St Therese Of Lisieux & St John Of The Cross

[BarbTherese]

My SD gave me a really worthwhile to me little booklet of only 35 pages. "St Therese of The Child Jesus" Author: Fr Raymond de Thomas de Saint-Laurent.  I did a quick Google and it is available in Australia, but I could not find it in any other country, although others may have better luck.

In Australia, I believe it is available in Australia through "Australia Needs Fatima"  (email: info@fatima.org.au Website: www.fatima.org.au ) - although I haven't searched the website myself.

 

It has certainly been a valuable read for me and I found in the pages not only an explanation of the spirituality of St Therese and her Little Way, but most of all a very short explanation and summary of the doctrine of St. John of The Cross that really impressed me.  The explanation is very concise and to the point and very easy to grasp..........quoted in quote box below.

 

I think one of the mistakes that can be made in reading about our saints and reading authors who are priests or religious, is that the lay secular vocation is completely different from the priesthood and religious life.  Marriage is a different vocation to the lay celibate.  We each might have a different call and a different mission not so much in subject matter perhaps at times as in actual content and/or emphasis.  And it is important I think to have a good grasp on our own vocation and its content, its duties.  I think the various Documents out of Rome related to our own state in life spells all that out for us.  Not only that, each of us has a unique call to respond to the Holy Spirit and His Grace in our own unique life and journey -  and in this a wise and holy, educated, spiritual director is pure gold, absolutely invaluable.  For those unable to find a good director, I have read somewhere (possibly only St Teresa of Avila I think) that The Lord will never allow to stray the person who places themselves confidently and trustfully in His Hands alone.

 

For an example on one subject only.  Penance is necessary in every life, while the penances of the priesthood, religious life and then marriage and lay celibacy probably will be, may be, quite different - while the necessity of penance does remain in all journeys.  There are those sacrifices and penances that just come along with one's vocation and state in life, then there may be some unique to a particular journey.  Certainly, in the life and spirituality of St Therese of Lisieux, we see a young woman  who embraced wholeheartedly those penances related to her vocation, her state in life, and the life of Carmel and a Carmelite nun.  She coupled this with interior penances and sacrifices and eventually quite joyfully so - and these did come along in the course of her own unique journey.  To outward appearances, her sisters in religion and fellow Carmelite sisters did think of her as a good Carmelite nun, but nothing outstanding..........until the autobiography of St Therese became known in their midst and then much further abroad indeed.

One thing that did really hit me between the eyes was that if St Therese was undergoing some suffering, she would sing a hymn.  I tried it out and sang a hymn in my mind, and it was amazing to me that it totally diverted my focus from my own 'suffering navel' to the words of the hymn.

 

All my two pennies worth only!

 

 

I have to type direct from the booklet :-

 

"Therese did not content herself merely with studying the doctrine of St John of The Cross, she lived it or, to put it precisely, "it lived in her".

 

It is absolutely necessary at this point that we summarise this doctrine, for we cannot understand St Therese's supernatural physiognomy perfectly without it.

 

St John of The Cross begins with a solid principle that serves as the basis for his doctrine. The perfect union of the soul with God - the mystical love that is a fusion of hearts - occurs only in a pure and completely disinterested Faith.  The Holy Spirit assures us of this in Sacred Scripture, saying to the privileged soul "I will espouse thee to Me in Faith".

 

Are the conclusions derived from the principle not already evident? If pure faith alone unites us to God in the contemplative embrace, to attain this end it is evidently necessary to renounce everything that is not this Faith.  According to the expression of the holy author, it is necessary to go "calling out", to go calling for the well-beloved Master, to withdraw from creatures and from oneself.  Therefore, the soul that thirsts for Divine Union should first, by its own efforts and the assistance of Grace, rid itself of any natural pursuit, of any attachment no matter how small, and of any spirit of property.  It must purify and mortify its interior movements, emptying itself of all that is not God.

 

But this first operation realized by the soul is not enough.  It is necessary that The Lord intervene directly in a very special manner.  It is necessary that by means of sorrowful aridity God free the soul from its habitual manner of prayer.  It is absolutely necessary that He force the soul to disengage itself from its imagination and sensibility.  Since God is simple and infinite, He cannot communicate Himself to us perfectly by means of sensible forms.  Finally it is necessary that, by means of an obscure and dolorous flame, God roots out all bad inclinations.

 

Everything here should reassure those timorous spirits who are frightened by St John of The Cross.  Our holy author does not risk exciting the unhealthy imagination of certain persons.  On the contrary, he professes an enormous suspicion regarding the imagination.  If he has high esteem for infused and obscure contemplation, he flees with a kind of terror from interior words, visions, and private revelations.  These extraordinary favours pass through sensible forms, and are consequently subject to illusion. He greatly prefers simpler prayer in which the soul, recollected and lost in the presence of God, is inflamed with a most ardent love for God.

 

The soul penetrates into the profound prayer of which we spoke in the first chapter in the measure that these active and passive purifications progress.  It receives in succession, the favours of recollection, quiet and union.  It ascends even more if the Divine Master calls it to the dizzying heights of ecstasy and spiritual matrimony, which not all saints attain.

 

In that we have summarised as briefly as possible the essential elements of the doctrine of St John of The Cross............."..............

 

 

[Perigrina]

Thanks for this passage, BarbaraTherese, especially since you typed it all out.

 

I completely agree with your comments about different states of life.  This is a major theme of Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales.  I recommend it to anybody interested in learning more about this topic.  Actually, I recommend it to everybody.  :hehe2:   Here is a link to an online version: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.html

[BarbTherese]

Discovered St Frances de Sales and INtroduction to The Devout Life while I was married (annulled).  Thank you for mentioning this excellent text and giving an online-text link. :)

 

One thing I did not in the booklet on St Therese is that she had at some time worn a hair shirt, metal bracelet and also a cross with spikes - these of course did reflect the quite severe spirituality of her day.  They may have been ordained in the constitution of her particular Carmelite community - I don't know.  Although, I have read that St Therese had a desire for mortification and penance and her superior, rather than fulfil that desire, did not allow same.  St Therese needed to mortify her own desire for penance (although since she did use the implements of corporal punishment mentioned above, there were times when she could fulfil her desire)

 

My personal conviction is that The Lord will permit sufficient mortification and penance throughout our journey (more than sufficient!), into our days as they unfold, to make great saints of us - and there are additional (although no corporal penance per se) in my Rule of LIfe and approved by my director.  In my rule, there is nothing at all severe, even remotely so - rather, in fact, rather 'ho hum!' and quite ordinary and everyday.

 

To my mind more than any actual act of penance or mortification inflicted on self, it is a matter of interior mortification of the will and striving for loving acceptance and embrace of what The Lord does permit in our lives for all is ordained for our good and for our sanctification.  These quite ordinary daily sacrifices and mortifications of self-will required of necessity in our journey united to The Cross of Jesus and His Sacred Heart very mysteriously to our human reasoning are at the one and the same time also ordained for the redemption of the whole of mankind.  It is moreso about love and growing in love of God and neighbour and through Faith in the will..............and that love that is "agape" Excellent Explanation HERE

...........AND see "Decree on The Apostolate of The Laity" Paragraph 8 http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651118_apostolicam-actuositatem_en.html

 

From Booklet I quoted from on St Therese of Lisieux :  "St John of The Cross begins with a solid principle that serves as the basis for his doctrine. The perfect union of the soul with God - the mystical love that is a fusion of hearts - occurs only in a pure and completely disinterested Faith.  The Holy Spirit assures us of this in Sacred Scripture, saying to the privileged soul "I will espouse thee to Me in Faith".

 

 

Edited May 26, 2014 by BarbaraTherese

[Perigrina]

To my mind more than any actual act of penance or mortification inflicted on self, it is a matter of interior mortification of the will and striving for loving acceptance and embrace of what The Lord does permit in our lives for all is ordained for our good and for our sanctification.  These quite ordinary daily sacrifices and mortifications of self-will required of necessity in our journey united to The Cross of Jesus and His Sacred Heart very mysteriously to our human reasoning are at the one and the same time also ordained for the redemption of the whole of mankind.

 

I have been thinking about this too.  A penance which one chooses for oneself will necessarily be, to some extent, an indulgence of one's own will.  Accepting the penance and mortification sent by God means abandoning one's will and placing compete trust in Him.
 

[BarbTherese]

I have been thinking about this too.  A penance which one chooses for oneself will necessarily be, to some extent, an indulgence of one's own will.  Accepting the penance and mortification sent by God means abandoning one's will and placing compete trust in Him.
 

 

Amen! :)  "Well said!", I thought.

It doesn't always apply of course, but I have read spiritual texts where self inflicted corporal mortifications could/might be at risk of spiritual pride.  Of course, some religious orders in their constitution may stipulate some corporal mortification or other, although I don't think this is so so much nowadays.  I have read that Opus Dei does retain some sort of corporal mortification for some of its members.

 

There are almost endless ways in the course of any day that one can deny the body and the senses and mortify one's self will - and natural inclination I think to prefer some sort of sense satisfaction on some level.  These occurances are not chosen, they just are intrinsic to living out a day, while one can live out a day quite well and ignore such opportunities.  Most always lurking on some level is pride and/or spiritual pride.  To me, that level of perfection God has ordained is not something that I recognise and hold in my mind as an objective to strive for - rather I think of it as a continual unfolding in each and all my days, it is my continual now at every moment.  I read somewhere and it was attributed to St Francis of Assisi that pride dies only ten minutes after we do.  We are nothing but creatures of imperfection continually and always failing somewhere or other on some level -  and any virtue even the slightest good is all credit to Grace alone and hence no just cause or reason whatsoever for the slightest pride on any level............not that that stops me!

 

Why do some of our great saints, for example, attain say The Spiritual Marriage of the mystics and others not.  It can be a huge spiritual step to resign oneself in Peace and Joy to whatever level and type of perfection God has ordained for one and in my book one can truly rejoice because that level of perfection ordained for one by God will make a great saint.  There will be endless great saints in Heaven who have never been raised to the altars of The Church in canonization.  Why is this?  Because God has ordained it so for very good reasons that are mysterious to us.

 

Again, only my two cents worth.

[AugustineA]

Hey Barbara, thanks for typing that all out. St. John has some similarities with Buddhist thought in terms of attachment.. What do you think about attachment to things that help discipline or purify us?

 

For example, when I was a wild kid, my family bought me a pass to the gym, and it was the only thing I had. It helped me become focused and healthy. It's an attachment though, even a dependency..  

Edited May 28, 2014 by AugustineA

[BarbTherese]

Hey Barbara, thanks for typing that all out. St. John has some similarities with Buddhist thought in terms of attachment.. What do you think about attachment to things that help discipline or purify us?

 

For example, when I was a wild kid, my family bought me a pass to the gym, and it was the only thing I had. It helped me become focused and healthy. It's an attachment though, even a dependency..  

 

Hay Augustine, I can only share my thoughts and that is all that they are.  I know nothing about Buddhist thought really.

 

Your example of the gym pass your parents gave you probably has other virtues attached to it besides striving for detachment.  It might be obedience to your parents (obedience is a superior virtue in one's journey in that it is a detachment from one's own will) or the importance in a particular life of learning focus and being healthy.  It may be some of all of the aforementioned and at one time or another one virtue may be of more value in one's journey than another.  Perhaps if you abandoned the gym pass and practised detachment, you might be inclined to be spiritually proud of yourself.  Or it might be that deep down, one uses a striving for detachment to abandon something one is not keen on anyway.  We can be pretty good at hiding from oneself. One might be overly invested and attached to one's own perfection and as one defines it oneself.  One can become so focused on one's perfection that one is turned totally inward and 'naval gazing', which is not contemplation.   And this is where a good spiritual director is such a blessing.  Over time a SD does get to know one very well indeed and probably far better than one imagines.

 

To my mind from what I have mentioned above and say in the absence of sound spiritual direction, one could pray about it and then make a decision oneself and go on one's journey absolutely confident that one has chosen well.  Hindsight can be a great gift if one can detach oneself from the lights one has at the time of hindsight - and  looks back and realizes, grasps fully, that those lights may not have been present at the time of decision and acting.

 

It is a major shift I think to detach oneself from one's own ideas and conceptions, concepts, to put the emphasis on trust and confidence in The Lord's Love and Mercy (and/or those such as The Church and one's SD, rightful authority which is responsible for guiding one)  for The Lord will not allow one to go astray overly.  Going somewhat astray or even in a major way can be a real lesson in humble repentance and the virtue of humility and self knowledge and embracing one's status as sinful compared to the Wondrous Glory of God which surpasses all knowledge and understanding. And that is a contemplative experience.  There is much truth, I think, in what St Augustine said "Love and do what you will".  This is not an invitation to anarchy as it may sound, and I think probably only those who do love insight the real meaning i.e to Love God above all things and one's neighbour as oneself.

 

All that may sound terribly complex, but in the practise I think that it is extremely simple and only becomes complex in a poor attempt at explanation.  It is not something that occurs as an 'overnight event', it is a process in one's journey, aside of course from the always possible miracle of Grace outside of that which is the usual or most common.

 

My two only pence!  :)

[marigold]

Reading with interest...

[brandelynmarie]

I really need to study this :) It's so beautiful...

[BarbTherese]

:)

[brandelynmarie]

It's amazing how much St. John influenced her...I always thought it was mainly the Gospels & The Imitation of Christ that affected her...

[BarbTherese]

I was under the same impression - although I suppose, being Carmelite she would have been exposed to St J of The Cross and probably early and ongoing formation, especially back then would have been based on the founding Carmelites of the reform.  And of course, St Therese was gifted with that spiritual genius to insight the dynamics of whatever for her 'escalator to holiness'.  I am searching around for a jet propelled lift ride to the top storey.  :).......if one should exist......and not holding my breath either. :)

After I read "Abandonment to Divine Providence" by Caussade and even "Introduction to the Devout Life" by St Francis de Sales - I did wonder if she had read these.  But concluded that the underlying dynamics of what all the saints have had to say is very similar and this does make theological sense.  The spiritual genius of St Therese was that in a day when spiritual understanding was very gloomy and heavy indeed - and demanding, St Therese found a way not around it all, but through it all to something 'light and dancing'.  Undoubtedly, what she was drawing from was more her own relationship with Jesus than what she may have read or even was taught in formation.  This latter was not contradicted, it seems to me, but that she saw deeply into the underlying dynamics as I call it and did not interpret them in the customary way for her day, rather she interpreted quite uniquely.  She did have some revolutionary (new and challenging) things to state for her day especially when she spoke as novice mistress about being not at all comfortable with the notion spiritually that one could not aspire to avoid Purgatory.  This it seems to me came from a very big concept indeed of God's Love and Mercy.   If memory serves, she was 'hauled over coals' for the concept, or challenged about it,  although I am unsure on that point.

And of course, she had a very 'light and dancing' quiet unique interpretation of herself falling asleep during prayer time, which she embraced without guilt.

I do think too that her very early formation as a child at home was carried forward into Carmelite religious life.  She certainly had a very big image indeed of God as Father, probably drawn from her own experiences of a very loving father, mother and family.  Certainly her father's illness and death brought her much suffering.

[brandelynmarie]

I see this clearly in her titles of the Child Jesus & the Holy Face...which I claim were both prophetic. I can see her embracing this spiritual childhood, especially as told by Psalm 131, "like a little child I hold myself, hence I trust in the Lord forever." (quickly paraphrasing!) I do believe Mother Gonzaga gave it to her as a young girl during one of her visits to the parlour.

And of the Holy Face would not only embrace the Suffering Christ, but eventually also reflect watching the passion of her father & family as well as & embracing her own sufferings in religious life...I do believe she asked for this to be added to her title herself...

[BarbTherese]

It all rings bells with me, BM.

[maximillion]

I was always a coward........never interested in doing anything big for anyone, not even myself, and as I have said elsewhere, ran away in hysterics from the thought of a penitential 

lifestyle ( :hehe2: )

 

St Therese, with her roses, her Little Way, her so sweet expression, suited me down to the ground. I wanted to be a Carmelite..........until I found out how they lived. Then I most definitely didn't!

 

Instead I embraced the try for perfection in small things, since I obviously didn't have a big heart.

 

Oh boy!

 

Those little things.......tiny pinpricks over and over and over as you deal with the tiny occasions of sin.

Wise? What an insight in one so young.