Day 31. In the Home Stretch
Don’t rush me, sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. You got money?
Miracle Max, The Princess Bride
I imagine some readers’ patience is wearing thin. We’ve been going hard now for three weeks and haven’t said much about discernment or vocations. “If the point of this is to find God’s will for my life,” one may wonder, “why haven’t we started to explore my options? Why are we stuck on the basics? I mean, no offense, but I already know all this.” Forgive my putting words in the reader’s mouth. I’m anticipating some common objections.
To those who complain I ask: do you really know all this? It’s been observed, but bears repeating. Many are informed about the truths of our faith. Few are transformed by the truths of our faith. Knowing is more than “data”; it’s more than information. Knowing is when that knowledge reaches the very core of your being and fundamentally changes the way you live your life. The saints never grew weary of hearing “the basics.” St. Teresa of Avila, in her famous work ‘The Way of Perfection,’ explains at length that meditation on the ‘Our Father’ is sufficient to launch a soul into deepest contemplation [1]. The basics never get old.
We turn now to the third pillar, our Hope of Happiness, and we listen to God’s word to pinpoint the Cornerstone that lies beneath the shifting sands of passing and unreliable supports. Jesus’ Hope of Happiness, as we observed, was the earnest desire to be in Heaven with his Father. He yearned for this communion. “But now I am coming to you (Father),” he prayed on the night before his crucifixion, “I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely” (Jn. 17:13).
What is communion? It’s one of those words you often hear in church. You might assume you know what it means but you probably never gave it much thought. Communion is intimate, shared life; “the fusion of existences” [2]. It is deep, loving and lasting relationship. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” Jesus told his disciples, “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete” (Jn. 15:9-11). This is our Lord’s invitation to communion.
Every heart yearns for this communion and the joy it brings. Ultimately, we can only attain it in heaven. Heaven is the consummation of all our desires where, in the words of Scripture, we will experience knowing and being known. “At present we see indistinctly,” writes St. Paul, “as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12).
Every heart aches to be known. “Nobody really understands me,” we complain. Falling in love may be the closest we come in this life to the intense joy in being known. But even the best love, even “true love,” doesn’t bring lasting joy. Only communion brings this joy. One who experiences communion no longer knows the deep, aching loneliness of feeling unknown.
There is a strange nostalgia described by the some Christians. It is a yearning for a place you have never been. You don’t need to be in a church to feel it. C. S. Lewis, a popular Christian writer from the 20th century, found brief glimpses of it in literature and music. It touched something deep in him and left an awareness, a desire.
In speaking of this desire...which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you – the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name.
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory [3]
Maybe you know what Lewis is speaking about. You’re listening to music in your car, or watching a sunset, at a movie or reading a very good book when suddenly you become aware of a reality that extends far beyond your immediate surroundings. It’s a fleeting window on a mystical landscape perceived only by the soul — a beautiful and stirring desire that aches for fulfillment and knows, at the same time, an indescribable satisfaction. One second it’s there, then it’s gone.
In the movie American Beauty, a young man named Ricky describes such an epiphany while shooting video of a plastic bag caught in the wind.
It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing. And there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it, right? And this bag was just... dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. That's the day I realized that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid ever. … Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it...and my heart is going to cave in [4].
Something – no, someone – is there in such moments. Not a physical person, but an unmistakable presence. Who is it? You are filled with an overwhelming sense of love, a sweetness and a peace. Innately you sense you’ve been touched by the Eternal. To experience this is to never forget it, and yet, many have not.
It’s true. Some of us won’t experience this “joy” in our lifetimes. Why God chooses some for this special grace and not others is a mystery. I can say for certain, however, that profound spiritual experiences are not to be mistaken for personal holiness. St. Francis De Sales observes “there are many souls in heaven who never had an ecstasy, never experienced a rapture in contemplation” [5].
Still, the deep desire for heaven – the desire to know and to be known – is in all of us, experiences notwithstanding. It is a yearning to be “home.” Heaven, though beyond our comprehension, is not some completely strange, alien place. Heaven is familiar to us in some respects. It’s the place we always thought could exist – should exist – somewhere. And those who are firmly grounded in the Father’s love, can already experience something of the future glory. It was said of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, for example, that when he died as a young man, he simply walked from this life into the company of someone he already knew very well [6].
Begin praying today for God to deepen your “heaven-hunger.” Without this, it’s easy to dismiss heaven as too distant, or worse, to presume that everybody gets in. In fact, it takes strength, focus and daily resolve. St. Paul compares it to the focus of an Olympic athlete. “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run therefore to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly...No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:24-27).
Novena Prayer
Jesus says: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
Pier Giorgio responds: With violence you sow hatred, and you harvest its bad fruits. With charity, you sow peace among men – not the peace that the world gives, but the true peace that only faith in Jesus Christ can give us in common brotherhood.
Let us pray: Blessed Pier Giorgio, guide me in claiming my rightful inheritance as a child of God and heir of His Kingdom. Show me, by your own example, how to be slow to anger, and gentle in my dealings with others. Help me to show forth the peace of Christ by speaking words of peace, and by living a life of peace.
Blessed Pier Giorgio, I ask for your intercession in obtaining from God, Who is meek and humble of heart, all the graces necessary for my spiritual and temporal welfare. I confidently turn to you for help in my present need: (in your own words, ask for the Lord to lead you into greater freedom and self knowledge).
A Book of Prayers in Honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, by Rev. Timothy E. Deeter
Make it My Own
Daily Discernment Workbook
BREAK OPEN YOUR BIBLE
1. What the Bible Tells Us About Heaven
The Bible has a lot to say about heaven. Match the following descriptive statements to the passages listed to the right.
1. We approach the City of the Living God – where angels are dressed in festive garments and the just are made perfect.
2. In this place God will save the lame, gather the outcasts and give us renown and praise.
3. We have a place in the Father’s house prepared for us by Jesus himself.
4. Where we see all things clearly and see God face to face.
5. Where God provides a feast of rich foods and choice wines for people of all nations.
6. We will be clothed in immortality and death will no longer threaten us.
7. We will receive a new name known only to us.
8. Here God dwells among us and there is no mourning or crying.
9. On this mountain all creatures live in peace with each other.
A. John 14:2-3
B. 1 Corinthians 15:51-53
C. Zephaniah 3:19-20
D. Isaiah 25:6-8
E. Revelation 2:17
F. Isaiah 11:6-9
G . Hebrews 12:22,23
H. 1 Corinthians 13:12
I. Revelation 21:4
SAINTS SAID IT
2. Running to the Lord’s House
St. Augustine on the Joy of Going to God’s House
St. Augustine uses the example of a joyful pilgrimage to describe the excitement we can feel as we make our earthly journey to the Father’s house in heaven.
…when some festival of the martyrs falls due,…and some holy place is named at which all are to assemble to celebrate the solemn rites, remember how the throngs incite one another, how people encourage each other, saying, “Come on, let’s go, let’s go!” Others ask, “Where are we going?” And they are told, “To that place, to the holy site.” People talk to each other and catch fire with enthusiasm, and all the separate flames unite into a single flame. This one flame that springs up from the conversation of many people who enkindle one another seizes them all and sweeps them along to the holy place. Their devout resolve sanctifies them. If, then, holy love energizes people and tugs them to a material place, what kind of love must it be that tugs persons united in heart toward heaven, as they say to each other, We are going to the Lord’s house? Let’s run, let’s run fast, they say, for we are going to the Lord’s house! Let’s run and not weary, because we shall reach a place where fatigue will never touch us. Let’s run to the Lord’s house, and let our soul be gladdened by those who tell us these things; for those who cheer us on have seen our homeland before we have, and they shout from afar to us latecomers, “We are going to the Lord’s house! Walk! Run!” The apostles have seen it, and they exhort us, “Run, walk, follow: we are going to the Lord’s house!” And what do we reply, every one of us? “I rejoiced over those who told me, We are going to the Lord’s house.”
from Augustine’s Exposition of Psalm 122 [7].
In My Own Words: What does St. Augustine mean when he says, “their devout resolve sanctifies them”?
Make it Personal: If I don’t really get excited about heaven, or don’t give it much thought, what can I do to change this based on the quote above?
3. Saint Tips: Ways We Can Increase our Heaven Hunger
Still not feeling it? Here’s some advice from our older brothers and sisters in the faith – ways that other Blesseds and Saints describe they grew in the desire to reach heaven…
A. Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati: During a period of preparation for examinations he wrote to a friend.
“My spirit, wearied by this arid science, finds peace and comfort and spiritual joy again and again in the reading of St. Paul. He is marvelous! The soul rejoices in this reading and finds there a stimulus for its heavenward journey” [8].
Frassati’s Heaven Help:
B. St. Teresa of Avila: Opened her mind and heart to visions of heaven. What God showed her was amazing!
“Glorified bodies have such beauty that the sight of so supernatural a beauty deriving from glory causes confusion…. If there were nothing else to provide delight for one’s vision in heaven than the exalted beauty of glorified bodies, this vision would be very great glory, especially the vision of the humanity of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And if even here on earth His Majesty shows Himself according to what our wretchedness can bear, what will be the glory when such a blessing is enjoyed completely?” [9].
Teresa’s Heaven Help:
C. St. Theodore the Studite: Explaining the use of icons in prayer and worship:
“The painted image is for us a sacred light, a salvific monument, as it holds up before us Christ in his birth, his baptism, his miracles, on the cross, in the tomb, in his Resurrection and Ascension. In all this we are not being deceived as though these events would not have happened. For what our eyes see supports our spiritual contemplation, so that through both experiences our faith in the mystery of salvation is strengthened” [10].
Theodore’s Heaven Help:
D. St. John of the Cross: In order to take hold of heaven, we are purified of what we cling to on earth.
“The soul cannot come to this union without great purity, and this purity is not gained without great detachment from every created thing and sharp mortification. …Wherefore, he that refuses to go forth in the night aforementioned to seek the Beloved, and to be stripped of his own will and to be mortified, but seeks Him upon his bed and at his own convenience, as did the Bride, will not succeed in finding Him” [11].
John’s Heaven Help:
Which of the helps above would I find most helpful? How can I use each of these more fruitfully to sharpen my heaven-hunger?
GOING DEEP
4. Walk Through Heaven.
As I conclude my time of prayer today, I take a few minutes in silence and imagine myself walking through the amazing heavenly city where God dwells and all the saints rejoice with the angels. I imagine the beauty of the architecture, the gardens, streams and fruit trees winding along wide and sunny avenues. I picture my loved ones, some already deceased, whom I meet and talk to about the wonders of this city. I stretch my imagination to think of the colors, smells, sounds and textures of this new world God is already preparing for me.
Conclude with
“Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be.
World without end, Amen.”
[0] lead quote: The Princess Bride, 20th Century Fox, written by William Goldman; directed by Rob Reiner, 1987
[1] St. Teresa of Avila, Way of Perfection, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. I, The Book of Her Life, tr. By Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., Washington, D.C., ICS Publications, 2nd edition, 1987, ch. 24, pp 131f.
[2] Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger), Called to Communion, Understanding the Church Today, tr. by Adrian Walker, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1996, p. 37
[3] C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, New York: Macmillan and Co., 1966, pp. 4-5
[4] American Beauty, Dreamworks SKG, 1999, writer Alan Ball, director Sam Mendes
[5] Francis De Sales, Treatise on God’s Love vol. VII, 7, quoted in: Finding God Wherever You Are, Selected Spiritual Writings, ed. by Joseph F. Power, OSFS, New City Press , p. 106
[6] Based on Frassati’s sister’s account of his death, “All knelt in silence, their eyes fixed on him following his limpid, lovely soul as it went to meet its creator…with the same ease which was habitual to him, the ease of one friend going to join another Whom he had always known.” from The Soul of Pier Giorgio Frassati by Robert Claude, S.J. p. 118
[7] Augustine’s Exposition of Psalm 122, from Expositions of the Psalms, Works of St. Augustine, tr. by Maria Boulding, OSB, New City Press, p. 14
[8] The Soul of Pier Giorgio Frassati, By Robert Claude, S.J., tr. by Una Morissy, B.A. Spiritual Book Association, Inc., New York, 1960, p. 74
[9] St. Teresa of Avila, Life, from The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. I, tr. By Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D., Washington, D.C., ICS Publications, 2nd edition, 1987. p. 237, 238
[10] from God’s Human Face by Christoph Schonborn, San Francisco, Ignatius Press, 1994, p. 99
[11] St. John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, tr. by E. Allison Peers, from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D., Image Books, A Division of Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1959, book II, ch. XXIV, Par. 4, p. 192
All Scripture quotes from the New American Bible, unless otherwise specified
Answers for #1: 1 - G, 2 - C, 3 - A, 4 - H, 5 - D, 6 - B, 7 - E, 8 - I, 9 - F