I was talking to a friend the other day about how in my youth I was always craving intimacy with a woman. When I married my late wife, I felt a great delight in being close to her both physically and in day-to-day companionship. I had no desire for other relationships, I thought it was so precious just to live close to another human being. But I gradually came to realise that there were insuperable barriers at a certain point to going deeper even in that so special relationship. In my heart of hearts I was still unsatisfied, and it dawned on me that what I had actually been craving all along was the divine intimacy (incidentally, the title of a classic work by the Carmelite Gabriel of St Mary Magdalene). My craving could never be satisfied on this earth, it was a longing for God. ‘He has planted eternity in the human heart’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11). That was the longing that eventually brought me into Carmel, for which I will be eternally grateful. Now I love to see that hunger in the inquirers who come to Carmel, and I feel a delight that they have come to the right place.
Intercessions:
Marie, Bernard (and wife Angela, Agnes – cancer
Siena, Elara – sick children
Rosemarie – multiple afflictions
RIP Philippa Hodges OCDS – funeral Thursday
S – in very urgent need of a job and income
Wojtek – massive heart attack
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