Holy Muse, my Friend.
🔥
Every artist has a muse. Every inspiration, a source.. a dart of Light that pierces the eye of the mind that travels and find its way into the heart of man.
Ask any sculptor, architect, or writer, and they will tell you the genesis of their creation. Souls have origin stories, too. Like, It happened late one night.. I’m a honeymoon baby.. or, like me, I was a happy afterthought, a last attempt. Spiritually, these stories can sound like, I’m a cross between my Anglican Mom and my Catholic Dad.. My home parish closed during Covid, and then.. or, It’s only me. The rest of them don’t believe.
There’s also a small genesis story that happens everyday, though, and that is the inspiration of daily holy thought that springs forth from the bosom of a friend and can spear itself directly into your heart, as it searches for its Source of Love.
Your friend can be Jesus’ word in the Gospel, the Daily Readings, a quote from a chapter of saints’ writings, a conversation from your loved one, a meme that came up on your timeline on social media.. even a post from a mutual. They’re your holy muses. Those holy spears they set on the path to your heart can be a provocation of deeper thought, a gnawing of the conscious, a little slight rebuke asking for a straightening or correction.. even a bit of Hope and Joy that begs for expansion, like the issuance of sweet nectar from a flower resting on the tip of the tongue, wishing to be swallowed to awaken and refresh the rest of the body. Each holy spear is love wanting to return to Love — everyone’s true Origin Story, everyone’s Source of Love. Who we are is just the path through which those holy spears of God’s Love travel.
Some days I don’t see those holy spears of His Love, those holy thoughts set aflame by inspiration cast from the presence of my friends. Sometimes I see only darkness as I stand in shadow. There’s too much going on in my life, usually I’m just too distracted. Just for a moment, though, I tell myself. I may not be playing with a holy sentiment in my mind on any given day, but I do retain Hope they will come, that God will grace me in ways that will draw me nearer to Him. Until then, I continue with my little Faith, whispering my little utterances of devotion in a corner, waiting.
But not just waiting.
I have peculiar holy habits, you see. I like visiting good, simple friends and keeping holy company. Levity isn’t my objective, though.. that constant babbling that obfuscates, muddying the waters of social cues so much, they dirty my stream of Faith. I get so confused.. It’s serenity I want. Peaceful friends whose presence encourages peaceful thoughts for a peaceful soul, so that God can rest more easily in my heart, and I in Him.
Like Mary did.
Mary received Our Lord spiritually, is her mind, tranquil and peaceful, according to the Psalmist: ‘His place is in peace, and His dwelling in Sion,’ which, interpreted, means a mirror or contemplation. Whoever wishes to contemplate God, or to behold Him with the eyes of the mind, must make Him a place in peace in his mind; for without peace of mind no one can arrive at the knowledge of contemplation. Therefore the Apostle saith: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God" (Hebr. XII, 14.) Oh, who shall relate, or who can even imagine, in what contemplations daily that Sion, that holy mind of Mary, was employed, while she fervently revolved in her mind all those mysteries known to herself above all mortals ? Of this St. Jerome well says: ‘If there are in you any bowels of piety or mercy, consider with what love was crucified, with what desire this virgin burned, while she revolved in her soul all that she had heard and seen, all that she had known; with what emotions she was moved, being filled with the Holy Ghost, with the thrilling knowledge of heavenly secrets.’
- St. Bonaventure, Mirror of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Chapter XI
Where we decide to rest our minds affects the tranquility of our souls. I need my holy friends — my holy muses — to contemplate the way the saints did. I’ve often asked myself what the difference is between days of being deftly inspired by the holy and those doldrumish days mired in heavy mud of the world. My answer is always docility and holy friends.
1. Is my heart docile enough? Have a steeped my heart enough in God’s great Divine Love through all He has given me — the Holy Mass, the Holy Sacraments, Holy Adoration, His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, my holy friends in the Communion of Saints — the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant, and the Church Suffering? Have I allowed Him to massage and mold the cold little withered thing in my chest that now resembles a tealight — barely strong enough to warm tepid water in a kettle— into a fiery furnace as blazing as the one testifying to the miracle of Ananias, Azarias, and Misael?1
2. What am I doing to maintain the docility of my heart? That it may draw those holy spears of God’s Love and inspiration? That it may listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? Do I keep holy company among holy friends? What barriers within me threaten to cork the path of Love, Who wishes to move my heart and stir my soul? What what community to do I surround myself with, what holy friends do I keep close to help fertilize the holy ground2 of my heart to keep it from drying out and growing rocky, attractive only for pests? Do I poise myself, my lifestyle, and my life to be inspired by a holy muse should she pass by — to love God, to love my neighbor, to be drenched in the Divine so deeply I can scarcely contain it? Is my heart ready, Lord, is my heart ready3? To receive You, my only Good, in the murmur of a whisper somewhere I cannot see in my soul? Or in the rush of holy tears you’ve gifted me, that blind my eyes just the same?
We need our holy muses.
God sent St. John the Baptist, a holy muse to wake the people from their slumber. Today, what dear friend does God send to stir Divine Love within you?
A lovely thought to contemplate.. and anticipate!
in Love,
veronicae❤️
—
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam, 6.24.2021.
Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
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