There is a little line in the Rule of St. Benedict that says,
“If you hear [God’s] voice today, do not harden your hearts.”
I want to confess why it is tempting, some may say sensible, to harden your heart from the voice of God.
after the weather of
his asking, no still, small
voice, only the parade
of ghosts, casualties
of his past intercessions.
Part of prayer is learning to observe the parade of ghosts and casualties that parade through our thoughts.
Under no circumstances call what we need to be saved from salvation.
In prayer we come to hear that the cries of the suffering is the voice of God addressed to us.
Our sorrow, that he carries, is entrusted to us, as a call to action.
As we respond, this same sorrow is burnt as fuel of which the byproduct, hauntingly, is a sober joy.
And loved, loved, loved are *all* of us.