A light in a dark tunnel
Reflection
The pandemic has taken a great toll on all of us. It has affected us in ways that we could never have imagined. The whole world grieves, one way or the other. We grieve for the loss of a loved one because of this disease or of the limitations caused by the disease; we grieve for the loss of livelihood, of family and relationships, of our way of living. The pain that we had to suffer, individually and collectively.
Now, in a few months we will be holding the national elections, and the result would carve, would define the path that our country would be taking in the next six years. Would we continue in the path of darkness with leaders who embrace the culture of impunity - who promise to erase our memory of the violence and the pains of martial law as they continue to perpetuate themselves in power in order to steal, to kill, and to destroy; or will we give peace a chance?
We are indeed in a dark tunnel. But in this dark tunnel, as Carmelites, as Christians, as Catholics, as professed followers of Christ, are we light, are we bringing the Light in this dark tunnel?
Comforting a fellow prisoner who asked him where he gets his joy and strength, Blessed Titus Brandsma said:
"Do not yield to hatred. Be patient. Dear friend, Dachau, with all its difficulties and dangers, is like a dark tunnel that we have to go through. We have to persevere and keep up our courage. At the end, the Light is radiating that will give us freedom."
Light shines brighter in the dark
We are in a dark tunnel, but in the dark, light shines brighter, light is more beautiful, we are able to appreciate the light more.
Christ is our light, and he asks us, he tells us, through his first followers: You are the light of the world. (Mt 5:14).
And in the Acts of the Apostles, the author reminded its readers: For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ (13:47)
With this in mind, we ask ourselves: What challenges did you face during the pandemic? How did you overcome these challenges? What learnings did you get from these experiences?
Taking from the Fount of Light
We ourselves are in darkness, but Christ has shown us the light and He has made us into light as he said, "You are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14), but our being lights is on account of Him. We get our brightness from Him, from the Fount of Light.
Despite our own needs, our mandate, as followers of Christ, is to be a light for others.
How then can we be light when we too, at times, are in darkness as well? When we too experience sadness, sorrow, grief, anger, confusion, anxiety especially in this time of uncertainty?
And so, I invite you to reflect with me on the writings and the life of our beloved Titus Brandsma hoping that it would allow us to discover ways of making ourselves better so that we would be more equipped in fulfilling our mission, God's mandate for us, amidst the different challenges that we face.
We will be reflecting on four topics, hoping that this would give us light and be able to see how our lives could be a light for our brothers and sisters who are in darkness, as follows:
1. A clear pane of glass
2. That radiant smile
3. A contemplative prophet: A voice of truth
4. A preference for prayer
A clear pane of glass
In his article Mary's Motherhood of God, Titus Brandsma described Mary as the clearest pane of glass, "who let through the Light of the world pristinely for us and who was wholly filled with it."
Like a very clear pane of glass, light passes through it like the glass don't even exist, meaning Mary disappears and only God, the rays from the sun, that is seen and felt.
Titus said: It applies first and foremost to her what St. John says about the mystical union, that the soul and all that is peculiar to God are then one through a transformation that causes the soul to seem more God than itself, is God through its sharing in the Divine nature.
Mary was so transformed in God that they became one.
But how was Mary transformed? She was covered by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was filled by the Holy Spirit, she was overshadowed by the power of the Most High because first and foremost, she allowed herself to become an instrument, she accepted her mission, she gave her yes.
“I am your servant Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.”
We too are being invited to be transformed in the spirit by allowing the spirit to work in us. When we say our yes, when we open ourselves to the spirit, for the spirit to work in our lives, then we will be transformed, then we too will be like clear glass, allowing God's comforting rays to pass through us, giving light to others, blessing others with God's love.
We will disappear, we should disappear that only God would be seen. We have to let go of ourselves, we should learn to humble ourselves and allow ourselves to become instruments and let God do his work through us.
As John the Baptist would put it, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
For a few moments, let us reflect on the pane of glass, and ask ourselves: am I allowing Christ to use me, for his light to pass through me so that others may enjoy his warm and comfortable rays of blessing and grace?
That radiant smile
When Titus was in Amersfoort, a fellow prisoner once asked him where he gets his strength, that despite being abused, humiliated, kicked, punched, and other unthinkable acts done to him, he was still able to smile at the perpetrators.
Titus only smiled.
A police officer who was also imprisoned in Amersfoort with Titus Brandsma, A.S. Fogteloo, said that he observed in Titus that he always greeted the guard who opens the door of his cell, who shouts at him. And it is not just any simple greeting. Fogteloo observed that he "greeted him... with a radiant smile as if he was meeting his best friend."
This reflects what Titus said that trials mean that we are loved. Obviously, he sees in the pain and suffering the love of God for him.
To a fellow Carmelite, Raphael Tijhuis, Titus said: "Above all, let us not forget this whenever something painful happens to us here. We have to use that moment to respond to his love. How trivial is everything that we experience here in comparison with what he has suffered for us."
Truly, in the concentration camps, especially in the concentration camp of Dachau, they suffered a lot. But despite the pain that they had to endure, the hardships that they had to face everyday, Titus was still able to give himself to others. He was a beacon of hope for others. His presence was a source of comfort.
Titus said: "If we know how to empty our hearts from all this and to detach ourselves from all that is not God, then we shall remain astonished about his work within us."
Detachment from the self and total reliance on God, believing and trusting that God has prepared something beautiful at the end of the tunnel.
He said: "There is no more urgent need than total surrender to God, putting oneself totally in his hands – in his infinite, and therefore in his incomprehensible love. He wishes to fill us with himself, if only we wish to be filled by him and do not close our hearts to him by filling them with things that are not him."
That is why he gives this advice: "Don't live in a haphazard way. In your activities think that God sees you, but people do too. In your activities do remember not to let intimate love for God and people fail.... Live in the awareness of living in God's presence."
And so now, let us reflect, for a few moments, on how we are living every minute of our lives in God's presence and how this is giving us strength to be a light for others.
A contemplative prophet: A voice of truth
A very famous quote from Titus says: He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it.
As a prophetic Order, in the line of the prophet Elijah, it is but natural for us to go against the conventions of the world, knowing that the world will always have the tendency of opting for that which is not of God. The world has a different yardstick for success, for goodness, and almost always, it is in conflict with that of God.
But why prophetic? As prophets, we are light in a very dark world, we are to bring clarity, we are to bring kaginhawahan to a people groping in the dark. Our being prophets is a fruit of our prayer, of our contemplation, otherwise, our prayer is useless, empty, pretentious, and in darkness itself.
Being Carmelites does not mean that we should isolate ourselves and retreat from the world and be comfortable instead in the silence and safety of our homes in front of the altar.
Our prayer, to truly be a prayer, one that is sincere, honest, and truly connected with the Father, should inspire us to live the Christian life. And what is the Christian life? To love God above all things, and to love our neighbors as God loved us. How did He love us? By giving his Son for us, that we would realize and experience how much He loves us.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
How much does he love us?
He loves us so much that He gave His life for us - for the least of our brothers, for the oppressed, for the marginalized, for the poor. Can we give our life for others, then? For the sake of the kingdom?
With the coming elections, as Carmelites how can we be relevant in discerning the leaders that would lead our country in the next six years? What should be our role? How could this national event allow us to live out our being Carmelites? How could this help us grow as Carmelites? How can this help us live out our mission as followers of Christ? How can we be light for our brothers and sisters who are unable to decide as to who should lead our country?
There are questions, however, and confusion as to our participation in the discourse on who to vote for, or even in endorsing, particularly in actively and vocally sharing our views on particular candidates. And this is where our being prayerful prophets would come in.
A prophet is not a prophet if, first he does not listen to the voice of the Lord. Second, if he does not follow or live out the voice of the Lord. Third, if he is afraid to talk and to make a stand.
Titus Brandsma, knowing the evil of the Nazi ideology started to share to his students how the Nazi ideology is not compatible with the teachings of Christ in 1935, four years before the Nazis actually invaded the Netherlands in 1939. This sharpness in thought is because of his deep spirituality, of his intimate relationship with God and the deep understanding that he was gifted with in return.
As Carmelites, our prayer life should illuminate our minds and see the evil that is in the hearts of men, and to denounce it, not the person, but the intent, the desire, the tendencies. If we tolerate it, if we even justify such evil in front of us, if we promote it and allow it to grow, then it reflects our relationship with the Father, our spirituality and our lack thereof.
Titus lived out his spirituality, he lived out his prayer, and this brought him into conflict with the world.
We are here, we chose to become Carmelites because we want to deepen our spiritual life, our relationship with the Father, our intimacy with Christ. Such intimacy would lead us, should lead us to so much trouble because we could not stand evil.
Let us look deep within yourselves, how are my choices? Does it give light or does it take away the light?
A preference for prayer
Titus points out in his writings that for us Carmelites, prayer is the better part, but he also emphasized that it doesn't mean that we should no longer welcome the apostolic life.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit or the Spiritans has a beautiful description of the “apostolic life” as a “life in Christ’s footsteps, with three essential dimensions: the proclamation of the Good News, the practice of the evangelical counsels, and a life in fraternal and praying community."
Prayer life then is part of the apostolic life. It is an essential part of our life of service.
All these, Titus lived by as a Carmelite, and even in prison, he valued these essential elements of proclaiming the Good News; practicing the evangelical counsels of chastity, obedience, and poverty; and a deep love for prayer. He continued to live them out, not allowing the limitations of the abusive prison life to hinder him.
The limitations of prison life, in fact, became a reason for him to better live out the apostolic life because here he found the need for people, for his fellow prisoners to experience, to find comfort in the light of Christ, the Good News. To find light in the Good News.
But where does he get his courage to do this?
Titus always see prayer as a gift for and of the Carmelites.
Bl. Titus said that the Carmelite, "living amongst people in the world and engaged in active life, it retains the greatest love for solitude and aloofness from the world and considers solitude and contemplation as the better part of its spiritual life."
A point of clarification. We live amongst the people and as a church we continue to have an option for the poor, it is the only option that Christ has shown us through his life, but we should not be beholden or be attracted to life in the world, our love should be in solitude and "aloofness from the world." Meaning we should not be comfortable with the world and whatever it is that it offers us.
Titus said: He who would attain to holiness and more fervent communion with God according to the spirit of Carmel, must love solitude and aloofness from the world.
He also said that "To a Carmelite, it lies in dedicating oneself completely to contemplation. Contemplation should only be interrupted when necessity compels one to go out and speak to men of the things of God."
"Prayer is life," he said, "not an oasis in the desert of life."
Further, Titus said, "But the principal point to remember is that the school of Carmel, while rating at its highest the cure of souls in the world, cannot forget that it is called to a higher vocation. Elias was called to a life of prayer in the midst of a life of intense activity, yet he is one of the greatest Prophets of the Old Testament.
His life and prayer tell us that his prayer was the strength of his life.
Titus said, “So the contemplative prayer of the Carmelite is also the strength of the active apostolate. The influence of the contemplative soul is not withheld from the apostolate. In the mystical Body of Christ… the prayers and sacrifices of the contemplatives represent an organ of high value. The former (contemplative life) is the great support of the latter (active life). The mystical life is, in the highest sense, apostolic. Without activity it has the greatest influence. St. Teresa of Avila, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi and especially the little St. Therese of Lisieux teach us the apostolate of prayer. Many Carmels are considered the real centers of missionary work, not because of their activity but because of their contemplative life."
Jesus has taught us to put the needs of others first, and our faith in Him should be such that we know, we understand, we believe that we have the Light in us, and so we should not be needing of that Light anymore, rather we should be overflowing with that Light that our only desire would be to share that Light to others.
Let us then spend a few moments to reflect on our prayer life and how it transforms us into a light for others.
And now we return to Blessed Titus, how was he a light to others - especially in the last moments of his life? How was he able to bring the beauty of God's light in the dark tunnel of Dachau?
In the late Joey Velasco’s painting, Cast All Your Cares Upon Me, we see Christ bringing light to a family broken and living in the margins, deep in poverty. But He is a beacon of hope, He gives hope by bringing, by sharing God's love.
As we end this reflection, let us ask ourselves, as a Carmelite what does it mean to be a light to others; how can I be a light to and for others?
Now, in a few months we will be holding the national elections, and the result would carve, would define the path that our country would be taking in the next six years. Would we continue in the path of darkness with leaders who embrace the culture of impunity - who promise to erase our memory of the violence and the pains of martial law as they continue to perpetuate themselves in power in order to steal, to kill, and to destroy; or will we give peace a chance?
We are indeed in a dark tunnel. But in this dark tunnel, as Carmelites, as Christians, as Catholics, as professed followers of Christ, are we light, are we bringing the Light in this dark tunnel?
Comforting a fellow prisoner who asked him where he gets his joy and strength, Blessed Titus Brandsma said:
"Do not yield to hatred. Be patient. Dear friend, Dachau, with all its difficulties and dangers, is like a dark tunnel that we have to go through. We have to persevere and keep up our courage. At the end, the Light is radiating that will give us freedom."
Light shines brighter in the dark
We are in a dark tunnel, but in the dark, light shines brighter, light is more beautiful, we are able to appreciate the light more.
Christ is our light, and he asks us, he tells us, through his first followers: You are the light of the world. (Mt 5:14).
And in the Acts of the Apostles, the author reminded its readers: For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have placed You as a light for the Gentiles, That You may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’ (13:47)
With this in mind, we ask ourselves: What challenges did you face during the pandemic? How did you overcome these challenges? What learnings did you get from these experiences?
Taking from the Fount of Light
We ourselves are in darkness, but Christ has shown us the light and He has made us into light as he said, "You are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14), but our being lights is on account of Him. We get our brightness from Him, from the Fount of Light.
Despite our own needs, our mandate, as followers of Christ, is to be a light for others.
How then can we be light when we too, at times, are in darkness as well? When we too experience sadness, sorrow, grief, anger, confusion, anxiety especially in this time of uncertainty?
And so, I invite you to reflect with me on the writings and the life of our beloved Titus Brandsma hoping that it would allow us to discover ways of making ourselves better so that we would be more equipped in fulfilling our mission, God's mandate for us, amidst the different challenges that we face.
We will be reflecting on four topics, hoping that this would give us light and be able to see how our lives could be a light for our brothers and sisters who are in darkness, as follows:
1. A clear pane of glass
2. That radiant smile
3. A contemplative prophet: A voice of truth
4. A preference for prayer
A clear pane of glass
In his article Mary's Motherhood of God, Titus Brandsma described Mary as the clearest pane of glass, "who let through the Light of the world pristinely for us and who was wholly filled with it."
Like a very clear pane of glass, light passes through it like the glass don't even exist, meaning Mary disappears and only God, the rays from the sun, that is seen and felt.
Titus said: It applies first and foremost to her what St. John says about the mystical union, that the soul and all that is peculiar to God are then one through a transformation that causes the soul to seem more God than itself, is God through its sharing in the Divine nature.
Mary was so transformed in God that they became one.
But how was Mary transformed? She was covered by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was filled by the Holy Spirit, she was overshadowed by the power of the Most High because first and foremost, she allowed herself to become an instrument, she accepted her mission, she gave her yes.
“I am your servant Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.”
We too are being invited to be transformed in the spirit by allowing the spirit to work in us. When we say our yes, when we open ourselves to the spirit, for the spirit to work in our lives, then we will be transformed, then we too will be like clear glass, allowing God's comforting rays to pass through us, giving light to others, blessing others with God's love.
We will disappear, we should disappear that only God would be seen. We have to let go of ourselves, we should learn to humble ourselves and allow ourselves to become instruments and let God do his work through us.
As John the Baptist would put it, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
For a few moments, let us reflect on the pane of glass, and ask ourselves: am I allowing Christ to use me, for his light to pass through me so that others may enjoy his warm and comfortable rays of blessing and grace?
That radiant smile
When Titus was in Amersfoort, a fellow prisoner once asked him where he gets his strength, that despite being abused, humiliated, kicked, punched, and other unthinkable acts done to him, he was still able to smile at the perpetrators.
Titus only smiled.
A police officer who was also imprisoned in Amersfoort with Titus Brandsma, A.S. Fogteloo, said that he observed in Titus that he always greeted the guard who opens the door of his cell, who shouts at him. And it is not just any simple greeting. Fogteloo observed that he "greeted him... with a radiant smile as if he was meeting his best friend."
This reflects what Titus said that trials mean that we are loved. Obviously, he sees in the pain and suffering the love of God for him.
To a fellow Carmelite, Raphael Tijhuis, Titus said: "Above all, let us not forget this whenever something painful happens to us here. We have to use that moment to respond to his love. How trivial is everything that we experience here in comparison with what he has suffered for us."
Truly, in the concentration camps, especially in the concentration camp of Dachau, they suffered a lot. But despite the pain that they had to endure, the hardships that they had to face everyday, Titus was still able to give himself to others. He was a beacon of hope for others. His presence was a source of comfort.
Titus said: "If we know how to empty our hearts from all this and to detach ourselves from all that is not God, then we shall remain astonished about his work within us."
Detachment from the self and total reliance on God, believing and trusting that God has prepared something beautiful at the end of the tunnel.
He said: "There is no more urgent need than total surrender to God, putting oneself totally in his hands – in his infinite, and therefore in his incomprehensible love. He wishes to fill us with himself, if only we wish to be filled by him and do not close our hearts to him by filling them with things that are not him."
That is why he gives this advice: "Don't live in a haphazard way. In your activities think that God sees you, but people do too. In your activities do remember not to let intimate love for God and people fail.... Live in the awareness of living in God's presence."
And so now, let us reflect, for a few moments, on how we are living every minute of our lives in God's presence and how this is giving us strength to be a light for others.
A contemplative prophet: A voice of truth
A very famous quote from Titus says: He who wants to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come in conflict with it.
As a prophetic Order, in the line of the prophet Elijah, it is but natural for us to go against the conventions of the world, knowing that the world will always have the tendency of opting for that which is not of God. The world has a different yardstick for success, for goodness, and almost always, it is in conflict with that of God.
But why prophetic? As prophets, we are light in a very dark world, we are to bring clarity, we are to bring kaginhawahan to a people groping in the dark. Our being prophets is a fruit of our prayer, of our contemplation, otherwise, our prayer is useless, empty, pretentious, and in darkness itself.
Being Carmelites does not mean that we should isolate ourselves and retreat from the world and be comfortable instead in the silence and safety of our homes in front of the altar.
Our prayer, to truly be a prayer, one that is sincere, honest, and truly connected with the Father, should inspire us to live the Christian life. And what is the Christian life? To love God above all things, and to love our neighbors as God loved us. How did He love us? By giving his Son for us, that we would realize and experience how much He loves us.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
How much does he love us?
He loves us so much that He gave His life for us - for the least of our brothers, for the oppressed, for the marginalized, for the poor. Can we give our life for others, then? For the sake of the kingdom?
With the coming elections, as Carmelites how can we be relevant in discerning the leaders that would lead our country in the next six years? What should be our role? How could this national event allow us to live out our being Carmelites? How could this help us grow as Carmelites? How can this help us live out our mission as followers of Christ? How can we be light for our brothers and sisters who are unable to decide as to who should lead our country?
There are questions, however, and confusion as to our participation in the discourse on who to vote for, or even in endorsing, particularly in actively and vocally sharing our views on particular candidates. And this is where our being prayerful prophets would come in.
A prophet is not a prophet if, first he does not listen to the voice of the Lord. Second, if he does not follow or live out the voice of the Lord. Third, if he is afraid to talk and to make a stand.
Titus Brandsma, knowing the evil of the Nazi ideology started to share to his students how the Nazi ideology is not compatible with the teachings of Christ in 1935, four years before the Nazis actually invaded the Netherlands in 1939. This sharpness in thought is because of his deep spirituality, of his intimate relationship with God and the deep understanding that he was gifted with in return.
As Carmelites, our prayer life should illuminate our minds and see the evil that is in the hearts of men, and to denounce it, not the person, but the intent, the desire, the tendencies. If we tolerate it, if we even justify such evil in front of us, if we promote it and allow it to grow, then it reflects our relationship with the Father, our spirituality and our lack thereof.
Titus lived out his spirituality, he lived out his prayer, and this brought him into conflict with the world.
We are here, we chose to become Carmelites because we want to deepen our spiritual life, our relationship with the Father, our intimacy with Christ. Such intimacy would lead us, should lead us to so much trouble because we could not stand evil.
Let us look deep within yourselves, how are my choices? Does it give light or does it take away the light?
A preference for prayer
Titus points out in his writings that for us Carmelites, prayer is the better part, but he also emphasized that it doesn't mean that we should no longer welcome the apostolic life.
The Congregation of the Holy Spirit or the Spiritans has a beautiful description of the “apostolic life” as a “life in Christ’s footsteps, with three essential dimensions: the proclamation of the Good News, the practice of the evangelical counsels, and a life in fraternal and praying community."
Prayer life then is part of the apostolic life. It is an essential part of our life of service.
All these, Titus lived by as a Carmelite, and even in prison, he valued these essential elements of proclaiming the Good News; practicing the evangelical counsels of chastity, obedience, and poverty; and a deep love for prayer. He continued to live them out, not allowing the limitations of the abusive prison life to hinder him.
The limitations of prison life, in fact, became a reason for him to better live out the apostolic life because here he found the need for people, for his fellow prisoners to experience, to find comfort in the light of Christ, the Good News. To find light in the Good News.
But where does he get his courage to do this?
Titus always see prayer as a gift for and of the Carmelites.
Bl. Titus said that the Carmelite, "living amongst people in the world and engaged in active life, it retains the greatest love for solitude and aloofness from the world and considers solitude and contemplation as the better part of its spiritual life."
A point of clarification. We live amongst the people and as a church we continue to have an option for the poor, it is the only option that Christ has shown us through his life, but we should not be beholden or be attracted to life in the world, our love should be in solitude and "aloofness from the world." Meaning we should not be comfortable with the world and whatever it is that it offers us.
Titus said: He who would attain to holiness and more fervent communion with God according to the spirit of Carmel, must love solitude and aloofness from the world.
He also said that "To a Carmelite, it lies in dedicating oneself completely to contemplation. Contemplation should only be interrupted when necessity compels one to go out and speak to men of the things of God."
"Prayer is life," he said, "not an oasis in the desert of life."
Further, Titus said, "But the principal point to remember is that the school of Carmel, while rating at its highest the cure of souls in the world, cannot forget that it is called to a higher vocation. Elias was called to a life of prayer in the midst of a life of intense activity, yet he is one of the greatest Prophets of the Old Testament.
His life and prayer tell us that his prayer was the strength of his life.
Titus said, “So the contemplative prayer of the Carmelite is also the strength of the active apostolate. The influence of the contemplative soul is not withheld from the apostolate. In the mystical Body of Christ… the prayers and sacrifices of the contemplatives represent an organ of high value. The former (contemplative life) is the great support of the latter (active life). The mystical life is, in the highest sense, apostolic. Without activity it has the greatest influence. St. Teresa of Avila, St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi and especially the little St. Therese of Lisieux teach us the apostolate of prayer. Many Carmels are considered the real centers of missionary work, not because of their activity but because of their contemplative life."
Jesus has taught us to put the needs of others first, and our faith in Him should be such that we know, we understand, we believe that we have the Light in us, and so we should not be needing of that Light anymore, rather we should be overflowing with that Light that our only desire would be to share that Light to others.
Let us then spend a few moments to reflect on our prayer life and how it transforms us into a light for others.
And now we return to Blessed Titus, how was he a light to others - especially in the last moments of his life? How was he able to bring the beauty of God's light in the dark tunnel of Dachau?
In the late Joey Velasco’s painting, Cast All Your Cares Upon Me, we see Christ bringing light to a family broken and living in the margins, deep in poverty. But He is a beacon of hope, He gives hope by bringing, by sharing God's love.
As we end this reflection, let us ask ourselves, as a Carmelite what does it mean to be a light to others; how can I be a light to and for others?
Note: This reflection was shared with the Third Order Carmelites in the Philippines for their Lenten Recollection. Photo: Jez Timms | Unsplash
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