Archives

From the Oblate Rule

Mary shows us, in simplicity, that trustful charity which is totally oblivious of self. She does not serve God in her own strength, but the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit empowers her to play her part in drawing all to the Father through the Son. Always and in everything Mary points to God, drawing attention away from herself.

Oblate Rule

Elizabeth of the Trinity

This is heaven on earth – you carry heaven within you…

I feel such love within me that it is like an ocean into which I plunge and lose myself.  He is in me and I am in him and I only have to love him and let myself be loved at every moment.  Wake up in love, to work in love, to sleep in Love, my soul in his soul, my heart in his Heart, seeing with his eyes…

Elizabeth of the Trinity

A Monk

All your wisdom before God is contained in these three words: ‘Ecce’, ‘Fiat’, Magnificat.

A Monk

Brother Roger

Together with the whole people of God, with people from all over the world, you are invited to live a life exceeding all your hopes.  On your own, how could you ever experience the radiance of God’s presence?

God is too dazzling to be looked upon.  He is a God who blinds our sight.  It is Christ who channels this consuming fire, and allows God to shine through without dazzling us.  Christ is present, close to each one of us, whether we know him or not.  He is so bound up with us that he lives within us, even when we are unaware of him.  He is there in secret, a fire burning in the heart, a light in the darkness.

But Christ is also someone other than yourself.  He is alive.  He stands beyond, ahead of you.  Here is his secret – he loved you first.  That is the meaning of your life: to be loved for ever, loved to all eternity, so that you, in turn, will dare to give your life.

Brother Roger

John Ruysbroeck

He enters
the very marrow of our bones…

He consumes us
without ever satisfying
this illimitable hunger
and immeasurable
thirst …

He swoops upon us like a bird of prey
to consume
our whole life, that
he may change it into his.

John Ruysbroeck

Guide us, O Lord

Guide us, O Lord, in our times of trial so that in them we meet your Son, Christ our Lord, and find in him our hope. Amen

Anonymous

Our task is to offer ourselves up to God like a clean, smooth canvas and not bother ourselves about what God may choose to paint on it, but at every moment, feel only the stroke of his brush.  It is the same with a piece of stone.  Each blow from the chisel of the sculptor makes it feel – if it could feel – as if it were being destroyed.  As blow after blow rains down on it, the stone knows nothing about how the sculptor is shaping it.  All it feels is a chisel hacking away at it, savaging and mutilating it.


He shatters my little world
And lets me be poor before Him.
He takes from me all my plans
And gives me more than I can hope or ask for.


Let me no more
My comfort draw
From my frail hold of thee.

Rather in this
Rejoice with awe
Thy mighty grasp of me.

(all anonymous)