Chotard Doll

Dear Friends in Christ,

In every age there are those individuals who shine with the wondrous love and grace of God. Today we celebrate Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, 1392.

At the age of 20, Sergius left his life as a farmer and chose to live as a hermit in a forest near Moscow. He was a gentle man, who kept his peasant roots alive, and lived in simplicity, but  his wisdom and ability to reflect the love of God to others attracted many to join him. 

Eventually his hermitage became a monastery, a center for renewal of Russian Christianity.  His influence in Russia remains today, a figure much like St. Francis in Western Christianity.

In our Daily Morning Prayer Office I, the suffrages (p 55) read:

Oh Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage;
Govern them and lift them up forever. 
Day by day we magnify thee, 
And we worship thy Name ever, world without end.

I often think of that image of “magnifying” the Lord. As his light shines into my heart and kindles there the fire of love, how much am I able to reflect, or magnify that love into the world?

When I was a child we used to take a magnifying glass to focus the sun in such an intense ray that it burned an image into wood. 

That’s the kind of magnifying that I see as our role as Children of God. How can we reflect or magnify the love of God in all our actions in such a way that it helps to bring His light into the world, like Sergius.  

It’s our daily challenge, isn’t it?

Faithfully,

—Chotard