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MONDAY, WEEK ONE

For Reflection

Sister Maria Boulding was a contemplative nun from the Benedictine community at Stanbrook Abbey. Her books include Marked for Life, The Coming of God and Gateway to Hope.

Being Rooted in Christ

By falling into his Father’s hands, falling through death into his Easter life, Jesus shows us what the Father is like, but only from the outside. He shares his own consciousness with us from within. In prayer I make the journey inwards, down to the centre of my own being. In peaceful attention I become aware of the inner unity of all that exists, of the loving energy that is at the heart of creation and of my own consciousness. By discovering my own inwardness I am in communion with all other people, with nature and beauty and the goodness of all that is. Christ, the first born of all creation, in whom and for whom all things are created, in whom they all hold together in their life and strength and beauty, dwells in the depths of my inner self. He lives in me, but he also invites me to live in him, to let go of what is mine and find my centre in him, where I am not lost but found. First born of all creation, he is also the first born from the dead; in consenting to be poor and losing my life I find it within his Easter life. He is the person in whom my personality is rooted and grows and finds fulfilment, yet he leads me onward to another. ‘He who sees me sees him who sent me.’ The Father is in him and he is in the Father; his whole being as Son is a relationship, and his human consciousness is flooded with the glory of it. He wills to share this consciousness with us, to show us the Father, that we may share with him the glory and thanksgiving, the joy and peace of the return. This communion is the Spirit, their embrace and self-giving, the love and delight of their relationship, the dance of their inner life. This torrent of God’s joy is poured into our hearts, and in Jesus we are impelled to cry out, ‘Abba’.

We do not know all this clearly in the time of prayer. We pray in faith and in darkness, and what awareness we have of the indwelling God is global and unanalysed. But it may help us if we know that our prayer is Trinitarian independently of any clear perception of ours. Whether we use the word ‘Abba’ or some other word or no words at all we are praying as God’s children in the beloved Son, and the Spirit is shaping the authentic prayer of son-ship in us at a level we cannot directly perceive or control.

MARKED FOR LIFE MARIA BOULDING

Scripture Reading

ROMANS 8:12–17

‘All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.’

Prayer

Take me into your life, Lord –

your life of perfect love;

take me into your love, Lord –

your love which calls me home;

take me into your heart, Lord –

your heart broken for me;

take me into your peace, Lord –

your peace which brings me healing;

take me into your life, Lord –

that I may share that life,

that love,

that wholeness,

that peace

which binds together

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.