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Spiritual Reading - selected by Deacon Steve
“Humanity, made in God’s image, is placed in the paradise of
the world, a world which is still paradise, but which we have lost, by becoming
alienated from ourselves and from the Creator.
In this world from which we are alienated, humanity can come
to find ourselves and recover our right relation to the world, and to God, by
the work which God has given us to do. Our worship, our liturgy, should rightly
be not only worship but a theology of life, a theology of work, planting in us
the seeds of understanding and wisdom which will flower in our work. But this
means that our work must be purified of titanism, of self-will, of aspirations
to self-assertion and power. And this means that it must be delivered from
obsession with what we are not, with our past and future, what we have ceased
to be and have not yet become and is based on what we are in our present
reality. For only in the present can we come in full contact with the truth
willed for us and in us by God. Thus, creation will become once again a
lampstand, and humanity the lamp will be placed on it in order to be lit with
the light of truth. For this is the light which God really intends to kindle in
us. When we are in communion with other people and with the cosmos by our will,
the light of truth is kindled in us.
The Book of Proverbs says: ‘The light of God is the human
spirit, penetrating to the depths of our being.’ (Proverbs 20:27)”
from Merton, Thomas, “Seasons of Celebration” p. 132 – 133,
Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, 2009
Titanism:
A spirit of revolt or defiance,
like that of the Titans, against established order, social conventions, etc.
Questions for reflection:
As Vincentians, what is our
"work" that needs to be purified?
Am I stuck, trying to live
according to an identity locked into my past, who I used to be?
Am I pretending to be someone I
would like to be in the future?
… or am I OK with letting people
see me for who I am right now, warts and all, not perfect, but beloved by God?
Do I really believe that God loves
me now, as I am?
Do I consciously remind myself
that God deeply loves each of the families we serve, as they are?