It's twenty-six years (plus two days) since I became a candidate with the Society of the Sacred Heart. Twenty six years since, rather like the Magi, I too embarked on a new stage in my journeying and questing - in my case for "more" of God. It was simultaneously the maddest and the sanest, most logical thing I had ever done, and could have done, in response to the life and love of God welling up within me.
Each year I have quietly marked the anniversary; each year, the context has been different. Even when I am living in the same place, doing the same things, I can be different; or rather, I am the same, still me, but I have grown, or my mood and outlook have been changed by events and circumstances. This year, in between normal Sunday activities, I spent much of the day with a dreading eye on news: Australia literally in flames, the Middle East - with the possibility of war - metaphorically so - and maybe less urgent, though no less relevant, the messes we find ourselves in, here in the UK. At times like this, holding on to hope, believing in hope, can be so very, very difficult...
On New Year's Eve I shared some words by Richard Rohr on Facebook. They were a good focus, five days later, for my anniversary of entrance; and a good focus for the Epiphany, with its underlying themes of journeying, seeking and finding. In the midst of so much turmoil, fear and devastation, I need to remember to return, again and again to Love: the Love which called me all those years ago, and remains with me throughout the journey; the Love which strengthens me, keeps faith with me, and calls me ever onward, and always outward, to share and make Love known...
As you look back...
Recall the ways in which
God has been inviting you
to return, again and again, to Love
which is the same as returning to God
Each year I have quietly marked the anniversary; each year, the context has been different. Even when I am living in the same place, doing the same things, I can be different; or rather, I am the same, still me, but I have grown, or my mood and outlook have been changed by events and circumstances. This year, in between normal Sunday activities, I spent much of the day with a dreading eye on news: Australia literally in flames, the Middle East - with the possibility of war - metaphorically so - and maybe less urgent, though no less relevant, the messes we find ourselves in, here in the UK. At times like this, holding on to hope, believing in hope, can be so very, very difficult...
As you look back...
Recall the ways in which
God has been inviting you
to return, again and again, to Love
which is the same as returning to God
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