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Wisdom Quote
Many of us today live in a kind of inner apartheid. We segregate out a small corner of pious activities and then can make no spiritual sense out of the rest of our lives. We have become so accustomed to this way of living that we fail to see the contradiction in it. The scandal of Christianity in our day is the heresy of a 5 percent spirituality.
*Richard Foster. Prayer.
Comments
A Christianity that does not continuously draw off depths of inner fellowship with the Sacred is a Christianity that will become exhausted, at best, or, at worst, forget what it is, period. We are to live and give from being filled to overflowing.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (b. 1090) spoke of the need to be reservoirs, not canals:
If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water. In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs.
Suggested Reflection
How might you so shape your life to be a reservoir, not a canal?
Brian is available to respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Director, his speaking, doing classes, workshops, or retreats for churches or other spiritual groups.
For submission of replies, see below:
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, and their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Punta Gorda, Florida. He is a United Methodist pastor and vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
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