God of grace,
we thank for the saints whom we ourselves
have known and loved.
It does not come easily to us to call them saints,
it seems as if ordinary mortals
are not good or great enough.
Each occasion
we glimpse them:
that turn of a head,
that smile,
the way she walked,
his sense of humor,
The messages of the Prologue [to the Rule of St. Benedict] are clear: Life is very short. To get the most out of it, we must begin to attend to its spiritual dimensions without which life is only half lived. Holiness is in the Now but we go through life only half conscious of it, asleep or intent on being someplace other than where we are. We need to open our eyes and see things as they exist around us:
But now, I think that almost all missionaries come as people who want to be servants. Now the exchange of missionaries tends to affirm the good that is in each culture and also allow Christ to judge every culture, as Christ does.
O Lord Jesus our God,
Who called people from their daily work
Saying to them, ‘Come ye after me’,
May your children today hear your voice
And gladly answer your call
I am so weary, Father, of using myself
as the measure of everything and everybody.
Just for this one day, I beg you,
help me to find release from the old pattern
of seeing the different-from-me
as either less-than or more-than me.
Moses did not set foot on the land below for which the people were longing by reason of the promise. He who preferred to live by what flowed from above no longer tasted earthly food. But having come to the very top of the mountain, he, like a good sculptor who has fashioned well the whole statue of his own life, did not simply bring his creation to an end but he placed the finishing touch on his work.
Give, looking for nothing again, that is, without consideration of future advantages: give to children, to old men, to the unthankful, and the dying, and to those you shall never see again: for else your alms and curtesy is not charity,
When the Lord who spoke to Moses came to fulfill his own law, he likewise gave a clear explanation to his disciples, laying bare the meaning of what had previously been said in a figure when he said, If anyone wants to be a follower of mine and not “If any man will go before me.” And to the one asking about eternal life he proposes the same thing, for he says Come, follow me. Now, he who follows sees the back.
We make this offering to you, Master, for your holy places also, which you glorified by the divine Epiphany of your Christ, and by the visitation of your all-holy Spirit, especially for the holy and glorious Sion, the mother of all the Churches; and for your holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church throughout the whole inhabited world. Richly bestow on it now too, Master, the gifts of your all-holy Spirit.