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BEDecember 23, 2024
Back to weekly reflections
BE
And Maintain Your Being in All You Do
Recently I participated in a retreat on line from the Center for Contemplation and Action led by James Finley. He began each session with contemplative prayer. We quieted down, paid attention to our body, put our hands gently on our heart and repeated:
Be Still and know that I am God
Be Still and Know
Be Still
Be
We sat in silence for 3, 5, or 20 minutes listening to our hearts and then were encouraged to carry that awareness into all our daily activities. It is a simple and beautiful practice. To keep returning to our hearts and let our heads take the background is a wonderful help when we get anxious and fearful.
Recently one of my Sisters in community shared with me a writing of Thomas Merton’s called "Courageous Rest”. I share an excerpt from that lesson.
“For a person who has let themselves be completely drawn out of themselves by their activity, nothing is more difficult than to sit and rest, doing nothing at all. The very act of resting is the hardest and most courageous act a person can perform.” May we become women and men who are willing to BE and REST allowing transforming grace to make us instruments of God’s Love, Peace and Joy in ourselves, in our families and in our world.