Checkmate

 

Recently two of my community were discussing the game of chess and it reminded me of a story told about the Archbishop of Prague.

When Cardinal Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka OP. was Provincial of the Dominicans in Czechoslovakia in the time of the Soviet Communism, he shared a prison cell with Vaclav Havel, playwright and future President of the Republic.  The celebration of the Eucharist was strictly forbidden, so the two prisoners would apparently play chess.

The queen’s crown contained a tiny amount of wine and the kings crown a fragment of bread.  Unbeknown to their guards they celebrated the Eucharist, quietly whispering “Holy, Holy, Holy” and praised the King of Heaven and Earth as chess players.
In dark times such as our own it is hard to praise, but all the more important that we do so.

 On October 15th we celebrate the feast day of our great Carmelite---- Saint Teresa of Avila and she is the patron saint of CHESS PLAYERS!  Teresa became familiar with the language and rules of chess   from watching her father and brothers play chess. One of her favourite words was Checkmate – a word which comes from a Persian phrase which means “the King is helpless.”

Teresa advised her nuns to “play chess” in prayer in order to “checkmate the Lord.” Her point was that a person who wished to play chess must dedicate themselves to its study and become proficient at it. Teresa used the analogy of the struggle in chess to explain to her nuns the type of dedication necessary to live a life that seeks to confirm the primacy of God and of his grace in relation to human effort.

Teresa felt compelled to write about her own experience of prayer. She wanted to help people to have a better understanding of what prayer is and to encourage all to be open to recognise what is the demand of Love in any situation.   Teresa liked to describe prayer as “frequent friendly conversation with Him who, we know loves us” and it is a description that I find very helpful. Another wonderful piece of wisdom attributed to Teresa is:

“Let nothing trouble you,

Let nothing scare you

All is fleeting.

God alone is unchanging.

Patience obtains all.

Whoever possesses God,

Wants nothing,

God alone suffices.”

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