"Although we can come to know God through the exercise of our reason, it is above all by faith that we can enter into contact with Him. It is faith alone which reveals to us the mystery of the Trinity of persons in the one divine Nature and discloses to us the mysteries of Christ. It is faith which teaches us that we are the children of God, born of Him by grace, and that we must try to reproduce the divine life within ourselves, if we wish to share in the happiness of God in Heaven.
Hence, the Carmelite ideal asks the soul to keep itself habitually in the presence of God with its gaze fixed upon Him, to live in Him, who is present everywhere, but present especially in Heaven and in the soul. Again, the soul keeps itself united with Christ who lives in it, by making efforts to live as He lived, to remain as He does in sinu Patris (in the bosom of the Father). Living according to the Carmelite ideal, the soul judges everything in the light of faith, although it does not neglect to reason on that account. St John of the Cross himself invites us to to take counsel from reason in order to fulfill what it dictates to us regarding the way to God. But faith must rise above reason and change reason's natural mode of being to take on a divine form."
-- The Spirit and Prayer of Carmel by Fr François Jamart, ocd
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5 comments:
What a beautiful reflection! I am really growing to love the thoughts of this holy priest. How much I desire to keep myself habitually in the presence of God...I struggle greatly with this but I also need to be patient when asking for this grace : ) God works in His own time! I plan on doing some posts for The Practice of the Presence of God by Br. Lawrence in the very near future.
your blog is beautiful! I love the name of it too! Aren't we all a little OCD? Most of the time I am sure I drive every one crazy with my obsessions and compulsions, but as long as I'm obsessed with Jesus and compulsive about prayer it's all good! I can't wait to see what else you have in store!
Well, I feel like a complete idiot! It was late last night after a very long and busy day, probably not the best time to leave a post on someone's blog. As I was driving to work today, reflecting on the feast day and thinking about all of the wonderful Carmelites I know, it hit me like a ton of bricks! Order of Carmelites, Discalced (OCD)! There are just too many abbreviations in this world aren't there! Please accept my humble apology!
Don't worry about it. I actually thought it was very funny. :) You're not the first one to make that mistake. I've had actually been addressed as "discarded caramelite." I hope you enjoy the blog. As you can see, I'm a hopeless bookworm (no movie theaters and restaurant outings frees up plenty of time for reading!) and a fast typist. Please pray for me. God bless you!
Sister-you are in my prayers for sure! I wonder where your cloister is...my sister's best friend is a cloistered Carmelite in Iowa, Sister Jeanne.
I went ahead a posted the story of my faux pas (sp.?) on my blog.
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