Sunday January 22: Daring to Leave Ourselves

Practice: In her prayer ‘Untangle The Nets’ Joyce Rupp invites the “Divine Untangler’ to ‘help us accept and grow beyond any part of our life where the net is too twisted to be undone” but also “to be patient [enough] to see what is tangled and slowly and gently undo the knots, one by one. All to make the web whole again.” Reflect on your Centering Prayer practice with this metaphor in mind – what stirs in you? How is the Divine Therapist working with your twists and tangles? Renew your consent and your trust in the process.

You may re-read the full email reflection here: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-jan22

Today my reaction to the texts makes me want to run away and hide!   Even “to suffer slightly what God suffers eternally.” Obviously I am immersed in self this morning.  The AA third step prayer asks relieve me of the bondage of self.”    Jesus 1932 message to two poor women on London – yes, 1932 – included these words, among also many calls for joy:   “Kill the self. …every blow to Self prepares the way for your true, eternal self.” (“God Calling,” by “two listeners” and edited by A J Russell.).

This week it seems I catch glimpses of of the power of my powerlessness. During centering prayer a constant of ever so gently returning to my word many times during my “sit” I catch glimpses of this time as God’s work. During my day I sense God, the  Great Untangler of my net,  with my role as accepting , responding with mercy, with forgiveness; accepting the harm I have done intentionally and unintentionally; accepting the consequences of my actions that have created barriers; humbly allowing the Untangler to do the work only the Untangler can do.

 

 

 

 

that my self centeredness

Sunday January 22: Daring to Leave Ourselves

What stirs in me from this reflection is Joyce Rupp’s image of being “patient [enough] to see what is tangled and slowly and gently undo the knots, one by one. All to make the web whole again.” It fits with a vision I had a long time ago of sitting with the disciples on the beach, tying knots in nets to repair. Think of the knots as relationships: gently undoing relationships that need to be left behind, building new connections out of love for Christ and the command to love others. As Father Richard would say, it is “yes/and” – both the undoing and the redoing together that brings the love of Christ to the world. <3 linda

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