"Be it done unto me..."

"Be it done unto me according to thy word" surrenders yourself and all that is dear to you to God, and the trust which it implies does not mean trusting God to look after you and yours, to keep you and them in health and prosperity and honor.

It means much more, it means trusting that whatever God does with you and with yours is the act of an infinetely loving Father...

When Our Lady stood up, a queenly child, and uttered her fiat to the Angel of God, her words began to make Christ's voice. Those first words of consent had already spoken Christ's last words of consent; her "I commit myself to you, do whatever you like with me" were already spoken by Christ in her; they were one and the same with His: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"...

God asks for extreme courage in love; the Bride of the Spirit must respond with strength like His own strength.

Our Lady did this.

~Caryll Houselander in The Reed of God

Dearest Mary, Handmaid of the Lord,

grant me a share of the courage
and the strength of your fiat.

Amen.

Dear ones, as some of you know, Caryll Houselander is one of my favorite authors.  I read her book The Reed of God in 1966, and she has been my soul sister ever since.  Happy to report, there's much good stuff about her out there in cyberspace, including excerpts from some of her writings.  For a real feast for your soul, go here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Easter Saturday

The ultimate miracle of Divine Love is this, that the life of the Risen Lord is given to us to give to one another. It is given to us through our own human loves. It is no violation of our simple human nature. It is not something which must be cultivated through a lofty spirituality that only few could attain; it does not demand a way of life that is abnormal, or even unusual; it is not a specialized vocation. It is to be lived at home, at work, in any place, any circumstances. It is to be lived through our natural human relationships, through the people we know, the neighbors we see. It is given to us, if we will take it, literally into our own hands to give. It is the love of human lovers, of man and wife, of parent and child, of friend and friend.

It is through his Risen Life in us that Christ sends his love to the ends of the earth. That is why instead of startling the world into trembling adoration by manifesting his glory, he sent the woman who had been a sinner to carry the ineffable secret, and sent the two disciples who had been bewildered by their blind inability to reconcile Scripture and Calvary, and sent the friend who had denied him, to give his love to the world, and to give it as simply as a whispered secret or a loaf of bread. So it is that we, sinners, wranglers, weaklings, provided only that we love God, are sent to give the life of the Risen Christ to the whole world, through the daily bread of our human love.

~from The Risen Christ by Caryll Houselander

Dear Lord, thank you for using even "sinners, wranglers, weaklings" like me to give Your Risen Life and Love to the world! Amen! Alleluia!

Third Joyful Mystery, The Nativity

Be born in us,
Incarnate Love.

Take our flesh and blood,
and give us Your humanity;

Take our eyes,
and give us Your vision;

Take our minds,
and give us your pure thought;

Take our feet,
and set them in your path.

Take our hands,
and fold them in Your prayer;

Take our hearts,
and give them Your will to love.

~Caryll Houselander

Dear Mary, Mother of Our Lord and Savior, bring Incarnate Love to birth within us this day so that all the ends of the earth may see the saving power of Your Son in and through us. Amen.

Shine in us, Emmanuel!

Shine in us,
Emmanuel,
Shadowless Light.
Flame in us
Emmanuel,
Fire of Love,
Burn in us,
Emmanuel,
Morning Star.
Emmanuel,
God with us!
~Caryll Houselander

O Mary, mother of the Savior, spouse of the Holy Spirit, Our Lady of Light,

shed upon us the brightness and beauty of the light of your Son,

hat we may find our way back to our Heavenly Father.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

~from "The Litany of Our Lady of Light"

by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales

Season of the Seed

Advent is the season of the seed: Christ loved this symbol of the seed.

The seed, He said, is the Word of God sown in the human heart.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed."

"So is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the earth."

Even his own life-blood: "Unless the grain of wheat falling into the ground die, itself remaineth alone."

The Advent, the seed of the world's life, was hidden in Our Lady.

Like the wheat seed in the earth, the seed of the Bread of Life was in her.

Like the golden harvest in the darkness of the earth, the Glory of God was shrined in her darkness.

Advent is the season of the secret, the secret of the growth of Christ, of Divine Love growing in silence.

It is the season of humility, silence, and growth.

~Caryll Houselander in The Reed of God

Dear Mary, Virgin of Advent, during these Advent days, may we rejoice with you in the Divine Seed, nurturing it carefully and cherishing it always, so that at Christmas we may also rejoice in the fruit of your womb, Jesus, the Glory of God. Amen.

The Life Our Lady Lived

Nowadays there is a growing tendency to think of mysticism as a kind of Irish stew, made out of scrap-ends of Buddha, Muhammad, Tolstoy and Einstein, to believe that if we can only manage to sit still with the sole of our foot flat on our stomach and respect fleas, we shall reach perfections.

No, it is a mistake, the sacramental life which is indeed to the only true mysticism, the only pure contemplation, is the life that our Lady lived. It consisted in her daily self-giving of her life to make Christ's life, to give him birth, to give birth to him in all human beings. It was, and is, the life of sacramental love, the love which says and means: "I want to give you the marrow of my bones, every cell of my body, the pulsing of my blood. It is not enough to be with you, to look at you, I must be in you, must be you. I want to be your food, your flesh and blood, yourself. I give you my body and I give it in every split second of every moment that I live, awake or asleep, in all that I do, in my words, in my work, in eating, laughing, weeping, in sorrow and in joy, that you may have my life and have it abundantly." That is what our Lady's life said to our Lord Christ, that is what its tremendous littleness means. That is reality.

And she gave back to him the sort of love he had first given to her, for it is indeed her true son who says to all of us "Take this all of you, this is my body, this is my blood." That is our Lady, that is our Lord, that is reality, that is love.

Caryll Houselander in Lift Up Your Hearts

Lady, Giver of Bread!

One of my chores as weekday sacristan in my parish is washing and ironing the corporals and purificators we use at Mass. As I mentioned in an earlier post, our parish is huge, which makes for lots of liturgical laundry. I am blessed to like ironing. It's the kind of manual labor that sets a good background for prayer and contemplation. It's an appropriate task for me as a consecrated virgin because, as such, I am a spiritual mother. As a biological mother takes care of the linens for her family's dinner table, I prepare the linens for the Eucharist banquet at which my spiritual children will feast. As I work, I think of and pray for all those who will receive our Lord in the Eucharist at any given time. I pray for our priests who celebrate our Masses and give us the Body and Blood of Christ to be our food and drink. I pray for those who hunger for the Living Bread but are unable to receive Him for whatever reasons. I pray for those who hunger for the Truth but don't know where to find it. Last but not least, I pray for those individuals throughout the world who go hungry every day, who lack the basic food and drink every person needs in order to survive and grow. Often while ironing, I pray and meditate upon the following "Litany to Our Lady," which is full of powerful images of Mary as "Lady, giver of bread." So for me, what could be a boring job becomes transformed by the grace of God into a happy task, which I've come to count as all joy.

"Litany To Our Lady"
by Caryll Houselander

Lady, Giver of bread,
Christ bestowing,
Give us the Bread of Life!

Fallow land for the sowing:
Darkness over the seed:
Secrecy for the growing:
Give us the living Bread.

Empty cup for the wine.
White linen spread
Without fold for the Feast,
Give us the Bread of Heaven.
Yeast and leaven,
Christ bestowing,
Give us to eat.
Give us the bread in the wheat.
Lady, giver of bread.

Full grape in the vine,
Give us the strong wine
Poured into the chalice
And lifted up.

Drained cup,
Give us the broken bread,
Give us the crust of sorrow
Hard as rye,
Christ bestowing.

Give us the emptiness
Of the dark furrow,
While the great wind
Of the Spirit is blowing
and sowing seed.

Lady, giver of bread,
Field sown by the wind.
Snow white on the field.
Darkness under the snow,
Yield
The Bread of Life!
Wheat, leaven and yeast
And wine for the Feast
Give us the Bread of Life,
Lady, giver of bread,
Christ bestowing.

The seed is the word of God. Lk 8:11

Christ loved this symbol of the seed.

The seed, He said, is the Word of God sown in the human heart.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed."

"So is the Kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the earth."

Even his own life-blood: "Unless the seed falling into the earth die, how shall the earth be sown?"

…the seed of the world's life was hidden in Our Lady.

Like the wheat seed in the earth, the seed of the Bread of Life was in her.

Like the golden harvest in the darkness of the earth, the Glory of God was shrined in her darkness…

from The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander

Dear Mary, Mother of the Incarnate Word, with you and like you, may I always cherish, nurture and protect the precious seed of God's word within my heart. Amen.

Queenship of Mary

Mary, Immaculate Love, we bless you.

Because, though rooted in earth as we are, you opened your heart to God; expanding and opening wide to the heat of the sun in your sinless heart, you opened our hearts to the light.

All generations bless you, flower of our race.

We are crowned in you, Queen of Heaven, crowned with stars by the hands of Christ.

Caryll Houselander, "The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin"

Through death to life!

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Jn 12:24

When I hear or read the word "seed," I always have an image of the small paper packets that contain them. You know, the ones decorated with those brightly-colored pictures of such lovely flowers and succulent vegetables. I am always enticed upon seeing these and am instantly savoring a bountiful harvest, even though I totally lack gardening skills and choose not to develop them.

What I do know about gardening, though, is what we hear from our Lord Jesus in today's gospel: the seed must fall into the earth and die in order to bear fruit. I must be willing to die to self so that Christ may come to full flower in me. Only then will I be able to say with St. Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20).

In her book The Reed of God, the poet and mystic Caryll Houselander reflects upon the seed and its need for gestation:

...a seed contains all the life and loveliness of the flower, but it contains in it a little hard black pip of a thing which even the glorious sun will not enliven unless it is buried in the earth.

There must be a period of gestation before anything can flower.

We live in an age of impatience, an age which in everything, from learning the ABC to industry, tries to cut out and do away with the natural season of growth. That is why so much in our life is abortive. We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary. And we ought to realize that in everything that does grow quietly in us, Christ grows. We should let thoughts and words and songs grow slowly and unfold in darkness in us.

There are things that refuse to be violated by speed, that demand at least their proper time of growth; you can't, for example, cut out the time you will leave an apple pie in the oven. If you do, you won't have an apple pie. If you leave a thought, a chance word, a phrase of music, in your mind, growing and cherished for its proper season, you will have the wisdom or peace or strength that was hidden in that seed.

Dear Lord, Divine Gardener of my heart, my soul and my entire life, I entrust the seed of myself to you. Plant me where you will, my Jesus, but give me the grace to bloom where I am planted, all for our Father's praise and glory. Amen.

P.S. Caryll Houselander's book was published in 1944. If that was "an age of impatience," what would we call our age now?!?!

"The love we have celebrated..."

We come now to the close of the Easter season, which officially ends with Evening Prayer tomorrow, Pentecost Sunday. The prayer for this morning's Mass sums up in one short sentence the best way to continue to live the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as we move into Ordinary Time: "Almighty Father, let the love we have celebrated in this Easter season be put into practice in our daily lives."

"The love we have celebrated in this Easter season … love that has become incarnate and has made a dwelling-place within and among us… love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things… love that washes feet and cooks breakfast and provides for all our needs, whether large or small, sublime or mundane...love that is strong as death…Risen Love, which has conquered all things and remains with us forever, even to the end of time and beyond …

In her book The Risen Christ, Caryll Houselander says that our Lord Jesus has shown us how we are to lead the Risen Life, and that it is to be a life of love: "love that creates, love that fills up the measure of each life with joy. Love that is light and peace. Love that forgives and heals and sustains, that makes us one. Love that gives life to the world and gives beauty to life. Love that is food and clothing and water for thirst. Love that is bread. It is the love of the Eternal Father for his only Son, given to us, and it is given to us for ourselves and for one another."

O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
George Matheson

Conditions of the Risen Life

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

We think of the Risen Life in man as a summer of Christhood in the world, a splendor of flower and fruit, a harvesting of love; and so it is, but not unconditionally. Christ has told us himself what the condition is: that the seed must be buried, must be buried deep down in the darkness, under men's feet, under the weight of the earth. That it must be subjected to the winter, to the season of frost and iron, of long darkness and short light. That it must accept the preordained measure, the slow pace and long pause in the periods of growth. It is only on this condition that it can bear fruit.

It is only on the condition that Christ dies that he rises from the dead; it is only because he surrendered himself to death, that we can live the splendor of his Risen Life.

Caryll Houselander in The Risen Christ

The Fifth Glorious Mystery

Seed of Eternal Life,
sown by love's flowering
in the heavy clay of our hearts,
rise in us;
be our soul's spring.

By the risen feet of Christ,
walking upon the delicate grass;
by the wakened hands of Christ,
touching the cool petals of flowers;
by the opened eyes of Christ,
looking with joy
on all created things;
teach us to wonder,
and to walk upon the earth
aware of earth's loveliness,
aware of the Being of God
in all that is.

The Fifth Glorious Mystery,
the Resurrection
by Caryll Houselander

See how I love you!

Deborah and Sean

Photography by Ann L. Krumrein

All created things are words of God, light, darkness, water, fire, the smallness of children, the friendship of animals, science, rhythm, poetry, music, art, the tenderness of mothers, the ardours of lovers. Above our heads, under our feet, within our hearts, words of God whisper and laugh and sing one thing: "See how I love you!"

Caryll Houselander in Lift Up Your Hearts