Lectio
“He commanded them, therefore, to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion.”
— St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon 49
Meditatio
The Lord calls each of us to a purpose of our own, by which we may carry out His will for the sake of His glory. It serves neither God nor us to seek a purpose other than the one to which He has called us. There are no spiritual fruits apart from the vine to which we are grafted. He has grafted us into Himself; our part is to remain, and the work He assigns grows out of that remaining.
But it is easy to get distracted. It is easy to look at the work of others and, whether by envy or by sloth, to want to do what they are doing. In doing so, however, we miss out on our own calling, and the world is a poorer place because of it. By not following Christ where He is trying to lead us, and going some other way instead, we rob ourselves and those we might have served of the opportunity to answer that call.
This is especially true for those of us who have been given the gift of contemplative prayer, the grace to partake of eternity now, in this life. That gift will not fulfill us unless we consent to receive it fully. If we ignore this call to silence, to stillness, and to solitude, and choose instead the distraction and busyness of the world around us, we refuse what He has freely offered us and withhold from His body, the Church, what only we can offer through His grace.
No one else can do the work we were called to do. No one else can be who God intended us to be.
The mystery we are invited into is one pearl of great price, and the pearl is Christ. The way He comes to each of us is meant just for us: to some in cloud and fire, to some in a whisper, to some as the gardener or the stranger on the road. Martha met Him in her serving and Mary at His feet, and He did not ask either to trade places. What was given to each of His disciples was given for them alone. But what each of them was, and each of us is, given is Christ. So, to those of us called into the mystery of Christ by way of a seasonable silence, a silence kept until its season, until the mystery can be given away whole, let us heed that call and meet Him at the rendezvous of prayer whenever and wherever He beckons us. No one else can make this journey for us, just as we cannot make anyone else’s journey for them.
Oratio
Through My Life
You gifted Yourself
through me
through my life
in ways
only we
together
can be
for what reason
I do not know
but You are the reason
for what purpose
I do not know
but You are the purpose
greater together
yet none greater than You
in my smallness
my poverty
my stillness
I am given over to You
gifting Yourself to me
through me
through my life
in ways
only we
together
can be
greater than me
Contemplatio
He has come to you before, and not always in a way you knew to call Him: a voice you could barely hear, a stranger’s kindness, an ordinary morning that quietly held more than it should. He is coming now in the way that is meant for you alone. Be still, and let Him come as He wills.
Related Scripture
“For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”
— Habakkuk 2:3 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Voice That Fills Empty Nets: Gregory of Nyssa and the Astonishment of Grace (Lectio Divina), which sits with the same Christ meeting us in the ordinary work of our lives, in a voice we did not summon and with a power we could not have asked for.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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