A Contemplative Attitude

I am continuing to comment on the section on Prayer in the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart as they are so pertinent to an understanding of our spirituality.

#22 This contemplative attitude permeates our whole being,
helping us to live ever more united to Christ
in our relationships, our tasks and our ministry;
it becomes a powerful force
of conversion and transformation for mission.
In welcoming God's word
Mary gave Christ to the world.
In receiving the life of Jesus
we give ourselves with Him so that all may have life.

We were talking about finding the presence of God and having the "mind" of Christ Jesus so what do I mean by this "contemplative attitude" that permeates our whole being? I think it means taking time to reflect and learn how to find God in all things. We are called to listen to God as He speaks to us through events, persons, circumstances in our daily lives.

The Spirit dwells within us...

From the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart #21

The Spirit dwelling within us
gradually transforms us, enabling us
through His power to remove whatever
hinders His action.
The Spirit unites and conforms us to Jesus
and makes us sensitive to His presence
within ourselves, in others and in all that happens.
Thus we learn to contemplate reality
and to experience it with His Heart,
to commit ourselves to the service of the Kingdom
and to grow in love:
"Have this mind among yourselves
which was in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 2:5).

We cannot transform ourselves; it is the Spirit who dwells in us that does the work of transformation; we need to be humble and docile to all the promptings of the Spirit.

I am to find God in all - people, events, circumstances. But I am so easily distracted and insensible to the presence of God within me that I need the Spirit to make me aware. We are all called to live in union with Jesus and, the good news is that He is with us even when we are not aware of his presence. He is with us! He wants us to find Him "within ourselves, in others and in all that happens."
Then I grow in love and, as Paul says,
"Have this mind among yourselves
which was in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 2:5).

We learn to remain in silence...

20. Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart:
In prayer we come to Him
with everything that touches our life,
with the sufferings and hopes of humanity.
We learn to remain in silence
and poverty of heart before Him.
In the free gift of ourselves
we learn to adore and to abide in His love.

Nothing is too small to take to Him; nothing is too big!

To remain in silence and poverty of heart before Him is not always easy to do. Our minds are so filled with daily concerns and cares that remaining in silence seems impossible without the gift of grace, that divine life in us that makes all possible.
"Be still and know that I am God."

We go to Him with all that touches our life: our concerns, our worries, our joys and our sufferings. We surrender all to Him and sit in silence. Take time to be quiet, breathe deeply, and descend into His Heart. He waits for us to "adore and abide in His love."

The Gift of the heart

I am still reflecting on prayer in the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart but will begin today with a quote from a letter from Mother Stuart:

"You are quite on the right track, it is the gift of your heart that God wants above all in prayer, that you may both give to Him and receive Him. Keep it always uplifted with great expectations...God loves us to expect from Him, because He loves to give Himself to us. If we only believed this, as we profess it, how close our union would become and how blessed our work would be."

To continue with the Constitutions on Prayer:#19

In the Gospel
through His words, His attitudes,
His relationships with people,
His way of relating to all created things,
we discover His Heart
wholly given to the Father and to all people.

The Gospels show us the preferences of Jesus for the poor, the lowly, the ones in need of healing and they show us the feelings of His Heart so full of compassion and love! We not only discover His Heart, but He gives it to us!

Feast of the Epiphany

The Three Kings followed the star and it led them to Jesus. Perhaps they were not really kings, but certainly they were wise-men! They left all and set out for the unknown. I was given my obedience for Vina del Mar on Christmas Eve; at that time we went on the missions for life. I did not even know where I was being sent and the Superior General told me it was to a school in Chile. Now, I knew nothing about Chile and did not know Spanish, but I set out to find Jesus wherever I was sent. Of course, Jesus was with me and helped me at every instant not only on the journey but when I arrived. I guess following the star has been part of my life, but I do admire the courage of these three and their faith. They found Jesus and adored Him! What more do we want? Then they were sent home by a different way!

I suspect we all have a special star to follow. I have found that my star is joy and I think each year has brought me so much joy. Once we follow our star we cannot return by the same way; we have found Jesus and now our lives are different. Let us stay attentive to our star that leads us to Jesus. We also thank on this feast for the manifestation of the star that leads to Jesus and we adore Him and offer Him the gift of ourselves.

Eve of Epiphany

Today is Saturday and I am thinking of the expectation of the three wise men as they follow the star to find Jesus.
I find that there is something that happens when I sit in silence and let go of all my thoughts. I am immersed in God's love and feel so much peace and joy. I wonder why I do not try to pray this way more instead of having my head going around and around full of thoughts that really are not important.

I was reading the webpage of the England-Wales Province (the link is on the right side of my blog under Society of the Sacred Heart and it works now and is worth looking at. They have some of the Religious in the Province describing their prayer and I think this is a joy to be able to read about their experience and that they are able to articulate it.

My own morning hour of prayer seems to be a "hodge-podge" of some reading, some reflection, some silent time when I often feel that I am in the Heart of Christ; I also find myself sometimes praying for the world. One of my friends prays with her Christmas cards so that each sender has a special day of remembrance in prayer. I do pray for all who sent cards, but usually do it all at once. I am not so organized to be able to remember to take a card a day. However, I look forward to my morning prayer and usually manage to prolong it; going to noon Mass makes that the center of my day and then I look forward to having more time for prayer in the late afternoon. It is the joy of this year to have more time for prayer, but when I entered we had even more and I am just gradually trying to take back the contemplative moments that we had built into our days. Epiphany is a feast to take time to adore God who has come as a human infant to be like us in all except sin.

The Feast of the Epiphany is on Sunday now!

The Kings are on their way and no longer arrive on January 6 but on Sunday!

How does Jesus "make known to us the feelings and the preferences of His Heart?"
I think He asks us to be still and silent so that we can really listen to Him in prayer. We only need to "show up" and we find His Heart open for us, if we open ourselves to His love.
More tomorrow or later as I need to go out this morning.

Jesus calls us

"Jesus calls us to a personal encounter with Him. He wants to make known to us the feelings and preferences of His Heart." (#18 Constitutions on Prayer)

Do I really believe this? I do because I have had the experience of it through many years. Jesus calls us to a personal encounter with Him. He is always present waiting for me to be present to Him. He waits for me with longing; the desire I have to be with Him comes from Him and I know that the intensity of the desire increases the capacity I have to receive His love. He gives the desire; He wants to love us. Let Him! This is prayer!

Courage is good for the New Year!

So much seems to be wrong with our world that we need to remember that it is God's world and He is present and wants us to help with the evolution of His creation until we are all one in the Cosmic Christ. It takes courage to face the New Year but let us advance with both hope and joy!

Now, to continue with the spirituality of the Society of the Sacred Heart as found in the Constitutions: What can I share from the section on prayer that will be helpful today for reflection? First of all, "the Society is essentially based upon prayer and the interior life since we cannot glorify the adorable Heart of Jesus worthily except inasmuch as we apply ourselves to study His interior dispositions in order to unite and conform ourselves to them."

Again we have the importance of union with Jesus and the need to know His interior dispositions. I guess all of our lives should be based on prayer and the interior life. Sometimes we forget that we are dependent on God and try to do things on our own. I think of St. Paul when he said that when he was weak he was strong with the strength of Christ and I think we have all experienced this. More tomorrow!

Union with Jesus

Today we are having the first "cold" day in Miami and last night was supposed to be around 40 degrees which is really cold for us. It is to warm up by Thursday but the Salvation Army sent out buses to collect the homeless last night and warm food was prepared.
To continue with my idea to comment on the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart to deepen our spirituality, here is a bit more of #8 of what we continue to call the "new" Constitutions to distinguish them from those of 1815. (I am only going to take a selection of some of the passages that speak to me and especially I will use the section on prayer starting tomorrow, I think - remember that the Holy Spirit is my inspiration so I am never sure what I will be writing!)

For us, life, community, apostolic service,
all spring from our union and conformity
with the Heart of Jesus.
This grace of vocation
is a way of conversion and of apostolic fruitfulness.
The pierced Heart of Jesus
opens our being to the depths of God
and to the anguish of humankind.

Union with Jesus is what is essential and it is the grace of our vocation. We are both plunged into the Heart of God and the heart of the world. It is in opening ourselves both to God and to others that we can live the grace of our vocation. My journal this morning said this better than what I am now writing so I guess I will need to look at it.
I just added the link on the right side to the web page of the English Province of the Sacred Heart; they have some great quotes from the Constitutions and pictures! Check it out and also be sure and read about Mother Stuart.

This is a special year! Today is the Feast of Sts. Basil and Gregory

I love these two 4th century bishops who were friends who studied together and then both loved the monastic life before being named bishops. Basil was a great bishop but Gregory soon retired to a more monastic life as he was more contemplative and a poet without Basil's gift for administration.

I think this is a special year because we are asked to study and pray over our Constitutions. I received a gift of a calendar with quotes from the Constitutions of the Society of the Sacred Heart from England from one of my dear friends in the English Province. It made me think that I could use the Constitutions this month to share some of our spirituality in my blog. It helps to have a theme for the month but my reflections seem just to come from the Holy Spirit when I sit down at the computer. However, this theme seems to be the inspiration to start the year with and I think it will profit all of us.

Helen McLaughlin, our Superior General at the time of the adoption of our new Constitutions, wrote: "Let us welcome these Constitutions in a spirit of deep faith and let us allow the Holy Spirit to call us forth through these texts, so that the written work becomes truly life-giving ...we need to pray over them, deepen them, absorb them and above all love them."

I think my favorite passage (impossible to name just one but I keep going back to this one) is "For us, life, community, apostolic service, all spring from our union and conformity with the Heart of Jesus."

Happy New Year!

This is just to say Happy New Year! I think the best way to spend it is in gratitude for all the graces of the past year! I would love to do what was suggested in today's paper by one who actually did it: Write a thank you note to someone every day"!!