VIGILS
“Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is
coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the
morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I
say to all: ‘Watch!’”—Mark 13:35-37
You and I must first be what we ought to be; then we shall have cured
what concerns ourselves. Let each one do the same, and all will be well. The
trouble is that we all talk of reforming others without ever reforming
ourselves.—Saint Peter of Alcantara
To be ready is to pray regularly and always, examine our conscience
daily, frequent the sacraments of the Eucharist and also of Confession, and
engage in all the exercises of Christian life—work for our daily bread, works
of mercy, works of charity, Christian fellowship, spiritual reading...we travel
like Israelites in the desert of the world in steadfast hope of arriving at the
Promised Land. Only Jesus can satisfy our hearts entirely and it is him that we
wholly seek. Christus est unum tantum
amamus.
Photo courtesy of fietzfotos
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Gonzalinho
GOD ALONE
ReplyDeleteWe crossed the court, climbed some steps, entered a high, dark hall. I hesitated on the brink of a polished, slippery floor, while the Brother groped for a light switch. Then, above another heavy door, I saw the words: “God alone.”
“Have you come here to stay?” said the Brother.
The question terrified me.
…“No,” I said lamely, “I have a job…”
—Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (1948)
Gonzalinho