Upper Garden – The Christian Mystical Life with the Saints

What are you desperate for in life?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). If for these, if for the Lord of all consolation, then come to the Upper Garden, where choice fruits of the Spirit are grown under the tutelage of the mystics.

In the Upper Garden, our roots go deep into the soil of heaven, deep into the cloister-garden of the Father’s House. Rays of Christ’s Light shine on us in the Scriptures and the Saints, with the nourishment of the Sacraments of the Church. And the living water of the Holy Spirit flows to us through the aqueduct who is Mary (as St. Bernard calls her).

“The bride has entered the sweet garden of her desire, and she rests in delight, laying her neck on the gentle arms of her Beloved.” … “I abandoned and forgot myself, laying my face on the Beloved. All things ceased and I left myself, leaving all care forgotten among the Madonna lilies.” —St. John of the Cross (Spiritual Canticle 22, Dark Night 8)

YouTube Channel: Dominican House of Prayer

Website: www.DominicanHouseofPrayer.com

		Bible Challenge	Emmaus Journey & DHOP
		the whole Bible in 63 days, Feb 16 to Easter
	Day
Feb 16, 2025	1	1 Jn \| Gn 1 – 11:26	Ps 1 – 6	Mt 1-2:12
Feb 17	2	Gn 11:27 – 22:24	Ps 7 – 12	Mt 2:13-4:17
Feb 18	3	Gn 23:1 – 34:31	Ps 13 – 18	Mt 4:18-5:26
Feb 19	4	Genesis 35 -50:26	Ps 19 – 25	Mt 5:27-6:18
Feb 20	5	Philippians \| Ex 1 – 8:32	Ps 26 – 30	Mt 6:19-8:17
Feb 21	6	Ex 9 – 22:31	Ps 31 – 36	Mt 8:18-9:38
Feb 22	7	Ex 23 – 36:38	Ps 37 – 42	Mt 10:1-11:1
Feb 23	8	Ex 37 – 40:38 \| Rom 1 – 8:39	Ps 43 – 48	Mt 11:2-12:14
Feb 24	9	Rom 9 – 16 \| Lev 1 – 5	Ps 49 – 54	Mt 12:15-13:30
Feb 25	10	Lev 6 – 18 \| 2 Jn, 3 Jn	Ps 55 – 60	Mt 13:31-14:36
Feb 26	11	Lev 19 – 27 \| 1 Cor 1 – 6	Ps 62 – 66	Mt 15:1-16:12
Feb 27	12	1 Cor 7 – 16 \| Num 1 – 5	Ps 67 – 72	Mt 16:13-17:27
Feb 28	13	Num 6 – 18	Ps 73 – 78	Mt 18:1-19:15
Mar 1	14	Num 19 – 32	Ps 79 – 84	Mt 19:16-20:34
Mar 2	15	Num 33 – 36 \| 2 Cor 1 – 13	Ps 85 – 90	Mt 21:1-22:46
Mar 3	16	Deut 1 – 14	Ps 91 – 96	Mt 23:1-24:51
Mar 4	17	Deut 15 – 30	Ps 97 – 102	Mt 25:1-26:25
Mar 5	18	Deut 31 – 34 \| Galatians \| Josh 1 – 6	Ps 103 – 108	Mt 26:26-27:26
Mar 6	19	Josh 7 – 24	Ps 109 – 114	Mt 27:27-Mt 28:20
Mar 7	20	Ephesians \| Jgs 1 – 12	Ps 115 – 118	Mk:1:1-1:31
Mar 8	21	Jgs 13 – 21 \| Ruth	Ps 119	Mk 1:32-2:28
Mar 9	22	1 Sam 1 – 16	Ps 120 – 125	Mk 3:1-4:25
Mar 10	23	1 Sam 17 – 31	Ps 126 – 131	Mk 4:26-5:43
Mar 11	24	2 Sam 1 – 17	Ps 132 – 137	Mk 6:1-7:23
Mar 12	25	2 Sam 18 – 24 \| Colossians	Ps 138 – 143	Mk 7:24-8:38
Mar 13	26	1 Kgs 1 – 14	Ps 144 – 150	Mk 9:1-10:31
Mar 14	27	1 Kgs 15 – 22	Proverbs 1 – 5	Mk 10:32-11:33
Mar 15	28	1 Thessalonians \| 2 Kgs 1 – 8	Prv 6 – 11	Mk 12:1-13:23
Mar 16	29	2 Kgs 9 – 21	Prv 12 – 14	Mk 13:24-14:52
Mar 17	30	2 Kgs 22 – 25 \| 2 Thess \| Amos	Hos 1 – 3	Mk 14:53-15:15
Mar 18	31	Micah \| 1 Timothy	Hos 4 – 9	Mk 15:16-16:20
Mar 19	32	1 Chr 1 – 17	Hos 10 – 14	Review
Mar 20	33	1 Chr 18 – 29 \| 2 Timothy	Prv 15 – 20	Lk 1:1-2:21
Mar 21	34	2 Chr 1 – 15	Prv 21 – 26	Lk 2:22-3:38
Mar 22	35	2 Chr 16 – 29	Prv 27 – 31	Lk 4:1-5:26
Mar 23	36	2 Chr 30 – 36 \| Zephaniah \| Titus \| Nahum	Isaiah 1 – 7	Lk 5:27-6:49
Mar 24	37	Philemon \| Habakkuk \| James \| Jer 1 – 6	Is 8 – 13	Lk 7:1-8:25
Mar 25	38	Jer 7 – 18	Is 14 – 20	Lk 8:26-9:50
Mar 26	39	Jer 19 – 31	Is 21 – 26	Lk 9:51-10:42
Mar 27	40	Jer 32 – 44	Is 27 – 32	Lk 11:1-12:34
Mar 28	41	Jer 45 – 52 \| Baruch	Is 33 – 39	Lk 12:35-13:35
Mar 29	42	Is 40 – 42 \| Tobias	Lamentations	Lk14:1-15:32
Mar 30	43	Ezekiel 1 – 16	Is 40 – 44	Lk 16:1-17:19
Mar 31	44	Ez 17 – 26	Is 45 – 50	Lk 17:20-18:43
Apr 1	45	Ez 27 – 36	Is 51 – 55	Lk 19:1-20:19
Apr 2	46	Ez 37 – 48	Is 56 – 60	Lk 20:20-21:38
Apr 3	47	1 Peter \| Haggai	Is 61 – 66	Lk 22:1-23:32
Apr 4	48	Zecheriah, Esther	Daniel 1 – 7	Lk 23:33-24:53
Apr 5	49	Ezra	Dn 8 – 14	Jn 1:1-2:12
Apr 6	50	Nehemiah	Wisdom 1 – 7	Jn 2:13-3:36
Apr 7	51	Judith 1 – 11	Wis 8 – 12	Jn 4:1-5:29
Apr 8	52	Jdt 12 – 16 \| Malachi \| Obadiah \| Joel	Wis 13 – 19	Jn 5:30-6:59
Apr 9	53	Jonah \| Job 1 – 19	Sir Foreward \| Sir 1 – 5	Jn 6:60-7:36
Apr 10	54	Jb 20 – 34	Sir 6 – 11	Jn 7:37-8:30
Apr 11	55	Jb 35 – 42 \| 2 Peter \| Ecc 1 – 8	Sir 12 – 17	Jn 8:31-10:21
Apr 12	56	Ecc 9 – 12 \| Song of Songs \| 1 Macc 1 – 6	Sir 18 – 23	Jn 10:22-12:36
Apr 13	57	1 Macc 7 – 16	Sir 24 – 29	Jn 12:37-13:38
Apr 14	58	Jude \| 2 Macc 1 – 12	Sir 30 – 35	Jn 14:1-15:17
Apr 15	59	2 Macc 13 – 15 \| Acts 1 – 8:3	Sir 36 – 41	Jn 15:18-16:33
Apr 16	60	Acts 8:4 – Acts 18	Sir 42 – 47	Jn 17:1-18:40
Apr 17	61	Acts 19 – 28	Sir 48 – 51	Jn 19:1-20:18
Apr 18	62	Rev 1 – 9	Heb 1 – 7	Jn 20:19-21:25
Apr 19	63	Rev 10 – 22	Heb 8 – 13	Review

St. Elisabeth of the Trinity Contemplative Symposium (click for playlist of videos)

Ecumenical Dialogue Document that I helped compose, “The Gift of Being Christian Together,” and my commentary on one aspect of it, “Attunement with Christ and with One Another“

In the inner wine cellar, I drank of my Beloved...and lost the herd that I was following

St. John of the Cross

Spiritual Canticle, 26

We seek a youthfulness as eternal as wisdom.

Anonymous

A monk was told that his spiritual father had died. He said to the messenger, "Do not blaspheme. My father cannot die” (cf. Jn 11:25-26).

Evagrius of Pontus (4th century monk)

Sayings of the Desert Fathers

We can think ourselves too sophisticated for ‘renunciation,’ especially renunciation of the world. True love, however, strikes a sharp and decisive ‘No!’ to all that may hinder union with the Beloved” (cf. 1 Jn 2:15-17)

Anonymous

Our prayer belongs more to God than to us. So, when we pray, we belong more to God than to ourselves.

Anonymous

I am much more prepared to give than you are to receive.

The Lord to St. Angela of Foligno

Awaken me to You. Lord, You are already here and at work. Faith is so simple. Awaken me to You, O Lord.

Anonymous

Love, or time is going to pass you by.

Anonymous

The Lord Jesus promises us the ‘Abundant Life’ (Jn 10:10), but only by way of the Beatitudes (Mt 5:3-10)

Anonymous

The true monk takes nothing with him but his lyre.

An unknown Italian mystic

We encounter the Incarnate Son along the path He has come to us, in the humility and lowliness of His condescension. There’s always the danger we’ll overshoot Him, aiming at the heights, while He has come more simply and below us. We may be straining upwards when, in fact, Jesus is at our feet (cf Jn 13:1-17).

Anonymous

A single word in intimacy is worth more than a thousand at a distance.

Evagrius of Pontus

4th century monk

St. Anthony called his two companions and said to them, ‘Always breathe Christ.’

Life of St. Anthony, XCI

Olivier Clement, 204

The spring of living water, promised by Jesus to well up from within us (Jn 7:38), is almost by definition something familiar yet very strange.

Anonymous

The flesh of Christ is the hinge of salvation.

Tertullian

On the Resurrection, 8

The theological virtues at times can come to take the form of the Cross: faith grounding you in the cold hard truth, hidden and buried away; hope reaching up into seemingly empty space; and charity extending and stretching you out, but embracing and grasping nothing. Yet this Cross lifts you to God.

Anonymous

I walk with a song in my heart, for Thy Love has wounded me.

John Climacus (7th century abbot)

We begin with a tender and delicate love for God but eventually it must become a robust and strong love. We begin as a tender shoot but we are to become a hardy oak tree. Yet even the mighty oak still puts forth fresh and tender shoots.

St. John of the Cross

cf. LF 1.36

The saint I want to be and the saint God wants me to be are usually not precisely the same thing. Daily life and prayer tend to shape us for the divine, far better call.

Anonymous

I'm no longer my own; I'm your garden.

Misty Edwards

Your Enclosed Dwelling Place, Lord

What moves and conquers is unrelenting hope.

St. John of the Cross

Dark Night 2.21.8

What is the meaning of ‘Upper Garden’? ‘Upper Room’ may have been more self-explanatory and captures both the intimacy of the Last Supper and praying with Mary as the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost. But ‘Upper Garden’ also captures Jesus’ journey on Holy Thursday night, from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane–two modes of intimacy. Finally it’s about the intimacy of the Garden found throughout the Scriptures (Song of Songs, Eden, the Empty Tomb, etc) yet not so much a garden of the senses but of the spirit, hence Upper Garden.

The image atop the mountain on top of the homepage was painted by a contemporary Christian, based on what she saw of heaven in a vision.

May the Lord Jesus use this website to enhance and build up a communion of mystics in our own day! We humbly ask for more of the Father’s generating of life in our souls, more of the Son’s radiating light, and more of the Spirit’s enkindling of love. May the sparks of light, love, and life which they ignite in our souls grow, spread, and blaze forth unto the greater glory of the Blessed Trinity!

The Holy Trinity Icon of Andrei Rublev