Seeing the Star

Lectio Divina

They were overjoyed at seeing the star.

Matthew 2:10

For those who follow Jesus and perceive with the senses of faith, everything points to God, right? This means it really is true when Sly Stone sings "Everybody Is a Star." If only we could look at our sisters and brothers with love and rejoice that they, too, are signs of the immediate presence of God. Christ, heal my blindness.

Library

Finished the latest issue of Commonweal. Returning to Mumford (I know you've heard that before). Have a few more letters to write, but they will have to wait for another day when I have several hours to myself. 

Log

It is the memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, wife, mother, teacher, and religious foundress. When I think of her, I pray for my sister, Jennifer, also a wife and mother and teacher. Through Elizabeth Ann Seton's intercession I pray that God's blessings of wisdom will fill my sister and that in the fulfillment of her vocations, she will come to know and love God who is present in her midst and dwells in her heart.

Morning prayer and Mass in our classroom again. We will worship in here through Saturday evening. Next week we will move to the back chapel behind the main chapel. Breakfasted this morning with the sound of drilling and jackhammering from the main chapel, where the brick baptismal font is being removed. I am assured that whatever the labor in the sanctuary from this point forward, it will not interfere with our hours of prayer in the adjacent back chapel, being in a much lower decibel range.

This afternoon, ministry at the federal prison in Lompoc. Later this afternoon, setting the dining room tables with five more place settings for my guests and friends from Beatitude House, the Catholic Worker community in Guadalupe, Calif. They are coming for evening prayer and the evening meal. I am glad to be returning the favor of their hospitality to us when we visited them in October, and gladder still to be introducing them to my novice brothers. Franciscans and Catholic Workers are personalists at heart and share in their depths a passion for living the Gospel in simplicity and humility and poverty. They can learn a lot from each other.

This evening, faith sharing in our small groups. A few moments of communal recreation, then adjourning to the kitchen for some late-night baking in advance preparation for my turn at cooking the evening meal Saturday. 

Weather

Chilly for sure. Endeavoring not to let the hearth in my heart go cold.