John Paul II sincerely believed that we are so created that we can only discover the truth about ourselves when we give ourselves to another. He believed this from his own experience. He marveled how it was possible to meet someone and be so overwhelmed by their beauty that you should want to sacrifice everything for their sake, that this other person might thrive. In this he glimpsed not only the beauty of God’s plan for man and woman in marriage, but also the beauty of Christ’s love for each and every soul.
St. John Paul II
The communion Christ has come to share surpasses the fulfillment and mutual possession meant to be ours in the institution of marriage. When we see His beauty, we realize that the deepest joys shared in the marriage of man and woman only foreshadow a more wonderful communion that is to come.
Before the Beauty of His Face, even the sorrows and disappointments that we bear in our families, no matter how crushing, take on a new perspective. He who was abandoned and betrayed captivates us in His radiance even as we struggle with humiliation and resentment. Those who we thought we could never forgive, we find the courage to forgive whenever we glimpse Him gazing on us in love.
His beauty, the beauty of a love that holds nothing back, evokes a response from the deepest part of our being. For when our eyes are opened by faith in Him, we are moved to believe at once that Christ has perceived our beauty before the dawn of creation — and in perceiving it, brought it into being and offered His life in sacrifice for it, that each soul that believes in Him might know a greatness far beyond its power to surmise.
The Son who forever rejoices in the sheer goodness of His Father, rejoiced anew to make this known to all creation. He chose to do this through friendship with each of us – so that each of us participate in the revelation of glory the Father has given to His Son. This friendship and participation is nothing less than a dwelling in his presence – by faith in this life, and glory in the next. For this purpose and out of nothing, the Word of the Father summoned a beauty so deep in the human heart that, even when the human heart is diminished by sin, He has already resolved to sacrifice everything in order that all that is good, noble and true in it might not perish.
Nothing forces his loving sacrifice save the divine predilection for humble humanity that lives deep in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The Father is drawn by our plight to speak His Word into our difficult personal circumstances. With His Word, He breathes His Holy Spirit into us that we should have hope and thrive. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ journeys across the vast horizons of our hearts “like a Bridegroom coming from his tent, a champion running his course.” For what He finds most beautiful in us is that we are in His own image and likeness — creatures who are meant to mirror in time the love that He offers without reserve to the Father from eternity.
The work of redemption that He wrought on the Cross is about bringing to completion this intimate and faithful communion of sacrificial love for which we were created. He reveals the beauty of an unimpeded love on the Cross to capture our hearts so that we might finally be able to love without impediment. Though such a love seems so far beyond our limitations and sins, He offered his sacrifice for our sake in a way that allows us to participate in what He has done — and, in this, we become what we are meant to be: living sacrifices of love, the praise of His glory.
For more writings of encouragement visit Dr. Lilles’ “Beginning to Pray” blog
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, CA as well as the founder/director of the St. John Paul Institute for Contemplative Culture. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
In this episode, Dr. Lilles discusses the Sixth Mansions Chapter 9 part 1 of the “Interior Castle” which covers:
THIS CHAPTER SPEAKS OF THE MANNER IN WHICH GOD COMMUNICATES WITH THE SOUL BY IMAGINARY VISIONS. STRONG REASONS ARE GIVEN FOR NOT DESIRING TO BE LED IN THIS WAY; THIS IS VERY PROFITABLE READING.
1. The jewel in the locket. 2. The simile explained. 3. The apparition explained. 4. Awe produced by this vision. 5. False and genuine visions. 6. Illusive visions. 7. Effects of a genuine vision. 8. Conviction left by a genuine vision. 9. Its effects upon the after conduct. 10. A confessor should be consulted. 11. How to treat visions. 12. Effects of seeing the face of Christ. 13. Reasons why visions are not to be sought. 14. The second reason. 15. Third reason. 16. Fourth reason. 17. Fifth reason. 18. Sixth reason. 19. Additional reasons. 20. The virtues are more meritorious than consolations. 21. Fervent souls desire to serve God for Himself alone.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
In this episode, Dr. Lilles discusses the Sixth Mansions Chapter 8 of the “Interior Castle” which covers:
SPEAKS OF THE MANNER IN WHICH GOD COMMUNICATES WITH THE SOUL BY INTELLECTUAL VISION AND GIVES ADVICE UPON THE SUBJECT. OF THE EFFECTS PRODUCED BY THIS VISION WHEN GENUINE. SECRECY ABOUT THESE FAVOURS IS ENJOINED.
1. Our Lord’s presence accompanying the soul. 2. St. Teresa’s experience of this. 3. Confidence and graces resulting from this vision. 4. Its effects. 5. It produces humility. 6. And prepares the soul for other graces. 7. Consciousness of the presence of the saints. 8. Obligations resulting from this grace. 9. Signs that this favour is genuine. 10. A confessor should be consulted. 11. Our Lord will enlighten our advisers. 12. Cautions about this vision.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
In this episode, Dr. Lilles discusses the Sixth Mansions Chapter 7 part 3 of the “Interior Castle” which covers:
DESCRIBES THE GRIEF FELT ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR SINS BY SOULS ON WHOM GOD HAS BESTOWED THE BEFORE MENTIONED FAVOURS. SHOWS THAT HOWEVER SPIRITUAL A PERSON MAY BE, IT IS A GREAT ERROR NOT TO KEEP BEFORE OUR MIND THE HUMANITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST AND HIS SACRED PASSION AND LIFE, AS ALSO THE GLORIOUS MOTHER OF GOD AND THE SAINTS. THE BENEFITS GAINED BY SUCH A MEDITATION. THIS CHAPTER IS MOST PROFITABLE.
1. Sorrow for sin felt by souls in the Sixth Mansion. 2. How this sorrow is felt. 3. St. Teresa’s grief for her past sins. 4. Such souls, centered in God, forget self-interest. 5. The remembrance of divine benefits increases contrition. 6. Meditation on our Lord’s Humanity. 7. Warning against discontinuing it. 8. Christ and the saints are models. 9. Meditation of contemplatives. 10. Meditation during aridity. 11. We must search for God when we do not feel His presence. 12. Reasoning and mental prayer. 13. A form of meditation on our Lord’s Life and Passion. 14. Simplicity of contemplatives’ meditation. 15. Souls in every state of prayer should think of the Passion. 16. Need of the example of Christ and the saints. 17. Faith shows us our Lord as both God and Man. 18. St. Teresa’s experience of meditation on the sacred Humanity. 19. Evil of giving up such meditation.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
In this episode, Dr. Lilles discusses the Sixth Mansions Chapter 7 part 2 of the “Interior Castle” which covers:
DESCRIBES THE GRIEF FELT ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR SINS BY SOULS ON WHOM GOD HAS BESTOWED THE BEFORE MENTIONED FAVOURS. SHOWS THAT HOWEVER SPIRITUAL A PERSON MAY BE, IT IS A GREAT ERROR NOT TO KEEP BEFORE OUR MIND THE HUMANITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST AND HIS SACRED PASSION AND LIFE, AS ALSO THE GLORIOUS MOTHER OF GOD AND THE SAINTS. THE BENEFITS GAINED BY SUCH A MEDITATION. THIS CHAPTER IS MOST PROFITABLE.
1. Sorrow for sin felt by souls in the Sixth Mansion. 2. How this sorrow is felt. 3. St. Teresa’s grief for her past sins. 4. Such souls, centered in God, forget self-interest. 5. The remembrance of divine benefits increases contrition. 6. Meditation on our Lord’s Humanity. 7. Warning against discontinuing it. 8. Christ and the saints are models. 9. Meditation of contemplatives. 10. Meditation during aridity. 11. We must search for God when we do not feel His presence. 12. Reasoning and mental prayer. 13. A form of meditation on our Lord’s Life and Passion. 14. Simplicity of contemplatives’ meditation. 15. Souls in every state of prayer should think of the Passion. 16. Need of the example of Christ and the saints. 17. Faith shows us our Lord as both God and Man. 18. St. Teresa’s experience of meditation on the sacred Humanity. 19. Evil of giving up such meditation.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
BTP#31 St. Bernard and the 12 Steps to Humility and Pride – The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints. In this episode, Dr. Lilles begins the discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux and his teachings found in “The 12 Steps to Humility and Pride.”
Dr. Lilles offers 4 key points we should keep in mind as we move forward in this series
1. The Search for God
2. Listening to God – Lectio Divina
3. Conversion to God – Conversatio Morum
4. Living with oneself and letting God fashion one into His image
THE TWELVE DEGREES OF HUMILITY
XII. A permanent attitude of bodily; and spiritual prostration.
XI. The speech of a monk should be short, sensible and in a subdued tone.
X. Abstinence from frequent and light laughter.
IX. Reticence, until asked for his opinion.
VIII. Observance of the general rule of the monastery.
VII. Belief in and declaration of one’s inferiority to others.
VI. Admission and acknowledgment of one’s own unworthiness and uselessness.
V. Confession of sins.
IV. Patient endurance of hardship and severity in a spirit of obedience.
III. Obedient submission to superiors.
II. Forbearance to press personal desire.
I. Constant abstinence from sin for fear of God.
THE TWELVE DEGREES OF PRIDE TAKEN DOWNWARDS
I. Curiosity, when a man allows His sight and other senses to stray after things which do not concern him.
II. An unbalanced state of mind, showing itself in talk unseasonably joyous and sad.
III. Silly merriment exhibited in too frequent laughter.
IV. Conceit expressed in much talking.
V. Eccentricity attaching exaggerated importance to one’s own conduct.
VI. Self-assertion holding oneself to be more pious than others.
VII. Presumption readiness to undertake anything.
VIII. Defense of wrong-doing.
IX. Unreal confession detected when severe penance is imposed.
X. Rebellion against the rules and the brethren.
XI. Liberty to sin.
XII. Habitual transgression.
Faith Contemplates the Advent Mystery Because He Leads into Captivity All Powers
From Anthony’s “Beginning to Pray” blog. A reflection from 2014 before the canonization of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity!
Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity helps us open our hearts to the coming of Christ. On the twelfth day of her Last Retreat, she offers a reflection on “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus has come to give us peace through opening up access to the Father’s house.
Whoever sees Christ sees the Father, and to see this love is to find that for which our hearts most long. This seeing, this contemplation, this knowledge is by faith. Here, faith is no mere assent to a body of information but a contemplative reality that seeks the saving truth and savors it. Faith is an encounter with the One whom the truths of our faith bear to us, and we believe what the Church proposes to us because we want to know Him. Whoever has surrendered his personal existence in response to the surpassing totality of love revealed by Christ crucified, this soul has gained access to the Father’s house, the freedom to go to our real spiritual home, the liberty that leads to our true peace.
Blessed Elisabeth sees the peace of Christ through the eyes of Saint Paul. Through the Blood of the Cross, the Lord leads all oppressive “Principalities and Powers” away “as captives, triumphing over them in Himself” (Col 2:15). Without the knowledge of Christ’s love, our dignity is vulnerable to all kinds of dehumanizing forces. But with the surpassing love we know in Christ Jesus, we are free from every form of irrational oppression — indeed, rather than rob of us dignity, the Lord permits all kinds of spiritual hardships only so that we might know the full extent of the greatness He calls us to and makes possible in our lives.
What the Apostle beheld in terms of oppressive cosmic forces, the Mystic of Dijon applies to our psychological powers. Our interior battle with ambiguity and darkness in terms of our own patterns of thought and behavior is part of a cosmic struggle where evil powers attempt to overcome the light. Just as Christ has taken diabolical powers captive, He also takes our psychological powers captive so that the ambiguity and confusion the emerges from them no longer robs us of our dignity as long as we persevere in believing in His love. Her application sees beyond the darkness of our interior frustrations to see the limitlessness of His mercy.
Beholding the unsurpassable love of the Lord, she understood how our limited powers of imagination, emotion, intuition, cognition and volition often hold us back. Without the Word of the Father, these powers subject us to a labyrinth of fears, anxieties, false judgments because they are subject, not to the truth, but to sin and disintegration. Left to their own, the powers of our soul frustrate that peace for which our hearts truly long.
Blessed Elisabeth also knew that Christ has the power to captivate, to hold even our own psychological powers captive. He does not lead our psychological powers by oppression and He is never violent. He attracts. He fascinates. He captivates – because in Him is the fullness of God, in Him all that is good, holy and true about humanity is revealed. His love is that beautiful and she knew this and longed for her friends to see it too. To see this love is to be freed from sin, to be raised up, to be capable of true praise.
Techniques and methods rooted primarily in our own powers lack the freedom to achieve moral rectitude and cannot access the peace of the Father’s house. Instead, Blessed Elisabeth invites us this Advent to allow our hearts to be drawn into a greater silence and solitude. The surpassing love of Christ is known in our weakness, poverty, and thirst. By humbling accepting this poverty of heart, the beatitude of His presence is ours.
Our faith truly accesses God. Instead of attempting spiritual feats of devotion, Blessed Elisabeth invites us to simply surrender to His presence breaking in all around us. To turn our thoughts to His great love is already to lift up our hearts. To waste time thinking on what He has done for us by humbly entering our human poverty, this is already to begin to taste eternity.
He is the light in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome Him. So in the inconvenience and difficult of our poverty and lack of love, He remains, waiting for us so that we, each of us, is awaited by an uncommon love. She invites us to allow ourselves to be captivated: this Word, the Word made flesh, does not disdain humble humanity but cherishes his own birth in its frail freedom.
St. Bernard and “On Loving God” – The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints
In this episode Dr. Lilles continues the discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux and his teachings found in “On Loving God”.
Dr. Lilles’ continues his discussion on St. Bernard of Clairvaux, “On Loving God”. Dr. Lilles offers 4 key points we should keep in mind as we move forward in this series
1. The Search for God
2. Listening to God – Lectio Divina
3. Conversion to God – Conversatio Morum
4. Living with oneself and letting God fashion one into His image
Here is the bibliography that Dr. Lilles spoke of in this episode:
The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints
Saints, other figures, dates and bibliographic information
St. Benedict of Nursia – b. 480 – d. 547.
St. Benedict. The Rule. Edited by Timothy Fry, O.S.B. New York: Vintage Books, Random House, 1981, 1998
St. Bernard of Clairvaux – b. 1090 – d. 1153
St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Selected Works. Trans. G.R. Evans. Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 1987.
St. Hildegard of Bingen – b. 1098 – d. 1179
St. Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. Trans. Mother Columba Hart and Joan Bishop. Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 1990.
Erasmus – b. 1469 – d. 1536
St. Ignatius of Loyola – b. 1491 -conversion 1522- d. 1556
St. John of Avila – b. 1499 – d. 1569
St. John of Avila. Audi, filia – Listen, O Daughter. Trans. Joan Frances Gormley. Classics of Western Spirituality. Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 2006.
Melchior Cano – b. 1509 – d. 1560
St. Teresa of Avila – b. 1515 – conversion 1554 – d. 1582
St. Teresa of Avila, Collected Works, Vol. 1. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD. Washington, D.C: ICS, 1987.
St. John of the Cross – b. 1542 – d.1591
St. John of the Cross. The Collected Works. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rogriguez, O.C.D. Washington: ICS, 1991.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face – b. 1873 – d. 1897.
St. Therese of Lisieux. Story of a Soul. Trans. John Clarke. Washington: ICS, 1976, 3rd ed. 1996.
St. Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament b. 1905 – d. 1938.
St. Maria Faustina Kowalska. Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul. Trans. Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 1987, 3rd ed. rev. 2010.
St. John Paul the Great b. 1920 – d. 2005
St. John Paul II. Rich in Mercy, (papal encyclical). Stockbridge, MA: Marian Press, 1980, new trans. 2010.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
St. Hildegard and “Conversatio Morum – the Conversion of Life” – The Mystery of Faith in the Wisdom of the Saints
Benedictine Spirituality and Lectio Divina…a “way of being”. In part one of this particular teaching, Dr. Lilles discusses the life St. Hildegard of Bingen and her expression of Benedictine teaching, in particular her vision of the “Iron Mountain.”
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity.
Dr. Lilles’ continues his Day of Recollection offered in April 2013.
In an age of great confusion and rejection of God, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and St. John Paul II find in Christ the reason for our hope. Starting with St. Therese’s devotion to the Holy Face expressed in living her life as an offering to merciful love, we will see how the pathway she pioneered was followed and further developed in the spiritual missions of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity and St. John Paul II. In particular, we will contemplate the relationship of mercy and hope that the Face of Christ helps us to see when hope and mercy are most needed so that we too can follow the path of mercy.
Anthony Lilles, S.T.D. is an associate professor and the academic dean of Saint John’s Seminary in Camarillo as well as the academic advisor for Juan Diego House of Priestly Formation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. For over twenty years he served the Church in Northern Colorado where he joined and eventually served as dean of the founding faculty of Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver. Through the years, clergy, seminarians, religious and lay faithful have benefited from his lectures and retreat conferences on the Carmelite Doctors of the Church and the writings of St. Elisabeth of the Trinity. After graduating from Franciscan University of Steubenville, he completed licentiate and doctoral studies in spiritual theology at the Angelicum in Rome. In 2012, he published Hidden Mountain, Secret Garden: a theological contemplation of prayer by Discerning Hearts. He is the author of the “Beginning to Pray”
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