When?

And now a word from the balance specialists:

Benedictine spirituality is about caring for the people you live with and loving the people you don't and loving God more than yourself.  Benedictine spirituality depends on listening for the voice of God everywhere in life, especially in one another and here.  An ancient tale from another tradition tells that a disciple asked the Holy One,

"Where shall I look for Enlightenment?"

"Here," the Holy One said.

"When will it happen?"

"It is happening right now," the Holy One said.

"Then why don't I experience it?"

"Because you do not look," the Holy One said.

"What should I look for?"

"Nothing," the Holy One said.  "Just look."

"At what?"

"Anything your eyes alight upon," the Holy One said.

"Must I look in a special kind of way?"

"No," the Holy One said.  "The ordinary way will do."

"But don't I always look the ordinary way?"

"No," the Holy One said.  "You don't."

"Why ever not?" the disciple demanded.

"Because to look you must be here," the Holy One said.  "You're mostly somewhere else."

...We must learn to listen to what God is saying in our simple, sometimes insane, and always uncertain lives.   

    - Joan Chittister, The Rule of Benedict:  A Spirituality for the 21st Century

We look for complicated pathways to God and complex equations to provide answers to life's basic questions.  In the end, it all comes down to the incredibly difficult task of listening and being present.  

Listening and being present open us to the only place where we can possibly experience God - now.

Now.

Accept the invitation.  Listen, and be present - Now.

With love,

Kim