July 1980
Summer months. Vacation time for some, work for others. Some travel; others stay behind. But for everyone, life goes on.
Summer brings encounters. New faces, friends for a day. Our paths cross.
"I am the Way, the Truth, the Life . . ."
This stage of our preparation will make us more attentive to personal prayer. In our days, let us guard spaces of silence. In pine groves or elsewhere, let us not fear to spend time with God.
"Better to pray with the heart without finding the right words than to find the words but put no heart into them." Gandhi
"I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, as I remain in you, will bear much fruit; for without me you can do nothing." John 15:5
To remain in Christ—this is the foundation of every Christian community, and all the more so of Fede e Luce communities. Yes, when we settle into silence and set aside our plans and worries to attend to Jesus who dwells in us, the Spirit of Jesus leads us into the very heart of trinitarian life. We become capable of loving one another with the same love by which the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father. But do we dare believe it?
Let us accept being led by the Spirit into the desert. Let us listen to our Father speaking to our heart. He will seduce us, and we will be filled with his love. No longer relying on our own strength, but accepting at every moment to receive Life from Another. Accepting that Jesus, the gift of the Father's love, becomes the Life of our life.
If we live this intimacy with the Lord, we will learn to discern his Will and allow ourselves to be moved by his Spirit.
Beatrice de Muydler (Belgium)
Please, Jesus, Teach Me
to open my arms to the child running toward me,
to sing in the middle of traffic,
to still know how to play ball,
to knock on my neighbor's door,
to tell stories to the little ones,
to offer spaghetti to whoever arrives unexpectedly,
to still marvel at small things,
not to be sad when the weather is ugly,
not to let myself tire from daily gestures,
to give and receive without fussing,
not to think myself better than others,
Then I will know that you love me, and today, again, joy will be possible!
"When I Pray"
A woman living in a shack with nine children spoke of prayer this way: "When I pray and recite prayers with words I have learned, I feel it is not enough. So I speak to God with my own words, but I feel that doesn't work either. Then I speak with my heart, and I still feel that isn't sufficient. So I pray in silence."
Father Jacques Loew
Suggestions
- What place do we give to prayer in our days? For each person, prayer can take completely different forms: Mass, prayer beginning with the Gospel, prayer in our daily duties, moments of silence, adoration and praise of the Creator during our walks.
- When we are apart, prayer is our invisible bond. Think of Wednesday Prayer, which is at once personal and communal. (Members of Fede e Luce have indeed chosen this day of the week to meet spiritually despite the distance, to pray with one heart, to praise God, to bear one another's burdens.)