AECI Lenten 2025 Reflection : 'Steer Us From Hardness Of Heart' (Week 3: The Influence Of Restlessness)

AECI Lenten 2025 Reflection : 'Steer Us From Hardness Of Heart'

Week Three, Day 1 - The Influence Of Restlessness

'You have made us for yourself, O Lord

and our hearts are restless until they rest in you'

(St Augustine of Hippo)

It is clear from the four Gospels that Jesus pointed repeatedly to an understanding of God as 'Father' (or 'Abba' , as in the Aramaic term, conveying a sense of intimacy and affection) and that he did so when he spoke of human potential, of human direction and the use of our faculties, including the heart.

In our Lenten journey so far, we have made little reference to the Christian concept of 'the Trinity'. We have focused more on the spiritual, mental and emotional 'signposts' that can subsequently affect our behaviour and outlook, and considered a number of areas where we might have taken the 'wrong turning' ( so to speak!) amidst any life experiences.

There is the famous story of St Augustine relishing the opportunity to steal from the pear trees in an orchard with his gang of friends in his younger years, but in later life 'the signposts' were revealed to him not by any workings of his own body, mind or heart - or his own growing sense of failure and error for that matter - but by the sheer 'grace of God', by allowing God in to the stubborn and faith resistant places and spaces within us.

With the lens of 'the Trinity, the three 'coeternal persons' - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - can enable us to look with fresh eyes at the width and the breadth of divine action in our world, past, present and future, and to apply ourselves to the reality that arises from Jesus' words in the Gospel of Luke, ' ...God knows your heart' (Luke 16:15).

For Christians, Jesus - as the Son of God - captures those truths and principles that can shake us to our core. The Holy Spirit leads us towards new levels of integrity and responsibility. The Father is the ever dwelling source of benevolence and omniscience.

Today's exercise is merely to ponder the two questions below:

What is it that individuals 'aim for' in the course of their lives? And how do we recognise if 'their aims' are ill conceived?

Week Three, Day 2 - The Influence Of Restlessness

In recent times there has been some detailed theological discussion around the notion of personal and structural 'sin' , with many scholars keen to emphasise the concept of 'missing the mark' (in Greek: hamartia) . It is an area of complexity with differing opinions on the nature of any influence, stimulus, or force that leads us into false choices and false judgements.

We might set ourselves most worthy and virtuous 'aims' and 'targets', strive for higher intellectual and moral 'standards', but in a relatively short period of time come to recognise that the 'restlessness of our hearts' has in fact moved us sideways or even backwards!! Targets are missed, standards can slip, aims become diluted.

We may even become more stretched and more fraught as the basis of any personal 'aims' and 'targets' we might set ourselves become exposed and strained.

Over the course of the next three days we are going to look at three Carmelite figures. Each character is highlighting an element of that 'human restlessness' , identified ( ...and indeed lived!) by St Augustine. In so doing, each one is confronting the real challenges we do face in seeking a genuine inner peace.

Read the quotation carefully and reflect on the two key words: distraction and devotion

St John Of The Cross (1542 - 1591) : DEPENDENCE

'When a great multitude is making a pilgrimage,

I should never advise him to do so,

for as a rule people return on these occasions

in a state of greater distraction than when they went.

And many set out and make these pilgrimages for recreation rather than devotion.'

Week Three, Day 3 - The Influence Of Restlessness

In December of the year 1577, St. John of the Cross was seized by a group of friars opposed to St Teresa and her calls for wide reform of the Carmelite Order in Spain at the time, and imprisoned in the city of Toledo. There he was held in a cell with little or no light for nine months, before a remarkable escape to the safety of a like-minded (Teresian) community of nuns in the city, then on to the province of Andalucia.

For St. John our souls are in dialogue and encounter with God, but at the pace at which God sets, not our own tempo. Each person therefore is working at their own level and along their own route, gradually freeing themselves from obstacles and 'desires' and an over dependency on others. Fr. Iain Matthews in his book 'The Impact Of God' writes:

'John is entrusting to us his heartbeat, and inviting us to let it beat with our own'.

Following the direction of the crowd, imitating the mindset or the actions of another, leads only to greater distraction from the focus of spiritual life. We have to each come to a point where we are ready to be filled with the Eternal. Again as Fr. Matthews comments the goal or 'aim' is simply the goal of love for which we are created:

'Life remains dispersed till this God is at its centre'.

Now let us take a second important Carmelite figure and a second element of 'human restlessness'

Read the quotation carefully and reflect on the two key words: moment and forestall

St Therese of Lisieux (1873 - 1897 ) : IMPATIENCE

'If I did not simply live from one moment to another,

it would be impossible for me to be patient;

but I only look to the present.

I forget the past,

and I take good care not to forestall the future'

Week Three, Day 4 - The Influence Of Restlessness

St. Therese of Lisieux was a contemporary of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and is affectionately known as the 'Little Flower' within Roman Catholic communities worldwide.

She had a strong grasp of the importance of patience in setting out any 'targets' or 'hopes' for the future, once visiting the office of the Bishop of Bayeux as a very young girl with her father to request permission to join the Carmelite Order. “You are not yet fifteen and you wish this?” the Bishop questioned. “I wished it since the dawn of reason,” young Therese declared.

Any gardener knows that the motto 'patience is a virtue' is indeed a well founded one, as they await the blooming and blossoming of Spring time. In each 'moment' there is growth and small progress, even if we don't see it upon the surface of the earth. The word 'forestall' in the quotation we read from St Therese yesterday suggests a level of acceptance and contentment with the way our day to day life unfolds. There is no need to keep intervening where any heartfelt and honest objectives we hold are concerned.

Recent commentaries upon 'mindfulness' are similarly pulling us back from the dangers of mental and emotional fatigue by taking 'the present moment' and fully connecting with it.

Our third and final Carmelite figure this week is also from the country of France, Fr. Jacques of Jesus. It is important to keep in mind that all three of these Carmelite individuals are stressing something of the 'liberty' of the heart and delicately drawing our attention to a level of freedom from the forces that can too readily disrupt and disturb even the best of our short term 'aims' and 'targets'.

 Read the quotation carefully and reflect on the two key words: agitation and mystery

Fr. Jacques de Jesus (1900 - 1945): NOISE

'The breath of the Holy Spirit is too delicate

to be exposed to noise or exterior agitation.

If we know how to welcome silence,

it will disclose, little by little, the great mystery of Christ

through which we can embrace God!'

Week Three, Day 5 - The Influence Of Restlessness

Fr. Jacques de Jesus had worked as a Headteacher at a school for boys, then served in the French army at the outbreak of World War II, going on to become an active member of the French Resistance before his death brought on by his detention in the Nazi concentration camps.

All three of these Carmelite figures - St. John of the Cross, St. Therese of Lisieux and Fr. Jacques of Jesus - are communicating the authority of an inner simplicity over external intricacies, awkwardness, or 'hardness' in the sense of something that proves difficult or complex.

If we are fixed to a set of rigid and noisy 'aims and objectives'; if we are seeking only approval from others and fall quickly into an agitated state when things don't go our way; then the delicate nature of the 'Holy Spirit'. might fail to touch and steer our hearts in mystery, in freedom, in truth.

For our Monday meditation today simply take the time to look at the image below.

Imagine yourself taking a step on each of the rocks leading to the sunrise or sunset. Which is it?

What do you leave behind in your head and heart at each step?

What do you gain?

Feel yourself becoming less restless, more patient and aware as you edge nearer to the Light.

Week Three, Day 6 - The Influence Of Restlessness

The steps we take individually and collectively away from any 'hardness of heart' have to be solid and sincere ones as we look towards the future. The inner peace that we strive for must somehow counter the restlessness that comes in waves and sweeps us away from the joy of 'the present moment'.

For the minute we shall return to the word 'agitation' used by Fr' Jacques de Jesus. The root of the word stems from the Latin verb 'agitare', which might be translated as 'to set in constant motion' or 'to move to and fro', somewhat rapidly!

On reflection perhaps this tendency to dart or to drive in one direction or another - emotionally, mentally - is the very opposite of the word 'steer'. Furthermore, agitated movements can derive from our deep desire to 'make amends' or 'to put things right' after we have fully absorbed personal mistakes and failings. We long to address the 'burdens of our yesteryear(s)' by affirming new targets, by setting out new aims, a new approach, in the here and now!

The heart however might need a little more time and healing.

Despite our inner intentions being honest and good, we might need to simplify not complicate. To allow our ears an opportunity to hear, to allow our eyes an opportunity to see. To 'rest' in the space where restlessness, noise and blame cannot disrupt. For many thinkers and writers this spiritual state is nothing short of the 'grace of God' . As we read in today's Gospel (on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord) it is where 'the power of the Most High will overshadow you'.

Week Three, Day 7 - The Influence Of Restlessness

At the end of Week Two (The Influence of Experience) we very briefly touched upon a further 'gift' or 'feature' that can uphold our sense of spiritual identity , namely 'Protection and Confidence', that grows as we become more informed by a 'divine love' rooted in daily life.

At the end of this third week (The Influence of Restlessness) we see concrete examples of 'religious figures' - albeit a term they may not have used for themselves - who have been 'stilled' or soothed in any restlessness of the heart and mind, figures like Mary, the mother of Jesus, like St Augustine and Fr. Jacques of Jesus.

Today, in our weekly Wednesday prayer, those two themes of our Lenten journey so far are brought together. It was a prayer found written in the margins of the breviary belonging to St Teresa Of Avila after she died.

Find an opportunity to recite it in your own quiet and personal space.

'Let nothing disturb you

Let nothing frighten you

All things are passing

God never changes

Patience obtains everything

Whoever has God wants for nothing

God alone is suffice

Amen'

For further reflection on this prayer attributed to St. Teresa of Avila see the useful link below:

https://carmelite.com/let-nothing-disturb-you/