I woke up last night with such a feeling of Great Joy and Peace as though God reached down from heaven and gave me a great big hug and set me back down again. In a way our Spiritual Life can remind me of the Irish weather four season in the one day. But of course our prayer life at heart does not consist of emotions. I feel sorry from our Protestant sisters and brothers in this in that they often seem to think that true Worship consists in emotional highs like communal hymn singing. It does not. For the mature Christian the spiritual life is centered on carrying the Cross and the further we climb the mountain of prayer the more our inner eyes remains centered on the Cross. When we say, 'Mourning and weeping in this valley of tears', it means what it says on the box. The Cross. This sounds negative but in fact the Cross which is the source of so much pain is also the source of all our joy. St Therese of Liseaux wrote of this so well. That sometimes like a child with a toy God picks us up and hugs us, but at others drops us and appears to forget about us altogether: 'For some time I had been accustomed to offer myself as a plaything to the Child Jesus. I told Him not to treat me like an expensive toy which children look at but dare not touch. I was a cheap little ball which He could fling on the ground or kick or pierce or leave neglected in a corner or even press to His Heart if it gave Him pleasure. To put it in a nutshell, I longed to amuse the little Jesus and offer myself to His childish whims. He answered my prayer. In Rome, Jesus pierced His little toy. He wantedto see what was inside and then, having found out, He let His little ball drop and went to sleep. What did He dream about and what happened to the abandoned ball? Jesus dreamt that He was still playing with it, picking it up and dropping it, letting it roll away from Him, but in the end pressing it close to His Heart and never letting it slip again from His little Hand. You can understand, Mother, how sad the little ball was to see itself lying on the ground, but she went on hoping against all hope.' I was praying to St Therese last night and was asking her to drop a little rose to a friend of mine who is visiting her home. She laughed and said, 'Why not think big? Why not ask me to drop him a bouquet of roses?' I smiled and did so. Then I had the thought to ask her to send me a rose too. At this she laughed and said, 'Ah Padraig, what are you asking? You are not the roses sort!' We both laughed. It reminded me she has a great sense of humour. I think sometimes with St Therese we can get a tiny bit too sickly sweet with her. Like 20 spoonfuls of sugar in a cup of coffee. I am not sure she really likes this. Although she puts up with it. 'Life passes so quickly that really it must be better to have a very beautiful crown and a little trouble than to have an ordinary one without any trouble. And then for a suffering borne with joy, when I think that during the whole of eternity I will love God better. Then in suffering we can save souls.'
St. Therese said that when she drops roses from Heaven, they will not be like ripe plums dropped into people's laps...they will be graces that truly help our soul, which often means suffering. Because suffering was what she had in life and was the vehicle for her love that made her a saint. I've never experienced an actual rose from St. Therese, but I experience her presence in my suffering. My relationship with her has been anything but saccharine. I used to find that surprising, until I really got to know her. It's the same with Mary... I keep finding that their love is the kind that transforms through suffering. They help me understand that the Cross is where God's gifts truly flow.
I have experienced so much with St Theresa!!! So grateful....the smell, getting a rose in my hand, and hearing the name Rose constantly...
All the saints I have read experienced great,great suffering. But at the same time great,great peace and joy too. From a human point of view this seems insane, but it is the wisdom of the Cross. One of my brothers ,Sean, lives in small fishing village called Ardglass. It seems like heaven but there has been a rash of suicides in the area. The latest was a young woman aged 35. In Scotland I believe they have the highest suicide rate in Europe. I believe this is because of the loss of Faith. Without Faith life has no meaning or purpose especially in the hard times and the hard times will always come. So we have suffering with meaning and purpose, the Cross. Then again we have suffering without Faith which is unsupportable. Life becomes a gigantic lottery. I heard a Jewish Professor at Harvard say he worked his whole life to obtain a Professorship. He got one in his early 30's which showed genius. But he said the very evening he was awarded it he suddenly realised it meant nothing to him and felt despair.
Yes it is! It's never easy. I was really comforted recently when I read in a spiritual book that we are actually supposed to shrink from pain, as our natural response. God didn't create us for suffering; He created us for joy in Heaven, so suffering is supposed to be something we find hard and even repugnant. Jesus showed us that, as an act of love for us, when He suffered sweat of blood in the garden and briefly asked that the cup may pass Him by. Also when He saw the suffering of Mary and Martha and the others mourning Lazarus' death, He was visibly shaken and moved to tears. It brings tears to my eyes every time, because it reminds me that Jesus hates to see our suffering. He told a visionary once that He wished we could come to Heaven without ever having suffered, but we can't get there without suffering, and that's the reason He wills it for us. So really our acceptance of suffering doesn't mean that we won't feel some natural dread or shrinking away from it. It's just the uniting of our will with Christ's, knowing that He only wants this because He longs for us and everyone else to make it to Heaven.
It's happened numerous times but yesterday again I saw a tiny feather in the air close to me. Hopefully it's a good sign. They say an angel is present when it happens.
One time I was doing a novena to St. John Paul II when he was canonized. I decided to do one to Terese too as she is my patron saint and threw in St. Anthony and St. Jude too,{my own special little trio} . As I was nearing the end of the novena, I received from a Carmelite monastery I had never heard of a letter. I opened it and in it was a picture of a rose and a red St. Terese Rosary. As I took out the rosary I heard clearly-"I am your patron!" So She is definitely my patron.
Has anyone ever heard that the pain of childbirth is the worst pain in the world and that mothers have a heroic aspect for enduring it? This is a very simple way to teach the biblical commandment to honor mothers, which translates into a life experience as a woman reaches adulthood and the fullness of pregnancy. I believe that, in the same way, God allows the suffering of the cross to be shared among us as a means of awakening us to the dimension and understanding of the sufferings endured by the saints and by God Himself, who became flesh and dwelt among us. Some saints had the mystical experience of participating, in part, in the sufferings of the crucifixion, which was a manifestation of divine providence instilling in them the holy fear of God in the deepest way, while also expanding their sense of sin and of how it offends God — the One who gave Himself up for us, in such a way that no greater proof of love exists. Rejecting God, therefore, is the greatest form of ingratitude.
Although I think the saints only experience a tiny part Of the Passion. They experience it in accord with how much they love.
Kidney stones are worse!! Women get pregnant again, but no one lines up for a repeat of kidney stones.
