April 26 – Change of Scenery

When we begin to think of ourselves as the current residence of the Spirit of Christ, everything starts to change.

Instead of waiting for death and the glories of heaven (which we are sometimes not so happy to confront when age takes us closer to the occupation of those new environs,) we begin to concern ourselves with daily dying, in order that these “earthly tabernacles” in which we dwell with Jesus Christ may display His splendor here and now. (2 Corinthians 5:1 and Romans 9:17)

That is our consideration for today in Cor Unum. Have we begun to realize that the Monastery of the Heart is the cloister from which His praises are sung and His glories proclaimed here and now? Have we begun to practice the Divine Office which salutes Him first in the morning and commends to His lovingkindness our successes and failures before we sleep each night?

Are we making sure that the windows of our souls are polished with every degree of forgiveness, grace and truth that we can apply? Are we studying Him, looking to Him for the wisdom He imparts, the vision He perfects, the choices He presents, the changes His nearness brings to bear?

What changes? Primarily, are we looking to make sure that, like Jesus, we are about our Father’s business more and more with each passing day, that we are less and less apt to take action and then ask Him to bless it, that increasingly we wait until He has made known the path marked out for us, and that we more assuredly, day by day, continue to step out in a strength not our own?

This is the resurrected life into which we have entered. “Resurrected” means ALIVE from the dead, not floating around waiting for something divine to spark our interest. We sing and we worship with the angels and the saints who are singing now, worshiping as we speak. We listen attentively in the presence of those who waited upon Him in life and accomplished those things ordained for them from the beginning. We see Jesus (Hebrews 2:9) . . . everywhere, in all things, for all things are due to be summed up in Him. If the back door of our souls opens upon the evils and disappointments of life, we go out onto the porch and fix our gaze upon the vistas of the good and perfect will of Him with Whom we have to do will.

"Change of Scenery"
photo by Kerry