St. Therese’s poem, “GLOSE ON THE DIVINE, After St. John of the Cross”

Poems of St. Therese Of The Child Jesus: Known As The Little Flower Of Jesus. Translated By The Carmelites Of Santa Clara, Publisher: Burns Oates and Washbourne (1925)  

St. Therese’s poem, “GLOSE ON THE DIVINE After St. John of the Cross” posed some puzzlement. The English of ‘Poem of Little Flower Jesus’ brings little known vocabulary. – Glose of the Divine.

The Victorian style translation does not make the poem easy. This text is from London 1925 printing.

Further hurdle is the fact that available Online versions omit some of the poems, in particular the missing ‘Glose on the Divine, after St. John of the Cross’.
[Similarly missing the Glose on the Divine, in a French first edition 1907].

Here, St. Therese is in deeper experience with St. John of the Cross. A Link below helps the explanation.

 http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/glose.htm 

Hopefully there will be an updated translation, 2001. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poems-Therese-Lisieux-Alan-Bancroft/dp/0006279503/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1  

POEMS OF LITTLE FLOWER OF JESUS

GLOSE ON THE DIVINE

After St. John of the Cross

Leaning without support, without light and in darkness,
I go to consume myself of love. " - St. John of the Cross.

To the world, with delight all-surpassing,
An eternal farewell I have said;

O'er itself wings my heart life-amassing,
From support save in God it hath fled!

And now in His light I am seeing
What is dearest where joys overbrim,

'Tis when heart, soul, and all of my heing
Lean, and know no support save in Him.

While I suffer in darkness unbroken,
Through this mortal delay of an hour,

I possess here at least one fair token,
The star of love's infinite power.

In the way, all of peril surroundeth,
But I follow, no fear can debar,

For by love, well I know life aboundeth
’Mid the shadows of exile afar.

His love as I learn every hour,
Can profit by good and by ill

That He findeth in me: O what power!
Transforming my soul at His Will.

This flame feedeth deep, nor returneth,
It pierceth my heart from above;

As with ardours of fire it burneth,
I go hence, consumed in my love.

1896.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/glose.htm 

Glose (or Glosa)

The glose originated in Spain, where it is known as the glosa. It has two parts, which are normally written by different authors. 

The first part - the texte or cabeza - consists of a few lines which set the theme for the entire poem. Typically this will be a stanza from a well-known poem or poet - although it is perfectly permissible to write your own texte.

The second part - the glose or glosa proper - is a gloss on, or explanation of, the texte. It takes the form of an ode, with one stanza per line of the texte. Each stanza in turn expands upon its corresponding line of texte, and ends with a repetition of it. 

An example will make this clearer.

 

Another blow for press freedom

The painful warrior famoused for fight 

After a thousand victories once foiled 

Is from the book of honour razèd quite 

And all the rest forgot for which he toiled. 

A thug, about him something of the night, 

But our thug, who took up arms and stood firm, 

Brave, strong and tall for what he thought was right.  

A hero, though he’d blush to hear the term, 

The painful warrior famoused for fight.

- - - - -

Related forms

The rondeau redoublé will give you a distinct sense of déjà vu.

Back to Verse Forms home page. 

© Bob Newman 2004. All rights reserved.

A Calendar of Scottish Saints; COMMENT

A Calendar of Scottish Saints

The following is from A Calendar of Scottish Saints by Dom Michael Barrett, O.S.B. 

see: St. Baldred of Bass, St Adrian of Isle of May

http://www.scotsites.co.uk/eBooks/scottishsaints3.htm

4--St. Adrian and Companions, A.D. 875

An old legend, which was long regarded as authentic, relates that this saint was of royal birth and was a native of Hungary, and that he came to Scotland with several companions to preach the Faith. Modern historians identify him with the Irish St. Odhran, who was driven from his country by the Danes and took refuge in Scotland. He preached the Gospel to the people of Fifeshire and the eastern counties. Eventually he founded a monastery on the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth. Here he suffered martyrdom, together with a great number of his disciples, in an incursion of the Danes. A Priory was built on the island by David I, and placed under the Benedictine Abbey of Reading. Later on it was given over to the Canons Regular of St. Andrews. The Isle of May became a famous place of pilgrimage on account of the connection with it of other saints besides St. Adrian and his companions. James IV visited it several times, having evidently a great affection for the holy place. In 1503 he took the "clerkis of the Kingis chapell to Maii to sing the Mes thair." Other records occur in his treasurer's accounts, such as the following: "To the preistis to say thre trentals of Messis thair"; for "the Kingis offerand in his tua candillis in Maii."

6--St. Baldred, Hermit, A.D. 608

This saint, according to a popular tradition, was a disciple of the great St. Kentigern. He has often been styled the Apostle of East Lothian. After his master's death St. Baldred took up his residence upon the Bass Rock, near North Berwick, and there he devoted himself to penance and prayer, his favourite subject of meditation being the Passion of Christ Our Lord. From time to time he would pay missionary visits to the mainland. He died at Aldhame in Haddington, a village which has now disappeared; St. Baldred's Cave is on the sea-shore near its former site. Tyningham Church, in the same county, and also that of Prestonkirk, were dedicated to him. The former was burnt by the Danes in 941. The old parishes of Aldhame and Tyningham are now united under the designation of Whitekirk. At Prestonkirk there is a well which bears the saint's name, whose water, as a Protestant writer notes, is excellent for making tea! An eddy in the Tyne is called St. Baldred's Whirl. A century ago Prestonkirk churchyard possessed an ancient statue of St. Baldred. The ruins of a chapel dedicated to the saint are still discernible on the Bass Rock.

St. Margaret Mary Alacouque

Reading (Breviary):                          A Letter by St. Margaret Mary Alacouque

WE must know the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge

It seems to me that our Lord’s earnest desire to have his sacred heart honoured in a special way is directed toward renewing the effects of redemption in our souls. For the sacred heart is an inexhaustible fountain and its soul desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

  From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unite to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing his glory.

  This divine heart is an abyss of all blessings, and into it the poor should submerge all their needs. It is an abyss of joy in which all of us can immerse our sorrows. It is an abyss of lowliness to counteract our foolishness, an abyss of mercy for the wretched, an abyss of love to meet our every need.

  Therefore, you must unite yourselves to the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ, both at the beginning of your conversion in order to obtain proper dispositions, and at its end in order to make reparation. Are you making no progress in prayer? Then you need only offer God the prayers which the Saviour has poured out for us in the sacrament of the altar. Offer God his fervent love in reparation for your sluggishness. In the course of every activity pray as follows: “My God, I do this or I endure that in the heart of your Son and according to his holy counsels. I offer it to you in reparation for anything blameworthy or imperfect in my actions.” Continue to do this in every circumstance of life. And every time that some punishment, affliction or injustice comes your way, say to yourself: “Accept this as sent to you by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in order to unite yourself to him.”

  But above all preserve peace of heart. This is more valuable than any treasure. In order to preserve it there is nothing more useful than renouncing your own will and substituting for it the will of the divine heart. In this way his will can carry out for us whatever contributes to his glory, and we will be happy to be his subjects and to trust entirely in him.

Saint Faustina - Divine Mercy prayer

Saint of the day: 5th October

Saint Faustina

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.  
Mystic. Foundress of the Divine Mercy movement. Saint Faustina was born Helen Kowalska in the village of Glogowiec, Lodz Province in Poland on August 25, 1905. After hearing the Lord's calling from the age of seven she was accepted into the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy as Sister Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament, in Warsaw on 1 August, 1925.

In 1928, she took her vows as a nun, and died just ten years later. She was beatified in 1993 and canonised on April 30, 2000 - the first saint of the New Millennium..

St Faustina experienced a vision in 1931, in which she saw Jesus clad in a white garment with His right hand raised in blessing. His left hand was touching his garment in the area of his heart, from where two large rays came forth, one red and one white. Jesus said: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see with the signature:- 'Jesus, I trust in You.' - I Promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish.'

After this experience St Faustina devised the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, based on the prayer she recalled from her vision:

Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, 

Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, 

our Lord Jesus Christ, 

in atonement for my sins and for those of the entire world. 

For the sake of His sorrowful passion,
have mercy on us and on the whole world.

There are now many paintings of this vision and the daily devotion to Divine Mercy takes place in churches around the world at 3pm

Saint Faustina's congregation, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy look after the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Poland. In the United States, the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy opened their first house outside Poland in Boston in 1988. There is also the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Eden Hill, Massachusetts, run by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception.

Saint Teresa of the Andes, The Ascent of Mount Carmel and Mount Horeb

Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

Sacred Scripture celebrated the beauty of Carmel where the prophet Elijah defended the purity of Israel's faith in the living God. In the twelfth century, hermits withdrew to that mountain and later founded the Carmelite order devoted to the contemplative life under the patronage of Mary, the holy Mother of God.

Below Mount Carmel, Bahai's gardens and Haifa

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: edward booth
To: Donald Nunraw  
Sent: Sunday, 15 July 2012, 23:34
Subject: Poem and extract from Saint Teresa of the Andes

Dear Father Donald,

I thought that you might like to see these.
I wrote the poem for the Sclerder Carmelites in Cornwall, and am
sending it in the FAX format in which I shall send it to them
tomorrow.
Also a passage from a beautiful letter from Saint Teresa of the Andes,
which they wanted to have. It was the end of a sermon, and I give the
introduction as well. My internet source did not give a reference to
where it is to be found.

Perhaps H... would like to have copies as well.

Here we are having the sun when the UK seems to be having unending rain.

Blessings in Domino,

fr Edward O.P.

St  Teresa of the Andes
Virgin of our Order
Feast Day: 13 July 

Let's live intimately united with Him, since one who loves tends to be united with the one loved.
The fusing of two souls is done through love. Saint Teresa of the Andes
faithofthefatherssaintquote.blogspot.com

….. The Saint celebrated by the Carmelite Sisters today is modern and extremely interesting: Saint Teresa of the Andes., who was born in 1900 and died in 1920, still a novice. She was a Chilean, the daughter of an apparently rich but frankly badly organised landowner, who lived her life with zest, playing the piano, loving to ride horses, but all the time nurturing the desire to be a Carmelite at the monastery known as "Los Andes", at Vinar del Alar. In her first year as a Carmelite she died of typhoid fever. The intensity of her spirituality matched the intensity of her character. She was canonised as the result of a miracle: the restoration to life of a child caught and drowned in the force of water at a water extraction pump in a swimming bath. She left behind her a collection of letters, of which I quote to you this extract:

“There will never be any separation between our souls. I will live in Him. Search for Jesus and in Him you’ll find me; and there the three of us will continue our intimate conversations, the ones we’ll be carrying on there forever in eternity. Love is the fusion of two souls in one in order to bring about mutual perfection. Though I am absent from you, this changes nothing in our relationship. I am always with you, invisibly assisting you in all you do. And if my prayers are worth anything, you can count on them for the rest of my life; because every day I have you with me at Communion time. How much time has passed since we last saw each other, but our souls are always one in the Divine Jesus. A Carmelite sanctifies herself in order to make all the Church’s members holy. The goal she (a Carmelite) proposes to herself is very great: to pray and sanctify herself for sinners and priests. To sanctify herself for sinners and priests. To sanctify herself so that the divine sap may be communicated through the union that exists between the faithful and all members of the Church. She immolates herself on the cross, and her blood falls on sinners, pleading for mercy and repentance, for on the cross she is intimately united to Jesus Christ. Her blood, then, is mixed with His Divine Blood. A Carmelite is a sister to priests. Both priest and sister offer a host of holocaust for the salvation of the world. A Sister sanctifies herself, that by being more united to God, the blood of the Divine Prisoner which she receives in her soul might circulate through the other members of Christ’s Body. In a word, a Sister sanctifies herself to sanctify her brothers. This pains me greatly; to see that I’m sensibly experiencing feelings of great love. Sometimes it even reaches the point of taking my strength away or the desire to do anything but stretch out on the bed. Let’s live intimately united with Him, since one who loves tends to be united with the one loved. The fusing of two souls is done through love. It’s true, my dear little sister, we don’t live together; but you live in God and I do, too. There, in that abyss of love, we’ll live as one. Everything in God is indivisible; we, too, will be inseparable. Sometimes I felt such great love it seemed I could not go on living if these desires continued any longer…Once when the violence of love took hold of me, I grasped a needle and on my chest drew these letters: J.A.M., which means Jesus My Love. Despite the distance separating us, my soul will always be one with yours. We both form but a single soul, isn’t that so? “ Amen.                                           

______________________________________________________________________                  

Relief of Angel feeding Elijaj in Church at Muraka Mount Carmel

Dear Donald,

Here is the text of the poem "Ascent ..." with my corrections from this morning.
Thank you for telephoning. It was good to hear your voice.

Blessings in Domino,

Edward  

“The Ascent of Mount Carmel and Mount Horeb”, 

from Fr. Edward O.P.  

There was confusion on Mount Carmel

except in the mind of Elias.

He disposed his mind and lips

to communicate the message of the Lord.

Firstly he told the Israelites there was no place for wavering

and he wavered never,

and set up a test for divine self-authentication.

Two bulls from a common stock:

he gave the Baalites first choice to sacrifice.

They – four hundred and fifty prophets plus four hundred from forest-shrines -

clamoured to Baal.

No answer came; no spark descended.

(Elias mocked: “Shout louder; perhaps he's sleeping!”)

All to no avail.

Elias re-erected an ancient altar to Yahweh; doused the wood with water

to make the test harder.

He prayed.

The divine fire fell …

He herded the Baalists to a valley below and slaughtered the lot.

Nor was the drought forgotten: “I hear a noise like a rain-storm!”

He reascended the mountain, sent his servants to spy over the sea.

A little cloud appeared, sized like a foot-print, rising upwards:

a material miracle; the cloud covering Mirjam's Conception was divine.

“Back!” said Elias; “tell the king to be off before the rain descends in torrents.”

Sky darkening, clouds gathering, rain deluging; back to Samaria.

Elias belted his cloak, ran with Achab's fatal chariot.

Jezebel being told terrified Elias, who ran to the desert, slept inder a juniper.

There he discovered his isolation.

An angel gave him bread cooked in the ashes, and water;

Elijah's Hollow Mt Sinai

impelled him to Horeb, mount of Moses' encounter with Yahweh in Sinai;

feeling his isolation more, barely carrying its weight, he climbed to a cave.

He made a passage from the common sacrifice of common humanity.

He must stand in the Yahweh's presence as he passed by.

For the prayer, the flame, the common wind and rain

there was wind plus an earthquake,and fire correspondingly greater,

but Yahweh was in the whisper of the following gentle breeze.

Elias wrapped his face before this ultimate state, stood at the entrance.

Yahweh affirmed his infinite transcendence and Elias's honest confusion:

“Elias, what are you doing here?”

With loneliness greater still he complained, “Israel has foresaken its covenant;

I am the only prophet left ...”.

eternal depth understood this self-discovering depth, and loved his prophet.

He sent him on a mission to Syrian Damascus, north of Galilee,

to anoint its king, another king for Israel, with his own successor

– a fiery chariot already in mind to ascend him into heaven.

A view of the southern end of Mt Carmel with the city of Haifa in the distance

The Nineteen Ways of Prayer of Dominic

Monday 8th Aug 2011 The MAGNIFICAT Monthly carries an insert of The Nineteen Ways of Prayer of Dominic - The Seventh Way of Prayer.

The Dominicant Centre provides the online text: Link below

Saint Dominic Feast 8th August

BIOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS

Edited with an Introduction by FRANCIS C. LEHNER, O.P.

Ed @ 1964 The Thomist Press. 



The Seventh Way of Prayer

WHILE PRAYING he was often seen to reach towards heaven like an arrow which has been shot from a taut bow straight upwards into the sky. He would stand with hands outstretched above his head and joined together, or at times slightly separated as if about to receive something from heaven. One would believe that he was receiving an increase of grace and in this rapture of spirit was asking God for the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the Order he had founded.

He seemed to seek for himself and his brethren something of that transcendent joy which is found in living the beatitudes, praying that each would consider himself truly blessed in extreme poverty, in bitter mourning, in cruel persecutions, in a great hunger and thirst for justice, in anxious mercy towards all. His entreaty was that his children would find their delight in observing the commandments and in the perfect practice of the evangelical counsels. Enraptured, the holy father then appeared to have entered into the Holy of Holies and the Third Heaven. After prayer of this kind he truly seemed to be a prophet, whether in correcting the faulty, in directing others, or in his preaching.

Our holy father did not remain at prayer of this type very long but gradually regained full possession of his faculties. He looked during that time like a person coming from a great distance or like a stranger in this world, as could easily be discerned from his countenance and manner. The brethren would then hear him praying aloud and saying as the prophet: "Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication which I pray to thee, when I lift up my hands to thy holy temple" (Ps. 27:2).

Through his words and holy example he constantly taught the friars to pray in this way, often repeating those phrases from the psalms: "Behold, now bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord ... in the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless ye the Lord" (Ps. 133:1-3), "I have cried to thee, O Lord, hear me; hearken to my voice when I cry to thee. Let my prayer be directed as incense in they sight; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice" (Ps. 140:1-2). The drawing shows us this mode of prayer so that we may better understand it.

http://www.domcentral.org/trad/domdocs/default.htm   
CHAPTER FIVE

THE NINE WAYS OF PRAYER OF ST. DOMINICINTRODUCTION

The Nine Ways of Prayer of St. Dominic was written by an anonymous author, probably at Bologna, sometime between 1260 and 1288. The source of his information was Sister Cecilia of the Monastery of St. Agnes at Bologna (who had been received to the habit by St. Dominic) and others who had been in contact with the Holy Founder. This venerable document testifies to the eminent holiness of the Saint, showing something of his intimate life and intense love of God. The early manuscripts of the work were accompanied by miniature drawings to illustrate the various postures St. Dominic took while he was at prayer. Those in a Spanish manuscript of the Vatican Library,Codex Rossianus 3, are by a skilled miniaturist and done in brilliant colors which are still vivid. The sketches which accompany the present translation are adaptations by Brother Jerome Newell, O. P., of the ancient drawings.The Nine Ways of Prayer have been sometimes printed as a supplement to the Life of St. Dominic by Theodoric of Apoldia, though they form no part of that work. The reason for this is traceable to the visit of Conrad of Trebensee, Provincial of Germany, to Bologna in 1288, when he was in Italy to attend the general chapter. There he found The Nine Ways and other documents relating to St. Dominic and took them back to Germany for the use of Theodoric, who, at that time, was starting to work on his biography of the Saint (27).

TEXT
THE NINE WAYS OF PRAYER OF ST. DOMINICHoly teachers like Augustine, Ambrose, Gregory, Hilary, Isidore, John Chrysostom, John Damascene, Bernard, and other saintly Greek and Latin doctors have discoursed on prayer at great length. They have encouraged and described it, pointed out its necessity and value, explained the method, the dispositions which are required, and the impediments which stand in its way. In learned books, the glorious and venerable doctor, Brother Thomas Aquinas, and Albert, of the Order of Preachers, as well as William in his treatise on the virtues, have considered admirably and in a holy, devout, and beautiful manner that form of prayer in which the soul makes use of the members of the body to raise itself more devoutly to God. In this way the soul, in moving the body, is moved by it. At times it becomes rapt in ecstasy as was Saint Paul, or is caught up in a rapture of the spirit like the prophet David. Saint Dominic often prayed in this way, and it is fitting that we say something of his method.
Certainly many saints of both the Old and New Testament are known to have prayed like this at times. Such a method serves to enkindle devotion by the alternate action of soul upon body and body upon soul. Prayer of this kind would cause Saint Dominic to be bathed in tears, and would arouse the fervor of his holy will to such intensity that his bodily members could not be restrained from manifesting his devotion by certain signs. As a result, the spirit of the supplicant was sometimes raised up during its entreaties, petitions, and thanksgivings.
The following, then, are the special modes of prayer, besides those very devout and customary forms, which Saint Dominic used during the celebration of Mass and the praying of the psalmody. In choir or along the road, he was often seen lifted suddenly out of himself and raised up with God and the angels.

The First Way of PrayerSAINT DOMINIC'S first way of prayer was to humble himself before the altar as if Christ, signified by the altar, were truly and personally present and not in symbol alone. He would say with Judith: "O Lord, God, the prayer of the humble and the meek hath always pleased Thee [Judith 9:16]. "It was through humility that the Canaanite woman and the prodigal son obtained what they desired; as for me, "I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof" [Matt. 8:8] for "I have been humbled before you exceedingly, O Lord [Ps. 118:107]."