January 20 - A Day of Gladness

The trials and sorrows of earth cannot keep us from the gladness of the Kingdom of God. Today, even now, and every day as long as we live, we may enter the very atmosphere of heaven, as revealed to us in the fourth and fifth chapters of the Book of Revelation.

No matter what, no matter when, in every age, with every tick of earthly time, before and after that, our God is worshiped in heaven. Monastics all over the earth have discovered that we may JOIN IN, and they want in! Some . . . many . . . of them are just like you and me. The only cloister they will ever know is the abbey of the heart, and maybe a few minutes alone before the children wake up or, like John and Charles Wesley’s mother, Susanna, a few minutes retrieved in her chair with her apron over her head.

When we find our delight in the delightfulness of God, we have entered Cor Unum. When life is hard and circumstances . . . and even sometimes the shortcomings of those we love . . . compound to bring sorrow and pain into our lives, the cries of “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty . . .!” resound unceasingly at the throne of God. When we utter them, we have joined the chorus.

We may teach our hearts, our postulant hearts, to join the shout of heaven when we open our eyes each day and as we close them at night. Before we say, “Good morning” on earth, we may proclaim the holiness of God in heaven, if we will. We may let that angelic salute roll through our consciousness and, if we cannot sing at that hour, we may whisper our tribute while we bring in the newspaper and make the coffee.

We may join in!

“Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD God Almighty, Who was, and Who is, and Who is to come!” (Revelation 4:8) Those words are flying over the dome of heaven, even as we read them on earth! When we speak them, we never speak in silence!

While the nuns of Regina Laudis Abbey are gathering in winter darkness to sing the Morning Songs of Matins and Lauds, our voices will be heard in the anthem. Others in each time zone over the face of the earth will pick up the song and sing it as the sun rises without ceasing, and without ceasing, on earth as in heaven, God is praised.


"Angels Sing"
photo by Kerry