Friday, February 12, 2010

February 13 – Exhausting Work with Refreshing Results



We are looking at the lifestyle chosen by Frank Laubach, educator, linguist, man of God.

He wanted to show his love for God by never leaving Him, not for a moment, by never departing from the nearness of the Lord for any lesser pursuit. Yet Frank Laubach was a very busy man with large responsibilities. He had a home and family and a very demanding job and he traveled extensively. His life was far from cloistered.

His heart, however, kept a most DIVINE office.

A couple of months into his purposeful and all-out attempt to walk with God, he wrote that he had begun to try not to leave his room until he knew he was fully concentrated upon God. Two months later, he wrote, “It is working.” Ten days after that he wrote that while his effort was daunting and extremely strenuous, everything else was beginning to be less so. He had a lightness of heart and clear thoughts. Less than six months later he wrote, “the most completely successful day of my life, to date . . .”

How can we replicate that? It is a simple matter. The extern Sister washes dishes with the Lord’s hands, because she may, and so does the new assistant in the school cafeteria. The nuns in choir praise God through the love of His Son, deposited in their hearts. College professors speak with His tone in their voice, and that which is not true, they will not say. The mother changes her infant with God’s hands, and corrects her two-year-old the same way.

Businessmen buy and sell and promote and produce, as by the life and strength and wisdom and integrity of the Lord God. They hold Him NEAR, at every meeting, on the plane, in the office, coming through the door at night. Fearless men fear to step forth without Him.

Like Jacob who wrestled with the Angel of the Lord and would not let him go “until he blessed him,” God may allow us to live out the details of a busy life, a life that can pull in many directions and wrestle us nearly to the ground, but ah! how He loves it when we hold Him fast and DON’T LET GO!

ABBEY NOTE: Next Wednesday marks the first day of a 40 day fast sponsored by "40 Days for Life," a pro-life organization that has documented 2,168 babies saved through prayer and vigil(cases where the mothers changed their minds and told their stories to the organization,) 28 clinic workers left their jobs, and 5 abortion clinics closed. All of this is done across the street from the clinics, through prayer alone (like an open air monastery!), in concert with the prayers of more than 200,000 others. Some in Cor Unum may wish to join in this time of fasting in some way, particularly through prayer. You can find "40 Days for Life" online.

"If Thou Canst Believe"
photo by Kerry

4 comments:

  1. Hi. Sorry i haven't been commenting - I've been silly-busy for the last few months (and it's getting worse!) But I wanted to say that what've been most helpful for me have been your non-Catholic applications. As a Protestant with a young family, the thought of putting aside everything to live in cloister sounds exactly like what it would be - turning my back on certain responsibilities God has given me. "An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided." But I know the principles of devotion, so I really like it when you show how these things can play out in the life of a person who has normal, "worldly" business to take care of.

    When you get done with Frank Laubach, it'd be really neat to hear some thoughts on how Martin Luther approached this kind of thing, since he had been a monk, and switched to family life.

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  2. WoW! 2,168 lives saved! That's a lot of babies! Thanks for sharing this great news!

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  3. Kyle's comments are profound and will be productive, I hope.

    The aim of the Abbey (this one) is to use monastic example to enhance marketplace life. If that doesn't happen, readers would probably be better off to find and enjoy a good "nun book," rather like watching a television documentary.

    Cor Unum is taking his comments to its heart. Postings have been assigned for the next few days; meanwhile, work will proceed to address Kyle's response.

    We are here . . . to see change where we are.

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  4. After a little investigation, we find there have been over 300,000 prayer participants. Reading the daily prayer devotional from "40 Days for Life," we see this organization crosses denominational lines BEAUTIFULLY. Hopefully. Prayerfully. Thanks, Patty, for making note.

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