Radiation

Da Vince Code notwithstanding, I think those folks at Opus Dei are pretty alright. Their founder has written several books that are the core of my spiritual reading. However, St Josemaria Escriva and I have heated arguments sometimes; for he can be quite blunt when telling me truths I don't want to hear. Because, of course, acknowledging these truths would require me to change.

I've been reading about prayer lately. Picked up Contemplative Prayer by Thomas Merton. I couldn't get beyond the first paragraph of the foreword by Douglas V. Steere without being stopped short.

Here ... are hints both of man's longing for exposure to these `beams of love' and yet his fear of what may be involved to come within its transforming power. For if to pray means to change, it is no wonder that men, even devoted men, hurry to fashion protective clothing, leaden aprons that resist all radiation, even beam-proof shelters within corporate religious exercises in order to elude the `beams of love' and to stay as they are.

Well. Guess it's time to leave the padded prie-dieu in my bunker, take off my lead apron and go find a spiritual director. (I can probably find one of those at the local Opus Dei house.) Change may be difficult and messy, but it has to be done in order to be like Christ. That's what I pray for most.

Tenth Anniversary

Today is the day - Bill and I have been married 10 years! We still feel like newlyweds; in our hearts. I heard someone say since they conceived on their honeymoon they "never got a chance to be newlyweds; just went straight to being Mom & Dad". We conceived our first within a month of our marriage. But we never considered ourselves as "just" parents. Our relationship comes first, even before our children. The only thing more important is our relationship(s) with our Lord. That's the secret to feeling like it's your first anniversary rather than your tenth... or whatever number with which you're blessed. A toast to all newlyweds - May all those wrinkles be smile lines, and that chest pain be a heart full of joy!