#mysticalbody — Public Fediverse posts

Quote of the day, 26 January: St. Thérèse

Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all….

O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe.

During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Cor 12:29, 21].

The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down and looking into the empty tomb, so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my nothingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end [cf. St. John of the Cross, Poetry 6]. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way” [1 Cor 12:31, 13:1]. And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE. That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Manuscript B, 3r–3v

Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Thomas Hawk captured this graffiti mural on concrete in San Francisco on 17 December 2008. Featuring a well-known quote by the Servant of God Dorothy Day—“Love is the only solution”—this mural illustrates the life-changing discovery of St. Thérèse: Charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God. Image credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#charity #gifts #humility #little #love #MysticalBody #StMaryMagdalene #StThérèseOfLisieux

Quote of the day, 26 January: St. Thérèse

Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me within Carmel’s cloisters. But here again, I feel that my dream is a folly, for I cannot confine myself to desiring one kind of martyrdom. To satisfy me I need all….

O my Jesus! what is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little, more powerless than mine? Nevertheless even because of my weakness, it has pleased You, O Lord, to grant my little childish desires and You desire, today, to grant other desires that are greater than the universe.

During my meditation, my desires caused me a veritable martyrdom, and I opened the Epistles of St. Paul to find some kind of answer. Chapters 12 and 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians fell under my eyes. I read there, in the first of these chapters, that all cannot be apostles, prophets, doctors, etc., that the Church is composed of different members, and that the eye cannot be the hand at one and the same time [1 Cor 12:29, 21].

The answer was clear, but it did not fulfill my desires and gave me no peace. But just as Mary Magdalene found what she was seeking by always stooping down and looking into the empty tomb, so I, abasing myself to the very depths of my nothingness, raised myself so high that I was able to attain my end [cf. St. John of the Cross, Poetry 6]. Without becoming discouraged, I continued my reading, and this sentence consoled me: “Yet strive after THE BETTER GIFTS, and I point out to you a yet more excellent way” [1 Cor 12:31, 13:1]. And the Apostle explains how all the most PERFECT gifts are nothing without LOVE. That Charity is the EXCELLENT WAY that leads most surely to God.

Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

Manuscript B, 3r–3v

Thérèse & Foley, M 2005, Story of a Soul: The autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Study edn, translated from the French by Clarke, J, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Thomas Hawk captured this graffiti mural on concrete in San Francisco on 17 December 2008. Featuring a well-known quote by the Servant of God Dorothy Day—“Love is the only solution”—this mural illustrates the life-changing discovery of St. Thérèse: Charity is the excellent way that leads most surely to God. Image credit: Thomas Hawk / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#charity #gifts #humility #little #love #MysticalBody #StMaryMagdalene #StThérèseOfLisieux

How did Our Lady pray?

We could say almost the same thing about her prayer as about Our Lord’s.

Prayer is a request, a lifting up of our soul to God. But in the Virgin’s case, this union with God is constant, and even her outward activity in no way detracts from this union. Could it be an expression of need? But she found everything in her union.

Yet the Virgin prayed.

She prayed, too, to pay God her homage of dependence, but above all she prayed because she was a mother: the mother of humankind.

The Virgin bore an immense grace that united her to the Word. She prayed for this grace of her Son to pass into souls and be realized, for his reign to come and for the Mystical Body to be constituted.

Under what conditions did Mary pray? Did she need and seek silence?

Yes, but she needed it so much less than we do! Her union with God removed her, almost as a matter of course, from the noise and bustle of external events. For the Annunciation, the Virgin was in the solitude of Nazareth, and later she returned there, far from the noise.

This is a lesson for us: we must seek solitude and silence to pray.

How did the Virgin pray?

Vocal prayer, most likely, with all the people, singing the psalms. It was an act of submission to God. But we need to go further to understand her prayer: we need to return to Our Lord.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

La prière de Marie (excerpt)

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 2019, La Vierge Marie Toute Mère, edited by Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Henry Ossawa Tanner created this stunning painting of Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures, seen here in detail, around the year 1908. Executed in oil on canvas, it comes from the Dallas Museum of Art. Image credit: Dallas Museum of Art (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/13/grialou-virginpray/

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #grace #MysticalBody #OurLady #prayer #Psalms #silence #solitude #unionWithGod #VirginMary #vocalPrayer

How did Our Lady pray?

We could say almost the same thing about her prayer as about Our Lord’s.

Prayer is a request, a lifting up of our soul to God. But in the Virgin’s case, this union with God is constant, and even her outward activity in no way detracts from this union. Could it be an expression of need? But she found everything in her union.

Yet the Virgin prayed.

She prayed, too, to pay God her homage of dependence, but above all she prayed because she was a mother: the mother of humankind.

The Virgin bore an immense grace that united her to the Word. She prayed for this grace of her Son to pass into souls and be realized, for his reign to come and for the Mystical Body to be constituted.

Under what conditions did Mary pray? Did she need and seek silence?

Yes, but she needed it so much less than we do! Her union with God removed her, almost as a matter of course, from the noise and bustle of external events. For the Annunciation, the Virgin was in the solitude of Nazareth, and later she returned there, far from the noise.

This is a lesson for us: we must seek solitude and silence to pray.

How did the Virgin pray?

Vocal prayer, most likely, with all the people, singing the psalms. It was an act of submission to God. But we need to go further to understand her prayer: we need to return to Our Lord.

Blessed Marie-Eugène of the Child Jesus

La prière de Marie (excerpt)

Marie-Eugène de l’Enfant-Jésus 2019, La Vierge Marie Toute Mère, edited by Institut Notre-Dame de Vie, Éditions du Carmel, Toulouse.

Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Henry Ossawa Tanner created this stunning painting of Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures, seen here in detail, around the year 1908. Executed in oil on canvas, it comes from the Dallas Museum of Art. Image credit: Dallas Museum of Art (Public domain)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/08/13/grialou-virginpray/

#BlessedMarieEugeneOfTheChildJesus #grace #MysticalBody #OurLady #prayer #Psalms #silence #solitude #unionWithGod #VirginMary #vocalPrayer

Jesus called Himself the head of the Mystical Body, of which we are the members (Rom 12:5). He is the vine, we are the branches (Jn 15:1–8). He laid Himself in the winepress and Himself trod it. He handed us the wine so that, drinking it, we might lead His life, might share His suffering. Whoever wishes to do My Will, let him daily take up his cross (Lk 9:23). Whoever follows me has the light of life (Jn 8:12). I am the way, He said (Jn 14:6). I have given you an example, so that as I have done so you may do also (Jn 13:15). And when His disciples did not understand that His way would be a way of suffering, He explained this to them and said, “Should not the Christ so suffer, in order to enter into His glory?” (Lk 24:26).

Mary, who kept all God’s words in her heart (Lk 2:19, 51), in the fullness of grace granted her, understood the great value of suffering. While the apostles fled, she went out to meet the Savior on the way to Calvary and stood beneath the cross (Jn 19:25–27), in order to share His grief and shame to the end. And she carried Him to the grave, firmly trusting that He would rise.

We object when He hands us the chalice of His suffering. It is so difficult for us to resign ourselves to suffering. To rejoice in it strikes us as heroic. What is the value of our offering of self if we unite ourselves each morning only in word and gesture, rather than in thought and will, to that offering which we, together with the Church, make of Him with whom we are in the one body?

Oh, that this day we might realize the value God has placed on the suffering He sends: He, the All-Good.

Saint Titus Brandsma

Introduction to Het lijden vergoddelijkt (excerpts)
Office of Readings, Memorial of St. Titus Brandsma

Catholic Church 1993, Proper of the Liturgy of the Hours of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel and the Order of Discalced Carmelites (Rev. and augm.), Institutum Carmelitanum, Rome.

Featured image: German photographer David Köhler captures this beautiful image of Concord grapes ripening in the summer sun. Image credit: David Köhler / Unsplash (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/04/27/brandsma-winepress/

#BlessedTitusBrandsma #church #cross #crucifixion #Jesus #martyr #MysticalBody #suffering #value #vineAndBranches #VirginMary