I encourage you to read the recent biography of Mother Teresa called Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta“. It gives us a glimpse into her leadership, high activity level and struggle with the “dark night of the soul.” For me, it encouraged me in my own struggle to be an “active contemplative leader” Her life gives power to these words: We all must take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those who live in big cities like London and New York, where everything moves so fast… I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence –we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul – as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul – and it brings you closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others. Mother Teresa ———- Might prayer be the primary way to a clean and pure heart really, and the primary way that Christ is formed in us? Does the issue of learning to pray need to be the dominant one in our churches? If it were, what would need to change for us in leadership and for us as members?
18
Jul
