On social media (Facebook, Instagram, and X) this past week, the quotes passed through the celebration of the feats day of Thomas Aquinas and Candlemas, and captured the picture of a spiritual life consumed more and more in the divine fire that draws us:
Saint Thomas [Aquinas] was a ‘remarkably contemplative man.’ What does that mean? That means that he lived in God, and God in him, a life of tender affection. His soul, his intelligence, his heart, his will, were opened wide towards heaven, and he received light like the sun, grace like dew, and all his life was like a garden full of many different flowers and fruits. He prayed without ceasing. — Raïssa Maritain
God is love. Therefore, being seized by God is an enkindling in love—when the spirit is ready for it. For all that is mortal is consumed in the fire of eternal love. — Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)
One desires the divine realities only in the measure one already possesses them. So, the more you pray, the more you will desire prayer. — René Voillaume
Contemplatives teach us, through a path of asceticism, abandonment and fidelity, the joy of living only for Him. And sometimes contemplation is done in silence, before the Lord, in silence. And in this world that is always full—of things, words, news, a whole industry of exterior communication—interior communication, in silence, is so necessary. — Pope Francis
To have understood what the Real Presence is today for the Church is enough for us to be able to say with Simeon, “Nunc dimittis… quia viderunt oculi mei…” [“Lord… whom my own eyes have seen,” Lk 2:39–40]. — Charles Journet
Really believe this: to accept scorn through love, that’s the glory of love; to suffer through love is to give love greater consistency, greater intimacy. It is suffering in this world which is the proof of your love; it is suffering which gives greater meaning to your love and gives it all its value. — Marcel Văn
The last quote is rather how I’ve felt this week!
Contemplative in the Mud 
💛 It is one thing to know that evil must lash out at love, peace, purity and even goodwill and thus, at one’s will to be made holy; it is quite another thing to remember that ugly opportunist immediately AS the divisive source. I’ve been meaning to ask my angel for help with quicker recognition, but what does spring to mind (mercifully!) more often now is the miraculous smoke-clearer: the Jesus prayer. Hang in there.