Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear Friend,

In today's reading from Ephesians (3:8-10), we hear Paul's theologizing about how he might be able to share share the good news, despite being "the very least of all the saints."  

Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

The rich variety of God's wisdom, what an invitation! The Church, the Body of Christ, is called to live out this life together in a way that shares God's wisdom, so big we can't comprehend it, so vast it is not to be quantified. I appreciate Paul's caveat, "Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me."  

Some of that wisdom that we as a community passes down is through the life of prayer, and the practices that foster it. In the new book Life in Christ: Practicing Christian Spirituality by Julia Gatta, there is a chapter on the distractions that keep us from prayer. Sometimes it is the race of the day that makes it difficult to quiet our hearts enough to listen and to pray, or the environment that encroaches.  But she writes that sometimes the distractions are worth noting, as they may be what the Holy Spirit desires you to pray about, they may be signposts.  Having our wills shaped by a prayer life of discipline and openness, humility and practice, is part of the school of desire that Fr. Mark wrote about beautifully yesterday.

We, though the very least of all the saints, we, even those scared to enter into the intimacy of prayers that shape us and change us, we, like Paul, have been given grace to approach God in this deep relationship.

Thanks be to God,
Taylor