Two themes struck home with me. In my youth I lived in relative poverty. In my mature years I lived in relative wealth. I know the wisdom that brings into my life. I know the balance. If you have lived your whole life in poverty or in wealth, than you do not have this experience. You may not know what St. Paul is talking about. I think I do. I have never been afraid of losing my abundance, because I know how to survive being poor. If you don’t know how to do that, you are afraid of losing your abundance because you may think you can not survive. But look at the lilies of the field. You and I know that divine providence always cares for us in abundance or in poverty. That is my life experience. It gave me my faith in Divine Providence. I know from experience that God will ALWAYS lift us up. In centering prayer we come to know Divine Providence in all matters lifting us up.
The second theme was a prayer said before every class led by the La Salle Christian Brothers “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.” I use that in centering prayer. I often think of two people who “glowed” from being in the presence of God. One was a scripture scholar, a priest. The other was a retired Amish mother, homemaker, farmer. She spent her old age reading scripture all day long and welcoming visitors like me. From that I know that Lectio Divina is a great gateway to centering prayer and I have the book provided by CO. Needless to say that I do not glow yet like those that I have met, but at least I know that it is possible. I met Mother Teresa and you know the work her nuns do. Very difficult work. The rule of her order requires the nuns to spend a great deal of time, in silence, in the presence of God, to enable them to do the difficult work they do. The more difficult our lives, the more time we must spend in silence with our God to continue, just as St. Teresa of Calcutta requires of her nuns.That is why CO is so very important in our lives. So very important to the world we live in.
