“You are I and I am you.” (Words spoken to Saint Angela di Foligno as recorded in Memorial, Chapter IX taken from Angela of Foligno: Complete Works, trans. Paul Lachance, O.F.M., in Classics of Western Spirituality, New York: Paulist Press (1993) 205.) These are words that Saint Angela di Foligno believed the Risen Lord addressed
“Oh humdrum days, filled with darkness, I look upon you with a solemn and festive eye.” (Saint Faustina Kowalska, Diary, #1373) Saint Faustina Kowalska wrote these words in 1937 at the brink of falling into a very serious illness from which she would never recover. She could not have known that this experience of darkness
Recently, Dan received an interesting question and after we talked about it, I asked whether I might respond. Here is the question: “Is the terminology for prayer different from Ignatian to that of Carmelite spirituality? I’m a Secular Carmelite and I just went on an Ignatian retreat. My understanding of contemplation was that it was
The Cross of Christ brings His glorious grace into the focus of contemplation. It is a difficult mystery to dwell on. The heart sometimes finds itself weary and sometimes even too discouraged to fix its gaze on the agony of the Lord. This is where frequent confession and humble examination of conscience can help the
Pope Francis was just elected and we look forward to his message to the Universal Church in the coming days. He is a man of deep prayer and a man of profound concern for the poor. At the beginning of Lent, he made an impassioned plea to the clergy and religious of Argentina, “The Kingdom
Gethsemane: Those who enter into this hidden garden of prayer with fear of the Lord and right reverence are permitted to overhear part of the Son’s conversation with the Father in secret. Extending the blessing He offered at the Last Supper, Christ offered perfect praise with bold confidence in the Father while cherishing everything about
Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity (1880 – 1906), a contemporary of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, is a Carmelite mystic from Dijon, France. Her profound theological reflections are given in a tumultuous time, one not unlike our own. The French government had begun to attack religious freedom with the intention of evicting religious orders and confiscating their
“Forsake not the discipline.” These words are reported as among the very first and very last teachings of St. Antony of the Desert by his spiritual son, St. Athanasius. The Christian life is not something we master – but it does give us everything we need to master ourselves in the new and unrepeatable circumstances
In order to secure our true liberty, even while we were enslaved to sin, Christ suffered the night of death and ransomed us by His blood. This is why the Lord respects human freedom, even when it is the source of great sorrow. Aware of our frailty, God does not overpower our freedom but delights
“Nescivi!” This is the Latin for what it seems the Shulamite Bride of the Canticle of Canticles sings in 6:12. The passage is difficult to translate. One 16th Century Doctor of the Church, Saint John of the Cross, understood it to be the declaration of a lover captivated with thoughts of her Beloved. The Latin
