At our last meeting we looked at Ven. Maria Celeste Crostarosa's First Step on the Mystical Ladder of her Grades of Prayer which was about faith in the one God and the knowledge of the faith
which forms the pathway to prayer. It
was about ‘the gift’ of gazing at God with sheer faith and ‘the response’ to
see all things through the eyes of the Beloved.
As I did last month reviewing the First
Grade of Prayer, I will only give you highlights of her more lengthy
writings. To review see Nov. 9, 2014.
Ven. Maria Celeste Crostarosa
SECOND GRADE OF PRAYER
Hope
and Trust: Dependence on God with full confidence
that is born of hope when one learns to abandon oneself
to all that comes to us is from the Father in Christ
through the Spirit.
Oh most pure Truth,
You are the faith that brings the soul all the divine treasures: and in your
purity I discover my supreme Goodness in all His beauty. But this lovely sight holds me in a purgatory
of love because the true light of this faith highlights the difference that
exists between Your most pure being and my own being; and if it was not for
that lively confidence and hope in You that this faith produces in the soul,
then it would receive a great torment from this divine beauty of Your own being.
But the certainty that faith communicates to the soul, as in the previous grade
of prayer, increases her hope and trust without her soul understanding how she
has received it.
In that passive
understanding she receives the knowledge of the wisdom, goodness and power of
her Beloved through that cloud of shining faith and sees the beauty of her resplendent
eternal sun, and then the soul recognizes her beginning and her ultimate end.
On this second step
of this ladder, she finds her peace, as the bride does in the Song of Songs, under
the wings of her Beloved and His divine attributes.
She finds her secure
refuge under these divine wings, and in Him she places all her hopes; in Him
she hides all her miseries; in Him she rests in all her crosses; in Him she
places all her desires; in Him she rejoices in every pain and trouble that she
receives from creatures. All fears are
banished from her heart because security abounds in her soul. In a single loving look she offers Him not
only her whole self and her needs, but all the miseries of her neighbor.
She does not do this
in prayer but in surrendering her heart to Him. And then the bride receives all
the blessings of her beloved God and feels she has received the remedy for all
her needs, and has been granted not only whatever graces she has requested, but
also whatever she could desire. Therefore, such a soul cannot remain for long
in pain no matter what she suffers, either externally or internally, because of
the certainty of hope that faith produces a most complete and sublime trust in
her beloved God.
Without holding back
on anything, she gives her Beloved her own self. He, likewise, gives Himself
entirely to the soul so that she may possess as her own all His divine
attributes.
Therefore the soul
never doubts her God, nor is she terrified by the dispositions that her Beloved
ordains, be they arduous to her senses, or be they sweet, for He is never to be
distrusted or feared. Because of the recourse she has to Him in her weaknesses,
He is honor bound to rescue her as her father, to assist her and love her as
her husband, and benefit her as her monarch. Here love is powerful in
reconciling the soul to every trouble or pain; it matters little to her,
because her heart expands so as not to be limited to the narrowness of her own
littleness. And so she awaits the outcome of everything with great
tranquility.
The soul sees
clearly that she no longer belongs to any creature; nor expects any benefit
from anyone at all. So, she declares
her gift of self to Him with no other intention except to make herself entirely
of Him whom she alone loves and enter into His heart - to dwell there exclusively
and indivisibly. Here the bride says
only one thing, “I am Yours alone and You are everything to me! (for) My
Beloved is for me and I am for Him.”
Where to begin!
Celeste shares so many thoughts swinging and swaying between discovery
and mystery, joy and pain, surrender and peace, exclusively
and indivisibly giving
herself to God while experiencing detachment from any creature. All these are kept steady by the virtues of
hope and trust, faith and love.
The second step on the Mystical Ladder, it seems to me, is
more a matter of will born of faith “in
surrendering her heart to Him”
than in prayer; a conscious act to trust and hope in God in every situation and
to respond to all circumstance as would Jesus.
The goal is to make oneself entirely of Him. In the Associate Constitution #5 it states this clearly, “The
more we strive to live the love of Christ, the more the thoughts and feelings
of Christ will fill our spirit and our heart, the more we will become His
faithful images and the more also will we be able to be true witnesses of the
love of Him who is our beginning and our End, our Way and our Life.”
In
a way the first two steps of the Grades of Prayer remind me of the first two
steps of Alcoholic Anonymous Twelve Step program, but in reverse.
Celeste’s first step begins with God is God, my All, and then takes the
next step recognizing her weaknesses, limits and littleness. The first two steps of AA’s program are admitting that one cannot control one's weaknesses and then to recognize a Higher Power.
Celeste sees this
climb up the ladder as a purgatory of love because she is keenly aware of the
Truth, the difference between herself and God, and her need for God in her
life. It is only with active faith,
trust and hope that she finds rest from all her fears and crosses.
Even today’s feast of the Baptism of
the Lord takes up this theme in Celeste’s expression of ‘purgatory of love’
when Jesus presents himself at the Jordan to be baptized and John’s reaction
is, “I am not worthy.” But John is a man
of hope and trust, faith and love and baptizes Jesus that he may be one with us
and we may be one with God. As Celeste
explains, “Without holding back on anything, she gives her Beloved
her own self. He, likewise, gives Himself entirely to the soul so that she may
possess as her own all His divine attributes.”
So, to me, this
Second Grade of Prayer is more about an actual state of being than prayer. And yet, it is in prayer when we contemplate
on God’s unconditional love for us and our love for God that our hope and trust
grows as we continually surrender our hearts to our Beloved and in turn receives
all the blessings of our beloved God who is our All.
Reflection
questions:
What
phrase, or phrases, from the Second Step touched your heart?How
does Hope and Trust shape your prayer?
What
‘divine attributes’ have you received from the Beloved?
When I look at this
picture of the Wayfarer, I see it as Jesus welcoming each of us with open
arms. Jesus is ever ready to shepherd
and guide us, protect and bless us. To me it looks like he is about to
place his hands around my shoulder, and on the shoulder of whoever is on the
other side: you, you, you…each one of you. That made me think of a yoke; as in
Jesus saying, ‘Come to me all who labor
and are heavy burdened, and I will give
you rest, take up my yoke and learn for me, for I am gentle and humble of
heart.’ Mt. 11:28
