Spiritual Direction with St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Photo: (C) R. Massaro St. Peter Church North Ridgeville, Ohio

In the life of St. Therese, we learn about the ways in which she overcame herself by practicing virtue. She did this in a very ordinary way by accepting life as it was presented to her each day. As she matured in the spiritual life, her sister, Celine, noticed her virtue and said to her "Oh, when I think of how much I have to acquire." Therese responded, "Rather, how much you have to lose." Therese's few words of wisdom gets right to the heart of the call in Carmel and to all Christians who are seeking perfection: one must be detached from sin and from worldly pleasures and from one's own will, and from one's own desires... We could go on an on identifying and describing detachment.

Therese's deep detachment was a gradual process and the fruition of her cooperation with God's grace to give herself totally to God's merciful love. This desire of detachment so inflamed her that in her written prayer "Act of Oblation to the Merciful Love of God," she writes:

In the evening of life, I shall appear before You with empty hands, for I do not ask You, Lord, to count my works...

What an amazing, bold, and spiritually detached statement from this little Doctor!  By this statement we can read between the lines, if you will, and see that her motives must have been totally purified by the Holy Spirit, for she did not do works to be justified before God. She continues in her prayer:

All our justice is stained in Your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in Your own Justice and to receive from Your love the eternal possession of Yourself. I want no other Throne, no other Crown but You, my Beloved!

St. Therese is a true daughter of the Church, a true daughter of Carmel. She took to heart and let blossom the spiritual direction of her Father in Carmel, St. John of the Cross, who's teaching on detachment is a light and guide to those who wish to ascend the holy mountain and reach spiritual perfection.  St. John of the Cross uses the symbolism of a bird to explain detachment:

A bird caught in a birdlime has a twofold task: It must free itself and cleanse itself. And by satisfying their appetites, people suffer in a twofold way: They must detach themselves and, after being detached, clean themselves of what has clung to them. 
The Sayings of Light and Love #22

Sometimes, I think we forget the second part of detachment, the purifying of the effects of our attachments. We must let the Holy Spirit purify and cleanse us from our attachments and the effects. St. John of the Cross is simply describing Purgatory. Those seeking spiritual perfection have a desire to be purified beginning in this life. 

In this Year of Mercy, the Church offers a plenary indulgence to the faithful. One of the requirements to gain the indulgence is to be detached from sin, even venial sin. When we think of detachments, we usually think of something related to the senses. However, we must also consider what the Church requires, detachment from even venial sins. We must ask ourselves if we take pleasure in certain sins. For example, impatience. Perhaps we are attached to being impatient. If we are confessing the same sins over and over in confession, this may be a time to ask ourselves if we are seriously attached to a particular sin.  

St. John of the Cross also teaches that we can become attached to the manner of our prayer. He teaches us that we must be open to the Holy Spirit who may wish to speak to us and give us self-knowledge, perhaps about our attachments. We cannot hear the Lord speaking if we never listen in prayer. Perhaps we are attached to talking in prayer and not giving the Lord an opportunity to speak to us.

In our technologically advanced society, we can certainly be attached to many things and devices. How many of us can disconnect from our computers and cell phones?  It's not easy. 

My prayer is for the Lord to raise up more spiritual ascetics in the church. We need prophets! We need prayerful witnesses. We need to spend time with our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration! We need to go out into the desert for a half-hour or an hour, with no phone or headphones and be totally present to the Lord-standing at attention before him proclaiming: Here I am Lord, I come to do your will!

ASCETIC:

A person who practices severe self-discipline and abstention.

Photo: R. Massaro   The Prophet Elijah

Peace be with you!

Rosemarie, OCDS

Spiritual Life Dictionary

TODAY'S TERM: ASCETICISM

John the Baptist-A true ascetic

Asceticism is self-discipline in all its forms, particularly those voluntarily undertaken out of love of God and desire for spiritual improvement.
A Catholic Dictionary by Donald Attwater

This is a word that has been on my heart and mind of late.  Not just because we are now in the holy season of Lent, but I have been thinking about this for a number of months. 

One of the means God used for my conversion was reading an old worn copy of  Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, published by Benziger Brothers. As a teenager, I was mesmerized by reading the lives of these people who could choose and endure such radical physical and mental self-denial because they loved God! 

I think too, that I am wondering if there are saints like that today. I guess in a way, I'm wondering if the saints of the "old school" still exist.

It makes me sad when I think of the "short-cuts" the church has put in place over the years to accommodate the increasing distaste for mortification among people.  For instance, when I was growing up, we had to fast from midnight Saturday until after we received Holy Communion on Sunday.  Today, people gripe and complain because they have to deny themselves for one hour before receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord.  Some can't even tolerate that short time frame and consume, candy, gum and mints during Holy Mass!  

The Catholic Dictionary goes on to explain that asceticism is not an end in itself...but a means towards personal sanctification.

So, we don't mortify ourselves just to prove we can do it, to tell others about it, to impress our confessor, to impress God. We mortify ourselves because as St. Teresa of Jesus (Avila) teaches us,  prayer and self-indulgence do not go together. How right she is. 

In today's drive-through, immediate self-gratification society, how many give any thought to denying the body some pleasure? The Rev. Adolph Tanquerey, the author of The Spiritual Life, a great classic on prayer and the mystical life states that "Mortification is the enemy of pleasure."We must keep in mind that it is not wrong to take pleasure in eating or drinking, but we are discussing today, asceticism, a willing self-denial to deny the body so that we are not a slave to it. Self-indulgence leads to slothfulness in prayer and in performing good works.

For secular Carmelites, the teaching of St. John of the Cross on prayer and self-denial that is summed up in the term "detachment" is at the heart of our spiritual life. If we are truly seeking union with God, the "spiritual marriage" we have to travel through the bitter valley of detachment of the senses.  But once the soul has a taste of the living God, it quickly learns that no earthly pleasure can match it.

In today's world of social media, I see many religious communities blog and post pictures of events at their monasteries. The Holy Father Benedict the XVI encouraged people to use the Internet for evangelization. However, it takes wisdom and prudence to decide what to post. 

I know there are true ascetics in the world. I know there are monks and nuns and lay people we never hear about on face book or twitter who are denying their bodies food, water and sleep for the sake of the Kingdom and for the conversion of sinners. So don't be fooled if you visit face book and twitter and find someone who is going to sleep on a rock for a week or wear a hair-shirt for a month , or construct a pillar and pray there for 2 weeks and blog about it and post pictures of the events and circumstances of their sacrifice. This is blatant false asceticism.  

I'm praying for the true ascetic, the one who denies himself all sorts of things, in secret, before the Father alone. I'm praying for the true ascetic who is praying for me and my soul.  For I am the poor sinner who hopes to benefit from their self-denial.


To learn more about asceticism according to the Eastern Rite saints visit this website:

http://pittsburghoratory.blogspot.com/2012/05/asceticism-and-philokalic-spirituality.html




Peace be with you!
Rosemarie, ocds