The Portal - Australia edition April 2014 | Page 14

THE P RTAL

April 2014

Page 10

The Sorrow of Nature:
The Way of the Cross with George Congreve SSJE
and St Thérèse of Lisieux
Reviewed by Sister Deirdre Michael Clark SBVM
Older Anglicans may still have the works of George
Congreve SSJE on their shelves, but he is now unknown
to younger generations and it is
doubtful whether Catholics have
ever come across his writings, so
we owe a debt to the Archdeacon
of Hampstead, Fr Luke Miller, for
making these extracts available.

Nature and Beauty

In the third talk, Nature and Beauty, Luke Miller
quotes passages from the writings
of both which show how they saw
natural beauty as the reflection
of the beauty of God. Thérèse
tended to reflect on the beauty
of flowers, and can sometimes
appear sentimental, but there is
Catholic League
nothing sentimental in her awe
Centenary Pilgrimage
at the sight of the ocean when
The first part of the book
she was a child, which she never
consists of three talks given to
forgot: ‘I couldn’t take my eyes
the Catholic League Centenary
off its majesty, the roaring of
Pilgrimage to Our Lady of
its waves, everything spoke to
Walsingham in 2013.
my soul of God’s grandeur and
power.’ George Congreve, too,
They bring together the spiritual
dwelt upon the things of nature
insights of George Congreve and
where he found beauty, and in
Thérèse of Lisieux. Living at much the same time, but beauty he found God.
coming from very different traditions, they share the
deep thirst for sanctity which is the mark of the true ‘The Sorrow of Nature’
mystic. Fr Congreve writes: ‘The tiniest token of divine
The next section of the book, ‘The Sorrow of Nature’,
life in any soul is the desire to advance in grace. And a letter written on Robben Island, describes how a soul
the direction of Christian advance will always be from might be moved from the things of this world to union
the outward to the inward, from form to motive, from with God. George Congreve wrote from his annual
activity to love.’
retreat. ‘No talk, no newspaper, but the prayer of the
longing of nature on the sea and in the sky, and the
Parallel with these thoughts, we find in the writings human prayer of silence in the heart.’ The Archdeacon
of Thérèse her teaching on the Little Way. Wanting to of Hampstead confesses: It is for me one of the greatest
be a saint, she saw herself as too small to do the heroic things Congreve wrote and I am always moved to tears
acts of the great saints. She would instead look for a when I read it.
direct way, a straight way, a little way, the way of love.
Letting go of everything except Christ led both to a Stations of the Cross
Finally, the Stations of the Cross, with meditations
theology of suffering.
by Fr George Congreve. This is not there to be read, it
Childhood and Old Age
is there to be prayed, and we can only be grateful that
The second of Fr Luke Miller’s talks, on Childhood such insights into the way of the cross have been made
and Old Age, is particularly moving. For Fr Congreve, available to us.
old age should bring with it not a second childhood
but a new childhood, which brings him very close to
Altogether, this is a book that will repay reflective
the mature spiritual childhood of Thérèse. He quotes and prayerful reading, preferably more than once.
from the foundress of a religious community in her
old age. ‘I think when you have lost everything you
“The Sorrow of Nature” by Luke Miller;
have in the world as I have, such a wonderful new life
is published by the Catholic League price £6
comes into you’.
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