Saints of the Divine Indwelling

Dan Lynch
September 25, 2019

63^rd Anniversary of Our Lady of America’s First Apparition
September 26, 2019

 
Sister Mildred, the mystic of the devotion to Our Lady of America, wrote that on the evening of August 5, 1957, “Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. . . . She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.”

This is the sixth and last article on the Practice of the Divine Indwelling.
          
The Divine Indwelling was recognized by Carmelite saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross. A thousand years before them, St. Augustine said, “I found Thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking Thee without who were within.”  St. John of the Cross recognized this and later said, “God then is hidden within the soul, and there the good contemplative must seek Him with love.”
          
St. Teresa sought Him there with love. She wrote in her Way of Perfection,

Remember how Saint Augustine tells us about his seeking God in many places and eventually finding Him within himself.  Do you suppose it is of little importance that a soul which is often distracted should come to understand this truth and to find that, in order to speak to its Eternal Father and to take its delight in Him, it has no need to go to Heaven? . . . We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and look upon Him present within us.

St. John of the Cross wrote of this mystery in the beginning of his Spiritual Canticle,

Come, then, thou soul, most beautiful of all creatures, that so greatly desirest to know the place where thy Beloved is, in order to seek Him and be united with Him; . . . thou thyself art the lodging wherein He dwells, and the chamber and hiding-place wherein He is hidden. . . .What more desirest thou, O soul, and what more seekest thou without thyself, since within thyself thou hast thy riches, thy delight, thy satisfaction, thy fullness and thy kingdom, which is thy Beloved, Whom thy soul desires and seeks?  Rejoice thou and be glad in thy inward recollection with Him, since thou hast Him so near.

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity was a modern witness of the Divine Indwelling. She contemplated the beauty of this mystery and wrote to a friend, “It seems to me that I have found my heaven on earth, for heaven is God, and God is in my soul. . . . May He make of your soul a little heaven in which He can rest happily. Remove from it all that could offend His divine gaze. Live with Him. Remain constantly with Him. Enter into the interior of your soul; you will always find Him there, longing to do great things for you.”
          
St. Elizabeth wrote to her mother, “Oh, may the Master reveal to you His divine presence, it is so pleasant and sweet, it gives so much strength to the soul; to believe that God loves us to the point of living in us, to become the Companion of our exile, our Confidant, our Friend at every moment.”
         
Shortly before her death in 1906, she wrote to a friend: “My beloved Antoinette, I leave you my faith in the presence of God, of the God who is all Love dwelling in our souls. I confide to you: it is this intimacy with Him ‘within’ that has been the beautiful sun illuminating my life, making it already an anticipated Heaven: it is what sustains me today in my suffering.”
          
St. Elizabeth is known as “the saint of the Divine Indwelling.” She lived the Divine Indwelling and composed a prayer to It:

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.
                
This prayer is quoted verbatim in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. (CCC 260).

On November 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II beatified Elizabeth of the Trinity. In his homily at the beatification, the Pope presented her to the Church as one “who led a life ‘hidden with Christ in God’ (Col 3:3),” and as “a brilliant witness to the joy of being 'rooted and grounded in love.’ ” (Eph. 3:17).
         
Let us too be witnesses to the joy of being rooted and grounded in love by recognizing and living daily the Divine Indwelling and practicing the presence of the Most Holy Trinity. In His last prayer, Jesus recognized the Divine Indwelling and prayed that we would be one in the Holy Trinity. He prayed, “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:20-21).
         
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that our ultimate unity in the Holy Trinity begins now with the Divine Indwelling. “The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: ‘If a man loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.’ ” (CCC  260). Our Lady of America confirms this teaching of the ultimate unity. She said, “It is my special work as Co-Redemptrix of the human race to help souls reach the sanctity of the Father in eternal union by showing them how to put on Christ, to imbibe His Spirit, and thus become one with Him.”
          
In the temple of the living God with the Divine Indwelling, we praise, honor, adore, glorify and bless God as did the Jews in the Jerusalem temple and as a foretaste of the saints’ prayers in heaven. In the ultimate end of the whole divine economy, those living with the Divine Indwelling will join the saints in heaven and “stand before God’s throne and worship Him day and night in His temple. The one who sits on the throne will shelter them. They will not hunger or thirst anymore, nor will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:15-17).

Like St. Elizabeth, you too may have your soul touched by God by reading the prior articles in this series. You may read Part 1 here, Part 2 here , Part 3 here. Part 4 here, and Part 5 here.

Practicing the Presence of the Divine Indwelling

Dan Lynch
September 19, 2019

Sister Mildred, the mystic of the devotion to Our Lady of America, wrote that on the evening of August 5, 1957, “Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. . . . She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.”

This is the fifth of six articles on the Practice of the Divine Indwelling. They will be published each Thursday from the Feast of the Queenship of Mary to the 63rd Anniversary of Our Lady of America’s first apparition on September 26.

Our Lady of America told Sister Mildred that the Divine Indwelling “was her life and she lived it perfectly always conscious of His presence.” How do we practice the presence of the Divine Indwelling on a daily basis? How can we do this in our technological age with the noise of radios, televisions, computers and Iphones? We must have a site, silence and solitude. These are the three requisites of regularly practicing the presence of the Divine Indwelling on a daily basis. We also need method and discipline.

Site. We try to bring ourselves to meet Jesus daily for at least ten minutes at our site “in a desert place.” (See Mk. 6:31). We don’t have to look for real deserts in nature and we don’t have to go to convents, monasteries or churches. Our “deserts” are states of mind and heart. We can find our “desert” in our daily environment whether at home, work or at play. At home we can have a place that is set aside as a “desert” – alone in a quiet room or corner, the attic or the basement, etc. “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mt. 6:6).

We can also find our “desert” in nature. “We can pray perfectly when we are out in the mountains or on a lake and we feel at one with nature. Nature speaks for us or rather speaks to us. We pray perfectly.” (Pope John Paul II, The Way of Prayer).

If we don’t have the luxury of a site and time for a ten minute meeting with Jesus in a “desert” we can still daily practice the presence of the Divine Indwelling in smaller “deserts of time” by a quick word, a glance or an awareness of Him. True spousal lovers accept these little acts of awareness. Love isn’t practiced only in the bedroom, but also by looking into one another’s eyes, holding hands or hugging. It’s the same way with practicing the presence of the Divine Indwelling. We can find these opportunities while walking, waiting in lines at stores, in automobiles, in housework or yard work or while taking a bath.

We can find our “desert” within and pray interiorly by little ejaculations and movements of our hearts praising, adoring and thanking God within. We remember that the Kingdom of God is within us. St. Joseph told Sister Mildred that the Holy Trinity has a “desire to be adored, honored, and loved within the kingdom, the interior kingdom of their hearts.” “Do not forget your prayers. These may be as short as you wish if you find long prayers too hard, but do not forget them. Even a sign can be a prayer.” (Pope John XXIII, A Joyful Soul).

A good way of praying in these “deserts of time” during our ordinary activities is to make frequent “spiritual communions” with Jesus. These spiritually nourish us throughout our day and help us to become more aware of His presence at all times as our most intimate friend. We can make these spiritual communions by lifting up our hearts and minds to Him for a moment in a prayer like this: “Jesus, I believe that you are really and truly present in the sacrament of the Eucharist. I love you above all else, and I ardently desire to receive you into my soul through your Divine Indwelling. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, please come spiritually into my heart. Remain with me Lord and let me never turn away from you!”

Solitude and Silence. When we have a regular “desert” site, we should go there in solitude and silence and practice contemplative prayer. “What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: ‘Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with Him who we know loves us.’ Contemplative prayer seeks Him ‘whom my soul loves.’ It is Jesus, and in Him, the Father. We seek Him, because to desire Him is always the beginning of love, and we seek Him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of Him and to live in Him.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2709).

Ten to thirty minutes alone in silence in a quiet place can be enough to bring ourselves into the presence of the Divine Indwelling to meet God dwelling within our temples of the Holy Spirit in the depths of our souls. We should go to our site alone, sit down and relax our bodies, quiet our minds, wills, thoughts and emotions. Jesus said, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”(Mk. 6:31). “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps. 46:10). As the prophet Elijah learned, God is not in the noise of wind, earthquake and fire but in “the still, small voice.” (See 1 Kings 19:12).

Pope John Paul II said, “In an oasis of quiet, especially before the wonderful spectacle of nature, one can easily experience how profitable silence is, a good that today is ever more rare. The many opportunities of relation and information that modern society offers sometimes run the risk of robbing time for recollection, to the point of rendering persons incapable of reflecting and praying. In reality, only in silence does man succeed in hearing in the depth of his conscience the voice of God, which really makes him free. It is an indispensable interior dimension of human life.” (Pope John Paul II, Address July 11, 2004).
          
Method and discipline. In the silence, we can speak interiorly and intimately with Jesus as with a close friend, expressing our love, adoration and thanks for Him and our own joys and sorrows, successes and failures and daily worries and troubles. After that, we can become quiet and come to an interior silence, stop talking to Him and begin to listen to Him. We probably won’t hear His voice, but we will predispose ourselves to His communication with the deepest part of our souls. Remember, if we open the door, He will come in and have supper with us. (See Rev. 3:20).

Then we can stop talking to ourselves and to Jesus. We can stop thinking about Jesus and about what He said and did. We can stop pleading with Him for help for ourselves and for others. What we can do is to make a gift to Him of a little bit of time by simply practicing alone in silence, His presence in the Divine Indwelling.

The silence is an interior silence as well as exterior. We can bring ourselves to this interior silence by repeating short prayer words such as, “Father I am yours,”  “Come Holy Spirit” or “Jesus.” We can use these “prayer words” to help bring our attention back when we become distracted. Distractions will come, but we choose to let the thoughts and images go by rather than to give them any attention.

We try to silence the interior noise, and, in the solitude of our being, in the depths of our soul, beyond the senses, we accept in faith the infinite mystery of the Divine Indwelling and adore Him. We use discipline, persevere in patience and, in pure naked faith, we let go and let God do the rest. We try to practice the presence of the Divine Indwelling in faith, but we don’t let ourselves become frustrated if we experience nothing. We are patient and wait upon the Lord.

"The choice of the time and duration of the prayer arises from a determined will, revealing the secrets of the heart. One does not undertake contemplative prayer only when one has the time: one makes time for the Lord, with the firm determination not to give up, no matter what trials and dryness one may encounter. One cannot always meditate, but one can always enter into inner prayer, independently of the conditions of health, work, or emotional state. The heart is the place of this quest and encounter, in poverty and in faith.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2710).

Through the practice of the presence of the Divine Indwelling, we will attain the necessary balance between interior recollection and actions required by our state in life and avoid an exaggerated activism.

Through the practice of the presence of the Divine Indwelling, we will begin to live abandoned and full of confidence in His hands, free of worry and anxieties, as Jesus asked us. We will come to His promised peace that is beyond all understanding.

Through the practice of the presence of the Divine Indwelling, we will notice almost imperceptible small improvements in our spirituality: a little more patience, a little more kindness, a little more peace, etc. We must be patient with ourselves. God takes His time with us. We must allow Him to improve us at His pace and not ours. Eventually, we will be able to say with St Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20).

Through the practice of the presence of the Divine Indwelling, Jesus will use our arms and feet, He will speak through our mouths, His face will shine through ours and we will bring His peace to all.

Through the practice of the presence of the Divine Indwelling, we will open the doors of our heart to God's plan and we will grow in holiness, which is God’s will for everyone. “This is the will of God, your sanctification.” (1 Th. 4:3).  “Be holy, for I am holy.” (Lev. 11:44-45). “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” (Mt. 5:48). Then we may become saints of the Divine Indwelling.

You too may become a saint of the Divine Indwelling by reading the final article in this series that will be published September 26. You may read Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

At 80, Prejean still a witness to what others haven’t seen

St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean, who has worked in prison ministry and against
the death penalty for decades, is pictured in St. Peter's Square at the
Vatican Jan. 21. During a meeting the same day, Pope Francis asked
Sister Prejean about the case of Richard Masterson, a Texas man who was
executed the previous day. (Credit: CNS.)

At 80, Prejean still a witness to what others haven’t seen
St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean, who has worked in prison ministry and against the death penalty for decades, is pictured in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Jan. 21. During a meeting the same day, Pope Francis asked Sister Prejean about the case of Richard Masterson, a Texas man who was executed the previous day. (Credit: CNS.)

NEW YORK - Sister Helen Prejean has some advice for Pope Francis, who, six years into his papacy, still encounters resistance to his efforts to shake up the Catholic Church: “Be patient - it takes time!”

Just over one year ago, the pope officially declared the death penalty to be “inadmissible” and updated the catechism, the official compendium of Church teaching, to reflect the development. It’s something Prejean has been pushing for since she first began getting to know death row inmates in the 1980s.

Along the way, she’s learned a few lessons in patience, but also in persistence.

Prejean’s remarks came in an interview with Crux upon the release of her new memoir, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey, published last month by Random House.

While she first found herself in the national spotlight for her memoir-turned-film, Dead Man Walking - in which she was famously played by Susan Sarandon - the Congregation of St. Joseph nun’s latest book is, in some respects, an effort to account for how she transformed from an introspective religious sister to a social justice warrior, and what’s sustained her along the way.

At age 80, Prejean isn’t slowing down. She’s still crisscrossing the country, she’s actively texting, using her iPad, Tweeting, and, perhaps most importantly, she’s still preaching - just not from a Catholic pulpit (more on that later).

Speaking to Crux, she says that in many ways, River of Fire is her effort to make sense of her own “slow awakening” to the needs around her in the world and the Second Vatican Council’s calling for engagement with them.

Until her forties, she recalls living a quiet life focused on prayer, leading and organizing retreats, limited to her “cocoon.”

Meanwhile, she began to see the work of religious sisters among the poor and marginalized in Latin America, risking their lives to work against dictators, and providing a Catholic witness in places where others were withdrawing.

Back in New Orleans, she began slowly to confront the fact that the poor were around her at home. Perhaps in addition to praying for God to help them, she began to think, she could actually do so herself.

Prejean began working in the housing projects, and eventually was asked if she’d be willing to correspond with an inmate on death row. She would go on to visit him and serve as his spiritual advisor, eventually accompanying him to his execution - an experience that would catapult her into becoming one of the world’s most vocal opponents of the death penalty.

Looking back, she credits the “unleashing” of the spirit of the Second Vatican Council with spurring her to action. Her memoir, she says, “shows how Vatican II pointed us back to social justice and to the gospel.”

“It also brought us back to the scriptures - it took us to the original source,” she continued. “And it reminded us that human experience shapes perspectives. When you move to the margins, or to the field hospital as Pope Francis says, you encounter people where they are.”

Drawing on her own experience of working with death row inmates and families who have experienced violence, Prejean has been no stranger to resistance, including those within the Church skeptical of her call for a total abolition of the death penalty.

But her involvement both with inmates in their final moments of life, as well as with family members who have been victims of heinous crimes yet see the death penalty as a state-sanctioned way of perpetuating violence and injustice, have led her to push ahead.

“That experience bubbles up and then finally you reach a point where you change it on paper,” she says, describing how, over time, the Church has reached a position of full and total opposition to the death penalty.

“Here’s what I discovered,” she recalls. “Even pro-life Catholics would draw a line between the innocent and the guilty,” saying this distinction was the “crux” of her conversation on the subject with Pope John Paul II in the nineties.

“Where is the dignity in that?” she asks of the idea that there are some crimes so terrible that the individuals who commit them must be killed.

“It’s a very arrogant assumption that the only option we have is to kill them,” says Prejean. “Who are we to make that assumption?” she asks.

Pope John Paul II would go on to agree with Prejean, saying that it was “both cruel and unnecessary.” Just over twenty years later, Francis would take it one step further, deeming it “inadmissible.”

For Prejean, this is proof that people - even popes - can eventually change their minds, and it’s worth trying to persuade them.

“People are not wedded to the state killing people,” she insists. “But people have been made to be afraid,” adding that the physical distance between prisoners and the general public often leads to a dehumanization.

“We need to see them face to face,” she says.

While she’s still keeping her eye on the fight against the death penalty, as a woman in the male-dominated Catholic Church, she’s also using her platform to advance the cause of women’s leadership, including writing a letter to Francis on the matter.

For Prejean, the fact that she’s traveled the globe preaching in pulpits of every Christian tradition but her own is “so blatantly, inherently sexist.”

“It’s also not healthy for the Church’s decision-making,” she said, noting the absence of women in senior positions of leadership in dioceses in the U.S. and in Rome.

Yet if her four decades long battle tangling with Church officials over the death penalty has taught her anything, it’s that “when you love a community, you stay at the table and dialogue and that’s how in time things can change.”

“Just think - it took 1,600 years for the Church to change on that front,” she says.

And looking ahead, she has no intentions of slowing down or staying silent, paraphrasing the Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel: “When we’re a witness to what others have not seen, we have a moral imperative to tell others.”

“That’s still my job,” says Prejean.

• Christopher White
  Sep 9, 2019
  NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT

Daily Living of the Divine Indwelling

Dan Lynch
September 5, 2019

Sister Mildred, the mystic of the devotion to Our Lady of America, wrote that on the evening of August 5, 1957, “Our Lady spoke to me about the Divine Indwelling. It was her life and she lived it perfectly always conscious of His presence, never forgetting that all her greatness came from within, from Him who dwelt there, working, loving, and doing good through her. This is what Our Lady means when she speaks of reformation, renewal. It is this about which she is so concerned, namely sanctification from within. . . . She seemed anxious to impress me with some idea of the greatness of this gift of God to us, namely, His Divine Presence within our souls through sanctifying grace.”

This is the third of six articles on the Practice of the Divine Indwelling. They will be published each Thursday from the Feast of the Queenship of Mary to the 63^rd Anniversary of Our Lady of America’s first apparition on September 26.

How do we daily live the Divine Indwelling as Our Lady of America requested? Thomas à Kempis wrote in his Imitation of Christ that we should prepare our hearts for the Divine Indwelling.

The Kingdom of God is within you,” says the Lord. Turn, then, to God with all your heart. Forsake this wretched world and your soul shall find rest. Learn to despise external things, to devote yourself to those that are within, and you will see the Kingdom of God come unto you, that Kingdom which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, gifts not given to the impious. Christ will come to you offering His consolation, if you prepare a fit dwelling for Him in your heart, whose beauty and glory, wherein He takes delight, are all from within. His visits with the inward man are frequent, His communion sweet and full of consolation, His peace great, and His intimacy wonderful indeed. Therefore, faithful soul, prepare your heart for this Bridegroom that He may come and dwell within you; He Himself says: “If any one loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.

Renowned spiritual writer Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange wrote in his Three Stages of the Interior Life that we begin to live the Divine Indwelling when we stop talking to ourselves and begin to talk to God in prayer.

As soon as a man seriously seeks truth and goodness, this intimate conversation with himself tends to become conversation with God. Little by little, instead of seeking himself in everything, instead of tending more or less consciously to make himself a center, man tends to seek God in everything, and to substitute for egoism love of God and of souls in Him.

Our Lady of America asked us to live the Divine Indwelling “in such a way that the Divine Presence becomes, as it were, an intimate and necessary part of [our] life and daily living.” Jesus explains His invitation to the intimacy of the Divine Indwelling, which awaits our free welcome. He said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20).

If you live with someone, you pay attention to him. You are present to him, talk to him, listen to him, keep him company. This is how we live with God and, since He is God, we do what he tells us to do. (See Jn. 2:5).  So we live the Divine Indwelling by seeking first the Kingdom of God, seeking God in everything, practicing living in His presence in an intimate way with friendly conversation with Him, and a determined focus on contemplative, internal prayer rather than external actions, which we transform into prayer by offering them to God.

Lazarus’ sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to Him while her sister Martha waited upon Him and complained to Jesus that Mary had left her alone to do the serving. Jesus told Martha, “You are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Lk. 10:41-42).

You may choose the better part by reading the remaining three articles in this series that will be published each Thursday until September 26. You may read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Dear Fallen Away Catholics

Hatred in the Bible

Medjugorje Message September 2, 2019

“Dear children, pray! Pray the Rosary every day—that wreath of flowers which, as a mother, directly connects me with your pains, sufferings, desires, and hopes. Apostles of my love, I am with you through the grace and the love of my Son, and I am asking for prayers of you. The world is in such need of your prayers for souls to be converted. With complete trust, open your hearts to my Son, and in them He will inscribe the summary of His words—which is love. Live in an unbreakable connection with the Most Sacred Heart of my Son. My children, as a mother, I am telling you that it is high time for you to kneel before my Son to acknowledge Him as your God, the center of your life. Offer gifts to Him—that which He most loves—which is love towards neighbor, mercy, and pure hearts. Apostles of my love, many of my children still do not acknowledge my Son as their God; they have not yet come to know His love. But you, with your prayer pronounced from a pure and open heart, by the gifts which you offer to my Son, will make even the hardest hearts open. Apostles of my love, the strength of prayer pronounced from the heart—a powerful prayer full of love—changes the world. Therefore, my children: pray, pray, pray. I am with you. Thank you.”