It took me about fifteen seconds of typing about another topic before I noticed that something appearing on my computer screen was out of place. Then I found it: I typed "Lenten Living" instead of "Living Lent." I am reminded yet again of how a familiar phrase turned in a new way can be the first strike of a plow in the hard soil of my heart.
While reading through over six weeks of entries in my prayer journal last night, a few words, phrases, and scripture passages appeared over and over again. I didn't notice their pattern (much less their critical importance for my vocational discernment) till yesterday, in light of a fruitful conversation I had just had.
What does it take before the pattern of my past illumines the pattern of my future? Does it take as little as a tropal accident? Does it take years of dogged spiritual work? Does it take a kind word to free me from fear, or perhaps a harsh word to free me from complacency?
My experience teaches me that graced illuminations of my life can happen in any situation when I attend to what is taking place. Presence is the sacred key to Lent.
While reading through over six weeks of entries in my prayer journal last night, a few words, phrases, and scripture passages appeared over and over again. I didn't notice their pattern (much less their critical importance for my vocational discernment) till yesterday, in light of a fruitful conversation I had just had.
What does it take before the pattern of my past illumines the pattern of my future? Does it take as little as a tropal accident? Does it take years of dogged spiritual work? Does it take a kind word to free me from fear, or perhaps a harsh word to free me from complacency?
My experience teaches me that graced illuminations of my life can happen in any situation when I attend to what is taking place. Presence is the sacred key to Lent.
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