My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord

Despite great and wondrous gifts causing the hermit to exalt and ponder, to be nearly in such joy as to feel as if death is not far off--the maidservant of the Handmaid of the Lord stirs from reveries and adoration, and adores and magnifies the Lord through daily duty.

There is work to be done, by the hermit maidservant, for the Handmaid of the Lord. The hermit must begin to, day and night, put the exterior environment of the hermitage in order. It is the hermit's call to detachment, which means ordered love. The hermit works on the externals in prayerful desire that this will assist the internals to fall into ordered love as well. It will surely help.

The hermit has a hem to sew, some ironing to do, gifts to wrap, bills and papers to file, a couple or three hours of editing, organizing some items to be returned to the store, and a closet to put into order (one of three, but the hermit knows not to disorder the mind with too much at once).

A book was commenced last night, being read from within the Sacred Heart, and it is one on the shelf that the hermit had not noticed much. Now a second copy came to light in the used book store, and the hermit slowed this time to pay attention to some details. The editor/translator is a (deceased) superior general of the Missionaries of St. Francis de Sales! This caught the hermit's attention due to a young priest from India with whom the hermit has corresponded from his seminary days and into priesthood, is of this community! Then, to the hermit's great surprise, in simply studying the title page of the book, the author is "A Carthusian".

Ah! The Carthusians are hard at work on this hermit, in the hermit's return to their writings and teachings after a four years' lapse!

This is going to be a very beneficial book indeed, for it assists the hermit in adapting to life within the Sacred Heart. It embellishes the Lord's will for the genderless soul in nothingness.

One point strikes an immediate benefit: multiplicity. The monk discusses the Martha-Mary situation in a way not previously considered (to the hermit's understanding, that is). He comments that the problem with Martha's being so busy is that she has dissipated herself in multiplicities. Mary has remained focused on what is necessary at that moment; Mary has not, as a metphoric phrase expresses the idea: too many irons in the fire.

The book, by the way, for those who may desire finding a copy, is: The Interior Soul, by A Carthusian, and edited/translated by Fr. Tissot.

The Carthusian, as well as Fr. Tissot, admonish the reader to not skip a single line, for all builds a foundation which, even if the reader thinks he knows some aspects, must not be weakened by not reading each line and page and thought. Rather, the reader must read and ponder as if placing brick upon brick, building a strong foundation for the soul's good benefit for God.