Chapter 15
The Rule of Benedict October 19
from February (my own comment on the post from this chapter):
I love this petition in the Litany for Sunday Lauds, weeks 2 and 4, in our Breviary:
"Diffuse the light of your Son's Resurrection to all the people of the world."
And the Concluding Prayer:
"God of the universe, when you raised your servant Jesus, you made him the light of the nations. May the salvation he brings us shine out to the ends of the earth, and may your name be blessed forever and ever."
And for weeks 1 and 3:
"Father of mercy, your love embraces everyone and through the Resurrection of your Son you call us all into your wonderful light. Dispel our darkness and make us a people with one heart and one voice, forever singing your praise, in Jesus, the Christ, our Lord."
The light of the Resurrection is within and shines through us! Yes, we know about the Resurrection, and more, we carry its audacity within us! We diffuse its light. Alleluia!
I went back to your post from February and I was once again struck by your insight that when we say "alleluia" we make "a defiant claim on the narrative by which we will tell our own story."
ReplyDeleteIt is so easy to allow myself to feel overwhelmed by the sorrow in the world and to accept narratives of despair. Defiantly claiming God's love, and living it out through the light of the Resurrection, not only allows me to resist narratives of despair, but gives me hope that we can transform those narratives.
Thanks, Ruth. I regularly find the narratives of despair being played out along my journey inward--when I find the brokenness and sorrow of the world in the depths of my own being: in my most basic motives and choices. The defiance of the Resurrection narrative has been a balm in these times, yet I experience it less as a protest yelled from my mouth and more as a gentle song sung in my ear by the Mother who sits at my bedside when I feel too soul-sick to move.
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