Not all of my reading is enjoyable, of course, or is soul enriching stuff. Some I slog through in obedience, knowing that the privilege of being here demands that I do the rigors of all of it~ the pleasant and the unpleasant, the precious gems and black coal. I'll spare you the black coal. Rather, like a miner in a dark cavern (appropriate metaphor at the moment with the men being rescued, praise God, in Chili) I will emerge from time to time, dirty and dusty with my miner's cap still on my head and the light aglow~ and share the good stuff, or, at least, what I find nourishing, encouraging and radiant with beauty. Perhaps your soul will be enriched as well!
So here we go . . . But first, just once perhaps, I must give you the context of where I am so you can join me here. Sit with me for a few moments and rest awhile. Envision yourself in a lovely and majestic Chapel with a high, arched ceiling, white-washed and bathed in light. Stained glass windows encircle us with depictions of all of the Apostles. Jesus hangs above the altar, in the midst of His passion on the Cross. Soft light shines on our Savior, somehow softening the agony He suffered, yet not forgotten.
Two smaller stained glass windows are open beside the pew where I sit. I can see the trees in the courtyard outside and feel the wind that blows softly in and through the Chapel. The bells in the Chapel ring every fifteen minutes, marking the passage of time~ time that passes too quickly, yet I am in the present moment, unrushed, at peace.
In the distance I hear planes taking off at LAX, only a few miles from campus. Yet, the tranquility that surrounds me defies the distant noise and the busy congestion on the streets below the hill on which LMU sits, overlooking LA. I chose to read in the Chapel rather than the handsome, circular and very modern library not too far from here. I am mostly alone, except for the few people that come in to pray or to prepare for an upcoming service. I drink in the quiet, soak in the beauty, and find the real presence of God. Yet, even as I write this, I know that while sacred space is a wonderful blessing, no matter where we are we can find His presence, if we seek Him. The very Spirit of God is, truly, our Cathedral.
My first gem to share is Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), the twenty-third child of a cloth merchant in northern Italy, who, at the age of sixteen joined the Sisters of Penace of St. Dominic and spent her life in devotional exercises. She never learned to write and these words were dictated to a secretary: (I have not edited her original words, just had to pick and choose.)
"Thanks, thanks to Thee, O Eternal Father, for thou hast not despised me, the work of thy hands, nor turned thy face from me . . . I confess and do not deny that thou didst love me before I existed, and that they love for me is ineffable, as if thou wast mad with love for they creature, O Eternal Trinity! O Godhead! . . . Thou art a deep Sea, into which the deeper I enter the more I find, and the more I find, the more I seek: the soul cannot be satiated in thy abyss, for she continually hungers after thee, the Eternal Trinity, desiring to see thee with light in thy light.
. . . O Sea Profound! what more couldst thou give me than thyself? Thou are the fire which ever burns without being consumed; thou consumest in thy heat all the soul's self-love; thou art the fire which takes away all cold; . . . By the light of faith I have acquired wisdom in the wisdom of the Word--thy only begotten Son. In the light of faith I am strong, constant, and persevering. In the light of faith, I hope. . . Clothe me, clothe me with thee, O Eternal Truth, that I may run my mortal course with true obedience and the light of holy faith, with which light I feel that my soul is about to become inebriated afresh."
Blessings this day to each of you. May you be inebriated with His love. For He is madly in love with you! Janie