Spirituality for Beginners

Fr. Bede's almost-daily reflections. When it comes to the spiritual life, we're all beginners. I also send these out by email. Contact me at bcamera@anselm.edu. God bless!





Tuesday, March 15, 2016

How are things changing within you?

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. (Romans 12:2)

Consider this: Over the past several months, has there been a change in your way of thinking? Thinking about your faith or the various aspects of your faith, or perhaps a slight adjustment in the way you look at the world and about your own life?

If you are a praying person, if you read the scriptures or other holy books, if you have remained open to the Lord working on your mind much like a potter works with a block of clay, then the renewal is taking place. And I assure you that the renewal will continue to take place as long as you are open to receiving what the Lord is trying to teach you, often without words, in your experience and in your prayer and in the way you live your life and live in relationship with other persons.

As for me, I take great delight when I discover myself acting in ways that I probably would not have acted in the past. I take great delight when I don’t pay any more attention to the gut reactions I have to things, but rather am able to hold them up to the light of what I have been studying or receiving in prayer. How about you?

Six months ago I would have approached this particular issue and tension in this way; now, however, I have discovered that it is possible to toss away my original way of acting and put on a new way of thinking which has led to a peaceful and profitable resolution to the tension which was “running the show” in me for a while. And that is what I think Paul means when he talks about the “renewal” of our minds.

In addition to that, I am discovering that much of what the world esteems as valuable is nothing other than an idol made of sand, and that things I once thought were interesting now seem vapid and empty. Again, renewal of the mind.

Can you relate to any of these things? Today in quiet time, I invite you to consider your own situation and make note of the changes that have been taking place. The Lord loves you and continues to work with you (and me) bit by bit, step by step, as we discover a new outlook on life and on the issues and desires in our lives.

God bless you.


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