Cloud of Unknowing

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Christianity, God, Mystic, Mysticism, religion

Flying above the clouds enroute to Georgia.

BUT now thou askest me and sayest, “How shall I think on Himself, and what is He?” and to this I cannot answer thee but thus: “I wot not.” For thou hast brought me with thy question into that same darkness, and into that same cloud of unknowing, that I would thou wert in thyself. For of all other creatures and their works, yea, and of the works of God’s self, may a man through grace have fullhead of knowing, and well he can think of them: but of God Himself can no man think. And therefore I would leave all that 89 thing that I can think, and choose to my love that thing that I cannot think. For why; He may well be loved, but not thought. By love may He be gotten and holden; but by thought never. And therefore, although it be good sometime to think of the kindness and the worthiness of God in special, and although it be a light and a part of contemplation: nevertheless yet in this work it shall be cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting. And thou shalt step above it stalwartly, but Mistily, with a devout and a pleasing stirring of love, and try for to pierce that darkness above thee. And smite upon that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love; and go not thence for thing 90 that befalleth.

~~from The Cloud of Unknowing, 14th Century, Britain

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A Way to the Manger

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Advent, Books, Christianity, Christmas, Devotional

Now available for pre-order, my husband Frank, and I, have written a week of devotions for this book from Forward Movement:

Explore Christ’s birth as recounted in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the Way of Love and the seven practices of turn, learn, pray, worship, bless, go, and rest. With daily devotions of personal stories, modern examples, art, and invitations to prayer and journaling, the authors challenge you to discover and incorporate these practices into your own life. During Advent and Christmas, walk with the shepherds and the angels, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, and Anna and Simeon. All of their paths—as well as yours—lead to the same destination: the humble manger where Love was born.

For more info, see here: A Way to the Manger

Empty in God

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Meister Eckhart, Mystic, Mysticism, photography

Stormy sunrise on Jekyll Island, Georgia.

When I stand empty in God’s will and empty of God’s will and of all His works and of God Himself, then am I above all creatures and am neither God nor creature, but I am what I was and evermore shall be.

~~Meister Eckhart

Eternal Worlds

Tags

Butterfly, photography, Poetry, William Blake

Monarch butterfly in Valle de Anton, Panama

Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish’d at me,
Yet they forgive my wanderings. I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought, into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me: be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand, which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of ages.

~~William Blake, Jerusalem

Saint Clare of Assisi

Tags

Franciscan, Saint Clare

“We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become.”~~Saint Clare of Assisi

Today, August 11, is the Feast Day of Saint Clare, Founder of the Second Order Franciscans, the Poor Clares.

On Palm Sunday of 1212, 17-year-old Clare escaped from the home of her noble parents in Assisi to join Saint Francis. After receiving her vows in religion, cutting off her hair, and giving her a habit to replace her satin finery, Francis placed her in a Benedictine convent. Soon he was able to establish her in the church and convent of San Damiano, where she lived for more than 40 years as head of a community of contemplative nuns. Her sister, Agnes, and her mother became part of her religious order, which spread even in Clare’s lifetime to Germany and Bohemia. Clare is said to have routed the soldiers of Frederick II by her faith in the Blessed Sacrament.

The bond of love between Francis and Clare was strong and significant, though they saw each other only rarely. The example of their love for God, each other, and the whole family of God informs and inspires all Franciscan orders to this day. Clare died two days after receiving the Pope’s approval of her rule binding the Poor Clares to the Franciscan ideal of complete poverty.

Collect: God of peace, who in the holiness of blessed Clare gave us a clear light to shine in the darkness of this world: Give us grace to follow in her footsteps that we may, at the last, rejoice with her in your eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

~~From the Devotional Companion of the Third Order, Society of Saint Francis, Province of the Americas

Clare was a vessel of humility, a shrine of chastity, a flame of love, the essence of kindness, the strength of patience, the bond of peace, and the source of loving unity in her community.

~~Document of Canonization

Mary Magdalene

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Collect, Mary Magdalene

Magdalen with the Smoking Flame by Georges de La Tour

Tomorrow is the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalen. She is someone I have always been in awe of having grown up under the shadow of this painting by La Tour, which always held a place of honor in our home (at least, it always stood out to me). It wasn’t just the skull as much as the way she is gazing into the flickering light of the oil lamp and the way her hair shimmers in the light.

In the Episcopal Church, we mark this day in our Calendar of Saints with the following Collect:

Almighty God, whose blessed Son restored Mary Magdalene
to health of body and mind, and called her to be a witness of
his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may
be healed of all our infirmities and know thee in the power of
his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and
reigneth, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

John 20:

¹¹ But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; ¹² and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,“Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (New Revised Standard Version)

And from the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene:

Chapter 5

1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?

2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.

3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.

4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.

6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.

7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.