Quote of the day, 3 September: Brother Lawrence

Means to acquire the presence of God:

It would be appropriate for beginners to formulate a few words interiorly, such as: My God, I am completely yours, or God of love, I love you with all my heart, or Lord, fashion me according to your heart, or any other words love spontaneously produces.

But they must take care that their minds do not wander or return to creatures. The mind must be kept fixed on God alone, so that seeing itself so moved and led by the will, it will be obliged to remain with God.

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, o.c.d.

Spiritual Maxims, 30

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Marko Vombergar captured this image of a pilgrim to Argentina’s 2016 National Eucharistic Congress in Tucumán. Image credit: Marko Vombergar for aleteia.org / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

#BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #GodAlone #loveForGod #mentalPrayer #presenceOfGod

Marie du jour, 27 May: Holy Martyrs of Compiègne

Before mental prayer

My God, I offer unto Thee the prayer which I am now about to make, and I unite it to that which my Saviour ceaseth not to offer Thee for me in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. I beseech Thee to grant me the grace to make it in a manner worthy of Thee.

After mental prayer

My God, I give Thee thanks for the grace which Thou hast deigned to bestow upon me, in permitting me to abide in Thy holy presence. I implore Thy pardon, O my God, for all the distractions into which I have suffered myself to fall during this time of prayer. I offer unto Thee the resolutions which, by Thy mercy, Thou hast inspired within me. I entreat Thee to grant me the graces needful for their fulfillment, through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the intercession of the Most Holy Virgin, of Thy holy angels, and of all the saints.

Saint Teresa of St. Augustine and Companions

Prayers written on the inside cover of the Psalter of the Virgin

Note: These prayers appear to have been handwritten on the inside cover of a printed Psalter of the Virgin, possibly used by the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne. These devotional books, often attributed to St. Bonaventure and widely printed in the 17th–18th centuries, offered a Marian framework for mental prayer and spiritual offering. According to Father Stéphane-Marie, o.c.d., the volume is preserved today in the Archives of the Carmelite Monastery of Le Havre (Archives du Monastère des Carmélites du Havre), where these prayers were found on the pages de garde.

Morgain, S 2023, Les Carmélites Martyres De Compiègne : Pour La Paix De L’église Et De L’état, Nouvelle édition revue et augmentée, 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: Christ in dialogue with the Virgin Mary, illumination from the Chartres Bible, Chartres, 1146–1155. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 116, fol. 12r. (Public domain). You can learn more from the British Library’s Medieval Manuscripts Blog.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Which prayers do I habitually offer before and after my time of mental prayer? Or, what prayers might help me to begin practicing Carmelite mental prayer?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#MartyrsOfCompiègne #mentalPrayer #MotherOfGod #offering #StTeresaOfStAugustine #thanksgiving #vocalPrayer

Quote of the day, 11 March: St. Teresa of Avila

Now, then, let us speak again to those souls I mentioned that cannot recollect or tie their minds down in mental prayer or engage in reflection. Let’s not mention here by name these two things, since you are not meant to follow such a path. As a matter of fact there are many persons seemingly terrified by the mere term “mental prayer” or “contemplation,” and perhaps one of these might come to this house, for as I have also said not everyone walks by the same path.

Well what I now want to counsel you about (I can even say teach you, because as a Mother, having the office of prioress, I’m allowed to teach) is how you must pray vocally, for it’s only right that you should understand what you’re saying.

And because it can happen that those who are unable to think about God may also find long prayers tiring, I don’t want to concern myself with these. But I will speak of those prayers we are obliged as Christians to recite (such as, the Our Father and the Hail Mary) so that people won’t be able to say of us that we speak and don’t understand what we’re speaking about—unless we think it is enough for us to follow the practice in which merely pronouncing the words is sufficient. I’m not concerned with whether this is sufficient or not; learned men will explain [the matter to those persons to whom God gives light to ask the question. And I’m not meddling with what doesn’t belong to our state.]

What I would like us to do, daughters, is refuse to be satisfied with merely pronouncing the words. For when I say, “I believe,” it seems to me right that I should know and understand what I believe.

And when I say, “Our Father,” it will be an act of love to understand who this Father of ours is and who the Master is who taught us this prayer.

What we ourselves can do is to strive to be alone; and please God it will suffice, as I say, that we understand to whom we are speaking and the answer the Lord makes to our petitions. Do you think He is silent? Even though we do not hear Him, He speaks well to the heart when we beseech Him from the heart.

And it is good for us to consider that He taught this prayer to each of us and that He is showing it to us; the teacher is never so far from his pupil that he has to shout, but he is very close. I want you to understand that it is good for you, if you are to recite the Our Father well, to remain at the side of the Master who taught this prayer to you.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, chap. 24, nos. 1–2, 5

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Jude Beck / Unsplash (Stock photo)

#contemplation #LordSPrayer #mentalPrayer #OurFather #recollection #solitude #StTeresaOfAvila #understanding #vocalPrayer

Quote of the day, 12 February: Brother Lawrence

“Sometimes I think of myself as a piece of stone before a sculptor who desires to carve a statue; presenting myself in this way before God I ask him to fashion his perfect image in my soul, making me entirely like himself.”

Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, o.c.d.
Letter 2 (excerpt)

“To consider oneself as a piece of stone before a sculptor who desires to carve a statue.” Could Brother Lawrence’s insight not serve as a guide in our spiritual life? To allow the Holy Spirit to imprint in us the traces of God’s Love and Mercy through the sacraments—especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation—without neglecting the Word of God, which strengthens and sustains us. To accept, like a model standing before the sculptor, the work of God shaping us. A vast undertaking, requiring perseverance, at times even courage, but above all, the willingness to welcome God’s work in our daily lives. The Lord desires the conversion of his children so that they may love and follow him—not in monotonous repetition, but in the beauty of each new day.

This echoes what God revealed to the prophet Jeremiah:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel” (Jer 18:1–6).

Whether as sculptor or potter, God’s work in each of us follows the same pattern. At every moment, God opens a space of renewal, shaping in us his image. From the very first pages of Scripture, in the Book of Genesis, we see God at work, particularly in the creation of humanity:

“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Gen 2:7).

Sculpting, molding, shaping—it does not matter which word we use. The reality remains the same: God comes to restore his image in us, an image that time, hardship, or even sin may have distorted. He enters into our daily lives, whatever they may be. Will we hear his call?

With Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, one essential question emerges again and again in the spiritual life: How do we live with God throughout the day? How do we remain in his presence? Our Carmelite brother offers us the answer:

“The holiest, most ordinary, and most necessary practice of the spiritual life is that of the presence of God. It is to take delight in and become accustomed to his divine company, speaking humbly and conversing lovingly with him all the time, at every moment, without rule or measure, especially in times of temptation, suffering, aridity, weariness, even infidelity and sin…. We must continually apply ourselves so that all our actions, without exception, become a kind of brief conversation with God, not in a contrived manner but coming from the purity and simplicity of our hearts.” (Spiritual Maxims 6–7).

The Word of God and the wisdom of Brother Lawrence guide us on this journey. “Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches” (Rev 2:7).

This is the ongoing work of the spiritual life: to listen, to surrender, and to allow the Master to work. He comes to renew us. He comes to sculpt his image in us.

Father Didier-Joseph of the Holy Family Caullery, o.c.d.

2018 Carmelite Online Lenten Retreat

Note: Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection, o.c.d. died on 12 February 1691, at the Discalced Carmelite convent on the Rue de Vaugirard in Paris. After decades of humble service in the monastery kitchen and as the community’s sandal maker, he was led by the choirs of angels to the presence of God. Though he left no theological treatises, his Letters, Conversations, and Spiritual Maxims continue to inspire countless souls.

Lawrence of the Resurrection, B; De Meester, C 1994, Writings and Conversations on the Practice of the Presence of God,  translated from the French by Salvatore Sciurba, OCD, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Adobe Express creates the following image in Firefly with the following prompt: “A bald, elderly 17th-century French friar with a joyful and serene expression, sitting alone on a simple wooden chair in a dimly lit monastic cell. He wears a well-worn brown habit. Using a wooden lap desk, he writes a letter by candlelight with a quill and parchment. The atmosphere is warm, peaceful, and prayerful. There are no other people in the room.” Image credit: Firefly / Carmelite Quotes (Some rights reserved)

#BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #conversation #God #mentalPrayer #presenceOfGod #sculpture #spiritualDirection #statue

What I tried to explain in the previous chapters—although I digressed a great deal in speaking of other things since mentioning them seemed to me very necessary—was the work we can do through our own efforts and how in obtaining this initial devotion we can help ourselves in some way.

For in thinking about and carefully examining what the Lord suffered for us, we are moved to compassion; and this sorrow and the resulting tears bring delight. In thinking about the glory we hope for, the love the Lord bore us, and His resurrection, we are moved to a joy that is neither entirely spiritual nor entirely of the senses.

But the joy is virtuous and the sorrow very meritorious. Virtue and merit are found in all the things that cause the devotion acquired partly by the intellect, even though this devotion could not be merited or obtained if God did not give it.

The soul can place itself in the presence of Christ and grow accustomed to being inflamed with love for His sacred humanity. It can keep Him ever-present and speak with Him, asking for its needs and complaining of its labors, being glad with Him in its enjoyments and not forgetting Him because of them, trying to speak to Him, not through written prayers but with words that conform to its desires and needs.

This is an excellent way of making progress and in a very short time. I consider that soul advanced who strives to remain in this precious company and to profit very much by it, and who truly comes to love this Lord to whom we owe so much.

As a result, we shouldn’t care at all about not having devotion—as I have said—but we ought to thank the Lord who allows us to be desirous of pleasing Him, even though our works may be weak.

This method of keeping Christ present with us is beneficial in all stages and is a very safe means of advancing in the first degree of prayer, of reaching in a short time the second degree, and of walking secure against the dangers the devil can set up in the last degrees.

Keeping Christ present is what we of ourselves can do.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, Chapter 12

Note: This passage from The Book of Her Life shows how Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection firmly grasped the essence of Teresian prayer, which he expressed in his letters and maxims as the practice of the presence of God.

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Christopher Riggs captured this image of a woman praying the Holy Rosary. Image credit: xopheriggs / Unsplash (Stock photo)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/10/02/stj-keepingchrist/

#BrotherLawrenceOfTheResurrection #mentalPrayer #prayer #presenceOfGod #sacredHumanity #StTeresaOfAvila

It is only right that we consider these two points [on mental prayer and vocal prayer] since, because of his humility, this King listens to me and lets me approach Him; and His guards do not throw me out, even though as an uneducated person I don’t know how to speak to Him.

The angels who assist Him know well the attitude of their King, for He delights more in the unpolished manners of a humble shepherd who He realizes would say more if he knew more than He does in the talk of very wise and learned men, however elegant their discourse, if they don’t walk in humility.

But just because He is good doesn’t mean that we should be rude. At least, in order to thank Him for the bad odor He must endure in consenting to allow one like myself to come near Him, we should strive to be aware of His purity and of who He is.

It’s true that upon approaching Him one understands immediately, just as with lords here below; for when they tell us who their father was and about the millions they get in rent and of their title of dignity, there’s no more to know. In fact, here below people in paying honor don’t take into account the persons themselves, however much these persons may deserve the honor, but their wealth.

O miserable world! Praise God very much, daughters, because you have left something so wretched, where men pay attention not to what they have within themselves but to what their tenant farmers and vassals have; and if these men lack subordinates then no honor is paid them. It’s something amusing to relax over when you all have to take some recreation.

For this is a good pastime: to notice how blindly those who are in the world spend their time.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, chap. 22, nos. 4–5

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Father Lawrence Lew, OP captures this image of Christ the King in a beautiful stained glass window by Charles Eamer Kempe in St. Michael’s Church, Cumnor, England. (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/27/stj-way22n4/

#ChristTheKing #goodness #humility #mentalPrayer #misery #praise #prayer #StTeresaOfAvila #vocalPrayer

Realize, daughters, that the nature of mental prayer isn’t determined by whether or not the mouth is closed.

If while speaking I thoroughly understand and know that I am speaking with God and I have greater awareness of this than I do of the words I’m saying, mental and vocal prayer are joined.

If, however, others tell you that you are speaking with God while you are reciting the Our Father and at the same time in fact thinking of the world, then I have nothing to say.

But if you are to be speaking, as is right, with so great a Lord, it is good that you consider whom you are speaking with as well as who you are, at least if you want to be polite. How can you call the king “your highness” or know the ceremonies to be observed in addressing a highest ranking nobleman if you do not clearly understand what his position is and what yours is?

For it is in conformity with these facts that you must show respect, and in conformity with custom—because you also need to know even the customs. If you don’t know them, you will be sent away as a simpleton and will fail to negotiate anything.

In the Escorial manuscript, St. Teresa adds: And what’s more, if you don’t know these things well, you will need to find out and even rehearse what you must say. Once it happened to me [when visiting Doña Luisa de la Cerda] that, not having been accustomed to speaking with lords and ladies I had to speak with someone who was to be addressed as your ladyship; and so they had to show me how to say it. Since I am dull and was not used to these titles, I didn’t get it right when the time came. I decided to tell her what happened and, laughing at myself, asked her to allow me to address her with the ordinary form “you;” and so I did.

Well, what is this, my Lord? What is this, my Emperor? How can it be tolerated? You are King forever, my God; Your kingdom is not a borrowed one. When in the Creed the words, “and His kingdom will have no end,” are said, it is almost always a special delight for me.

I praise You, Lord, and bless You forever; in sum, Your kingdom will last forever. Well then, may You never permit, Lord, that anyone who is about to speak to You consider it good to do so only vocally.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, chap. 22, no. 1

Note: Translator and editor Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. tells us that there are two autograph manuscripts of The Way of Perfection. One is on display in the Royal Library of the Escorial in Madrid; the other is carefully preserved by the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Valladolid and is seen in our featured image.

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Original autograph manuscript of the Way of Perfection preserved in the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Valladolid | Photo credit: Ángel Cantero / Iglesia en Valladolid (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/26/stj-way22n1/

#eternity #God #KingOfKings #KingdomOfGod #mentalPrayer #prayer #respect #StTeresaOfAvila #vocalPrayer

What is this, Christians, that you say mental prayer isn’t necessary? Do you understand yourselves? Indeed, I don’t think you do, and so you desire that we all be misled.

You don’t know what mental prayer is, or how vocal prayer should be recited, or what contemplation is, for if you did you wouldn’t on the one hand condemn what on the other hand you praise.

I shall always have to join mental prayer to vocal prayer—when I remember—so that others don’t frighten you, daughters. I know how this criticism of mental prayer will end up, for I have suffered some trials in this matter, and thus I wouldn’t want anyone to disturb you.

It is harmful to walk on this road with fear. It is very important for you to know that you are on the right road. When a traveler is told that he has made a mistake and lost his way, he is made to go from one end to another, and all his searching for the way tires him, and he wastes time and arrives late.

Who can say that it is wrong when we begin to recite the Hours or the rosary, to consider whom we are going to speak with, and who we are, so as to know how to speak with Him?

Now I tell you, Sisters, if before you begin your vocal prayer you do the great deal that must be done in order to understand these two points well, you will be spending a good amount of time in mental prayer.

Yes, indeed, for we must not approach a conversation with a prince as negligently as we do one with a farm worker, or with some poor thing like ourselves for whom any manner of address is all right.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Way of Perfection, chap. 22, nos. 2–3

Note: Translator and editor Father Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. mentions that in the first redaction of The Way of Perfection, St. Teresa wrote: “Do you understand yourselves? For, though being what I am, I would like to shout and argue with those who say mental prayer is not necessary.”

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: Photographer Jeffrey Bruno captured this image of religious women who attended the Beatification of Sister Miriam Teresa Demjanovich at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, New Jersey on 4 October 2014. Image credit: Jeffrey Bruno / Flickr (Some rights reserved)

https://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/06/24/stj-way22n2/

#contemplation #conversation #fear #LiturgyOfTheHours #mentalPrayer #prayer #Rosary #StTeresaOfAvila #vocalPrayer