Staying in the Cave of Your Duties of State in Life
“My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.” —Canticle of Canticles 2:14
A simple definition of humility is knowing your place and taking your place. Understanding that grace builds on nature, we can easily employ the Aristotelian explanation of gravity, namely that all bodies move toward their natural place. Humility is like supernatural gravity. It is the all-important virtue keeping us from becoming puffed up with the hot air of pride and having to plummet back to earth when the balloon is punctured.
Our Blessed Mother always knew her place and always took Her place. Thus we have Her famous FIAT. When the end of Her life came, She humbly submitted to die, to lay down Her life out of love, in union with the death of His Majesty and Her beloved spouse St. Joseph. Yet, three days later, God came and raised Her up to take this Woman of women, His Mother, into heaven, as the Ark of the New Covenant, and enthrone Her in the highest place of our race in the heavenly Temple of God. “And the Temple of God was opened in heaven; and the ark of His Testament was seen in His Temple” (Apoc. 11:19). As a type of this reality, Moses, in the Old Testament times, made the Ark of the Covenant out of incorruptible wood and gold, placing it in the Holy of holies, the holiest spot on earth, a symbol of heaven itself. It pays to know your place and be always about taking your place, letting God do the rest! If we keep to our assigned station in life, God will take us up too and place us in a heavenly choir stall.
The twelfth chapter of the Apocalypse puts on prophetic display a cosmic battle that rages between the devil-dragon and this Woman. Not surprisingly, the notion of place plays an important role. “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God . . .” (Apoc. 12:6). In the heavenly battle that follows this scene, we hear how the devil and his minions “prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven” (Apoc. 12:8). Pride caused this. There is no pride allowed in heaven, and there is no humility in hell. In heaven, everyone is humble. In hell, everyone is proud. The Queen most humble is in the highest place and the fiend most proud in the lowest of the low. The highest, most humble . . . against the lowest, most proud in mortal combat, with all the rest in between. “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled: and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:12).
These arrogant fiends then sought to destroy the woman using a huge flooding river of lies and filth flowing from the dragon’s mouth, but something prevents them from hurting her, namely that she is in her niche: “And there were given to the Woman two wings of a great eagle, that She might fly into the desert unto Her place, where She is nourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the Woman, water as it were a river; that he might cause Her to be carried away by the river. And the earth helped the Woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river, which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was angry against the Woman: and went to make war with the rest of Her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Apoc. 12:14-17).
This same Woman has taken up her domicile on earth once again in the niche of the rock outside of Lourdes, France. She was found there by a little girl, St. Bernadette, on February 11, 1858. Since then millions upon millions have discovered her there in that rocky abode. There, many are very often healed in body and soul, as well as strengthened in faith, hope and charity . . . given courage to fight the battles of life. The grotto of Massabielle, has become a cave of refuge, a place of grace, virtue and peace. And this is surely why all around the orb of the earth, we find big and small Lourdes Grottos to help the faithful stay connected to the Lady in Her chosen dwelling in this world. . . “in the cleft of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall.” Moreover, in keeping with the theme of place, it seems no matter what happened, St. Bernadette also always sought a certain spot in the Grotto and returned to it each time she came there as well as after she was asked to do something by Our Lady.
The stage is set: the cave versus the flowing, changing river. . .
the Lady contra mundum . . . with Bernadette in between ever keeping to her assigned spot.
When St. Bernadette visited the Grotto a third time taking up her assigned post, the beautiful Lady in the niche asked she come daily for a fortnight. On receiving permission from her parents to visit the Grotto for fourteen days in a row, Bernadette came the next day shortly after attending the early morning Mass. It was the first Friday of Lent, February 19, 1858. Upon arriving at the cave, candle in hand, with relatives and friends nearby, she fell into an ecstasy on the third Hail Mary of the Rosary. This time, however, something unusual happened. At one point the Lady in white seemed to change as suddenly loud yells—belched from the nearby River Gave—broke the sacred silence of the cave of Massabielle. They “challenged, crossed, collided with one another, like the clamor of a brawling crowd” . . . making for a cacophony. One voice, more furious than the rest, dominated them all and roared: “Get out of here! Get out of here!”
Download and study the wonderful harmony and lessons found in the apparitions of Lourdes . . .
Yet, one glance from this Woman, this Virgin Queen, from her niche above the cave, this heavenly dove from the cleft of the rock, one look of her sovereign authority, reduced the invisible hellish mob of the river to silence. The demons were defeated in this head-on clash as they were on that other Friday we call GOOD. As then, so now they were forced to retreat, but they were not done with their deceptive deeds. The cosmic stage was set. It was the cave versus the flowing changing river, the Lady versus the world, the flesh, and the devil . . . with Bernadette in between.
Soon the battle began in earnest when Our Lady requested a chapel be built there and the people make procession, with nearly everyone, seemingly, at some time or other, on the side of the river, drunk, as it were, on its waters of doubt, worldliness, and pride, causing each of them in some way to get out of their place and to command Bernadette . . . Do not go there! Do not go there! At first the river’s mesmerizing waters only flowed in the local channels of the city officials, family relations and friends, as well as the religious sisters, all of whom took turns threatening, discouraging, and even mocking the humble Bernadette. In so many ways, they repeated . . . Get out of there! Often she would sincerely and simply answer all their doubts and questions or just remain silent with a sad smile. This ought to sound familiar. Did not the same devil tempt Our Blessed Lord on Calvary with “come down! come down from that Cross!”?
“Go and tell the priests to have a chapel built here. . . .
I wish people to come here in procession.”
Ah!!! Oh, how full of tricks is that the crafty and hellish fiend! Since direct attacks of fear and threats did not work, he would try something sweeter. Thus, many wanted to hug her, touch her, and treat her like a saint before her time, trying to build up her ego even as others falsely accused her, all in an attempt to trip her up. Bernadette’s only real consolations, it seems, were the cave of the Confessional, wherein the good Fr. Pomian often set her heart at rest, and the Niche in the Grotto where the beautiful Lady gave her courage to persevere as she prayed the Holy Rosary. “I do not promise you happiness in this life, only in the next.”
Before long, however, the devil’s river reached flood stages such that its waves surged into the highest offices of the Church and the State, causing not only the local priests and religious to doubt but also the Bishop of Tarbes and Emperor Louis Napoleon. All to no avail.
Every conceivable power came up against this beautiful and most blessed of women in an attempt to dislodge and suppress both Her and Her Grotto … first, there were the devils raising an outcry in the River Gave, then the city leaders, the police chief, the Imperial prosecutor, the mayor, the scientists, the journalists and scoffers, pretenders, mockers and sham artists too, only to be compounded by various chastisements coming from family, relatives, clergy and religious. Ah poor Bernadette was set upon by friends and foes alike, all taking turns, each in their own way. Psychology failed, trickery and bribery failed, the government all the way up to Emperor gave way. Each and all were utterly vanquished. The Virgin most powerful patiently and meekly defeated them all . . . each and everyone of these attempts broke on this rocky niche and its heavenly occupant.
In the novel, The Song of Bernadette, we read this telling scene of one good man speaking to a scoffing worldly poet who is leaving Lourdes to return Paris. In saying goodbye to him, the poet said:
“You have the Lady to thank for this, my friend . . . She has put me to flight.”
“Why the Lady? I can’t see what harm she has done you . . .”
“Harm? It seems to me that the Lady is of a most tyrannical disposition. She demands that one take a decisive stand for or against Her.”
Each and every doubtful voice was silenced. Church and State, for decades divided and at enmity with each other, came together under the watchful eye of the Lady . . . a miracle of sorts and a prophecy of the future, for those with eyes to see.
What a wonder is Lourdes! A simple little girl of faith placed between the awesome cave of the Immaculate Conception, wherein the Church Herself was perfectly represented, and the river of doubt where the liberal enlightenment of rationalism, false liberty, atheism, human corruption, impurity, and diabolical deception flow seemingly uninhibited. How did the little handmaiden, Bernadette, bear this burden so well? Would not many today turn to the river and command it to be silent, binding it with the Holy Names, perhaps, or using the now popular deliverance techniques? No. She did not do that! She kept to her assigned post and focused on the niche, keeping Satan and his river behind her. She fell in love with the Lady. She followed Her every move. Once she was asked: “Why were you happy one minute and sad the next?” Bernadette responded piously, “I am sad when She is sad; and I smile when She smiles.”
In fact, the little seer never forgot the look of sadness on the Lady’s heavenly face such as the time She asked on the seventh day for “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for the conversion of sinners.” This is the same message given to us through the vision part of the Third Secret of Fatima, and it has everything to do with humbly keeping to our cave or station in life.
Early on in the Church many holy men like St. Antony, often called Desert Fathers, went out into the dry arid regions of Egypt to dwell in caves, to pray, to study, and to labor in order to conquer completely the world, the flesh and the devil. If you read their lives and ponder on their sayings, a repeated theme is this: “do not leave your cave! Do not leave your cave! Do not leave your cave! Even if you are forced to sleep all day, do not leave your cave!” For his part, the devil was very crafty in finding ways to tempt a number of these monks and hermits to leave their cave and ultimately to give up, to give in, and to come down from their cross by coming back to the world.
In Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, when the rationalistic, enlightened, and proud brother Ivan encountered the devil, he asks about the desert fathers:
“Have you ever tempted … the ones who eat locusts and pray for seventeen years in the barren desert?”
“My dear, I’ve done nothing else. One forgets the whole world and all worlds, and clings to such a one, because a diamond like that is just too precious; one such soul is sometimes worth a whole constellation—we have our own arithmetic. It’s a precious victory!”
Our duties of our state in life is our cave, our desert, our station next to St. Bernadette. The devil is out to get all the faithful Catholics who are putting up a fight to neglect them, to forego them, or to rewrite them. Be warned! Keep vigil! The devil wants to add to his victories by getting us to come down and give up. The longer we stay put in our cave, the bigger becomes our constellation!
To clarify the meaning of this repeated threefold request for penance given at Lourdes and later recapitulated at Fatima, His Majesty came to Sr. Lucia, saying: “the sacrifice required for every person is the fulfillment of his duties in life and the observance of My law. This is the penance that I now seek and require.” Many fail to complete this penance because they do not know their duties. Here we provide a concise summary of these duties.
Download and study these summaries of our Duties of State in Life . . .
Adobe Acrobat document [986.7 KB]
Adobe Acrobat document [2.7 MB]
Adobe Acrobat document [3.8 MB]
Adobe Acrobat document [3.3 MB]
Bernadette started her victorious campaign by trying to make the Sign of the Cross and could not until Our Lady taught her how! Herein lies the answer to her strength, her courage, her perseverance! The Immaculate Lady in the Niche teaching her how to know her station and take her place. Bernadette kept to her place and faced every trial with immobility and undaunted courage with the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We should want that too! Thus, we recommend everyone consecrate themselves and all that they are to Jesus living in Mary.
This is important because the times are dark and the devil is disorienting and displacing everything. Listen to Pope Francis openly admit this terrible reality: “The way in which we locate ourselves in history has changed. Things we thought would never happen, or that we never thought we would see, we are experiencing now, and we dare not even imagine the future. That which appeared normal to us – family, the Church, society and the world – will probably no longer seem that way. We cannot simply wait for what we are experiencing to pass, under the illusion that things will return to being how they were before. … The defining aspect of this change of epoch is that things are no longer in their place.” (P. Francis Speaking at a meeting with diocesan clergy in the Basilica of St John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, 16 September 2013).
To regain and maintain immobility (stability) in the face of this toxic and damaging river in high flood stage all around us and the world, let us summarize what St. Bernadette did to stay the course:
- As noted, she looked up to the Lady in the Niche, knelt down and prayed the Rosary. Thus, she received of the heavenly power to endure the earthly forces arrayed against her. We should add that consecration to Jesus living in Mary is a huge part of this. Be sure to place yourself and all your covenants (baptismal vows, religious vows, marriage vows, etc.) in this heavenly Ark and they will be kept safe and sound from the assaults of the devil.
- She attended the Holy Mass daily all throughout the ordeal even though she had yet to receive her first Holy Communion. She understood that the Holy Mass opens the gates of heaven, not just the Tabernacle door for Holy Communion. Does not the priest, by his motions in the ancient rites of the Mass, show that he is taking something of heaven and bringing it down for us to overcome the earthly? And, we should add, Bernadette went to confession often.
- She worked patiently with all those around her . . . her family, her priests and teachers, city officials and others, even when they became difficult and obstructive. In time, because of this patience, they all converted or were sent away.
- She practiced piety and dressed modestly . . . lighting candles and making the Sign of the Cross with care.
- She kept good company. Her family, relatives and friends, even though they struggled with her at times, were there for her and with her. In the company of saints we become saints.
All of these things are part of our domicile in this world, that place before the niche that will make us like Bernadette . . . immoveable, patient, meek, courageous and completely victorious in attaining our heavenly abode . . . our assigned celestial choir stall.
Print