This is worship in the Spirit. This is communion in the Spirit. It is as when a small fire, being brought into the presence of a larger fire, joins with it.

He places upon the soul, the glorious robe of a beloved child. A robe that sings of the Father’s love; and the child is covered in it. It is a divine embrace. It is an exchange beyond words. It is a candle coming up against and getting taken up into flame.

God has created a natural order in which birds can – through presence of mind, through attention in the present – find that which they need to subsist. . . and you are more than the birds.

The Jesus Prayer is a perfect prayer. It is simple; it is deep; and it lacks nothing. The Jesus Prayer makes of the heart a temple where Jesus comes to make His dwelling place.

A Psalm from the heart makes any place a temple. It is a vertical lance, a spear cast toward heaven, a single firework shot straight to its target in the heart of God.  

And here is where it really hit me. I have just lived through the process of Lectio Divina, in real time.

The essence of the priesthood is love. And therefore priesthood is of the essence of life.

If God made of Jonah so powerful a prophet, a prophet who twice said no to God, what could God do with us if we learn to always say yes?

“Jesus led them out into that boat, Maddie,” I tell her. “He wanted them to experience that storm. It seemed like he was sleeping in the midst of it; but really he was waiting for them at a deeper level. . . “

An ember from God’s throne is a material element that is on the way but has not yet been transmuted into flame. It is, we might say, both matter and fire; or, we might further say, it is both matter and spirit.