Always, We Begin Again
Dear Ones,
At the beginning of every new year, I spend the month of January reading through a small book by John McQuiston called Always We Begin Again The Benedictine Way of Living. It may surprise you that McQuiston is not a monk and was not a “well-churched” person for much of his life. However, he came to learn about the Rule of St. Benedict and wrote this small little book as a way of opening up the wisdom given to us about St. Benedict so that we could hear it more easily through our modern ears.
I highly recommend this book. The readings are short and direct, easy to make it into a daily or every-other-daily practice for this month. For there is no better time than the beginning of the calendar year to remind us that always, we begin again.
Here’s one day’s reading – a quote that is deeply meaningful to me today:
At the beginning of each day
after we open our eyes
to receive the light
of that day,
As we listen to the voices
and the sounds
that surround us,
We must resolve to treat each hour
as the rarest of gifts,
and be grateful
for the consciousness
that allows us to experience it,
recalling in thanks
that our awareness is a present
from we know not where,
or how, or why.
When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy
of the true Work that we will be about this day,
and considerately cheer one another on.
Life will always provide matters for concern,
yet each day brings with it reason for joy.
Each day carries the potential
to bring the experience of heaven;
have the courage to expect good from it.
Be gentle with this life,
and use the light of life
to live fully in your time.
Happy New Year, everyone.
In God’s love and mine,
Rev. Michelle |
