Eagles
by Miriam Hogan, O.C.D.
In the Midwest, when one looks up into the spring sky, one is sometimes privileged to see an eagle or eagles in flight. Just to catch a glimpse of this majestic bird on an otherwise ordinary day elicits feelings of strength and adventure. Now the eagle is a symbol not only of our country, but also a strong scriptural image that holds special meaning in our Carmelite tradition. This image can be applied to Our Lady, to St. Teresa and to our own spiritual lives. For example, the seventeenth century poet Richard Crashaw wrote in a poem about St. Teresa:
By all the eagle in thee, all the dove,
By all thy lives and deaths of love.1Now as daughters of Teresa, we are called to connect with both the eagle and the dove in our own lives of prayer and contemplation. On a recent retreat that featured “horizons” for a theme, I experienced new enthusiasm about the thought of the eagle leading us toward new horizons. Our tradition calls us to be prophets for our time as well as peacemakers. This means that as we see the problems that have become clear in our politics and in our Church we can with the grace of God hold them in our hearts in prayer. With eagle eyes we look beyond the present limitations to what God desires to bring about in our broken world.
Lest this view of brokenness in the world seem to be limited to our time however, let us remember what St. Teresa had to say about the world of her day. In letter number 184 she states, “It’s a pity to see the condition the world is in.”2 Of course she was concerned about the Inquisition and the corrupt and dissatisfied clergy and civil officials with whom she had to work or to avoid, in order to make her foundations. Just to give one example of the extent of difficulties she faced, we have her letter from 1577:
I tell you what is going on at the Incarnation is of a kind, I think, never seen before. By orders of Tostado the provincial of the calced friars came here fifteen days ago for the election with threats of great censures and excommunications for anyone who might cast a vote for me. Despite this, they paid no heed, and as though he had said nothing to them at all, fifty-five nuns voted for me. As each vote for me was given to him, he excommunicated the nun, and he cursed and pounded and beat the ballots with his fist and burned them…. I have no desire to find myself in that Babylon… 3
Now mind you the “Babylon” to which Teresa refers in this letter is the monastery of religious women in which she took her vows. Teresa did not always use “politically correct” language. The circumstances called for strong language and commitments and Teresa did not compromise her love for God and for growing in a life of deeper prayer for herself and for her nuns. Her foundations were called “dovecotes of the Virgin” but she was as fiercely protective of them as an eagle guarding its nest.
Focused On What God Was AskingAs we look at some of the issues that cause concern in our own time, we can perhaps learn from the methods that St. Teresa used to remain focused on what God was asking of her in the midst of problems and difficulties. First and foremost she was a woman more interested in prayer than power. Returning to the Carmel of the Incarnation, she seemed at the time, to be turning away from a life of deeper solitude and prayer. The key issue for Teresa however, was to follow the will of God. In prayer she had the Lord’s assurance that all would be well.4 Applying her natural talents and giftedness for organization and order she was able to bring peace to a monastery divided by politics both inside and outside the community.
“When she took possession of her office as prioress of the Incarnation, October 14, 1571, she placed a statue of Our Lady of Clemency in the prioress’s stall with the keys to the monastery in its hands.”5 The gesture was clear to everyone that Our Lady was in charge and that Teresa would serve her as well as the other Sisters. Teresa knew how to balance both the eagle and the dove aspects of her own nature and how to encourage this balance in her Nuns.
Soaring To New Heights
Finally, returning to where we find ourselves in the present concerning our church and our everyday world. We can take hope in following the example of Teresa who placed her trust in the Mother of God. Now as spiritual daughters of Teresa we embrace in our hearts the powerful image presented in the Book of Revelations of the woman “given the wings of a great eagle.” (Rev 12:14) Further, by uniting our prayers with Mary’s we can also surmount the present difficulties and rise above the darkness of our own world soaring to new heights of light and goodness rejoicing in the presence of Jesus her son and our brother.
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1cf: http://www.bartleby.com/236/29.html The Flaming Heart by Richard Crashaw
2The Collected Letters Of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. (Washington DC:ICS Publications, 2001 ) , p. 502
3 Ibid. 569
4The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, vol. 1, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D., and Otilio Rodriquez, O.C.D. (Washington DC:ICS Publications, 1979 ) , pp 328-329
5Ibid. p. 368