The_Reginator
Active member
You’ve already been pointed toward St. Francis de Sales. I would also suggest St. Jose Maria Escriva. You said something that made me think of him. You refered to “profane duties”. ** St. Jose Maria may help you see that there is not such thing as “profane duties”. Everything is the work of God. ** One can be a contemplative and be a spouse, parent, and career person all in one package. One has to learn to pray through one’s work and while one works. St. Jose Maria writes beatifully on this area.
:thumbsup:Thank-you for pointing that out. I know that all we do should be the work of God, but I tend to forget. (It seems to be a common human condition.)
Another contemplative in the secular world was Catherine de Hueck Doherty. She founded Madonna House Apostolate. Her writings and her bioagraphy are inspirational. She’s very interesting. She was an Orthodox Christian who became a Latin Catholic, married an Eastern Catholic, who became a priest. She was a contemplative and the wife of an Eastern Catholic priest.
**Yes indeed. I’ve been to Madonna House in Combermere Ontario, about an hour or two away from my place. But both times we were there only for a short day visit. (A family we know were staying for a week.)
**
She brings to the contemplative life the beauty of Eastern mysticism. We have to admit it, the Orthodox and the Oriental Catholics have a very rich mystical tradition, which is the excetion among Roman Catholics and the norm among them. I believe that part of it is historical. They have been oppressed by so many people and systems: Muslims, Communists, Nazis and anyone else who could invade their countries. They did not develop the social ministries that we have in the Roman Church: hospitals, schools, orphanages, etc. They lived most of their lives underground or in the shadows avoiding being noticed. They spent much more time in silence and prayer compared to their Roman Catholic brothers and sisters.
Catherine brings that over into Roman Catholicism and applies it to the life of the lay person. Check out her writings. She brought with her something that only the Carmelites, Carthusians and Francisans had, the Postinia or hermitage. But in the Eastern tradition, Catholic and Orthodox, the use of the hermitage for short periods of time is very common among the laity. It can be for a weekend, a week or several times a year.
I have a cousing who is the mother of three and she takes two weeks a year to go away to a hermitage to pray.
Another good resource are the letters of St.Vincent de Paul to Louise de Marillac. Many people think of Louise as a nun. The truth is that she was never a nun. Louise was a widow and a mother. She was drawn to the poor and the sick. Vicent guided her so that she could be a mother to her children and be a Daughter of Charity to the poor. The spirituality that he wrote for her was for a lay woman. Elizabeth Ann Seton also writes contemplative spirituality for the lay person. She too was not a nun or a sister. She was a widow and a mother.
I’m always inspired by Elizabeth’s writings on Eternity and her desire to reach Eternity.
Check her out.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Dominus vobiscum!!!
(Please help me with my Latin: does “vobiscum” change when addressing one person verses addressing two or more???)
) of how*** the Exercises ***are structured.