint's own  hands.  But she kept it to read, which irritated Teresa: "Hurry to give it to him.  I would not want the holy man to die without reading it. While waiting, hide it.  That is my own soul that I am placing in your hands."  Like her advisers, Teresa feared the fires of the Inquisition, for it cautioned women against making silent prayer, and especially against teaching it. 

"It was only in September 1568 that John of Avila received the book and approved it without reservation, to Teresa's great relief: "The master of Avila wrote to me at length.  He is satisfied with everything."  The saint died the following year.  In the meantime, many copies were circulated.  The book was read and appreciated by various specialists who became Teresa's disciples."

Jean-Jacques Antier, Thérèse d'Avila: De la crainte à l'amour

"Where Hope Lies"

The Carmelites of Indianapolis' website, praythenews.com, has featured Carmelite sisters' perspectives on events in the news for years now.  The latest is a perspective on Holy Week, drawn from an article about Holy Week that appeared in The Voice.  Sister Ruth's perspective is well worth reading:

"For too many people, there is that mistaken belief that Easter was something that happened long ago and that it's merely a once a year commemoration. A day to show off a new spring outfit, consume chocolate bunnies and revel in the joy of a spring break. But the true significance of what happened has not been totally saturated within for so many. Especially in these times of terrorist bombings, wars in distant lands, people are wondering where hope lies.

"In every age, there has been evil done by human beings in the name of God. Those who think they were doing God's will instead inflicted terror on those who had different beliefs, never realizing that these too were God's children. In the death of Jesus, those responsible must have felt they were doing the will of God in getting rid of this "troublemaker," this One who was advocating justice for the poor and the afflicted, who insisted that all people were to be held in reverence, who came with the universal message of love. Or so they thought they were going to get rid of him. But God had another plan. Truth could not be denied, justice would not wait and love was not to be squelched. The message of Easter is a message that is not confined by space and time. Karl Rahner writes in a meditation on the Easter event:

"'Easter is not the celebration of a past event. The alleluia is not for what was; Easter proclaims a beginning which has already decided the remotest future. The resurrection means that the beginning of glory has already started. And what began in that way is in process of fulfillment. Does it last long? It lasts thousands of years because at least that short space of time is needed for an incalculable plentitude of reality and history to force itself through the brief death agony of a gigantic transformation (which we call natural history and world history) to its glorious fulfillment.'

"We live in that eschatological tension that the reign of God is both realized and not yet. There is both the agony and the ecstasy, that which is fulfilled and that which is in the process of fulfillment. But in all this, there is for me, that one core belief, that the Lord is truly risen. And in believing that, believing that truly all will come to its glorious fulfillment. For as the Exultet proclaims "Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes forever!"

About Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection

The man now known as "Brother Lawrence of the Resurrectin" was born as Nicholas Herman in French Loraine around 1611.  He never had much formal education.  When he was eighteen years old, in winter, Nicholas saw a leafless tree and began thinking about the coming spring and the tree’s spring renewal, bringing flowers and fruit.  The thought gave him a view of God’s providence and power, and a great love for God, which never left him thereafter.  It prompted his conversion.

As a young man, Nicholas served for a while as a soldier and as footman to M. Fieubert, the treasurer.  He said he was “awkward” in the job, and said he broke everything. 

In 1666, he became a lay brother among the Discalced Carmelites in Paris.  From then on, he was known as “Brother Lawrence.”  At the monastary, he worked for at least 15 years as the cook.  He did not like the work.  However, he believed that it was necessary to adhere to God as strictly in action as one does in prayer. He said the time of business did not differ from the time of prayer.  In the noise and clatter, and with various people calling for different things at the same time, he possessed God “in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.”  (Conversations, fourth conversation).

As cook, Brother Lawrence traveled to other parts of France at least twice to buy wine for the Monastery.  He did not like the task, since he had no interest in business negotiations and because he was lame.  He could only move around the boat by rolling himself over the casks.  However, he told God that he was about His business, and afterward he was pleased with the results.

Theological debates bored him.  He complained that some people exercise their mind in reason and science, forgetting that there they can see only a copy, while they “neglect to gaze on the Incomparable Original.” Indeed, the practical simplicity of Brother Lawrence’s remarks endear people to him.  He had only one message, repeated different ways, which was the importance of experiencing the presence of God, and of God’s love, in the depth of one’s soul.

Formalistic spiritual exercises also held no interest for Brother Lawrence.  He said that many do not make progress because they get stuck in penances and exercises, while they neglect the love of God, which is the point of all such things.  (Conversations, third conversation).  He saw no need for a spiritual director to help him with his life of prayer.  He felt that all the guidance he needed for the inner life of loving God with all his heart was in the Gospels.

Brother Lawrence’s first biographer (probably M. Beaufort, grand vicar to M. de Chalons, Cardinal of Noailles) described him as a man with a “rather rough exterior” but a “frank open manner, which, when you met him, won your confidence at once, and made you feel that you had found a friend, to whom you could unbosom yourself wholly.” 

In his last days, Brother  Lawrence felt great pain in his side, but joy continued to be seen in his face and in his speech.  He asked the monks to turn him onto his painful side to satisfy a desire to suffer, to “bear just a little for the love of God.”  He died on February 12, 1691, at the age of 80.

After Brother Lawrence’s death, his letters and maxims were collected and published by a contemporary whose identity is not fully certain, but who is thought to have been M. Beaufort.  The same person also wrote a summary of Brother Lawrence’s teachings, compiled under the name “Conversations,” and a short biography entitled “The Character of Brother Lawrence.”  The “Character” states that it was written about two years after Brother Lawrence’s death.  The conversations and letters are known together as On the Practice of the Presence of God, the best known collection of his sayings.  The Maxims were originally published with the letters, but were less widely republished in later years.  This short biography was written primarily from those short works.

Each second is a gift from the hand of God

"Since God is all-powerful, his will embraces everything that happens in the world and in our lives.  His will embraces everything that touches or occupies us, whether it is a threat or a task or an event. . . . Each second we live prolongs our existence.  Each succeeding second is offered to us as a gift from the hand of God, our omnipotent creator.  When we have understood this truth and when we live continually each day in a real state of authentic abandonment, we have at our disposal a new way of ceaselessly communing with God."

- Jacques Bunel, "Hope and Abandonment", from Spiritual Life, Winter 2005, an excerpt from Listen to the Silence: A Retreat with Père Jacques, translated and edited by Francis J. Murphy, ICS Publications, 2005.

Prayer in the Clatter of My Kitchen

From the "Fourth Conversations" with Brother Lawrence:

"As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others; but his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could propose.  His very countenance was edifying, such a sweet and calm devotion appearing in it as could not but affect beholders.  And it was observed that in the greatest hurry of business in the kitchen he still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness.  He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its season, with an even, uninterrupted composure and tranquillity of spirit.  "The time of business," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.""

- Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, translation/edition Fleming H. Revell.