Tag Archives: Christ

In the End, Happiness

“Being happy means entering wholeheartedly into everything – no matter what type of challenge it presents, no matter what the possible difficulties involved – entering into it body, soul, mind, and spirit.  We have to enter into it in such a way that we’re no longer separated from what we’re doing.  We forget ourselves at the same time that we give ourselves completely.  And when we do enter into life totally and completely, then, if we stop and reflect for just a moment, we’ll notice that somehow we’re beginning to experience happiness.  This is what we’re made for.”

~ The Monks of New Skete (In the Spirit of Happiness, 311)

Christ, Our Infinite Now

She cuddles beneath purple fleece,
knees pulled up and restless, melancholy
as Milne’s Donkey, that stuffed lovey
dangling by an ear from her thumb-sucking hand.

There are days I ride the waves of this energy,
and days I’m frustrated and mystified,
but this day I’m struck; my perspective tilted,
and I see her as she is:

the great work of hands I don’t often notice,
sculpted perfection refined and refining,
more unique than ice crystals falling
through our atmosphere.

She is blessed, mysterious, achingly,
deeply passionate, intensely loving
and intensely loved.  She’s working on it,
saving it up, storing all that energy for

the great love-work she’ll do in the future –
the great love-work she’ll do in the Infinite Now.

Working Toward Seeing

God, make us more like Jesus.
Help us to bear difficulty, pain,
disappointment and sorrow
knowing that in your perfect working and design
you can use such bitter experiences
to shape our characters
and make us more like Christ.
We look with hope for that day
when we shall be wholly like Christ,
because we shall see him as his is.
Amen.

~ St. Ignatius of Antioch