flame on

Opening Prayer:

O living flame of love

That tenderly wounds my soul

In its deepest center!  Since

Now you are not oppressive,

Now Consummate! If it be your will:

Tear through the veil of this sweet encounter!

O sweet cautery,

O delightful wound!

O gentle hand!  O delicate touch

That tastes of eternal life

And pays every debt!

In killing you changed death into life.

O lamps of fire!

In whose splendors

The deep caverns of feeling,

Once obscure and blind,

Now give forth, so rarely, so exquisitely,

Both warmth and light to their beloved.

How gently and lovingly

You wake in my heart,

Where in secret you dwell alone;

And in your sweet breathing,

Filled with good and glory,

How tenderly you swell my heart with love.

—John of the Cross

Scripture: Luke 8:16-18

Journal: What is the state of your inner fire these days?  What tends and nurtures the flame?  What hinders it or covers it up?  How does that light desire to shine itself in your life and world?

Reflection: No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.  Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light." (Luke 8:16)

     You have lit this flame in me, O God, and I burn with love for you.  Yet at times I am content to hide the flame, to put it in a jar or under a bed, rather than setting it on a stand and letting it shine.  Sometimes I do this out of fear, sometimes I do it out of laziness, and sometimes I do it out of comfort—not wanting to go through the anxiety and the angst that putting this light on a stand creates in me.  But this flame, which you have lit, was made to shine, so that those who come in can see the light.  All it really costs me is to be; to be the one you have made me to be, and shine.  After all, that's what a light does, right?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Shine your light in and through me, O God, that those who come in can see the light of your love and your presence that resides in my heart and surrender themselves to you.  Amen.