Lord, grant me the gift of pure attention to You, to become the handmaid who eagerly watches.My head and heart are a big cloud full of doubt and discouragement. Why? The week started out well enough, normal craziness, but here I am again, back in the pit. Why? After trying to take a nap today, I decided to go back in my journal and this is what I found from a Silent Retreat a few years ago:
If you find yourself losing recollection, stop what you are doing and go back into recollection, ask Him to return you there. Are we interiorly aware of His Love for us at every moment?
What is it like to live life with a recollected heart? How can I have a receptive heart in the midst of the craziness?
- Well, first, do not be surprised if there is opposition to the silence required to enter recollection.
- Ask God for a recollected heart; ask Him to calm our hearts.
- Let God Love us first. If we start out trying to love Him first, we will not enter recollection. Love is the fact that He first loved us.
He Loves me. We know we have found recollection when we it is all about Him, His beauty, His Love, His goodness. We encounter everything through the vision of the cross of Jesus Christ.
For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique,
Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain.
Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly,
Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing,
And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion,
and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.
~Wisdom 7: 22-24
I highly recommend an Ignatian Silent Retreat at Broom Tree Retreat and Conference Center, nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of the Missouri River Valley in Eastern South Dakota.
+JMJ+
Kathryn,
ReplyDeleteI love this post; it is so beautiful. Your reminder to allow God to love us first(because He does) in order for us to love Him in return is something I never really thought about or maybe just took for granted.
The passage you quoted from Wisdom sums up nicely how we can strive to become, like Our Lady, handmaids who eagerly watch.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful post.
God bless.
Thank you Karinann.... I think that was where I was struggling the most, with knowing God's Love for me, first, and then being able to respond by loving Him in return.
ReplyDeleteFather really helped us to look to Mary during the Silent Retreat to teach us to eagerly watch for Our Lord.
I really appreciate your comments and visits, you are such an encouragement. Thank you :)
Yes, yes you won. Congratulations! http://thecrescat.blogspot.com/2011/09/drum-roll-please.html
ReplyDeleteHi Kat! Unbelievable!! :) I am so shocked by the whole thing.... glad to be a winner of the last Cannonball Awards. Thanks for coming by... Best wishes to you in your new endeavor, have loved following your blog, now I'll have to change from anonymous to public but you won't be there anymore :( Will follow you at your new home. It all started with the Gather us in Latin.... glad you posted about the "reverse-auditory-melodic-unstickification technology." Crap, now I'm going to have to go use it again.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cathy!!! And congratulations to you too!
ReplyDelete