He pointed out that she, along with all of the other saints who have taken on the reformation of their orders, ran up against much opposition and suffering. When people don't want to change from their ways, he said, they are likely to rebel against the one who is trying to make them change.
Isn't that true with ourselves and even within our own family?
He talked about how far we move away from our relationship with God the more we let the world in. In the case of the religious, it is letting the world into their monasteries. In our case, it is letting the world take on too much prominence in our homes, lives and even our minds.
Every now and then I realize that the world has encroached a bit too much into my life and the life of our family. When that realization hits, it is time to take stock and reform. When the reformation comes, so does the rebellion. The children rebel, I rebel. It is tough for awhile, but then, once the dust settles again and we reinvigorate our relationship with God, we realize how much more peace there is around us.
Once a year I like to really make a reformation of my life by going on a silent retreat. This year, myself and my two eldest daughters will be going to a beautiful church for the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius; a retreat led by the priests of Miles Christi. This is an excellent way to purge yourself of the world and renew your relationship with God. If you are open to the movements of the Holy Spirit, this one weekend can bring about a complete reformation of your soul. Oh how I look forward to this every year.
If you find you are in need of some reforming, some cleaning out of the world from your life and a renewal of your spirit, why not consider a silent retreat? If you can't find an organized one in your area, you could set aside a day on your own to spend in silence connecting with the Holy Spirit and weeding out all of the worldly things that have been standing in the way of your closeness to God.
Rather than retreat from the world, why not embrace it? Enjoy what the world has to offer and be glad and grateful in it. By living fully in this world, we will find sanctification, not by shutting it out. Our hearts will never appreciate the love, without heartbreak, joy without sorrow, or hope without despair. In living this life and experiencing it- the good, the bad, and the ugly, we come to the realization that God is all that matters. -ann
ReplyDeleteAnn, sorry I wasn't clear in what I meant by retreating from the world...you know the old saying: you need to be "in" the world and not "of" the world. I was referring to when we become more "of" the world and and need to go back to being just more "in" the world. We always have misunderstood each other on that point, haven't we?
ReplyDelete