Dear Friends,
These days, I’ve been thinking about things I need to spend more time considering. Thomas Hobbes famously suggested that life is “poor, nasty brutish and short.” One might assume he is speaking from the context we find ourselves in today. Yet, most of us can probably agree, this doesn’t appear to be the experience or expectation of most living in the US today. Indeed, one of the marvels of modern life is how much we take for granted. We expect heat in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, food in the grocery stores and medical assistance when we need it.
The COVID pandemic has revealed just how fragile we are as individuals, as a nation and as a world community, but it also points to how many blessings we take for granted. Over the last two years, I have been in a program which explores the writings of the early spiritual masters throughout the centuries. In light of the pain washing over our land, I find I resonate with the relevant prayer of Ignatius Loyola (1495-1556).
Lord Jesus Christ, fill us, we pray, with your light and life, that we may reveal your wondrous glory. Grant that your love may so fill our lives that we may count nothing too small to do for you, nothing too much to give and nothing too hard to bear. Amen.
Ignatius Loyola
Warmly,
Judy Kohl, Dean