Spiritual Direction With St. John of the Cross

Please enjoy this post from the archives of Spirit Singing

Photo: R. Massaro Lourdes, France

Today's teaching comes from St. John's classic, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel. In this excerpt, St. John makes a seven-fold list of souls who take pleasure in their good works. 

First: Vanity and Pride.

_________________________________________
These people brag about themselves and their accomplishments. Perhaps you have heard this type of soul in your parish community. They may go on and on about how they formed a prayer group, initiated an adoration program, started a soup kitchen, organized the choir, and on and on.  There is no humility in their good works. They boast for all the world to see. They love praise!

Second: Comparing people and their actions
______________________________
These people love to judge and speculate on the motives of others who perform good works.  They infer that the work of another is not as perfect as their own. They do not esteem others or respect them, for they themselves are on the pedestal to which only they can ascend. They become angry when others are noticed and praised. This type of thinking can lead to the sin of detraction.

Third: Only perform good works if praise will be given
_______________________________
St. John teaches that these people resemble the Pharisees that Jesus spoke about. They only perform good works in order to be noticed. Their motive is not the love of God but the praise of men.

Fourth: They do not find their joy in God
_______________________________
These souls are an unhappy and confused people.  Since they perform works for human praise, they are confused, upset and angry when they do not receive it.  Since their motives are not pure, they find no pleasure in pleasing God alone and finding in Him the only reward necessary. These people are hard to work with, they complain constantly about the amount of work, their schedule, the management, etc.

Listen to this powerful statement of St. John regarding these souls: "There is so much misery among human beings as regards this kind of harm that I believe most of the works publicly achieved are either faulty, worthless, or imperfect in God's sight." He goes on to say, "It can be said that in these works some adore themselves more than God."

St. Therese desired to keep

her acts of charity hidden.

St. John teaches that a lack of detachment is at the heart of this illness. That is why he recommends that in order to avoid this spiritual illness we must strive to hide our good works, even from ourselves! We know from the life of St. Therese and her way of hidden love that she was a master at hiding her good works. Let us learn from her example. 

Fifth: Failure to advance in the way of perfection
_______________________________
Since these souls are attached to the consolations received by performing good deeds, they lack perseverance in actually carrying out these good works. When God tries them by removing the sweetness attached to the good works.  These souls are spiritually immature, and, in a way, they refuse to "grow up." They prefer  "infants milk" instead of the "bread of the perfect" as St. John puts it.

Sixth: They are under the illusion that works that bring satisfaction are better than those that do not
____________________________________
These souls cannot see that God esteems more the deed that requires self-denial than a deed that is easily done because of the consolation one receives. St. John states: "This evil arises when they seek to please themselves in their works and not God alone."

Seventh: Incapable of taking counsel and unable to be formed in the way of perfection
___________________________________
Because of this weakness and imperfection in the soul and of the pride involved, they refuse to believe that anyone can counsel them. St. John says these souls become slack in charity toward God and neighbor. Self-love makes the soul grow cold in charity.

Let us pray for each other, that we always strive to please God and not men when we are performing acts of charity. If we struggle with this, turn to God, who is able to give us the grace needed to purify our motives.

Excerpt from The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Book III, Chap. 28 No. 1-9, The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
____________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

In the inner wine cellar

I drank of my Beloved, and, when I went abroad

through all this valley

I no longer knew anything,

and lost the herd which I was following.

In this poem of St. John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, he begins to explain what takes place in the depth of this union with the soul and the Bridegroom. He tells us:

This wine cellar is the last and most intimate degree of love in which the soul can be placed in this life...and we can assert that there are seven of these degrees or wine cellars of love. They are all possessed when the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are possessed perfectly according to the soul's capacity for receiving them.
The Spiritual Canticle, Stanza 26, No. 3

In our Carmelite tradition, we have many saints who teach us that heaven begins now. Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity is a holy Carmelite who speaks about this in her writing.  As Secular Carmelites, we must make the effort now to be holy, so that when the Lord comes unexpectedly he will find us ready for the Kingdom. 

In your circle of friends, family, and co-workers, do you know anyone who possesses a gift of the Spirit in its fullness, in its perfection? Do you know someone who is perfectly patient? Do you know someone who has perfect peace, gentleness, and kindness? Do you know someone who is perfectly loving and charitable, despite being persecuted? If you do, then you know a saint!  These are how the blessed in heaven live and move and have their being in union with God. 

When people come to our community who are interested in Carmelite spirituality, I tell them, yes, it is a way of life, but more importantly, we are striving for a state of being, a state of holiness. We want to begin the process of spiritual purification now, because we want to see God immediately when we die. As St. Therese teaches, if we love perfectly in this life, we do not have to go to purgatory.  This desire does not stem from a fear of purgatory, but flows from a heart that is completely in love with God and is waiting and longing to see him face-to-face.

Let us pray for the souls in purgatory, who long to see God face-to-face. They need our prayers so that they can be filled with all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Once they enter the final depth of the "wine cellar" they will be in a glorious state of being, one of holiness, ready to experience the beatific vision and experience the union with God they so long for.

Let us pray for our world and for the conversion of sinners. One only has to read the news to see that God is not loved in the world, that many do not revere him or fear him. Our world needs the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray that he renews the face of the Earth!

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son, let the might of your love be more and more felt in the hearts of men. Let your light shine more and more on souls that are wandering in the darkness far away from God. Turn them to the light-giving Heart of Jesus and to the healing stream of His Precious Blood. Strengthen souls that love you. Perfect in them your Seven Gifts and your Twelve Fruits, and so make them your temples here that you may be adored in them forever. Amen.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

From the Dark Night, Chapter 16, No. 1:

We already said that the darkness the soul mentions here relates to the sensory, the interior, and the spiritual appetites and faculties, because this night darkens their natural light so that through the purgation of this light they may be illumined supernaturally. It puts the sensory and spiritual appetites to sleep, deadens them, and deprives them of the ability to find pleasure in anything. It binds the imagination and impedes it from doing any good discursive work. It makes the memory cease, the intellect become dark and unable to understand anything, and hence it causes the will also to become arid and constrained, and all the faculties empty and useless. And over all this hangs a dense and burdensome cloud that afflicts the soul and keeps it withdrawn from God. As a result the soul asserts that in darkness it walks securely.


Does this description of a soul in deep purification by God frighten you?  It appears to be a paragraph full of negatives.  However, those of us in Carmel know that the teachings of St. John are not filled with doom and gloom. They are words of wisdom filled with light and beauty.

The soul described here is being led from attachment to pleasure of the senses and the pleasure and delight that come from spiritual consolations. One who is suffering through this dark night is a blessed soul indeed.  You may ask, "How can one who suffers darkness, dryness, and spiritual abandonment be so blessed?" If you suffer these things, be mindful of our Lord's words: "Many are called, but few are chosen."  Yes, indeed, we only need to look at our society and see that few indeed are chosen to follow Him in intimate friendship and spiritual union, yes, even to the heights of spiritual marriage.

This purification involves all of the powers of the soul: the intellect, the memory, the will.  We can read in this passage that the intellect becomes unable to understand anything and the memory ceases to function! What is happening? The poor frightened soul experiencing this spiritual purification may run to their doctor and say, "I'm getting Alzheimer's!"  It will take a wise and knowledgeable spiritual director to help the soul through this purification.

How do we know one is experiencing a true "dark night?" Many spiritual people love to call any inconvenience or trial a "dark night."  A person in a divinely led dark night will remain faithful to their Catholic faith.  Nothing, not even the gates of this living hell of purification will separate them from being faithful to the Church and their vocation in life. They will remain faithful to prayer, no matter how difficult it becomes.

Another genuine sign one is experiencing a true dark night is that no one around this person will know about it!  Wow! Go figure!  How is that possible?  Haven't we encountered spiritual people who are quick to tell us about every spiritual ache and pain they suffer. We only need to look at the lives of the saints to understand the life of one living in a true dark night. St. Therese is one example.  Many people do not know that she suffered a frightful trial of faith many years before she died. She was so petrified of losing her faith and knowledge of heaven that she wrote the Creed with her own blood; her small effort to show herself and God that she was living by faith and love alone.

Another example in our time is that of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.  A book was written recently, detailing her spiritual dark night that lasted for years upon years.  And who would have known?  She exuded love and peace to all she met. Yet, she traveled this dark night alone in her heart, yet not alone, for she was led by the One whom we know loves us, as St. Teresa would say.  This was not hypocrisy on her part as some have claimed.  This is a true Christian embracing the cross of her spouse in an intimate union of mystery that we should not even try to comprehend. This secret and hidden love between the soul and the Bridegroom is not to be shared. She did not reveal the "secrets of the King."  This love of the soul and the Bridegroom reflects the love between Jesus and the Father. A mystery we will never comprehend.

In this year of faith, let us keep in mind this teaching of St. John of the Cross. The dark night is full of light, because we are led by faith alone.  If we suffer dryness and feelings of being abandoned by God, do not lose heart. He is beginning a good work in us that He will see through to completion. Are we willing and trustful enough to be led by the hand through the dark night of this earthly life?


One Dark Night,
fired with love's urgent longings
--ah, the sheer grace!--
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.
Excerpt from the poem "The Dark Night"
by St. John of the Cross

Let us pray for each other.


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

Speaking of locutions and how souls can be deceived:

...Yet some intellects are so lively and subtle that, while recollected in meditation, they reason naturally and easily about some concepts, and form locutions and statements very vividly, and think these are indeed from God. But that notion is false, for an intellect somewhat freed from the operation of the senses has the capacity to do this and even more with its own natural light and without any other supernatural help. Such an occurrence is frequent. And many are deluded by it into thinking that theirs is the enjoyment of a high degree of prayer and communication from God; consequently they either write the words down themselves or have others do so. But it comes about that the experience amounts to nothing, nothing substantial in the line of virtue comes from it, and it serves for no more than to induce vainglory.

These people should learn to give importance to nothing other than sincere effort, the establishment of their wills in humble love, and suffering in imitation of the life and modifications of the Son of God. This is the road to the attainment of every spiritual good, and not that other of profuse interior discourse.

Peace be with you!
Rosmarie, ocds
____________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

O lamps of fire!

in whose splendors

the deep caverns of feeling,

once obscure and blind,

now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,

both warmth and light to their Beloved.

Three qualities of praise of the soul

in union with God:

1.  Praises him as its duty; for it sees that God created it for his own praise.

2. Praises God for the good it receives and the delight it has in praising.

3.  Praises God for what he is in himself. Even though the soul would experience no delight, it would praise him because of who he is.

Along with qualities of praise, St. John lists three qualities of gratitude experienced by the soul in union with him:

1.  Gratefulness for the natural and spiritual goods and blessings it has received.

2.  Gratefulness for the intense delight it has in praising God, for the souls is absorbed with extreme ardor in this praise.

3.  The third is praise only because of what God is, which is a much stronger and more delightful praise.

(Living Flame of Love, Stanza 3 No. 84-85)

READ MORE ABOUT ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, ocds

___________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

All goods giving distinct joy to the will can be reduced to four kinds: motivating, provocative, directive and perfective. We will discuss them in due order, beginning with motivating goods: statues, paintings of saints, oratories, and ceremonies.

The Church established the use of images for two principal reasons: the reverence given to the saints through them; and both the motivation of the will and the awakening of devotion to the saints by their means. Insofar as they serve this purpose their use is profitable and necessary. We should consequently choose those images that are more lifelike and move the will more to devotion. Our concentration should be centered on this devotion more than on the elaborateness of the workmanship and ornamentation.

There are, as I say, some people who pay more attention to the workmanship and value of the statue than to the object represented. And the interior devotion, which they should direct spirtually toward the invisible saint in immediate forgetfulness of the statue--since the purpose of the statue is to give motivation--is so taken up with the exterior artistry and ornamentation that the senses receive satisfaction and delight; then both the love and joy of the will dwell on that satisfaction. This is a total obstacle to authentic spirituality, which demands annihilation of the affections in all particular things.
Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Chap. 35, No. 1,2,3



St. John of the Cross goes on to admonish those who adorn statues with jewelry and garments, in effect, disrespecting the saint the image represents.  In the above teaching from the Ascent of Mt. Carmel, he is reminding us of the proper use of statues and paintings:to motivate us to prayer.  If we stand in awe of a beautiful work of art and not lift our minds and hearts to the all good and beautiful Creator, our God, then we are merely idol worshippers. The danger comes in centering our joy on the object and not on the saint it represents.


We can take this teaching and examine ourselves to see if we have fallen prey to this temptation. Perhaps we have beautiful images and statues in our homes.  We pass by them numerous times each day. Do we make a sincere effort to stand before the image and pray?, or do we pass by and comment, "Oh, Our Lady's statue looks so beautiful." Or, "That picture of St. Therese looks so nice there on the wall."


In the Eastern Church, the icon is considered a "window to heaven." Many monks and nuns bow to the icon, others never turn their back on them when leaving a room.  We are not talking about idol worhip. When one sincerely takes a moment to gaze upon the image, then lifts the heart and mind to God or the saint represented seeking their help and prayers, then, yes, this is the proper use of images the Church teaches.


Let us pray for each other, that we place the religious images we possess in our homes in the proper perspective, not vain works of art, but true vehicles for prayer that help us in this physical world to raise our minds and hearts to the spiritual things of God.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
____________________

Spiritual Direction With St. John of the Cross

I should like to persuade spiritual persons that the road leading to God does not entail a multiplicity of considerations, methods, manners and experiences--though in their own way these may be a requirement for beginners--but demands only the one thing necessary: true self-denial, exterior and interior, through surrender of self both to suffering for Christ and to annihilation in all things. In the exercise of this self-denial everything else, and even more, is discovered and accomplished. If one fails in the exercise, the root and sum total of all the virtues, the other methods would amount to no more than going around in cirlces without getting anywhere, even were one to enjoy considerations and communications as lofty as those of the angels.

A person makes progress only by imitating Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...
From The Ascent of Mount Carmel, BK II, Chap. 7, No. 8

During this season of penance and self-denial, let us pray for each other that our sacrifices may not be an end to themselves, but so that we may imitate Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us. Life is short, let us deny ourselves something each day so that we may grow in virtue. Let us remember, too, as St. John teaches us that true prayer comes from the heart. It is not a technique or a method to be conquered. 

As Secular Carmelites let us be faithful to our 1/2 hour of prayer each day. Consider it a "mini-retreat" where you can spend time with the One whom we know loves us.


Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
____________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

Many spiritual persons, after having exercised themselves in approaching God through images, forms, and meditations suitable for beginners, err greatly if they do not determine, dare, or know how to detach themselves from these palpable methods to which they are accustomed. For God then wishes to lead them to more spiritual, interior, and invisible graces by removing the gratification derived from discursive meditation. They still try to hold on to these methods, desiring to travel the road of consideration and meditation, using images as before. They think they must always act in this way. Striving hard to meditate, they draw out little satisfaction or none at all. Rather, aridity, fatigue, and restlessness of soul increase in the measure they strive through meditation for that former sweetness, now unobtainable. They will no longer taste that sensible food, as we said, but rather will enjoy another food, more delicate, interior, and spiritual. Not by working with the imagination will they acquire this spiritual nourishment but by pacifying the soul, by leaving it to its more spiritual quiet and repose.
The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Bk II, Chap. 12, No. 6


St. John of the Cross gently tells us that we must be bold in our effort to be detached from our familiar way of prayer in seeking union with God. He tells us over and over again in his writings the mistakes beginners make. They seek shelter and comfort in the consolation of meditation when God is clearly calling them to leave behind reason and imagination to explore the hidden depths of his love where images and forms and labor of the intellect do not exist. This can be a frightening prospect! 


The saints were not timid in this regard. We, too, in order to obtain purity of heart, must leave the familiar road of prayer behind, renounce our spiritual "comfort zone," and follow the Lord where he leads. He leads us through the night of faith. He leads us through dryness and lack of consolation. But this is the cross, the cross we promised to embrace when we entered Carmel. 


Although we may feel alone, and even feel abandoned at times in our purification, we know that he is with us every step of the way, for he promised us that he would be with us always.


He knows the way for each of us that leads to his heart. This is the place where mystical secrets and "invisible graces" as St. John states are shared between lovers. Let us trust in him that he knows the way. Let us trust that he is our light and lamp that leads us on the dark night of faith to union with him.
Let us pray for each other.



Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds
_____________________

SPIRITUAL DIRECTION WITH ST. JOHN OF THE CROSS

Photo: R. Massaro

"WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?"

This phrase became popular a few years ago and ended up on t-shirts, mugs, bracelets, and other novelty items.   However, if we take a deeper look at this simple question as did St. John of the Cross, we will find much needed wisdom and spiritual insight into the mystery of  becoming "Christlike."

From the Ascent of Mount Carmel:

First, have habitual desire to imitate Christ in all your deeds by bringing your life in conformity with his. You must then study his life in order to know how to imitate him and behave in all events as he would.

Wow! A few sentences and St. John of the Cross has gotten to the heart of the matter: If we want to be Christlike, we must study the life of Jesus and imitate him in all things. We might respond, "easier said than done," because of our fallen human nature. But, I would argue the point that we can achieve our goal of becoming saints if we have the desire and we cooperate with God's grace.

One of our beloved Carmelite saints, St. Therese, was known to love the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A. Kempis, and she also loved the Gospels. In fact, we can see in her writings many references to sacred scripture. We can observe the life of any saint and see that they were imitators of Christ.  How did they imitate him? Well, we know that charity above all is the highest gift and a true test of one living the spiritual life.  If we are easily irritated and put out by performing works of charity, our prayer cannot be authentic.

We can always look for the fruits of the Spirit to see if we are on the right track, we can discern if we exhibit Christlike traits. Traits such as gentleness and kindness, and of course patience.  Are we slow to anger and quick to forgive? Do we show mercy as mercy has been shown to us?

St. John of the Cross keeps us on track in the spiritual life by reminding us that we must study the life of Our Savior. Let us turn again and again to the Gospels, that his word and life and spirit penetrate the depths of our heart, that he fills us and forms us into His image. Then we can truly be a living witness of His kingdom.

What would Jesus do? What would Jesus have us do? Let us keep this in mind as we go about our daily activities.

Let us echo the words of St. Paul, Be imitators of God as his dear children. Follow the way of love, even as Christ loved you.
(Ephesians 5:1)

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, OCDS
____________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

The Gift of Contemplation-Prayer of the Heart

The soul that is called to the gift of contemplation or infused prayer, is at first perpexled and fearful of what is happening within his soul.  He may seek help from a spiritual director.  During this period of transition when the soul is being led from discursive meditation  (using reason & imagination) to the prayer of simplicity of heart,it is important to have the right spiritual counsel.  St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross have many things to say about this subject.  Today we recall what St. John of the Cross says about certain spiritual masters who do not understand this spiritual transition in a soul:

These spiritual masters, not understanding souls that tread the path of quiet and solitary contemplation, since they themselves have not reached it and do not know what it is to part with discursive meditation, think these souls are idle.  They hinder them and hamper the peace of restful and quiet contemplation that God of his own was according them, by making them walk along the path of meditation and imaginative reflection, and perform interior acts. In doing this, these souls find great repugnance, dryness, and distraction; they want to remain in their holy idleness and quiet and peaceful recollection.                          LF, Stanza 3, No. 53

During this holy season of Lent when the entire Church is on retreat, individually, we can try to seek greater solitude with the Lord. Secular Carmelites are required to take this little retreat daily by remaining in prayer for 1/2 hour in an atmosphere of quiet and solitude.  Let us remember the friars and sisters of our Order who seek the face of God in prayer daily on our behalf in an atmosphere of great silence and solitude, far from family, friends, and the noise  and distractions of every day life.

The Hermits of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a Carmelite (O.Carm) Community of men who seek the face of God in prayer on our behalf.  Please remember them and all of our Carmelite religious in prayer during this holy season of Lent.  We only give up certain things during Lent.  They give up much more on a daily basis.  Please visit their beautiful website.

Peace be with you!
Rosemarie
___________________

Spiritual Life Dictionary

Today's Term: Pilgrimage

A journey to a sacred place undertaken as an act of religious devotion, either simply in order to venerate it or to ask the fulfillment of some need or as an act of penance or thanksgiving, or a combination of these.

A Catholic Dictionary by Donald Attwater

Speaking of the favors God may bestow on those venerating certain images, St. John of the Cross states:

Our Lord frequently bestows these favors by means of images situated in remote and solitary places. The reason for this is that the effort required in journeying to these places makes the affection increase and the act of prayer more intense. Another motive is that a person may withdraw from people and noise in order to pray, as our Lord did.

Whoever makes a pilgrimage, therefore, does well to make it alone, even is this must be done at an unusual time. I would never advise going along with a large crowd, because one ordinarily returns more distracted than before. Many who go on pilgrimage do so more for the sake of recreation than devotion.

Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mt. Carmel, Book Three, Chapter 36, No. 3
Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.

The spiritual journey we make as Secular Carmelites is a solitary one. It is a journey of the heart that requires dying to self on a daily basis.  Although we make this journey alone, in a sense, we have the prayerful support of our brothers and sisters in Carmel, we have the spiritual direction of our holy Father and Mother, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Jesus, we have the prayerful consolation of the Sacraments of the Church.

Secular Carmelites are on a daily holy pilgrimage up to the summit of Mt. Carmel-mystical symbolism for the spiritual union we seek with God. Let us pray for and encourage one another in our spiritual quest for God. 

Carmelites are called to quiet prayer-to solitude of heart where we gaze on the One whom we know loves us.  Let us allow Our Lady of Mount Carmel to lead us gently by the hand to her Divine Son who longs for union with us.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie
_______________________

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

Spiritual Direction with St. John of the Cross

From the Spiritual Canticle

Stanza 26

In the inner wine cellar

I drank of my Beloved, and, when I went abroad through all this valley

I no longer knew anything,

and lost the herd which I was following

This wine cellar is the last and most intimate degree of love in which the soul can be placed in this life. Accordingly she calls this degree of love "the inner wine cellar," that is, the most interior...

And we can assert that there are seven of these degrees or wine cellars of love. They are all possessed when the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are possessed perfectly according to the soul's capacity for receiving them.

It should be known that many people reach and enter the first wine cellars according to the perfection of their love, but few in this life reach this last and most interior; for in it is wrought the perfect union with God, called spiritual marriage, of which the soul is now speaking. (St. John of the Cross)

When observing the lives of the saints we can recall the great love and union they had with Christ. A love so interior and vehement that is caused them to do great things for the salvation of souls. The Apostles come to mind here because we know of what they suffered in spreading the Gospel of Christ. We know that when they were filled with the Holy Spirit observers mistakenly thought they were drunk with wine. The holy inebriation they experienced was an overflow into their senses of the love of God pouring his gifts of the Spirit into their souls.

St. John of the Cross teaches us that holy consolations from God can overflow into our senses. For example, the gift of tears is a sensible manifestation of the love of God which he places in our heart. We must be careful, as he teaches us not to be attached to the consolation of the senses. We may grow to expect them, or feel that God has abandoned us when they disappear. We must walk in the night of pure faith.

The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit:

Wisdom

Understanding

Counsel

Fortitude

Knowledge

Piety

Fear of the Lord

Let us pray to Our Lady, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, that through her intercession she will bring us to that holy union with the Most Holy Trinity, to spiritual marriage with our Beloved, Christ our Lord.

Let us pray for each other.

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

______________________