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Fire Tending,
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by Sister Mary Giles Mailhot, OSB
It's been almost four months since we sang the Pentecost versicle asking the Holy Spirit to "kindle our hearts" with the fire of divine love. We are well into Ordinary Time, so how fares the fire? No doubt there has been some dampening drizzle and maybe a squall or two. Is that inner fire still aflame or are you trying to draw energy from smouldering embers? No matter. The promised Spirit has not abandoned you; a spark of divine fire flickers deep in your soul. ("You will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire." —Mt. 3:11, Lk. 3:16) You don't need to kindle this fire but only tend to it. Fire-tending is simple compared to fire-making—a child can keep a hearth fire going once it's started. The main requirement is a regular feeding of the flames. Do you know what fuels, what feeds your soul? Have you been a faithful soul-tender? Don't let yourself get away with the excuse of being too busy—tending a fire does not need to involve large, hard-to-manage logs. Consider the possibilities in this tinderbox:
- Choose some object in your daily life to remind you to pause and be present to yourself and to God
Let God invite you to a minute of silence before you check your email Turn the key in the ignition and thank God for going with you Let everyone at table share one reason for gratitude this day Take a few minutes to let yourself see your day through God's eyes (be quiet and let God show you) To reach into your own tinderbox, notice what you keep wishing you had time to do as a spiritual practice. Let go of any fixation of quantity of time—twenty minutes is no more or less God-filled than this very second. Let the Spirit ignite your will and your imagination to find a short, simple way to honor your longing. However you choose to feed the fire, be assured that "the Spirit helps us in our weakness when we do not even know how we ought to pray." (Rom. 8:26)
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