ABBEY NEWS
Lights Out
Come this Wednesday a good part of the Abbey will be without electricity most of the day. After some sixty-five years of faithful service a large component of our electrical system is due for replacement by our maintenance crew. In addition to being quite old much of the present equipment is no longer adequate to supply the growing electrical needs.
In addition to regular electrical equipment the outage will include heating systems, our internet server and telephone system. Since they are being supplied by another feed system the bakery, infirmary and reception room along with the retreat houses will have electrical power. Here’s hoping the change over will be free of the usual ‘glitches’ that go with updates and improvements.
Lectio Notebook
The process of conversion begins with genuine openness to change: openness to the possibility that just as natural life evolves, so too the spiritual life evolves. Our psychological world is the result of natural growth, events over which we had no control in early childhood, and grace.
Grace is the presence and action of Christ in our lives inviting us to let go of where we are now and to be open to the new values that are born every time we penetrate to a new understanding of the Gospel. Moreover, Jesus calls us to repent not just once; it is an invitation that keeps recurring.
In the liturgy it recurs several times a year, especially during Advent and Lent. It may also come at other times through circumstances: disappointments, personal tragedy, or the bursting into consciousness of some compulsion or secret motive. that we were not aware of.
A crisis in our lives is not a reason to run away; it is the voice of Christ inviting us to accept more of the divine light. More of the divine light means more of what the divine light reveals, which is divine life. And the more divine life we receive, the more we perceive that divine life is pure love.
Awakenings
Thomas Keating, OCSO
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