This is taken from 2010: A Book of Grace-Filled Days
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. ~Matthew 5:14-15
A man in or parish described himself as a practitioner of "bushel basket" Christianity. I think a lot of us can relate. We take our gifts, resources, and possibilities, and crawl under the nearest affordable shelter before someone notices and calls us on it. Honestly, sometimes I don't want to serve on another committee, teach another class, listen to another story of woe, or eat another potluck dinner. But "this little light of mine" wasn't doled out to me to watch TV.
(This hits a little too close to home sometimes!)
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Friday, June 04, 2010
Reflection on Suffering - Marguerite-Marie Teilhard de Chardin
This prayer comes from my study guide on the book of Job - A Good Man Asks Why.
Prayer of a Chronically Ill Person
Lord, the day has just come to an end. Like all the others, it leaves me with an impression of total failure. I have done nothing for you; no prayers that I am aware of, nor any works of charity, nor the slightest bit of work . . . . I have not even been able to control that childish impatience and those stupid grudges that too often usurp your place in the no-man's-land of my feelings. It is in vain that I promise you to do better: tomorrow will probably be no better . . .
When I look back over the course of my life, I am overwhelmed by the same sense of inadequacy. I have sought you . . . . But as I sought you, wasn't it myself that I was finding and seeking to justify? Those works that I secretly considered good and holy dissolve in the brightness of approaching eternity . . . .
Perhaps we are all like this - unable to perceive anything but our own misery and despairing faint-heartedness in the light of the Beyond that waxes on our horizon.
But it may also be, O Lord, that this sense of being stripped is part of the divine plan. It may be that, in your eyes, our self-satisfaction is the most insolent of our trappings, and that we must present ourselves naked before you so that you, and you alone, may clothes us anew.
*******
About this prayer, Father Benedict Groeschel writes in Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones: "Illness, personal misunderstandings, failure to achieve life goals, and alienation from friends all contribute to an abiding sense of sadness. The prayerful person will soon find that this sadness seeks an expression in prayer. Such prayer may not be found in books, nor fit most people's definition of prayer . . . This prayer of Marguerite Teilhard de Chardin, president of the Catholic Union of the Sick, and sister of the well-known Jesuit writer, is not without hope, but it is hope born of pain and suffering. The prayer reminds me that a believer who is not experiencing sadness at a particular time must appreciate the profound expressions of sadness of others who are enduring severe trials. There must be a special place in purgatory for people who tell the suffering, 'Cheer up. It's not so bad.'"
Prayer of a Chronically Ill Person
Lord, the day has just come to an end. Like all the others, it leaves me with an impression of total failure. I have done nothing for you; no prayers that I am aware of, nor any works of charity, nor the slightest bit of work . . . . I have not even been able to control that childish impatience and those stupid grudges that too often usurp your place in the no-man's-land of my feelings. It is in vain that I promise you to do better: tomorrow will probably be no better . . .
When I look back over the course of my life, I am overwhelmed by the same sense of inadequacy. I have sought you . . . . But as I sought you, wasn't it myself that I was finding and seeking to justify? Those works that I secretly considered good and holy dissolve in the brightness of approaching eternity . . . .
Perhaps we are all like this - unable to perceive anything but our own misery and despairing faint-heartedness in the light of the Beyond that waxes on our horizon.
But it may also be, O Lord, that this sense of being stripped is part of the divine plan. It may be that, in your eyes, our self-satisfaction is the most insolent of our trappings, and that we must present ourselves naked before you so that you, and you alone, may clothes us anew.
*******
About this prayer, Father Benedict Groeschel writes in Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones: "Illness, personal misunderstandings, failure to achieve life goals, and alienation from friends all contribute to an abiding sense of sadness. The prayerful person will soon find that this sadness seeks an expression in prayer. Such prayer may not be found in books, nor fit most people's definition of prayer . . . This prayer of Marguerite Teilhard de Chardin, president of the Catholic Union of the Sick, and sister of the well-known Jesuit writer, is not without hope, but it is hope born of pain and suffering. The prayer reminds me that a believer who is not experiencing sadness at a particular time must appreciate the profound expressions of sadness of others who are enduring severe trials. There must be a special place in purgatory for people who tell the suffering, 'Cheer up. It's not so bad.'"
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