Category: - St Joseph Healing Ministry

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/19/2013

Contemplative Prayer as described by the saints - An Experience of God

    "St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), in her Story of a Soul, asked how could one prove her love since love is proved by works? She answered this by saying that she would strew flowers and would sing the canticle of love. She would not let one little sacrifice escape, not one word nor look, but would do everything through love. She was willing to suffer for love. And while she was strewing her flowers, she would sing, even if her flowers had thorns (Ch IX, p. 196.)

    St. Terese would pick up a pin from the floor and say, "For the love of You, O Lord."

    We should do the least little thing - and the greatest thing of the day - for the love of God.

    We need to remember to start the day with the morning offering. There are many forms of the popular prayer. Sister teaches the children a very simple form "I offer You this day, everything I think, do, and say, - with love."

    My form of daily offering has expanded from that: I offer this day to You, everything I think, say and do, with love. You are the potter, I am the clay. Mold me, meld me, and then do with me what you will. Help me with my difficulties so that I may bear witness to others, Your Love, Your Power, and Your Way of Life. May I always do Your will. I offer to You all my prayers, joys, pain and suffering to You, Almighty Father, united with the Passion, Death, and Glorious Resurrection of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and united with all the Masses said today throughout the world, in reparation for my sins, the sins of those I pray for, the sins of my family, and the sins of the whole world. For the intentions of Sister Matthew and myself, the intentions of our benefactors and associates, the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Mary and the Immaculate Heart of Jesus and the intentions of Pope Benedict XVI. Amen.

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Saint Therese of Lisieux, Story of a Soul, The Autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux (1897), translated by John Clarke, O.C.D. (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1996).

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/18/2013

Contemplative Prayer - An Experience of God

"Taste and see that Yahweh is good" (Psalm 34:8); "You have not seen him, yet you love him; and still without seeing him you believe in him and so are already filled with a joy so glorious that it cannot be described; and you are sure of the goal of your faith, that is, the salvation of your souls: (1 Pet. 1:8). Paul wrote to the Philippians about the loss of all things just to gain Christ and to be given a place in Him and to be able to partake of His sufferings (Phil 3:10).

In his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love), Pope Benedict XVI quotes the first letter of John, "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 Jn 4:16). Benedict says this is the choice of the Christian - an encounter with a person, Jesus Christ, and through this encounter, this experience, a peson's life is changed. Since God loved us first, love for God and neighbor is a response to this love. The term, "love" is from the Greek "agape", which Benedict says gives Christians a new understanding of the term love. Love becomes concern and care for others. It seeks their good, and is even willing to sacrifice, lay down their lives if need be, for others.

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Pope Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter of Pope Benedict XVI: Deus Caritas Est 'God is Love' (obtained from the internet, EWTN library) #1,3,6.

A Spiritual Journey

2/17/2013

Contemplative Prayer had been described as unworded prayer.

In The Cloud of Unknowing, written in the fourteenth century perhaps by an English monk, the unknown author wrote about the lack of words in contemplative prayer.

"A man may know completely and ponder thoroughtly every created thing and its works, yes, and God's works, too, but not God himself. Thought cannot comprehend God. And so, I prefer to abandon all I can know, choosing rather to love him whom I cannot know. Though we cannot know him we can love him. By love he may be touched and embraced, never by thought."

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William Johnston, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing (New York: Image Books, 1973) ch 6, p. 54.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/16/2013

Contemplative Prayer in Scripture and as Described by the Saints and Mystical Writers
                              Unworded Prayer

    The saints have pointed out the scriptures that best describe the experience of contemplative prayer. "Be still and acknowledge that I am God, supreme over nations, supreme over the world" (Psalm 46:10). Contemplative prayer is a gaze of faith, fixed upon Jesus. As a parishioner told the Cure of Ars, "I look at Him and He looks at me" (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2715).

    Contemplative prayer could last a moment - it could last several hours. A person realized that he has experienced it afterwards, as he realizes that he has changed. The psalms sing to his soul: "My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh's courts, My heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God" (Psalm 84:2). He realizes that he is in love with God!

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See Thomas Dubay, Fire Within (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989) page 65-69. Also see Elizabeth of the Trinity, Heaven in Faith and also Last Retreat, for an explanation of scripture as it relates to contemplative prayer. These can be found in Elizabeth of the Trinity, The Complete Works, trans. Aletheia Kane, O.C.D., Volume One (Washington DC: ICS Publications, 1984) all pages.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/15/2013

The Fruit of Contemplative Prayer is a greater desire to know God, our Beloved.

Many people think that contemplative prayer will just come to them, and sometimes it does, for this is a gift from God. But a person must remember that he is on a spiritual journey, and with all grace, he must respond to it. Even after one experiences contemplative prayer, he must go back to meditation to purify himself. In modern days, this is called a daily examination of conscience. The fruit of contemplation is a greater desire to know the Beloved. One returns to Scripture, and all that was mentioned above under meditation. One continues vocal prayers and participation in liturgical prayers expecially the Mass.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/14/2013

Contemplative Prayer - is when God embraces our heart!

St. Bonaventure writes that one should consider that through this love comes all indulgences given by God -all good abundance - and through this love is possessed the desirable memory of His Presence - then He embraces a person's heart! This is the consummation of the Soul! The perfect step! The Unitive Step!

What an individual experiences is not the object of his imagination, for one cannot attribute to Him neither time, neither face, neither shadow, neither measurement, neither limit; for He cannot be represented - but it is all desirable . . . Last, it cannot be entered in the rational order, and it cannot be defined, neither proved, neither appreciated, neither understood, neither grasped, for His intelligibility exceeds all intelligence. . . . but He is all desirable.

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Bonaventure, La Triple Voie, 1269-1270. Available from the internet. http://jesusmarie.free.fr/bonaventrue_la_triple_voie.html
Translation my own. Third Section, Consummation of the Soul, XVII.5

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/9/2013

St. Bonaventure (1221-1274) a Franciscan whom Pope Leo XIII called "the Prince of Mystics" and whom others call the greatest theologian of the spiritual life among the Franciscans, in La Triple Voie, which he wrote around 1270, uses the word "steps" or "way" ("Voie") and he lists three major ones under the mjor headings of the Purgative, Illuminiative and Unitive ways. He says that you must make use of the sting of conscience to be purified, [Purgative Way], the light of reason to have clear sight, [Illuminiative] and the spark of wisdom to become perfect [Unitive].

In the Purgative way, Bonaventrue teaches that during meditation the Spirit excites the sting of conscience. The Spirit helps a person to not neglect to watch over his heart, and his time - so it is employed usefully, and his purity of intention - so that his work is aimed to his eternal end. [What are the joys of your heart? What pleases you? And do these things help you gain your eternal end?] Next, a person must not neglect prayer, studies, and good works. The last thing a person must not neglect is to repent of his sin and to cry over it, to resist evil and all temptations, and to advance in virtues so that he can arrive at the Promised Land.

Bonaventure says that one must examine his attitudes to root out concupiscence [man's natural tendency to sin - a result of Adam and Eve's actions] within himself. He tells of these signs: the lust of the flesh is betrayed by the need of candy, of gratification of the senses, of the search for softness, [I love those fleece blankets - my old army blanket is tucked away somewhere!] for comfortable clothes, for sensual conversation and entertainment. The lust of the eyes is the desire to know secret things, the need to have rare and precious objects. The lust of the spirit or pride is when one seeks out the best treatment, the best music, and honors - things that render a person vain. In all these tendencies, the sting of the conscience must stimulate remorse of the heart.

St. Bonaventure, La Triple Voie, 1269-1270. Available from the internet in French. Translation my own.

We visited the home of St. Bonaventure when we were in Italy. Civita di Bagnoregio is perched on a hill and the hill all around it is gradually falling away. To get to the town you must walk out on a long bridge. When we arrived it stopped raining and we were able to see a double rainbow. Click on a photo to enlarge it.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

2/3/2013

What it means to "offer it up" - And for those who wish to do the will of God in their lives -

The Eternal Truth spoke to St. Catherine of Siena: "You ask me for suffering to atone for the offenses my creatures commit against me. And you ask for the will to know and love me, supreme Truth. Here is the way, if you would come to perfect knowledge and enjoyment of me, eternal Life: Never leave the knowledge of yourself. Then, put down as you are in the valley of humility you will know me in yourself, and from this knowledge you will draw all that you need.

"No virtue can have life in it except from charity, and charity is nursed and mothered by humility. You will find humility in the knowledge of yourself when you see that even your own existence comes not from yourself but from me, for I loved you before you came into being. And in my unspeakable love for you I willed to create you anew in grace. So I washed you and made you a new creation in the blood that my only-begotten Son poured out with such burning love.

"This blood gives you knowledge of the truth when knowledge of yourself leads you to shed the cloud of selfish love. There is no other way to know the truth. In so knowing me the soul catches fire with unspeakable love, which in turn brings continual pain. Indeed, because she has known my truth as well as her own sin and her neighbors' ingratitude and blindness, the soul suffers intolerably. Still, this is not a pain that troubles or shrivels up the soul. On the contrary, it makes her grow fat. For she suffers because she loves me, nor would she suffer if she did not love me.

"Thus, as soon as you and my other servants come in this way to know my truth you will, for the glory and praise of my name, have to endure great trials, insults, adn reproaches in word and in deed, even to the point of death.

"Behave, then, with true patience, with sorrow for sin and love of virtue, for the glory and praise of my name. If you do, I shall be appeased for your sins and those of my other servants. The sufferings you endure will, through the power of charity, suffice to win both atonement and reward for you and for others.

"For you will win the fruit of life: The stains of your foolishness will be blotted out, and I will no longer remember that you had ever offended me. As for others, because of your loving charity I will pardon them in proportion to their receptiveness."

A Spiritual Journey

2/1/2013

Yesterday I went with Sister to a get together with several of her classmates. They graduated from high school the year I was born. I enjoyed the morning even though I didn't know the people, and afterwards Sister thanked me for going with her. It is always more fun when you do something or go somewhere with a friend. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two - probably for many reasons. Before I joined Sister, I did most everything alone. I was married to a busy rancher so I went to school activities alone, movies alone, horse riding alone, raised my boys alone. Then I lived alone for ten years before I joined Sister. I was very lonely - and could not say the words "I am lonely" without choking up. Of course that was a long time ago,(I have been with Sister over 15 years now) and God healed me of my loneliness by revealing to me His constant presence in my life.

Sister said to me, "And I'm sure you offered this suffering up to the Lord."

I answered, "I don't recall if it came to my mind to do so."

And she said, "It is not too late to do it now, for there is no time with God."

We've been talking about forgiveness and the healing of our hurts. You can offer up these hurts to God now - it is not too late. What you are doing is uniting your hurts, your pain to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Jesus Christ. One time Sister was having trouble with her neck, which bothers her ever since a car accident and whip-lash, and she offered up her pain for 10,000 souls, and the Lord spoke to her heart - "Not only for 10,000, but for all of them."

Paul wrote to the Colossians: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. (1:24)

The letter to the Hebrews describes associating our suffering with others, being united in our faith in this way: Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. at times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

A Spiritual Journey . . .

1/29/2013

There is no healing without forgiveness.

Many illnesses have as a lurking cause, unforgiveness. One cause of Rheumatoid arthritis may be unforgiveness. I knew a lady that had a very cruel husband. When he got Alzheimers, she developed rheumatoid arthritis. I heard about this and began praying for her. I asked the Lord to put someone in her life that would tell her about forgiveness and its link to rheumatoid arthritis. One day I overheard someone talk about this lady, that her hands were healed of rheumatoid arthritis. I asked, what happened? And I was told that on one of her many visits to the doctor, it came out about her husband's behavior toward her. Her doctor told her, "you know, unforgiveness is a cause of rheumatoid arthritis. She was a Catholic and she immediately stopped at the Church and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament, asking God to help her forgive - and her hands were healed.

So if you are praying for the healing of someone and it seems that your prayers are not being answered, one of the reasons may be that they need to forgive someone. If you are not in the position to tell them that perhaps they need to forgive someone, ask the Lord to put someone in their lives that will tell them this.