February 23 – Grouchy or Glorious?

Let us consider this morning the fasting that requires no change of diet.

Perhaps some have chosen this manner of fasting, leading up to the glories of the Resurrection. How truly glorious that celebration will be with six weeks of thanksgiving filling our hearts and our mouths! We might fast grumbling or ingratitude, or we might fast criticism of every sort, and Easter Sunday will dawn and we will rise with hearts washed clean and filled with joy and redemptive love.

The tongue is a powerful member, as Brother James taught us. Oh, how fiery and ruinous it can be, one word as destructive as a wrecking ball sometimes. On the other hand, even a ruined relationship can often be restored with a word, or at least with several humble, sensitive, loving words.

A word for discipline here! We are the monastics of Cor Unum, after all! Our words work best when others know that we will do what we say. However ill-judged our words may have been, when we say we are sorry, the truth is in our nature and others have reason to hope and believe that we are more than sorry . . . that we will make a change. The monastic soul can and will change, for change is its plan and purpose.

It is important for us to remember that just as words wound deeply and can change things in a terrible direction, words can heal and help us change according to our need and desire. Let us speak the word of truth concerning our fasting, for instance: “A merry heart does good, like a medicine!” (Proverbs 17:22) or ““He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who [j]orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:23.)

Our “conversatio” practice will continue through the year, but for the next season, we have opportunity to make the heavens sing as we glorify God with our words, our devotion, our obedience to truth, our prayers, and our expectant focus on the sacrifice and the finished work of the One Whom heaven adores. This is no small matter, beloved! We may fast offenses and find our offering accepted at the throne of Majesty!


"Choose the High Ground"
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