This I command you, to love one another. John 15:17
We are not only to persevere and endure in this time of trial. We are to follow the way of the Christ, who in his time of suffering, in his endurance—loved. Loved those near at hand, loved the entire creation. His resurrection is in one sense a magnification and a full expression of that love that we saw in his life and upon the cross.
The people, things and circumstances of my life are different from what they were six weeks ago. Endurance and love have taken a changed pathway. Judy, my sister-in-law is more frequently present in emails, Michelle and I say Wednesday Evening Prayer on Zoom rather than in person, and on my rare times in the drug and grocery stores I now see the clerks as brave. When I pray for the people on today’s page in my blue intercession book I stop and send them a message. In taking my walk each day, I pass others, some in mask, some not—and need to set aside judgments toward those not engaging the practice I have taken on. At 8:00 each evening I hear the yelling and screaming of young people from their balconies and search to find compassion toward their annoying noise. And I notice how a particular icon on the wall draws my attention and prayer.
The Promise taken by Professed Members and Associates in the Order of the Ascension is
To seek the presence of Jesus Christ in the people, things and circumstances of life through stability, obedience and conversion of life.
Benedict bids me to “Listen carefully … with the ear of your heart.” He’s just reminding me of the Holy Spirit’s inner nudges. If I stay with the stability of prayer and relationship, if I listen from within the love of Christ, then new ways will open themselves to me. I see and hear differently. The things, people and circumstances will offer new opportunities to repent, to intercess, to love.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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Postings on the inner life and the virus
You know, and they know, that they are offering their lives
God's not indifferent to our pain
Becoming an Associate of a Religious Order
Spiritual vitality and authenticity
Faith to perceive: In your great compassion
Turn everything that happens to account
Postings on Parish Development during the Virus
Power from the center pervades the whole