Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.
To Love I will my self resign;
But it shall be to Love Divine:
That o'er me ever shall preside,
Shall every Word, and ev'ry Action guide:
To it I will my self unite,
In it I'll place my sole Delight,
And ev'ry meaner Object slight;
Till one at last with it I grow,
And tir'd with treading this dull Round below,
To its blest Source with eager Swiftness go;
To its blest Source, where constant Joys are found,
And where ne'er ending Pleasures spread themselves around;
Where's nothing wanting that we can desire,
Where we to nothing greater can aspire,
And where e'en Thought it self can soar to nothing higher.
- Mary, Lady Chudleigh (1656-1710)
Jesus presented another parable to those gathered: "The kindom of heaven is like a farmer who sowed good seed in a field. While everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then made off. When the crop began to mature and yield grain, the weeds became evident as well.
The farmer's workers came and asked, "Did you not sow good seed in your field? Where are the weeds coming from?"
The farmer replied, "I see an enemy's hand in this."
They in turn asked, "Do you want us to go out and pull them up?"
"No," replied the farmer, "if you pull up the weeds, you might take the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until the harvest, then at harvest time I will order the harvesters first to collect the weeds and bundle them up to burn, then to gather the wheat into my barn."
- Matthew 13: 24-30, Priests for Equality translation
Reflection
Mary Chudleigh strives to grow steadily in perfect love in a vision of the soul's intentional progress. Jesus's parable shows a sudden separation of good traits from bad traits.
Do we grow more by eliminating our faults, or learning to live with them? What path requires more effort? What path requires more trust? When have you made a choice to take one path instead of the other?
Tomorrow, when you log on again, which path will help you answer the comment you disagree with more productively? Which path goads you further toward seeking a community of equals?
In their own ways, Chudleigh and Jesus turn their eye somewhere else - another space for Chudleigh, another time for Jesus - for a sense of how things are made right. How do we mirror an imagined perfection back into our efforts in the daily grind?