Contemplative Christian

I’ve done less writing lately…my heart hasn’t been in it.  Reflecting on it, I realize somewhere along the way I began writing about spirituality instead of living in it.  This has been a common theme in many of my past posts, this third-person spirituality,  where one acts and thinks and prays internally as though done externally, publicly…with appearances in mind.  Here and now I look back over my own words and see, amidst moments of clarity and beauty, the footprints of my own ego…marching along trying to be noticed, heard, accepted, praised…dare I say, worshiped.

And yet, now I can be thankful for the grace to see it…for the gentle call of these last months back to a simple spirituality, one that defies elaboration.  Lord, let it be.  There is a wonderful prayer, the Anima Christi – a favorite of St. Ignatius, paraphrased by David Fleming, that echoes the Lord’s Prayer in simplicity and worship…I’ll share it here now, to hopefully communicate the flavor of what I’m talking about:

Jesus, may all that is you flow into me.

May your body and blood be my food and drink.

May your passion and death be my strength and life.

Jesus, with you by my side enough has been given.

May the shelter I seek be the shadow of your cross.

Let me not run from the love which you offer,

But hold me safe from the forces of evil.

On each of my dyings shed your light and your love.

Keep calling to me until that day comes,

When, with your saints, I may praise you forever. Amen.

_{Fleming, D.L.(1993). Hearts on Fire: Praying with the Jesuits. Institute of Jesuit Sources: St. Louis.}