As I was walking on the road behind the Monastery, I was in awe of the white, silent, pure and unsullied snow. Many of us had anxiously and nostalgically waited for the snow to come – never believing that we would even say or think such a thought in winter’s past! Now the immaculate new snow of about seventeen inches mesmerized me with wonder and praise.
I also remembered that it is Lent and one of our petitions in Psalm 51 is to create in us a clean heart, freed from sin and selfishness, to be made whiter than snow. This reality was deepened as I walked past the cross in the cemetery: “Greater love than this no one has, that they lay down their life for another.”This call for a clean, pure heart was confirmed during the opening hymn of Evening Prayer: Blest Are the Pure in Heart. The words reminded me that indeed the pure in heart will see God. The hymn continued that “the secret of the Lord is theirs, their soul is Christ’s abode . . . we seek your presence, Lord; this grace to us impart: make us a temple fit for you, a pure and lowly heart.” Let us pray for each other that we may truly be temples fit for Christ’s love and abiding presence.
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Sister Jeanne Ann WeberSister Jeanne Ann Weber is Director of Liturgy. She has experience as a teacher, advocate for women and children, giving retreats and spiritual direction. She is a member of the Shalom Spiritual Direction Training Program at the Monastery.See all of Sister Jeanne Ann’s posts. |