“Christmas Vocation” – St. Therese of the Child Jesus 

 “…As a matter of fact it was not on that day that I received my religious vocation : Our Lord, wishing my first glance to be for Him alone, deigned to ask me for my heart actually in the cradle, if I may put it so. The night of Christmas 1886 was, it is true, decisive for my vocation, but to give it a more exact name I should call it the night of my conversion. On that blest night, of which it is written that it illumines God’s own delights, Jesus, who became a child for love of me, deigned to bring me forth from the swaddling clothes and imperfections of infancy. He transformed me so utterly that I no longer recognized myself. …If the Lord had not clad me in His divine strength, if He had not Himself armed me for war.”

“Christmas” – St. Elizabeth of the Trinity (Letter 187)

“…Did you have a nice Christmas? Mine was delightful, for you see, Christmas in Carmel is unique; in the evening, I settled down in choir, and there I spent my whole vigil with the Blessed Virgin awaiting the divine Little One, who this time was going to be born no longer in the crib, but in my soul, in our souls, for He is truly Emmanuel, “God with us.”  …I’m rejoicing over the coming of the little angel, who will bring so much happiness with it. From the depths of my cloister, I share in the joy of those I love so much, and then, gazing at the divine Little One in the crib, I tell Him with ineffable happiness: “You are my All.” …the horizon looks very beautiful to me, for in my life, there is only Him! And isn’t He all Heaven!  A Dieu, a good, happy, and holy New Year! “

IN THE MANGER…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

 

A lot has been written about Christmas in the past and a lot will be written about Christmas in the future also. Christmas time is the most wonderful time of the year when Love comes down from heaven. God gifted humankind the greatest of all gifts – His only son Jesus! Unfortunately, over the years, we have been so caught up exchanging the material gifts that we have been conveniently forgetting about this heavenly gift. Commercialization of this beautiful event has totally side-lined its spiritual aspect.

But the mystic saint, St. John of the Cross, reminds us all of the deep spiritual truths of Christmas. For this great Carmelite saint, the liturgical feasts and seasons meant more than an external commemoration – they were the occasion of an interior transformation in the spirit of the mystery being celebrated. At Christmas time above all he felt his heart pulsate with love for the Child Jesus.

One Christmas, seeing a statue of the Baby Jesus lying on a cushion, he cried out, “Lord, if love is to slay me, the hour has now come.” Another Christmas, taken with love, he took the statue of the Infant Jesus in his arms and began to dance with enraptured joy.

On the day before Christmas St. John of the Cross used to organize with the friars a kind of para-liturgical procession to recall how Mary and Joseph went in search of lodging for the divine Infant. Initiated by our holy Mother St. Teresa of Avila, it was called “the child Jesus days of recollection”. During this great and noble Carmelite tradition, the entire community processed in white mantles holding candles. The prior carried the child Jesus in a little manger, to a monk’s hermitage. The monk kneeled to kiss these holy images when they were brought into his cell and placed on his straw mattress. He spent the next twenty-four hours in solitude and intense prayer.

Among his many great works there is also a rare poem about the Nativity of Jesus. In this poem he presents a symphony of spiritual truths, focused in particular on the spousal nature of the Incarnation and the love God has for humanity. It has hints of the SONG OF SONGS within it, another poem that expresses the passionate love of God for his bride, the Church.

As we meditate on the beauty of Christmas, let us consider this poem by St. John of the Cross:

Now at last the destined ages
Their appointed course had run,
When rejoicing from His chamber
Issued forth the Bridegroom Son.

He embraced His bride, and held her
Lovingly upon His breast,
And the gracious Mother laid Him
In the manger down to rest.

There He lay, the dumb beasts by Him,
They were fitly stabled there,
While the shepherds and the angels
Filled with melody the air.

So the feast of their espousals
With solemnity was kept;
But Almighty God, an Infant,
In the manger moaned and wept.

So the bride at her betrothal
Did the bridal gifts arrange;
But the Mother looked in wonder
At the marvellous exchange.

Man gave forth a song of gladness,
God Himself a plaintive moan;
Both possessing that which never
Had been hitherto their own.

So let this Christmas be a transforming time for us. Let us be humble, being given the opportunity to be part of this history story to adore and worship the true, living “Emmanuel” God with us. This Christmas let us make the divine Carmelite tradition ours. Let us make our hearts and homes the new Bethlehem where Christ is welcomed with great love and adoration. Let us not turn away Joseph and Mary when they visit us with their heavenly Gift.

(Article is written by our OCDS member Jubilee Cardoza, from Mira Road, Mumbai)

María Maravillas Pidal y Chico de Guzmán was born into an important royal family in Madrid, Spain, in 1891. Her father was also Spain’s ambassador to the Vatican. The family was very religious, and María was always encouraged to put God first in her life. She prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide her in knowing how God wanted her to serve him. God blessed María with a religious vocation.

She joined the Carmelite order in Madrid in 1920. Before she took her final vows, she and three other nuns were chosen to open another Carmelite monastery in central Spain. It was a true house of prayer and helped many people turn their lives to God. María became the Superior of the house and the nuns called her “Mother.” She saw the growth of the convent as a sign from God to establish more Carmelite houses wherever they were needed.

The opportunity to expand came quickly. The bishop asked her to open a monastery in India in 1933, the first of many that were founded because of María’s work among the people.

Shortly after she returned to Spain, the Spanish Civil war broke out. María and her Sisters were arrested because some people blamed Catholics for Spain’s problems. The nuns lived under house arrest and threats for over a year. When they were freed, the Sisters had to rebuild the first house they have founded. It had been completely destroyed in the war.

In many cases, the convents the nuns established were just the beginning. Houses for the poor, schools, churches, and medical centers were added. The communities were like small towns, because Mother María and her sisters recognized the needs of the people they served in Jesus’ name. She even helped start colleges for poor young people.

Mother María died at the age of 83 in 1974 after a life of good works. She was canonized in 2003 by Pope John Paul II. Her entire life was spent loving God and her neighbor. We, too, can look for practical ways to show our love for God by helping others.

Carmelite Thoughts: Repentance – Fire of Love

The true Light shines “in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ’ (2Cor 4:6). We must draw aside the curtains, open the inner window of the heart for the light of God’s flame to ‘fire the soul in the spirit of love’ ( 1DN 10:6). This aspect of the Advent mystery is also continually present in contrite hearts at prayer who reach out in repentance to God for his mercy and forgiveness.‘

The Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins’ (Mk 1:4). The clarion call of the Baptist for repentance echoes the voice of his fiery predecessor, Elijah, the father of all Carmelites. Elijah prays on Mount Carmel: ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel… let the people know that you, O Lord, are God, and are winning back their hearts’ (1Kgs 18:36-37). This is the voice of the prophet calling to conversion. Elijah is pleading with a wayward people for a return to the one true God of the covenant, reminding them of their first allegiance and their daily prayer: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Dt 6:4).” When the fire descends from heaven, repentance is instant. The people fall prostrate on the ground. They cry out: ‘The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God’ (1Kgs 18:39). The false prophets of Baal, who had led the people astray, are put to the sword.

Elijah has called the people of God to repentance. But now he himself must experience his own conversion. No sooner is victory won for God than we see Elijah in flight from the infamous Queen Jezebel, seeking vengeance for the slaughter of her false prophets of Baal. Tired, exhausted, hungry, thirsty, Elijah pleads despondently with God in the wilderness: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers’ (1Kgs 19:4). This is his dark night of faith as ‘he lies with his face downwards…in the rubble that was his achievement’. All seems futile to him now – total failure.

But a light shines in the darkness. God intervenes to feed him, and Elijah goes ‘in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God’ (1Kgs 19:8). Here, on this other mountain, Elijah discovers a new face of God – not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in ‘the voice of a thin silence’ (1Kgs 19:12). This is not the God of the devouring fire proclaimed by Elijah on Mount Carmel. It is, of course, the same God. But the prophet now experiences him in the stillness of an ineffable mystery; he becomes like the lover in John of the Cross’ ‘Spiritual Canticle’, who experiences God in the ‘silent music, sounding solitude’ that speaks of the Beloved (SC 15)

Carmelite Thoughts: “ADVENT: AN INFLOW OF GOD”

The word ‘advent’ means ‘coming’. It is a time to celebrate God’s coming into our lives. Prayer is one of the many ways God comes to us. St. John of the Cross speaks of prayer as a kind of advent when he says: ‘contemplation is nothing else than a secret and peaceful and loving inflow of God, which, if not impeded, fires the soul in the spirit of love’ (1DN 10:6). It is a ‘peaceful’ inflow, like the coming of Christ into the world with his message of peace. It was his first gift: ‘Peace to those who enjoy God’s favour’ (Lk 2:14); it was also his last gift: ‘Peace be with you’ (Jn 20:19.21). It is a ‘loving’ inflow, like the coming of the Word made flesh: ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’ (Jn 3:16); and a ‘secret’ inflow revealed at his birth only to those who see with faith, ‘to all who received him, who believed in his name’ (Jn 1:12). No wonder the Church invites us repeatedly to pray during Advent in preparation for Christ’s coming at Christmas.

In prayer, we expose ourselves to the reality of a self-communicating God of love. We make space for him to enter. There must be no obstacle. He will invade and take over in our lives. God is always knocking at the door of the human heart: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me’ (Rev 3:20). This door can be opened only from the inside. May we open our hearts, to receive the inflow of God.

“In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.” – St. John of the Cross

Much is always said about the “spirit of Christmas,” especially in every Christmas story or movie. In general, this refers to a “spirit of giving,” as well as hope, and sometimes charity. The quest to find the true spirit of Christmas is always in stark contrast with the consumer culture that has taken over the holiday, turning it into a season of “getting,” instead of a season of “giving.”

St. John of the Cross understood the spiritual life in such a profound way that he was able to summarize the true “spirit” of this time of year (Christian life in general). Advent is often connected to “twilight” and “evening,” because during this season the Northern Hemisphere is shrouded in the darkness of night. Furthermore, the evening is symbolic of our own final days on this earth, before we enter the “light” of eternal life.

All of this together means that during Advent (as well as all year long) we need to realize that, love and charity is what truly matters and not how many material presents we receive on Christmas. St. John of the Cross was a big proponent of emptying ourselves of all earthly attachments in order to achieve a greater union with God. In the end, all of this will pass away except our union with God and all the good deeds that are a result of that union.

“Advent Poem” By St. John of the Cross

If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road
pregnant with the Holy and say,
“I need shelter for the night.
Please take me inside your heart, my time is so close.”
Then, under the roof of your soul,
you will witness the sublime intimacy,
the divine, the Christ, taking birth forever,
as she grasps your hand for help,
for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us.
Yes, there, under the dome of your being,
does creation come into existence eternally,
through your womb, dear pilgrim,
the sacred womb of your soul,
as God grasps our arms for help:
for each of us is His beloved servant never far.
If you want, the virgin will come walking down the street,
pregnant with Light, and sing!

(Fact Check: Though this poem has gone viral online as written by St. John of the Cross, only the first few lines are from his poem are from “Del verbo divino”.)

TERESA: A PRAYER CENTERED REFORMER (Part 9)

CONCLUSION

Finally, I would like to treat the often quoted sentence from Saint Teresa, “Let nothing disturb you,” in the context of the whole poem:

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you;
All things are passing,
God alone never changes;
Patient endurance attains all things,
Who possesses God,
In nothing is lacking,
God alone suffices.

Lest we experience the words, “Let nothing disturb you,” as a mockery today in the face of the sufferings-spiritual and physical of untold millions of innocent victims of illness, disrupted familial relations, ethnic and religious conflicts, and finally the wars in so many parts of our world, we must enter into Saint Teresa’s own transformative experience of her personal sharing in the life, sufferings, death, and glorious risen life of Jesus, God’s Son. Teresa certainly knew sorrow, anxiety, disappointment, frustration, disillusionment, and so many of the emotions we would describe as “disturbing.”

However, she was graced with a profound awareness of the Divine Presence within her-Father, Son, and Spirit. Her faith in this Divine Presence and in her personal union with Jesus in the whole Christ, the Church, convinced her that “Patient endurance attains all things / Who possesses God / in nothing is lacking, / God alone suffices.” This faith did not remove for Teresa, as it will not for us, the mysteries enshrouded in life’s shadows. However, this faith is the source of the hope that empowers us to repeat with Saint Teresa, “Who possesses God / possesses all things / God alone suffices.”

In closing, I would like to share this prayer with you:

O God, in Teresa you have given us a model-a woman who was faithful to prayer, to her sisters and friends, and to the work she was called to do. Help us to be so committed to you that our daily work fosters our life of prayer and our life of prayer enables us to live fully in the world around us, aware of its needs and concerns. Bless all who follow the charism of Teresa and grant that they may be true to her spirit and faithful to a life of prayer. We ask this through Jesus who was ever her friend. Amen.

Mary Eileen McNamara, OCD, has been a member of the Carmelite Monastery  in Baltimore, Maryland, since 1941. In the context of the radical changes that have spanned her sixty-nine years as a Carmelite, she has lived a prayer-centered life, nourished by the charism of prayer that is the legacy of Saint Teresa of Avila. She has shared her insights on the importance of prayer with many of the laity.

Article by Mary Eileen McNamara, OCD , titled  “Saint Teresa of Avila: Prayer-Centered Reformer”, Published in Spiritual Life, Summer 2010.

To read St. Teresa’s Major Works here in pdf format Click the links below:

1. Book of Life
2. Way of Perfection
3. Interior Castle
4. Foundations

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1. Book of Life
2. Way of Perfection
3. Interior Castle
4. Foundations

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