Practice

"Prayer...is obviously not a routine activity. It is a journey into life, the struggles and its glories." 

I am returning to the daily practice of reading a portion of St. Joan Chittister's The Rule of St. Benedict, Insights for the Ages. I plan on continuing this practice at least through Lent. I confess I have already peaked ahead to the February 16 reading, and I was so struck by these two sentences that I think they will guide me through Lent, and beyond. 

Certainly, we each have our own ways of praying. Yet, these prayer journeys are not just personal. They are also collective. The more aware we become of the universality of prayer, the more we can be nourished in the common ground of all creation. Let us listen and consciously join in. Perhaps then, we can sing with the flowers. 

   

So, what did I take away from the  reading of February 14?  Well, for one thing, a sense of being rerooted in the commitment of coming together every Sunday to worship, whether we worship in a church, temple, in a field, or on Zoom: 

"Sunday Lauds in the monastic liturgy is a soul-splitting commitment to go on. The point is that every life needs points along the way that enable us to rise about the petty daily problems, the overwhelming tragedies of our lives and begin again, whatever our circumstances, full of confidence, not because we know ourselves to be faithful, but because God is." 

  

God is. Amen.   

  

Love and Blessings on your journey, 

Rev. Sue Ann 

      

image: San Leandro, February, 2023