‘You have called, You have cried out, and You have pierced my deafness. You have radiated forth, and have shined out brightly, and You have dispelled my blindness. You have sent forth Your fragrance, and I have breathed it in, and I long for You. I have tasted You, and I hunger and thirst for You. You have touched me, and I ardently desire Your peace.’ – Augustine
We are people quick to compartmentalize our lives – work and personal, family and friends, private and public. But a life of faith knows no such divisions. An encounter with the living God of the universe does not fold nicely into a ‘spiritual life.’ How can it?
We respond as God reveals. If we are called to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice and love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, I must believe that He does not compartmentalize His self-revelation to our ‘spiritual lives,’ but all of life (Rom 12, Luke 10:27). May we respond with the prophet:
‘“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the king, the LORD of hosts!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’ And I heard the voice the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, here I am! Send me.”’ Isaiah 6:5-8
Amen and amen.
Responding,
AB