"...One must be humble, little, self-disciplined, spiritual and despised by the world to learn the mystery of the Cross..."

[MariaChristi]

Dear Casilda,

Thanks so much for your words. I too hope in God for Jesus to come for me with Mary, to take me home. I am grateful to God for giving St. Therese of Lisieux, an abundance of His Love and Wisdom in her young life, and do not think she ever let any servile fear cause her to be “scared”, I did not read any comment from her sisters who were there with her (in her dying moments and during the months before she died) that might, indicate the emotions which the priest suggested.

We cannot forget her “Little Way” was and is one of both joys and sorrows as was the Life of Jesus and Mary. It seems to me Therese looked forward to the end of her pilgrimage as a humble child looks forward to going home.

 

[adgloriam]

Of the saints that I have read

You read me, not caring.

 

[adgloriam]

that might, indicate the emotions which the priest suggested.

The priest knew what he was talking about.

In any case, Mother Theresa of Calcutta once told this story: Someone gave her a pack of cigarettes. Later that day, she met a poor sick man and asked him:“Can I do anything for you?” He answered:“I would like to have a cigarette please.” And she was overjoyed to indulge him in his pleasure. She said:“I believe Jesus had someone give me those cigarettes for that man.”

So Hagiography has been rightly criticized for following a literary style that is homogeneous and was for the most part subjected to censorship by the inquisition and superiors.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear adgloriam,

I agree with you that Hagiography has been rightly criticized, but the sisters of St. Therese of Lisieux who kept notes at the beside of their sibling, St. Therese, as she was dying, were being faithful in noting her words and how she she was suffering. They were not writing their opinions or what they thought about her words, Their notes were carefully taken on what Therese herself said; their testimonies were scrutinized in the cause for her canonization, and their their words were accepted as true.

I do not know the full context of the priest’s words, as he spoke them to you, but as you quoted them, they seemed different from the testimonies of St. Therese’s siblings who took such careful notes while sitting at her bedside. There is an online version of the book: “The Last Conversations of St. Therese”, if you care to look at it; I have a paperback copy that I’ve read and continue to return to at different times.

Mother Teresa is another saint, whose words I try to verify each time I read a quote, but the books I found most convincing to me, were written by two of her priest missionaries of Charity who worked closely with Mother Teresa and knew her well. Those two books: are on Amazon. I have the hardback copy of: "Come be My Light" and the digital version in our kindle for: “Mother Teresa: in the Shadow of Mary”. I’ve linked these two books to the amazon website in case you’d like to look at them sometime.

Anyone who is wring today on the life of a saint (or anyone else for that matter) has many more ways to research the facts than hagiographers of the past. In the case of St. Theres’s sisters taking notes of her “last conversations”-- they were being faithful, it seems to me in conveying the Truth she spoke.

 

[adgloriam]

I do not know the full context of the priest’s words, as he spoke them to you, but as you quoted them,

Dear @MariaChristi ,

He allowed my soul to be overwhelmed with darkness, and the thought of Heaven, which had consoled me from my earliest childhood, now became a subject of conflict and torture.
This trial did not last merely for days or weeks; I have been suffering for months, and I still await deliverance. I wish I could express what I feel, but it is beyond me. One must have passed through this dark tunnel to understand its blackness. However, I will try to explain it by means of a comparison.

Dear Mother, this description of what I suffer is as far removed from reality as the first rough outline is from the model, but I fear that to write more were to blaspheme . . .

(in “Story of a Soul”, chapter 10, back of the 5th sheet.)

 

[adgloriam]

I have the hardback copy of: "Come be My Light"

That’s the book where the cigarette story is included.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Cassilda,

Yes, I too was encouraged to read that St. Therese read the Gospels so avidly and especially at the end of her life. On a 40 day retreat with my husband on the Gospel of John, and another retreat of 40 days on the Gospel of Matthew, the following summer, the dear Jesuit priest who led the retreat, told us to keep listening when we didn’t understand something in Scripture – until we heard something only God could tell us.

The passage you mention from Mt. 7:7-11 is part of the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus preached to his disciples and the crowed how to be “Blessed” (“Blessed” can also be translated “Happy”. It seems to me, we never really end our asking, seeking and knocking on the door, and truly when we pray as Jesus taught us, with the supernatural faith, hope and love we were given in Baptism, we do receive, in His Time and In His Mysterious and Providential Love, the good gifts our Father knows how to give us. If we seek and have not found then we need to keep seeking to find Him, trusting He is nearer than we are to ourselves and He will, again in His Time, keep His promise to us.
Finally it seeems to me God opens doors to us mysteriously and we can find ourselves growing spiritually without knowing how He accomplished that growth – the important thing is to remain in His Word and in His Love, keeping His Commandment to Love God and to love one another as He has loved us. Praying through Mary will be the topic in Chapter 17 of this book by deMontfort, also a very necessary part of our spiritual growth. Mary is in the Gospels, in a “hidden” way but defintitely intrinsic to the Gospel – the Good News of Jesus! Thanks again for your reply!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear adgolriam,

Thanks for your reply, I’m grateful for your giving me more of a context but I can’t find in my copy of the “Story of a Soul” , chapter 10 the excerpt you posted. Also not sure of what you mean by “back of the 5th sheet”.

I also looked in my copy of “her last conversatioons” because it sounded more like something St. Therese spoke to her sister Pauline. My copy of her conversations was published by “The institute of Carmelite Studies” and does not list the contents in Chapters. God willing, I’ll try to look more carefully in both books when I have more time. Right now I need to attend to some other needs on the computer, but thanks again for the fuller context.

Also thanks for the refeence to St. Teresa of Calcutta. It has been awhile since I’ve re-read “Come be my Light” but I was not at all surprised that Mother Theresa would have shared that story about the cigarette with Father Brian Kolodiejchuk who edited the book of her writings. It is so like her to be so compassionate. I worked with her sisters in the South Bronx for awhile and was sorry Mother never came to NY at the time I was there, but I have admired her for many years.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

This is true, but she also expressed on her death bed, that if not for her faith, she’d give into despair.

I think souls are drawn to the Saints who have the most to teach them.

My wife is a big fan of St Theresa, myself, it’s St Bernadette and especially St Francis of Assisi.

Others will be drawn to other saints.

In all, St Theresa’s teaching about God’s garden having many flowers(souls) and he loves the tulips as much as the roses, is her teaching which teaches me the most.

Jim

 

[adgloriam]

Also not sure of what you mean by “back of the 5th sheet”.

Dear @MariaChristi thank you for your reply and it’s my pleasure to point out these details that would go unnoticed by some readers:

The most rigorous editions of “Story of a Soul” have an internal index indicating the original sheets (front and back) on wich Saint Therese of Lisieux wrote. (thus following the original as closely as possible.)

Normally referencing a passage using the index would look like: “chapter”+“sheet number”+“front or back of the sheet”.

In your case it will be the 36th paragraph (give or take 1 paragraph if I lost count) of the 10th chapter. (The saint justified elsewhere, also in “Story of a Soul” why she thought the Holy Spirit guided her to not elaborate clearly, and if you find the passage I referenced look closely how the saint made an effort to write elegantly dispersing in plain sight the darkness she was living. You’ll have to look very closely and attentively, paragraphs of rosy literary devices separate the few sparse paragraphs of darkness.)

 

[adgloriam]

This is true, but she also expressed on her death bed, that if not for her faith, she’d give into despair.

Thanks @JimR-OCDS I appreciate it.

In morphology the antonymous of “despair” is not hope, but “to wait”. “Esperar” vs “Des+Esperar”.

So, the issue I was raising is my dislike for false exaltation of the cross. A man should have hope to be happy in this life, to expect something other than just a cross and suffering.

It were the Pharisee’s who sought to burden man with false crosses, endless obligations.

I think souls are drawn to the Saints who have the most to teach them.

I don’t believe anything anymore. I have my reasons.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear adgloriam,

Thanks again for the explanations. It seems to me reading the words of Saints can be a blessing – to some perhaps more than others-- as JimR points out in his replies. The words of St. Therese, St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St Louis de Montfort and so many other saints, are often like hearing echoes of God’s Word in my heart. Please let us pray for one another and for all God’s Children that we may daily learn to know, love and serve Him more and more here and be happy with Him forever hereafter!

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Of course we want to be happy, if not, why do we bother to pray for others health and wellbeing ?

However, in the spiritual world, and this includes the same in all of the major religions, however they express it with different words, i.e. life is suffering.

We all experience suffering, not because we welcome it, but because it’s part of life and everyone will experience suffering while here in this life.

Christ, or at least the authors of the Gospel used the message of the cross to express the same thing. Life is suffering and during the time of Jesus Christ life here on earth, suffering was far greater than what we experience today. But it’s what we do with suffering that helps us to grow, or give into despair. Faith makes the difference.

I had watched a movie years ago about a girl growing up in Vietnam at the beginning of the Vietnam War with the US. and through to her coming to America as a young adult.

He father, a devote Buddhist had taught her that there are times in life when heaven touches earth, and other times when it’s far away. He was killed by the communists.

Those times in which it’s not present could be seen as the times we pick up our cross and grow through it, until happiness touches us again.

In all the spiritual traditions, the devote never lose their sense of hope and hope is what gives us strength as we walk through the bitter valley.

Jim

 

[adgloriam]

God’s Children that we may daily learn to know, love and serve Him more and more here and be happy with Him forever hereafter!

I lost the ability to pray. I dedicate my day in the morning and say the act of contrition often. Other than that I’m beaten. I know how someone’s suppose to pick themselves up and return to the prayer life after a prolonged period of being smashed in desolation (Fr.Romano Guardini was one of the few to analyze this).

But my active life continues at such a pace I can hardly focus on anything other than work.

 

[adgloriam]

Thanks for your trouble in writing brother @JimR-OCDS ,

The Carmel is one of the few places on earth where I still find refugee.

life is suffering.

If I’m not mistaken the original Buddhist saying is: “life is FULL of suffering.”

I had watched a movie years ago

My father was in the war.

the devote never lose their sense of hope and hope is what gives us strength as we walk through the bitter valley.

I’ve had this strange sensation brother: the mass itself became pain (hence the sacrifice of the Eucharist). It’s getting better now, but there were a few years in which I sat through mass and at least half of it was sheer pain.

I don’t have any hope in the church.

Dear @JimR-OCDS the “stonewall” is the quintessential sociological red-flag that let’s you know where the charity of the church exactly stops, and the hypocrisy starts.

P.S. I met a girl that’s baptized and not church going. I found truth in her smile. So if you’ll kindly excuse, I choose that consolation over desolation.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear adgloriam,

Please let us continue to pray for one another and for all God’s Children. I’ve been praying for you and and will continue to do so. The fact that you can dedicate your day and say the act of contrition often is an indication that you haven’t lost the ability to pray. You still are desiring to communicate with God, and even if He is giving you little or no response, He is there with you, listening to you.

Prayer is (as St. John Vianney defines it) nothing other than union with God. He desires us far more than we can understand, especially in those times of trial when we are – “being smashed in desolation.” As you focus on your work, dedicate your day again tomorrow, with just a smile – He alone can see – from your heart to His.