We're told not to multiply our prayers, and I'm often guilty in the middle of distracting life, of thinking that if I say one more Rosary or say one more prayer, that I will have paid "enough" attention to things of the Spirit.
I went to a huge used book sale over the weekend and stocked up on all sorts of books, including theology and saint's lives and such. Does that pile of books now waiting to be read indicate my holiness? I'm afraid there're times I think so. They can become idols themselves, and saying that you've read them an occasion for pride.
What do you do? Read and study and work to know God, or be still and know God, or examine all the faces around you to try and find God, or...? I see why spiritual direction would be darn handy. I'll pray for the right balance in my life, and the right attention, and the right recollection (see below).
Is there a good reading plan out there for lay Catholics?
Is He Coming?
11 hours ago
1 comments:
Are you caught up in the "oughts"? What like you've got is a feast of blessing that will never grow dry or stale and from which you can help yourself any time you want. You're rich, woman! So, yes. You can read and study, or be still before God's face, or see God in the face of your neighbor, or have long phone calls full of holy hilarity, or whatever.
See, you've hit on one of the things I can get staunch about (until God tells me not to). His job is to steer. Our job is to follow. The choreography of our spiritual development is not our responsibility, but we listen and respond as He trains us how to listen and respond.
Am I lazy or trusting? Who knows? But I trust that God's fully able to change my focus if He wants me to do something else.
Post a Comment