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A Sequel to

"Doubling lor the Mother of God"

For Nuns Only



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Yake University Archives



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WHISPERS

FROM

THE WINGS

A

Sequel to

"DOUBLING FOR THE MOTHER

OF GOD"

For Nuns Only



NIHIL OBSTAT:

Fr. M. Albericus Wulf, O.C.S.O.

Fr. M. Maurice Malloy, O.C.S.O.

Censores

IMPRIMI POTEST:

E* Fredericus M. Dunne, O.C.S.O.

Abbas B, M . de Gethsemani

IMPRIMATUR:

Joseph E. Ritter, D.D.

Episcopus Indianapolitanus

First Printing 10M

Second Printing 20M

Third Printing 20M

DeaticSfied copyright 1943

by

THE ABBEY OF GETHSEMANI, INC.



TO

MOTHER MARY LOUISE

Mother General

of

The Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul

of

Halifax, N. S.

Praying That

All Her Daughters Satisfy

The Needs

of

JESUS CHRIST





Whispers From The Wings 5

FOREWORD

I never knew you were so many.

I never realized you were so kind.

I never appreciated your flaming zeal.

That, my dear Sisters, is my honest reaction
to your reception of DOUBLING FOR THE
MOTHER OF GOD. For edition followed
edition in bewildering fashion; your compli-

ments and comments flattered; and now you

demand WHISPERS FROM THE WINGS.
Indeed that is flaming zeal.

I conclude, then, that you now view your

vocation as an “annunciation,” in which you

were told that you were to be the “Mother”

to the Mystical Christ. That is excellent. It

means that you look upon life for what it

really is—The Great Drama of the Redeem-
ing; upon the world as a stage; and upon

yourself as a double for Mary Immaculate.

Now that you find yourself in the center of
the sfage, you turn to me and ask for

WHISPERS FROM THE WINGS.

I promised them, Sister, (you allowed me

to address you all under that one title be-

fore, so I continue)
;

I promised to be your

prompter; and you have not allowed me to
forget that promise. So listen well as I fulfill

it ! Here are my whispers ....

Feast of Mary’s Purification

and Jesus’ Presentation

February 2, 1942.





Whispers From The Wings 7

“Thank You!”

Yes, Sister, that is my first whisper. For
as I stand in the wings and see you in the

center of the stage essaying the role of

Mystical Mother my heart leaps to my lips
and I whisper, “Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you!”

Do you ask, “Why?”

—

If so, I answer by saying: Because of what

you are doing to God! Because of what you

mean to the Omnipotent One! Because of

what you are being to Jesus Christ!

Ah, Sister, I have not forgotten the world

from which I cloistered myself. No, indeed.

And every now and then, from a line in this

letter and a line in that, I get an upsettingly

clear picture of what the peoples of that world

are now doing to the God we love. So I say

to you what I often say to Mary Immaculate.

I say: “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

for saying ‘Fiat’ to the Angel of the Annun-

ciation and thus becoming Madonna to Jesus

Christ.”

Do you see the perfect parallel, Sister? Two
thousand years ago the Trinity looked down on

lovelessness; today It looks down on hate.

Two thousand years ago the people of the
world (even the Chosen People) were cold and

indifferent
;

today they are defiant. Two
thousand years ago they did not care about

the first coming of Christ; today they seem

not to care even about His second coming. But

now, as then, a “Fiat” saves the whole hideous

situation; and now, as then, it is spoken by a

woman whose name is “Mary.” Isn’t that
your name, Sister?

Let me say here what I said at the outset
of the first booklet—What looks like fancy



8 Whispers From The Wings

is sternest fact ! The parallel is perfect.
Mary, by becoming the Madonna, changed the

Drama of Creation, which was lapsing into
tragedy, into the Eomance of the Redemption.
Today, you, and all others like you who have
become mystical Madonnas, save that Romance

from becoming tragic. Indeed it is- sternest

fact!

Both Mary and you mean much to men,
Sister; but I am fully convinced that you
mean more to God. And that is the whole
point of this booklet. God looked for a Ma-

donna then; He looks for her “double” now.
When He finds one, the work of the redemp-

tion can go on according to plan. If He lacks

one—how can Christ live and die and thus
satisfy? How can the Heart of God be com-
forted?

To understand that, Sister, we only have to

look at one word in an early chapter of Gene-

sis. It is one of the most startling words in

all Scripture. It is the word “Poenituit”; and

it is predicated of God! It means that God

grieved, Sister! Think of it! The great heart

of God ached! He suffered anguish! And

why?
—

“Because He had created man!” Yes,

that is the awful story of how the Drama of

Creation was lapsing into tragedy. Love’s

labor seemed lost; for Love’s lavishness was

unappreciated.

You’ve read that Drama, Sister; you know

how God said, “Fiat.” “Fiat.” “Fiat.” “Fiat.”

and heaven, earth, water and light leaped into

being. And you know why He said it; for

you well know that the motif of the Drama of

Creation is—Love! That is why we may say
that the simplest, shortest and truest transla-

tion of those “Fiats” is: “I, the Eternal One,

love, love, love!”



Whispers From The Wings 9

But what return did Love receive?—Lucifer
and his legions rebelled. Eve listened to the

serpent. And Adam took from the woman’s
hand the fruit that was forbidden. What a

heart-break to God!

Then what happened?—Though Love prom-
ised a Redeemer, the beloved ones went out

and lived not only as if there would be no

Promised One, but as if there was no One who

had promised! The world became so hideous

that it had to be ^washed by a Deluge. Indeed

God grieved. Then what?—Then Babel, Sodom
and Gomorrha! What a disappointment the

race of men was proving to God. They would

not allow His Drama of Love to be a drama of

love. Despite Patriarch, Prophet and Prom-

ised Land, God’s Chosen People sighed for the

flesh-pots of Egypt and fashioned for them-

selves the golden calf. Then as we run down

through the Judges and the Kings we find page

after page in our family history blotted and

besmirched with wanderings from God and

revels in sin. Poor, poor God! what a re-

turn He received for His creation!

But then came Mary; and she said, “Fiat.”

That was enough. Love had found one who

did love, and He was willing to forget four
thousand years of lovelessness. He had found

a heart that was empty enough of self and sin

to form a hollow from which Creation’s won-

drous word might echo back; and tragedy was

turned into Romance.

God’s “Fiat” made light leap out of dark-

ness, and the Drama of Creation was on;
“Mary’s ‘Fiat’ ” made the Light of the world

leap into darkness, and the Romance of Re-

demption began. Divinity took flesh in the

dark womb of a little Jewish maid and the
great heart of God was glad. That is why I



10 Whispers From The Wings

say “Thank you!” to Mary at every Angelus
bell; not for what she means to me, but for

what she meant to God!

Do you understand my first whisper, Sister?
I say to you what I say to Mary, because you

are the Immaculate One’s double. You glad-

den a Heart that needs to be gladdened. You

gladden a Heart that is mightily saddened.

You gladden the Heart of God.

History does repeat itself, Sister; but

always with greater emphasis. Two thousand
years after the “Fiat” of Mary and two thou-
sand years after the “Fiat” of Christ finds

the world worse than it was four thousand

years after the “Fiat” of God. God the Crea-

tor looked down on the men He had made and
cried, “Poenitet me fecisse eos.—I am sorry
that I made them.” What a heart-breaking

echo that is to His original “Fiat”! And to-

day, God the Redeemer looks down on the

race of men for whom He bled and what can
He say but, “Quae utilitas in sanguine meo?

—

Has my Passion been in vain? I am the Vine
but where are My branches? I am the Head
but where are My members? I am the first-
born but where are my brethren?”

And what answer comes back from Russia

where millions shake brutal fists into the face

of heaven, defying the God who loved them

enough to breathe into their bodies His breath

of life and stamp on their souls His own in-

delible image?

What answer comes back from a Germany

that has taken Christ from the Cross, the

symbol of love; and made of it a Swastika,

which has given the world nothing but hate.

What answer comes back from a Mexico

who some years ago set her people wandering

as was Magdalene that first Easter mom



Whispers From The Wings 11

saying, “They have taken away my Lord and
I know not where they have laid Him;” a

Mexico who, by her outrageous laws, had left

about as much of Christ as the Apostles found

that same Easter morn
—

“a winding sheet and

some folded napkins”?

But why enumerate? What answer comes

back from a world that is apostate; a world

that is red with Communism, black with Fas-

cism and brown with Naziism; a world en-

crimsoned with the blood of murdered millions

and sooted with the heinous smokes of our

suicidal wars? Poor, poor Jesus! No wonder

He cries, “Quae utilitas in sanguine meo?

Was I bled white in vain? I flung Myself on
the wide-spread trellis of the Cross as a blood-

soaked Vine that branches might bud and bear

Me fruit; I dropped My thorn-helmeted head
in death that all men might live as my mem-
bers; in love’s passionate prodigality I had

My side spear-dug and My Heart opened that
all men might find a home therein—but now?
Quae utilitas?” Poor, poor Jesus!

But you have healed the Heart-break, Sister,

by the use of one wondrous word. You have

kept Eomance from going into tragedy by

saying what God said before the world was,

what Mary said before Jesus became man, and
what Christ said before the Mystical Body was

bom and Heaven was reopened. You have
said, “Fiat;” and that is why I whisper,
“Thank you! You mean much to the God I

love.”

Realize This

Burn that truth into the depths of your

being, Sister. It is a truth, and you need it!

The religious life is hard. Whoever says

differently is either a very young novice or a

very inexperienced nun. We need something



12 Whispers From The Wings

to sustain us for “the road winds up hill all

the way.” We become lonely, love-hungry and
lost. We don’t understand others and they
don’t understand us. Why, we don’t even
understand ourselves. The struggle for per-

fection is endless and the garner of the years

seems small; and this endlessness and the

seeming emptiness saps the courage of the

bravest and kills the daring of the bold. Our

days grow grey, then blue and even black. The

lights of our little world all go out! What are

you to do then?—Sing “Magnificat” for you
mean much to God!

Realize that, Sister! It means your sanc-

tification. Ascetical writers have complicated

the simplest thing in the world. Many have
divorced the natural from the supernatural

and instead of harmony give us discord. They

forget that God the Creator and God the Re-

deemer are one and the same God; that what

the Father made, the Son came to re-make ,

not to un-make; and that when Christ said,

“Come, follow Me” He did not mean that you

were to cease being a woman, but that you

were to become a Madonna!

Christ would not destroy your nature; He

would perfect it. Hence, when He selected

you to be a nun it was not that you should

become a nonentity, but that you should be-

come yourself, your nobler self, your greater,

grander, most womanly self! He did not

dower you with tenderness and thoughtfulness

and rich, warm, motherly love that you should

bury them. Never! He wants you to double

them. That is why He calls you to “mother”

the Mystical Christ. The whimple and the veil

make not a napkin to keep talents hid; they

form a headdress to reveal the face of a real

Madonna. The Angel of your “annunciation”



Whispers From The Wings 13

did not ask you to die, but to live; not to deny

your womanliness, but to express it most

nobly; not become an ascetic alone, but the

Mystical Mother of God. And that is why he

could say to you, “Blessed art* thou amongst

women !”

Simplify the spiritual life, Sister, by synthe-

sizing it in this one idea; then make of this

idea your ideal. You are doubling fo§ the

Mother of God, therefore, you mean much to

Christ. That truth will make the sun shine

through your blackest day; that realization

will sustain you in dryness, dullness, drabness

and desolation; that will buoy you up in what

looks like dereliction.

Why have I seen sour-faced men in the robes
of monks? Why have I met cranky old maids
in the garb of nuns? Why?—Because they
did not realize that they meant much to God!

I have heard and read many reasons for the

embittered, the disgruntled, the cynical and the

soured in religion. There was some truth in

every reason assigned; but there was not the

real truth in all of them; for all together are

inadequate. The real truth and the adequate

explanation is that they have forgotten their

dignity! Who could be dissatisfied in playing
Mother to the Mystical Christ? Who could be
unhappy in helping God? Who could be
cynical while carrying on The Great Drama

of the Redeeming? Who?—No one but the
devil and those whom he has made unmindful
of their roles!

Now don’t mistake me, Sister. My purpose
is not to make you proud, but to make you
truly humble; and when I say that, I mean

that my purpose is to exalt you! For the only
real exaltation on earth is the exaltation given

by true humility; just as the only real de-

gradation on earth comes from pride. Hu-



14 Whispers From The Wings

mility is truth, Sister; and it shows us the

truth. It shows us what we are—members of
a Body whose Head is God! And since the
dignity of a body lies in its head, ours is a

dignity divine! Pride is a lie, always a lie;

whether it take the form of self-exaltation, or

that worse form of self-depreciation. We are
God’s; and we were made to be like unto
God!*

Yes, the religious life is hard, very hard;

but when we realize what we are and what we

are doing, then it is very, very happy!

I Am Not Forgetting

No, I am not forgetting the ascetical writers
who insist that “I am nothing.” “I can do
nothing.” “I am worth nothing.” But I am
remembering my Catholic Philosophy and
Theology; and I say that if these writers

mean their dicta to be taken literally—and very
many of them seem to mean them literally!

—

they are in error. Because Theology tells me
that God created you and me; and God does

not create “nothing”! Theology also tells me

that Jesus Christ died for you and me; and

again it is plain that Christ did not die for

“nothings.” Of course they say they are talk-

ing about me “of myself”; that can only mean

me “apart from God.” But then Catholic

Philosophy tells me that they are talking about

some blank that never did and never could

exist! And to talk about such a nonentity ob-

viously is the sheerest nonsense.

I think the point is clear to any, even those

who haven’t studied formal Philosophy; for

“man apart from God” can only mean un-

created man ! Inane to talk about an uncreated

creature, isn’t it? Yet these writers want me



Whispers From The Wings 15

to take the predicates that belong to that un-

created nothing and apply them to this created,

individual, very alive something—me! Now,
to me, that seems the clumsiest, queerest and

crudest distortion of logic and language that

can be imagined.

In short, Sister, there is no such being as

“I, of myself”! There never was and there

never will be a being “apart from God,” a

being “of itself.” Why, Sister, before time

began you had existence in the mind of the

Sempiternal God; and when time is no more

you will have existence with the same Sempi-

ternal God if you are truly humble and ever

mindful of your dignity.

We may be first cousins to nothing on our
mother’s side, Sister; for we are children of

Eve; but on our Father’s side what are we?

—Children of God! We are not mere human
beings, Sister. Never. We are divine-human
beings! And since humility is truth, it is an

exaltation. We are breaths of God in vessels
of clay; but let us always remember we are

breaths of God! Our bodies are dust, it is

true; but as Raoul Plus, S.J. titles his latest

book, so I say to you: “Dust, Remember Thou

Art Splendor!”

That is true humility, Sister—remembering
what we are. Sinners striving to be saints.

Prodigals being hugged by our Father.

Magdalenes at the feet of the Master. Mem-
bers of a Body of which the Son of God is

Head! That is humility as expounded by St.

Thomas, St. Ignatius and St. Benedict. It is

truth that makes us blush for what we have
been, but not for what we are! It exalts! Yes,

and it makes us exult.

St. Paul is often misquoted in this regard.

“What have you that you have not received?”



16 Whispers From The Wings

he asks. Of course the answer is, “Nothing.”

But note well that in his next line he does not

forbid us to glory in our gifts. Never! What

he forbids is to “glory as if we had not re-

ceived” those gifts from God. And everyone
with any common sense will second his prohi-

bition.

I grow angry at many ascetical writers and

speakers on this question of humility, Sister.

It is the most beautiful of the virtues, but they

have succeeded in making it the most distorted,

grotesque, repellant and detestable thing.

Someone once remarked, “There must be some-

thing inherently rotten with Education itself

when so many people have such wonderful chil-
dren, yet all grown-ups are such duds.” I un-

derstand him. And I think many you will

understand me when I paraphrase him by say-
ing: “There must be something fundamentally

wrong in the teaching of Asceticism when

postulants and novices are burning with so

much wonderful good will, glowing with

genuine enthusiasm and alive with soul-deep

energy and zeal; yet old professed are so far

from being anything like Mary or Christ.”

Find me one passage in the New Testament
where Jesus or Mary say of themselves: “I

am nothing. I can do nothing. I am the last,
lowest and least of all God’s creatures,” and

Fll surrender. But until you do, I’ll hold that

we are to imitate the humility of Jesus and

Mary and not that of these ascetical writers.

We are to remember what we are
,
not what

we have been. St. Paul spoke very wisely once

in favor of a poor memory. He said, “I for-

get those things that are behind.” Let us imi-

tate him in that. Let us remember not what

we have been, but what we are!—You are a
double for the Mother of God, and because of

that you mean much to Jesus Christ.



Whispers From The Wings 17

The Physical Christ needed Mary; the

Mystical Christ needs you. If Mary had not

said, “Fiat” how would we ever have heard of

the Good Samaritan, the Good Shepherd and

the Father of the Prodigal Son? If Mary had

not said, “Fiat” how could Magdalene ever

have washed His feet with her penetential

tears? or the woman taken in adultery been

saved from death? Yes, and if Mary had not

said, “Fiat” how could little children ever have

climbed upon His knees, twined His tresses

on their tiny fingers, and had the hand of

Omnipotence laid upon their heads? Indeed

the Physical Jesus needed Mary; and in just

the same way the Mystical Jesus needs you!

For if Mystical Marys had not said, “Fiat”

how could Jesus bring His parables to life and

play the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan

and the kind Father to our wayward, wounded,

wilful race of prodigal daughters
,
as well as

sons? If he is to pour oil and wine into gap-

ing wounds there must be hospitals and homes

with nursing nuns. If He is to carry back

the sheep that were lost there must be sheep-

folds with Good Shepherd nuns. If he is to

say, and say again, “Suffer the little children

to come unto Me” there must be asylums,

academies and schools conducted by the nuns!

You saw in the first booklet what you mean

to man. I told you there that the whole world

was crying, “Mother! Mother! I want my
Mother!” And I told you it was the cry of
the child of God lost in the maze of the mad
material world. You know that that was not
fancy. I want you now to look at a sterner

fact. I want you to see just what you mean

to Christ.

Not so long ago Father Leen put out a little

book titled “Christ Before Pilate.” It was



18 Whispers From The Wings

true at the time; but it is not true now. No!

His “Judgment” is over. He is now on the
Cross. Hate is having its awful hour, and

godlessness crucifies the Mystical Christ. But

there stands by the Cross of the Mystical Jesus

—the nuns!
Do you hear my first whisper, Sister? I

say, “Thank you!” and I mean it from the

bottom of my heart. You can translate it into:
“Let me be mindful of my dignity. Jesus
Christ, Head of the Body, true God and true

man, needs ME in this awful hour.” If that
truth does not sustain you through every trial

and temptation, what will?

“Be Confident!”

That is my second whisper and I make it
almost a shout. I am prompting you in your
first few lines; and if you fail to understand

me, you have memorized the words without

learning their meaning.

Mary’s first line was: “How is this to be?”
Yes I almost shout from the wings, “Be con-

fident! Be utterly and unshakably confident,”

and claim that I am prompting you perfectly.
Let me explain.

Why is the world filled with unfinished
saints? Why are convents crowded with
women who are good but not great, holy but

not heroically so, of some spiritual stature but

not giants? Why?—I say: False humility
cloaking real discouragement.

I can well imagine many a nun closing that

first booklet DOUBLING FOR THE MOTHER
OF GOD and saying, “Beautiful! but not for
me. The ideal is too lofty. Mary’s purity and

Mary’s humility are admirable, but not imi-

table. At least not by me. And as for her



Whispers From The Wings 19

obedience—how can I, born and brought up in
an atmosphere saturated and surcharged with

unqualified independence; how can I, who

have lived my formative years with people who
always thought for themselves, spoke for

themselves, acted for themselves; how can I,

a child of this highly individualistic Twentieth

Century bend my will and bow my intellect
to the word and will of another without a

moment’s hesitation? How can I live like,
and love like, and be like Mary? It is im-

possible! And God never asks the impossible.

It is not for me.”

If you haven’t said that already, Sister;

take care! The temptation will soon come.

But recognize it for what it is. It is not

humility. It is the devil. Yes, he would fill

you with stage-fright and have you ruin your

part. He knows what life is and he knows

what you are. He fully realizes that life is

The Great Drama of the Redeeming and that

you have been selected to play the leading

feminine role; so from the very outset he

would fill you with a paralyzing stage-fright

and thus bring you to a lowering of your ideal

through discouragement.

He was a liar from the beginning, Sister;

and leopards do not change their spots. He
would have you strike an attitude of “humility”

and say, “Life is The Great Drama of the Re-

deeming, but in it I’m too little to play the

leading part. I’ll be just a supernumerary.

That’s all little actresses can ever be.”

Don’t say, it* Sister; don’t say it! For

strange as it may seem there are no super-
numeraries in this great Drama of love. No.
Either you play the role of the Mother to the

Mystical Body of Christ or you’ll play the role

of mother to the mystical body of antichrist.

That’s the startling truth that leaps at us from



20 Whispers From The Wings

the doctrine of our absolute solidarity in

Jesus. “He who is not with Me is against
Me.” She who will not double for the Mother

of God will double for the devil. Either you

sow with Christ or you scatter. So don’t let

the devil deceive you. Learn your lines; not

only the words but their meanings!

What was Mary’s answer to the Angel of

her Annunciation? When Gabriel told her that
she was to be the Mother of God did she look

into herself and say, “Oh, no! I can’t do that!

I’m too small. I’m only a little girl. I’m just

a simple Nazarene. Don’t ask the impossible!

I’ll keep the Law. I’ll love God as others do.

But don’t ask me to be His Mother. I’m only a
tiny, tiny creature.” Did she? Ah, no! She

looked up and quietly asked, “How is this to
be ...

”

Have you caught the full force of those

words, Sister? Mary admits that it is to be;

she only questions its mode. She does not say

“This is not to be.” What she implicitly says
is, “I’ll play the part; just tell me how”

Do the same, Sister! That’s what I mean by

my whisper. Tell the devil that you are going
to double for the Mother of God, and if he

should tauntingly ask you, “How?” give him

in substance the words Gabriel gave Mary, say,

“The Holy Ghost shall come upon me and the

Power of the Most High shall overshadow

me. . . ” In other words, GOD is with you!

That is why I almost shout, “Be confident!”

Because you are not alone! You can play this

part and play it perfectly, else God be not God

!

Look, Sister. Motherhood connotes a

trinity, doesn’t it? Then realize that you are

never, never alone! And thrice a day as you

hear the Angelus ring, let it remind you of

my whisper: “Be confident! Be confident!



Whispers From The Wings 21

Be confident! You can play this part!” Then

as you say the prayer remember that what was

true of Mary in the physical order will be

true of you, in its own degree, in the mystical
—“She conceived by the Holy Ghost.” The
same Holy Ghost will aid you. What confidence

that should give you. Omnipotence is with

you!

What is the greatest lack in the religious

world, Sister? Is not courage and confidence?

Of course, fundamentally, these two come down

to Faith and Humility; but for the moment,

let us stay on the surface and look at the

flowers before we go down to the roots.

Isn't the whole situation summed up by

saying: Our ideals paralyze? Yes, that is the

word—they paralyze. Here I am a frail,
faulty, ever failing creature, yet called upon

to double for Jesus Christ. What an impos-

sibility! And you?—with all your womanish
weaknesses, with a mind that was darkened

from the beginning, a will that ever wants to

be wayward, a body that is instinct with re-

bellion and a soul that was wounded from the

start, you are called upon to walk like, talk

like, think like, act like, live like, BE like
Mary the Immaculate Mother of God. No

wonder you faint. No wonder the devil can

fill you with stage-fright. The very ideal para-

lyzes.

Oh, we may make a start, it is true; and
carry on for some little time. But the very

length of the struggle wearies us. Every day

we have to begin anew. The pressure is re-

lentless. The price is staggeringly high. Com-

plete success is ever wanting. So we give in!

We lower our ideals for want of courage and
confidence.

That, Sister, is the brief outline of the oft

told tale of how countless saints get cracked



22 Whispers From The Wings

in the moulding, how countless souls are blight-
ed before they bloom, how loves grow cold and
lives become bleak, barren and boring. No
courage. No confidence. No knowledge of God
and His grace.

That is it, Sister—No knowledge of God
and His grace. Look! God chose you to be a

Mystical mother, didn’t He? Don’t you see

then, that He has abligated Himself to help
you play your part? God never does things

by halves, Sister. He is not a Pharoah who
commands bricks to be made, then denies the

straw with which to make them. No! Hav-

ing chosen you to be Mystical Mother, He
must furnish you the means. “Nihil frustra

dedit Deus,” say the theologians; meaning,

“God has a purpose in His every gift.” He

prepares no wedding for a bride without pre-

paring a bridegroom. He did not send the

“angel” of your “annunciation” without giving

him the full message He gave Gabriel. Since

you are to be a Mystical Mother there will be

the Holy Ghost

!

So to the discouraging devil who says, “You

can’t double for the Mother of God,” speak a

triumphant and defiant, “POSSUMUS!”
meaning, “We can!” When he asks, “Why the
plural?” say, “Because I am two! God is with

me!”

A Practical Warning

But now a practical warning. You are a

double for Mary Immaculate, but you are not

Mary Immaculate! No, Sister, you are a

Sister, you are a daughter of Eve, and you

came into this world burdened with the “con-

cupiscience of the eyes, concupiscience of the

flesh, and the pride of life.” You may be

angelic, but yoh are not an angel. Therefore,



Whispers From The Wings 23

expect to feel impatient with this superior

and that inferior; expect to feel the stirrings

of resentment against this command and that

suggestion; expect to feel the surges of pride,

vanity and conceit rise within you; and don’t

be surprised to be made conscious of the fact

that you have a body of flesh! You were not

conceived immaculately and you have not been

confirmed in grace. Neither your clothing nor

profession won for you the preternatural gifts.

Therefore, you’re going to be tempted!

But let it also be said that you did not lay

aside all common sense or all Catholic sense

with your secular clothes! Being a woman,

you can expect temptations* to all the womanly

vices; being human you will fall into imper-

fections, indeliberate and semideliberate venial

sins; but that does not mean that you can-

not double for the Mother of God. Never!

Sanctity does not consist in freedom from

temptations; else Jesus Christ is not a saint!

He was tempted! Nor does it consist in free-

dom from imperfections or even from sin;

—

Peter denied Our Lord, the Apostles all fled,

Mary Magdalene was a public sinner! Yet I

say Mass in their honor every year.

In what does it consist, then?

—

In repeated-

ly beginning over again! In the spirit of

“Never-say-die!” That is the common sense

of sanctity. There is only one failure in the

religious life, Sister—that of giving in! As
long as we are ready to pick ourselves up after

every fall, pick our cross up, and stagger on,

we are making progress! Remember that in

the spiritual life it is not the success that

counts, but the striving . That is why we are
not to worry about the effects; but we are to

look to the efforts. For we are not vowed to

the attainment of perfection; but we are

vowed to the striving after it!



24 Whispers From The Wings

It is really heart-breaking to hear old re-

ligious grumble and say, “Oh, I get nothing out

of meditation,” or “I get nothing out of

spiritual reading,” or “I get nothing out of this

devotion and that.” What a horribly false
concept of the spiritual life! The question is

never, “What do I get out of it?” but always,

“What do I put into it?” It is efforts that

count, and only efforts; not effects! So as

long as you can sincerely say, “I am trying,”
you are safe, you are saintly. And let me add

that the more you put into things, the more

you will get out of them!

Therefore, remember, Sister, shadows do not

prove that the sun is set, but that it is shin-

ing; trial and tribulation do not mean that

God has left you, but that He loves you;

temptation is not a sign of failure, but of suc-

cess. Lucifer does not tempt his own! Re-

member also that Our Lord fell on the way to

Calvary. That is significant. So courage and

confidence; on and up; you are not one but

two!

It was one of your own who said something

to the effect that if I can keep an ever ready

“NUNC COEPI” on my lips and in my heart
until the Compline bell rings for me to say,

“NUNC DIMITTIS,” all will be well. Indeed,
all will be very, very well!

So say what Mary said when stage-fright

tends to ruin your role. Say, “Ecce ancilla

Domini.” Can you paraphrase that, Sister?

Have you caught its full significance? It is a

cry of confidence and perfect humility. It

means: “Here I am, Lord. We two will make
a success of this. Do with me what you will.

I am the clay, You the Potter; fashion me to

your own design.” That is humility, Sister,

true humility; for it is a recognition of God’s



Whispers From The Wings 25

sovereignty and an admission of our own

utter subjection to Him who is supreme.

With real humility always comes unfaltering

confidence; for it gives us a realization that

we are never alone; that our lives are a co-

operative affair. We cannot do without God;
and, due to His condescending decree, as things

now stand, He cannot do without us ! Isn’t

that enough to “screw your courage to the

sticking point?”—God depends on you! Who
is there, then, who would not laugh in the

devil’s face and say, “Ecce ancilla Domini.

Possumus!”

That “Ecce” is very like your “Fiat”; for

it is a word God has said and a word God loves.

Through His Psalmist, Christ said, “Ecce

venio” and the salvation of the world was a

promise. Mary said, “Ecce ancilla” and the

Savior of the world took flesh. Pilate said,

“Ecce homo” and the Lamb of God was led to

the slaughter. I say, “Ecce Agnus Dei” and

commemorate Calvary. You say, “Ecce an-

cilla” and The Great Drama of the Redeeming

goes on!

What an exaltation is yours! You have been

made a co-redemptrix of the world. Accent

that prefix, Sister; it is essential! God is

with you in this wondrous work. You can do

it—you two!
Theologians tell us, “Facienti quod in se est

,

Deus non denegat gratiam.” Which can be

freely translated as “God is faithful to the

faithful,” or “God greatly helps those who

really help themselves!” That is the point,

Sister. If we do our part, God will do His.

He has never yet left any earnest soul in the
lurch; and it is too late for Him to begin
now. I think St. Ignatius has settled this

whole puzzling question of our part and God’s



26 Whispers From The Wings

part, by saying, “Work as if it all depended
on you; pray as if it all depended on God.”

Which is only an amplification and clarifica-

tion of St. Benedict's “Ora et labora”; and I

can never stress that conjunction too much!

I do not know, nor do I claim to know, how
much is man's part and how much is God's in
a meritorious act. But I do know that man's

part is essential! May it not be well illus-
trated by the consecration of the bread and

wine in a Mass? It most certainly is God who

works that miracle of transubstantiation

;

but it would never be worked at my Mass
unless I pronounced the words and meant

them ! That's how essential I am to the
Sacrifice. And your “Eoce,” your “Fiat,” your

“Possumus,” said and meant are just as essen-

tial to the miracle of transforming a woman
from the world into a Madonna, a Mystical

Mother of Christ.

You have said them, I know; and you meant

them. But, because “some days must be dark

and dreary,” because you are still a woman

in the flesh, because in the secret depths of

every soul there lurks a trace of cowardice,

and most especially because the devil is not

dead, I whisper loudly, “Be confident! Be

confident! You can play the part and play

it perfectly; for God is God and you are not

one but two!”

“Move Into The Light”

My next whisper is a stage direction, Sis-
ter. For just as an actress will lose the force

of many of her lines and mar the perfection

of her whole performance unless she avoids the

deep shadows, so you will fail in your por-

trayal of the Mother of God unless you move



Whispers From The Wings 27

into the light. I go further and say you will

not perform at all unless you live in the light;

and I expect you to know that I am talking
about the Light of Faith.

There is an antiphon in the Office of the

Blessed Mother which I love. Sister. It runs

“Beata es Maria
,
quae credidisti. . .

”
“Blessed

art thou, Mary, because thou hast believed.”

I love it because it tells us so much of Mary’s

life and is so true to our life and way of liv-

ing. You know, Sister, there are some people

who write and talk as if Mary had the Beatific

Vision all her days; they seem to make her

actually omniscient. If these people are right,

the Gospels, of course, are wrong. For as you

remember from your third line Mary sought

Jesus and finding Him, spoke a motherly re-

buke. When He replied Mary did not under-
stand. That is what St. Luke tells us: “And

they (Mary and Joseph) understood not the

word that He spoke unto them.” So you can

see why I am going to go on loving my anti-
phon; it is taken from the Gospel!

Mary did not see, she believed! When she
bent over the Babe of Bethlehem do you think

for a moment that her eyes pierced humanity

and rested on divinity? When she bathed and
clothed and fed her little Boy do you think

that her eyes penetrated the body and rested

on the Godhead? When she saw the sweat
stand out on the young Carpenter’s brow do

you think that Mary was seeing the All pure

Spirit? Yes, she was! As much as you and 1,
with our mortal eyes, penetrate the species of

Bread and Wine and see the Body and Blood

of Him who was her Boy! Of course not, Sis-
ter! Mary saw a Baby at Bethlehem, a Boy

at Nazareth and a Blood-soaked Man on Cal-
vary! but Mary believed! And when I whis-



28 Whispers From The Wings

per, “Move into the light,” I am saying, “Be
like Mary.”

The religious life is a life of Faith, or it is

utter folly. Oh, the superficial may say, “Not
so. It is an easy life. Look at the security

one has. No worries about rents, work or
wages; no worry about clothing, food or bills;

no worry about dentists, doctors or old age.

One has all that any woman works for; and
much more than many a woman gets. She has
a roof over her head. There is always a meal

for the table. She is always respectably

clothed and has the homage of all who know

her. And who dares deny it?”

I don’t know what you would say to such a

one, Sister. But I know what I would say.

Looking at things materialistically, this one is

right. We have all she says. We don’t have
to worry as many of our brothers and sisters

do, and as some of our mothers and fathers

did. We don’t have to count our pennies so
that we will have enough for the rent; nor

wonder where the next meal is coming from.

No. And there never was, and never will be,

a Social Security Act or an Old Age Pension

to provide for the down going years equal to

our Beligious profession. Materialistically

speaking she is right; but life is not material-

istic! And a woman has deeper longings than

for a roof over her head, a meal on the table

and a dress on her back; for she is a woman!

That is, a being of body and soul with a deep,

deep instinct for motherhood. Finally, security

is not happiness; and happiness is what we

all long for.

Oh, I know that there are some few who

lead materialistic lives in convents; but they

are not nuns! They are souls who do not live

in the light. They are women of the world



Whispers From The Wings 29

garbed in the robes of religious. And in their

heart of hearts they are far from happy. A
prisoner sentenced for life has security; but

who would call him a blessed being? Well, a

religious who does not live by Faith, is a

prisoner sentenced for life.

No, there is too much confinement physical-

ly, mentally and morally; too much restraint

of liberty; too great a demand for control;

too much repression of our ever assertive self

required in religious life for anyone to be

happy without living in the light. Then look

at the emptiness of it all! If we are not

working to build up the Mystical Body of

Christ on earth and our own Eternal Man-

sions in Heaven, what in the name of reason

are we doing? What can we show for the

years?

What folly it would be, Sister, to lock your-

self away, cut your hair, robe yourself in

medieval garb and deny yourself all that is

dearest and deepest to your womanly heart,

unless you meant to be more than a person who

was socially and economically secure. Oh,

don’t be a fool! Move out of the shadows.

Be a Mystical Mary, and see all things and

all persons in the light. Be a modern Madonna

of radiant and radiating Faith!

Yes, I said all things and all persons . For

I think that many of us save our Faith for
meditation and the Mass. We actually try to
live our religious lives by halves; and the re-

sults are pitiable. We see God in the Host
and hold converse with Him in our prayer

;
but

then turn around and see only women in our

superiors, inferiors and equals, and only what

is human in all other people. We see the hand
of God in the happenings of History, but only

the hand of man in the happenings of the



30 Whispers From The Wings

present moment. We see the divine in the sin-
ners who have already been canonized, but only

the human in the sinners by our side who are
striving to be saints. We admit the virtue of
those who are dead; grant the goodliness and

the godliness of our founders and foundresses,

and the heroic holiness of their immediate com-

panions; but what do we concede to those who

are alive and who are carrying on the same

work, urged on by the same love, and anxious

for the same ends? What do we grant to our
present superiors as they slave for the glory

of God and the good of our own individual

souls? What do we admit of the courage and

the passionate love of those noble hearts that

are throbbing beneath the cloaks of those be-

side us? Indeed we can all move out into the

light! It will help us see things as they really

are! God’s chosen ones are at our elbow and

we see only mortals whom we do not like.
What a shame!

The spirit of Faith is not indigenous to our

times, Sister. The Twentieth Century, and

very especially the Twentieth Century in

America, has not charged the atmosphere in

which we move with ever ready belief. Far

from it! In very truth the cast of mind given

to the generations of the day is not the cast

of credence. Unbelief is all around us. A cer-
tain cynicism and unwillingness to credit any-

thing but what comes under the senses is the

trend of the times. And, Sister, you and I

were brought up in that atmosphere! We
must remember that no one is immune to en-

vironment. We must also remember that in
every act of Faith an exercise of the will is

called for. So we must go to work!

Yes, I said, “work,” Sister; for I want you

to become an artist, and that calls for work.



Whispers From The Wings 31

How does one acquire the art of playing the
piano? Isn’t it a case of practise? And if

one will become expert with the brush, must

she not practise? How did you acquire your
skill in teaching, nursing, talking, thinking,

cooking, sewing, or whatever else you are adept

at? Was it not practise! practise! practise!
Well, the same holds true for Faith. If you

would be a perfect double, if you would live in

the light, if you would be a Madonna, you

must practise Faith.

Yes, I said “practise Faith.” You know.

Sister, there are more fallacies flying around

in the ascetic realm than there are dust-

particles dancing in a sunbeam. I can almost

hear many saying with that incredulous, and

supposedly withering, lift of the voice, “Prac-

tise Faith?—Why, Faith is a gift!” And so
it is. Just like life to a baby. But if we don’t

feed that baby we know what will happen to

that gift of life ! Faith is a gift like the power

to think, the power to will, or the power to

remember. But you know what happens to

those powers if we do not exercise and de-

velop them. Faith is a gift, but not a gift like

a dead diamond (precious and priceless though

it is!) but a gift more on the order of a rare

and delicate plant that must be watered and

watched and carefully cultivated. And just
as a plant needs the energy of the sun if it is

to live, so your Faith needs the energy of your

constant exercise if it is not to die.

Do We Believe What We Profess To
Believe?

Come, Sister, let us be practical. Do we be-
lieve what we profess to believe? We say
the “Credo” but do we live it? Is there a dis-



32 Whispers From The Wings

crepancy between our Act of Faith and our

Lives of Faith? Let us see. . . .

What does the doctrine of the Mystical
Body say about your Sisters in religion?—All
of them, both those in office and those not.

Do you think of them, and speak of them, and
act towards them as sacred individuals, mem-
bers of that Body of which God is Head? Does

the sparkle in every human eye say the same
thing to you as does the flickering of the sanc-

tuary lamp? Does it say, “Christ is here?”

It should! Do you actually believe that you

yourself are a member of that Body? Have

you a vibrant conviction that whatever you do,

be it good or bad, big or small, in public or in

private, affects God who is your Head? Have

you the persuasion in the very core of your

being that your life and the way you live it

means much to everyone who has been Bap-

tized and even more to Him who instituted
Baptism?

Does this consciousness of your incorpora-

tion in Christ affect your whole outlook on life

and on all things in life? Is this doctrine just

a lifeless bit of dogma or is it a dynamic driv-

ing force motivating your every action, per-

meating your every thought and dominating

your whole existence? It is only by answering

such questions honestly that you will ever be

able to answer the abqve question adequately:

Is there a discrepancy between what you

actually believe and what you profess to be-

lieve?

Test yourself, Sister. As you stand in the

class-room, the hospital, asylum, home or con-

vent, is it humanity that you see before you

and around you—just boys and girls, men and
women, mere mortals—or do you look more
deeply and see members of Christ? I know



Whispers From The Wings 33

that I am giving you a searching test, Sister;
but I also know that very few of us realize

that there is only ONE Christ—the WHOLE
Christ! I want you to realize that we don't

believe in real earnest what we profess to be-

lieve; and I want that realization to energize

you and stimulate you to real action!

God gave us the gift of Faith; but that

only gives us the ‘posse/ as the theologians

say. It gives us the power, the ability, the

possibility; we have to reduce that possibility

to actuality; we have to do the believing.

God gave us the ‘posse’; but what we want is

the ‘facile posse/ the ease, the agility, the

expertness of the professional, the perfection

of the artist. And the only way we will ever
acquire it is by doing with the gift of Faith

what we did with the power to walk. We
learned to walk, Sister, by walking! We crept
along on all fours at first, later when we stood
up on our own two feet and essayed a few

steps, we fell; but we kept on getting up and

trying again. Today we can walk with ease
and grace. Today we are stable on our feet.

Why? Because we kept on trying! The appli-
cation is obvious, Sister: Let us start creep-

ing today, in this matter of Faith, creeping

along on all fours; tomorrow we may be able
to stand! Let us move out into the light and

do away with the humiliating discrepancy that

exists between our Act of Faith and our lives

of Faith.

It Brings Peace

Acquire that art, Sister; and you have won

peace! Yes, true and interminable peace. For

that light makes all people lovable, life very

livable, and all things bearable.

I have a passion for plain speaking and



34 Whispers From The Wings

utter honesty, Sister. Let us indulge it by

saying that the second Commandment of the
Law is the harder Commandment to fulfill.
People are not lovable in themselves; yet we
are commanded to love them as ourselves.

Don’t you see the impossibility? How can we
love an inconsiderate, unappreciative, ever

fault-finding superior? How can we love a
disagreeable, destructively critical, small-mind-

ed and suspicious inferior? How can we love
the envious, the jealous, the ever irritable?

How the haughty or the hypocritical? How
the smooth-tongued, ever-smiling, ambitious

sycophant? How love the soured and shriv-
elled-souled? It can’t be done! Such people

are not only psychological incompatibilities,

they are perpetual irritants. Looked at in the

light of day, they are impossible. But there

stands the second Commandment! What are

we to do?—Turn on the light! The light of
Faith!

Will that light change the people I have

just described? Not a bit! They are all that

I have called them, and most likely will remain

the same; but we will have changed! We will
see them differently. We will see them as
members of the Body of Christ. We will re-
member that God made them and that God

died for them. That will be enough. That will

make them most lovable, even though they re-

main not the least bit likable!

As you see, Sister, this is not a process of

going blind; it is simply the practice of open-

ing our eyes! Anyone can see the faults and

defects and glaring humanness in people; it

takes doubles for Mary to see their divine-

ness! But I must insist that it takes practice!

And as for things—How can we say, “Domi-
nus est” when Injustice levels us to the dust?



Whispers From The Wings 35

How can we say, “It is the Lord” when
Treachery and Deceit rob us of hard won

honors? How can we say, “Fiat” when Failure
dogs our every day and ruins our every effort?

We won’t; for we can’t; unless we live in
the Light! and see all things through His

eyes

!

Emile Mersch, S.J., who has written the

classic on the Mystical Body, titling it, THE
WHOLE CHBIST, says that we never read
History aright unless we see in its very event

a “coming of Christ.” How true that is! And
how it again shows us the discrepancy that

exists between our actual belief and our pro-

fession. How many of us look at the big and
the little events in our ordinary everyday

lives as “comings of Christ?” How many?
Yet we say we believe in Divine Providence!

How many of us have vision keen enough to
see in a reprimand or a removal, in a mis-

understanding, a misinterpretation, or even a

misrepresentation, a “coming of Christ”? When
disappointment comes, and all our hopes are

blighted and all our world goes black, do we

see these as gifts held out to us by One whose

palms are pierced?

Don’t let me discourage you, Sister. For
that would be doing the devil’s work; and I

don’t want to do that! I have been bald, per-

haps even a bit brutal in my bluntness, but
until we are persuaded persuaded’ I say,

not ‘convinced’; for I want action!) that we

must creep on all fours in this matter of Faith,

and keep on creeping until we are able to
stand up and walk, I’m afraid the well founded

lament of many an experienced Superior will
grow louder. They say, “The Spirit of Faith

is dying”; and they are talking about their

own subjects!



36 Whispers From The Wings

It is for you and me to keep it alive. And
oh! what a Model you have! Look at Mary’s

Faith. She brought forth a tiny Babe; and

you know where! Yet she looked into human

eyes and adored God. She had to hold that

tiny Body close to her breast, hurry out across

that sea of sand, called “the Wilderness of

Shur,” and ride into the exile of Egypt;—and
it took more Faith to say “Dominus est” to

that event than it took to look into eyes that

had been lit from her own and say, “This is

God!” Some thirty years later she had to

scuff through blood-stained dust and follow a

rabble up a skull-shaped hill to see her Boy

nailed between two thieves;—and to repeat
the “Fiat” of the Annunciation to the words

of her Jesus as He made her Mother of the
Mystical Body took the greatest Faith of all.

How could she do it?—Only by looking at
things in the Light!

Your Greatest Tribute

Sister, we are living only to give glory to

God; and let me tell you that you can give

Him no greater tribute than to look up when
things are blackest and say, “I believe! I be-

lieve! I believe! Thou art my God.” You
cannot touch the Heart of Christ more tenderly

or more deeply than by saying, “I believe!”

when you do not and cannot understand. We
are surrounded by the incomprehensible, Sister

but we are also immersed in God. And what

He longs for is a profession of belief.

Oh, how our Jesus loves Faith! Don’t you

remember His words to Thomas? Thomas

saw and then adored
;

our Christ did not

bless his adoration. No indeed. Instead He

said that we were the blessed ones; we who

do not see, and yet, believe! Read your Gos-



Whispers From The Wings 37

pels, Sister, and see how He was touched by

every profession of real Faith. “If I can but

touch the hem of His garments” said one;

“Lord I am not worthy,” said another, “Say
but the word and my servant shall be healed.”
“Lord, if thou wilt, Thou canst make me

clean,” said a third. And all three called

forth miracles. Why?—Because Faith is a
tribute of trust! It shows that we believe,

not in an argument, but in a Person! A Per-
son we know and love.

Let it be said of her double, then, what we

say of the Original: “Beata es, Maria, quae

credidisti. . . .” Blessed art thou, Mary, because

thou hast believed . . . . And let it be said espe-

cially when things are blackest. It can be

done, Sister, if you will work. So start creep-

ing today; tomorrow you may be able to walk!

Move out into the light and you will save your-

self much misery as you give God great glory!

In the first booklet we insisted most on what

you mean to men; in this we are insisting

more on what you mean to God. But I cannot

drop this fundamental matter of Faith with-

out telling you that by moving into the light

you reflect, radiate and diffuse that light all

about you, and thus help men.

The world today, Sister, has gone cynical on

virtue. It does not believe it exists. And when
we find corruption in every stratum of

society, we can understand the cynicism. How-

ever, I have always thrilled to the hush, the

awe and the reverential respect that comes

over a group whenever two Sisters walk by.

What a tribute. Your humble comportment
is one sermon to which the cynical world gives

ear. It sneers at the very idea of poverty

purity and humility until you walk by, ther

the sneer vanishes and silence speaks its tri-



38 Whispers From The Wings

bute to something it clearly recognizes but

does not fully understand. The world admits

that you are poor, pure and humble, Sister;

and it is moved to soul-deep reverence by your

very passing. It realizes that abnegation, dis-

cipline, self-control and self-denial are not

vanished from the earth; and it is forced to

admit that Jesus Christ did not die in vain.

Keep on preaching that sermon, Sister, for

our sorry, sin-sodden world needs it. It needs

the sight of the Madonna! The sight of one

who is pure virgin and loving mother, of one

who combines in her person the adorable chas-

tity of a solitary star with the winning warmth

of the earth’s best flowers, blending what we

admire with what we love, uniting what is of

Heaven with what is of earth, giving us what

the shepherds saw, the Magi reverenced and

what Egypt, Nazareth and even the rough

Roman soldiery respected—the Madonna—the
pure, poor, sweet, lowly, lovely and lovable

Mother of God. Give us that same sight, Sis-

ter, and show us that virtue is the crown of

character, that humans are more than human,

that they are partly divine. Prove with a

proof irrefutable that Christ still lives and

His Mystical Body grows. And thus give our

blackly pessimistic world what it has not got,

but what it badly needs ;—give it HOPE ! For
Faith, you know, is “the substance of things

to be hoped for.” Walk the earth, then, Sister,

show us the Madonna and give us hope for

heaven. For by showing yourself a Mother

you show us the Son! And He is the One our
sorry world needs to see.

“Don’t Be So Self-Conscious!”

No, Sister, I am not repeating myself when
I whisper, “Don’t be so self-conscious.” I am



Whispers From The Wings 39

not now guarding you against shyness and

stage-fright. That is finished. I am warning
you against something worse

—

One time I described a double as a person

without a personality; an individual without

individuality; an ego completely clouded so

that the Star might shine. Most of you will

catch my meaning immediately for most of you
have some knowledge of the stage and screen.

You know that a double can never think of

self! She must study the Original assiduous-

ly, and reproduce her without a flaw. She

must be so perfect in her protrayal that people

seeing her will think they are looking at the

Star. You see what that means, Sister; it

means that everything that is distinctively you

must be submerged; everything that specifies,

differentiates and characterizes you as you

must go; everything that is utterly personal,

and peculiarly yours must be denied, so that

Mary may be seen! In short, you must be un-

conscious of self if you would Mother the

Mystical Christ.

At a rehearsal of Handel's masterpiece, that

moving, majestic oratorio, “Messiah,” a con-

tralto soloist began the well known passage, “I

know that my Redeemer liveth.” Her voice
was rich, warm and true, her technique fault-
less, her range extensive and her timber good;

but despite all these excellences, something was

lacking.

She brought the solo to its dramatic close.

The orchestra came to rest. And our contralto
stood in the center of the stage sure of her-

self, satisfied with herself and very conscious

of self. She looked toward the concert master

confidently, expectantly, awaiting his praise.

But instead, with face flushed with angry ex-

citement, he rushed over to her and shaking a



40 Whispers From The Wings

finger accusingly in her face while lightning

flashed from his eyes, he almost shrieked, “You

don’t know that your Redeemer liveth! You

are not thinking of Him at all! You are
thinking of self! Now do it all over again
and tell me about your Redeemer; I don’t
want to hear about you.”

The music began again. This time the solo-

ist did not sing from her throat
;
but her heart

and mind opened and found expression in song,

telling the concert master and all who listened,

in tones that were vibrant with faith and hope

and triumph that “her Redeemer indeed was

living!” When she finished this second time,
she stood as if entranced; and the master

held out both hands in tribute, and in a voice

choked with emotion said, “You’re a soloist

when your’re not self-conscious!”

Sister, I am somewhat slow in stating my
precise point, for I am puzzled; and for long,
long years have been puzzled by the frighten-

ing paradox of those who, with a generosity

that appalls, will fling down their whole lives

in one grand gesture of loyalty and love to

God, then become so miserly and mean as to

seek their tiny selves in trifles! An actress
that does not forget herself ruins her acting;

a double who seeks herself will not double

long; then how can a nun claim to be a nun

and yet be selfish?

They tell me that nothing is small in the re-
ligious life. I think they are totally wrong. I

think everything is small. And if you ask me
just what is the agony of life—not only of the
religious life, but of all life—I would say: The
crushing fact that nothing is big!

What do you or I do 1;hat is not trifling?

What can we do that could ever justily be

called ‘big’? If you have never felt this small-



Whispers From The Wings 41

ness, Sister, then read History, both Eccle-

siastical and Secular, and learn that of the

billions on billions who have labored and loved

and lived and died, who have sweated and

strained and broken their very hearts in an

effort to achieve immortality, there remain on

the record of the professional historian a paltry

5000 names; and about these few only the

professional knows or cares!

Of course we are small, and our whole world

is small. What is this madness, then, that

seizes us and fills us with ambitions to get

ahead, stand high, be a favorite, gain recogni-

tion, win the approval of those in authority

and the applause of those who are not? What

is the fever that runs through our veins

making us so sensitive to slight, so hungry

for praise, so positively gluttonous for notice

and appreciation? Why are we, who are con-
secrated to the glory of God, so anxious for

self-aggrandizement? Why is it that we, who
have tossed everything worth while aside, now

stoop to pick up the worthless plaudits of this

little group or that?

I tell you, Sister, it is a perplexing, para-

doxical puzzle. To say that Adam lives in me
and that Eve is not dead in you is humiliating-

ly true, but it is not a solution to the puzzle.

For I want to know why they are not dead!
Is it all a part of the fact that our Act of

Faith differs from our life of Faith? Is it that

we have memorized our lines without learning

their meaning? Or is it that we do not live
in the Light?

We must remember that the difference be-
tween the doubles on the stage or screen and

ourselves is that we have signed a life’s con-
tract, while they only double in spots. Yes,

we have obligated ourselves to double twenty-



42 Whispers From The Wings

four hours a day, seven day a week, fifty-two

weeks a year, till death do us part! Or rather

“till death do us unite” to the Ones for whom
we double! Now, Sister,, can you imagine Mary

being Mother of Jesus for a few hours every

day and then being her own selfish self the rest

of the times? Can you picture her at any time

doing anything but seeking the good of her

Boy? Doesn’t the very idea of Mary doing
things just for Mary, of Mary thinking only

of Mary, of Mary seeking her own comfort,

convenience and self-advancement seem gro-

tesque? Why, it grates on our very sensibili-

ties and shocks our nerves. Well, you are her

double! And the only big thing in your life
is He who was her whole life!

To put the puzzle another way, let me ask
you why it is that we who are capable of the
big virtues seem utterly incapable of the little

ones? Why is it that we who would die for a
dogma, cannot keep our temper in a theological

discussion? Why is it that you who astound the
world with your initial sacrifices, cannot bear

the slightest reflection on your capabilities?

Why is that we who have given up self in the
courageous prodigality of our religious pro-

fessions, seek self in the little group in which

we live and move? It is beyond me. Can you

account for it?

I know that if we live the doctrine of the

Mystical Body, this will not be! I know that

if we become Christ-conscious and Mary-con-

scious we will cease being self-conscious. Look,

Sister! You left home to become a saint; no

other reason will justify your act. Now a
saint is one who dies to self that Christ might

live in him or her; a saint is one who thinks

only of the Master and His interests, entirely

forgetting self and all self-interests; a saint



Whispers From The Wings 43

is one who has fallen so deeply in love that

life ceases to be something and becomes Some

One! Are you achieving the end for which

you left home?

Before you answer that question ask your-

self how you use the events, the ordinary hap-

penings, pleasant and unpleasant, expected

and unexpected, exciting and unexciting, of

your every day. What do you see in them?

Is it an opportunity to become more and more

like the Mother of God? If you say, “Yes”

you have answered the original question af-

firmatively. If you cannot say “Yes,” then

let me tell you that unless you use these little

things to sanctify your soul and glorify God,

you will never become big

!

Yes, Sister, I repeat: There are little

things in the religious life; and it is only in

them and through them and with them that

we can achieve the only big thing in life-

sanctity! And I must add with sadness that

there are little persons and little poisons in the

religious life. There are jealousies and angers

and envies
;

there are tale-bearings, and

criticisms and idle curiosities; there are the

falsely ambitious, the social climbers and the

sycophants; there are the dilettantes in asce-

ticism, mysticism and love of God. But why
go on? sum it all up by saying: There are

the self-conscious

!

Know well, Sister, that the self-conscious
never become great actresses. Is the Great

Drama of the Redeeming going to be ruined

because of your self-consciousness? You are

face to face with a sublime challenge, Sister;

do not turn your back! God needs YOU! So
let self die and be everlastingly buried.

Look again at your Model. Did she think

of self when she hurried into the hill country,



44 Whispers From The Wings

despite the fact that she had just conceived

God by God! Did she think of self when

Elizabeth greeted her with “Blessed art thou

amongst woman”? You know she didn't! The

answer that leaped to her lips was, “Mag-

nificat anima mea Dominum." Did she think
of self when she set out for Bethlehem despite

the fact that the birth of Him who had created
Bethlehem, Juda and all the world was only

a matter of hours off? Did she think of self

when she hurried into Egypt, flying from a

petty king, even though the King of kings was

in her arms? Did she think of self when she

stood 'neath the Cross of Christ and became

the co-redemptrix of the race of men and

Mother of the Mystical Body? Did she ever

think of self?

And now that she is in Heaven of whom
does she think? Is it of self? No. Never!

It is of you and me and all the other millions
who are or should he His! Yes, of you and

me; for we are her Christ! She thought only

and always of her Christ while she was on

earth; she thinks only and always of Him

now that she is in Heaven; and since there

is only One Christ—the Whole Christ—she,
the Queen of Angels and Saints, is thinking

of you and me! Sister, Sister, don't be self-

conscious or you'll never be like Mary!

Mary's solo was the Magnificat. She sang

it from the Annunciation to the Assumption;

and she goes on singing it in Heaven. That is

your solo, too, Sister. Magnify the Lord.

Make Him great! Greatly known, greatly

loved, greatly served! Sing that solo well!

And let me echo the concert master of the

“Messiah" by saying: “You'll be a great soloist

if you're not self-conscious!"



Whispers From The Wings 45

“Your Gestures Must Be Generous!”

I think you will see that my whispers have
had connection with the words that you were

to learn. I whispered, “Thank you” for your

“Fiat”; “Be confident” so that you can say,

“Ecce ancilla”; “Move into the Light” and

“Don’t be so self-conscious” to aid you with

your “Magnificat.” And I could go on with

other whispers to help you with your other

lines, but Mary was more magnificent in her

silence than she was in her speech; so I must

help you reproduce that magnificence. I do

so by whispering, “Your gestures must be

generous”; and by that I mean you must

sacrifice.

There is no silence in all the world like unto

the silence of Mary on Calvary. Never was

she more magnificent, never more the valiant

woman, never more “Madonna mia” than when

she was Mater Dolorosa. “A woman crushed

in silence” became your Mother and mine that

awful afternoon as she offered her heart as

sheath for the seventh sword. In that third

dread hour she ceased being just the Mother

of “the Nazarene” and became the Mother of

all men; for His death was our birth, and

the corpse of the Physical Jesus was the cradle

of the Mystical Christ. Mary was indeed “A
Woman Wrapped in Silence” but a silence that
was pregnant with salvation. She was not of

the audience on Calvary. No! She was the

co-redemptrix with her Christ. She was enact-

ing the leading feminine role in the Drama of
Redemption. Her gestures that day were not

merely generous, they were generosity!

And that Drama, Sister, was the prelude to
the one in which you act. The Great Drama
of the Redeeming goes on because Christ, the

Vine, engrafted us, the wild branches, in Him-



46 Whispers From The Wings

self when He so generously stretched Himself

on Calvary’s cross-beamed trellis. And it is the

Whole Christ who now redeems! He, the Head

by the merits of strict justice; we, the mem-

bers, by the merits of His condescending Mer-

cy. He has willed that we be His Body; and

it was the Blood of His Body that originally

saved the world; so it is the blood of His

Mystical Body that goes on saving it! That is

the truest of true theology, Sister, and it means

that if the world is not saved, the fault will

not lie with Jesus or His Mother; they played

their parts to perfection. The fault will lie

with you and me and all their doubles for not
making our gestures generous; for not being

willing to bleed!

Isn’t it the paradox of paradoxes and the

glory of all glories that “something is wanting

to the Passion of Christ” who satisfied “super-

abundantly”; and that we can “fill up what is

wanting”? That’s what your life means. That’s

what life is for. We are here to redeem the
world. I, by doubling for Jesus, and you, by

being like the Woman crushed in magnificent
silence. In that sense, and in that sense alone,

there is nothing small in the religious life.

In that sense, and in that sense alone, we are

great. In that sense, and in that sense alone,

life is lovable! Generosity and Sacrifice are

our body and soul. We died to the world to
live to Christ; we now die as Christ that the

world might live. What a romance, then, is

The Great Drama of the Eedeeming! Nothing

but love, love, love! Love for God and love for

our fellow man.

God is immutable, Sister; and here is your

proof: The motif of Creation’s Drama was

love. The motif of the Drama of Redemption

was the same. And the motif of The Great



Whispers From The Wings 47

Drama of the Redeeming is identical. It is

LOVE!

And how are we to show that love?—As
Mary did! As Jesus did! How are we to
redeem the world?—As Mary did! As Jesus
did! How are we to enact the Drama?—You
by sheathing seven swords in your soul; I by

having my heart lance-pierced. Jesus and
Mary chose the sacrifice of suffering to

redeem the world, Sister; we can choose no

other.

Once again we have to face the humiliating

paradox that we, who are capable of really

great sacrifices—and have made them!—are
seemingly incapable of the little ones. Is it

not because we have failed to cultivate the

spirit of sacrifice? How few of us have
acquired a readiness to suffer ! How very, very
few have developed a Calvary keenness that

makes of the myriad little irritations of the

day drops of blood to fill the Chalice of Re-

demption to overflowing! Something is want-

ing to that Chalice, Sister. St. Paul tells us

so. You must help to fill it. With what

—

big, dramatic sacrifices?—No! but with tiny
drops of self-control

;
an impatient gesture

checked, a cutting remark choked back, a word

of criticism swallowed, a rising of envy quelled,

a thought of pride, self-complacency or vanity

smothered, a yielding to the ways and the

wishes of another. These are the sacrifices

that count; not because they are big, but pre-

cisely because they are small

!

Nothing but

straws; but they show the way the wind is
blowing, and they tell that the soul has con-

quered self and won the spirit of sacrifice! It

is the spirit we lack, Sister, not the sacrifices!

Women are such wantons in the question
of sacrifice they shame heroic men. So true is



48 Whispers From The Wings

that that if you ask me to sum up a mother
in one word I would say, “Sacrifice.” Mary

has lately been called “The woman Wrapped
in Silence,” she could more justly be styled

“The Lady Lost in Sacrifice.” And if you are

to double perfectly, you must be the same!

Ah, Sister, who can equal our initial sacri-

fices?—No one. Who can die and yet live?

—

No one but you and me and our partners in
the Service of Love. That is what our en-

trance meant—a living death! That is what
our professions meant. Unquestionably our

initial sacrifices were complete. We gave up
all; and gave it up willingly. We set out for
religious life expecting hard things; and we

found them! In the early days we greeted

them with a smile; but what has come over

us in these later years? Why is it that they
can say: “Scratch a monk and you’ll find a

man; scratch him twice and you’ll find a

beast”? And why can it be perfectly paral-

leled with: “Scratch a nun and you’ll find a

female; scratch her twice and you’ll find a

feline?” Why are we so seemingly incapable
of little sacrifices? Why do we so often for-
get our roles and step out of character when

touched? Where are our generous gestures

—

arms flung wide like Him who hung on the
Cross or like her who received Him from that
Cross?

There are our Models! And they teach us

the startling truth that the world is saved by

those who do nothing! What did Jesus do on

Calvary?—Nothing but hang on a Cross and
pray. And what did Mary do but simply stand

beneath it? That is why we say that the

world’s salvation in this dark moment of

history lies with Poor Clares and Discalced

Carmelites more than with Dictators and



Whispers From The Wings 49

Presidents. That is why Mercy will be won

for men by Little Sisters of the Poor and Sis-

ters of Providence more than by bombs and

battleships. That is why redemption will come

through women garbed in white, black, brown

and blue, rather than through men uniformed

as soldiers, sailors or marines. The world will

be saved today in just the same way that it

was saved two thousand years ago—by those
who do nothing but suffer and sacrifice.

Oh, Sister, what an opportunity is yours!

You can be a Victim for a victimized world.

You can be a woman by a blood-drenched
Cross. You can be a Madonna to whom the
agonizing Christ can say: “Woman, behold thy

son.” Christ needs you, Sister—the Whole
Christ, God and man. Hor He is on the Cross

!

Won’t you be His “Madonna mia”? Won’t

you cultivate the spirit of sacrifice? Won’t you

show the world a woman who bleeds? That is
the kind of a woman Jesus needs—one who
will be co-redemptrix

;
“et sine sanguinis effu-

sione nulla fit remissio!”

What am I asking—that you go to martyr-
dom?—Yes, Sister, exactly! The martyrdom
endured by Mary, the martyrdom of the

“Ordinary Way.” And that is my last whis-
per. I say

:

“Carry Yourself Majestically!”

I whisper ‘majestically’ for Mary is a Queen.
I say it also because the way you are to walk
is El Camino Real—The King’s Highway

—

trodden by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, The Royal
Road of Nazareth. The Beaten Path of ordin-

ary everyday routine! That is the one way
to martyrdom for the vast majority of us
who have said, “Voveo.”



50 Whispers From The Wings

I return to an idea I touched in the early

pages as I say that if you would he a real co-

redemptrix, a true Madonna, a perfect double,

you’ve got to be a saint. I know you realize

this and I know you have already said, “Para-
tum cor meum, Deus

,
paratum cor meum”

—

“My heart is ready, 0 Lord, my heart is
ready. Yes, ready for the seven swords that

won for Mary her diadem of Queen; ready to
sheathe every blade You see fit to plunge into

this breast of mine; ready to become Your co-

redemptrix.” But like most of us who have

risen to the challenge, you want to know

HOW! You want some one to show you the
WAY. And I tell you that He and She have
already shown it! Jesus said, “I am the
WAY”; and where Jesus walked, Mary fol-
lowed !

Stripped of all allegory, what does that

mean?—It means Sister, that sanctity does
NOT consist in the extraordinary! It means
that if you and I earnestly strive to keep our

Rule, make a real effort to be unflinchingly

loyal to our Constitution, faithful to the cus-

toms of the house and obedient to our Supe-

riors, we have arrived! It means that sanc-

tity lies in sweeping floors, washing dishes,

making beds, answering bells for this, that and

the other duty of the day, in living the hum-

drum, unexciting, uninviting, dull, drab, dread-

ening routine of everyday religious life!

I never tire on this theme, Sister. I’ve put

it in books and booklets, in sermons, con-

ferences and conversations; and I would that

I could enlist a whole army of preachers to

say nothing but: “Sanctity for the ordinary

run of mortals lies in the ordinary
!”

Why is it so necessary to shout this?—Be-
cause our libraries are filled with “Lives of



Whispers From The Wings 51

Saints” by hagiographers who shout the oppo-

site. May God be merciful to such authors!
They have done the devil’s work by discourag-

ing hordes of wholesome people; they have

led countless souls into illusion.

Look at the Gospels. There we have “Lives

of Saints” written by the Holy Ghost, the

Spirit of Truth, He who is Substantial Sanc-

tity! What does He tell us of Jesus, Mary and

Joseph at Nazareth? Why, their lives were so

ordinary that Joseph was known as “the vil-

lage carpenter,” Jesus as “the carpenter’s

son” and Mary as “Mother of Jesus.”

What a revelation that is! The three most

saintly souls in all God’s great creation led

normal
,
human lives! What a comfort and an

inspiration! For almost two decades now we

have heard very much about “the little way”

of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus. Many have
written and spoken on it as if it were a new

revelation. It is not. It could not be.

Theresa came nineteen hundred years too late

to give us that. “The little way for little

souls” was walked first by the little Child

whom little Theresa loved. It was Jesus
Christ and His Mother Mary along with that

giant of genuine holiness, the good and gentle

St. Joseph, who made the revelation that you

and I must win our sanctity not by heroics
,

but by being heroic enough to be ordinary

always and in all ways. It is not ecstasies,

private revelation and miracles; not by being

lifted off the ground in prayer, but by praying

and working with your two feet on the ground

with your heart and mind with Christ—the
Whole Christ, Head and members—that you
will become “Madonna mia,” a saint!

Go in spirit to Nazareth and stand by

Miriam’s Well; it is there this moment. The



52 Whispers From The Wings

same to which she came twice a day to fetch

water for “the carpenter and his son.” Stand

there and see her come through the mists of

twenty centuries and learn the way to be a
co-redemptrix

!

The Madonna of art is one thing; the

Mother in real life quite another. Our Mary

carried water, washed, mended, got meals,

swept floors, tidied rooms, made beds, cleaned

house just as your mother did and mine. She

lived the ordinary life of ordinary mortals and

she lived it in an ordinary way. That is the

lesson of Nazareth. It clearly states that the

only rungs for a Jacob’s ladder are formed

from the duties of one’s state in life!

Grace means sanctity, Sister; and very

particularly the “grace of state”; the grace

given you this day, this hour, this moment for

your particular task. Father Caussade, S.J.,

coined a significant phrase in that golden little

book of his on Abandonment. When he speaks

of “The Sacrament of the present moment” he

is speaking of richest reality. When he ex-
horts you to receive it fruitfully, he is giving

you the truest secret to sanctity. Cooperation

with the grace of state given us from moment

to moment in our ordinary lives means our

own sanctification and the salvation of the

world. And if anyone doubt it, let him or her

read the Gospels!

When Jesus began to work wonders and to
preach, what did the Nazarenes say? They

looked at one another in puzzlement and asked,

“How came this man by his wisdom and
miracles? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is

not his mother called Mary?” Catch the full

force of those questions, Sister. Eemember

Nazareth was a small town. Everybody knew

everybody else and everybody else’s business!



Whispers From The Wings 53

Yet, after approximately a quarter of a cen-

tury of this shoulder to shoulder and eye to eye

living, Jesus and Mary appeared so ordinary

because of their ordinary lives, that their

townsfolk were puzzled by Jesus’ learning.

Our Christ spent twenty to thirty years teach-

ing us how to live. He gave eighteen hours

to His Passion and Death! Hear the voices

from Miriam’s Well, Sister; they say: “We
are the WAY—the Royal Way—the way of
ordinary routine!”

Not In The Extraordinary

Tread the Beaten Path, Sister, with courage,

confidence and consistency. Do your ordinary

every day duties with Faith, fidelity and for-

titude. Look not for, and aspire not to, the

extraordinary.

I am not denying that some saints had the
extraordinary. No. But I am insisting that
sanctity is NOT in the extraordinary. Francis
of Assisi without the stigmata would still

be St. Francis of Assisi; Bernard of Clair-

vaux without his ecstasies, miracles and divine

visitations would still he St. Bernard of Clair-

vaux. These gifts are not absolute signs of

sanctity. Indeed no! Judas most likely

worked miracles. Mary Immaculate did not.

Look, Sister, I don’t think there is any question

as to the reality of the apparitions of Our

Lady at La Salette. I think it is true that

Melaine and Maximin saw Mary Immaculate
and heard her speak. What a gift! But you
can be sure that there will be no Postulator

for the cause of poor Maximin; nor will any

Devil’s Advocate ever have to work against the

cause of Melaine. No. The gifts and sanctity

are separable. The extraordinary may be
supernatural; it may also be, and often has



54 Whispers From The Wings

been, preternatural!—the work of the devil.
Simon Magus did some marvelous things, you
must remember; but he’ll never be canonized!

Ah, who can tell the number of those who

have been deceived or discouraged by this kill-

ing fallacy? Say what we will, we ourselves
are not great saints today because we have

lacked a certain courage; and this lack was

caused by a loose grip on the fundamental prin-

ciples concerning sanctity. There is many a
broken heart beneath a religious habit today

because people have not realized that sanctity

does not consist in flawlessness, faultlessness,

or even sinlessness; and secondly, that sanctity

is not a mushroom growth!

Take faultlessness

:

—Sister, don’t you know
the lives of the two great pillars of the

Church, Saints Peter and Paul? Were they

faultless? The blustering, blundering, bragging

Peter faultless?—Why he denied Our Lord!
The fire-eating, St. Paul without a fault?

—

Kead his own confessions in his epistles. Why
he was a sinner—just as from 98 to 99y2% of
all the saints in Heaven today! People look-

ing for human beings without faults are look-

ing for shadows without light, hills without

valleys, smoke without fire. They are looking

for the impossible! They expect to find virtue

where there has been no trial or temptation.

If sanctity consisted in absolute sinlessness,

there would be only one human person in

Heaven today—she for whom you double; for
she alone was conceived immaculate.

As for growth :—As I said before we are
vowed not to sanctity, but to the striving for

sanctity. Hence, there is never any one mo-

ment in our lives, no, not even the last, where-

in we are bound to have arrived! to have at-

tained perfection! to have acquired absolute



Whispers From The Wings 55

holiness! But we must also remember that

there is never a moment, no, not even our last,

in which we are not bound to strive for sanc-

tity. That only means, Sister, that we must

put forth an honest effort persistently and

consistently. That only means that sanctity is

a growth, but a gradual one! “Natura non

fit per saltus,” say the philosophers ; and

ascetical writers should add: “Neque super-

natural” Nature does not do things by leaps

and bounds—neither does supernature! Sanc-
tity is not an overnight growth; there is noth-

ing of the toadstool about it, but there is much

of the oak.

In one of her most charming and most con-

soling letters, Mother Janet Stuart wrote:

“Don’t be impatient with self! One is so

tempted in the beginning to want to be a saint

all at once! and to scold one’s soul for not

being saintly. It would be just as sensible to

overwhelm a baby with reproaches for not

being a six-footer. He will be six foot high, if

one gives him time. But it takes one-third of

his life to do it; and if the growth is hurried

it is spoiled.” You understand that language,

Sister. It is the language of a very saintly

soul on sanctity! Apply it to yourself.

What then, would I have you, the co-redemp-

trix in The Great Drama of the Redeeming,

hold regarding sanctity?—What St. Augustine
held! namely, that “sanctity consists in hatred

of sin, humbling oneself after a fall, and hope

in the Omnipotence of God.” Hold on to that

trinity, Sister; live it, and all will be well.

Hold further that sanctity is a character
,
the

resultant of long years of patient striving, of

persistent effort along definite lines. It is a

life dominated by principle . Then in action I

would have you blot out the mistakes of the



56 Whispers From The Wings

morning by a valiant woman’s effort this after-

noon; and then tonight, when you kneel, say

in all sincerity: “God, my love, I slipped here
and there today, but tomorrow, with Your help,

I’ll begin again and strive to do better.” Do

that day in and day out, and I’ll find you in

the long Day of Eternity up close to the throne

of her for whom you doubled and close to Him
with whom you played co-redemptrix.

Sister dear, you’ll find faults in every exa-

men of conscience; but that does not mean

that you are not growing in sanctity. No!

Sanctity is perfectly compatible with faults

and failings. Our greatest saints were not

flawless. Some of them went to confession

twice a day and gave their confessors sufficient

matter for absolution! They humbled them-

selves after the falls, they hated themselves

for them, but then picked themselves up and

started on again. That’s how they became

saints! And that is exactly what you and I

must do if we want to arrive.

And for your own consolation I would have

you remember that some of the saints battled

one fault all their life and yet, took it to the

grave with them. It is my own humble con-
viction that each of us has one particular fault

which breaks our heart as we strive all our

lives to overcome it; and yet, I am sure it will
rear its hydra-head even as we die. But that

means nothing except that God is kind! We
need humility! And we have to hold tenacious-

ly to the hand of Christ! Perfection is com-

patible with faults, failings, and even with an

occasional serious sin as the lives of Peter,

Paul, Thomas, Augustine, Magdalene and a

whole host of others tell you. The only thing

it is incompatible with is being listless! or

apathetic! or giving up!



Whispers From The Wings 57

There is your doctrine as briefly as I dare

put it, Sister. Know well that we have a pas-

sion for sanctity. Our souls long to burst forth

in bud, flower and fruit of beautiful virtue,

to become holy; to become God-like. But re-

member that passion is like a seed. Now a
seed is most anxious to break forth, to shoot

up into stem, flower and fruit; but it is

weighed down beneath heavy soil and pon-

derous rocks. It can only work itself out

gradually. So, too, our sanctity—it will be the
flower of a very, very gradual growth, the

fruit of long years of patient and persistent

effort along the beaten path of ordinary duty!

Walk that path majestically, Sister; for

Christ needs a Madonna.

To end this whisper let me make two con-
soling and very profound remarks: “A life’s
work is done only in a life’s time! So, be

patient.” And secondly,
“
Squandering yourself

on God and your neighbor is an excellent way
to prepare for death!”

Now to summarize and concretize and bring
all this into the realm of everyday tangibility,

I bluntly say:

“MAKE THE MASS YOUR LIFE;
AND YOUR LIFE A MASS!”

Mary was most Madonna when she was
Mater Dolorosa. It was at the First Mass of

Her Boy that she became the Mother of the

Mystical Body and climaxed Her work as co-

redemptrix. And I dare say that it was on
Calvary that she meant most to Christ. In

that awful moment when

“She heard Him sob
In jagged pain, as if He had lost His soul



58 Whispers From The Wings

And cried in anguish from the rims of hell,”
in that dark hour crowded and crushed full

with agony, when He

“Was hanging stripped and bleeding and
alone,” He looked down and found beneath His
Cross His Mother

—
“Madonna mia” ! Ah, what

a consolation!

“Beyond the thieves, the crowd, the hill, beyond

The bite of thorns and past the stretched,

consuming

Burn of nails, beyond the laboring

And swell of breath, the heat, the sweat, the
stench,

Beyond the shattering and reel of pain,

John says He found her; that He strained
in sight

And saw her there.”

Indeed I do say that Mary meant most to
Christ on Calvary; for it was through her, in

that gathered gloom, that He closed the Drama
of Redemption and opened The Great Drama

of the Redeeming
—“Woman, behold thy son”

was climax to His Physical life and inception

of His Mystical. That is why I think that of

all the hallowed spots of earth that Mary and

Jesus love, none can compare with Golgotha’s

skull-shaped mound
;

for there was marked

the end and the beginning of all that matters

—

there Mass, which shall be said unendingly,

was first completed!

Yes, what Jesus and Mary love most in all

creation is—the Mass. Her “Fiat” to the

Angel of the Annunciation and His “Fiat”

just before Gethsemani’s Angel of Consolation

made possible Calvary’s consecration and the

separation of Body and Blood. And today, at

every mystical mactation, at every symbolic

separation of that same Body and Blood, at

the double consecration of every Mass, Mother



Whispers From The Wings 59

must look at Son, and Son at Mother and say:

“It is the Mass that matters!”

Sister, have you ever realized that it is the

Mass that matters? Look! You and I were

born to know, love and serve God, weren’t we?

But we can never love one we do not know,

nor can we unselfishly serve one we do not

love. Therefore, in all practicality, the three-

fold end of our existence comes down to the

first. It is knowledge of God that we want

—

love and service necessarily follow; for to

know God is to love Him, and to love Him
is to serve!

But how are we to acquire this knowledge?

—

Only by a prayerful study of the character of

Jesus Christ; for He is the clearest mani-
festation of God to man! I say “prayerful

study” and I think you know what I mean

—

a study made in the Light of Faith, a light

that enables us to pierce to the heart of this

marvel and mystery of God—the character of
Jesus Christ. That is why your meditation

is so all important!

But the character of Christ has very many

facets; it can bewilder one. Hence, the only

sensible, scientific study is made by looking

for the pivotal-point of Christ’s whole being;

by looking for the dominant trait in His char-

acter; by searching for the ruling passion

of His life. And that is easily found. It is
H umilit y—the acknowledgment of crea-
tureship, the surrender of His own will to the

Will of the Heavenly Father. That surrender

was made manifest in His perfect Ob e-
dienc e—“I came to do the will of him who
sent me” and “I do always the things that

please him.” And the most eloquent expression
He ever made of His Obedience was His
Passion.



60 Whispers From The Wings

There is your pivotal-point, Sister; and I

might say the crystallization of Chrises char-

acter—humility expressed in obedience . There
too, you have the pivotal-point and the crys-

tallization of Mary’s life and character

—

humility expressed in an ever ready, “Fiat”

—

perfect obedience. And there you have the
depths, the heart and soul of your religious

life—humility expressed in perfect obedience.
That’s what your Eule means. That’s what

your Constitutions say. That’s what you really

promised by your vows. Hence, the focal point

of all your study is the Humility, the Obe-

dience, and the Passion of Jesus Christ.

That is why I make bold enough to say: The
Mass should be your life; and your life

should be a Mass; for just as His humility

was made articulate in obedience, and the most

eloquent expression of that obedience is found

in the Sacrifice of the Cross, so your humility

and mine, your obedience and mine will find

their most eloquent expression in the Sacrifice

of the Mass. For the Mass is the White

Christ, His bloodless Passion, the white heart-

break of a Host. It is the Mystical Body’s

most eloquent action . It is the heart and soul

of all Christian life. That is why the Mass

must be your very life, Sister. Offer every

Mass with the priest just as Mary offered the

First Mass with Her Christ. Be the Madonna

during that moving mystery; for in that

miracle of miracles and marvel of all marvels

you must play your part.

But I need not tell you how to participate

in the Holy Sacrifice; you know that. But

what you may not realize is why you must

make that Sacrifice your life. Fundamentally,

Sister, it is because we are creatures. Look

at me. What are my prayers, my penances,



Whispers From The Wings 61

my sacrifices as an individual worth to Al-
mighty God?—They are of such infinitesimal
value as to be practically worthless. I, as an

individual, what am I?—A microcosm, yes.
But the accent is on the ‘micro.’ I am so small,

so utterly insignificant as to be practically

non-existant. And the same is true for any

other creature!

No, Sister, your prayers and sacrifices, as an

individual are next to worthless. Infinitesimal

is the word. Ah, but when you join them to

the Individual of all individuals, when you

join them to the prayer and Sacrifice of

Christ, then they become infinite!

You see, we are all parts of the Mystical

Body. Hence, every one of our efforts or

endeavors is only a part-effort and a part-en

deavor. And parts, as parts, are pretty use-

less things! It is only when they are fitted

into the whole that they are practical and

produce results. Now what is true of any
machine is even more true of that marvel we

know as the Mystical Body. By myself I am
infinitesimal

;
and so are you. But when joined

to Christ we become infinite and all our actions

taken on an infinite value. Why?—Because
“Actiones sunt suppositorum”—The actions
belong to the Person! And we have lost our

personalities when we merged ourselves in

Christ. Our actions, prayers, sacrifices, pen-

ances are no longer ours; they are those of

our Head. For we do everything “per Ipsum,

et cum Ipso, et in Ipso!”

That is why we must make the Mass our
life, Sister; and that is also why we must
make our lives a Mass. Bring all your

sacrifices to the one great Sacrifice
;
come with

all your crosses to the one great Cross; go

through your Gethsemanies, stagger and stum-



62 Whispers From The Wings

ble up to the one only Golgotha, and there

merge all that you are and all that you have

in the One Great Redeemer, and thus help

save the world ! That’s what Mary did. That’s
what you must do.

Do you ask, “How?”

I answer by saying: Make your life what

the Mass is—A Drama of Three Great Acts!
In the Mass the first great act is the Offer-

tory—and you must be on the paten with the
bread, you must be in the chalice with the

wine! Symbolically, of course, but truly. We
are the wheat of Christ. We are His grapes.
He Himself has said so. But wheat becomes

bread only on the condition that it go through

the Calvary of a mill; and grapes become

wine only on the condition that they pass

through the Gethsemani of a wine-press.

Hence, Sister, you must suffer! You become

worthy of the paten and the golden cup, you

become worthy to be co-victim with Christ only

on the condition that you “Move out into the

Light,” “Make your gestures generous,” “Be

less self-conscious,” and “Walk majestically”;

only on the condition that you grind down all

selfishness and crush out all pride, only on the

condition that you make valiant, even violent,

efforts, that you strain and suffer and strive,

and then, in all humility, bring yourself and

all the fruits of your endeavors to the altar, to

be sanctified unto God! There is the secret,

Sister. Make everything you do part of the

Sacrifice
;

connect everything you undergo

with the Offertory of the Mass. Remember

there is no moment of the day or night in

which you cannot unite your offering with an

actual Offertory of a White Calvary. In some

part of the world a priest is lifting a white

Host and offering a ruby cup. Join him!



Whispers From The Wings 63

The second great act in the Drama of Gol-

gotha Prolonged is the Consecration—and that
must be the essential act of your life! An act
that goes on “from the rising of the sun to the

going down of the same.” An act that is a
total surrender, a complete incorporation, a

real transubstantiation of self into a co-re-

demptrix. It is an act in which you ask God

to take you with all your womanly weaknesses,

all your good points and all your bad, all your

head-aches and heart-aches and back-aches, all

your smiles and sorrows and tears, all your

toils and successes, your triumphs and defeats,

your miseries and glories, which you have

placed on the paten and in the chalice’s cup, all

that you have offered in the symbols of bread

and wine, to take your very self and transub-

stantiate you into a Madonna, a co-victim with

Christ, a co-redemptrix of the world.

That is why you live, Sister.—To be tran-
substantiated! So every day, and many times
a day, hold yourself out on a mystical paten,

lift yourself up to the Merciful God and speak

those meaningful words of Consecration; say,

“This is my body. This is my blood. Take it.
Take it and all that goes with it. Take it;

for it is Yours. Take it and transubstantiate

me! Transubstantiate me so that, like the
bread and wine, I may no longer live unto my-
self, but only unto Thee; and like the bread

and wine nothing will remain of me but the
accidents or species. Let these remain, Lord,

for they mean little—but the substance change!
Transform it so that it will be no longer mine,

but Thine. Transform it so that nothing

remain but the appearance, let the substance

me YOU!

Such an Oblation and Consecration will

bring you to the third great act of the Mass,



64 Whispers From The Wings

and the crowning act of your life. They will

bring you to Holy Communion! Communion

—when two become One
;
when creature is lost

in the Creator; when Victor and vanquished

are merged; when the God-centered, God-sur-

rendered, God-saturated soul tastes love's

satiety, in a unity not of the flesh but of the

spirit! That's why we are living, Sister; to
be lost in God! To be merged into Jesus

Christ! And oh! how He longs for you.

—

Don't keep Him waiting.
Make your life a Mass after that manner,

Sister, and I promise that it will end as did

the First Mass. Not with, Ite, missa est;" but

with, “It is consummated!" Do it and Jesus

will greet you with the words He undoubtedly

spoke to the one on whom you model. Un-
questionably, on the day of the Assumption,

Jesus said what any real child would say;

He said, “Madonna mia!"

Earn that greeting, Sister, by living these

whispers.

Sfc Sf! Sfc

I closed tjie first booklet by asking you to

“Use Doors." It was, a practical suggestion.

You were to ask yourself: “Am I a Gate to
Heaven for all with whom I come in contact?"
—I now advise the same: “USE DOORS" but
ask yourself: “Am I being a Gateway of Grace
to the whole Mystical Body?" That is your

role!

May I now ask a favor? I belong to the
Mystical Body, too, Sister. I have a part in

The Great Drama of the Redeeming. But I,
like you, am human

;
too human, when I

should be divine. So be a Madonna to me and
win from the Gateway of all Grace, Our

Mother Mary, the power to live to the hilt all

that I have whispered to you. Please!



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