Readings week of January 12th.

Readings from last week's Daily Contemplative Pauses

*All previous readings & reflections can be found here*

Monday, January 12th with Tom

Reading: The Courage To Fully See

From Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life

Maybe, for the time being, we have to accept the many fluctuations between knowing and not knowing, seeing and not seeing, feeling and not feeling, between days in which the whole world seems like a rose garden and days in which our hearts seem tied to a millstone, between moments of ecstatic joy and moments of gloomy depression, between the humble confession that the newspaper holds more than our souls can bear and the realization that it is only through facing up to the reality of our world that we can grow into our own responsibility. 

Maybe we have to be tolerant toward our own avoidances and denial in the conviction that we cannot force ourselves to face what we are not ready to respond to, and in the hope that in one future day we will have the courage and strength to open our eyes fully and see without being destroyed. 

All this might be the case, as long as we remember that there is no hope in denial or avoidance, neither for ourselves, nor for anyone else, and that new life can only be born out of the seed planted in crushed soil. Indeed God, our Lord, "will not scorn this crushed and broken heart" (Psalm 51:17).

Chant:  Stilled & Quiet is my Soul, In God’s Presence, I take my Rest

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