As Lent begins, we enter anew into the life of Jesus and be attentive to his challenging teachings, always with a view as to how we can tend to our ongoing spiritual transformation. I thought of this as I reviewed my Lenten journal of last year and found the reflection below. May this Lent find us living more fully the golden love at the core of our being.
“Prayer is not just spending time with God. It is partly that — but if it ends there, it is fruitless. No, prayer is dynamic. Authentic prayer changes us— unmasks us, strips us, indicates where growth is needed. Authentic prayer never leads us to complacency, but needles us, makes us uneasy at times. It leads us to true self-knowledge, to true humility.
~ St. Theresa of Avila(as quoted in Living With Christ, 1-24-16)
When the heart slowly sinks
into the mire of unhappiness,
when the mind insistently whispers
about could, should and ought,
when the voice of the less-than-whole-self
grows irritable and impatient
with the way people are, or are not,
and with the way I am, or am not,
leave it all be. Step aside,
go to the inner dwelling place
where the Christ-light flames with ceaseless love,
Place myself in the center of that Love
untouched by demands of the ego, societal failures,
shattered hopes and unfulfilled yearnings.
Walk past all that hinders kindheartedness
from glowing steadily in my daily life.
Move into the home of transformation,
into that grace-filled, spacious vessel.
Be restored, renewed, regenerated.
Come forth with hope, start again
with less controlled expectation
and more peaceful receptivity
in the container of mind and heart.
Welcome the weak, the hardened, the haughty,
the wounded, the burdened, the pained;
for each and every one
bears the reflection of my self,
my own glimpse of all that is yet to be purified
in the golden sphere of Christ’s love.
© Joyce Rupp
REFLECTIONS
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