114: Intercessory Prayer

Question: If we are not to petition during the Prayer of the Heart (PH) and Lectio Divina (LD), when and how should intercessory prayer happen/take place?

Answer: As an allocated moment (time and space), intercessory prayer should happen at a special time, as a specific type of prayer. During Mass we have a time for it, as we do during the Divine Office (I am sure that in our personal prayer as well we do pray for others).

Your may ask the same question for other types of prayer as well: Prayer of Praise and Prayer of Thanksgiving, "when shall we say them?".

Here I would like to explain more clearly the deep relationship between LD & PH on the one hand and Intercessory Prayer on the other.

It is important to remember that LD is a key unavoidable type of prayer today. It is by far the most transformative type of prayer. Why? Because it allows a part of Christ (today's part of Christ-Word Bread) to become incarnated in us and transform us in Him. The more we are transformed in Christ the more powerful our intercession becomes (acts on God). Jesus explains the relationship between Lectio Divina and the efficiency of our prayer (which has been answered) in the Gospel of St John where He says: if you do my Will (keep my commandments) ask me all what you want (because you'll BE in my Name) and you will receive it, i.e. the Father will grant it to you (see John 15:7).


If LD is done properly, all its transformative power will be enacted. Then PH becomes much more fruitful and even more transformative. Otherwise, if you practise PH without LD, its transformative power is dramatically decreased.


Now let us consider what happens during the PH. While we are practising the PH, the Power of the Holy Spirit is working in our depths and through us will help Lift the entire World to God the Father in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. This is done automatically. The more we are transformed in Jesus, the better it works - automatically. St Therese explains that wonderfully at the end of her Manuscript C, in the Story of the Soul.

She says:

"All the saints have understood this, and more especially those who filled the world with the light of the Gospel teachings. Was it not in prayer that St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Francis, St. Dominic, and so many other famous Friends of God have drawn out this divine science which delights the greatest geniuses? A scholar has said: “Give me a lever and a fulcrum and I will lift the world.” What Archimedes was not able to obtain, for his request was not directed by God and was only made from a material viewpoint, the saints have obtained in all its fullness. The Almighty has given them as fulcrum: HIMSELF ALONE; as lever: PRAYER which burns with a fire of love. And it is in this way that they have lifted the world; it is in this way that the saints still militant lift it, and that, until the end of time, the saints to come will lift it."

Intercessory prayer has different levels of power and action. What is more powerful than to pray for somebody or - if it was given to you by the grace of God - to take this person and lift him/her to God and introduce him/her into God's Fire of Love? Here St Therese presents to us the most powerful version of Intercessory Prayer.

It is a duty of love for us to pray for everybody. St Paul says that we have to pray for one another all the time, without excluding any other person. St James in the end of his Letter, mentioning the Prophet Elijah speaks about the power of a prayer that is heard/answered by God. This should grab our attention and invite us to deepen our understanding of Intercessory Prayer.

In addition, one has to remember the relationship between Intercessory Prayer and the  Priesthood of the Faithful. A Priest "prays for" others, like St Paul invites us to do all the time. (This is why we have the Divine Office. But it is something that becomes second nature to us, it is part of the "fabric" of the New Creature that we become in Christ. Being "in Christ" makes the Fire of the Holy Spirit that dwells in Him, pray in us and through us. The Holy Spirit knows how to pray and knows what we should ask for, and the way God wants it. What depends on us is not to pay attention to all that multiplicity of things to pray for. Our duty is just to get closer and closer to Jesus and to the Fire of His Love and be transformed by IT.

St Therese developed those important questions in two different places in that same Manuscript C, in the Story of the Soul:

"Since I have two brothers and my little Sisters, the novices, if I wanted to ask for each soul what each one needed and go into detail about it, the days would not be long enough and I fear I would forget something important. For simple souls there must be no complicated ways; as I am of their number, one morning during my thanksgiving, Jesus gave me a simple means of accomplishing my mission.

He made me [34r°] understand these words of the Canticle of Canticles: “DRAW ME, WE SHALL RUN after you in the odour of your ointments.” O Jesus, it is not even necessary to say: “When drawing me, draw the souls whom I love!” This simple statement: “Draw me” suffices; I understand, Lord, that when a soul allows herself to be captivated by the odour of your ointments, she cannot run alone, all the souls whom she loves follow in her train; this is done without constraint, without effort, it is a natural consequence of her attraction for You. Just as a torrent, throwing itself with impetuosity into the ocean, drags after it everything it encounters in its passage, in the same way, O Jesus, the soul who plunges into the shoreless ocean of Your Love, draws with her all the treasures she possesses. Lord, You know it, I have no other treasures than the souls it has pleased You to unite to mine; it is You who entrusted these treasures to me, and so I dare to borrow the words You addressed to the heavenly Father, the last night which saw You on our earth as a traveler and a mortal. Jesus, I do not know when my exile will be ended; more than one night will still see me singing Your Mercies in this exile, but for me will finally come the last night, and then I want to be able to say to You, O my God:“I have glorified you on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do. And now do you, Father, glorify me with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed.“I have manifested your name to those whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have learned that whatever you have given me is from you; because the words you have given me, I have given to them. And they have received them, and have known of a truth that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.“I pray for them, not for the world do I pray, but for those whom you have given me, because they are yours; and all things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you have given to me.

“But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, in order that they may have joy made full in themselves. I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

“Yet not for these only do I pray, but for those who through their word are to believe in me.

“Father, I will that where I am, these also whom you have given me may be with me, that they may see my glory which you have given me, because you loved me from the foundation of the world. And I have made known your name to them, and will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”" (Manuscript C)

In fact Thérèse is explaining the Common Priesthood of the Faithful, received in Baptism, in Jesus-Priest. And a few pages afterwards she gives a further explanation of her new way of praying, her new way of practising the Prayer of the Heart:

“Mother, I think it is necessary to give a few more explanations on the passage in the Canticle of Canticles: “Draw me, we shall run,” for what I wanted to say appears to me little understood. “No man can come after me, unless the FATHER who sent me draw him,” Jesus has said. Again, through beautiful parables, and often even without using this means so well known to the people, He teaches us that it is enough to knock and it will be opened, to seek in order to find, and to hold out one’s hand humbly to receive what is asked for. He also says that everything we ask the Father in His name, He will grant it. No doubt, it is because of this teaching that the Holy Spirit, before Jesus’ birth, dictated this prophetic prayer: “Draw me, we shall run.”

What is it then to ask to be “Drawn” if not to be united in an intimate way to the object which captivates our heart? If fire and iron had the use of reason, and if the latter said to the other: “Draw me,” would it not prove that it desires to be identified with the fire in such a way that the fire penetrate [36r°] and drink it up with its burning substance and seem to become one with it? Dear Mother, this is my prayer. I ask Jesus to draw me into the flames of His love, to unite me so closely to Him that He live and act in me. I feel that the more the fire of love burns within my heart, the more I shall say: “Draw me,” the more also the souls who will approach me (poor little piece of iron, useless if I withdraw from the divine furnace), the more these souls will run swiftly in the odor of the ointments of their Beloved, for a soul that is burning with love cannot remain inactive. No doubt, she will remain at Jesus’ feet as did Mary Magdalene, and she will listen to His sweet and burning words. Appearing to do nothing, she will give much more than Martha who torments herself with many things and wants her sister to imitate her. " (Manuscript C)

All that Thérèse is describing happens in the same movement of the Prayer of the Heart. Jesus attaches people to us (without us doing it or knowing it), so when we do the PH we perform, as well, our Priestly duty of intercession. In the Prayer of the Heart we offer our being to Jesus and are immersed in Him. The more we are transformed in Jesus the more we are like a sponge, unknowingly absorbing all the persons Jesus wants us to carry. They are like our mystical body ("Union with Jesus" is union with a portion of his Body). So whenever we do the Prayer of the Heart (The more we are transformed in Jesus, the more PH becomes more and more constant in us), and we are then immersed (with them) in His Fire. The Power of the Holy Spirit in us is lifting not only us but all our mystical body.

[Many more things occur during the PH, and this is just to reply to your question and show the deeper levels of Intercession and their relationship with our level/degree of transformation in Jesus and with the practice of the PH.]


In conclusion we can say that it is not really possible to separate deep powerful intercession from our being, from our PH.

When somebody asks us to pray for him/her, or we just remember to pray for a certain person/intention, let us not forget that (in my eyes) the most powerful, perfect and pure way to do it is to entrust this intention to Our Lady, by saying one "Hail Mary" and that's it. If your remember again this person/intention, you may just redo that again: say the "Hail Mary", entrusting this person to Mary. St Therese used to say that Our Lady knows better the will of God (what to say to God and how to say it), we don't. In this sense she is called "Throne of Wisdom", because the Wisdom of God, Jesus, is dwelling in her in His absolute perfection while it is not the case for us. We either carry too much the person, or worry too much, or are busy too much in dealing and arranging the life of others, forgetting our utter ignorance. And all this is not intercessory prayer, but impurity added to our way of dealing with God.

I hope this helps.

113: Christ's Yoke

As I mentioned in the previous post, in one of his letters, Saint Antony says that Christ's Yoke is the Holy Spirit. It is not difficult to accept this reading. The Jewish tradition – and St Paul is part of it – does talk about the “yoke of the Law” (“yoke of the Torah”) (see Galatians 5:1 and Acts 15:10). Our New Law is the Holy Spirit in our heart (see Jeremiah 31:33, Romans 8,...). So one can easily accept the reading St Antony advances of this image of the Yoke given by Christ.

If we look at a yoke we can see it is a piece of wood that binds together two animals. Normally one would spontaneously think that carrying Christ's yoke means that the yoke will surround Jesus' head and ours, so we would be walking together.

We need to understand who are the two persons put under the same yoke. One of them is Christ, who is the second? We find a couple of persons in the Song of Songs. The Jewish tradition says that if the Bible were to be compared to the Holy of the Temple [the room before the Holy of Holies], the Book of the Song of Songs should be considered as the Holy of the Holies. The Catholic interpretation of the Song of Songs offers at least three different levels of readings: the Groom in the book is of course always seen as Christ but the Bride is either the Church, or the Soul, or the Blessed Virgin Mary.

If we put things in order: we should put the Mother of the Church (Mary) first, the one who gives birth to the Church, then the Church and its members. The Church is Virgin and Mother like Mary and because of Mary. The Church sees in Mary its Archetype (its best and highest realisation). This is why we see in Mary the perfect Disciple of Jesus, and its embodiment. Therefore, theologically, we should see the Archetype of the Groom and the Bride in the Song of Songs, as being: Jesus and Mary.

The Marian Spiritual Catholic Tradition underlines the unique relationship that exists between Christ and his Mother, Mary. As we previously explained, in Baptism, God doesn't give us only the object of our belief, Jesus-God, He gives us, as well, the capacity and the means to Belief: Mary's. He gives us not only the Divine Seed, He gives us, as well, the “Good soil” in order to receive that Divine Seed and bear fruit. He doesn't give us only the New Wine, but the New Skin in order to contain it, otherwise, with our poor capacity for retention we will lose God's graces. Mary's capacity to believe is given to us. This teaching is the Holy of the Holies of Revelation, Scriptures and Theology. It sheds, in addition, an amazing light on the question of Christ's Yoke.

Christ's Yoke doesn't consist only of Christ (as one of the animals) and the Holy Spirit (the piece of wood). No. It encompasses much more: it has Christ, the physical Yoke (the Holy Spirit) and Mary, as being the embodiment of the Perfect Disciple.

In her and with her, one becomes the Perfect Disciple of Jesus.

This would imply that taking Jesus' Yoke means to enter into Mary, to receive Mary's capacity to know and love Jesus. This is why, if we go back to the diagram of the Sea, we see that when we receive Jesus' Yoke, in fact we are taking the place of Mary, or better said: we receive our New Being from her, in her image.

She is “flesh of Jesus' flesh”, the New Eve, the Woman, taken from the Man, Jesus. She is bone of his bones, she is capable of containing all of Christ, in fullness, without losing any grace. Christ dwells in His Fullness in Her... therefore, if we want Him in His fullness, we need to take Mary to ourselves, receive her, in other words: Receive Jesus' Yoke.

This is why, the fruitful Prayer of the Heart is indeed to receive Jesus' Yoke, taking the place of Mary, in the sense of being transformed in her, of being transformed by the Holy Spirit.

112: The Prayer of the Heart Explained by Jesus

I hear the objection: 'If the Prayer of the Heart is that important, vital, radically vital, how come Jesus never talked about it?'

Well He talked about it plenty of times, the most obvious one being: "dwell in Me as I dwell in you" (John 15).

But before addressing today's point, let us remember that "of entering the Kingdom" of God is a fairly common indication on the movement itself of the Prayer of the Heart. Entering the Kingdom is in fact entering into God's area, God's domain, where He acts in a sovereign way; in a word it is to enter into Jesus' being (Jesus is the Furnace of Love), to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus makes the conditions to enter of entering into the Kingdom: "If you do not become like children you can't enter into the Kingdom". God is like a child [pure, simple,...], and if we want to enter within Him, we need to become like Him, by choosing to trust Him, totally, without any conditions: and also we need to entrust ourselves (The best way to love is to give everything and give oneself).

In this post, I would like to point out one of the most beautiful, yet discreet, descriptions of the Prayer of the Heart (Matthew 11:28-30): 
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Let us read it with its own oral swinging rhythm:


"- Come to Me,

all you who are weary and burdened,

and I will give you rest.

- Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find for your souls rest,

for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light."

- "come to me" is the key expression that shows us what we have to do in order to do the Prayer of the heart, in order to be introduced into Jesus-Furnace-of-Love. Or at least it indicates the first part of what we have to do. In fact we need to use our free will (by choosing to give ourselves to Jesus), otherwise God/Jesus will not force Himself into us.

First we need to get rid of our yoke: i.e. all that we are carrying, the idols we have, the other gods in whom we trust, our worries, concerns, difficulties, problems..., we need to give all that to Jesus: He removes them, He takes away the weight from us, so we become free and able to move and fly... we can be in His hands... under the Action of the Holy Spirit.

- "weary and burdened": Jesus describes our inner state when we are not dwelling in him: we are 'weary and burdened'. Our yoke is our worries and burdens. Instead of carrying our actual Yoke, we are invited to take His one. In fact, we are not invited to remain yokeless...

The Yoke is seen as well in the Jewish Biblical and Talmudic exegesis as the symbol of  Marriage. Husband and wife will carry the same yoke, they will be married (tie the knot) and they will be bound to the same yoke.

Please have a look at a yoke (see below), how it is built and its purpose: it is a piece of wood made for two animals, and its purpose is to keep them tightly linked in their movement and journey. Where one goes, the other will go.

Jesus wants us to dwell in Him, constantly, wherever we go. He wants us to be where He is. In fact he says:  "that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). Here is the entire sentence: "My Father’s house [Jesus himself (see John 2)] has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:2-3)

This is achieved by taking His Yoke. The purpose of the Yoke is to be where He is.

Burdens make us heavy, distance us very far from God...

- "take my Yoke": This is the second indication Jesus gives us in order to achieve the Prayer of the Heart: "take my Yoke". By offering ourselves to Him, and wanting to do all that He wants, with no restrictions... something will happen: we will be introduced into Him, we will receive REST or, if you prefer, TRUE PEACE... an overflowing of the Holy Spirit.

This is why Saint Antony the Great, Father of all Monks, says in one of his letters that the Yoke of Christ is the Holy Spirit...  being tightened by Jesus' Yoke, we then constantly receive His Holy Spirit.

Let us see now on the following diagram how it works:

Jesus' goal is to welcome us into the Sun (Himself). Our heart is initially heavy and weary, carrying burdens, carrying another yoke: our heart is sinking in the water of our being, sensations, emotions, imagination, thoughts.

Where is Jesus? Is He like the Sun high up, waiting for us to fly to Him? No, God became incarnate, and Jesus is at the door of our being (at the surface of the water/sea), knocking at the door of our free will inviting us to give Him our yokes and receive His.

By making this act of trust, by entrusting, surrendering, abandoning ourselves into His Hands, being tied to Him, He then takes us and introduces us into His being (the sun in the drawing), so that we receive Peace, we receive the action of the constant outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Here is the key: "come to me" means: come to the surface of the water, rise above yourself in order to love, and give me yourself. This is key to the success of the Prayer of the Heart and the only way Jesus will be able to take us and lift us ("He took-with-Him [...] and went-up" (Matthew 17:1)). Jesus won't force us, so he awaits for us to love Him: give ourselves to Him. "take my yoke" means: allow me to take you, believe in the Power of my Holy Spirit, capable to take you and lift you, introduce you into the depth of My Heart.

Conclusion: there is something that Jesus offers. He knows where we are (immersed in the water, under the weight of our yokes); He comes to us (He doesn't await us high up in the sun, where He normally is); He comes to us and offers to free us from our burdens, yokes, tiredness, and offers us a lightweight, His Yoke, the Action of the Holy Spirit, that takes us, with its power, and puts us in Him.

Let us experience His Action, how it makes our life lighter and easier, putting speed and power into our relationship with God, easing our prayer, easing our daily life.

Why delay taking up His Yoke.

Some people might say: well His Yoke is His Cross... and it is heavy. Well this is an erroneous understanding of His Cross, because Jesus' Cross is the centre of the manifestation of the all-powerful transformative action of God, action that lifts us - Crucified Christ is the only 'place' where evil is transformed into a superior Good... the power that lifts the World...

Here again, with a correct understanding of the Power that flows from Jesus on the Cross, we experience that amazing uplifting power that transforms our life into His.

111: Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the School of Mary

Our Lady of Mount Carmel is usually the patron feast of the Carmelites orders (Old observance and the Reformed). She is also the Patroness of all the persons who wear the brown Scapular. But at the same time, this feast is inscribed in the Universal Liturgical Calendar, so it is not a “private” feast for a particular religious order or a particular devotion. Mary seen as “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” is a side of Mary that belongs to the entire Church. Let us remember for instance that the last apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes was on the 16^th July, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

What is the meaning of Mary being “Our Lady of Mount Carmel” and what is the impact of this feast on the entire Church?

Let us see the Collect (first prayer in the Mass that the Priest says) of that day: “May the venerable intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary come to our aid, we pray, O Lord, so that, fortified by her protection, we may reach the mountain which is Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”

First and foremost we see that the Mountain - in “Mount Carmel” - symbolizes Christ himself. But this is not enough. Christ is presented in two forms in this prayer: as a goal and as a means. As a goal, the prayer says: “we may reach the (top of the) Mountain”. As a means, we know that Jesus is the way (“I am the way...”). So the central concept of that prayer is the ascent to reach the fullness of Christ... We climb until we reach the measure of Christ's height, as St Paul puts it in one of his letters (see Ephesians 4:13).

This central concept is the core of spiritual life: growth, transformation, sanctification (divinisation) until we reach union with Jesus, and fullness of Charity. As we see, the main concern of this feast is not Mary, but spiritual growth, allowing Christ to grow in us, and us in him, until we reach the fullness of the height of his love.

The prayer uses a very common expression to describe the role of Mary in the ascent: “the aid of the venerable intercession of the glorious Virgin Mary”.

The key point is that Mary first and foremost is “the glorious Virgin Mary”, she is the one who is dwelling at the height of Jesus Christ, united to him. She reached the fullness, she knows Him and loves him in the most perfect way (see Catechism: 148-149, 165, 273, 411, 466-469, 484-506-511, 529, 721-726, 773, 829, 963-967-975, 1014, 1172, 2617-2619, 2673-2676, 2679, 2682.).

But not only that, she also leads us, “shows us the Way” as Tradition says: Mary is Hodigitria (the one who shows the way, i.e. Jesus)) (see Catechism 2674). This is an amazing function: to lead somebody, in a pure, secure, direct and easy way, to the end of the journey (union with Jesus).

Mary, Mother of God, Hodigitria

- Not only that, but Mary offers her Scapular, which is her clothing, her habit. This act is in fact a very deep one: she offers us her eyes and her heart, so we can contemplate Jesus with her eyes, and love Jesus and our brothers (Jesus' body) with her heart (see the Preface of the Mass of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Carmelite Missal).

These few points show us in a very summarised way the fundamental elements of a true Christian spiritual life: defining the proper goal of spiritual life, and offering the most efficient way of reaching that Goal: Mary, gift of Jesus.

Let us remember – and this is the Gospel reading of the Feast in the Carmelite Lectionary – that this Feast acknowledges in a very powerful and clear way that Mary comes from Jesus and is his gift to us: see John 19 when Jesus on the Cross entrusts Mary to John as his spiritual mother and entrusts John to Mary as her son.

There is a less known devotional Mass to our Lady under the title of “Mother and Mistress of Spiritual Life”: see “The collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary”, Ordinary time: “The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother and Teacher in the Spirit".

Our Lady, it may be said therefore, has wanted a School, The School of Mary, for the spiritual good of the Church, which would dedicate itself to teaching the Spiritual Life.. The School bears the same goals explained above: reminding all Christians that the goal of our Christian life is to reach Union with Christ (the top of the Mountain) and the fullness of His Love (coming down like Jesus to give our life to our brothers). The School of Mary is lead by Our Lady, “Teacher in the Spirit” (Magistra, Mistress). She knows the way to grow spiritually, she takes great care of us as we journey, and she does it in a secure way.

This is exactly what the School is all about: lead by Our Lady, to revive the treasures of spiritual life, and to offer them to all the persons receiving the call to follow Jesus in whatever state of life they belong to.

The main goal of the School is to allow Our Lady to appear, shine and act as the real Teacher, Guide, Master in spiritual life.

In the School, Jesus entrusts Mary as Teacher and Master to each “student” journeying toward Him.

Saint John of the Cross said that only faith can help us reach union. In the School we could say that only Mary's faith is the secure, short, easy, rapid way to reach union.

Mary's Faith is given to us. As we said: her eyes are given to us so we can use them to “see” Jesus. And her heart is given as well to us, so we can use it to love Jesus (Head and Body), not with our capacity but with Hers.

Note: At Lourdes, the last apparition of Our Lady was the 16th of July 1858, Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. She was silent said St Bernadette. She was the most beautiful. Beauty is essential in the Carmelite Spirituality. She is called "Queen and Beauty of Carmel." 
At Fatima, in the first apparition, Our Lady appeared as Our Lady of Mount Carmel!

110: The Implementation of Spiritual Formation

As we saw in the previous post, in order to reach Holiness one needs “spiritual formation”. Spiritual formation encompasses three areas:

1- Learning doctrine/science (Courses, Workshops),

2- Putting into practice the teaching, i.e. having the experience of it, and

3- Receiving discernment from an experienced person (one to one tuition + spiritual direction).

These three areas are distinct but interconnected; therefore they should be combined.

“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

The one that “may be overpowered” is spiritual “experience” standing on its own (without discernment and doctrine).

The “two can defend themselves” are “experience” and “discernment”.

The three strands are: “experience”, “discernment” and full “doctrine”.

Note: Why “full doctrine”? Because half science, or being half knowledgeable damages more than it can help. St Teresa of Avila repeatedly warns about this and says that the help she received from priests/monks who were half learned harmed her substantially.

The School of Mary offers everybody “teaching” and “discernment”: Courses, Workshops, One to One Tuition, Spiritual Direction (although spiritual direction doesn't have to be sought exclusively at the School). Putting into practice the teaching is something personal. When the time is right, in reply to God's Call, it is up to the person to decide to put into practice the teaching, in his/her own life/schedule.

The teaching is divided into three main levels, following three sections of the full spiritual journey:

First Education (Undergraduate Equivalent)

1- Level One Foundation Course: implementing the foundations of a strong and healthy spiritual life, starting to dedicate time for prayer, on a regular daily basis, supporting that first serious step in spiritual life.

1'- Intermediate1 Courses: with more teaching, supporting a sustainable rhythm of growth, in the first stages. Equivalent to the 4^th and 5^th Mansions of St Teresa of Avila. Reaching a more stable state: “Union of Will”. Completing the First Level Course with other courses.

2- Level Two Foundation Course: providing the teaching on the most decisive moment in spiritual life: the deep radical purification.

2'- Intermediate2 Courses: with more teaching supporting that stage. Completing the Second Level Course with other courses.

Further Education (Graduate Equivalent)

3- Formation in order to start teaching elements of the First Level Course.

4'- Level Three Foundation Course.

4''- Further Courses on the Third Level.

Third Cycle Education (Post Graduate Equivalent)

5- Research

6- Development in Spiritual Theology teaching

109: A proven doctrine of acquiring perfection

The full vision of the School of Mary

Sometimes, when the Church authorities meet a Founder, who from day one, has the full picture of his foundation, they feel uncomfortable, because they are convinced that the normal way God uses is a steady process unfolding year by year, step by step, to clarify the Call and its implementation. The Mission God handles the Founder develops through time and this becomes clearer day by day, with “grace upon grace”.

Well today is not actually day one in the life of the School of Mary… many years have passed now (1984, 1992, 2003,... 2014), and one can re-state now what is the full vision, the way to implement it now and in the future.

The Meaning and Place of the Call for Holiness

In a traditional way, the Church deeply believes that the monastic and religious Orders in the Church are provided by God with means, wisdom, teaching, formation capacity, discernment to lead their members, in a secure masterful way, to the fullness of their vocation: Holiness (i.e. Union with Christ and the Perfection of Love): "These religious families give their members the support of [...] a proven doctrine of acquiring perfection." (Vat II, Lumen Gentium, 43)

Monks and religious are persons who received a call to follow Jesus more closely. That call, with the passing of centuries, developed various forms of life and rules, but the core of it remains: a call for Holiness. Does this “personal Call” from Jesus constitute something different from Baptism? Is it for “special people” chosen from the “doomed crowd”? Thank God no, thank God Theology and the Council of Vatican II helps us remember that this call is for all (could happen to any person) and that it proceeds from Baptism, like in a renewed depth of it, a blossoming aspect of it.

But it is still a “Call”, i.e. a very personal initiative (in time and place) from Jesus to a specific person. It is not suspended in mid air for everybody. There is a moment in the life of every human being where Jesus comes, and knocks in a more audible way at the door of his/her heart. So, in the end, “a call is a call”.

The Church knows very well that the initial formation before baptism and after baptism doesn’t deal directly with the elements of the Ways to Reach Perfection but with the foundations of Christian faith and Christian prayer. The Church knows the difference between, on one hand that first grace of Baptism and all the formation that comes with it (before and after), and on the other hand that “Call within the Call”, that “second conversion” i.e. hearing Jesus calling me personally to follow him.

It is not another baptism, it is not another vocation, it is a deepening of the same vocation, of Baptism. Just as when the human being starts to enter into adolescence. One's peaceful life changes, and one notices blossoming in him new things/capacities/horizons and one has to learn to deal with them.

The first stage (Baptismal formation and normal catechesis) can last for years, and its central place remains the Parish. The second stage, happens when Jesus freely and personally comes and knocks at the door of our heart. It is a call like the Call St Anthony received one day in his parish, to leave it and go to the Desert and start to be trained as a Monk, as a researcher of God, a man that incarnates the “Quest for God alone”.

The Priestly Branch of the Church is the Parish and the Prophetical one is the Desert. The “Quest of the Desert” will take shape in a hermitage, a monastery, a convent, a consecration in the world, and more recently a movement in the Church.

We shouldn’t forget that it is not the habit that makes the monk, not the consecration that makes him a monk, and not just even following a certain Rule or Style of Life (Horarium). What makes a monk a monk, or what makes a human being enter into the state of the “Quest for God alone” is the formation he or she receives, that secure and masterful Wisdom, Discernment and Teaching one receives.

The Call is Universal

Today the emphasis is put in a renewed way on the Call for Holiness. This is a grace for the entire church to rediscover that call and that that call is for all. But the inner journey is, in its main components, the same. Why? Because we are all human beings and we all need to be purified, transformed, and become Jesus' friends. We shouldn’t forget that in order to fulfil that call (providing we have heard it), we need to receive that combined Wisdom, Discernment and Teaching that God deposited in the Church, in order to reach that goal: Holiness (Union with Jesus and Fullness of Love).

We need to stop dreaming and imagining that it is just by praying a little bit and fasting that we will become saints. We need to stop dreaming that the Sacraments will operate anyway, if we just do that. This is against the Tradition and the experience of the Church.

The School of Mary

The School of Mary received the Mission to open the treasures of Wisdom, Discernment and Teaching that are enclosed in the Prophetical branch of the Church to all the persons who feel they have received the Call to follow Jesus more closely. Nothing more, and nothing less. It is in a way like opening the Novitiate Room to all the persons in the world who feel Jesus’ Call.

- Now, who you are when you are in the Novitiate Room? What do you need then? What do you also deserve to receive from God, through the Church? What will happen to you?

- You are a person who felt Jesus’ call to follow him more closely and reach the fullness of Him.

You need to receive the necessary formation, throughout your journey of growth, in order to reach the Goal.

You deserve to receive all the Treasures that Jesus deposited in the Prophetical branch of the Church. They are yours as well… because you received the same call as others: the Quest for God alone.

If you start to apply that wisdom, discernment, teaching, you will start to receive “grace after grace” and you will start to be purified and transformed in Jesus. You will learn new things, new ways of prayer, deepening your ways of prayer, which will boost your growth. Therefore you will need guidance and new food (teaching).

This is what the School of Mary humbly wants to offer

The Spiritual Journey has been divided into three parts, that follow three different curves/stages in spiritual life. The different “chunks” are not equal in length (of time), but they are equal in importance.

The first stage lays the foundations of a solid “take off” of Spiritual Life. One learns how to walk, run, jump, with two legs: Lectio Divina and Prayer of the Heart (extension of the reception of the Word of God in the Mass and of his Body and Blood).

The Second stage goes into the deep purification that God wants to realise in us.

The Third stage shows us how the Apostle is sent on a mission, Jesus living in him, and he himself completing in his flesh what is lacking in Jesus’ Passion for the world.

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108: Bringing the Mind into the Heart

Just as the vertebral column keeps the human body standing upright, so too “The Prayer of the Heart is the backbone of the Church”. This image means that the Prayer of the Heart keeps the Faithful in constant contact with God, allowing the First Commandment to be constantly working in us and bearing fruit: “to love God with all our Heart, soul and energy”. It keeps us, the branches connected to Jesus the Vine, absorbing the constant flow of the Holy Spirit (the sap) (see John 15). It allows us in our turn to give that constant stream of Holy Spirit to the world: 'He who believes in me [...] out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.' (John 7:38).

Bringing the Mind into the Heart

We often dwell in our brain/mind and don't understand the central advice of the Spiritual Masters, the Eastern Christian Monks who advise us to put our spirit/mind into our heart.

Theophan the Recluse embodies the teaching of the Eastern Christian Monks when he says: “I will remind you of only one thing: one must descend with the mind (Gr. Noûs) into the heart, and there stand before the face of the Lord, ever present, all seeing within you. The prayer takes a firm and steadfast hold, when a small fire begins to burn in the heart. Try not to quench this fire, and it will become established in such a way that the prayer repeats itself: and then you will have within you a small murmuring stream.”

Others say: “bring your mind (Gr. nous) into your heart”. Some comment: “The descent of the mind into the heart is taken quite literally by the practitioners of Hesychasm and is not at all considered to be a metaphorical expression.”

This is an important part of the teaching of the Prayer of the Heart, a fundamental indication that comes from the Great Christian Masters. They had the experience, they had the discernment and the teaching.

Why is this? These Masters have an interesting anthropological understanding of the fall, Adam's fall, when he is expelled from the Garden, away from access to the Tree of Life: they say that in the human being, instead of having the spirit/nous dwelling in the chest, it is now caught up in the net of the mind. Indeed, Adam and Eve were tempted by knowledge, by a knowledge not given by God, but a knowledge taken, grabbed, personally, by our own efforts: the Serpent very clearly said: you will see, you will know: “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5)

Temptation here could be understood as tempting our noûs/spirit (i.e. where we are, where we focus and concentrate, where our desire leads us) to come out of its dwelling place, in the chest, where it is united to God. Moreover, the temptation to see (eyes will be opened), to know is very strong. It seduces us but in fact it creates the opposite to the Garden (heaven): it creates hell for us: absence of the Presence of God, absence of being united with God.

One can physically see it represented in the diagram (see below):

There are two different defined areas of dwelling: the Mind (represented by the square box) and the chest, represented by the heart. God dwells in the chest, not in the mind. Surprised? Indeed. How many times when we want to pray we actually start by “saying things to God” while in fact we need first to be connected to Him, then to express our deep desire (that comes from the spirit/noûs), and not from the mind. Dwelling in the mind/brain is something very painful. It induces us to act as if we are the Light of God, we are the Boss, we are the Head. While in fact the mind is just the servant of the Light of God, a channel for it. It is absolutely possible to have our attention, our focus, our presence in the heart/chest, and continue to think. But this new thinking is totally different.

Let me take an example: imagine that your life is a Gift from God and that it is like being in a Hotel, on the beach. Remaining in the mind (the opposite of being a child) means that we dwell in a room that doesn't have even a sea view. The better way is to remain in our heart (to be at the beach, looking at the immensity of God (the Sea) while thinking. The process of thinking in this case is completely different. Instead of being entrenched in a rather narrow place, we are in the open, expanding our chest to the Sea of God and in the same time learning to see the Light of God and follow it in a new way.

Descending into the Chest

How then can we bring our spirit/noûs down into our heart/chest? The simplest way, accessible to everybody is, while offering ourselves to Jesus/Mary, to “change and become like little children” (see Matthew 18:3). This is an adult decision, a decision that only an adult can make. The child is a child and can only do what he does instinctively, not choosing. On the other hand the adult has the freedom to choose to do it or not. This act improves the adult who becomes more adult, and not less so. It is not a psychological regression, on the contrary, it is “bringing the spirit/focus point/noûs into the chest, where God is, where Jesus is in order to light the wick of our spirit by the Fire of the Love of Jesus. When we imitate the little child, we in fact escape from the net and control of the brain/mind and slip into the heart/chest, just as when you rub some soap onto a bracelet in order to remove it, the spirit escapes from that “prison” and reaches the heart.

Jesus is a Furnace of Love, full of the Fire of the Holy Spirit. He desires immensely to receive us back into the Fire of His Love. We are outside of Him, outside of our chest, and we are carrying too many things/burdens/worries/extra-responsibilities. This wets the wick, so the Fire of Love of Jesus can't take in the wick of our heart.

Summing up: whenever we make ourselves like little children and offer ourselves to Jesus, entrust ourselves to Mary, we are already inside of our heart/chest (we have achieved the journey of arrow N°1), and Mary comes and takes us and introduces us into Jesus' Heart, and we receive the Holy Spirit, Fire of Love (the journey of arrow N° 2).

Question: Are we aware that we are not in our mind/brain? Are we aware that we have left the mind/brain and that we are now in our chest?

Answer: We feel that there is now more peace dwelling in the mind, that our mind is more relaxed and enjoying a different way of working. We are led by God, and not leading. We are following God and not leading. We are on the beach watching the immensity of the Sea, having the entire horizon of God in front of God instead of being entrenched, in a shaded narrow place.

How to do it?

Put yourself in front of the Icon of the Mother of God, holding the Divine Child-God, Take up your Rosary , sign yourself with the sign of the Cross, invoke the Holy Spirit to come and help you pray:

“O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who are everywhere present and filling all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.”

or:

“Come Holy Spirit, fill our hearts and kindle them in the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolation, through Christ our Lord, Amen. “

Then, get rid of all your burdens by entrusting them to Jesus, to Mary. “Entrust” is to give with total trust and to forget about them.

Now it is all about the Fire of God and you, the wick.

Offer yourself, entrust yourself to Mary, to Jesus, like a little child.

Hold the beads of your Rosary and choose a short prayer, that has the name of Jesus and the name of Mary. Say for instance: Jesus, … Mary... (breathing in, breathing out)... or just say your Rosary, without thinking of any mystery because you are IN the Mystery: Jesus' Fire of Love. Repeat that prayer, from the bottom of your heart, with desire, yearning... ask for the Holy Spirit to light your heart with the desire of Jesus... keep repeating gently... you are in your chest, in Jesus.

Take heed one can come out of that fiery encounter. Just repeat peacefully the entrusting of yourself like a little child.

Like the gentle waves of the sea against the shore, repeat from time to time the gift of yourself.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Mary the “Hodeghetria”

The Eastern church's tradition considers Mary as the “Hodeghetria”: "She who shows the Way". It is important here to understand the correct dynamic meaning of “to show”. "To show" could be understood as a static thing, like a sign post on the road. However in the case of Our Lady the difference is huge. She doesn't show only, she leads us to Jesus. If Jesus is the moon, she is the rocket that takes us to the moon. So, instead of leaning on our personal efforts to go to Jesus (thinking that as we are doing it directly we will reach Him directly) we rely on Mary, the Rocket in whom Jesus dwells. Leaning on our knowhow is like leaning on the sand. Leaning on Mary is in fact leaning on Jesus the Way, who is the Cornerstone, dwelling in her. The rocket can take off to the Moon, while the bicycle (our means) never takes off, never reaches the moon.

This is why Mary's place is important/vital in that meeting with Jesus (the Prayer of the Heart). She is as important as are the Annunciation or her waiting for the Resurrection.

She is the mould in which we (Jesus' body) are re-formed in Jesus' likeness. God's logic continues to be the same, like in the incarnation. He uses the same way to come to us, through Mary's intervention.

Mind you, she is full of the Holy Spirit, constantly moved by Him, and Jesus dwells in Her firmly and fully, acts in her and through her constantly. Whenever we offer/entrust ourselves to Her, she takes us immediately and lights the wick of our heart with the Fire of the Love of Jesus.