recognizing, monday

Monday, August 4

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer: Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you!  You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.  In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created.  You were with me, but I was not with you.  Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all.  You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness.  You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness.  You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you.  I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more.  You touched me, and I burned for your peace. (The Confessions of St. Augustine)

Scripture Reading for the Day: Psalm 98:1-9

Reading for Reflection:

          Barefoot

          by Rachel G. Hackenberg

     May I walk in this day

     as though with bare feet:

     more attuned to the hard earth and to

     the extravagance of my daily comforts,

     more inclined to splash playfully

     In puddles than to avoid them,

     more sensitive to the toe-stubbing-stones

     that we so casually toss into one others' paths,

     slowed down by necessity of caution

     to be more mindful of spirit and direction,

     deliberately risking the softening of calluses

     to sense more fully the mystery of holy ground.

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself (insert Mission info here)

Closing Prayer: Write thy blessed name, O Lord, upon my heart, there to remain so indelibly engraved, that no prosperity, no adversity shall ever move me from thy love.  Amen.

                                                                            ~Thomas a Kempis