Meditation 18
Today, like every other day,
we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study
and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel
and kiss the ground.
Rumi
The problem with goodness
is that it can become so dull,
so functional, so scripted, so smothering
that we lose touch entirely
with all the other ways
God has of showing us
what life is really all about.
Play a little. Laugh more. Try new things.
Walk through strange places.
God is waiting for you to find divinity
where you have never thought it could be.
God is waiting for you
to become spiritual
as well as simply good.
Joan Chittister
John Predmore, S.J., is a USA East Province Jesuit and was the pastor of Jordan's English language parish. He teaches art and directs BC High's adult spiritual formation programs. Formerly a retreat director in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Ignatian Spirituality is given through guided meditations, weekend-, 8-day, and 30-day Retreats based on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Ignatian Spirituality serves the contemporary world as people strive to develop a friendship with God.
Won-der-ful! Thank you, thank you.
ReplyDeleteA good response, Claire.
DeleteAbsolutely beautiful thoughts as the two poems complemented each other so perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I love Rumi's succinctness.
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